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Catching Up... the Games, Learning, and Society Conference

Here I sit with with my I blog therefor I am T-shirt, listening to Billy Corgan's new album The Future Embrace. Outside the windows of my office, the sun shines on the trees, birds, bunnies, and the surprising variety of other wildlife in Irvine. (And, yes, my office is really painted forest green, too.) This weekend I've been sleeping in, taking care of the back yard, eating light, exercising, and spending time with Eva (and her friends). All this, and I'm finishing another week of my post-coursework research on schedule. So, it seems like a good time for catching up on Educational Technology and Life.

Over the past few weeks I have reflected often on how little I am posting to this blog now that I am not writing about a variety of topics on a deadline. As if on cue I've got a few very encouraging emails from readers (and listeners, it turned out) that I didn't know I had. I am considering something more like a one-hour a day approach to this blog... if I can afford it. Otherwise, I think I will be happy with weekly updates. In any case, I apologize to anyone who might be disappointed by my lack of consistency here.

I've certainly got plenty to blog about. I spent two days this week at the Games, Learning, and Society Conference. I never blogged about the Education Arcade Conference last month. I may yet return to it, but I want to be sure to get some of my thoughts related to the GLS conference posted... both so that I am forced to process the ideas enough to write about them, and so that my attendance might do another educator some good.

Here is the Program for the conference, and the following is my personal trajectory, as Jim Gee might say, through the GLS experience, which was almost certainly different for each attendee, as the trajectory through many good games is different for each player.

DAY 1
Workshop: Managed Gaming in the College & High School Classroom
Symposium: Brace for Impact: How User Creation Changes Everything
Case in point: 101 Uses for Second Life in the College Classroom
3 Individual Presentations: Games, Learning, and Identity
Symposium: Extending the Reach of Games

DAY 2
Workshop: Leveraging virtual Omniscience: Mixed Methodologies for Studying Social Life in Persistent Online Worlds
2 Individual Presentations: 'Effects' of Games
2 Individual Presentations: Students as Gamers
Symposium: The Future of Education and How We Can Get There

I am planning a post about the people I got to speak with during the conference and will follow this with as much as I have time to write about the content of each of these sessions. I may then also go into some detail about the Interactive Exhibits at the conference as well.

Thanks for reading.

-Mark