Joan Ganz Cooney Center

Future of Childhood Summit
2020-03-03 - 2020-03-05 | San Francisco, CA
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 will bring together leaders from industry, research, education, and advocacy to create a unified vision of the future of childhood, in which all children grow up in a world where their interactions with media and technology enrich their learning, wellbeing, and safety. The summit will kick off on the evening of March 3 with an opening session and reception followed by two days of conversation and hands-on planning. We will reflect on how to nurture, empower and protect children while building new skills. The summit will be an opportunity to engage in discussion across industries and disciplines, and also develop a shared agenda for the decade ahead.

LEGO Idea Conference 2020
2020-03-09 - 2020-03-11 | Billund, Denmark
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 learning and education.

View the conference website

ASU GSV 2020
2020-03-30 - 2020-04-01
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

Parenting for a Digital Future
2020-07-29 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York)
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
9:00am PT / 12:00pm ET / 5pm BSTPlease 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 of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center.

Together, they will discuss the challenges facing parents as they grapple with a digital age that is full of both opportunity and risk. What does a child’s growing independence mean in terms of digital technology, when the risks of online activity may be eclipsed by the public health dangers of the pandemic? Where do parents of tweens go for advice?

The event is free and open to the public.

Register here»
Learn more about Parenting for a Digital Future here »
Learn more about The Art of Screen Time here »

Speakers:

Sonia
Livingstone
Alicia
Blum-Ross
Anya
Kamenetz
Michael
Preston

FOSI 2020 Annual Conference
2020-11-18
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 chat with Facebook’s Antigone Davis at 1:15 PM ET.

For more information and to register, visit https://www.fosi.org/events/2020-annual-conference

The Future of Free Play in the Digital World
2020-11-20 08:00 - 17:00
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 digital world.

November 20, 2020 11:00 AM-12 PM GMT (6:00 AM EST)

Register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_gxTYaQ-3TPiUsaLHX37-GQ

Reframing Education for the 22nd Century
2021-04-07
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 equitable and sustainable societies and life-threatening imbalances in power and privilege.One critical challenge is that our education systems are fundamentally designed to advance individualistic goals over collective success. Even “21st century skills,” such as collaboration and communication, are implemented in ways that fall short of their goals. As educators, we have a moral imperative to rethink our work so that children are prepared to bend, if not upend, the arc of history toward progress for the common good.Education should foster in each and every child an egalitarian mindset — a positive sense of oneself as a worthy individual rooted in valued cultural traditions, able and disposed to construct a view of reality from multiple perspectives and act in collaboration with others toward the common good. To develop an egalitarian mindset, we might consider these questions:
School climate and culture: What features of present-day school structures and cultures should students never or rarely experience?

Pedagogy, Curriculum and Assessment: What about current teachers and teaching, curriculum, and assessment should students never or rarely experience?

Technology: What should be the normative experience of every child with regard to technology, including AI? What should they never or rarely experience?
How would these changes lead to egalitarian mindsets?The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop and the Center for Global Education at Asia Society invite you to participate in a series of provocative conversations with the goal of reframing the purpose of education as the foundation for a social movement toward equality and sustainability. We hope that you will join us.Dates: Wednesday, April 7, 14, and 28 (Skipping April 21)
Time: 1 PM US EDT for 75 minutes
Format: A weekly series of salons encouraging the free flow of ideas around how to build an education system for the 22nd century focused on the common good. In partnership with

The Augmented and Virtual Reality Policy Conference
2021-10-21
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 virtual conference organized by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and the XR Association will explore the role of policy in AR/VR innovation and identify priority areas for policymakers to consider as these technologies continue to expand.
JGCC Executive Director Michael Preston will be speaking beginning at 1:25 PM EST on Thursday, October 21st, as part of the Lightning Round: Priorities for an AR/VR Policy Agenda panel.

Register for the conference here.

Learning at Home While Under-Connected and the Role of Public Media
2021-10-26
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 were closed. It provides timely, pointed, and thought-provoking insights on the challenges of being under-connected when trying to support young students at home without adequate devices and internet connections.From the earliest days of the pandemic, public media organizations around the country mobilized to address the needs of their communities. This panel will explore the role that local public media stations can play in diagnosing community needs and sharing learning resources for all children and families.

The webinar will take place on Oct. 26, 2021 at 12:00 PM EST.

IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces
2022-03-12 - 2022-03-16
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.

ASU+GSV Summit 2022
2022-04-04 - 2022-04-06 | San Diego & Virtually
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 am COVID, Innovation, and the Future of Early Childhood Education 2:10 pm – 2:50 pm Playtest with Kids, a New Free Online Resource from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center 3:00 pm – 3:40 pm The Growing Importance of Social & Emotional Development and Learning 3:50 pm – 4:30 pm Co-design with Kids: Enabling Meaningful Child Participation in the Private Sector in a Digital Era 4:40 pm – 5:20 pm Kids Media Confronts the “New Normal”: What Blended Learning Will Look Like Post-Pandemic WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 2022 10:10 am – 10:50 am Early Childhood AI and Voice WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 2022 11:00 am – 11:40 am The Edge of Early Childhood Education

The conference will be held simultaneously virtually on HopIn and in-person in San Diego, CA, from April 4-6, 2022. To register to attend virtually, click here. To register to attend in person in San Diego, click here.

2022 AERA Annual Meeting
2022-04-21 - 2022-04-26 | San Diego & Virtually
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 Diego and virtually. To register for the event, click here.

Dust or Magic Asimolar
2022-06-03 08:00 - 2022-06-05 17:00 | Venue Monterey, CA, Monterey, CA
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 previous Dust or Magic events at Asilomar.

The Cooney Center is proud to present the Playtest with Kids toolkit at Dust or Magic.

Games for Change 2022
2022-07-13 - 2022-07-16
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 – 2:30 PM EDT
Location: The Microsoft Technology Center (11 Times Sq, New York, NY, 10036) Immersive media is relatively new to the classroom but has the potential to inspire and empower students and educators. Our panel of teachers, developers, and researchers will explore XR’s potential for engagement and impact, immersive media experiences that support student-centered learning, and the results of the XRA’s recent survey of teenagers on their understanding and use of XR technologies. Michael Preston, ED, Joan Ganz Cooney Center
Peirce Clark, XRA
Idris Brewster, Movers and Shakers NYC
Ellen Flaherty, Unity
Kevin Merges, Rutgers Prep Learn more and register.

All Tech Is Human: Youth, Tech, and Wellbeing Panel + Mixer
2022-08-17
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 & Safety team Chanel Cornett, and Arielle Geismar, an organizer around mental health, social media wellbeing, and women’s & LGBTQ+ rights.

Learn more.

Playtest with Kids
2022-09-08
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, 2022
2:30 pm PT / 5:30 pm ET
Please see the Children’s Media Association site for details.

2022 NETA Conference and CPB Thought Leader Forum
2022-09-18 - 2022-09-22
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 field study conducted with public media stations across the country. Based on both quantitative and qualitative data gathered from over 200 public media stations, this study aims to create a baseline understanding of where the field is at in 2022 when it comes to tween and teen programs, content, and engagement. Following a presentation of findings, the session will invite participants to think together about its implications: What do they want to see happen to support greater impact when it comes to youth audiences? Where do they think the field should go? And how do they want to be a part of it?Learn more and register for the conference here.

Media Literacy Week: Building Toward Digital Well-being for Children
2022-10-26 20:00
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 landscape for children.

Wednesday, October 26, 2022
8:00pm – 9:00pm ET
Register here

FOSI 2022 Annual Conference: Trust & Assurance: Online Safety in an Uncertain World
2022-11-14
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: Tech Use Through the Formative Years,” with Rebecca Parlakian (Zero to Three), Dr. Michael Rich (Digital Wellness Lab, Boston Children’s Hospital), and Dr. Ellen Selkie (University of Washington).

Learn more about the conference and register here.

From Surviving To Thriving In A Digital World: A Safer Internet Day Chat
2023-02-07
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 from young people on what they need in order to thrive when their lives are digital by default.To register to attend the webinar, visit shorturl.at/dBKW9 Watch the event live on Facebook Live (No registration required) on the National Association for Media Literacy Education’s (NAMLE) page at facebook.com/medialiteracyed.

SXSW 2023
2023-03-10 - 2023-03-11
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 competence and creativity, feel empowered and self-actualized, and connect with others in a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment, while also keeping them safe? We will discuss the Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children (RITEC) project—a global, multi-stakeholder, and cross-sectoral initiative that aims (1) to create a framework that maps how the design of children’s digital experiences affects their well-being, and (2) to provide guidance as to how informed design choices can promote positive well-being outcomes.
March 10 | 2:30 pm CST | JW Marriott Salon 7-8

Designing for Digital Thriving
How can we create & foster healthy, inclusive digital spaces that enable individuals and communities to thrive? Riot Games, the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, the Fair Play Alliance & IDEO came together to host an Open Innovation Challenge to champion responsible design practices that foster healthy, inclusive communities in a rapidly changing digital world. By learning how to intentionally design online spaces with digital thriving in mind, we believe that anyone can help individuals, groups, & communities truly thrive in today’s connected world. No matter what industry you’re a part of, we invite you to share in our vision of creating a thriving digital world for all.
March 11 | 11:30 am CST | JW Marriott Salon 7-8

We also invite SXSW participants to take a break in the LEGO Play Lounge in Room 403 of the JW Marriott on March 10. Recharge and play with us!

Designing Tech for Kids' Well-Being at ASU+GSV 2023
2023-04-18 | San Diego, CA
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 exploring the links between games and well-being, the value of child-centered design, and insights from the Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children (RITEC) and Digital Thriving projects that offer guidance to developers looking for ways to create digital experiences that promote positive well-being for young people.
Michael Preston (Executive Director, Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop) will moderate a panel with Bruce Homer (Professor, “The Graduate Center, CUNY”), Elizabeth Milovidov (Global Digital Child Safety Lead, The LEGO Group), Natasha Miller (Senior Research Scientist II, Blizzard Entertainment / Fair Play Alliance)
Date & Time: Tuesday 4/18, 2:30 – 3:10 PM PT
Location: Harbor I, Level 2
Channel: K-12 Transformation Learn more

IDC 2023
2023-06-19 - 2023-06-23
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 Hu (Lando Interactive) and Jillian Orr (GBH Kids) on Wednesday, June 21. She will also be sharing a paper with Mona Leigh Guha as part of the Works in Progress group on Wednesday as well.

The conference agenda can be found here.

Designing Digital Play for Well Being at Games for Change 2023: Panel and Workshop
2023-07-19
Panel: Designing Digital Play for Well-Being at Games for Change 2023
July 18, 2023 at 1:45pm
The Times Center | Main StageHow 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 their work?In this session at the Games for Change Festival, Michael Preston will explore these questions with Jeffrey Burrell (Riot Games), Carolina Giuga (The LEGO Group), and Kevin Bedau (Scratch Foundation) while diving into the challenges and opportunities for creating digital spaces that contribute to the thriving of both kids and adults.

Speakers will highlight two initiatives seeking to provide answers, resources, and communities of practice to help answer these challenging questions: Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children (RITEC) and Digital Thriving.

WORKSHOP: Building Digital Play for Well-being
July 19, 2023 at 5:00pmMicrosoft Center | Music Box

Please join the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, the LEGO Group, and the Fair Play Alliance for an interactive workshop. Participants will take part in a 1.5 hour playful and interactive session to generate new ideas for designing better digital play experiences for well-being. Attendees will envision and construct a physical representation of a digital space that allows children and adults to thrive – drawing from the Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children (RITEC) and Digital Thriving initiatives – and work in groups to explore case studies of how to integrate concepts of well-being and thriving into design.

Participants will leave with concrete ideas on ways that they can incorporate these concepts into their work and a connection to communities of practice looking to learn from each other to advance this work.

Learn more

ARVR Policy Conference
2023-08-29 08:00 - 17:00
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 should make sure these technologies are designed with young people in mind. Policymakers on both sides of the aisle have regularly called for making technology appropriate for young people to use, making safety a priority in the implementation of immersive learning programs. What are the unique benefits of immersive learning in comparison to other technologies (e.g., mobile and personal computing)? What are the special accommodations that educators should take in mind when deploying AR/VR tech in the classroom? How can policymakers ensure that immersive learning programs don’t widen the digital divide?

Speakers include Brooke Morrill (Schell Games); Muhsinah Morris (Morehouse College); Monya A. Ruffin (NSF); Medha Tare (Joan Gantz Cooney Center, Sesame Workshop); and Stephanie Montgomery (XR Association) – Moderator
The conference is free to attend.

Register here.

FOSI Webinar: Digital Learning: Prepping for the School Year Ahead
2023-09-07
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 as everyday life.

Cooney Center Executive Director Michael Preston joins a discussion with Amanda LaTasha Armstrong, Janell Burley Hoffman, Judy French, and Yalda Uhls about how parents and kids can set themselves up for success this school year in the midst of a quickly evolving digital environment at home and at school.
Learn more and register here

2023 IES Math Summit
2023-09-12 - 2023-09-26
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 (IES), joined by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO); the Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS); the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB); the National Science Foundation (NSF); and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy will convene a free three-day summit to bring together national, state, and local leaders to explore efforts to address this crisis.Leading experts will discuss the latest scholarship on strategies for mathematics instruction and academic interventions; highlight solutions rooted in research and successful classroom practices; and explore emerging resources.Tuesday, September 19 at 3:45 PM ETEveryone can teach, everyone can learnThe Joan Ganz Cooney Center’s Executive Director Michael Preston will speak with Sonny Rodriguez-Mena (Bilingual Special Education Teacher at the NYC Department of Education) about how K-2 computer science provides opportunities for joy, expression, agency, and intergenerational learning – especially for bilingual students and students with disabilities.
Learn more and register here

ED Games Expo
2023-09-20 - 2023-09-21
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 ED Games Expo.

Attendees are invited to stop by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center’s table between 4pm-6pm on Thursday, September 21 to learn more about techniques for playtesting products for children, how to engage in co-design, and how to design for childrens’ well-being in digital spaces.

Learn more

Co-designing the Digital Future with Kids, for Kids
2023-09-27
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 partners, including The GIANT Room, KidsTeam, Oko Labs, Mrs Wordsmith, and the Scratch Foundation. We talked about methods, balancing business interests with research-informed goals, and how teams have implemented findings from sessions with children into their product designs.For more information about working with us, please contact us here.

Speakers:

Michael Preston is the Executive Director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, an independent research and innovation lab within Sesame Workshop that advances positive futures for kids in the digital world. The Center conducts research on emerging technologies and collaborates with technologists, digital media producers, and educators to support young people’s learning and well-being. Michael has 25 years of experience leading educational innovation and technology programs in K-12, university, and informal learning contexts. His work focuses on child-centered approaches to design, new models for teaching and learning, and systemic change at local and national levels. He co-founded CSforALL, the hub for the national Computer Science for All movement, and led digital learning initiatives at the NYC Department of Education, Columbia University, and New Visions for Public Schools. He earned a PhD in Cognitive Science in Education from Teachers College, Columbia University and a BA from Harvard College.

Medha Tare is an experienced researcher in the learning sciences and technology area. Her work centers on addressing the needs of the whole child, including considering individual differences among learners, their environments, and the media through which they learn. Prior to the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, she was the Director of Research for the Learner Variability Project at Digital Promise, where she developed public resources on the cognitive, socio-emotional, and background factors that impact children and adults’ learning. This work involved research translation, science communication, and studies of educational efficacy with school districts and edtech product developers. She has also served as a Learning Sciences Exchange Fellow through New America, working across sectors to promote early learning and help young children and their families thrive. Medha earned her PhD in Developmental Psychology at the University of Michigan and her BA in Cognitive Science and English at Rutgers University. She has served as an advisor on national and international educational initiatives and has numerous peer-reviewed publications including in the Journal of Research on Technology in Education, Language Learning and Technology, and Journal of Cognition and Development. With

Elizabeth Bonsignore is an assistant research professor in the University of Maryland’s College of Information Studies and Human-Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL). Her research explores the design of interactive play and social experiences that promote new media literacies, arts-integrated science learning, and participatory culture. She co-designs and advocates with youth, families, and local communities with the goal of including and empowering youth historically underrepresented in STEM/computing to advance in these fields.

Tif Gagnon is the Design Director at Scratch Foundation with over 15 years of experience in the EdTech sector. She believes in the power of creative learning and strives to combine her skills and passions to support making Scratch accessible and engaging for all learners around the world.

Chris Garrity is a developer and product manager with the Scratch Foundation (and formerly the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab). She has many years of experience building tools, designing playful activities, and facilitating hands-on workshops to introduce creative coding to children and educators with Scratch and ScratchJr. She is passionate about lowering the barriers to learning to code through providing developmentally appropriate tools in the learners own language, and by making the tools more inclusive and accessible.

Azadeh Jamalian is founder and CEO of The GIANT Room creative STEM organization, helping the next generation of creatives and inventors to think big and act on their most ambitious ideas. Jamalian is a TED speaker, former head of education strategy at littleBits, and co-founder of Tiggly. She has a proven record of designing learning products and programs that millions of children have engaged with, and thousands of schools have implemented in their programs. Through her work at The GIANT Room, they have provided creative STEM programs to more than 30,000 families in person and online, and through their partnership with schools, museums, libraries, and cultural organizations such as TED Ed and Joan Ganz Cooney Center. She has a PhD in cognitive studies in education from Teachers College, and has publications on a broad range of topics such as designing learning platforms for children, emerging educational tech, game design, mathematical education, and cognition.

Pierre Lagrange is Executive Chairman of Huntsman and Mrs Wordsmith. Before acquiring Huntsman in 2014 and Mrs Wordsmith in 2021, Pierre co-founded GLG Partners, acquired by Man Group in 2010, and sat on Man Group executive committee. Before founding GLG, Pierre worked at Goldman Sachs from 1990, where he managed global equity portfolios. He started his career in finance at JP Morgan, where from 1985 he worked in government bond sales and trading. Pierre holds an MA in Engineering from Solvay Business School in Brussels.Pierre has regularly invested in movie productions, executive producer of Kickass and Hollywood blockbusters Kingsman: The Secret Service and the sequel, Kingsman: The Golden Circle

Matt Miller, Co-Founder and CEO of Oko Labs, is a seasoned technologist, product leader, and business strategist in the education space. Oko is a dynamic AI-powered platform that enables small group differentiation in elementary classrooms through collaborative games, enhancing academic progress and social-emotional development for every student in an inclusive and personalized way. Prior to founding Oko Labs, Matt served as Chief Technology Officer and VP of Labs at Amplify Education, and VP of Product at Flatiron School. Matt is also an active consultant, mentor, and advisor in the education technology sector, with a deep background in AI, Machine Learning, and Information Security. Matt holds BS and MS degrees in Computer Science from Columbia University with a focus on Intelligent Systems.

Lady San Pedro is Director of Business Innovation at Mrs Wordsmith. With a solid background in product design, Lady has led the creation of Mrs Wordsmith’s extensive and award-winning print catalog of children’s literacy books. As the company expanded into the digital sphere, Lady has taken the reins in developing Planet Agora: a gamified chat app designed to foster social-emotional development in kids aged 8-13.

FOSI 2023 Annual Conference: New Frontiers in Online Safety
2023-11-14 | Washington, DC, Washington, DC, Select a Country:
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 Literacy: A Holistic Approach

How do we develop a comprehensive understanding of media, digital, and social and emotional literacy in order to navigate our information-dense world? At a time when the importance of these literacies are paramount, experts will debate the best ways to teach people of all ages about the importance of topics such as critical thinking, identifying misinformation, and cybersecurity, and how these skills are strengthened by media, digital, and social emotional literacy. As we continue to navigate new technologies such as genAI, panelists will provide guidance on how to use these literacies to have safe and positive online experiences.

Learn more and register here.
