8:00 | Breakfast

8:35 | WELCOMING REMARKS

Claire Green and Wendy Smolen, Cofounders, Sandbox Summit

8:45 -9:30 | Keynote: Toying with Transmedia: the future of entertainment is child's play

Henry Jenkins, Provost's Professor of Communication, Journalism, and Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California

Transmedia has become the new buzzword in Hollywood, where media moguls are beginning to recognize the larger implications of a world where every story, image and sound plays out across multiple media channels. As key thinkers in television, film, comics, games, and advertising develop a shared vision for expanding the expressive potential of intersecting media platforms, they are returning to the lessons they learned playing with toys and video games. This talk will explore the roots of transmedia, beginning with how action figures allowed kids to create a play space from materials provided by media franchises and how they then used those same toys as tools for producing their own cultural responses; how dungeon masters structured the play experiences of their classmates and came to understand the way world building and rule design might allow them to shape the entertainment value of their stories. Along the way, we will consider how Lewis Carroll, L. Frank Baum, J.R.R. Tolkien, Walt Disney, and other producers of children's stories, helped pave the way for our current understanding of how transmedia entertainment works.

9:45- 10:45 | A New Chapter for Books: Innovative Approaches to the Oldest Form of Media

Moderated by Alexandra Kennedy, Executive Director, The Eric Carle Museum of Picture
Book Art

Panelists: Lisa Holton, Founder and CEO, Fourth Story Media, Peter H. Reynolds, Children's Book Author, Illustrator, and Founder of FableVision, Inc., Ben Vershbow, Digital Producer, New York Public Library

Children's books may be adapting to digital formats more slowly than adult books, but this new generation of parents, all digital natives, clearly expect to have interactive ebooks they can offer their kids right alongside the paper versions we all hope will live on in perpetuity. In this panel, three innovators will discuss the possibilities ahead, pushing us all to consider rich and meaningful visions for books that go beyond the "read along" versions. Can an ebook, in its own unique way, encourage children to explore art or storytelling? Can it create meaningful moments of shared experiences between parent and child? What are the possibilities for a parent and child self-publishing? This discussion will encourage us all to bring dimensionality to a new age in children's books.

11:00-11:20 | Innovation Spotlight: Using robots to bring children's media off the screen

Dr. Cynthia Breazeal, Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences, MIT

Have you ever thought of social robots as a new kind of children’s media? Dr. Braezeal does. Presenting two of her current projects as examples, she will explore how social robots can serve as physically embodied characters that engage children in playful, real world encounters. The Huggable project examines distance play using a robot avatar. Here, for example, a grandparent can remotely puppeteer a robot character over the Internet to play with grandchildren who live far away. The second project explores cross-reality media where robot characters bring the story world off the screen into the family playroom. In both instances, the social robots can leverage both physical and digital interactions to promote whole body, character-based, collaborative play that brings together people of different ages and locations.

11:30-12:30 | real toys for an increasingly virtual world

Moderated by Scot Osterweil, Creative Director, MIT Education Arcade

Panelists: Marina Bers, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development Adjunct Professor, Department of Computer Sciences, Tufts University
Stacey Matthias, Owner, Insight Research Group, Barry Kudrowitz, Ph.D. candidate, Mechanical Engineering and Instructor, Toy Product Design, MIT

Toys help kids make sense of the world around them. But as kids' play moves away from physical objects and moves towards the connections between objects and technology, will the power of play be lost, different, or improved? This panel will explore how the future of toys can- and must- help 21st century children make sense of their physical and virtual space.

12:45-2:00 | Networking LUNCH

2:15-3:15 | interactive Workshops

1. Kids 2.0 – An interactive workshop where you get to be a kid --- again
Workshop leader: Stacey Matthias, Owner, Insight Research Group
 
Remember the smell of Crayolas or the feel of Play Doh between your fingers? How ‘bout hanging upside down on the trapeze or chewing on a #2 pencil? Are you still haunted by the scent of Clearasil?

In this workshop, Child Development expert Stacey Matthias will help you reconnect with your inner kid as she walks you through the mindset of kids at ages 3, 7, and 11.  She’ll discuss the physical, cognitive, and emotional development of each stage, as well as how kids are spending their time and what makes them happy.  You’ll learn which media have the most impact at which ages.  And even important, you’ll understand how kids are the same – and not the same – as you were at that age.

2. Learn to Read a Picture
Workshop leaders: Educators from The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art

Why do some images – whether from an illustrated book, a newspaper ad, or a famous painting – evoke such strong emotional responses. In this hands-on workshop, educators from The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts will demonstrate the intriguing principles of shape, color, and design developed by Caldecott Honor artist Molly Bang. All participants will create their own cut paper collage to explore their newfound knowledge.

3. Putting the "I" in Interactive Books
Workshop leaders: Lisa Holton, Founder and CEO, Fourth Story Media
Ben Vershbow, Digital Producer, New York Public Library
Alexandra Kennedy, Executive Director, The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art

Most digital books on the market offer kids a pretty straightforward experience — the chance to read along. But what is the real untapped potential for interactive books? Can we engage children in making stories and pictures? Or create books that enhance the shared experiences between parent and child? In this workshop, participants will work in teams, tackling assignments to develop and market a new era of children’s books with all the heart and soul of their beloved paper cousins.

4. Improv Toys
Workshop Leader: Eric Rosenbaum, Ph.D. candidate, MIT Media Lab

Dim the lights, empty your pockets, and yes, turn on your cell phones In this hands-on workshop, we’ll use toys and tools we have on hand to play with software that lets us paint with glowing light, make beautiful music without an orchestra, and even finger paint with sound. We’ll discuss the nature of improvisation, and attempt to understand how technology that embraces  improvisation can stimulate creativity. No previous art  or music experience necessary.

 

3:30-3:45 | Wrap Up Day 1

Presented by Eric Klopfer, Director, MIT Education Arcade

8: 00 | Breakfast

8:35 | WELCOMING REMARKS

Claire Green and Wendy Smolen, Cofounders, Sandbox Summit

8:45 -9:30 | Keynote: The Medium Doesn’t Matter

Laura Seargeant Richardson, Principal Designer, frog design, Inc.

Play is the preparation for a future that constantly redefines reality; where context, content and synchronicity can all be manipulated. Play across platforms will become an important training ground for kids to intuit greater complexity, move seamlessly through man-made and natural constructs, and introduce news ways of seeing. The medium won’t matter – it will simply be one more toy in the toy chest, waiting for interpretation, manipulation and imagination.

9:45- 10:45 | inside online games: why kids obsess over farmville and other lessons from the field

Moderated by Alex Chisholm, Executive Director and Cofounder, Learning Games Network

Panelists: Eric Klopfer, Director, MIT Education Arcade, Mitchel Resnick, Professor of Learning Research, MIT Media Lab, Constance Steinkuehler, Assistant Professor, Curriculum & Instruction, University of Wisconsin – Madison

Video game producers and marketers aspire to release games that players "obsess over" or become "addicted to."  While the phrases themselves are often appropriated to describe delinquent or socially unacceptable use of games, they are sometimes no more than an easy shorthand to update "cool." Why is Farmville "wicked?"  How is World of Warcraft "the bomb?"  What makes texting so "fierce"? Where does Club Penguin take kids that makes it so “hot?” Leading researchers, designers, and educators will draw from their combined century of research, design, and teaching experience to discuss the opportunities that the features and functionalities of online games provide to engage kids in learning, as well as explore the challenges designers and developers confront to design creative, safe, and effective play experiences for young people in digital spaces. Panelists will also discuss how kids design and create new games and how teachers can develop strategies to mesh play with learning.

11:00-11:20 | Research Update: Engaging Curiosity through STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math

Presented by Carla Engelbrecht Fisher, Children’s Game Designer and Researcher

STEM, one of educators’ favorite new curriculum buzzwords, is about more than just a body of facts. This session shares information from leading STEM curriculum developers, teachers, and researchers to understand how to create STEM content in ways that foster curiosity, discovery, and flexible thinking. No surprise: media is a significant tool in promoting these skills.

11:30-12:30 | TV or Not TV: That's not the question

Moderated by Alice Cahn, Vice President for Social Responsibility, Cartoon Network

Panelists: Terry Fitzpatrick, EVP Content Distribution, Sesame Workshop, Nick Gnat, Next-Generation Broadcast Journalist, MOUSE, Justin Johnson, Founder, onlinevideocontests.com, Creative Services Lead, Next New Networks, Brigid Sullivan, SVP Interactive and Children's Media, WGBH Boston

Traditional television is being transformed by radical changes on all fronts. This panel will focus on how television is evolving to give audiences what they want (anytime/anywhere access to view, create, and participate) and media companies what they need (business models that ensure financial stability.)  Join our panelists for an interactive discussion about what lies ahead for watchers and makers of screens content.

12:45-2:00 | Networking LUNCH

2:15-3:15 | Workshops

1. Next Generation Play
Workshop Leader: Laura Seargeant Richardson, Principal Designer, frog design, Inc.

The future of play starts here! Learn how to use all of your senses to generate ideas for new play environments. Laura Seargeant Richardson will lead teams through a Sensorium Exploratorium that will have you:

• Thinking with your body
• Thinking synaesthetically
• Thinking biomimically
• Thinking through materials
• Thinking with technology

2. Channeling the Internet
Workshop Leader: Justin Johnson, Founder, onlinevideocontests.com, Creative Services Lead, Next New Networks

TV is a one-way street, telling the audience a story; the Internet seeks to engage the audience in the story. Online video producer Justin Johnson will demonstrate how being hyper-aware of the online audiences, and the language they speak, can make or break the popularity of your video content on the web.

3. UbiqGames: Where Play and Learning Happen Anytime and Anywhere
Workshop leader: Eric Klopher, Director, MIT Education Arcade

The Ubiquitous Games (UbiqGames) Initiative is a new paradigm for 21st century science education, using mobile simulation games to build foundational understanding of science content and scientific methodology.

Designed to be played in the “interstitial” spaces in schools (between classes, in the library, etc.), UbiqGames addresses two key barriers to integrating science games in schools: finding the time in the curriculum to play; and having access to computers to play on.

In this workshop we’ll play two UbiqGames: Beetle Breeders, which explores the genetics curriculum by having players breed beetles with increasingly complex traits, and Weatherlings, in which players battle in arenas where accurately predicting weather conditions can ensure success. Then we’ll talk about design principles for games that can be played anywhere and anytime, but connect back to formal learning.

3:30-3:45 | Conference Wrap Up

Presented by Scot Osterweil, Creative Director, MIT Education Arcade