An Orientation and Continuum for Playful Pedagogy in Higher Education

This chapter provides an orientation to and foundation for implementing playful pedagogy in higher education. It explores the attributes of play in adult learning, drawing connections to cognitive science, and examines the concept of the magic circle as a community-building space within higher education classrooms. The chapter also presents continua for understanding playful pedagogy in higher education. These continua capture the qualities that make a pedagogical approach “playful” in higher education, which can illuminate the process for faculty when designing tasks and courses.