PLACE, UW-Madison School of Education: Play Make Learn announces session topics for the 2021 Play Make Learn Conference

Madison, WI: The Play Make Learn Conference is a gathering of researchers, game designers, makers, artists, and educators. The 2021 virtual conference is a place for collaboration and discovery in the design, research, and practice of gaming, makerspaces, classrooms, and the arts. This year’s conference will feature keynote speaker Dr. Benjamin Stokes (author of “Locally Played: Real-World Games for Stronger Places and Communities”), concurrent sessions, access to recorded content, and more.

“Play Make Learn is one of the only places I know where practicing teachers, researchers, designers, and policy makers are talking together about games, making, and the arts as part of one conversation,” said David Gagnon, Play Make Learn committee member and founder and director of Field Day Learning Games. “For these ideas, the whole is greater than the parts!”

Participants will choose from more than 10 live sessions, including:

  • Become a PBS Media Literacy Certified Teacher!
  • Building Assessment From the Ground Up for Maker-based Learning
  • Design, A Process to Learn
  • Design Decisions for Online/Remote Learning Materials: Lessons from/for Libraries and Museums During the Pandemic and Beyond
  • The Idex: An Index of Great Ideas
  • Productive Obstructions and Juice in Video Game Design
  • Twine Adventure Challenge
  • What Changes and What Stays the Same: Assessing Maker-based Learning in Virtual School

Additionally, conference participants will have the chance to see award-winning games that are fun, educational, and novel. Two contests—the GEE! Learning Games Award and the Click Youth Media Challenge—will highlight the latest educational videogames and media productions. Inspired by James Paul Gee, the linguist and new media scholar, GEE! Learning Games Awards will be presented to videogames in five categories: Elementary School (3K through Fifth Grade), Middle School or Older (Sixth Grade or Older), Informal Education Game (Public Engagement, Museums, Libraries, etc.), People’s Choice, and Student Created. The Click Youth Media Challenge, sponsored by PBS Wisconsin Education and Play Make Learn, recognizes the video and podcast creations of K-12 students.

When: August 5–6, 2021

Where: Online

Program Fee: An early registration rate of $100 is available for the first 100 registrants! Regular program fee is $125.

For more information about the 2021 Play Make Learn Conference, visit our website.