Professors at Play with Lisa Forbes and David Thomas

Welcome to Episode 67 of the Think UDL podcast: Professors at Play with Lisa Forbes and David Thomas. Lisa Forbes is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Counseling Program at the University of Colorado, Denver, and David Thomas is the Executive Director for Online Programs at the University of Denver. Together they are the Co-Founders of Professors at Play, a group of Higher Education instructors who incorporate play and playfulness into their teaching and their courses. In today’s episode, I talk with Lisa and David about how we as instructors can infuse play and playfulness into our college courses and what benefits this might bring. This leads us to discuss creating communities of trust and building relationships with students, what skills are learned through play, and how vulnerability, laughter, joy, novelty, anxiety, fear, stress, and feelings of belonging and connection all play out within a course and how these feelings can be mitigated through play. Thank you for playing along at home as you listen to this conversation about engaging students through play!