Pedagodzilla on Tour

In this diary/conference-in-a-pod episode, Mike shares his hot-off-the-press pre and post session reflections, live(ish) from the Playful Learning Conference 2026. Massive thanks again to the committee for a brilliant few days, to all of the presenters for pulling out the stops for a rollercoaster of awesome activity, and to everyone who sat down and had… Continue reading Playful Learning 20...

This is the second Pedagodzilla on Tour visit to the Durham University Postgraduate Researcher Development Conference. This time Mark was also talking to four attendees of the conference. The difference this time is that all four chats have been combined into one bumper episode. The people Mark spoke to were Paul Stafford – Enterprise Manager… Continue reading Durham University PGR Dev...

Welcome to the Playful Learning 2026 Programme-in-a-pod: an audio companion to the conference programme, where Mike Collins chats with some of the speakers, presenters and keynotes to get a vibe for the wild and wonderful sessions delegates can expect. Day three takes us towards the edge of the woods with magical forest alchemy, object-based digital… Continue reading Day Three Playful Learni...

Welcome to the Playful Learning 2026 Programme-in-a-pod: an audio companion to the conference programme, where Mike Collins chats with some of the speakers, presenters and keynotes to get a vibe for the wild and wonderful sessions delegates can expect. Day two heads deeper into the woods with climate choices, AI ethics, floor grids, learning forests,… Continue reading Day Two Playful Learnin...

Welcome to the Playful Learning 2026 Programme-in-a-pod: an audio companion to the conference programme, where Mike Collins chats with some of the speakers, presenters and keynotes to get a vibe for the wild and wonderful sessions delegates can expect. Day one takes us into the woods with long shadows, everyday objects, seriously silly sessions, playful… Continue reading Day One Playful Lear...

This is a series of chats Mark had on Day Two of the RIDL HE conference. He spoke to closing keynote speaker Mia Ridge, VR and digital forensics people Philip Anderson and Craig Clark, PhD candidate and escape room practitioner extraordinaire Rachelle Rawlinson, the real and fictional personae of Peter Bryant, Donna Lanclos and Lawrie… Continue reading RIDL HE Conference Day 2

Here is a compilation of the seven interviews with eight people Mark conducted with participants at the Research in Digital Learning Conference at Northumbria University today (3rd September 2025) https://hosting2.northumbria.ac.uk/ridlhe/ People chatting were Nashwa Ismail, Andrew Middleton, Jane Secker, Chris Morrison, Neil Dixon, Aisla Ingham, Alex Moseley and Susannah Quinsee

In the last of our five episodes (but first to be recorded) Mark talks to Mary Robson, who is the Senior Creative Facilitator in the Institute for Medical Humanities at Durham University and this year’s keynote speaker. Mark and Mary chat about her role and about how creative facilitation can help researchers gather better data… Continue reading PGR Keynote: Creative Facilitation with...

In this episode Mark chats with a Post-Graduate Research student – Katherine. Katherine is investigating students’ literacy and how this relates to different factors. It’s a fascinating topic and also is an insight into the experience of being a Post-Graduate Researcher at Durham. Transcript on the link below

In the third of our podcasts from the PGR conference at Durham, the multi-talented Sarah Dodds, Digital Learning Advisor at the Durham Centre for Academic Development, talks to Mark about her crafting workshops and how she uses quilt-making and other techniques for data physicalisation and how embodying data can personalise and add emotional meaning to… Continue reading Crafting and zining f...

And in the second of our coverage of Durham’s PGR Development conference Mark talked to Chidinma Okorie who is also a Senior Academic Development Manager in the Durham Centre for Academic Development. Her remit is implementing the PROSPER programme at Durham. OK Mark did say it’s the third one in the intro, they’re not being… Continue reading How to PROSPER at the PGR Confe...

This year we’re not at Playful Learning – but Mark did make it to a conference organised by the other Whitton – Pete. Pete Whitton is a Senior Academic Development Manager in the Durham Centre for Academic Development where he leads the Researcher Development Programme. Each year the programme hosts the Durham University’s Post-Graduate Researcher… Continue reading Du...

In this episode of Pedagodzilla, we’re coming to you live (well, sort of) from the final day of the Playful Learning Conference 2024! We’re Mike Collins, senior learning designer at the Open University, joined by Lynn Pilkington, Alex Mosley, and Elliot Spaeth for a lively discussion about all things playful in learning and teaching. We… Continue reading Playful Learning past, present and su...

In this episode from the LDS Link event at the OU Library, we chat with STEM learning designer Paul Astles. Paul takes us through his love of Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, how the film adaptation measures up, and the dark, twisty lessons it offers about identity and perspective. And it doesn’t stop there—Paul brings… Continue reading LDS Linking at The Open University Library – You do...

More from our miniseries at the LDS Link Event in October 2024. In this one, Mark takes up the reins as host while Mike scampers off to eat a very underwhelming sandwich. Mark’s joined by long time friend of the show, Natasha Huckle, who shares her thoughts on The Little Prince, compassion, and Yuval Noah… Continue reading LDS Linking at The Open University Library – The Little P...

Who likes on tour minis? WE LIKE ON TOUR MINIS. We set up our cosy little podcast booth at the Open University library for the LDS Link event – replete with a health and safety nightmare of tangled and trailing wires and trip hazards. Fabulous. In this episode Mike is joined by James Davies, fan… Continue reading LDS Linking at the Open University Library – East of Eden, and Trav...

It’s another of our LDS Link event minis! We’re cosily ensconced in the larverly Open University Library, with members of one of the days highlights, the AI panel! Mike is joined by Mirjam Hauck, Aisling Third and Michel Wermelinger, where we chat AI in education, how it might not result in a dystopian techmare, and… Continue reading LDS Linking at the Open University Library &#8...

It’s another of our LDS Link event minis, where we set up a cosy little booth in the Open University Library, and nabbed passers by to talk about books we love, and how we learn from books. In this episode Mike is joined by the fabulous Daphne Chang and Steve Stiles. Again, you might hear… Continue reading LDS Linking at the OU Library – Lord of the flies, and Frankenstein

It’s another of our on-tour minis at the Open University Library, for the LDS Link event! In this episode we’re joined by the event’s keynote speaker, Kieron Bryan – an OU student with an amazing experience of life changing learning. You can find Kieron via his socials at: https://www.instagram.com/themountainofdreamsproject/

It’s some more on-tour minis! Join us at the Open University LDS Link event, where we’ve ensconced ourselves in the much beloved OU library to talk about books, and how we can learn about them. In this episode, Mike is joined by his fabulous colleagues Mark Williams and Eleanor Moore. It’s the start of the… Continue reading LDS Linking at the OU Library – All the ligh...

Back in May, to launch our lovely new book we bimbled down to Aberystwyth for a few days to visit our fab friend Mary Jacob, meet some of the fab students and edu-professionals there, and have a couple of days of pedagogic podcasting. You may have already heard the live show over on our main… Continue reading Takeover special – The Unbearable Lightness of Being in Aberystwyth: How does...

It’s day 3 of the conference! Well not anymore, it’s now about 4.30am after day 3 of the conference – but Simon, the newest member of the zilla family did an absolutely stonking job of getting the edit ready to go out before midnight. Mike, the man with the publishing button…fell asleep… So, join us… Continue reading Pedagodzilla at Playful Learning 2024 Day 3 C...

Our Playful Learning Conference coverage of day 2. Plus! Emma Bearman! Tina Burton! Jane Secker! And the three members of the Pedagodzilla team reflect on what they have seen with their own eyes. What more could you want?

It’s before midnight so it’s still technically day 1 coverage! Join us, and the fabulous Playful Platypus Kacaaaw! In coverage, reflections and takeaways from Day 1 of the Playful Learning Conference.

When is something so late that it becomes almost timely? When you record a ‘conference first timers’ special with the esteemed Puiyin Wong and then don’t actually get around to editing it until just before next years conference. So this has turned from a little reflective piece on Playful Learning 2023, into a little primer… Continue reading Playful Learning First timers ft...