SIOP Foundation Visionary Circle members are now voting on their final choice for the first-ever $100,000 Visionary Circle grant. Voting closes on April 23, 2020 at 11:59 pm EDT.

Current plans are for the members of the Visionary Circle to learn the voting results at a webinar on April 29, 2020, and for a SIOP Virtual Conference session to share information about the process and results more broadly. The conference will be held June 16-30, 2020.

Less than 2 months ago, at the beginning of March, our volunteer leadership, Conference Committee, and the entire SIOP community, with support from the Administrative Office staff, were entering the home stretch of preparation for the 35^th Annual SIOP Conference in Austin, Texas.

Then, history began unfolding around the globe and in the United States as the coronavirus pandemic brought the country almost to a standstill. With large gatherings prohibited to limit the spread of the virus, SIOP cancelled the eagerly anticipated in-person annual event.

Game-based assessment (GBA) and gamification of assessments have emerged as promising directions for applied measurement. Both merge the science of high-quality psychometric assessment with research from the interdisciplinary field of human-computer interaction and games research.

The gamification of assessment involves the redesign of existing assessments by adding game elements, whereas GBA promises fully formed start-to-finish assessment experiences in which a game is played and won or lost, and the scores produced by that game can be used meaningfully.  Relatively little research is available evaluating gamified assessment or GBA, particularly in applied contexts with rigorous methodology, thus the focus of the present CFP.

The disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented global uncertainty for individuals and organizations that demands agility and resilience. Even before the pandemic, companies were working to build these characteristics in order to remain competitive amidst a flurry of unpredictable change. But now, the need for

“In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity,” Sun Tzu, Art of War.

For some of us, the world may seem like it’s spinning out of control and we’re spinning out of control with it. Many of us have never experienced a world changing event like the global COVID-19 pandemic, and hopefully, this will be a once in a lifetime moment. 

As entrepreneurs, we’re used to risk. We took risks to take an idea, craft and mold that idea, and build something that we think would be valuable to society. Our businesses grew out of creativity, passion, and drive. At our most optimistic moments, we believe that the same creativity, innovation, and drive will help us get through this crisis, while displaying our values and character along the way.