Playful Pedagogies in Teacher Education

The paper describes the concept and outcomes of a series of workshops with faculty, staff and students from a teacher education program specialized in vocational education and training (VET). We analyze and reflect upon the conceptual development, facilitation and evaluation of the workshop series. Practitioners and researchers alike will find this article a valuable source for contemplating the effectiveness of design thinking, making and serious play in teacher education. While our case study is situated in the particular context of preparing future vocational school teachers within the German education system, the resulting concepts are applicable to other populations.

Stefanie Panke
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC, USA

Stefanie Panke is the digital pedagogy coach at UNC School of Social Work. She is the contact person for faculty to talk through effective strategies for online learning and teaching, discuss the pedagogical potential of educational technology trends and tools and engage in scholarship of teaching and learning.

From 2012-2023, Stefanie was the lead instructional designer at UNC School of Government, where she supported course design and delivery, produced e-books, podcasts, infographics and video content, facilitated workshops and coordinated ed-tech projects and initiatives. Her research interests comprise design thinking, open educational resources, social media and innovative pedagogies.

She is editor and writer for the blog magazine AACE Review. She is an adjunct instructor at Johns Hopkins University and Cologne University of Applied Sciences in Germany. Stefanie received her Ph.D. in applied linguistics with a thesis on information design for educational portals from the University of Bielefeld, Germany.

Thilo Harth
FH Münster University of Applied Sciences
Münster, Germany

Session Description

Presenter(s)