2024 Play Make Learn Keynote Speakers and Conference Schedule Available

Play Make Learn is honored to be hosting keynote speakers Dr. Aaron Trammell (July 18th) and Dr. Rilla Khaled (July 19th). They will be offering presentations covering a number of different STEAM, gaming, and playful-learning based topics. More info below; you won't want to miss it!

The full conference schedule is now available. Check out the presentations, workshops, and conference sessions that will be offered. The Play Make Learn planning committee received a record number of presentation proposals – and we know we've got a second-to-none schedule this year; check it out! Reminder there are excellent pre-con sessions attendees can register for, as well.

While the early bird registration deadline has passed, librarians can still use the "formal and informal educator rates" for advanced registration; additionally, while we have a limited number of scholarships available, interested librarians could apply for a 2024 Play Make Learn Scholarship to help cover registration costs.

Aaron Trammell is an Associate Professor of Informatics at UC Irvine. He's interested in how tabletop games further values of white privilege and hegemonic masculinity in geek culture. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Analog Gamea Studies, Multimedia Editor at Sounding Out! and the co-editor for the Tabletop Gaming series at University of Michigan Press. He has written two books: Repairing Play (2023 MIT Press) is a theory of play that centers BIPOC people and The Privilege of Play (2023 NYU Press) is a history of games and race in the 20th Century. His third book, Designing Dragons: Quantifying Fantasy in Dungeons & Dragons, will be available late 2025 on Duke University Press.

Dr. Rilla Khaled is an Associate Professor of Design and Computation Arts at Dr. Rilla Khaled is an Associate Professor of Design and Computation Arts at Concordia University in Tiohtià:ke / Montréal. She is Associate Director of the Technoculture, Art and Games (TAG) Research Centre. Her work focuses on how playful media can improve daily life, and spans establishing foundations for recoverable, materials-based game design research, articulating boundaries for experimental uses of AI, designing award-winning games, creating speculative prototypes of near-future technologies, and working with BIPOC communities to materialise inclusive futures.

The Play Make Learn Conference promotes high-quality learning opportunities for educators, researchers, developers, designers, foundation leaders, policy makers, museum and library professionals, and school leaders who are dedicated to promoting making, gaming, and playful learning. We aim to engage our audience in cutting-edge learning science ideas and experiences; communicate state-of-the-art design, education, and research; demonstrate new and upcoming games and technology; and network to spark new projects in the following themes: playful learning, games for learning and positive social impact, making and makerspaces, STEAM education, arts integration in formal and informal spaces, and research/practitioner partnerships.