I already had to remind myself that despite feeling like I have seen so much and talked with so many people, we've only just completed Day 1 of the conference. Today's opening general session included a keynote speech by Jane McGonigal. Her message centered around the idea that video games are worth much more than what meets the eye. That there are actually deep and meaningful life lessons and coping mechanisms gleaned from playing and that those claims can be backed up by research published in peer review journals. I had two favorite parts within her address. One was an awesome project she did for the New York Public Library where 500 young people were locked inside the Bryant Park location overnight to work together, discover artifacts, and write a book. Learn more here, but she had me at New York Public Library. My other favorite part was when she discussed the fact that 80% of video game playing is failing. In other words, video games are about the only thing around that people voluntarily do where they know they won't succeed very often, but they still try again. There is resiliency, hope, and an optimism that you might make beat the level the next time -- it sheds a whole new view on the stereotypes of video games being a waste of time or the hobby of the lazy. Don't misconstrue - I'm not suggesting that highly selective colleges will start viewing 4 hours of video games a day as a strong resume builder, but it does beg the question of how many positive attributes and strengths are being overlooked in our young people just because their generation uses technology as an outlet.
There was only one educational session offered today and I chose to attend the one called "Commitment to Transparency: The Financial Aid Shopping Sheet." Essentially, the Federal Government has a new initiative to try and encourage colleges to adopt this "shopping sheet" that will be a uniform breakdown of financial aid awards along with information about that school's graduation rate, loan default rate, and how much the family will actually be paying out of pocket. To date, 316 schools have signed on in only a few short months. My mind was already fast forwarding to the dream of the government having a web based shopping sheet where families could plug in aid awards from non participating schools and print their own shopping sheets from home. Like most things full of data, the shopping sheet isn't perfect (as the panel pointed out, the graduation rate may not be an accurate representation of the segment of the population that the student is looking for --- ie graduation rate may include online students, notorious for low completion rate). A one page sheet also can't represent fit -- I would be a bad counselor if the only thing I asked students to use when picking where to deposit was cost. But, I think this tool is absolutely a step in the right direction, helping more families make more sense out of the often murky waters of financial aid. I applaud the schools that have volunteered to be early adopters and hope that it is mandated for all schools in the next five to ten years.
This evening, I finished up by walking through the vendor hall and attending the Big XII reception. All in all, I'm ready for day two!
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