A New Culture of Learning: Gaming, Tech, Design
Gaming, mentorship, increasing connection, and design thinking converge in a world of constant change -- and invite us to imagine a future of learning that is as powerful as it is optimistic. By exploring play, innovation, and the cultivation of the imagination as cornerstones of learning, we can create a vision that is achievable, scalable and one that grows along with the technology that fosters it and the people who engage with it.
Presenters
Heather Staker is a Senior Research Fellow for the Education Practice at Innosight Institute, a nonprofit think tank devoted to applying the theories of disruptive innovation to problems in the social sector. She is the author of numerous publications, including “The rise of K-12 blended learning: Profiles of emerging models,” which Innosight Institute published May 2011. Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning listed it as one of the 11 most valuable reports for online learning policymakers and practitioners in 2011.
Staker is a frequent keynote speaker and panelist at education innovation conferences throughout the country and testifies regularly before state policymakers, including in Arizona, California, Florida, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania. Scholastic’s blog named her one of 5 people to watch in education in 2012.
Prior to joining Innosight Institute, Staker served under Governor Pete Wilson’s administration as a member of the California State Board of Education. She was also a strategy consultant for McKinsey & Company, a sales manager for Procter & Gamble, and the co-founder and CFO of Karaeiga, LLC, now Yoostar Entertainment.
Staker graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, with a concentration in Government. She received an MBA, with distinction, from Harvard Business School. She is the mother of four elementary school students.
Nicole Lazzaro, the founder (in 1992) and President of XEODesign, Inc., has twenty years expertise in Player Experience Design (PXD) for mass-market entertainment products. Widely recognized as one of the top women working in video games and a pioneering, leading figure in mobile and social games, Fast Company considers Nicole one of the 100 most influential women in high tech, and Gamasutra voted her one of the Top 20 women working in video games.
Nicole is also known for creating the first ever accelerometer game for the iPhone with Joe Hewitt, which was feature in Wired as being one of the top 9 iPhone hacks.
Nicole has spoken at the US State Department, and has been cited by Fast Company, ABC News, CNN, CNET, The Hollywood Reporter, and Red Herring.
She has improved over 100 million player experiences and has worked with EA, Ubisoft, D.I.C.E., Lucas Arts, Disney, PlayFirst, The Cartoon Network, and Nickelodeon on such popular franchises as three of the Myst series, Diner Dash, Fusion Fall, Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, Jeopardy Online, as well as creativity coaching for the designers of The Sims.
Nicole was the first person to use facial expressions to measure player experiences and has done ground breaking research on the relationship of emotion to games: 4k2f.com
Currently, she is applying her extensive research on XEOPlay's iPhone game, Tilt World. In the next few months, she has plans to introduce a few new concepts that she thinks will revolutionize gaming as we know it.
Lateral-thinker, envisioneer, strategist, designer, prototyper, builder -- Scott Stropkay is consulted when the question is “what should we be asking” and the answer needs to be tangible. Stropkay is finding answers to some of the most compelling questions of our day; designing strategies to position new offerings in new markets, then “turning the vision into reality” by designing compelling products, interfaces, and services that deliver real solutions to the market.
Founding partner of the research, strategy and development consulting firm Essential, Scott helps business leaders create innovative products and services in consumer, healthcare, and commercial markets + brings them together with his team of researchers, skilled translators, industrial designers and engineers.
Scott has worked in both corporate and consulting design capacities for over 25 years. His work is driven from personal experience delivering real products and services to market. By building better discovery processes, defining innovation opportunities, and leveraging design-thinking skills to inform innovation strategy, Scott helps guide the selection and development of market leading products and services for clients including AARP, Dell, iRobot, Owens Corning, P&G, Philips, and Shure.
Sunday, March 11
