Games for Change 2014

We’re thrilled to be working with our good friends at Games for Change this year as a content partner for the 11th annual Games for Change Festival. We’re particularly proud of the two panels that we’ve curated for Thursday, April 24, featuring some incredible speakers highlighting the innovative work that they are producing.

In our first panel, Remaking Learning: Live from Pittsburgh, we’ll discuss some of the exciting activities that are taking place among the gamers, technologists, artists, teachers, and others who are working across boundaries to create remarkable learning experiences for children and youth both in and out of school. Pittsburgh’s learning innovators, collectively known as the Kids+Creativity Network, have developed a 21st century model to support creative, collaborative, and connected learning opportunities. This talk-show style panel will discuss some of the many ways that Pittsburgh’s interconnectedness is helping to remake learning for our times.  Featuring Dr. Michael Levine, Drew Davidson, Gregg Behr, Cathy Lewis Long, and Michelle King.

Our second panel, Turning Fantasy into Reality: Building Games That Schools Need, will encourage developers hoping to break into the k-12 market to take a close look at the quirks and complexities of how schools operate, as well as what it takes to convince educators that a well-designed learning game is not just a nice add-on to the curriculum, but rather a powerful tool to assess students, personalize learning, and raise academic achievement. This panel will examine just what it takes to turn the fantasy of a game into a successful learning and assessment tool, the most common mistakes developers make, and what opportunities are mostly likely to open up for game developers trying to crack the code of the K-12 marketplace. Featuring Kevin C. Bushweller, Robert Torres, Constance Steinkuehler, and Alan Gershenfeld.

Additionally, on Wednesday evening (4/23), E-Line Media and the Cooney Center are proud to honor the winners of the 2013 National STEM Video Game Challenge at a special award ceremony hosted by Jesse Schell. We’re delighted that many of our winners will be able to join us in New York for the event, and are looking forward to celebrating their achievements!

Buy your tickets now to take advantage of an early bird deal: friends of the Cooney Center can save 20% off General Admission and Nonprofit/Government tickets with the code cooney_g4c14 before April 13.

We’ll see you there!