The new Connected Learning Summit (CLS), to be held at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab Aug. 1-3, will be all about revolutionizing how kids learn, and those interested in progressive and inclusive education are invited to be part of it.
Applications to present at the summit are being accepted through Jan. 22.
The mission of the CLS: fuel a growing movement of innovators harnessing the power of emerging technology to expand access to participatory, playful, and creative learning. It aims to include a mix of engaging presentation and workshop formats ranging from speculative design, to game walkthroughs, sharing work in progress and research panel discussions. Leaders in academics, industry and nonprofit organizations and educators in schools, after-school programs, museums, libraries and other venues will be selected to present:
- keynotes and plenary sessions;
- peer reviewed (and blind peer reviewed) research papers, spotlights (for project-based presentations), and symposia;
- interactive workshops on technology research and design;
- hands-on exploration of games and other media;
- a lively “hall of failure” featuring honest post mortems on projects, programs and products;
- smart, fast, performative “ignite” sessions;
- a community showcase for working papers, tech demos and kernels of ideas; and
- fireside chats with luminaries across fields.
CLS organizers are encouraging the submission of academic papers and project presentations as well as more innovative session formats that focus on digital technologies for learning, educational and commercial games and other media, innovative tech-infused curricula, and theoretical and/or empirical exploration of digital media and technology for learning. All proposals will be peer reviewed.
Summit Background
Organizers of the Digital Media and Learning (DML) Conference, the Games+Learning+Society (GLS) Conference and Sandbox Summit joined forces to create the CLS.
The event “marks the beginning of the next phase of our collective effort to revolutionize how kids learn,” said Constance Steinkuehler, professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine and former chair of the GLS Conference. “The convergence of these three communities — DML, GLS and Sandbox — promises to catalyze the field of learning technologies in a whole new way. We concluded the GLS event in order to enable this very merger, realizing that the silos we formerly operated within were no longer serving us well.”
Added Mimi Ito, research director of the Connected Learning Lab at UCI: “The Summit will have a progressive and inclusive focus. It will bring together people truly committed to progressive, catalytic, innovative and transformative approaches to learning.”
Eric Klopfer, director of the Scheller Teacher Education Program and The Education Arcade at MIT, said, “I haven’t been this excited about a conference — ever. We are bringing together unique communities of educators invested in educational innovation. With the diverse formats of interaction that the conference is supporting, I look forward to seeing, hearing and engaging with these innovators.”
Serving on the summit’s steering and advisory committee are: Steinkuehler, Ito, Klopfer, Drew Davidson, Samuel E. Dyson, David Theo Goldberg, Akili Lee, Scot Osterweil, Justin Reich, Mitch Resnick and Ricarose Roque.
The annual CLS will be held on the MIT campus in Cambridge and at UCI on alternating years.
For more information about the summit, visit connectedlearningsummit.org.
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