Events

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.

Studying Youth and Family Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic at Connected Learning Summit 2021

As schools around the United States were forced to turn to remote learning methods last spring, research teams around the country mobilized to study how families were adjusting to the pandemic. Join the Cooney Center, Stanford University, the University of Washington, and the University of Michigan at the Connected Learning Summit for a discussion about

The Augmented and Virtual Reality Policy Conference

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

Learning at Home While Under-Connected and the Role of Public Media

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

Next Gen Public Media Accelerator RFP Info Session

Public media professionals are invited to join us for this one-hour information session about the Next Gen Public Media Accelerator RFP. The session will focus on the purpose of the RFP, an overview of its guiding priorities, the key activities that will happen during the Next Gen Public Media Accelerator, and opportunities for potential applicants

Next Gen Public Media Concept Design Sprint

This two-hour interactive workshop will help applicants transform their aspirations into compelling proposal concepts. Facilitated by Cooney Center project leaders, applicants will engage in design exercises that help generate ideas that align with Next Gen Public Media Accelerator goals and expectations.   View agenda Wednesday, November 10, 2021 1:00- 3:00 PM ET Register here

Next Gen Public Media Concept Design Sprint

This two-hour interactive workshop will help applicants transform their aspirations into compelling proposal concepts. Facilitated by Cooney Center project leaders, applicants will engage in design exercises that help generate ideas that align with Next Gen Public Media Accelerator goals and expectations. View agenda Friday, Nov. 12, 2021 1:00 – 3:00 PM ET Register here.

Webinar: How to Design a Digital World Where Children Can Thrive

On February 8, 2022, the 5Rights Foundation and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standards Association will host an expert panel to discuss how the new IEEE Standard for an Age-Appropriate Digital Services Framework Based on the 5Rights Principles for Children (IEEE 2089™-2021) will equip organizations with the tools to put young people’s best interests at

show+tell: promising ventures fellows

Join Promise Venture Studio for show+tell: promising ventures fellows, an interactive, virtual event, where participants will hear from and connect with some of the most promising — and innovative — in the early childhood development (ECD) space, the ventures of the third cohort of Promise’s highly selective promising ventures fellowship. These ventures – led by

SXSW EDU 2022

The SXSW EDU Conference & Festival takes place each March in Austin, TX as a four-day event offering compelling sessions, in-depth workshops, engaging learning experiences, mentorship, film screenings, future-focused competitions, an expo, networking opportunities, and so much more. This year, the dates are March 7th-10th. SXSW EDU 2022 will be a hybrid event with an

IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces

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

ASU+GSV Summit 2022

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

2022 AERA Annual Meeting

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

By/With/For Youth Workshops: Promoting Teen and Tween Collaboration with Public Media

As part of our By/ With/ For Youth: Inspiring Next Gen Public Media Audiences initiative, the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop invites you to mark your calendars for an upcoming series of capacity-building workshops about collaborating with youth in public media. Designed for producers, directors, and others committed to growing youth participation in

Dust or Magic Asimolar

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.

Games for Change 2022

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

Public Media Development and Marketing Conference 2022

The Public Media Development and Marketing Conference (PMDMC) is public media’s largest conference devoted to issues surrounding revenue generation, marketing, and management. This year’s conference meets in Chicago. Cooney Center Senior Fellow Elizabeth Rood will speak on a panel on July 20 at 3:30 pm to share findings from our Next Gen Public Media research:

All Tech Is Human: Youth, Tech, and Wellbeing Panel + Mixer

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 &

Playtest with Kids

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

2022 NETA Conference and CPB Thought Leader Forum

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

Group Chat: Teens and Adults in Conversation at Media Literacy Week 2022

As part of U.S. National Media Literacy Week, please join the Cooney Center and NAMLE for a “premiere” presentation of three conversations between experts and youth around topics in youth digital culture, moderated by educator Dwight Dunston. Together, adults and teens explore issues like what kids are watching online, where they get their news, how

Media Literacy Week: Building Toward Digital Well-being for Children

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

FOSI 2022 Annual Conference: Trust & Assurance: Online Safety in an Uncertain World

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

From Surviving To Thriving In A Digital World: A Safer Internet Day Chat

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

SXSW 2023

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.

Designing for Digital Well-Being at SRCD 2023

On Friday, March 24, the Cooney Center’s Senior Director of Research Medha Tare will moderate Designing for Digital Well-being: Frameworks for Optimizing Positive Media Experiences for Children and Families, a roundtable at SRCD 2023 in Salt Lake City. Panelists include Amanda LaTasha Armstrong, New Mexico State University and New America; Bruce Homer, The Graduate Center,

Designing Tech for Kids’ Well-Being at ASU+GSV 2023

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

IDC 2023

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.

ARVR Policy Conference

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

FOSI Webinar: Digital Learning: Prepping for the School Year Ahead

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,

2023 IES Math Summit

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

ED Games Expo

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

Co-designing the Digital Future with Kids, for Kids

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

FOSI 2023 Annual Conference: New Frontiers in Online Safety

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

Co-Design for a More Inclusive EdTech Ecosystem at SXSW Edu

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

Cultivating Citizenship Through Digital Connections at SXSW 2024

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

GDC 2024 – Fair Play Workshop

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

Kid-Tested, Evidence-Approved: The Future of EdTech Design at ASU+GSV

Kid-Tested, Evidence-Approved: The Future of EdTech Design Tuesday, April 16 3:50 – 4:30 pm PT   The current EdTech market is full of products that claim to make teaching, learning, and assessment easier for learners and educators. But what if, in addition to helping kids master important concepts more efficiently, digital products made learning truly

Digital Parenthood Summit

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.

Creating Digital Play for Children’s Well-Being: From Research to Design

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

2024 Games for Change Festival

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

Applying Principles of Well-being to Digital Design for Kids at Play Make Learn 2024

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

Seeing and Solving Through Multiple Lenses: New Ways to Transform Education

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.

EdTech Week: “Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street? Designing EdTech for Impact”

Columbia University, Teachers College Thursday, October 10, 2024 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM [Invite-only] Lunch & Learn: “Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street? Designing EdTech for Impact” Sesame Street has been a successful edtech innovation for more than 50 years because it is both engaging and educationally effective for children and families. Over

The RITEC Design Toolbox: Supporting Children’s Well-being in Digital Play

We are pleased to invite you to the upcoming launch of the RITEC Design Toolbox (RDT), part of the Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children (RITEC) initiative in partnership between UNICEF and The LEGO Group and supported by The LEGO Foundation. The RDT was developed based on the RITEC research about children’s well-being in digital play,

World Children’s Day: A Global View of Current Practices for Children and Digital Environments

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

Digital Media and Kids with Dr. Michael Rich and Dr. Rosemarie Truglio

The Joan Ganz Cooney Center and the West Side YMCA invite you to join us for a book party to celebrate an incredible resource for parents of all children of the digital age: The Mediatrician’s Guide: A Joyful Approach to Raising Healthy, Smart, Kind Kids in a Screen-Saturated World. We are thrilled to host an event featuring

SXSW EDU 2025: AI Tools to Support Literacy & Computational Thinking

AI tools to support literacy & computational thinking  Generative AI is arguably one of the most disruptive forces in the current tech landscape— with undeniable impact in K-12 learning. It has the potential to be an effective tool to personalize learning by curating content and promoting student collaboration. But we must also address important questions

ASU+GSV 2025- Build It Together: Co-Designing Edtech with Children and Educators

What happens when edtech products are co-designed from day one—with children, educators, and schools at the center? This session explores how early-stage design interventions can lead to more engaging, equitable, and effective learning tools. We’ll discuss how LitLab, an AI-powered literacy platform, has partnered with Leanlab Education, the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, and school district

ASU+GSV 2025 – ChatECE: Empowering Educators and Families with AI

Step into an inspiring conversation about the promises and risks of AI with the early childhood education (ECE) workforce with the power of AI. Facing mounting challenges like burnout and high turnover, the ECE sector is at a crossroads—and AI offers a transformative path forward. This dynamic session will showcase how AI can reimagine the

SRCD 2025: Breaking Through Silos

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

Edtech Insiders Webinar: Co-Design Secrets: How the Best Edtech Teams Build Products that Work

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

SZCF Presents Meeting the Moment Webinar Series with Dan Wuori: Children and Screens

In an increasingly online world, we are only beginning to understand the effects – both beneficial and detrimental – of digital media on children’s development. What should parents and professionals know about setting appropriate limits and choosing digital content wisely? Join the Saul Zaentz Charitable Foundation on Friday, June 20 (12pm eastern) for a conversation

Workshop at IDC 2025: Grasping Data: Exploring interdisciplinary approaches for investigating children’s interactions with their personal data

On Monday, June 23, 2025, Cooney Center Post Doctoral Fellow for Co-Design Liza Gak will participate in a hybrid workshop at IDC. Unlike any previous generation, children’s lives are now highly datafied, tracked, and digitally monitored. They are increasingly vulnerable to data collection from seemingly innocuous toys and devices with cameras, sensors, voice recognition, and

Workshop at IDC 2025: Designing AI for Children’s Well-Being

This hybrid workshop aims to convene an interdisciplinary community of researchers, industry professionals, and experts in AI and child well-being to pave the way for future research and practice that seeks to design AI technologies with children’s well-being in mind. We invite participants from various disciplines and backgrounds to join us in shaping the future

Panel at IDC 2025: Innovating Digital Play: Partnership for research-driven industry impact

The goal of this panel is to present a research and industry design deployment collaboration, in designing digital play for children’s well-being. The panel will share processes, learnings, and ideas moving forward, as they are experienced in the Responsible Innovation in Technology (RITEC) project, led by UNICEF and The LEGO group. Details: Shuli Gilutz (UNICEF) will present UNICEF’s

Playing with Well-Being By Design at Games for Change 2025

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

ISTE x Whiteboard Advisors Solutions Summit Breakout Session: What is Co-Design in EdTech?

Dive into the practice of co-design as a powerful method for developing impactful EdTech rooted in real classroom needs. Through hands-on activities and practical frameworks, participants will learn how to collaborate effectively with educators, students, and schools to build inclusive, research-informed products that drive meaningful learning outcomes. Allisyn Levy, Senior Manager of Partnerships & Planning,

Digital Media and Developing Minds International Scientific Congress

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,

Webinar: Launching the Voice of the Child

The Voice of the Child toolkit is an evidence-based resource designed for researchers, service providers, clinicians and others keen to involve children and young people in their work – whether they are just starting out or looking to expand their skills. The Centre for Community Child Health’s upcoming webinar will formally launch the toolkit, explore

Sandbox for Literacy Innovations Info Sessions

We’re thrilled to announce that the Joan Ganz Cooney Center Sandbox for Literacy Innovations call for applications is now officially open through August 29, 2025. Supported by the Walton Family Foundation, the Sandbox supports the development of cutting-edge educational technology and media, grounded in rigorous research and children’s lived experiences. The Sandbox is already showing

Well-Being by Design 2026 Fellowship: Office Hours

The Joan Ganz Cooney Center’s Well-Being by Design Fellowship is a professional development program for designers and producers of interactive kids’ technology and media. This is a free program supported by Pinterest with no fee or cost to participate. We are thrilled to announce a call for applications for our third year of the Well-being

Empowering Our Youth to Thrive in a Digital World: Axios House at Climate Week & UNGA 2025

Axios’ Empowering Our Youth to Thrive in a Digital WorldSeptember 23, 2025 | 3:00PM – 4:30PM ET Join Axios House for an event convening leading voices in tech, policy and youth advocacy for conversations examining strategies empowering young people to build healthy habits, meaningful connections and digital boundaries. We’ll look at ways families, educators, and

Connected Learning Summit 2025

The Seventh Annual Connected Learning Summit will take place October 5–10, 2025 as a hybrid event. CLS will feature Research Papers and Showcases that focus on digital technologies for learning, educational and commercial games, innovative tech-infused curricula, and theoretical and/or empirical exploration of digital media and technology for learning. The event includes an online program

Edtech Week 2025: The Emerging Intersection of AI and K–12 Literacy

The Emerging Intersection of AI and K–12 Literacy: Lessons Learned and the Path Ahead How can AI meaningfully support literacy development in today’s classrooms—and what must we get right to ensure it does? In this thought-provoking conversation, education and technology leaders will explore how AI is being used to enhance literacy instruction across diverse K–12

Growing Readers in a World of Screens and AI

Designing the Next Decade of Literacy Innovations while Reflecting on 10 Years of Rapid Change Ten years ago, Tap, Click, Read: Growing Readers in a World of Screens brought together voices from the fields of early childhood, developmental science, literacy, media, and technology to offer guidance on helping children learn to read in a digital age. This

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