Joan Ganz Cooney Center

2017 NAEYC Annual Conference
2017-11-15 - 2017-11-18 | Atlanta, GA
The Annual Conference of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is the largest gathering of thought leaders, classroom teachers and faculty, administrators, and other important practitioners and contributors in early childhood education.Learn More

Family Online Safety Institute Conference
2017-11-16 | Venue Washington D.C., Washington D.C., United States
The FOSI Annual Conference is the premier gathering of the online safety community. Hear from leaders in government, industry, the NGO sector as well as leading researchers, academics and practitioners in this growing space. This year’s theme is “Trust & Civility in a Challenging World”. The conference will address a wide range of issues that weaken trust, safety and civility online and the positive ways to respond to these challenges. Learn More

2018 Kids@Play Summit
2018-01-10 | Venue Las Vegas, Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada
The Kids@Play Summit looks at the new tools and services that digital natives use to learn, create and communicate. Attend a half-day conference and four day exhibition on the CES show floor promoting the next generation of digital hardware, software, and media for kids from toddler to high school.
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Future of Education Technology Conference
2018-01-23 - 2018-01-26 | Orlando, FL
For nearly 40 years, the Future of Education Technology Conference has gathered the most dynamic and creative education professionals from around the world for an intensive, highly collaborative exploration of new technologies, best practices and pressing issues. Its impact has been felt by thousands of districts, schools, educators—and ultimately students.
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2018 ALA Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits
2018-02-09 - 2018-02-13 | Venue Denver, Colorado, Denver, Colorado
The American Library Association invites you to join more than 8,000+ key library professionals from around the country for a series of presentations, panels, and exhibitions. With more than 450 exhibiting organizations, multiple pavilions, and stages featuring the hottest authors, and numerous related fun events, the ALA Midwinter Meeting is an exciting opportunity for learning, professional development, and networking.
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Kidscreen Summit
2018-02-12 - 2018-02-15 | Miami, FL
Kidscreen Summit is renowned as the kids entertainment industry’s most important annual event. 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.
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Webinar: Tapping the Potential of NextGen Technology
2018-02-27
The role of technology in early learning is growing as fast as our children. So how is technology really being used to support parents of infants and toddlers? What does the landscape of tech products for parents look like? Where are the gaps and opportunities? And what improvements can be made to the way parent-support technology is funded, developed, evaluated, and shared with parents?

Find out during the Early Learning Lab’s “Tapping the Potential of NextGen Technology” webinar on Tuesday, February 27 from 3-4pm ET.
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Designing for Digital
2018-03-05 - 2018-03-07 | Venue Austin, TX, Austin, TX, United States
Designing for Digital is meant to bring together UX professionals, web designers, managers, researchers, strategists and librarians of all types to examine the current user’s experience of the library and design the future of libraries in the modern, digital world.
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SXSW Edu
2018-03-05 - 2018-03-08 | Venue Austin, TX, Austin, TX, United States
SXSW EDU features a diverse array of speakers, sessions, workshops, learning experiences, policy discussions and film screenings programmed to foster learning and discovery for all education stakeholders.
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COSN 2018 Annual Conference
2018-03-12 - 2018-03-15 | Venue Washington D.C., Washington D.C., United States
We are living during a time of unprecedented and rapid change. New technologies like artificial intelligence, 3D printing, and robotics are emerging with the potential for having a transformative impact on industry, the economy and society as a whole. Our physical and digital worlds are fusing, resulting in breakthroughs that were only imagined in the past. The speed and scope of this technological transformation is exponential with the potential for unlimited possibilities and endless opportunities. What are the implications for schools, educators and students? How do we provide leadership in a time of rapid change?

The CoSN 2018 Annual Conference will dive deeply into the issues as we seek answers to these questions and design learning in the 4th Industrial Revolution.
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Webinar: Tackling World Issues by Fostering Global Competence in the Classroom
2018-03-13 | Webinar, Select a Country:
In a rapidly changing and complex world, how can we make sure that our young people develop an understanding of global issues and the empathy necessary to engage in making change? Join the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, World Savvy and World’s Largest Lesson at 3pm ET on Monday, March 13 for a free Share My Lesson webinar on creating global citizens. These three organizations will provide you with three distinct, but complementary ways for students to understand the world around them.

First, World’s Largest Lesson will introduce you to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the Global Goals, which are a plan for people and planet, set out for the world to deliver by 2030 and agreed by 193 Heads of State. When introduced into the classroom, and woven throughout your curriculum, students see new purpose for learning, build an understanding of what makes a sustainable world for all and realize how they can play a part in making this happen. World’s Largest Lesson will provide you with free resources and tools for educators and guidance for students to take action – personal, local, national and global – in support of the Goals.

World Savvy will lead you through an interactive session, exploring global competence and how to create meaningful, student driven learning experiences using World Savvy’s Case Study approach. World Savvy’s Case Studies highlight global issues with local significance and include a variety of curated resources to ensure access points for all learners. Participants will actively engage in the World Savvy Case Study approach as learners, acquiring background knowledge while building empathy, investigating multiple perspectives and deepening their understanding through inquiry. The session will also include discussion about how students have engaged in this approach in middle and high schools in Oakland, CA, Minneapolis, MN, and Newark, NJ.

Next, the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop will introduce you to Digital Play for Global Citizens, which is a guide to some playful resources that educators and parents can use to help children learn about, understand, and engage with our increasingly interconnected world. Divided into three parts, the guide introduces tools to 1) help students build awareness of themselves and the world around them, 2) recognize and investigate the complex and systemic causes of events across cultures and history, and 3) use digital play to explore the natural world. From exploring boundaries, borders, and geography in context; to developing empathy and understanding of diversity; from investigating the systemic causes of economic injustice; to developing a sense of curiosity and wonder about nature, we introduce tools and techniques for using digital play to develop in students all aspects of global competence.

Finally, all three organizations will engage in a broader discussion about the importance of creating global citizens.

Available for one-hour of PD credit. A certificate of completion will be available for download at the end of your session.Learn More and Register

Children and Families in the Digital Age Book Launch Event
2018-03-14 | Digital Promise, Redwood City, CA
The Bay Area Children’s Media Group, the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, Digital Promise and Common Sense Media present Children and Families in the Digital Age.

Join us for a panel conversation with researchers who are exploring the ways in which families with young children are using media together for learning and communication. The session will highlight research conducted as part of the Families and Media Project that is featured in the new book Children and Families in the Digital Age (Routledge).

A reception will follow the discussion. The book will be available for purchase at a discount at the event.

Panelists include:

Elisabeth Gee, Arizona State University
Lori M. Takeuchi, Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop
Ellen Wartella, Northwestern University
Brigid Barron, Stanford University
Briana Ellerbe, USC-Annenberg
Amber Levinson, Stanford University
Sinem Siyahhan, California State University San Marcos
Savitha Moorthy, Digital Promise
Maria Alvarez, Common Sense Media

Learn more about the book and RSVP for the event here.

ASCD Empower18
2018-03-24 - 2018-03-26 | Venue Boston, MA, Boston, MA
ASCD connects educators with the resources, knowledge, and community to implement a whole child approach. Through learning paths, educators can direct their own professional learning—receiving exactly what they need to empower their schools and students.
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Dust or Magic Masterclass in Bologna
2018-03-25 | Bologna, Italy
The 5th Annual Dust or Magic Masterclass—held in conjunction with the Bologna Children’s Bookfair—will be held Sunday afternoon, March 25, 2018 in the headquarters of the Bologna Children’s Bookfair, in Bologna Italy. The international gathering brings leading digital experts together for demos and deep conversation about trends and design issues affecting children’s publishing.
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Webinar: Mimi Ito Interviews Mitch Resnick on "Lifelong Kindergarten"
2018-03-27 | Webinar, Select a Country:
Join Mimi Ito, director of the Connected Learning Lab at UC Irvine, as she interviews Mitch Resnick, the director of the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab, about his new book, “Lifelong Kindergarten: Cultivating Creativity through Projects, Passion, Peers and Play.”

Mimi Ito is a cultural anthropologist, studying youth new media practices in the U.S. and Japan. She oversees research activities of the Digital Media and Learning Hub and is Chair of the MacArthur Research Network on Connected Learning and Director of the Connected Learning Lab at the University of California, Irvine.

Mitchel Resnick, an expert in educational technologies, is Professor of Learning Research at the MIT Media Lab. He has worked closely with the LEGO toy company for thirty years, collaborating with them on such innovative projects as the LEGO Mindstorms robotics kits, and he holds the LEGO endowed chair at MIT. He leads the team developing the Scratch programming software and online community, and he is cofounder of the Computer Clubhouse project, a network of after-school learning centers for youth from low-income communities.
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Lego Idea Conference
2018-04-09 - 2018-04-11
Under the theme of Empowering Children to Shape Tomorrow, the 2018 LEGO Idea Conference seeks to explore how learning through play can be a powerful part of addressing the global learning crisis. Through an experiential and content-rich conference, it aims to build a deeper understanding of behaviors, motivations, and aspirations that will help unlock more adoption of learning through play, transforming how children learn in the home, community and classroom.
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American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting
2018-04-13 - 2018-04-17 | New York, NY, New York, NY, United States
The AERA Annual Meeting is the largest gathering of scholars in the field of education research. It is a showcase for ground-breaking, innovative studies in a diverse array of areas—from early education through higher education, from digital learning to second language literacy. It is where to encounter ideas and data that will shape tomorrow’s education practices and policies, and where to connect with leading thinkers from the U.S. and around the world.

Featured Session:
Cooney Center Research Manager Alexia Raynal will present on findings from Children and Families in the Digital Age: Learning Together in a Media Saturated Culture in a roundtable session on equity and learning technologies on Tuesday, April 17.
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Children's Screen Time Action Network Conference
2018-04-20 - 2018-04-21 | Venue Boston, MA, Boston, MA
The very first conference dedicated to reducing children’s screen time.

Learn about health risks related to screen and device overuse.
Attend workshops designed to help you communicate more effectively with parents.
Meet other professionals who believe that reducing children’s screen time is necessary and possible.
Explore opportunities for partnerships.
Participate in round table discussions and working groups.
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2018 International Communication Association Conference
2018-05-24 - 2018-05-28 | Prague, Czech Republic
Against a backdrop of evolving technologies and shifting sociocultural and political dynamics, the 2018 ICA conference theme, Voices, encourages scholars to delve more deeply into a concept inextricably linked with communication.

For those attending, join Cooney Center Acting Executive Director Lori Takeuchi for a panel discussion on Designing Media to Encourage Tolerance and Empathy in Youth on Friday, May 25.
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Dust or Magic AppCamp
2018-06-01 - 2018-06-03 | Asilomar, CA
A gathering of top children’s interactive designers, editors and reviewers who review the year and critique the field. The reviewers share what they’ve seen and explain what they like. The publishers demonstrate their latest apps.

What do you do at App Camp?
Give demos and get feedback from an expert audience.
Meet old friends, and make new ones.
Help critique the latest apps by way of demonstrations.
Get the latest news on hardware and app store policies.
Get a crash course of the “magic” of interactive engagement.
Leave inspired to make smarter, better products.
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2018 ALA Annual Conference
2018-06-21 - 2018-06-26 | New Orleans, LA
The ALA is the oldest and largest library association in the world and holds its Annual Conference & Exhibition each summer. As the world’s biggest library event, it brings together up to 25,000 librarians and library staff, educators, authors, publishers, Friends of Libraries, trustees, special guests and exhibitors to engage and participate in the ongoing transformation of libraries and to network. With around 2,500 scheduled events of which more than 500 are programs, sessions and in-depth facilitated and information conversations, attendees engage in a wide range of library- and professional development-related topics.

The ALA Annual Conference and Exhibition brings together bestselling authors, experts, political luminaries, thought leaders, and influencers in the library field and all over the world.
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15th Annual Games For Change Festival
2018-06-28 - 2018-06-30 | New York, NY, New York, NY, United States
Join a community of game experts, developers, technologists, funders and social innovators to share groundbreaking ideas and interact with new impact games and immersive media. Attendees will also engage in three days of thought-provoking conversations, workshops, and networking events.
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The Children’s Media Conference
2018-07-03 - 2018-07-05 | Sheffield, United Kingdom
The Children’s Media Conference is an important event in the United Kingdom for everyone involved in developing, producing, and distributing content for kids. We open our doors to delegates from television, radio, film, games, interactive media, magazine and book publishing, the licensing and toy sectors, and the arts and culture sectors.
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Scratch @ MIT 2018
2018-07-26 - 2018-07-28 | Cambridge, MA
The theme of this year’s Scratch conference is “The Next Generation”.

https://scratch.mit.edu/conference

Connected Learning Summit at MIT Media Lab
2018-08-01 - 2018-08-03 | Cambridge, MA
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.
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National Center for Families Learning Conference 2018
2018-09-24 - 2018-09-26
The ​Families ​Learning ​Conference focuses ​on ​innovative ​strategies ​and ​practices ​in ​family ​literacy ​and ​learning, ​two-generation ​education ​solutions, ​and ​parent ​and ​family ​engagement. Attending the conference will equip you with tools and strategies to use right away with the students, families, and communities you serve. This year’s meeting takes place in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. See the website for more information on registration and fees: http://conference.familieslearning.org/

Digital Media and Developing Minds Congress
2018-10-15 - 2018-10-18
This year, Children and Screens and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory are hosting the 2nd national Digital Media and Developing Minds Congress, October 15-18, 2018 at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Cold Spring Harbor, New York. This conference will foster fruitful interaction and collaboration between researchers, clinicians and educators. Speakers and panelists will evaluate the current state of scientific knowledge regarding how digital media influence child development at multiple ages and stages; outline directions for future study, and recommend interventions and solutions.

For more information and to register, visit http://meetings.cshl.edu/meetings.aspx?meet=DMDMII&year=18

Children's Media Association - Bay Area Town Hall
2018-11-01 | San Francisco, CA
The Children’s Media Association celebrates the launch of the Bay Area chapter with their first official event:

Rosé and Play with CMA-BA

There will be games. There will be snacks. There will be tastings of rosés. And, of course, there will be opportunities to network with the dreamers and makers in our beloved industry!

Our Town Hall is an opportunity to be part of the “think tank” that is CMA-BA. Come and celebrate with us at our launch party…for a brainstorm about our exciting new chapter…an update about open officer positions and other ways to contribute…and a chance to become a founding member of Children’s Media Association-Bay Area! The event is FREE…Just RSVP!

https://bit.ly/2AopLDN

And don’t forget to bring a friend and extend this invitation to your children’s media colleagues! Earn a chance to win prizes at the Town Hall raffle for every friend you bring!

Date and Time: Thursday, November 1, 2018 from 7:30pm-9:00pmLocation: Neyborly Union Square (590 Sutter Street, San Francisco, CA 94102)

18th Annual Dust or Magic Fall Institute
2018-11-04 - 2018-11-06 | Venue Lambertville, NJ, Lambertville, NJ
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 review of child development theory applied to the latest interactive media, plus demos, critiques, testing and brainstorming sessions.

This agenda is not defined by social or commercial agendas. Selling is not permitted; there are no sponsors or booths. Dust or Magic is an outgrowth of Children’s Technology Review’s ongoing study of children’s interactive media.

Learn more and register at http://dustormagic.com/institute/

Future of Childhood Salon: Immersive Media and Child Development
2018-11-07 - 2018-11-08
On November 7 and 8, 2018, the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, the School for the Future of Innovation in Society at Arizona State University, and Dubit will host the inaugural Future of Childhood Salon on Immersive Media and Child Development. At this day-and-a-half workshop, we will proactively plan for the future of immersive media—i.e., virtual, augmented, and mixed realities—in the lives of preadolescents before these technologies become ubiquitous among children this age. A cross-sectoral group of approximately 65 child development and media researchers, learning scientists, child health experts, hardware and content developers, educators, journalists, and funders will look at these emerging media via a cascading series of considerations. These will be organized around necessary choices in order for VR, AR, and MR—from such time they are approved for use by pre-teens—to be unique, essential, safe, engaging, and beneficial to children’s socio-emotional, cognitive, and physical development. The goal is to emerge with an agenda for needed research, a framework for responsible development of immersive experiences for children, and industry-wide best practices that can evolve over time via cross-sectoral partnerships.
