Constructing Educators’ Playographies: Making Meaning Out of Teachers’ Play Experiences

• In Event: AERA Research in Progress Roundtable Session Five
  In Invited Roundtable: Research-in-Progress RT023 (Sunday)

Abstract

This study examines educators' experiences with playing video games and how engaging in this practice affects their identity. Participants create a timeline of their gaming experiences and discuss the meaning of these experiences during semi-structured interviews. Additionally, teachers discuss their experience as educators and beliefs related to the practice of teaching. Using a sociocultural lens, this multiple-case study examines how educators make sense of their gaming and teaching experiences to create educator play biographies, also known as playographies. This research contributes to the limited scholarship on gaming and teacher identity, offering insights into how the practice of playing video games and the associated cultures influence teachers’ identities.

Author

• Raul Figueroa-Rivera, University of Illinois at Chicago