The Playful Scholar: How Games and Play Can Innovate Teaching and Research

This webinar explores how play can meaningfully enrich both research methodologies and teaching practices in higher education and beyond. Drawing on insights from an open-access book and classroom-tested pedagogical strategies, the session positions play not as a diversion, but as a rigorous mode of inquiry that supports curiosity, experimentation, and sense-making.

Participants will examine how playful approaches—such as games, role-play, design challenges, and improvisational structures—can function as research methods and teaching tools that surface new questions, invite multiple perspectives, and lower barriers to participation. Through concrete examples, the webinar highlights how playful inquiry can deepen engagement, support reflective practice, and broaden access to knowledge for diverse learners and scholarly communities. Attendees will leave with conceptual frameworks and practical ideas for integrating play into their own research and teaching contexts.