Jessica Trybus is a thought leader, in academia and industry, in the use of gaming and simulation technologies for workplace learning. She serves as teaching faculty at Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center where she has been leading and contributing to University initiatives related to combining education and gaming technologies since 2002. Her leadership of “games-for-learning” development has contributed to Carnegie Mellon’s recognition as a pioneer in using game-based learning to teach people of all ages more effectively. Jessica took her expertise to industry when she founded Etcetera Edutainment, a Carnegie Mellon spin off company that delivers SIM (simple impactful mobile) COACH solutions to organizations using game-based mobile apps for assessing, training and coaching large workforces. The company, where she continues to serve as CEO, has been developing successful commercial applications of game-simulations since 2005 that are being used within Fortune 500 companies across several industries and by tens of thousands of workers. Jessica is the Gaming and Communications Expert for the New Media Institute, and she is also a sought after advisor who regularly consults with large corporations on how to effectively engage and communicate to the next generation of workforce. She has spoken at many international conferences—dealing with innovative technology, gaming, workforce safety and productivity, and education—primarily on the topic of using gaming technology for learning and training. Jessica serves on various boards, including The Beckwith Institute (an organization related to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center focusing on innovation in patient care), and The Andy Warhol Museum. She also chairs the technology innovation strategy for the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh system. Prior to Etcetera and Carnegie Mellon, Jessica was in Silicon Valley working with several early-stage web and technology companies including AltaVista, which in the late 90s was the premier search engine dot-com. Jessica received her bachelor’s at Cornell University and her graduate degree at Carnegie Mellon University.
Carnegie Mellon University
How Improv Acting Makes Better Technologists
At Carnegie Mellon University, software engineers and future technologists are taking improvisational acting classes to help them get good jobs in the entertainment technology industry. The rules of improv are simple, but strict: be fun to play with; serve the narrative—no matter what is said, think "Yes, and..."; and make your partner look good. These principles may apply equally for collaborative teams.
Conferences
Techonomy 12
Techonomy focuses on how the exponential pace of technology progress makes possible a new world. A wave of accelerating change driven by technology’s advance is washing over our lives, bringing great potential for business and social progress.
