announcements

The Institute of Play is growing its team and still in search of talented players to join a range of new projects and developing initiatives. We seek creative, committed and exemplary game-changers to contribute to our work as a design-led non-profit focused on the future of learning. Open positions include: Chief Operations Officer/Director of Engagement (PDF), Communications Director (PDF) and Curriculum Developer (PDF). There's still time to apply!

For the past month, the Institute of Play has been working hard to design games, develop curriculum and research game authoring platforms in preparation for the week-long game design summer camp, Mobile Quest. Mobile Quest is presented in partnership with the Pearson Foundation, the Mobile Learning Institute, Nokia and Parsons the New School for Design. Mobile Quest is designed for rising 6th graders and focuses on game design, smartphones and mobile literacy. This summer, over 35 kids from all over New York City will participate in Mobile Quest. They'll spend the week working with their peers and a team of expert designers and technologists to create games that engage the sights and sounds of the city as part of its game space.

SMALLab-NY and Institute of Play game designer Kyle Li and his collaborators Albert Dang and Stephanie Tang, have won Best in Class: Innovation Award in the Digital Media and Learning Competition's Game Changers category. The Game Changers category aims to create new game play experiences that activate Science, Technology, Engineering and Math learning using the popular video games LittleBigPlanet™ and Spore™ Galactic Adventures. The competition is administered by HASTAC and supported by the MacArthur Foundation.

The team's winning game, Sackboys and the Mysterious Proof, was voted by the public to be the most innovative game in a competition with 800 entries. In Sackboys and The Mysterious Proof, LittleBigPlanet™ players must escape from the Proof family's century-old mansion by solving a series of puzzles using geometric reasoning. With puzzle mechanics driven by geometric theorems, players convert geometric concepts from the classroom into active knowledge through collaborative play inspired by precision learning. Congratulations to Kyle and the whole Sackboys team!

Katie Salen, the Institute of Play's executive director and the executive director of design at Quest to Learn, was recently profiled as part of Big Think's "Moments of Genius" series. In this interview, Katie discusses some of the key moments when she first envisioned how the learning architecture of games could help create dynamic and compelling learning experiences. Katie notes that games are player-dependent and focused, and as such offer kids "profound moments to understand notions of point of view, empathy and civic engagement." Katie also addresses the importance of problem-solving, intelligent resourcing and collaboration in both the design of learning experiences and the design of play.