What happens when we make room for play in postsecondary classrooms?
That question is at the heart of the 2027 CIEL Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Fellowship project led by Dr. Janet McKeown, faculty member in the Department of Recreation, Tourism, and Hospitality Management. Drawing on her expertise in leisure studies, inclusion, and community-building, Janet’s project, Play as a Pathway to Connection and Belonging in Postsecondary Classrooms, explores how collaborative play can create the conditions for meaningful connections among students to emerge, fostering more inclusive learning environments.
Building on this experience, Janet’s fellowship research will investigate how collaborative play can intentionally support student belonging and community. At a time when higher education institutions are increasingly recognizing the impacts of loneliness and social isolation on student well-being, her project asks whether classrooms themselves can become spaces where connection flourishes through playful interaction.
The project will bring together instructors from across disciplines in a collaborative inquiry process. Through a series of Play Labs, participants will explore playful teaching approaches, discuss their experiences with play, and reflect on how these activities influence student connection, participation, inclusion, and learning. Janet will then analyze these experiences to identify themes, opportunities, challenges, and conditions that support the use of play across different teaching contexts.
A key strength of the project is its practical focus. Beyond generating new insights into teaching and learning, the fellowship will produce a collection of tangible resources for the VIU community, including faculty Play Labs, presentations and blog posts sharing the findings, and an open-access toolkit of collaborative play activities. Hosted through CIEL, the toolkit will provide instructors with adaptable strategies for building classroom community and engagement through play.
The project also reflects a strong partnership between Janet, participating instructors, and CIEL. By combining expertise in leisure and community development, student engagement, inclusive teaching practices, and faculty development, the initiative aims to create resources that are both research-informed and applicable in diverse learning environments.
Ultimately, Janet’s fellowship challenges us to rethink the role of play in higher education. Rather than viewing play as a distraction from learning, her work positions it as a powerful tool for fostering belonging, encouraging participation, and strengthening the social connections that support student success. Through this project, she hopes to help instructors discover how small moments of play can create lasting impacts on classroom culture and the student experience.
The CIEL would like to thank and acknowledge all the applicants to this inaugural fellowship, and is committed to strengthening its support for SoTL across the institution moving forward. It also thanks the adjudication committee for its key insights and perspective. Stay tuned for more resources, sessions, and support in this area, and hopefully another call in the future.
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