Here are some upcoming events that we think will be of interest to our readers. If you would like to submit an event to be listed here, please contact us.
<a href="https://joanganzcooneycenter.org/events/">Past Events</a> › Community
The 2025 Digital Media and Developing Minds International Scientific Congress is an interdisciplinary convening that will bring together researchers, clinicians, educators, government agency representatives, and others with expertise in child development, psychology, psychiatry, neuroscience, pediatrics, communications, social work, public health, education, human-computer interaction and more to explore how digital media use impacts the social, psychological, cognitive, behavioral, and physical development of children and adolescents. Join the Joan Ganz Cooney Center team at the following sessions: Guinea Pigs or Pioneers? The Risks…
Join the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at the Games for Change 2025 Festival on Friday, June 27 for a workshop on creating games that promote children's well-being. Hear how Fred Rogers Productions, Killer Snails, University of Oregon, Tiny Docs and Quest Craft are incorporating well-being by design into their games. Participants will then have a chance to 'play' with the ideas! Fri, Jun 27, 2025 11:00am - 12:30 pm Speakers include: Noelle Posadas Shang, Design Director, Killer Snails Michael Preston…
Michael Preston and Medha Tare will participate in an upcoming Edtech Insiders webinar on June 13, 225 at 12pm - 1pm ET. Co-design has become a buzzword in edtech—but what does it really take to make it work in practice? Join us for a candid conversation with leading experts who have successfully embedded co-design into their product development cycles. We’ll explore how to move beyond surface-level engagement to authentic collaboration with educators and learners—without breaking the bank or slowing down…
Breaking Through Silos: Apply Your Research across Media, Tech, Homes, and Classrooms Imagine your research becoming a driving force for education transformation. Imagine breaking out of purely academic spaces and attracting the interest of leaders in schools and education systems, media and tech development companies, and social-impact organizations. What would it take to develop a career that brings you into cross-sector collaboration with talented people from diverse perspectives, all of whom are motivated to give more children opportunities to learn…
This webinar celebrates children’s rights in the era of AI. It brings together leading experts in the field of Artificial Intelligence and Children’s Rights to discuss the latest advancements, ethical considerations, policy initiatives, practices and future directions with a focus on children’s inclusion. This webinar emphasizes the need for multi-stakeholder discussion and invites experts from academia, industry and policy while a panel of young people will contribute their perspective. This webinar will celebrate participation from the Global South trying to…
On Wednesday, September 18, New America hosts the biennial summit of the Learning Sciences Exchange (LSX) in Washington, DC. The Joan Ganz Cooney Center's Senior Director of Research Medha Tare is a former LSX Fellow, and will participate on a panel about co-design with parents and teachers. Registration for the full-day, hybrid event is free. Learn more and register here.
We are thrilled to be heading to Madison for the Play Make Learn conference from July 17-19, 2024. Please join us for a panel where we will discuss our Well-Being by Design Fellowship, a professional development program for designers and producers of interactive kids’ technology and media to center children's well-being in their products. Our goal is to develop a supportive ecosystem that encourages tech and media creators to design with children’s best interests in mind, ultimately fostering a safer,…
We’re so excited for the Games for Change Festival in just a few weeks! This amazing event is back at Parsons in NYC from June 27-28. We can’t wait to talk about the Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children (RITEC) initiative and the forthcoming Design Guide for Business with our colleagues from UNICEF and the LEGO Group. On Friday, June 28, join Shuli Gilutz, Ph.D. for a keynote talk on the Main Stage at 10:00 AM: Designing for Well-being in Digital Play - It's possible!…
The Cooney Center and the NYU Create Lab are organizing an afternoon of learning and play on June 26 at the NYU Create Lab in Brooklyn. We will dive into the findings from new research from the Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children Initiative (RITEC), which looks at how digital design choices impact the well-being of kids, and explore how to apply these insights in a business environment. Shuli Gilutz from UNICEF will introduce the RITEC project and why it is…
Come join us at the Digital Parenthood Summit (June 4th from 9:30-3 at the Times Center in NYC), for a day of thoughtful conversation about raising the connected generation. This free event features top parenting and mental health experts, including Dr. Becky Kennedy, Dr. Alfiee Breland-Noble, Dr. Aliza Pressman, and a live podcast with Dr. Lisa Damour. Dive into hot topics like social media and youth mental health, cyberbullying, and phones in schools. We’ll also be joined by producer, entrepreneur…
Harmonizing Multiplayer Experiences Location: Room 209, South Hall Date: Monday, March 18 Time: 9:00 am - 12:00 pm Natasha Miller (Senior Research Scientist II, Blizzard Entertainment) Kimberly Voll (CEO, Brace Yourself Games) Weszt Hart (Head of Player Dynamics, Riot Games) Michael Preston (Executive Director, Joan Ganz Cooney Center, Sesame Workshop) Sarah Jacobstein (Project Manager, Joan Ganz Cooney Center, Sesame Workshop) The Cooney Center is delighted to join the Fair Play Alliance at GDC this year to present a workshop as part of the Fair…
Please join us in Austin for SXSW 2024! March 10, 2024 2:30-3:30 pm | JW Marriott Salon 6 Can we create online spaces that foster positive behaviors and social experiences that teach users the skills they need to create strong and resilient connections that help them thrive? Video games and social media have been at the center of debates about mental health and a myriad of social issues, but not all digital experiences are created equal. We'll talk about how…
March 7, 2024 Austin Convention Center Room 12AB The current edtech market is full of products that claim to fulfill lesson plans and make assessment easier for teachers. But what if, in addition to helping kids master important concepts, digital products could make learning truly impactful, and help diverse students and teachers feel empowered and engaged? We’ll talk about how we can bring kids and teachers into the design process in order to create kid-centered products that students enjoy using.…
The FOSI Annual Conference gathers experts in Washington, DC to debate topics such as content moderation, privacy policies and practices, digital wellbeing, and more. This year's program features research around critical issues such as AI, and practical approaches to ethics, safety, and parenting in the online space. Senior Director of Research Medha Tare on a panel moderated by Richard Culatta (ISTE), with Megan Fromm (NAMLE), Matthew Johnson (MediaSmarts), and Gwen Oldham (AT&T) at 1:10 pm: Media, Digital, and Social Emotional…
What’s the secret to creating digital media products for kids that makes learning engaging and fun? We’ve found that including kids throughout the design process has many benefits: it empowers kids who find that their opinions are valued; designers gain a fresh perspective from the audience they’re creating for; and the product itself is often more impactful as a result. On Wednesday, September 27, the Cooney Center hosted a webinar to discuss the Cooney Center Sandbox with some of our…
The 9th annual ED Games Expo will occur in Washington, DC, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts REACH on Wednesday, September 20 and Thursday, September 21, 2023. The ED Games Expo is designed to provide an engaging and meaningful experience for children, students, parents and caregivers, educators, and all stakeholders interested in learning about emerging forms of education-related technologies and the government programs that support EdTech innovation and research. There is no cost to attend the…
In October 2022, The Nation’s Report Card revealed that fourth- and eighth-grade students assessed in the 2021-22 school year experienced the largest declines in mathematics performance in the program’s history. These national declines highlight the unprecedented learning crisis facing students following the COVID-19 pandemic. Even before the pandemic, gaps in mathematics achievement of students with the highest and lowest performance were already widening. In September 2023, the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and the Institute of Education Sciences…
Getting kids back in the classroom this Fall means tackling tech use from many different angles. In the coming months, parents will be contending with how to balance the extra screen time needed for homework, helping kids navigate complex social dynamics online, and striving to teach them what good behavior looks like by example. Additionally, both parents and kids are learning about generative AI in real time, and how these brand new technologies will impact academics and learning as well…
On Thursday, September 14, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) and the XR Association present the third annual AR/VR Policy Conference in Washington, DC. The event will feature a series of expert talks and panels discussing critical policy questions covering privacy and safety, the use of AR/VR in education, children and teenager safety, and more. Panel #4: Back to School in the Metaverse (2:25 PM ET) As AR/VR technology becomes a valuable tool for educational purposes, developers and educators…
Panel: Designing Digital Play for Well-Being at Games for Change 2023 July 18, 2023 at 1:45pm The Times Center | Main Stage How do we define well-being in a digital world and what does it mean to thrive? How can developers incorporate diverse perspectives into game design to benefit players from different backgrounds around the world? How can we balance responsible design with business pressures? How can we empower game designers to embed designing for well-being and digital thriving into…
The 22nd annual ACM Interaction Design and Children (IDC) Conference will be held on June 19-23, 2023 at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. IDC is the premier international conference for researchers, educators, and practitioners to share the latest research findings, innovative methodologies, and new technologies in the areas of inclusive child-centered design, learning, and interaction. This year's theme is "Rediscovering Childhood." Senior Director of Research Medha Tare will participate in an industry panel discussion chaired by Bill Shribman, with Felix…
What does well-being for children in the digital age look like? A growing movement acknowledges that it’s not enough to worry about technology’s potential harm to children; it is time to be more intentional about designing for positive outcomes. How can we design digital experiences that allow children to learn emotional regulation, develop competence and creativity, feel empowered and self-actualized, and connect with others in a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment while keeping them safe? We will discuss recent research…
The Joan Ganz Cooney Center is thrilled to participate in two sessions at SXSW 2023 this March. If you're in Austin, we invite you to join us at the JW Marriott on March 10 and 11th. Designing Tech for Children's Well-Being There has been a great deal of conversation about technology’s potential harms for children. But what does well-being for children in the digital age look like? Can we design digital experiences that allow children to learn emotional regulation, develop…
The National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) and The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop are teaming up to host a webinar and Facebook Live Event with adult and youth experts for Safer Internet Day on Tuesday, February 7, 2023 (4:00 pm - 5:30 pm EST). “From Surviving To Thriving In A Digital World: A Safer Internet Day Chat” will be a conversation about the importance of designing online experiences with kids’ well-being in mind, including providing insights…
This year's FOSI conference convenes the best online safety thinkers, practitioners, and experts from around the world for high-level discussions and debates, engaging networking opportunities, and a first-class exhibition of online safety technologies, products, and services. Attendees will have the chance to explore topics such as content moderation, privacy policies and practices, safety in the metaverse, digital wellbeing, and much more. Cooney Center Executive Director Michael Preston will speak at a morning breakout session at 11:30am, "Inside a Child's Mind:…
Join Children’s Media Association, the LEGO Group, the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, and NAMLE for an interactive virtual session where we will investigate the questions: what is children's digital well-being? why is it important? and how can we all build towards it? We’ll share new research and plans from the Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children (RITEC) initiative and hear from experts in child development, gaming—and you! Let's explore how we can all play a role in building a better digital…
The NETA Conference is dedicated to providing public media professionals with meaningful and relevant connections to the people and ideas that are at the heart of our mission to educate, engage, and entertain. This year's event is a hybrid conference, taking place September 18-22, 2022, in Charlotte, NC and online. The Cooney Center is pleased to present "A Seat at the Table for Tweens and Tweens in Public Media: Lessons from Established Youth Programs," featuring some early results from a…
Please join the Children’s Media Association of the Bay Area and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center for a one-hour virtual event featuring the Playtest with Kids toolkit. The free interactive resource features methods and case studies to help teams get actionable insights when playtesting their products with children. We’ll talk with experts who will share what they’ve learned about how to effectively gather insights from kids (including remotely!) and how playtesting has impacted their product design. Come prepared to learn and to ask questions! Thursday, September 8,…
All Tech Is Human and the Australian Embassy in DC are teaming up for a mixer + panel gathering for researchers, designers, advocates, technologists, academics, and more that are working at the intersection of technology, wellbeing, and youth. This will be a 2-hour panel + mixer for 75 org leaders, researchers, youth advocates, Trust & Safety professionals, academics, designers, entrepreneurs, and more! Speakers include the Cooney Center's Senior Director of Research Medha Tare, PhD, Zoom's Counsel on the Trust &…
For nearly two decades, the Games for Change Festival has been a destination for developers, educators, researchers, students, and other game-changers who want to make an impact through video games or immersive media. This year, the Festival is back in person in New York City on July 13-14, and then online from July 15-16. Please join the Cooney Center for our panel on XR and learning! XR’s Potential for Student-Centered Learning Date: Thursday, July 14 Session Time: 1:45 PM -…
Dust or Magic Asimolar is an opportunity for participants to catch up on the current state of children’s media, in one of the most beautiful locations in the world by way of talks, laser critiques and demos. Dust or Magic has a long tradition of deep dive conversations and honest critiques in a commercial-free setting. Participants leave with a sense of where things have been, and where they are going framed in child development theory. Watch this overview video from…
Each year, the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting is the world's largest gathering of education researchers and a showcase for groundbreaking, innovative studies in an array of areas. The 2022 Annual Meeting is a dual-component conference with sessions offered on-site in San Diego, CA, and other sessions offered on a virtual platform. This year's meeting theme is "Cultivating Equitable Education Systems for the 21st Century." The conference will take place Thursday, April 21 – Tuesday, April 26 in San…
Started in 2010 with a collaboration between Arizona State University (ASU) and Global Silicon Valley (GSV), the annual ASU+ GSV Summit connects leading minds focused on transforming society and business around learning and work. Their north star is that ALL people have equal access to the future. The Joan Ganz Cooney Center and Sesame Workshop are presenting a number of sessions: TIP OF THE SPEAR: EARLY CHILDHOOD (IN PARTNERSHIP WITH SESAME WORKSHOP) TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2022 11:00 am - 11:40…
The IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (IEEE VR) is the premier international event for the presentation of research results in the broad areas of virtual, augmented, and mixed reality (VR/AR/XR). Since 1993, IEEE VR has presented groundbreaking research and accomplishments by virtual reality pioneers: scientists, engineers, designers, and artists, paving the way for the future. This event will be held entirely virtually from March 12th-16th. To register, click here.
Learning at Home While Under-Connected: Lower-Income Families During the COVID-19 Pandemic follows up on 2016's Opportunity for All? Technology and Learning in Lower-Income Families to uncover the perspectives of lower-income parents with children ages 3 to 13. In March and April 2021, researchers Vikki Katz and Victoria Rideout led a national survey of more than 1,000 parents. The report delves into the experiences that these families had while many children were learning at home during a time when many school buildings…
In the last decade, augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) have evolved from niche tools for enthusiasts and high-tech industries to more widely adopted communications technologies that have the potential to transform the way people communicate, collaborate, and learn. As AR/VR solutions gain traction across sectors, they will raise important policy considerations-some of which are already a part of broader tech policy discussions, while others will be unique to these technologies. Through a series of expert talks and panels, this half-day…
2020 was a year unlike any we have experienced before … until 2021. We have witnessed the “hoaxification” of the COVID-19 pandemic, massive civic unrest in response to long-tolerated systemic racism and injustice, continued denial of climate change in spite of an increasingly inhospitable natural environment, and most recently, a violent insurrection seeking to disrupt democracy and encourage authoritarianism. At the root of these issues is more than a conflict between change and the status quo: it’s the difference between…
On World Children's Day, November 20, 2020, the Digital Futures Commission will launch ‘The future of free play in the digital world.' The work of the Digital Futures Commission will be introduced by Baroness Beeban Kidron, 5Rights Foundation, followed by a panel discussion chaired by Professor Sonia Livingstone OBE, London School of Economics, with Ann Phoenix, Kate Cowan, and Chris Batemen, to mark #WorldChildrensDay. They will introduce Digital Futures with a panel exploring the future of free play in the…
This year’s Family Online Safety Institute's Annual Conference, “Building Resilience,” will cover the many changing elements of online life, for ourselves, our families, and our world. The inherent obstacles and vast benefits of the digital world have become apparent to all of us now more than ever, and we look forward to the new challenge of examining these issues against the backdrop of a quickly changing social and cultural landscape. Join Cooney Center Senior Fellow Mary Madden in a fireside…
Wednesday, July 29, 2020 9:00am PT / 12:00pm ET / 5pm BST Please join the Joan Ganz Cooney Center in celebrating the release of Parenting for a Digital Future, a new book by Sonia Livingstone and Alicia Blum-Ross that offers a balanced, in-depth exploration of the realities of parenting today. The authors will be joined by Anya Kamenetz, an education correspondent for NPR and author of The Art of Screen Time in a conversation hosted by Michael Preston, Executive Director…
GSV takes on society's greatest challenge: Ensuring everyone has an equal opportunity to participate in the future. Started in 2010 with a collaboration between Arizona State University and Global Silicon Valley (GSV), the annual ASU GSV Summit is the industry catalyst for elevating dialogue and driving action around raising learning and career outcomes through scaled innovation. ASUGSV website
Cancelled The LEGO Idea Conference invites thought leaders, practitioners, researchers, government representatives and social innovators to share their insights on new ways of learning that will equip and empower children to become creative, engaged, lifelong learners. Each LEGO Idea Conference features some of the most inspiring and influential speakers on topics related to learning, education and early childhood development. From young protagonists trying to change the system to established voices who are part of a deep-rooted way of thinking about…
Event postponed After much deliberation, the Future of Childhood Summit has been postponed. The planning team at Joan Ganz Cooney Center and Google are disappointed not to be able to host the Summit this March.We will share more details as soon as we are able to do so. The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop and Google will convene a Summit aimed at realizing our most positive visions of childhood in this tech-saturated age. This invitation-only event…
The NETA Conference and CPB Public Media Thought Leader Forum is dedicated to the foundational cornerstone of Public Media: Education. Attendees represent station leadership, education, community engagement, marketing, promotion, production and content to learn from national thought leaders and engage in hands-on discussions. This year the conference will explore the future of education and media, with a focus on the following areas: Media in the Classroom, Content, Community Engagement, Station Management, and Youth Voices. The Joan Ganz Cooney Center will…
The Family Online Safety Institute's 2020 Annual Conference theme is "2020 Vision: The Future of Online Safety.” Leaders from industry, government, law enforcement and non-profits will come together in Washington, DC to collaborate and innovate new solutions to Internet safety challenges. There will be keynotes, plenary panels, breakout sessions, alongside exhibits and a networking reception. Michael Preston, the Cooney Center's executive director, will participate in a panel on designing for children. Learn more and register for FOSI 2020 here
The Families Learning Conference is the premier event focused on innovative strategies and practices in family literacy and learning, two-generation education, and parent and family engagement. Attending the conference will equip attendees with tools and strategies to use right away with the students, families, and communities they serve. Presented by the country’s top experts, sessions will be available in: Adult Education, Early Childhood Education, Funding and Sustainability, Library, K-12 Education, Parent Leadership, and Research and Policy. In addition to gaining…
The Common Sense Census: Media Use by Tweens and Teens 2019, an update to the 2015 study, is a big-picture look at how young people in America are engaging with media and explores differences by race, gender and socioeconomic status. The study reveals a huge increase in the amount of time tweens and teens are spending watching online videos and using devices for homework, even as the digital divide persists. Please join Common Sense for a presentation of this research,…
The CSforALL Summit is a multi-day convening focused on rigorous, inclusive and sustainable computer science for all US students. There will be two plenary sessions where you will hear from both local and national stakeholders impacting systems change within CS education and highlighting their 2019 commitments. This year's event takes place in Salt Lake City, Utah from October 21-23, 2019. The Joan Ganz Cooney Center's Executive Director Michael Preston will lead "Leveraging Public Media to Inspire All Kids to See Themselves…
The mission of the Connected Learning Summit is to fuel a growing movement of innovators harnessing emerging technology to expand access to participatory, playful, and creative learning. The Connected Learning Summit represents a merger between three community events with this shared vision and values: the Digital Media and Learning Conference, the Games+Learning+Society Conference, and Sandbox Summit. With a unique focus on cross-sector connections and progressive and catalytic innovation, this event brings together leading researchers, educators and developers. Learn more and…
The Play Make Learn Conference promotes high-quality learning opportunities for educators, researchers, developers, designers, foundation leaders, policy makers, musuem and library professionals, and school leaders who are dedicated to promoting making, gaming, and playful learning. Play Make Learn provides hands-on workshops that engage the audience in cutting-edge learning science ideas and experience; keynote speakers who have expertise in communicating state-of-the-art design, education, and research; demonstrations of new and upcoming games and technology; and networking opportunities meant to spark new projects.…
The theme for the 2019 National Association for Media Literacy Education conference is A Path Forward: Elevating Conversation, Unifying Voices. The conference is designed to provide a platform for including voices from diverse disciplines as we explore the future of media literacy in a rapidly shifting media landscape. To learn more and to register, visit namleconference.net.
The ICA 2019 conference theme of Communication Beyond Boundaries aims for an understanding of the role of communication and media in the crossing of social, political and cultural boundaries that characterize contemporary society, and encourages research that crosses the boundaries of research domains, of particular fields of research interest, and of academia and the outside world. For more information, visit https://www.icahdq.org/page/2019Conference.
The ASU GSV Summit draws more than 4,500 leaders in education and talent tech. Attendees at this year's summit will include CEOs, investors, school, district and university leaders, media, enterprise learning and talent leaders, politicians, foundation leaders and policy makers. https://www.asugsvsummit.com
