Critical Play: Play, Interaction, and Learning Conference

Join the School of Education for the inaugural Play, Interaction, and Learning Conference

Keynote Speakers

Professor Kishonna Gray is a Professor of Racial Justice and Technology at the University of Michigan’s School of Information and Director of the Intersectional Tech Lab. Based on analyses of game play, platform design, and digital infrastructures, she interrogates the impact that technology has on culture and how minoritized users influence the creation of technological products and the dissemination of digital artifacts.

Professor David DeLiema is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Minnesota. His research attends to the conversations and designs that shape how learning emerges from moments of impasse, including in naturalistic social interaction, technology-rich settings, play-based activities, and embodied movement.

Submit a Session Proposal

The review committee for the 2026 Play, Interaction, and Learning Conference will consider proposals in the form of panels, individual presentations, workshops, and discussion groups (described in greater detail below). Our sessions – led by faculty, graduate students, and industry professionals – will strive to answer one or more of the following questions: 

• How do youths and adults leverage play and gaming toward goals of representation, equity, and inclusion?
• How can educators, designers, and other practitioners design more critical and sustaining play environments?
• How might innovative research methods help us understand complex processes of play and learning? 
• How could certain playful processes – broadly defined – (re)shape how we think about civic action? 
• What does a more equitable, playful future look like in schools, communities, organizations, and beyond?