Role immersion games in the higher ed classroom

Students voting to extend the class time? Professors reporting that students are doing the reading for the course without threats or other forms of coercion? Today, in episode 21, Dr. Mark Carnes joins me to talk role immersion games in the higher ed classroom.

Podcast notes

Dr. Mark C. Carnes, Professor of History, Barnard College

Author of Minds on fire how role immersion games transform college, published by Harvard University Press

The classroom struggle before Reacting to the Past

Your class was less boring than most.

Role immersion games

• Reacting to the Past
• Audio from Faculty Perspectives video (through the 2 minute mark)
• Transcending disciplinary structures.
• Origins of the title of Minds on Fire
• What we give up as professors to make role immersion games work
• Contributions from other academic disciplines to Reacting to the Past
• Scalability

Aspects of playing the games

• Competition
• Imagining what it’s like to be someone else
• “Teaching” civil disobedience

You give up the control of knowing what the classroom is going to be like. Instead, you get the drama and, often, these moments of extraordinary student performances and transformations that leave you amazed.

Queen’s College class did the India Reacting class. High attendance. All focused on it.

While some skepticism is appropriate, our tried and true methods aren’t that fail safe.

Structure is different, because the “slacker’s” peers are counting on him/her.

They can’t hide out like they can in other classes.

Becoming someone different from who you are

Recommendations

Serial podcast (Bonni)

Google “Reacting to the Past” videos (Mark)

Reacting to the Past website

Reacting to the Past consortium

Closing Credits

• Review on iTunes or stitcher to help others discover the show
• Weekly update /subscribe
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