Serious Play Conference 2025

Ever since the first time I discovered the Serious Play Conference, I was eager to attend.  However, for several years it was at the University of Toronto and therefore didn't seem to be an affordable option for a work trip.  This year, however, it was at St. John Fisher University in Rochester, New York.  I was thankful to have the conference approved by OVEC as my annual out-of-town professional learning, and doubly grateful when I was asked (along with my TTRPG educator colleague Kalli Colley) to speak on a panel!  On a side note, I've been curious about the Erie Canal ever since I sang a folk tune in pre-school, so I was also glad for the chance to see it in person, as it ran just outside of our hotel.  (On a side note to my side note, the Del Monte Lodge was a beautiful place to stay, run by an incredibly friendly staff.)  While in Rochester, I even ate a version of their local delicacy: a "garbage plate" (it was delicious).

Canals and garbage plates aside, how was the three day conference?  In a word: illuminating.   Like the Play Make Learn conference in Wisconsin I attended last year, it was energizing to be around hundreds of educators and game designers who enthusiastically believe in the power of play- and game-based learning.  While I created an extensive Wakelet covering the depth and breadth of the sessions I attended and the resources I gained (also embedded at the end of this blog entry), here I will share a dozen highlights:

• Michelle King, our keynote for the first day of conference, inspired us with the notion that "words create worlds," and told us a paraphrase of Brian Eno's difference between the solitary genius (an "egosystem") and the collective innovation from a scenius (a vibrant and healthy "ecosystem").  What kind of playful and positive world will we create together?
• Stephen Reid, our second day keynote, implored us to not forget that "play matters."  We are often limited by anti-play policies and taught to be suspicious of adults who engage in what is perceived as frivolous activity; as a particularly evocative example, he showed us the difference between what you find when you google "man in a tree" and "child in a tree."  Reid also shared anecdotes of using Command and Conquer and Minecraft in his classrooms.
• Deb Fuller and Luigi Guarniccio discussed the need for accessibility in games.  As Fuller reminded us, things like curb cuts are not just niceties for those permanently in wheelchairs, as "we are just temporarily abled" and, with age or an accident, will eventually need such supports.  How can we design better for those that are (among many other examples Fuller and Guarniccio provided) left-handed, or have vision challenges?
• Meghan Gardner discussed what makes a game truly "transformative" versus merely "remarkable."  Additionally, Gardner is the founder of Guardian Adventures, a treasure trove of educational gaming resources and examples.
• Kelly McNeil, a Learning Experience Designer with Digital Promise, shared her journey in bringing play into professional development.  She reminded us that while fun can help in engagement, we still need to construct adult learning around evidence-based practices, such as Darling-Hammond, Hyler and (Madelyn) Gardner's "Seven Models of Effective Professional Development."
• I first read about Dr. Megan Connell's work using Dungeons & Dragons as a part of her therapeutic pedagogy in Shelly Mazzanoble and Greg Tito's book Welcome to Dragon Talk.  So I was particularly excited to hear her speak, alongside learning what teacher Greg Gordon has done in his own classroom.
• MagiKids is a charitable foundation that donates Magic: The Gathering kits to learning spaces.  From that session, I was also blessed to meet Lyla Ross, the head of the Washington State-based 501(c)(3) Gamers Engaged, one of the many "backbone organizations" that help fund MagiKids.
• Sharon Peck demonstrated multiple examples of how games can improve literacy.  (Also, check out Professors at Play!) 
• Speaking of professors...University of Toronto professors Leslie Stewart Rose (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education) and Quinn Jacobs (Department of Arts, Culture, and Media) shared "How Play Solves Problems of Practice in Classrooms."  One of the examples indicated was the use of Dungeons & Dragons!  I appreciated their ample research references throughout their presentation, and how we better appreciated play in a learning setting by actually playing a game.
• Lt. Col. James "Pigeon" Fielder (ret.) uses a semester-long simulation game for one of his political science courses at Colorado State University.  He was candid about what worked, and what he would do differently in the future.
• I picked up two books while at the conference:  Becky Keene's AI Optimism and Tracy Fullerton and Matthew Farber's The Well-Read Game: On Playing Thoughtfully.  I can't wait to dive into both!
• Last but not least, I visited The Strong National Museum of Play twice for after-hours conference events.  It was a charming and delightful institution, and it alone would make planning a trip to Rochester worthwhile.  (For a plethora of pictures, check out my Facebook post from my KyEdRPG Page.)

As I mentioned at the beginning, Kalli Colley and I were asked to speak on a session panel: "Adventures in TTRPG: Building Learning Worlds with Dice, Devices, and Dialogue."  It was wonderfully moderated by Sana Alimohamed, and we were joined by an impressive group of educators: Sharon Lee De La Cruz, Phill Cameron, and Huaidian (Daniel) Hou.  Thank you to the 50+ attendees of the session, who leaned in with great interest and questions!  A special thanks to Sana, who in addition to her moderation duties took the time to curate and share several resources discussed in the panel in a LinkedIn post.

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From left to right: Sana, Phill, Kalli, me, and Huaidian.

Besides the learning gained at the Serious Play Conference, I am grateful for the chance to have met so many admirable people in person.   A final shoutout needs to be given to Paul Darvasi and Elisa Navarro for putting together the event (and for Dr. Darvasi's personal reach out that led to Kalli and I submitting proposals).  If you have a chance to attend a future Serious Play Conference, I highly recommend it.

Speaking of Kalli Colley, our "Dungeons & Desks" FREE regional PD series returns this fall to two Kentucky locations:  London (October 20) and Hazard (November 3).  Come play and learn with us!

 

Rollin' Down to Richmond for The Twenty Sided Tavern (and +2 on Keynotes)

Summer for a professional development facilitator and digital learning consultant is a busy time. I've also found time for play!  As we cross the mid-point of the season, I wanted to highlight some of my summer adventures so far.

Let's go chronological.

Soon before kickoff at the Cave City Conference Center on June 18.

On June 18 (right before I left for a family vacation), I was both the morning and afternoon keynote for an artificial intelligence conference held by the Green River Regional Educational Cooperative (GRREC). (I also squeezed in a breakout session on AI and PLCs.)  In a packed ballroom at the Cave City Conference Center, more than 250 educators from across Kentucky learned, collaborated, and shared.  One teacher from Allen County came up afterward to tell me it was the best keynote she's ever attended -- a high compliment I'm not sure I deserved, but I humbly thanked her for it.  And speaking of thanks, I'm very grateful to GRREC's Jessica Turner (who I congratulate for just taking a principal position at Meade County!) and Merissa Waddy for asking me to keynote their conference.

As soon as vacation ended, I was off to Washington Community High School (Illinois).  My old friends Dan Reem and Tom Gross (Teachers in the Dungeon) are WCHS's head of social studies and librarian/game club sponsor, respectively.  For years, they have run an annual student RPG summer camp, with multiple breakout session options and two different strands (a player and "Dungeon Master" [DM] track).  Community partners lead sessions or facilitate games; for example, d20 Dinner show students how to make homemade dice.  This year (with the help of Stefanie Crawford of Illinois Digital Educators Alliance), Dan and Tom arranged a precursor to the student camp with a teacher "express conference" on July 7 and invited me to kick it off with a keynote on tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) in education.  On July 8, attendees were able to shadow students on the first day of their camp.  (Chris Tatum of NerdLouisville also came up to talk to the educators and ran some breakout sessions for students.) 

Dan Reem (left) and Tom Gross.

Students rolling up their D&D characters on the first day of camp.

There was such great enthusiasm from attendees eager to bring TTRPGs back to their own schools, and the adults encouraging them to do so.  (Special nod to Dan Crawford of Cabbages and Kings Games for donating dice to the teachers as well as DM'ing a student D&D game!)  I was particularly inspired by the students at the camp, who were positive, polite, excited, and focused.  I had the chance to teach students by running a breakout camp session for budding DMs on building an adventure, but more importantly,  I was taught how to better DM from a D&D one-shot led by a just-graduated WCHS senior.  The summer camp isn't just for fun -- it creates leaders.  

As always, I'm grateful for the chance to learn from others, and of course special thanks to Dan and Tom for inviting me up!  As they shared on a recent episode, they seem committed to having the conference again next year, so stay tuned to their podcast for updates.

As a final share, my wife and I were fortunate to attend the kickoff of the world tour for Dungeons & Dragons: The Twenty Sided Tavern in Richmond, Kentucky on July 18.   While the EKU Center for the Arts might seem a inauspicious site for such an endeavor, it's a beautiful theater, and it was full of raucous fans.  The traveling company could not have picked a better place to preview their show.

For more pictures, visit this Instagram post.

Note the "Hit Point" bars at the top of the screen, representing the real-time health of the three "player characters."

With a sly sense of humor, the story is infinitely changeable (no two shows on this tour will be exactly the same!), as one would expect from a theatrical experience based on D&D.  In a sense, the show is a liveplay of a D&D adventure, and my wife -- who has never played -- began quickly catching on to the basic mechanics.  The embedded improvisation is not only hectic (the actors often asked for shouted out answers to feed the story, such as names for monsters), but haptic; it's also powered by audience interaction via our mobile phones and a browser-based platform from Gamiotics.  We were involved from the start, voting on which kind of characters each of the three "players" would take on; choosing whether they should go left or right, which shop to visit, or which spell to use; and even valiantly mashing a screen button to give characters enough "oomph" to accomplish goals.  Kudos not only to the actors portraying the DMs and players, but to the production crew -- the stage sets, lighting and backdrop screen effects keep you perpetually delighted and immersed.

The Twenty Sided Tavern definitely had my mental wheels turning (and mental dice rolling?) for applicability to a classroom.  While you might need a DM to rule set and give players a sandbox to play in, a true D&D adventure needs everyone to participate in order to complete a journey, much as a cohesive classroom is one made up of learners, not just "teacher and students."  A community of learners is a community of trust, with room to both fail and play.  Speaking of play, I wonder how the kinds of interactive polling that makes The Twenty Sided Tavern so much fun can also be an innovative strategy for teaching?  For years, we have used such real-time tools for judging comprehension (i.e. pushing out a question, seeing if students get the right answer), but what if teachers similarly used them to transform direct instruction into a story with agentic student control, provided we are prepared to quickly pivot? Imagine a social studies class learning about ancient Egypt:  

Okay, the archaeologist goes inside the pyramid's inner chamber and finds...a sarcophagus!  Does she look closely at the sarcophagus, or at the various objects placed around it inside the chamber? [class voting on their devices] Looks like...you want to see the sarcophagus!  You notice the intricate hieroglyphics....

Lastly, the story that binds the discrete parts is key in both D&D and in teaching -- and narrative is what makes learning memorable.  Indeed, all TTRPG stories are co-created, and truly vibrant learning is similarly an act of a co-created classroom.

I'll wrap up this blog entry by wishing you all the rest and rejuvenation you need and deserve this summer, while realizing that even in your most playful moments, you are likely still plotting for the school year ahead! 

For more resources on TTRPGs in the classroom, visit Kentucky Educators for Role Playing Games.

Cruise Ship or the Titanic? Leadership Lessons to Consider When Launching a New Initiative

Recently I was attending an OVEC role group meeting, where educators of a similar job position came together for fellowship and learning.   During an open forum discussion, the topic of implementing high quality instructional resources (HQIR) came up.  (In Kentucky, schools have been legislatively mandated to adopt HQIR for our core content classes that have been vetted and meet certain criteria.)  An educator shared their district's challenges with following through with such change, particularly for teachers already struggling with barriers to overcome, and especially when it feels like forced compliance from outside pressures rather than motivated from the inside.  (There were a lot of shared head nods from those in neighboring districts.)  The educator finished the lamentation with the remark, "At least at our district, we are all on the same boat."  I then quipped, "But is the boat a cruise ship, or the Titanic?"

We shared a laugh in the room, and I made a few points about leadership -- in short, when there are very few silver bullets to solve complicated problems, and change is always painful (even when it's perceived as a good thing), a major part of the success in a new initiative comes down to the tone set by leaders and how they model a positive stance.  At the same time, this is not to dismiss the genuine ache felt by educators, whether it is in HQIR implementation or whatever other major change you are trying to enact.  We riffed for a few minutes on the metaphor of "cruise ship or Titanic" before moving on.

After the meeting, I kept ruminating on the idea, and that led to today's blog entry.  In the initiative you are currently in, do you see signs you are on the Titanic, or a cruise ship?  As a leader, how can you shift from the former to the latter?   (By the way, an educational leader here is broadly defined.  Of course a superintendent or principal has positional authority, but leaders in a district or school setting come in many forms.)

Here are signs what ship you're on.  Come aboard!  We're expecting you!

Titanic

• Reacting to icebergs vs. proactively charting a course around planned-for problems.  The Titanic was only outfitted for enough lifeboats for a third of its passengers.  (Interestingly, at the time, this was over the legal requirement.  It was assumed such lifeboats would calmly ferry passengers from a sinking ship to a rescue ship over several relays.)  The captain of the Titanic received several warnings about icebergs from other boats in the Atlantic, but chose to ignore them.  There was pressure for the Titanic's maiden voyage to land in New York in record time, so a "damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead" mentality was pervasive amongst its crew.  All of these short-sighted choices forced the crew and passengers to react to a catastrophic disaster in real time.  Imagine if a proactive approach for the journey was done instead.  How can we chart a course around our known icebergs?  What pivots can we make when an unforeseen iceberg looms?  Do we have enough lifeboats (i.e. resource support in all its forms: human capital, guidance, funds in the budget) for the perils ahead?
• First class versus third class perceptions.  Passengers from the third class of the Titanic perished at a much higher percentage than the first class, although the difference in voyage experiences between the classes was obvious long before the Titanic hit an iceberg. What is the perception on your ship?  Do the admin have a different view of reality than the teachers?  Are there some perceived as sipping champagne while others feel they are being shoved into steerage without sunlight?  Is everyone's voices being heard not just equally, but equitably?  (From an equity perspective, the ones who are actually doing the hardest work of the change -- likely, the teachers in classrooms -- need more representation at the table, not just "a" seat at the table.)
• Rearranging the deck chairs.   It's an old Titanic joke about pointless action that may avoid facing the true crisis at hand, but in education we can find ways to make it even worse.  We not only ask the teachers to shuffle the components on their already spinning plates, we often add to the plates.  In other words, we don't just rearrange the deck chairs, we double them.  If we are asking our staff to do work while implementing needed change, let's make it genuinely purposeful in a way that actually does what the point should be: to help students.  While we are at it, it would be better to not simply add more to the plate, but find ways to transform the plate itself.  Putting band-aids on a broken system is the equivalent of rearranging the deck chairs while the boat sinks.  Let's build a new boat instead!
• "And the band played on."  The story of the Titanic musicians continuing to play while people were rushing to life boats is traditionally presented as an example of stoic courage -- a way of setting a calm tone in the face of panic.  But seen in another light, it could be perceived as pollyannish at best, or insensitive at worst; to mix our analogies, our plucky musical leaders could be seen as Neros fiddling while Rome burns.  Yes, let's set a calm and confident tone, but let's also make visible signs that we recognize the struggle of our shipmates and they are not being ignored.

Cruise Ship

• Servant leadership.  A cruise line that hopes to stay in business knows they don't exist without their clientele.  Therefore, no one on a cruise ship, from the captain to the custodian, is above the main work of making the passenger happy.  One of the best things a leader can ask is, "How can I remove an obstacle in the way of your joy?"  A good leader listens; a great leader follows through with a promise to make things better.
• Personalized opportunities.  A popular cruise ship offers not just a single buffet table, but buffet tables of different cuisines for different levels of appetite.  A cruise director wants to not only offer a schedule of multiple activities, but makes sure there are entry points for a passenger regardless of their ability level (beginner, intermediate, advanced).  How can we make sure we personalize the learning for teachers in the face of our new initiative?  How can we guarantee there are multiple entry points, whether you are an excited innovator, a skeptical laggard, or somewhere in between?
• "All-inclusive."  Applicable to both vacation resorts and cruises, there is a real comfort (and joy!) knowing that every meal, drink and activity is already prepaid.  How can we make sure the total cost of the journey is factored in and taken care of before leaving the harbor?  We sometimes forget items like the cost of personalized learning (the facilitators, the staff stipends, etc. ) in light of only budgeting the annual subscription fee for the new tech platform.  Let's also remember that the "cost" to implement an initiative is not just money spent, but can also be calculated in time, sweat, and other metrics.  Furthermore, you should extend the idea of all items being included in the cost of our journey to all people being included.  Make sure the voices of the table are truly representative of who is affected by your initiative.  It's also better to fold in the skeptics early on to earnestly hear their concerns than to ignore them while they deflate morale from the margins.
• Docking for excursions.   (I thank OVEC's Chrissy Jones for this phrase!) Sometimes you just need to get off the boat, hit the shore, and see some new sites.  There's a psychological and physiological need why cruise ships build in visits to exotic ports into their cruising agenda.  Whether it's at the start of the initiative for inspiration, or in the middle for calibration and/or affirmation, or at the completion of certain phases to share and celebrate your successes, venture outward!  This could be visits to other schools or districts, or participating in conferences; this could be virtual or in-person.  That said, there is true power in the organic, natural bonding that occurs in a team that goes off-site together.  It's a social component that can't be replicated in a school hallway five minutes between periods, or in a faculty meeting jam-packed with need-to-know items.

It should be pointed out that in a school or district, there should be cruise ships within cruise ships: what is good for principals to do for their teachers is also good for teachers to do for their students.  Teachers should do their best to identify and remove barriers to student learning; they should be "guides on the side" to their students' personalized learning; they should intentionally plan ahead to include all learning styles and needs, while both hearing and empowering student voices; they should find ways to build community and extend learning of their students beyond the four walls of their building.

Let's end with a little levity.  As I gave a nod to already in a link above, while writing this entry I couldn't help but think of the theme song from one of television's "so bad it's good" series from the 1970's and 1980's.  Hum along with an excerpt of my parody lyrics!

Original image from this article; the copyright to the original logo art and theme song lyrics are reserved to their respective entities, and the parody image and lyrics are for educational purposes only.

LEARN, life's sweetest reward.

Let it flow, it floats back to you.

The LEARN Boat soon will be making another run,

the LEARN Boat promises something for everyone.

Set a course for adventure,

your mind on a new CLASSROOM.

LEARNING shouldn't hurt anyone:

it's an open smile on a friendly shore.

In the face of new initiatives and (often unfunded) mandates, let's do our best to create more open smiles and make the shores more friendly for our teachers and students.

Aurora Institute Symposium 2024

A few weeks ago, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to be in New Orleans attending the annual Aurora Institute Symposium.   It was my fourth time over the last decade, and my second time presenting!  I discussed tabletop roleplaying games in the classroom, particularly from the perspective of personalized competency-based education (CBE) and equity.

Special thanks to my colleague Kathy House for taking photos of my session.

Besides my gratitude at being able to lead a session, there were plenty of memorable learning experiences, from keynotes to breakout sessions to chance encounters in the hallway.  Here are a handful of highlights:

• Rhonda Broussard was a keynote speaker. (Later, I purchased her book One Good Question and was excited to get it signed!) She helped me think differently about classroom inquiry by posing the following three characteristics of what makes a good question for students: 
• It's not about the teacher (don't reveal your own teacher bias).
• Anticipates multiple perspectives.
• Requires mixed-methods reflection (needs sources outside of yourself).
• There was a student panel (led by Broussard) which generated some great quotes.  Samarah Bentley, a freshman at LSU, pointed out that when looking at what we value in school, an educator's "investments reveal your intentions," and when including students in your learning space, it should be beyond tokenistic representation in your curriculum or just asking survey questions, but a true dialogue: "Not just input, but an exchange!"  When Broussard asked the students to pose one good question for us in the audience, David Ramirez (a student at New Orleans Charter Science and Mathematics High School) gave a powerful plea: "Will you listen?"
• Representatives from CAST -- Melissa Sanjeh (Senior Professional Learning and Implementation Specialist) and Sherann Jackson-Alkins (Head of ABCD University HS, an alternative school in Boston) -- shared some wonderfully pragmatic and effective tools when universally designing for learning (UDL).    I particularly liked the website's interactive guidelines, as well as the idea of "journey mapping" to see the lesson/unit from the perspective of different students to determine barriers and plan for scaffolding.
• Another keynote by Sabba Quidwai on artificial intelligence reminded us that our concern that AI is producing the work and not the human doesn't quite fit how we treat assistive, collaborative writing in other contexts: "Politicians have speechwriters. Authors have ghostwriters. Musicians have songwriters. Entrepreneurs have investors."
• A panel on "Advancing Equity Through Grading Reform in K-12 Education" was led by Starr Sackstein (Mastery Portfolio), Bryanna Hanson (Learner Centered Collaborative), and Sierra Holtzheuser (SpacesEDU).   Among many good points and shared resources, I particularly appreciated Mastery Portfolio's glossary of equitable grading terms, Learner Centered Collaborative's CBE Reporting Playbook site, and Holtzheuser's reminder that digital portfolios should avoid a "scrapbook mentality." 
• Finally, it was good to run into old friends. Laurie Gagnon and Chris Sturgis reminded us where we've been and where we are going with CBE.  Karin Hess, Jonathan Vander Els, and Brian Stack have recently published a wonderful new book Elevating Competency-Based Learning in a PLC at Work (full disclosure: I'm quoted in the introduction and first chapter!) and ran a helpful session about effective professional learning communities.  With an introduction from David Cook (former Kentucky Department of Education Director of Innovation), Adrienne Usher, Jesse Bacon, and Michael Ekbundit shared how strategically and intentionally they have involved the Bullitt County community with implementing their Graduate Profile.  Sarah Snipes (the current KDE Director of Innovation), along with members of the University of Kentucky's Center for Next Generation Leadership (Susan Dugle, Karen Perry) and the Center for Innovation in Education (Gretchen Morgan), discussed Kentucky's journey toward a local assessment accountability system.  Last but not least, my OVEC colleagues Carmen Coleman, Lacey Eckels, and Rachel Albright presented on their portrait of a learner work with Kentucky's Fayette County Dixie Magnet Elementary School.

My embedded Wakelet collection below has an expanded story of my Symposium experience with additional resources and links.   Be sure to also check out social media posts from the event using the hashtag #Aurora24.

Play Make Learn and Gen Con 2024

In the last month, I've been fortunate to attend two conferences, and from both I've gotten good ideas for digital and game-based learning.  In today's blog entry, I'll share my reflections with you!

Play Make Learn 2024

Play Make Learn is an annual conference first started in 2017, and is held at the beautiful University of Wisconsin campus in Madison, Wisconsin.   True to its name, it's a drawing together of teachers, librarians, crafters, and digital and analog game publishers for the students of Kindergarten through higher ed.   You'll see sessions and displays on everything from makerspaces to video games to looming(!) to tabletop roleplaying games.  I went with my colleagues Jen and Amy; it was the first time any of us had gone, and we constantly remarked on the palpable joy in the air from presenters and attendees throughout the two day conference.

Some of the conference highlights included:

• The Madison Public Library system shared findings from the beta testing of The Observation Deck, an intriguing platform that captures multimedia evidence of how library experiences impact patrons.  Separate from the platform itself, I appreciated the "Starter Frameworks" that were shared; these could be inspiration for analog observation and classroom walk-through tools for instructional coaches and admin. 
• Playful Learning Landscapes discussed their community-focused approach to creating urban spaces that center around the "PLL Model" of the 5 Principles of Learning (Actively Engaging, Joyful, Iterative, Socially Interactive, Meaningful), The 6 C's Learning Goals (Collaboration, Communication, Content, Critical Thinking,Creative Innovation, Confidence), and Community Engagement.  I particularly liked their downloadable "Playbook" (available in English and Spanish) with steps on how to implement a Playful Learning Landscape of your own as well as dozens of examples from America and around the world.
• In a "Library Learning Innovations" three person panel presentation, lots of valuable ground was covered.  Sam Abramovich talked through a brief history of genAI, along with the challenges and power it can bring to libraries.  (He also introduced me to the phrase HOMAGO for the first time.)  Rebecca Teasdale shared a preliminary framework for evaluating makerspaces.  Lastly, Chris Baker (Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction's Public Library Consultant, and the lead organizer of the conference) shared evidence on the power of gaming (video, board, tabletop) in a library; among other resources, he highlighted WISELearn.
• The Wisconsin Historical Society recently published Wisconsin Adventures, in honor of the 50th Anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons (which was launched from Lake Geneva, about 80 miles southeast of Madison). Wisconsin Adventures uses the same ruleset as D&D (i.e. it is "5e compatible"), and it leads players through quests inspired by urban legends, famous locations, and historical personages of the state.  Even more impressive is how they aligned it to academic Core Content standards.  At the end of the WHS session, its historians led us in small groups through a mini-adventure from their module.  And that was just the first time I played D&D at PML....
• Jen, Amy and I played a one-shot Dungeons & Dragons adventure designed to help introduce the game to new players.  Jen and Amy may have never rolled the polyhedral dice before, but quickly caught on, and Amy even gave the killing blow to the end boss "Death Tyrant"!

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Gen Con 2024

While this was the second time I've attended Gen Con, it's the first time I have presented, alongside Shelby County Public School teacher Justin Gadd.   The session was part of Trade Day, which occurs on the Wednesday before "The Best Four Days in Gaming" of the convention itself.  The title of our presentation was "TTRPGs in Education: Cultivating Creativity and Critical Thinking in the Classroom."  For his portion, Justin did wonderfully as he shared his classroom story of how tabletop role-playing games have positively impacted his students. 

Justin Gadd, middle school teacher extraordinaire.

After Trade Day, I took off work for Thursday and Friday to enjoy some personal time wandering the halls, playing games, and seeing old friends like Dan Reem and Tom Gross from the podcast Teachers in the Dungeon!

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I made several connections that could help a classroom:

• In his session "No Apologies: Arguments and Examples of Analog Gaming as Effective Tools in Secondary Education," Shawn Thorgersen (a grade 7-12 English teacher and Assistant Principal in New York, as well as a PhD student at St. Johns University) discussed evidence-based research on the topic and some examples from his own classroom.  Thorgersen's slides had a quote from S.S. Boocock that particularly lifted my heart:

• Dr. Katie King, from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, led a session on "Using a TTRPG as a Professional Development Tool." She shared a project she is piloting, where grad students in a teacher prep program have their teacher "characters" engage in TTRPG scenarios as led by a "Classroom Master."  As Dr. King pointed out, such role-playing is closest to the active form of student teaching and therefore more effective and authentic than the more passive learning of classroom observation or article reading.  It definitely got my wheels turning on how a TTRPG could be the engagement model of a professional development session or series.  
• Limitless Adventures has a new solo adventure gamebook based on D&D 5e rules called Lost in the Dark. The book leads you through character creation, and from there, advances you through the story complete with dice rolls and monster encounters.  Great for a classroom or school library for students to check out, or for enrichment time. 
• The Story Engine is a company that makes various card decks & expansion sets that can help build a narrative or world, with simple and intuitive rules.  While originally made for TTRPG players or GMs, the decks can be excellent for brainstorming fiction, understanding geography, or collaboratively practicing what it's like to co-create a story.  Additionally, they have free lesson plan resources!  (While most of the lessons are aligned to middle and high school standards, others -- like the "9 Storytelling Activities" handout -- could be for any age group, depending on their literacy level and the supports given.)
• I first met Tim Beach and his Start Here Roleplaying Game back at the GAMA Expo in March.  He had a presence at Gen Con too, where (as a Trade Day educator) I was able to get an early release of its box set gifted by Tim.   The purpose of the game is to get people playing as quickly as possible, and from what I've seen of the game mechanics, this succeeds!  The box set comes with both simple and expanded rules, along with several genre settings, from fantasy to "Wizards & Wranglers" (think Weird West) to "Zombiesaurus Rex" (think Jurassic Park mixed with The Walking Dead).   The game should be available for ordering very soon.  Until then, check out the Beach House RPG Facebook page for updates.
• I've been a fan of 9th Level Games for a few years now, and I was excited to examine a new TTRPG they are about to publish aimed at elementary aged children: Venture Society.  As their Kickstarter puts it, Venture Society is an "all ages, non-violent RPG focusing on building communication, social, & emotional skills" which utilizes 9th Level's "Polymorph" simple game system.  It's available for pre-order and coming out this fall.
• I will end with three words: Dice Petting Zoo.  Well...perhaps that requires a bit more explanation.  Tom Gross and I discovered a handcrafted wooden tray with dice at a booth advertising some D&D "stay and playcation" opportunities (Nat21 Adventures).  The idea was so whimsical that I immediately began brainstorming how a Dice Petting Zoo could be a delightful addition to a classroom.  It could provide an opportunity for calming and building culture. Imagine naming the various polyhedral "animals."  Or having students whisper numbers to them as they try to solve a difficult math problem.  Or for those that need to fiddle, taking them for a "walk" (roll!).  

Of course, there was so many great experiences, tools, and products at Play Make Learn and Gen Con that this entry can only be considered a fly-by.  For educators looking for inspiration on how game-based learning can work in a classroom, or need convincing about the power of play, I highly recommend checking out either or both conferences! 

GAMA Expo 2024 and KySTE 2024

As I previewed in a previous entry, I attended and presented at two conferences in March, but I've been busy since then and haven't taken the time to write a reflection on what I saw and encountered! So in today's entry, I'll share some highlights.  

GAMA Expo

The international GAMA Expo was at the recently renovated Kentucky International Convention Center, the first of its three scheduled years in Louisville.  I attended the day of my own presentation and the following day.  Not surprisingly as it is mainly a closed-to-the-public industry trade show, the majority of sessions involved game publisher announcements, or ways for gameshop owners to improve their sales, marketing, community partnerships, and so on.  In terms of help for education, it was mainly found on the exhibition floor where I walked the booths of various vendors and game publishers and discovered resources such as the following:

• Academy Games have several historic board games, such as the 878 Vikings: Conquest of England and One Small Step (a "Space Race" simulation).  From a classroom perspective, I was heartened to see many of them advertised as requiring "15+" number of players.  Some of their games also offer a companion teacher's guide for sale, such as the Colonial Trilogy (first, second, and third) and Freedom: The Underground Railroad.  It was this last game in particular that compelled me to initiate a long talk with Uwe Eickert, Freedom's designer.  Players are abolitionists helping enslaved people escape to the North (meaning it avoids the problematic issues of players enacting the role of an oppressor or the oppressed), and as Uwe walked through the game's mechanics, "Freedom" seemed conscientiously honest in how it approaches, as Academy's catalog describes it, the "horrors and heroism" of the topic.
• Beach House RPGs has Tim Beach as a Director, who wrote second edition D&D modules and expansion materials in the 1990's.   Tim wanted to design a TTRPG ruleset that has a much easier entry point for a beginning player, and the result is Start Here.  While the starter set has a default fantasy setting, other books include resources for sci-fi and other genres.  Start Here could offer teachers a great opportunity to adapt a simple, flexible game mechanic for their classrooms!  Materials will begin shipping in June 2024. For more information on acquiring the game, click here.
• Liftoff 2.0: The Epic Space Race Simulation is a well-reviewed board game that has been around for over three decades (the first edition came out in 1989).  It is grounded in real science content and historical accuracy, and offers enough roles for several teams of students to simulate the American and Soviet Union's race to the moon.  According to its designer Fritz Bronner, Liftoff has been used in many classrooms.  However, be warned: perhaps fittingly for its realistic take on managing a space program, the game seemed complicated with lots of token pieces, tables of outcomes, and rules.
• I talked with Andy Hand and Mike Johnson from Limitless Adventures.  They are huge fans of educators, and their "Limitless Encounters" card sets based on D&D fifth edition rules (such as The Blood Queen's Defiance, which Hand and Johnson were kind enough to gift me to review) offer an opportunity for students of an extracurricular club to "self-DM" a Dungeons & Dragons adventure.  Teachers might also use these card sets as inspiration on how to automate their own classroom academic TTRPG modules.
• I briefly spoke with Matthew Orr from Wet Ink Games.  Wet Ink is a local Kentucky game publisher, and it's exciting to know the Bluegrass has such designers in its own backyard!

KySTE 2024

After missing the conference in 2023, I was excited to make it back to KySTE, as it returned to the Kentucky International Convention Center after years at the Galt House.  Ironically, I presented in the same lower level room as I had at GAMA the week prior!

The attendees for my KySTE 2024 session.

Like GAMA, I attended KySTE on the day of my own session as well as the following day.  While there were several standout sessions, I'll spotlight three.

In my last entry, I wrote about Chad Collins and his digitally infused, game-based design of the Spencer County Middle School "Academy Team" elective.  Chad and Michelle Gross offered an expansive and detailed explanation of that course with their session "Play to Learn: Building a Class with Game-Based Design."  Plus, they gave away what was easily the best swag I encountered at KySTE: bags with a d20 die and example "treasure cards" they use in their classes!

@CollinsClassSC @michellegross
This is easily one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in teaching! Helping students not only reach mastery, but creating a motivating environment that makes them WANT to! #KYSTE24 #GoBeyond #TeacherNavigators #DeeperLearning #DNDclassroom pic.twitter.com/poRvLBmbQ3

— Lexie Bewley Gilley (@MrsGilleyUSHis) March 13, 2024

Keith Barnes, a Bullitt County digital learning coach, gave a thought-provoking presentation imploring us to "Go Beyond Using AI like a Magic 8 Ball."   He reminded us that the students should do the thinking even as the AI may do the "work."  In particular, the session centered on an intriguing perspective from a white paper by Drs. Ethan and Lilach Mollick that posited seven approaches for using artificial intelligence with students, with AI as Mentor, Tutor, Coach, Teammate, Student, Simulator, and/or Tool. 

.@bcpsky digital learning coach @kytis01 sharing how #ArtificialIntelligence tools can play different roles to help a student! #kyste24 #KYDLC pic.twitter.com/91sgBrpZ8I

— Adam Watson (@watsonedtech) March 14, 2024

William King (Director of Technology) and Megan Marcum (Digital Learning Coach) from Bowling Green Independent district used the running metaphor of space missions to describe their PD facilitation of a digital learning teacher cohort in their session "Teach2Transform, a Field Guide to Building Better PD."  Initially, William and Megan shared that only 47% of BGI staff thought the relevance of their PD was "very good" or "good," with relevance and continuity cited as the biggest barriers to BGI PD being effective.  With these survey results in mind, William and Megan found success by creating a cohort meeting six half-days throughout the year during the school day, with the focus being succinctly summarized as giving teachers "time, resources, space, and help."  Stipends were given for teachers to spend on resources for their classroom, although interestingly, they found stipends were not a primary motivational driver for the cohort.  The participants' own personal goals were paramount, as well as William and Megan using high quality frameworks for contextualizing the digital learning (in this example, it was the McLeod/Graber "4 Shifts" and Hebern/Corippo's EduProtocols). 

How do we "break from gravity" from the way we've always done PD? @MrsMarcumBGISD and @wkingbg share their #moonshotthinking! #kyste24 #KYDLC #KYDL #UnitedWeLearnKY pic.twitter.com/uaBPbXEV8v

— Adam Watson (@watsonedtech) March 14, 2024

I'll end my highlights of KySTE 2024 with a great overview video, shot and edited (as always!) by STLP student engineers who also were the "IT help desk" throughout the conference:

Again, while these nearly back-to-back conferences made for a very busy March, I was glad for the opportunity to learn from so many people from so many places.