Highlights Retreat – 2016 Recap

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About the Highlights Foundation Retreat

The Fourth Dust or Magic Highlights Retreat has concluded as of April 26, 2016. The event is 3-day retreat where we review the dust and the magic of the latest children’s digital products, with an emphasis on language, literacy, and digital storytelling.

Download the flyer as a PDF.

This year’s event was hosted by Gail Lovely, Warren Buckleitner, and Daren Carstens. Presentations or workshops were be presented by Kate Wilson, CEO of Nosy Crow, Dr. Katie Paciga from Columbia College and the Erikson Institute, Dr. Michael H, Levine and Lisa Guernsey; authors of recently published book Tap, Click, Read: Growing Readers in a World of Screens.

Dates: April 24-26, 2016 (5 PM Sunday through Noon on Tuesday). As Kent Brown always says, “come early, stay late.”

Location: Highlights Foundation, Boyds Mills, PA (about 3 hours from New York City).

Cost: $1000 (includes housing, food and a van ride to/from New York or Scranton PA). Small publisher or student rates available.

Register: Space is strictly limited to 40; seats and cottages are assigned on a first-come, first served basis. If you have a promo code, enter it on the second page of the registration form.

CHANGES THIS YEAR
Based on feedback from last year, we’ve made the following three changes to this year’s agenda:

  1. More than ebooks. We’ll offer a more general “Dust or Magic” experience. Our agenda will be a “stone soup” of stories, knowledge, apps and research over the three days. The broad category of children’s literacy in the digital age will be approached from four points of view: Warren, Gail and others will share what they’ve seen as reviewers, and publishers like Kate Wilson and Daren Carstens will share the latest technology. Also, the winners and finalists of the BolognaRagazzi Digital Awards will be demonstrated and discussed. Michael Levine and Lisa Guernsey will provide their 30,000 ft. point of view of growing readers in the age of screens, and Dr. Katie Paciga (who has studied with William Teale) will provide an overview of literacy theory in a digital context.
  2. More affordable. One fixed $1000 fee covers everything: comfortable housing, excellent food, beer/wine and transportation to/from the New York City area.
  3. More accessible. Getting to the rural Highlights Foundation is easier this year thanks to shared van service to and from the New York City Area.

And finally – this is a 100% independent event built from the ground up around current products and the latest research. There are no commercial agendas, sponsors or business connections. The Highlights Foundation is an independent non-profit run by Kent Brown.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

  • Interactive designers who are responsible for making quality digital products.
  • Publishers who want to keep a competitive edge.
  • Authors who want to take a print based book and successfully move it to a screen.
  • Illustrators who want to learn how to illustrate for interactive design.
  • Early educators who want to leverage the power of the tablet to help support early learning development.
  • Children’s librarians who want to find out what’s new with the latest children’s book apps, and learn about best practice.
  • ESL and Speech and Language Specialists who want to learn how to use tablets in day to day practice.

Questions?

Call 800-993-9499 for more information.

Celebrate spring, and excellence in interactive design

The third interactive media design for children retreat took place at the beautiful Highlights Foundation in Boyds Mills, PA, about 2 1/2 hours northwest of New York City, from April 19-21, 2015. Read a recap of the 2015 event.