Katie Salen

Katie Salen is Professor of Design and Technology at Parsons The New School for Design and former director of the Center for Transformative Media. She is the executive director of the Institute of Play. More

Katie Salen is Professor of Design and Technology at Parsons The New School for Design and former director of the Center for Transformative Media, a research center focused on emerging trends in design and media. She is the executive director of a non-profit called the Institute of Play, which is focused on games and learning. Katie led the team that founded Quest to Learn, a new 6th to 12th grade public school in New York City, where she currently serves as Executive Director of Design. As the lead designer on the school, she led development of the school's pedagogical vision and research agenda.

Katie has extensive experience working with young people in the area of media creation and game design, and has a deep knowledge of issues surrounding the potential integration of digital media, games, and technology into learning environments. Katie is co-author of Rules of Play, a textbook on game design, The Game Design Reader, and editor of The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and Learning, all from MIT Press. She has worked as a game designer for over 10 years and is a former co-editor of The International Journal of Learning and Media.