The Games, Learning & Society academic conference, or GLS conference, is an annual gathering of academic researchers, video game developers, and government and industry leaders in Madison, Wisconsin, to discuss the social significance of gaming culture. Specifically, they examine how games can be used to transform how people learn and what implications that knowledge has for society. According to the official website, the conference's stated mission is to foster substantive discussion and collaboration among academics, designers, and educators interested in how videogames - commercial games and others -- can enhance learning, culture, and education.
Games Learning and Society Conference | |
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File:Gls2011.png | |
Status | Active |
Genre | Multi-genre |
Venue | Varies |
Location(s) | Madison Wisconsin |
Country | United States |
Inaugurated | 2005 |
Organized by | Games Learning Society |
Filing status | Non-profit |
Website | http://www.glsconference.org/ |
Sponsors
GLS is sponsored by the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Education, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Pearson PLC, the Morgridge Institute for Research, Filament Games, and SCE, the Susan Crown Exchange.
Past Events
The first conference was held in 2005, and took place at the Monona Terrace, a conference center inspired by the design of Wisconsin architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
GLS 2.0[1] happened from June 15th and 16th in 2006 at the Monona Terrace.
GLS 3.0[2] happened from July 12th and 13th in 2007 at the Monona Terrace.
GLS 4.0[3] happened from July 10th and 11th in 2008 at the Monona Terrace in Madison, WI. The first Real Time Research session that was introduced at the conference by Eric Zimmerman, Constance Steinkuehler, and Kurt Squire. The participants in this session met at the first session on first day to make a small group for designing a small and quick research that can be finished during conference time. The participants met at the very last session on last day and reported their research results.
GLS 5.0[4] took place on June 10-12th in 2009 at the Memorial Union at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
GLS 6.0[5] took place on June 9-11th in 2010 at the Memorial Union at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The main themes for the 2010 conference were formal & informal science literacy, media production & identity, and game design & learning. Speakers included Henry Jenkins, Drew Davidson, Allan Collins, David Wiley, Kurt Squire, Reed Stevens, and Richard Lemarchand.
GLS 7.0[6] took place on June 15-17th in 2011 at the Memorial Union at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. New content was added for the 2011 conference including Well Played, Hall of Failure, and the Games and Art Exhibition. Speakers included Eric Zimmerman, Eric Klopfer, Katie Salen, and Michael Levine.
The conference chair is Constance Steinkuehler.
References
- Official conference website
- http://www.textuality.org/archive/2006/06/gameslearningsoc.html
- http://games.slashdot.org/games/05/07/03/1756257.shtml?tid=10
- http://www.jointadlcolab.org/support/faq/games/
- http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2005/06/28/what_i_took_away_from_the_gls_conference.html
- http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2005/06/gls_conference.html
- http://www.psychochild.org/index.php?p=61
- http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=33605