Joan Ganz Cooney Center

Games in Education Conference
2014-08-06 - 2014-08-07 | Unnamed Venue, Troy, NY
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 the Games in Education website.

GameTech 2014
2014-09-03 - 2014-09-05 | Unnamed Venue, Orlando, FL
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.

New York Times Schools for Tomorrow Conference 2014
2014-09-08 - 2014-09-09 | New York, NY, New York, NY, United States
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/

Gaming in Ed Conference 2014
2014-09-15 - 2014-09-19 | Venue Online, Online
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 spark inquiry. With guidance from educators, students aren’t just players, but critical evaluators of games and game designers themselves.

Cooney Center Executive Director Michael Levine will be presenting a keynote talk on Wednesday, September 17 at 7pm ET.

http://gamingined.com/

National Technology Leadership Summit 2014
2014-09-25 - 2014-09-26 | Washington, DC, Select a Country:
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/

EDUCAUSE Annual Conference
2014-09-29 - 2014-10-02 | Unnamed Venue, Orlando, FL
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.

CineKid for Professionals 2014
2014-10-14 - 2014-10-18 | Unnamed Venue, Amsterdam, Netherlands
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 single productions, cross media productions, interactive installations and set-ups as well as workshops.

http://www.cinekid.nl/professional/

Webinar: Creating a Conversation About Anywhere, Anytime Learning
2014-10-15 | Venue Online, Online
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 distinguished group of educational leaders will discuss the changing landscape of learning opportunities for children and the vital roles of families and communities in complementing the role of schools. This web conference will be hosted by Heather B. Weiss, founder and director of Harvard Family Research Project, and moderated by Christine Patton, senior research analyst at Harvard Family Research Project.
Panelists will be:
Gregg Behr, executive director, Grable Foundation
Terri Ferinde Dunham, partner, Collaborative Communications Group; lead, National Network of Statewide Afterschool Networks
Lori Takeuchi, senior director and research scientist, Joan Ganz Cooney Center.
Topics will include:
Access and use of digital media for learning among young children and families
Community-wide initiatives to promote anywhere, anytime learning opportunities
Quality afterschool programs that offer a pathway for positive youth development and educational success.
Register today—space is limited!

Join the conversation online using #HFRPinteract and by following @HFRP. You can also access this and all other event recordings at www.hfrp.org/interact.
http://www.eventzilla.net/web/event?eventid=2139054248

1 National Center for Education Statistics. (2009). Average number of hours in the school day and average number of days in the school year for public schools, by state: 2007–08. Schools and Staffing Survey. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/sass/tables/sass0708_035_s1s.asp

Digital Kids Summit 2014
2014-10-21 - 2014-10-22 | Venue San Francisco, CA, San Francisco, CA, United States
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 development.

14th Annual Dust or Magic Institute
2014-11-02 - 2014-11-04 | Unnamed Venue, Lambertville, NJ
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.

FOSI Annual Conference 2014
2014-11-12 - 2014-11-13 | Washington, DC, Washington, DC, Select a Country:
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?

For more information, please visit the FOSI website.

Kids at Play Summit 2015
2015-01-07
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.

Launch Kids at Digital Book World 2015
2015-01-13 | New York, NY, New York, NY, United States
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.

FETC 2015
2015-01-20 - 2015-01-23 | Venue Orlando, FL, Orlando, FL
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 others.

Learn more about FETC 2015 at fetc.org

ThinkFWD - Incubating Opportunity: The Promise of Early Childhood Education
2015-02-05 | New York, NY, New York, NY, United States
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 benefits children from all backgrounds? He will moderate a panel with Steven Barnett, Director, National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER); Carmel Martin, Executive Vice President for Policy, Center for American Progress; Hirokazu Yoshikawa, Courtney Sale Ross University Professor of Globalization and Education, Steinhardt, NYU; and Azadeh Jamalian, Co-Founder and Chief Learning Officer, Tiggly.

Learn more and RSVP: www.fwd.us/field_020515_nycthinkfwd

Learning and the Brain 2015
2015-02-12 - 2015-02-14 | San Francisco, CA
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

Toy Fair 2015
2015-02-14 - 2015-02-17 | New York, NY, New York, NY, United States
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/

Kidscreen Summit 2015
2015-02-23 - 2015-02-26 | Miami, FL
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/

SXSWedu
2015-03-09 - 2015-03-12 | Venue Austin, TX, Austin, TX, United States
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 that includes SXSW Music, Film and Interactive; SXSW Eco and SXSW V2V. Internationally recognized as the convergence gathering for the creative arts, SXSWedu extends SXSW’s support for the art of engagement beyond musicians, filmmakers and new media innovators to include society’s true rock stars: educators!

http://sxswedu.com

SXSW Interactive
2015-03-13 - 2015-03-17 | Venue Austin, TX, Austin, TX, United States
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 analysis of the future, SXSW Interactive has become the place to preview the technology of tomorrow today.

http://schedule.sxsw.com/?conference=interactive

Be sure to check out the Cooney Center’s own Michelle Miller as she moderates Playing to Learn: Lessons From Game Design Gurus.

Playing to Learn: Lessons From Game Design Gurus
2015-03-16
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 scenes of successful groups like LEGO and Nickelodeon to offer best practices for research gathering, iterative design and user feedback. After sharing examples of their most recent successes and failures, the panel will answer questions from the audience.

The Joan Ganz Cooney Center’s Managing Director, Michelle Miller, will be moderating this panel!

http://schedule.sxsw.com/2015/events/event_IAP39174

2015 Ideas & Innovations Virtual Conference
2015-03-23 - 2015-03-25
Ideas & Innovations is a professional learning virtual conference, March 23-25, brought to you by Share My Lesson in partnership with content leaders, authors and experienced educators. With 29 sessions to choose from, there’s something for every new or experienced educator, PreK-12, spanning all subject areas from arts education, science and math to integrating technology and games into the classroom.

www.sharemylesson.com/Conference

LITERACY FOR ALL: ACCELERATING OUTCOMES THROUGH COLLECTIVE IMPACT
2015-04-14 | Institute of International Education, 809 United Nations Plaza, 12th Floor, New York, NY, 10017, United States
The International Literacy Association invites you to join a critical discussion among cross-sector leaders on what is required to motivate action and accelerate outcomes for the millions of illiterate people around the world.

How can educators, governments, and private sector and philanthropic leaders collaborate to develop, assess and share approaches that work in advancing literacy?

This discussion marks an important first step in building a coalition dedicated to collectively addressing the solvable problem that is illiteracy today.

Tuesday, April 14, 3:00PM to 5:00PM

Click here for more information and to register.

American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting
2015-04-16 - 2015-04-20 | Venue Chicago, IL, Chicago, IL
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. The 2015 Annual Meeting, with an expected attendance of more than 14,000, will feature over 2,600 sessions.

CHI Conference
2015-04-18 - 2015-04-23 | Seoul, Korea, Seoul, Korea, Republic Of
For over 30 years, the CHI conference (pronounced ‘kai’) has attracted the world’s leading researchers and practitioners in the field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) from businesses and universities to share ground-breaking research and innovations related to how humans interact with digital technologies. The Association for Computing Machinery’s (ACM) CHI conference is the world’s premiere conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, presenting a highly selective showcase of the very best advances across the disciplines of computer science, cognitive psychology, design, social science, human factors, artificial intelligence, graphics, visualization, multi-media design and other disciplines.

http://chi2015.acm.org

Conversations with Authors Webinar Series: Pioneering Literacy in the Digital Age
2015-04-20 | Webinar, Select a Country:
In a world where young children are surrounded by media choices, can digital tools be better deployed to enhance early literacy skills?

Lisa Guernsey (Director, Early Education Initiative and Director, Learning Technologies Project New America) and Michael Levine (Executive Director, The Joan Ganz Cooney Center) will address this question and share findings from their forthcoming book, Tap, Click, Read, which analyzes the current digital media and literacy marketplace.

These experts in early childhood program and policy development will also share findings from The Seeding Reading Project, a multi-year initiative that examines if and how digital media can be used in early childhood programs to support literacy development. The initiative is led by New America and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop and supported by the Pritzker Children’s Initiative.

You’ll leave this webinar with practical strategies and best practices for the use of digital tools by early childhood professionals and parents.

This webinar takes place on April 20, 2015, from 3:00- 4:30pm Eastern Time.

Click here to register.

Games for Change Festival
2015-04-21 - 2015-04-25 | New York, NY, New York, NY, United States
The Games for Change Festival is the leading international event uniting game creators with those who believe in the positive power of digital games. The 2015 G4C Festival will again join the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City from April 21-23 & 25.

See videos, photos, and articles from 2014.

http://www.gamesforchange.org

Transformational Experiences Summit
2015-04-30 | Unnamed Venue, Pittsburgh, PA
The inaugural Transformational Experiences Summit will focus on the art, science and design of making media that matters. The summmit will explore experiences that span learning, health, training, social impact, civics, entertainment and more; made through media that range from games, animation, location-based installations, augmented reality, mobile devices, robotics, interactive performances, transmedia storytelling, etc.

The Cooney Center’s Michael Levine will speak at 3:45 on “Early Learning and Tech: Pathways to ‘Readialand.'”

Learn more and register for the conference at http://tes.etc.cmu.edu/

International Communication Association's 65th Annual Conference
2015-05-21 - 2015-05-25 | San Juan Caribe Hilton Hotel, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Communication Across the Life Span
The 2015 conference theme “Communication Across the Life Span” encourages academics to explore the various ways in which our discipline provides a lens for interpreting the evolving meanings, relationships, experiences, and critical crossroads of the life course. Technological evolution, economic changes, medical advancements, environmental turbulence, political movements, and other evolving circumstances not only influence our experiences across the life span, but also the development of social policies and ethical frameworks that shape societies. Across domains, life-span dynamics are inseparable from the communication processes surrounding them.

This year’s conference theme seeks to explore the multiple ways communication affects, reflects and directs life’s trajectory. As we grow up and grow old, embrace new experiences, try on new roles, and adopt new media technologies, our sense of time, space, connection, and identity are fundamentally explored through communication. The questions of why, how, with whom, and to what end humans communicate reflect and shape their ever-changing life-span position. And, while the “life span” can be conceived as a continuum, it is also one hinged by critical junctures and bound by cultural definitions that can be better understood through communication.

Early registration ends May 1, 2015.

Click here for more information.

Webinar: Betting on Elmo, Martha, and Lena: The Promise of Technology to Reach & Support Parents in Creating Literacy and Language Rich Environments
2015-05-27
Parents are too often an untapped asset in building young children’s pathways to literacy and overall success. They, more than anyone else, can have the greatest impact on children reading proficiently by the end of third grade when they create literacy- and language-rich environments, a key indicator of school readiness. Technology can be a powerful tool to reach the numbers of parents we need to reach. But how might we better use technology in ways that promote science-based learning and development that will promote both deeper human relationships and stronger 21st century skills? What are the best technology tools and how do we get these into the hands of low-income families? What models can we learn from? And how do we measure and track our efforts? In this webinar, we will view and discuss several 3-5 minute videos that spotlight how pioneering early childhood professionals are using technology to reach families.

Join Lisa Guernsey, Director: Learning Technologies & Director: Early Education Initiative, and Michael Levine, Executive Director, Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop in this interactive webinar hosted by the Campaign for Grade Level Reading to learn about what research tells us about the promise and challenges of today’s ubiquitous media and technology environment. Based on the findings in their forthcoming book, Tap, Click Read: Growing Readers in a World of Screens, they will recommend effective, modern ways to support parents, educators and other community leaders in creating literacy- and language-rich environments.

Register for the webinar here
