Invitation to NSF Game-based Assessment Conference

A US National Science Foundation-sponsored workshop entitled, “Game-based Assessment: An Interdisciplinary Workshop Integrating Organizations, Education, and Assessment.”  The event will be held on August 22 and 23, 2019, in Minneapolis, MN, USA.  Breakfast, plated lunches, and two snack breaks will be provided.  The general goal of this conference is to share and discuss research on how games can be used to generate scores that meaningfully represent something about a person, with a particular eye toward psychometric rigor.  They have selected presenters and events to connect researchers across disciplines and establish collaborations between academia and industry.  You can find much more detail on our website: http://gbaworkshop.tntlab.org

Ignoring the grand tradition of calling games something else for the sake of funding, they boldly stated “this is a conference about video games” and how they can be used to hire people, and obtained support from NSF.

In the event itself, the days are split into four symposia (Org Science Research, Education Research, Vendor Research, and Grad Student Top Research), two keynotes, and a few other events.  Your experience will include this fantastic lineup of presenters:

Keynotes: Sidney D’Mello (U Colorado Boulder) and Richard Landers (U Minnesota)

Org Sciences: Sarena Bhatia (AON), Sebastian Loh (Southern Illinois U), Andrea Sinclair (HumRRO), Elizabeth Short (QC Holdings), Tim Warszta (West Coast U of Applied Sciences)

Education: Russell Almond (Florida State U), Karrie Godwin (Kent State), Rich Halverson (U Wisconsin Madison), Tanner Jackson (ETS), Mina Johnson-Glenberg (Arizona State U)

Vendor Researchers: Jason Blaik (Revelian), Kristen DiCerbo (Pearson), Lara Montefiori (Arctic Shores), Alina Siemsen (AON/cut-e), Kelly Trindel (pymetrics), Jim Wexler (Persona Labs)

You can find more details about each presenter here: http://gbaworkshop.tntlab.org/program

To keep the conference a reasonable size (and to stay in budget!), we are holding total attendance strictly at 125.  To attend, you need to apply for a seat. You can do so here: http://gbaworkshop.tntlab.org/registration

Additionally, 25 of the 125 seats are reserved for graduate students, which will all be funded for up to $500 in travel reimbursement.  If you are or know of any student interested in attending a conference on game-based assessment, you may be able to do so with all expenses covered!  But you must apply here before May 31: http://gbaworkshop.tntlab.org/registration

Additionally, students are encouraged to submit papers/abstracts to present in the Graduate Student Top Research Symposium, from which we will select the top 5 to present.  You could present at an NSF conference!  If you are or know of any grad students who have done compelling theoretical or empirical work on game-based assessments, please apply! The link above will also allow you to submit a tentative title and up to 350-word abstract that will act as your presentation application: http://gbaworkshop.tntlab.org/registration but you must do so before May 31!

Please note that graduate students do not need to apply to present in order to be funded, but it will help your chances of being selected if your abstract looks good!