Ready to move from ideas to implementation? In this follow-up to From Soliciting Groans to Becoming the GOAT, we shift from presentation to playful experimentation. This open, hands-on session invites instructors to explore a range of AI tools designed to help gamify even the driest curricular content—no formal agenda, no slides, just space to create. Support will be on hand for troubleshooting, and collaborative brainstorming as you test AI tools and build out ideas at your own pace. Come with an instructional hurdle—or simply curiosity—and leave with fresh strategies, emerging prototypes, or fully formed game elements to integrate into your teaching. Snacks will be provided. #yum
From Soliciting Groans to becoming the GOAT [greatest of all time]: Partnering with AI to Gamify Dry Curricular Content The blank stare—the dreaded response to essential, though often dry, curricular content—ripples across the disciplines. Whether reviewing a syllabus or introducing abstruse theory, such moments challenge instructors striving for engagement. Gamification, or “the use of game design elements in non-game contexts,” offers a powerful pedagogical strategy for addressing these instructional hurdles, with research showing positive impacts on “learning-related behaviors or attitudes” such as motivation and engagement. However, designing meaningful gamified experiences often demands substantial time, planning, and expertise. This is where AI can step in. In this session, librarians Jenny Carlos, Emily Cook, and Amira Walker synthesize current scholarship on pedagogical gamification while offering practical strategies for engineering AI prompts that support gamified instruction. Examples of this pedAIgogical partnership include brainstorming game elements for a particular topic, developing web-based learning games, or collaborating with AI to curate riddles for instructional scavenger hunts. In this hands-on portion of this session, participants will identify a personal instructional hurdle and collaborate with their AI tool of choice to design a gamified learning experience.
Location:Harte Center Room 119, Lower Level 1, Leyburn Library Date/Time:September 23 @ noon Join the growing Game On Cohort in a fall Game In. Bring a board/card/experiential game you want to play or test out. Or join a group playing one of the games already available at Leyburn Library’s Game Zone, which include: Chess (multiple boards), Clue, Exploding Kittens, Loteria, Mahjong, Parcheesi, Really Loud Librarians, Scrabble, Stet: Dreyer’s English, Sushi Go, Uno, & Yahtzee. Lego bricks and jigsaw puzzles are also available.