Educator Innovators Represent at SXSWedu

The SXSWedu Conference and Festival is a four-day event beginning March 9, 2015. It’s an opportunity for community and collaboration across a broad and diverse field of educators. Educator Innovator and our partners will be represented in several sessions and events throughout the festival. Here’s a summary of the events related to Connected Learning:

• National Writing Project—SXSWedu Playground: Educator Innovators and staff from the National Writing Project will be at the Playground during SXSWedu, so make plans to stop by, March 9–12, in Ballroom EFG of the Austin Convention Center.
• Austin Education Game Jam / March 7–8: In support of the President’s “Educate to Innovate” initiative, and following the White House Game Jam that took place September 6–7, 2014, this event is an opportunity for leading game developers to collaborate with educators and create new video games for education. This event is by invitation only.
• Institute of Play—Quest to Learn: Seven Years Later / Monday, March 9, 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.: Quest to Learn was born out of an effort to build a public school based on the principles of games and game design. Join the founders of Quest to Learn as they share insights, reflections, and lessons learned, and explore possibilities for the future.
• Digital Me—Badge the World: Global Lessons in Open Badging / Monday, March 9, 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.: Kathryn Coleman, Serge Ravet, Mark Riches, and Tim Riches will share case studies from the U.S., Europe, and Australia, exploring badge systems, implementation, and lessons learned.
• Institute of Play—Design Challenges to Develop 21st Century Skills / Tuesday, March 10, 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.: Design Thinking enables students and teachers alike to become critical thinkers, inventors and problem-solvers. Learn how to create a series of hands-on, collaborative design challenges and incorporate them into your curriculum, using practical, real-world examples from teachers at Quest to Learn in New York City along with community partners.
• Mimi Ito: Connected Learning / Thursday, March 12, 1:15 p.m. to 1:45 p.m.: Mimi pursues research and educational change as the Research Director of the MacArthur Foundation funded Digital Media and Learning Hub at the University of California Irvine, and is the advisory board chair of the Connected Learning Alliance.