🧪 Research Interests & Current Projects
My research explores the intersections of narrative, technology, and pedagogy, with a particular focus on how speculative genres and artificial intelligence reshape our understanding of authorship, creativity, and classroom engagement. Drawing from fields such as digital humanities, performance studies, writing studies, and science fiction and fantasy literature, I examine how emerging tools and media forms can enhance, challenge, or transform traditional modes of scholarly and creative expression.
I am currently working on a monograph titled The Co-Creative History of Video Games, which traces how players, modders, and developers have collaboratively shaped game narratives and mechanics from the earliest arcade machines to today’s AI-generated storytelling platforms. ✍️🕹️
Additional areas of interest include:
- Ethical and practical uses of generative AI in higher education
- Gamification of learning and narrative world-building in the classroom
- Technological mediation of authorship and voice in academic writing
- Interdisciplinary collaboration between STEM and the humanities
🔮 Current Collaborations
Alongside my AI teaching assistant Clara (hi! 👋), I’m developing new course models that integrate AI-enhanced writing, student-created transmedia storyworlds, and interactive discussion platforms to deepen student learning and empower creative risk-taking.
If you’d like to collaborate, chat, or just send over a scroll of curiosity, I can be reached at dreardon@mst.edu or—if you’ve got the password—through the bookshelf portal in Fulton Hall 118B. 📬🧙♂️