Student Success News

Funding to attend the Reacting Consortium Annual Institute

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Jan 2023 21:56:26 +0000

Funding to attend the Reacting Consortium Annual Institute Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 01/27/2023 - 14:56

Jacie Moriyama

We are excited to announce travel funding to attend the Reacting Consortium Annual Institute June 7-11, 2023, at Barnard College in New York City.

This is THE annual conference for faculty interested in Reacting to the Past pedagogy (RTTP). Last year, CU �鶹ӰԺ hosted a smaller version of the Annual Institute, but this year it will be back in its traditional home: Barnard College. Participants will have the opportunity to play two of nine games offered at the conference, and to attend numerous breakout sessions about RTTP pedagogy, with sessions designed for newcomers and others for veterans. This is the largest gathering of Reacting faculty anywhere, and it is an excellent opportunity for networking and learning from experienced Reactors.

Four lucky faculty will receive$1200 in funding to support travel to the Annual Institute. This can be used to cover conference travel expenses such as:

Registration - $550 (includes 4 breakfasts, 2 lunches, and 2 receptions, as well as coffee and snacks throughout the conference)

Housing - $300 (3 nights with a single in the dorms at Barnard at $100 a night; doubles are cheaper at $65 a night)

Additional Travel/Food - $350

We expect that the true cost of attending the conference for most people may exceed $1200, but a lot depends on how much you spend on meals beyond the conference, whether you are willing to book a double occupancy room, how much you spend on airfare, whether you have a place you can stay in New York City for free, etc. In any case, $1200 should cover most of the expense.

We will prioritize funding faculty who have demonstrated a commitment to adopting RTTP, and after that we will prioritize funding those who have been unable to attend another RTTP conference and/or who have no other sources of funding to help cover travel costs.

If you are interested in applying, please submit an application by filling out this Google Form. Applications will be reviewed beginning on February 6, but we will welcome applications submitted after that date until the funding is fully allocated. Successful applicants are encouraged to register for the conference as soon as possible in February so that they can benefit from the early bird registration rates and have their pick of which games to play at the conference.

Questions? Please email michaele.ferguson@colorado.edu.

Published on behalf of:

Professors Michaele Ferguson, Catherine Kunce, and David Paradis
The Student Success Team
ASSETT Innovation Incubator

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Invigorate Your Teaching and Get Students Actively Learning Through Reacting to the Past!

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 20:54:45 +0000

Invigorate Your Teaching and Get Students Actively Learning Through Reacting to the Past! Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/09/2022 - 13:54

Jacie Moriyama , on behalf of the Student Success Innovation Incubator team

Photo by Unseen Histories on Unsplash

Imagine walking into a classroom where students are advocating for women's rights, staging a protest against the war in Vietnam, or negotiating a treaty to lower carbon emissions. Chances are, these students are engaging in one of many Reacting to the Past games. These are not just games, but a pedagogical approach designed to encourage students to think critically, negotiate with others, debate their position, and persuade others through speeches and writing to create political change and shape history.

Reacting to the Past (RTTP), as defined by the Reacting Consortium at Barnard College, is an active-learning pedagogy of role-playing games designed for higher education. In Reacting to the Past games, students are assigned character roles with specific goals and must communicate, collaborate, and compete effectively to advance their objectives. Reacting promotes engagement with big ideas, and improves intellectual and academic skills.

Through this pedagogical approach, students study a historical moment and react to a series of events based on their game-character’s perspective. Each role has specific goals that the student attempts to achieve. Unlike a play, these roles do not have specific lines or a script, but the student must react (to their opponents or opposition) through the historical figure’s beliefs and philosophical views as defined in a role sheet.

Reacting is deeply interdisciplinary, and teaches students valuable skills that they may not normally cultivate in traditional classrooms: such as public speaking, leadership, debate, and persuasion - but also compassion, empathy, and teamwork. During ‘game play’, students are in charge of the classroom. They stand up in front of class and give speeches, while audience members ask questions or heckle speakers. They're also learning about the art and power of persuasion. Student interactions manifest in various forms, from persuading others through speeches, to organizing a group of people to vote a particular way, to using moral suasion and appeals to human instincts. These types of peer-to-peer interaction inject more life into the college classroom, even as they teach students valuable lessons about how change happens (or why it doesn’t) in real life.

Learn more about the Reacting to the Past pedagogy by:

Listening to a podcast about Reacting to the Past (21:30) featuring our resident Reactors, Michaele Ferguson, Catherine Kunce, and David Paradis.
Reaching out to our resident Reactors! They are more than happy to share their experience and answer your most burning questions!
Signing up for FREE access to the Reacting Consortium library. The Student Success Innovation Incubator team has procured access for the entire CU System to find instructor manuals, games, resources, and course materials for you to use!
Attending the in-person Reacting Summer Conference hosted at CU from June 13-16, 2022! There’s no better way to learn about what the Reacting to the Past pedagogy is than playing a game and learning from seasoned Reactors! Keep an eye out for more information about this event!

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Sign up for your Reacting Consortium Library Membership!

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 15:52:09 +0000

In spring 2021, ASSETT’s Student Success Innovation Incubator team purchased an Institutional membership to the Reacting Consortium. In spring 2022, the team negotiated a system-wide membership to include all four CU campuses! With this membership, ALL CU faculty and staff have full access to the Reacting Consortium Library, expanded Instructor materials for published games, student and Instructor materials for 30+ games in development, and resources on assessment, rhetoric, and grading. This membership also provides discounts on registration fees for certain conferences, editorial guidance and play-testing support for game authors, and special discounted rates for institutional members hosting Reacting workshops.

Reacting to the Past (RTTP), as defined by the Reacting Consortium at Barnard College, is an active learning pedagogy of role-playing games designed for higher education. In Reacting to the Past games, students are assigned character roles with specific goals and must communicate, collaborate, and compete effectively to advance their objectives. Reacting promotes engagement with big ideas, and improves intellectual and academic skills. (https://reacting.barnard.edu/)

Through this pedagogical approach, students study a historical moment and react to a series of events through a character or role, typically assigned by a faculty member. Each role has a specific goal that the character attempts to achieve. Unlike a play, these roles do not have specific lines or a script, but the student must react (to their opponents or opposition) through the historical figure’s beliefs and philosophical views as defined in a role sheet.

Access for the Reacting Consortium Library (RCL) is ONLY for faculty and staff at the CU campuses. Access will NOT be granted to students. Create an account by going to http://reactingconsortium.org/institutional/profjoin. Use your CU email address to register for your account. If you need assistance with creating an account or more information about the Reacting to the Past pedagogy, please contact Michaele Ferguson at Michaele.Ferguson@colorado.edu.

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Register for THE 2022 REACTING SUMMER CONFERENCE!

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Feb 2022 22:22:20 +0000

We are thrilled to announce the first in-person Reacting Conference in more than two years this summer! The conference will take place from June 13-16 at the �鶹ӰԺ, and include seven game options. Get more information about this event and register through the Reacting Consortium’s events page. We look forward to seeing you there!

This event is brought to you by the University of Colorado’s ASSETT Student Success Innovation Incubator team, the Center for Teaching and Learning, and the Reacting Consortium.

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Revolutionize Your Teaching with Role-Playing Games!

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 17:33:49 +0000

Revolutionize Your Teaching with Role-Playing Games! Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 09/02/2021 - 11:33

Join ASSETT Innovation Incubator team member, Michaele Ferguson for an introduction to Reacting to the Past, an immersive role-playing pedagogy in which students develop skills in critical thinking, persuasive writing, public speaking, leadership, and teamwork while wrestling with primary texts and important ideas. Start by playing a mini-game, set at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, where delegates and protesters clash over civil rights, freedom of speech, and the war in Vietnam. Then discuss the benefits of role-playing and how you can adopt Reacting to the Past into classes across the curriculum, from sciences and engineering to literature and law. Register now!

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Congratulations to the Student Success Innovation Incubator Team

Anonymous — Tue, 18 May 2021 06:00:00 +0000

Congratulations to the Student Success Innovation Incubator Team Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 05/18/2021 - 00:00

Congratulations to the Student Success Innovation Incubator team for being a recipient of the 2021 President’s Fund for the Humanities! Their proposal, Reenvisioning the Future of the Humanities Through the Reacting to the Past Pedagogy seeks to promote a system-wide inquiry of thought focused on teaching and learning in the Humanities. Sub-group team members include Michaele Ferguson (Asst Prof, Political Science), Catherine Kunce (Sr Instructor, Program for Writing and Rhetoric), Principle Investigator David Paradis, (Sr Instructor, History), and Team Leads Jacie Moriyama (Student Services Portfolio Manager, ASSETT) and Blair Young (Innovation Catalyst, ASSETT).

The team will facilitate a virtual system-wide faculty reading group (CU �鶹ӰԺ, Denver, and Colorado Springs) to explore the value of the Humanities expressed through the Reacting to the Past (RTTP) pedagogy using Minds on Fire: How Role-Immersion Games Transform College, by Mark Carnes. Invited guest speakers will address the benefits of RTTP and gamification pedagogies. And at the end of the reading group, session participants will participate in a game to understand what is expected from their students and how they might integrate this practice into their courses.

These proposed activities expand upon an innovation incubator project, funded by ASSETT (Arts & Sciences Support of Education Through Technology) on the CU �鶹ӰԺ campus, which has addressed role-playing and gamification more broadly during the past two years. The proposal aims to broaden this initiative to faculty, staff, and graduate students across the system campuses because they have seen significant shifts in the classroom due to the implementation of RTTP, even during the pandemic.

Separate from this initiative, the team is actively planning a Spring 2022 regional conference on RTTP that ASSETT and the Center for Teaching and Learning will host on the �鶹ӰԺ campus. This will be a great opportunity for this community to continue fostering conversations with other Humanists.

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Don’t miss the final spring 2021 Gamification Community of Practice session this May!

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 15:40:39 +0000

Don’t miss the final spring 2021 Gamification Community of Practice session this May! Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 04/21/2021 - 09:40

Kae Novak

On Tuesday, May 4, 2021, the ASSETT Innovation Incubator Student Success team will host instructional designer, immersive environment researcher and gamer, Kae Novak, to present on Creating an ARG (Alternate Reality Game) for your classroom. From escape rooms to solving mysteries, ARGs bring fun and levity to learning for you and your students.

The session runs from 4:00-5:15pm. All who are interested are welcome!
Join on Zoom

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Join ASSETT's Gamification Community of Practice

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Dec 2020 18:38:20 +0000

Join ASSETT's Gamification Community of Practice Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 12/17/2020 - 11:38

Photo by Chris Montgomery, via Unsplash

Are you interested in learning how others are using games in their classroom? Have you read about how someone has ‘gamified’ their activities and want to learn more? Or are you just generally curious about gamification pedagogy?

In Fall 2021, the ASSETT Innovation Incubator Student Success team is launching a community of practice focused on the gamification of learning pedagogy, or GCoP. Each month, we’ll welcome a guest speaker who will discuss their approach to gamification. This is a great opportunity to gather with other campus community members. Together we’ll explore topics ranging from learning with Reacting to the Past, using games in a virtual classroom, and creating an alternative virtual reality.

Virtual GCoP sessions will take place from 9:00-10:15am on the second Wednesday of the month from September through December 2021

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Faculty Reading Group to Explore Gamification

Anonymous — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 07:00:00 +0000

Faculty Reading Group to Explore Gamification Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 12/02/2019 - 00:00

Interested in using games and simulations in the classroom? Join in the Gamification Reading Group, a part of ASSETT’s Student Success Innovation Incubator.

We are starting out this spring by reading Minds on Fire: How Role-Immersion Games Transform Higher Education by Mark Carnes. He’s a historian at Barnard College who developed the Reacting to the Past pedagogy, which involves role-playing games in historical scenarios.

We will be meeting over four Wednesday afternoons, 3:30–5:00 pm in CASE W311: January 29, February 12, February 26, and March 11. During one of those sessions, we will play a sample Reacting to the Past game, so we can all get firsthand experience with Carnes’s method.

ASSETT will provide free copies of the book to the first 10 participants who sign up by December 20.

To register or for additional information, contact Professor Michaele Ferguson.

We hope to see you in January!

Michaele Ferguson, Political Science
Catherine Kunce, Program in Writing and Rhetoric
David Paradis, History

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Student Success News

Funding to attend the Reacting Consortium Annual Institute

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Invigorate Your Teaching and Get Students Actively Learning Through Reacting to the Past!

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Sign up for your Reacting Consortium Library Membership!

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​Register for THE 2022 REACTING SUMMER CONFERENCE!

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Revolutionize Your Teaching with Role-Playing Games!

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Congratulations to the Student Success Innovation Incubator Team

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Don’t miss the final spring 2021 Gamification Community of Practice session this May!

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Join ASSETT's Gamification Community of Practice

Virtual GCoP sessions will take place from 9:00-10:15am on the second Wednesday of the month from September through December 2021

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Faculty Reading Group to Explore Gamification

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Register for THE 2022 REACTING SUMMER CONFERENCE!