Newman University Professor of History and Chair of the Division of Humanities Kelly McFall is now a member of the Reacting to the Past Consortium Board. The board oversees all aspects of Reacting to the Past — from publishing to marketing to vision and policy.
Reacting to the Past consists of elaborate games, set in the past, in which students are assigned roles informed by classic texts in the history of ideas, according to its website.
“The consortium is a network of schools and individuals across the country that have joined forces to try and increase Reacting’s presence across college and university curricula,” McFall explained. “I’ve served on the Reacting Editorial Board — which is more specifically charged with shepherding the writing and development of new games — for three or four years and am now on the national board.”
He added, “To put things in more practical terms, we’re trying to secure Reacting’s financial position, trying to increase the resources available to faculty who teach with it, and trying to make more and more faculty aware of Reacting as a way to teach.”
As part of his three-year term, he will share responsibility with the other board members to provide a vision for the future of Reacting to the Past, increase membership and awareness of the pedagogy, continue the relationship with the publisher, and, in general, shepherd Reacting into the future.
McFall is also the chair of the planning committee for the Game Development Conference (hosted by Newman in 2017).
“This is all in service of what’s most important,” he added, “which is creating and perfecting new ways of teaching that prepare students to flourish in the complicated world of the 21st century.”
Check out this video, which explains how students use Reacting in the classroom.
