Dr Sarah Olive of Aston University and Professor Erin Sullivan of the Shakespeare Institute at the University of Birmingham have received £590,000 from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to study how video games can help teach Shakespeare.
According to the universities, The Shakespeare Arcade will be the first large-scale investigation of its kind. The team will begin by surveying existing Shakespeare-inspired games, from homemade microgames to commercial indie titles, and analysing which plays have been adapted and how.
The findings will be shared on an open-access digital platform with guidance on each game. Working with the English Association and the National Association for the Teaching of English (NATE), the project will recruit teachers to trial games in class and study their effect on pupils’ motivation and learning.
This will lead to free lesson plans for Key Stages 3 and 4, when UK pupils most commonly study Shakespeare. The researchers note that English Literature A-level enrolments are falling.
