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Sponsored by OCLC and Library Journal

PLAY, LEARN INNOVATE

a free online symposium

Tuesday, June 7, 2011 1-3 pm (ET)

We're told that to be successful, we need to innovate, both for ourselves and on behalf of our organizations. But is there a fundamental disconnect between how we use imagination, planning and goal setting in our leisure time and how we get things accomplished at work?

New ways in which play overlaps with learning, media, social interaction, work and creativity provide clues about how "fun" may be the most efficient way to get something serious accomplished.

And fun may be the secret ingredient your innovation efforts are missing.

Listen to the the Webex recording of the symposium.

See the captured tweetstream.

No travel. No cost. Just insight.

Speakers

Liz Danforth headshot

Liz Danforth

Liz Danforth, MLS, is a freelance game illustrator, scenario designer, and game developer who was inducted into the Academy of Gaming Arts and Design's Hall of Fame in 1996. She has 20 years experience as a part-time paralibrarian in Phoenix and Tucson and was one of about a dozen "gaming experts" working with the American Library Association on a million-dollar grant-funded project to study the use of gaming to improve literacy skills and to develop a model "toolbox" for gaming in libraries. She also works as an artist, a writer, and a library consultant. Follow her on Twitter @LizDanforth.

Kurt Squire headshot

Kurt Squire

Kurt Squire is an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Educational Communications and Technology division of Curriculum and Instruction and a research scientist at the Academic Advanced Distributed Learning Co-Lab. Squire is also a co-founder and current director of the Games, Learning, & Society Initiative, a group of over 50 faculty and students investigating game-based learning. Squire's research investigates the potential of video game-based technologies for systemic change in education.

Erica Halverson headshot

Erica Rosenfeld Halverson

Erica Rosenfeld Halverson is an Assistant Professor of Curriculum & Instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Erica's research focuses on how young people learn to make art about the stories of their lives and the role this artmaking process plays in identity development and literacy learning. Erica is especially interested in the impact of artmaking on youth who are marginalized from mainstream institutions. She has published widely including recent articles in Teachers College Record, the Journal of Adolescent Research, and On the Horizon. Erica was the 2010 recipient of the Jan Hawkins Award for Early Career Contributions to Humanistic Research and Scholarship in Learning Technologies.

No travel. No cost. Just insight.

Twitter Moderators

Lisa Carlucci Thomas headshot

Lisa Carlucci Thomas

Digital Services Librarian
Southern Connecticut State University

Lisa Carlucci Thomas is an experienced manager and librarian known for her leadership and innovation in academic libraries and for her research on mobile devices & ebooks. Lisa is Digital Services Librarian at Southern Connecticut State University, where she is responsible for exploring, developing, and coordinating library technologies, systems, and digital initiatives. Lisa previously worked at the Yale University Library in the areas of digital collections, e-resource management, archives, reference, and access services. Lisa was named a 2010 Library Journal Mover & Shaker and was recognized by the American Library Association as a 2009 Emerging Leader. She received her MLIS from the Syracuse University School of Information Studies. Lisa's column, Social Eyes, appears in the Journal of Web Librarianship. Follow Lisa on Twitter at www.twitter.com/lisacarlucci.

Justin Hoenke headshot

Justin Hoenke

Teen Librarian
Portland Public Library (Portland, Maine)

Justin Hoenke is a teen librarian and gaming enthusiast who is the co-founder of 8BitLibrary, one of the premier gaming in schools and libraries blogs. Justin is a member of the 2010 ALA Emerging Leaders class and and a MLIS graduate of the Department of Library Science at the Clarion University of Pennsylvania. He is currently the Teen Librarian at the Portland (ME) Public Library, where he is responsible for teen collection developing and programming as well as overseeing the video game and graphic novel collection for the library system. Follow Justin on Twitter at @justinlibrarian and read his gaming in libraries blog over at 8BitLibrary. He's also currently working on a book for ALA Editions on video game collection development for public libraries.

No travel. No cost. Just insight.