Webinars

In this session, we will explore four different innovative AI tools and their uses and implication for the classroom. From cutting-edge research to creative tools for self-expression, AI is opening pathways never before possible within academics.

That said, in addition to the possibilities of their use, AI also has incredibly problematic ethics concerns from how the data is sourced to the implications of their use on a widespread scale. We will discussion ways in which educators should be aware of these problems while offering ways to open dialogue with young people on the use and future of AI.

In this session, part of our 3-part series, we take a closer look at ChatGPT—its capabilities, limitations, and practical applications. We have an open conversation about what ChatGPT can offer as a language model, as well as what it can’t as a non-sentient AI. With a focus on education, we provide educators with useful tools to address students’ accessibility needs and integrate ChatGPT effectively into their teaching methods. The goal is to ensure a better understanding of ChatGPT’s role and empower teachers to create supportive and accessible learning experiences for all students.

In this session, part of our 3-part series, discover new ways to integrate ChatGPT into your reading and writing classrooms. This session is designed to show teachers how ChatGPT can enhance creative writing, encourage critical thinking through interactive storytelling, offer personalized writing support, and improve overall language comprehension. Walk away with practical insights to create a dynamic and confident learning atmosphere empowered by AI technology.

In this session, part of our 3-part series, we focus on the ethical aspects of using ChatGPT in schools, specifically addressing ethical concerns about biases and data ownership in the system. These topics are important for both educators and students to understand not only within the school environment but also in broader contexts. By engaging in this session, you’ll have a more critical lens of ChatGPT and other language models.

The manosphere - a loosely connected network of online communities and individuals who promote and amplify toxic views of masculinity and misogynistic beliefs - is heavily marketed to boys and young men. Across YouTube, TikTok, and other popular social media sites, virtually all young boys have been exposed, one way or another, to ideologies that can normalize and perpetuate harmful attitudes and behaviors. Chances are you’ve heard at least one of these names mentioned by young men: Andrew Tate, Stefan Molyneux, Milo Yiannopoulos, Steven Crowder. The manosphere fosters an environment that undermines gender equality and contributes to the mistreatment and marginalization of women, LGTBQIA+ people, and other marginalized groups, as well as harmful ideas about “what it means to be a man.”

In this session, MANTRaP (Misogyny and the Red Pill), a project based out of Lancaster University and Birmingham City University, will provide an overview of the manosphere, the language associated with it, and its major figures. They will highlight how to be proactive in talking about and safeguarding against manosphere culture, leading a discussion followed by an extended activity aimed at K-12 educators.

Every video game requires players to learn how to play it. Sometimes intuitively and sometimes not, most games plan for everyone from entry-level to advanced-players to quickly grasp its controls and rules. However, not all tutorials are equal. Some tutorials simply tell a player exactly what to do; other games provide various challenges to demonstrate their abilities. The tutorial is by far one of the most important concepts in hooking in and retaining a player!

In this interactive session, we will talk about game tutorials, training, and "moving up the ladder" of difficulty. We will compare how various games train players to learn and how this can be applied to the classroom. We'll talk about how games train players as they progress and compare to pedagogy, where students all have different levels of understanding and progress in myriad ways.

Join Seth Coster, co-founder and developer at Butterscotch Shenanigans who has created the popular series Levelhead and Crashlands to talk about game design philosophy. How do game designers incorporate design principles? How do designers ensure that players not only learn how to play their games, but engage with them? What works and doesn’t work?

Explore these concepts and more as we brainstorm new classrooms through the lens of game design principles! An exciting opportunity for educators to branch out to new fields and connect to their own practice.

In this session, we will explore how video game designers think about mechanics: what to elaborate on, what to cut, and what's going right and wrong. These elegant mechanics are the formation for beautifully designed games: often only doing a couple things well rather than adding the entire kitchen sink.

Well-crafted classroom protocols such as portfolio check-ins, certification processes, design thinking, conversation norming, can be simple and elegant. However, it can be difficult to think about elegant mechanics in school because so many school policies are just not simple. Instead, we have to think about what to get rid of to simplify learning. We will collaborating brainstorm elegant systems for use in human-centered classrooms.

Join Adrian Hon, author of You’ve Been Played: How Corporations, Governments, and Schools Use Games to Control Us All. Adrian is an award-winning video game designer and is the CEO and founder of Six to Start, co-creator of the world’s most successful smartphone fitness game, Zombies, Run! He previously was the director of play, creating alternative reality games, at Mind Candy

Gamification is a long-standing practice across lesson planning and educational technology, but it doesn’t always work out the way we expect. At the end of the day, if the nature of the task is not interesting, then what we’re creating is more about compliance than engagement. In this session, we will host a conversation on what it means to gamify content, learning, and pedagogy: recognizing potential success while advising for potential pitfalls.