Faculty experiences using game pedagogies with students entering college during the pandemic

Prompted by growing interest in engaging, student-centered learning experiences, this research investigates the experiences of undergraduate faculty members who use game pedagogies in their courses and how those experiences intersect with students impacted by the COVID-19 global pandemic. Guided by transformative learning theory, this phenomenological study seeks to understand how faculty and student perceptions shifted when experiencing game pedagogies, especially throughout and after the unprecedented disruptions created by the pandemic. The researcher collected data from faculty members who used game pedagogies at four-year undergraduate institutions during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The study examined how instructors used game pedagogies and the impacts they perceived on student motivation, engagement, and learning, especially in a post-COVID-19 environment. It also investigates how an instructor's understanding of learning developed through both the use of game pedagogies and the impacts of the pandemic. The researcher conducted semi-structured interviews with five faculty members from four-year institutions, each participating in two separate 60-minute interviews. The themes from the data were split between two major categories: Game Pedagogies and COVID Impacts. The four Game Pedagogies themes were a) Identity Affinity; b) Engaging Learning; c) Learner Development; and d) Implementation Challenges. The four COVID Impacts themes were a) Engagement Shift; b) Remote Learning; c) Human Impacts; and d) Long-term Impacts. The findings of this study contribute to a deeper understanding of how games can serve as meaningful educational methods through their low-stakes, collaborative, and student-focused learning opportunities. Those findings are: a) games pedagogies resonated with faculty members’ personal pedagogical philosophies; b) game pedagogies are highly effective and engaging educational methods irrespective of and beyond the pandemic; c) faculty members can use game pedagogies to foster holistic student development; d) the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on students were contained to a few cohorts; e) COVID-19 created a forced opportunity for faculty to undergo pedagogical enhancements, with benefits extending beyond the pandemic; and f) game pedagogies are conducive to creating transformational learning. This research also speaks to faculty and student experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact it had on higher education classrooms, and the implications of the disruption. Finally, it offers a contribution to the evolving landscape of higher education, highlighting the potential of game pedagogies to facilitate transformative learning experiences, before and after the pandemic.