On the Banks of Wisconsin, Gaming Makes Waves

The first real conference I ever went to as a young teacher was held in Madison, Wisconsin at the Frank Lloyd Wright Monona Terrace Convention Center.  Amazing spot for architecture. Even more amazing spot for ideas, it turned out.  Not sure how a 2nd year teacher convinced his headmaster to send him to a 'thought' conference (rather than one on structuring the 5-paragraph essay or setting up rubrics or analyzing great works of literature), but he was game and sent me on my merry way.

Just noticed that a similar joyfest of ideas is taking place at the same venue this July...and if I were a true gamer, or at least had a decent instinct for the in's and out's of gaming, I'd be there in a heartbeat. 

The  Games + Learning + Society 3.0 event (what a cool name is that!) is bringing together a pretty enticing group of thinkers in a realm of education that continues to gain more and more attention with each passing day.  A land of 'engagement' could have worse friends.

Might be worth submitting a proposal for a workshop/speaking session.  Or just being one of those young teachers that convinces their principal or headmaster to fund their trip under the auspice that something profound will happen in the gray matter between their ears. 

Comments

[Cory Peppler]

Thanks, Christian, for the heads-up! Since Madison is only about an hour up the road from me, I might try to take it in. I'm not a huge gamer or anything, but I'm convinced that anything to open my eyes to a different way of learning is time well spent. (I can't even count the number of times my eyes were opened at the Philly conference in two short, but packed days.) It seems the possibilities are endless; they are certainly exciting.

[Christian]

Wish I could make the hour drive with you, Cory. Agree that anything that opens up your eyes to learning in new ways is worth the time. And when it happens in both a metaphorical and a technical way, that's gotta be a good thing, right? Fill me in if you go.

Cheers,
Christian