Episode 16: Games and Activities You Can Use to Break Up Your Lectures, Promote Play, and Encourage Connection with Mark Collard

by Barbi Honeycutt, Ph.D.

lecture breakers podcast teaching, learning, and using games and activities in the classroom

Description: For those of you who have been saying, “Barbi, I’m all in, I get it, I am breaking up my lectures….BUT, I need more ideas! I need more ways to mix things up!” This is the episode for you!

My guest for episode 16 of the Lecture Breakers podcast is Mark Collard. Mark is an experiential educator, speaker, author, and business owner. He’s the genius behind a professional development business called playmeo.

One of playmeo's most popular tools an innovative online platform of resources that will teach you how to lead fun, experiential games, activities, and learning experiences that help people interact, share and connect.

His searchable database includes more than 400 ideas you can use to break up your lectures, workshops, and conference sessions.

In this episode, I ask Mark to give us ideas for 4 different scenarios that we encounter in a course:

1. Ideas for the beginning or start of something such as the beginning of the semester or the start of a new project.

2. Ideas for debriefing and reflection activities.

3. Ideas to promote problem-solving and critical thinking.

4. Ideas to build trust.

We also talk about how to work with students who are unwilling, resistant, or hesitant to participate, and why the concepts of “play” and “flow” are so important in any learning environment.

Be sure to listen to the end – Mark has an awesome offer for Lecture Breakers listeners, so you don’t want to miss it!

This is a jam-packed episode, so grab a pen and paper or get your laptop ready because you’re going to want to take notes for this one!

Memorable Quotes:

"The stronger the connections, the more you can amplify whatever you're trying to get done."

"Inviting people to play leads to healthy levels of interaction, which provides opportunities for sharing, and only at that point do you have the opportunity to build trust which of course then builds growth."

"If you jump in too early and ask for too much, that's when people pull back from participating."

"When flow is present, it's hard to pretend."

"When you meet resistance, stop pushing. Try a different strategy. Do something different."

Show Notes: (listed in the order the resource was mentioned on the show)

Listen to the Lecture Breakers podcast episode #3 with Chad Littlefield.
Learn more about playmeo and try the searchable database of more than 400 group games and activities.
Download the playmeo free app
Get Mark's books which include activities, games, and ideas you can use to engage your learners.
Learn more about the We! Connect cards featured in this episode and in episode 3 with Chad Littlefield.
Sign up for a playmeo annual plan (individual and enterprise levels available). You can save 30% on any plan using the code BREAKERS.
Read more about my group resume activity as another way to get students to connect with each other as they prepare for group work.
Figure out what we have in common! Here's Mark list. Here's my list. Share your list! Post a link in the comments or share it in the Facebook group!
Join the free Lecture Breakers Facebook group.
Don't miss an episode! Be sure to subscribe to the show!

(And here's my picture of the eight 4-leaf-clovers I found in my yard in less than 5 minutes!)

Transcript:

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