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.
How can the engaging power of games be used to promote playful learning? Three design experts share lessons learned from applying the latest research to produce games that are both popular and transformative. Whether the aim is to tap into a parent-focused consumer market, enter the formal K-12 space, support informal spaces like museums and libraries or just build a more effective user experience, this session will address the potential for games and learning. Panelists will take us behind the…
The 22nd annual SXSW Interactive Festival returns to Austin, Texas from Friday, March 13 through Tuesday, March 17, 2015. An incubator of cutting-edge technologies and digital creativity, the 2015 event features five days of compelling presentations and panels from the brightest minds in emerging technology, scores of exciting networking events hosted by industry leaders and an unbeatable lineup of special programs showcasing the best new websites, video games and startup ideas the community has to offer. From hands-on training to big-picture…
The SXSWedu® Conference & Festival fosters innovation in learning by hosting a diverse and energetic community of stakeholders from a variety of backgrounds in education. The four-day event affords registrants open access to engaging sessions, interactive workshops, hands on learning experiences, cinematic portrayals, early stage startups and a host of networking opportunities. By providing a platform for collaboration, SXSWedu works to promote creativity and social change. SXSWedu is a component of the South by Southwest family of conferences and festivals…
Kidscreen Summit is renowned as the kids entertainment industry’s most important annual event. In 2014, the conference welcomed nearly 1,700 attendees from 47 countries. Top executives attend Kidscreen Summit to take advantage of the year’s best business networking, and to engage in critical dialogue on issues that affect the industry. http://summit.kidscreen.com/2015/
The 112th annual American International Toy Fair®, the largest toy and youth product marketplace in the Western Hemisphere, is expected to bring together nearly 1,200 exhibiting manufacturers, distributors, importers and sales agents to showcase 150,000+ products to nearly 10,000 buyers representing 7,000+ unique retail outlets in 100 countries. http://www.toyfairny.com/
Making Lasting Memories: Using Brain Science to Boost Memory, Thinking and Learning Neuroscientists are discovering strategies that make learning easier, more effective, and that can boost long-term memory, thinking and academic performance. By using mnemonics, movement, active learning, discussions, gestures and varied practices, teachers can improve their students’ ability to learn, reflect and remember. Discover how the “Science of Learning” can help boost student retention, recall and retrieval of information. Learn more
FWD.us aims to mobilize the tech community to support policies that keep the American Dream achievable in the 21st century. ThinkFWD is a quarterly speaker series focusing on important issues at the intersection of tech and politics. On Thursday, February 5, 2015, join the Joan Ganz Cooney Center's Michael H. Levine at Incubating Opportunity: The Promise of Early Childhood Education. Can early childhood education expand opportunity for New York's kids? How can the city ensure that its new pre-k initiative…
FETC is the content-rich conference that brings education leaders and technology experts together to exchange techniques and strategies for teaching and learning success. Known worldwide for its outstanding program, FETC provides educators and administrators the opportunity to explore the integration of technology across the curriculum—from kindergarten to college—through hands-on exposure to the latest hardware, software and successful strategies. FETC offers a wealth of information for all education professions—teachers, principals and deans, district administrators, curriculum designers, media specialists, technology directors and…
Now in its fourth year, Launch Kids will take place at the 2015 Digital Book World Conference and Summit. Launch Kids presents a wide array of experts who share their insights into the trends and technology that children’s publishers should consider when they’re developing their content and looking for new partners and paths to market. Learn more at the Digital Book Worlds website.
This year's theme for the Kids@Play Summit is "What You Don’t Know About Digital Kids Could Cost You (And Them)." This annual event takes place during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas and offers a lineup featuring up and coming trends in digital media for kids, including a session on robotics, experts on the growing role of tech in modern family life, and the KAPi Awards. Learn more at the Kids @ Play website.
On November 12th and 13th the Family Online Safety Institute will hold its 8th Annual Conference in Washington, DC. The event, titled "Redefining Online Safety", will broach the ever-evolving notion of online safety, and discuss what this concept really means in today's world. What is the best way to keep ourselves safe online, and understand the risks that are out there, while still leaving ourselves open to taking advantage of all of the opportunities available to us on the Internet?…
At the 14th Annual Dust or Magic Fall Institute, a group of reviewers, designers and researchers meet to review the past year in children’s interactive media, as well as the latest research, writing and trends. The three day event—equivalent to a graduate level course—includes sessions on child development applied to interactive media, plus demos, critiques, testing and brainstorming sessions. For more information, please visit the Dust or Magic website.
On October 21, the Digital Kids Summit brings together together experts in learning: from teachers and administrators to game developers and mobile innovators for its Digital Kids Learning Day. Presentations from leaders in R&D will share hard numbers and facts. You will receive highly sought-after digital media analysis, including trends shaping the industry. You will also have conversations with startup leaders breaking the mold. Come and be inspired and walk away with hands-on insight in best-practices in marketing and product…
American children spend an average of 6.6 hours in school each day.1 How do they spend their hours outside of school? To explore this question, the Harvard Family Research Project invites you to participate in an upcoming web conference, Creating a Conversation About Anywhere, Anytime Learning. This web conference is the second in a year-long strand of work exploring the idea of family engagement in anywhere, anytime learning. It will be held on Wednesday, October 15, 2014, from 1:00–2:15 p.m. (EST). A…
Cinekid for Professionals is a 5 day event during the Cinekid Festival in October that brings together TV buyers, producers, distributors, directors, networks, sales agents, entertainment companies, academics and journalists who maintain a laser focus on children’s media. Located in Amsterdam, Cinekid is the world’s largest media festival for children. Every year more than 50.000 children are given the opportunity to visit over 500 media productions selected by the festival: feature films, children’s documentaries, short films, animations, television series and…
With over 300 sessions and more than 500 speakers—60+ webcasts and 18 exclusive online sessions provided virtually—the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference presents a robust, community-generated program that explores today's toughest IT issues facing higher education and convenes some of the brightest minds in the community. For more information, please visit the EDUCAUSE website.
The National Technology Leadership Summit (NTLS) brings together national leaders from educational associations, as well as editors of educational technology journals, directors of non-profit foundations, federal policy makers, and corporate representatives. Recommendations and guidelines emerging from the summit are published in a range of educational technology journals and are featured on the programs of educational conferences. The goal is to accelerate the meaningful impact of digital technologies in education for the 21st century. http://www.ntls.info/
The Gaming in Ed conference is a free, online event bringing together educators, researchers, game developers and innovators from around the world. Whether you're passionate about game-based learning or just getting your toes wet, Gaming in Ed celebrates the value that games offer in educational settings: a safe environment for taking on new roles, opportunities for creative problem solving and experimenting, and learning from failure. When done well, games can foster collaboration, strengthen critical and systems thinking, pose adaptive challenges, and…
The New York Times fourth annual Schools for Tomorrow Conference will be devoted to how innovations and challenges — social, economic, political and technological — are calling into question the very nature of higher education. Join an audience of over 400 educators, government officials, philanthropists, technology innovators and investors for a compelling discussion on the future of higher education. http://www.nytschoolsfortomorrow.com/
GameTech is a unique, user-focused conference dealing with gaming technologies that enhance warfighter training. Gaming experts will discuss the current state of game technologies. Government, industry and academia will share knowledge, research and technology on virtual worlds and games for training. For more information, please visit the GameTech website.
Games in Education is a multi-day symposium which focuses on the topic of using video games to supplement and inspire in-classroom education. Participants span early childhood through post secondary educators in New York’s Capital District and surrounding regions who are interested in finding ways to use video games and related technology to enrich and inspire interest by students in core curriculum topics. The symposium has run annually since 2007 and is free for educators to attend. For more information, visit…
At Serious Play, attendees listen, share and participate actively in informal sessions dedicated to the discussion of the future of serious games. The Serious Games Conference is produced by the Serious Games Association, an international organization for everyone in the serious games industry. For more information, visit the Serious Play website.
Mathematics Education at the Edge provides opportunities to highlight and examine mathematics education research that is: 1) breaking new ground or on the cutting edge of innovative research and research methodologies; and 2) exploring issues with groups that are often positioned at the edge or periphery of educational research such as social justice, peace education, equity, and Indigenous education. This year's conference takes place in Vancouver, British Columbia. For more information, please visit the PME website.
The Children’s Media Conference 2014 is intended for anyone involved in developing, producing and distributing content for kids in the UK. Join 900+ delegates from children’s TV, interactive media, games, licensing, toys, radio, book and magazine publishing, arts, culture and film – in Sheffield from 2-4 July. For more information, visit the Children's Media Conference Website.
For more than three decades the ISTE Conference and Expo has been the premier forum in which to learn, exchange ideas and survey the field of education technology. The event attracts upwards of 18,000 attendees and industry representatives — including teachers, technology coordinators, administrators, library media specialists, teacher educators and policy makers. Attendees enjoy world-class keynotes, hundreds of sessions in a variety of formats, and a massive expo hall. For more information, please visit the ISTE website.
The theme of ICLS 2014 is “Learning and Becoming in Practice.” Three kinds of practices encompass a range of contexts and processes in which people learn: by engaging in the epistemic practices of disciplines, by participating in sociocultural practices, and by engaging in design. Two additional practices will be highlighted pertaining to how we organize our own work as learning scientists: the practices for analyzing and modeling learning across settings and time, and the practices for designing for scale and…
IDC 2014 invites researchers and practitioners to share their work on how technology affects children’s well-being in a global context and how children, their parents, teachers, and peers can contribute to the design of new technology. Researchers and participants are invited to share thoughts on emerging technology, new theoretical perspectives, design methods and approaches, and new understandings of child development by questioning how we can build tomorrow’s technology together. This year's conference takes places in Aarhus, Denmark. For more information,…
The GLS Conference is the premier event in the field of video games and learning. Now celebrating its tenth anniversary, this grassroots “indie” event continues to be one of the few destinations where the people who create high-quality digital learning media can gather for serious discussion about what is happening in the field and how the field can serve the public interest. The pre-conference Playful Learning Summit promotes professional development opportunities to celebrate and deepen educators’ use of games in…
E3 is the world's premier trade show for computer and video games and related products. The show is owned by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the U.S. association dedicated to serving the business and public affairs needs of the companies, publishing interactive games for video game consoles, handheld devices, personal computers, and the Internet. Of particular interest is the 5th Annual Games and Learning Summit at 1:00 pm on June 10. Alan Gershenfeld (E-Line Media), Jessica Lindl (GlassLab), Ken Webber…
The so called “summer slide” in educational achievement hits young children from low-income families the hardest. Without opportunities to read together with adults, to practice new skills and to gain exposure to new words and ideas, far too many young children lose two to three months of reading skills each summer. Scholars have documented that two-thirds of the ninth-grade reading achievement gap can be attributed to this loss in the elementary school years alone. How can schools and communities address…
The 2014 Cyberlearning Summit will gather researchers focused on highlighting advances in the design of technology-mediated learning environments, how people learn with technology, and how to use cyberlearning technologies to effectively collect, analyze, and manage data to shed light on learning. The Summit provides a powerful forum for engaging around big ideas and preparing to communicate Cyberlearning impacts to broader audiences. http://circlcenter.org/events/cyberlearning-summit-2014/
The fifth annual Dust or Magic App Camp will take place at the Marconi Conference Center in Marshall, CA, where developers will gather to showcase and critique children's apps. This year's speakers include Ann McCormick (Founder, The Learning Company); Pierre Able (L’Escapadou), Gregg Spiridellis (JibJab Media), Daren Carstens (Carstens Studios); Barbara Chamberlin (NMSU Learning Labs); Caroline Hu Flexer (Duck Duck Moose); Jens Peter de Pedro (Toca Boca) and Mark Schlichting (NoodleWorks). View the Dust or Magic site for more information…
Connections by Design: Creating Media, Children, and Family Partnerships through Research, Collaboration, and Advocacy This year, the Fred Rogers Center marks its 10th anniversary, and asks "How do we help children grow as confident, competent, and caring human beings?" This year's conference invites media creators, scholars, educators, and advocates to share, listen, and inspire one another and to help children build consistent, positive, and meaningful connections with human beings and new media. The Cooney Center's Executive Director Michael Levine will…
The Games for Change Festival is the largest gaming event in New York City and the leading international event uniting games for change creators with those who believe in the positive power of digital games. This year, the Games for Change Festival is part of the Tribeca Film Festival and returning to NYU’s Skirball Center with inspiring speakers, great games, and exciting new events for its 11th year. The Cooney Center is proud to be a content partner for this…
On Wednesday, April 16 at 4pm ET, join us for a free EdWeb webinar featuring Michael Levine, executive director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center and Vicky Rideout of VJR Consulting and author of Learning at Home: Families' Use of Educational Media Use in America. Webinar Room: http://www.instantpresenter.com/edwebnet16 Registration Link: http://www.instantpresenter.com/PIID=EC59DF81814F Ask any parent about their children’s media use, and most will tell you they’re interested in media that help their kids learn. But what are parents’ experiences with their…
Focusing on preschool and elementary education, the conference will include subjects such as research and design of educational tools, teaching and learning theories for early education, and educational technology. For more information, please visit the EETC website.
On April 1, Michael Levine will be the opening keynote speaker at the Young Learners Congress and Expo in Sydney, Australia. The founding director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center will speak the challenges of transforming teaching for today's tech-savvy students. The three-day event will feature other case studies and activities. Featured speakers include Warren Buckleitner of the Children's Technology Review and Rick Fernandez of the Fred Rogers Center. For more information, please visit the Young Learners website. The presentation…
Sandbox Summit, an idea forum focused on the intersection of play, learning and technology invites educators, researchers, developers, and innovators of kid-centric media to this annual event at MIT. Presented by MIT’s Comparative Media Studies and Education Arcade, Sandbox Summit@MIT will highlight some of the minds behind – and in front of- today’s revolutionary ideas, platforms, places and products. From toys and games, to schools, museums, media and marketing, you’ll hear about the ways and whys purposeful designs power playful…
The CoSN 2014 Annual Conference is designed for education leaders to better understand their changing roles in creating the new face of learning. On Thursday, March 20 at 4:00PM, join the Cooney Center for "Games and Inventive Technologies: A New Day for Learning," in which we will present findings from our second annual survey on teachers and digital games, which surfaced recommendations for future educational game development and advocacy. We will also present themes from the recent Comparative Analysis of…
The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards invites all educators, advocates and policymakers to register for the inaugural Teaching & Learning 2014 conference on Friday, March 14, and Saturday, March 15, 2014, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. T&L 2014 is where the profession meets to secure the future of PreK-12 education. Through one-of-a-kind keynote speakers, inspiring panels and practical workshops, T&L 2014 will tackle some of the toughest challenges facing educators today and showcase solutions…
The DML2014 conference calls on all of us to build shared agendas and goals, to reach across the boundaries that separate our disciplines, fields, institutions, and sectors to re-imagine the where, when, and how of educational practice. On March 7 at 4pm, join the Cooney Center for "Creating Youth Builders – Promoting a New Game Design Ecosystem to Engage Hard-to-Reach Youth in Learning." Game-based learning has emerged as a promising area of innovation in making STEM content, critical skills, and…
If you're in Austin, join the Cooney Center at one of the panels that we are presenting. On Monday, March 3, Education Fellow Jessica Millstone will be part of "Listen Up! Speak Up! Game Up! A Game Data Discussion" -- This panel brings together education, game development and research experts come for a discussion of the ways games ignite the hunger for learning. You'll hear the perspectives of parents, teachers, and students as well as ideas for leveraging their diverse…
NAA is the membership association for professionals who work with children and youth in diverse school and community-based settings to provide a wide variety of extended learning opportunities and care during out-of-school hours. The conference promises over 100 engaging and innovative workshop sessions using experiential and inventive facilitation techniques. For more information, visit the National AfterSchool Association website.
The nation’s largest family and community literacy conference, presented by The National Center for Families Learning. Gather with family literacy professionals, educators, researchers, advocates, coalition members, and policy makers from across the United States for the latest resources in education, networking opportunities, and plenty more. For more information, please visit the NCFL website.
