With a focus on innovative educational experiences and a Google panel discussion on the agenda, this year’s Interaction Design and Children’s (IDC) conference will be hosted by Sesame Workshop, The New School and the Association for Computing Machinery in New York from June 24 to 27.

The conference, now in its 12^th year, serves as a global forum for exploring new educational platforms that foster children’s creativity and engaged learning.  It investigates topics such as technology, design and engaged learning through papers, presentations, speakers, workshops, participatory design experiences and discussions.

IDC 2013 will emphasize DIY/maker culture among children and global inclusion, particularly for marginalized children worldwide.  The conference will begin with a keynote address by a doctoral student at the MIT Media Lab, who recently created a youth mentorship program called Innovate Salone that promotes innovation among high-school students in Sierra Leone.  In addition, the conference will showcase creative media projects created by high-school students involved with local New York-based youth media and technology programs, led by the Engage Media Lab initiative in the School of Media Studies at The New School.

This year’s conference will also feature a special panel discussion with Google about its research contributions in the field.

Registration and programming details are now open to the general public.  Conference participants hail from a variety of fields, including computer science, communication, child development, engineering, digital media, game design, educational psychology and learning sciences.