Class Schedule (by date)

24 Aug (W):

The reading for 8/29 is now online   [Announcement]
Introduction   [Meeting]

29 Aug (M):

The Illustrated Guide to Blogging   [Help/Handout]
The syllabus   [Web Reading]
Why Study Play?   [Online Class Reader]
Bring a playful technology to class on 8/31   [Announcement]
Post a test entry to your blog by 8/31   [Announcement]
The blogs page is now up   [Announcement]
Playful Technologies   [Meeting]
PART I: Theories of Play
  [Major Section Begins]

31 Aug (W):

Your first blog post is due 9/7   [Announcement]
There is no class on 9/5 (Labor Day)   [Announcement]
Writing Requirements and Expectations   [Help/Handout]
Rhetorics of Animal Progress   [Textbook]
Play in Animals   [Meeting]

5 Sep (M):

Labor Day (NO CLASS)   [Note]

7 Sep (W):

Your second blog post is due 9/12   [Announcement]
Children's Play Handout (in-class exercise)   [Help/Handout]
Is your play educational?   [Assignment]
Rhetorics of Child Play   [Textbook]
Play as Development   [Meeting]

12 Sep (M):

Why are things called "play"?   [Assignment]
Rhetorics of Fate   [Textbook]
Play as Fate/Chance, Play as Power   [Meeting]

14 Sep (W):

Your third blog post is due 9/19   [Announcement]
Rhetorics of Identity   [Textbook]
Play as Identity   [Meeting]

19 Sep (M):

How are media audiences playing?   [Assignment]
Rhetorics of the Imaginary   [Textbook]
Play as Fantasy   [Meeting]

21 Sep (W):

Your fourth blog post is due 9/26   [Announcement]
Rhetorics of Self   [Textbook]
Play as Self-Fulfillment   [Meeting]

26 Sep (M):

Can play theory help designers?   [Assignment]
Rhetorics of Frivolity   [Textbook]
Play as Nonsense   [Meeting]

28 Sep (W):

Your fifth blog post is due 10/3   [Announcement]
Spacewar   [Web Reading]
All But War is Simulation   [Web Reading]
Selected History of Play and Games   [Meeting]
PART II: Settings & Consequences
  [Major Section Begins]

3 Oct (M):

Your fieldwork write-up is due 10/10   [Announcement]
There is no class on 10/5 (for fieldwork)   [Announcement]
All fieldwork posts must contain a link to this page   [Announcement]
Fieldwork Guidelines   [Help/Handout]
Fieldwork Assent Form (Minors)   [Help/Handout]
Fieldwork Consent Form (Adults)   [Help/Handout]
Posting an image in a Blog Entry   [Help/Handout]
Explain your aggression, violence, and militarism.   [Assignment]
Immortal Kombat   [Online Class Reader]
Violence and Play   [Meeting]

5 Oct (W):

FIELDWORK DAY (NO CLASS)   [Meeting]

10 Oct (M):

First Fieldwork Write-Up   [Assignment]
Cognition Bingo (in-class exercise)   [Help/Handout]
Intrinsically Motivating Instruction   [Online Class Reader]
On Wed 10/12 class will meet in G8A FLB   [Announcement]
Project Prospectus Deadline EXTENDED to 10/24   [Announcement]
Motivation and Play   [Meeting]

12 Oct (W):

Be sure to try out your Segue space (see 10/12)   [Announcement]
The Projects Page is now online   [Announcement]
Your seventh blog post is due 10/17   [Announcement]
Project Elements Menu   [Help/Handout]
How to Use Segue to Publish Your Project   [Help/Handout]
Playful Technology Conceptual Design Project   [Help/Handout]
Games and the Cognitive System   [Online Class Reader]
Cognition and Play   [Meeting]

17 Oct (M):

Seventh blog deadline extended to 10/19   [Announcement]
The Cognitive Neuroscientist Video Game Critic   [Assignment]
Players Who Suit MUDs   [Web Reading]
Design of Playful Technologies   [Meeting]

19 Oct (W):

Post your project prospectus as a blog entry   [Announcement]
Your project prospectus is due 10/24   [Announcement]
The projects page has been updated   [Announcement]
Grading Rubric for Project Work   [Help/Handout]
The Iterative Design Process   [Web Reading]
Design Part II   [Meeting]

24 Oct (M):

PROJECT PROSPECTUS DUE   [Deadline]
Online Gaming Culture   [Web Reading]
Chess for Girls?   [Online Class Reader]
Gender and Play   [Meeting]

26 Oct (W):

Your ninth blog post is due 10/31   [Announcement]
Office hours are cancelled for 10/26   [Announcement]
Commercial Gambling   [Online Class Reader]
The Players   [Web Reading]
Gambling as Play   [Meeting]

31 Oct (M):

Imaginary World Designer   [Assignment]
The Unreal Estate Boom   [Web Reading]
Virtual Worlds   [Web Reading]
A Rape in Cyberspace   [Web Reading]
Online Worlds and Play   [Meeting]

2 Nov (W):

Your tenth blog post is due 11/07   [Announcement]
The Illustrated Guide to Commenting on Blogs   [Help/Handout]
The panel of judges has been appointed   [Announcement]
The projects page has been updated   [Announcement]
The Semiotics of SimCity   [Web Reading]
The Triumph of Tinkering   [Online Class Reader]
Games as the Play of Simulation   [Online Class Reader]
Simulation and Play   [Meeting]

7 Nov (M):

The judges page has been updated with more judges   [Announcement]
Finding Outside Sources for Your Project   [Help/Handout]
On Wed 11/9 class will meet in G8A FLB   [Announcement]
Peer-Review a Playful Technology Proposal   [Assignment]
Parasitic Interventions   [Web Reading]
Subversion and Play   [Meeting]

9 Nov (W):

Project V. 1 is due on Monday 11/14   [Announcement]
There is no blog post due Monday   [Announcement]
How to Enable Your Project to be Graded in Segue   [Help/Handout]
The Right to Play   [Web Reading]
Clones, Bones, and Twilight Zones   [Web Reading]
Playful Technology and the Law   [Meeting]

14 Nov (M):

On Wed 11/16 we will take our field trip   [Announcement]
presentation times are on the schedule (11/28-12/5)   [Announcement]
presentation info was passed out on 11/14   [Announcement]
Presentation Requirements   [Help/Handout]
PROJECT V. 1 DUE   [Deadline]
Coin-Op: The Life   [Online Class Reader]
Industrial Organization and Play   [Meeting]

16 Nov (W):

Project presentations start Monday, 11/28   [Announcement]
There is no blog post due Monday   [Announcement]
Photos from the field trip are now online   [Announcement]
Field Trip: Volition   [Meeting]

21 Nov (M):

Thanksgiving (NO CLASS)   [Note]

23 Nov (W):

Thanksgiving (NO CLASS)   [Note]

28 Nov (M):

Presentations I   [Meeting]
PART III: Our Contribution
  [Major Section Begins]

30 Nov (W):

Presentations II   [Meeting]

5 Dec (M):

Presentations III   [Meeting]

7 Dec (W):

"Free" outside reading on Simulation: 11/02   [Announcement]
Turn in consent forms to 244 Lincoln Hall
   (ask for the instructor's mailbox)   [Announcement]
Good luck on V. 2 of your projects   [Announcement]
Reprise and Conclusion   [Meeting]

12 Dec (M):

Congratulations to winners of Project Awards!   [Announcement]
PROJECT V. 2 DUE (NO CLASS)   [Deadline]