BIOGRAPHY

Richard R. Halverson is an Assistant Professor in Educational Administration at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His work aims to bring the research methods and practices of the Learning Sciences to the world of educational leadership by exploring how to access, document and communicate the practical wisdom of school leaders. Halverson's research develops conceptual frameworks based on cognitive psychology and classical philosophy to capture the complexity, expertise and situated nature of leadership practice and seeks to communicate research findings through developing on-line, multimedia cases of practice.

Halverson was a teacher and a school administrator in suburban Chicago, and has earned an MA in Philosophy and a PhD in the Learning Sciences from Northwestern University. He is a recent recipient of a National Science Foundation Early Career Award to investigate how school leaders work with teachers to create the capacity for using student achievement data in daily practices of teaching and learning.

ABSTRACT

Games for Leadership, Leadership for Games
Individual Presentation, Friday (10:45 - 12:15) in Hall of Ideas G

Games such as Rise of Nations, Civilization and World of Warcraft provide what many educators promise -- challenging, learner-directed tasks scaffolded through complex learning environments. School leaders, unfortunately, often stand in the way of integrating game-based learning design into schools. Rich Halverson will discuss a research and design strategy to help leaders learn to encourage compelling, game-based learning environments by playing and designing games to practice and explore the complexities of school leadership.