Orientation, Seminar, Training or Workshop
Nov 10, 2025: 11:30 am - 1:00 pm
Leyburn 119
From Soliciting Groans to becoming the GOAT [greatest of all time]: Partnering with AI to Gamify Dry Curricular Content
The blank stare—the dreaded response to essential, though often dry, curricular content—ripples across the disciplines. Whether reviewing a syllabus or introducing abstruse theory, such moments challenge instructors striving for engagement. Gamification, or “the use of game design elements in non-game contexts,” offers a powerful pedagogical strategy for addressing these instructional hurdles, with research showing positive impacts on “learning-related behaviors or attitudes” such as motivation and engagement.
However, designing meaningful gamified experiences often demands substantial time, planning, and expertise. This is where AI can step in. In this session, librarians Jenny Carlos, Emily Cook, and Amira Walker synthesize current scholarship on pedagogical gamification while offering practical strategies for engineering AI prompts that support gamified instruction. Examples of this pedAIgogical partnership include brainstorming game elements for a particular topic, developing web-based learning games, or collaborating with AI to curate riddles for instructional scavenger hunts.
In this hands-on portion of this session, participants will identify a personal instructional hurdle and collaborate with their AI tool of choice to design a gamified learning experience.
Lunch will be provided. To ensure catering receives the correct number of attendees, please sign up for this event by October 25, 2025. https://bit.ly/AIwithHarte
Presenters: Jenny Carlos, Emily Cook, and Amira Walker