Jon Spike

@jonspike.bsky.social

Board and card game designer, instructor for Video Games & Learning, Digital Tools & more, PhD in Instructional Technology

Are you attending #AASL25 this weekend in Saint Louis? We Need Diverse Books will be hosting a general session on Friday, October 17th, starting at 8 AM! Start your Friday at the AASL conference with a conversation that brings stories to life for learners. 📚 📅 Friday, Oct. 17 ⏰ 8 AM

Navy blue promotional graphic titled, “We Need Diverse Books Presents: Bringing Literature to Life for Learners - AASL 2025 Saint Louis”. This is a general session taking place at the AASL 2025 Saint Louis conference on Friday, October 17th, starting at 8:00 AM. Beneath the title are four circular photo frames containing headshots for the panelist participating in this session: author Soman Chainani, author Ellen Oh, Librarian Lauren Mobley. The panel will be moderated by WNDB board member Jordan Lloyd Bookey.

I was fortunate enough to attend the Wisconsin Esports Summit in MKE today. Always great hearing panel presentations, chatting with vendors, and networking with fellow educators, students, professionals, etc in the esports world!

BildBildBild

Let's be honest - the Science of Reading curriculum doesn't often jump off the pages for our students! So I thought - what if we created resources to help educators use GAMES to practice skills like phonics, fluency, and comprehension with our learners?! Welp, here it is! https://buff.ly/3CWR23f

Bild

Lots of my game design projects are focused on creating commercial products for the education space, but some of my projects are, well, just for me and my loved ones! Take CanDnD - I developed this mix of Dungeons & Dragons & Candyland after being bored with Candyland by itself.

BildBildBild

Oh hey #IDEACon - do you like games? Do you like education? Check out our educational board and card games - Gamestormers and Doomscroll - at our GamestormEDU site! We've got free lesson plans for each game that explore persuasive speaking, social media literacy, and more!

BildBild

In lieu of gifts on my birthday, I humbly request that you buy anywhere from 1-50 copies of Gamestormers and/or Doomscroll from our GamestormEDU site. The money goes to a good cause - my daughters' college funds.

BildBild

Just finished up our Doomscroll card game Lesson Plan - complete with debrief questions after gameplay. I'd love to hear your thoughts - let me know if it sounds interesting, confusing, etc. Thanks!

BildBild

Ludocene is the game discovery tool we are cooking. Tinder, but it's a deck builder that matches you with games. Prototype almost ready for Kickstarter: ✅ Build a deck of favourites ✅ Accept/Reject matches ✅ Pin what to play next ✅ Review suggestion logic Something you'd share. Any suggestions?