Dialogic montage: Reflecting on playful practice in higher education

Abstract

In our advocation for playful and creative practice, we engage in collaborative writing as a method of inquiry. In this paper we have extended that practice, conducting a collage conversation between the three of us reflecting on playful practice in academia through visual means, and using this paper as a meta-reflection on the value of collaborative practice and writing to promote a culture of research for academics primarily engaged in teaching. As we are located on different continents, the conversation unfolded synchronously and asynchronously: with us sending images of our thinking and responses back and forth. This shared playful and visual conversation has been captured for this article and supplemented with case study examples of how we utilised such playful practice with our student and staff learners. We argue that playful practice is even more important in these lean and mean times as it enables an honest but suitably supercomplex dialogue about learning, teaching and research that recognises education’s human element. Playful practice is inclusive and empowering: it strengthens the individual while at the same time enabling connection - with peers and the larger social and academic context.  

Keywords

Creative Research, Reflective Writing, Inclusion, Higher Education, Play, Collages

How to Cite

Abegglen, S., Burns, T. & Sinfield, S., (2021) “Dialogic montage: Reflecting on playful practice in higher education”, The Journal of Play in Adulthood 3(2), 82-95. doi: https://doi.org/10.5920/jpa.843

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Authors

Sandra Abegglen (University of Calgary)
Tom Burns orcid logo (London Metropolitan University)
Sandra Sinfield orcid logo (London Metropolitan University)

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0

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This article has been peer reviewed.

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