Best of GLS: Fifteen Years of Generative Play

For twelve years, the Games+Learning+Society (GLS) Conference gathered academics, industry leaders, educators, and policy makers to consider the impact of the games on learning and society. From 2005-2016 the conference led to white papers, conference proceedings, and an edited volume from Cambridge Press, all of which continue to shape the field. The hallmark of GLS, however, was a focus on community-generated formats, from the hall of failure highlighting projects gone awry to fireside chats for cozy pillow talk with keynote speakers, from an interactive art exhibit to real-time research conducted live on-site – and of course, traditional research papers.
In this CLS session, former members of the GLS executive board will present research papers from the last 15 years of GLS that represent a unique and lasting contribution to our understanding of games and connected learning systems. Each selected paper will be presented in the symposium not by its author but by their advocate, setting the scene for an interactive and lively session with paper authors and attendees. Speakers will have free reign to include visuals, media, or even cameos as they see fit. Papers from this session will be considered for the upcoming publication, Best of GLS: Fifteen Years of Generative Play to be published in Fall 2021 by ETC Press. We hope this look back at our community roots will inspire new directions and new connections as participants share how this work informs their thinking and how it connects to the opportunities and challenges faced today.