Workshops

Dust or Magic eBook Retreat: Designing and Critiquing Narrative-Driven Interactive Media for Children 2014 | April 27 – April 29

Dust or Magic is hosting a workshop here at Highlights – a special event bringing together 40 individuals with a strong interest in trying to understand children’s lit in the age of the touch screen. We’ll critique best practice, as identified by the 2014 BolognaRagazzi Digital Prize Jurors, and see what went wrong with the many less-than-noteworthy products to be found in the Apple and Android app stores. We’ll explore how to tap the potential of the tablet medium for:

• Telling stories— to move beyond the page swipe and hot spot;
• Scaffolding techniques to help a child move from a non-reader, to a reader;
• Child empowerment techniques, to increase engagement;
• Embedded reinforcements — ways to use interactive techniques to work with the narrative;
• Child authorship techniques – examples of ways you can put a child’s voice inside a story.

We’ll also demo and discuss the state of children’s app design, and offer on-the-spot critiques of participant work, using Dust or Magic’s laser-guided feedback.

Speakers to be announced.

Note: to register for this retreat, please visit: http://dustormagic.com/ebooks/.

Faculty & Special Guests

Warren Buckleitner