Dec. 13, 2023 | Inside Higher Ed
CU Denver professor, Lisa Forbes, was fed up with expectations that professors should take a rigid approach to teaching. She co-founded Professors at Play with David Thomas, which connects faculty interested in playful pedagogy. Thomas is the executive director for online programs in the University of Denver’s Office of Graduate Education, previously worked as an assistant professor in CU Denver’s College of Architecture and Planning and has spent years researching the concepts of fun and play. Earlier this year, Thomas and Forbes published the Professors at Play Playbook which is a diverse collection of more than 100 techniques—tested by more than 65 educators—for playful learning in higher education. Although Thomas and Forbes believe a playful pedagogy can be applied to the teaching of any subject, some of their colleagues remain skeptical about its merits, but striking a balance between academic rigor and play is the whole point.