How do we design courses that are playful, accessible, and inclusive? This week brings together Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles with creative and playful approaches to pedagogy. You’ll also draft an AI policy for your syllabus and critically evaluate it through the lens of copyright, accessibility, and equity.
NEH Workshop 5: Playful Approaches and Creative Code (July 8, 10 AM - noon, CHDR) — This workshop explores playful pedagogy, copyright considerations, and accessibility in AI-integrated courses. Students who attend will reflect on and extend the discussion exercise; those who do not will complete it asynchronously.
Readings
- Johnson, Emily K. and Anastasia Salter. “Designing Playfully for a Distant Future.” Playful Pedagogy in the Pandemic: Pivoting to Game-Based Learning (Routledge, 2022). (PDF in Webcourses)
- “Universal Design for Learning: Pleasure, Accessibility, and the Radical Possibilities of Good Design.” Visible Pedagogy, CUNY Graduate Center. March 20, 2023.
- Explore: UCF Digital Accessibility Guides (skim)
- Mollick, Ethan. “15 Times to Use AI, and 5 Not To.” One Useful Thing.
Slides
Discussion Prompt
Workshop Exercise - Playful Approaches and Creative Code.
This exercise connects to the workshop’s focus on copyright, accessibility, and playful pedagogy in AI adoption. Draft an AI policy statement for your course syllabus that addresses copyright and attribution for AI-generated content. Then critically evaluate it: how does it address copyright, accessibility, equity of access to AI tools, and the labor behind the models? Apply UDL principles to consider whether your course design offers multiple means of engagement, representation, and action/expression.
As you’re working through this from a policy side, keep in mind the relationship with technology and literacy you are hoping your students develop. Does this policy leave room for play and experimentation, or is it focused on prohibition or restrictions? How might this policy influence the attitudes your students have towards exercises like the ones we’ve been doing with Claude Code?
Reply to at least two peers, and try to respond to their policies with a student’s perspective in mind.