Category Archives: Conferences and Community Events

Today, E-Line Media and the Institute of Play are launching Gamestar Mechanic, a game-based learning platform that teaches the principles of game design as a form of 21st Century skill building in a highly engaging and creative environment. Gamestar Mechanic was created through a unique public private partnership that includes leading foundations, non-profits, academia and the game industry. Development of the game was initially funded through a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to the Institute…

Last Wednesday, September 15th, Gary Goldberger presented his most recent projects to a packed audience at Teachers College, Columbia University. Gary is President and Co-Founder of FableVision – a transmedia “social change agency” dedicated to helping all learners reach their full potential.  Women in Children’s Media sponsored the talk, and the audience included both students and professionals in the children’s television and digital industries.   Gary has an enthusiasm for art and creativity not often seen in the educational media…

Applications for our November 2010 Mobile Design Boostare closing this Friday – September 24. We will select up to 15 3-4 person entrepreneurial teams to participate in the Boost. Developed in conjunction with IDEO, the Mobile Design Boost is a four day building, hacking, business and human centered design immersion taking place in San Francisco, November 11-14, 2010. There is no cost for the program itself, applicants just need to cover their travel and lodging costs. The application deadline is…

On September 7, the Department and the National Education Association (NEA) Foundation launched a new program, along with the US Department of Education, for teachers to identify and solve education’s most pressing classroom challenges. “Challenge to Innovate” (C2i) enlists teachers to think creatively and implement innovative classroom ideas. C2i also recognizes the urgency of improvement by providing a new model that moves rapidly from idea conception to implementation and evaluation, while simultaneously supplying critical support to educators. Educator ideas are…

Afterschool Matters, a national, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to promoting professionalism, scholarship and consciousness in the field of afterschool education, is seeking material for the Fall 2011 issue. Published by the National Institute on Out-of-School Time with support from the Robert Bowne Foundation, the journal serves those involved in developing and running programs for youth during the out-of-school time hours, in addition to those engaged in research and in shaping youth development policy. Afterschool Matters seeks scholarly work, from a variety…

Did you catch Michael H. Levine’s TEDxAtlanta speech back in May? In light of the fact that the event was entitled “Re: Learn” we thought it deserved a second look. In his eighteen minute talk, Michael shares three powerful trends in digital media that are revolutionizing learning. View his speech here.   Michael’s reflections: The TEDxAtlanta experience was a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate how communities can mobilize to translate innovation research, and new designs for learning into action. Convened by the leading…

June 15, 2010 Last week, the University of Wisconsin-Madison hosted their 6th annual Games+Learning+Society Conference. Here’s a great week wrap-up by the contributors at UW-Madison’s Antenna: Report from GLS 6.0. This year included special side events, such as Academic Fest day for Ed Tech folks, an Educator Symposium, and a Mobile Learning Summit. Keynote speakers included the always awesome Kurt Squire, Henry Jenkins, and David Wiley, Ph.D.

May 2010: This year’s San Francisco Game Developers Conference, the largest annual game developers conference in the world, was marked by a notable focus on player-centered and social game play experiences. These trends began gaining momentum in years’ past, but with the breakthrough success of games such as Farmville on social networks like Facebook, the emphasis on player-centered design and social game play rang loud and clear in 2010. Game makers are tapping into the wealth of content and behaviors…

March 2010 Guest post from Jeanne Wellings, a Research Specialist in the Florida school system   Innovation Unique to Education Keynote speaker, Larry Keeley from Doblin, Inc., described the essential elements of transformative commercial innovations and explained how those elements are needed to revolutionize education. In a slideshow presentation, Keeley noted that innovation in education is currently different than other industries. He said educational innovations happen more slowly and in isolation; educators are slow to adopt new, best practices; few…

Reprinted from the February 2010 Cooney Center Bits Newsletter: The Cooney Center kicked off 2010 with the 3rd annual Consumer Electronics Show Kids@Play Summit in Las Vegas on January 8. The jam-packed agenda included an announcement by the Cooney Center that our Prizes for Innovation in Children’s Learning are now open for submissions. White House executives, including FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and Department of Education Director of Technology Karen Cator delivered remarks. Panels included a mix of industry, public media,…