Keynote Presentation - Cultivating Connected Growth and Life Change: From Immersive Worlds to Empowered Ecosystems

Sasha Barab is an internationally recognized Learning Scientist who has researched, designed, and published extensively on the challenges and opportunities of using innovation for impact, with a particular focus on the power of games. He is a professor in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society and the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, where he also serves as the Executive Director of the Center for Games and Impact. His research has resulted in numerous grants, over 100 published manuscripts, and multiple game-based innovations that have been engaged by over 200,000 players to support learning and transformation. His current work extends the design boundaries from the bits and bytes of the game world to complex real-world ecosystems with the goal of helping all learners thrive in a complex, rapidly changing, digitally connected world. One recent project, My Lifelabs, is based on an invite, enable, and release learning methodology and focused on cultivating growth and impact journeys so that more people can realize their potential. Across all work is a sensitivity to factors such as ecosystem integration, stakeholder alignment, enacted agency, and achieving sustainable and scalable outcomes