Playing with Pedagogy: Gaming in Writing and Literature Classrooms (Roundtable, NeMLA, March 2027) (NeMLA)
Salve Regina University, Newport, Rhode Island
Organization: Northeast Modern Language Association
Event: NeMLA
Accepting Submissions for NeMLA Roundtable:
In this in-person roundtable conference session, we are looking to open conversation about the unique ways that educators are innovating with forms of gaming, play, and playfulness in the classroom. We are interested in discussing the incorporation of any and all forms of games and gaming, including, but not limited to:
- board, tabletop, and card games
- social deduction games
- tabletop role-playing systems such as Dungeons and Dragons
- invented role-playing scenarios
- gamification of in-class activities
- video and digital games
Abstract / Overview
Tabletop gaming and literary studies share a core essence: storytelling. As we aim to teach students in our writing, rhetoric, composition, and literature courses the values and techniques of narrative, we might choose to borrow from the myriad strategies developed in the world of board and role-playing games in order to engage learners on an even more visceral level. Applying approaches of play and pretend, whether through published or in-class created gaming scenarios, educators can enable rich modes of experiential learning. Such learning has the potential to bond our classroom communities more profoundly than verbal chatter alone may accomplish—and, perhaps, to undergird our intrinsic human need to build shared, lived encounters in ways that machines and AI cannot simulate.
Submission
Now accepting applications. Please submit abstracts for consideration via the NeMLA portal:
https://cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/22656
Deadline
September 30, 2026
https://cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/22656
Talia Vestri