Everyone has a role to play in education today

As we enter a new year, education is a topic that continues to resonate well beyond the classroom into the core aspects of daily life, from home and family to the halls of politics and the corporate world. Since launching SXSW EDU several years ago with the aspiration to become the world’s largest and most inclusive learning festival in the world, it’s been exciting to see the event grow and evolve. As past speakers including philanthropist Bill Gates and Teacher’s College, Columbia University professor Christopher Emdin both observed from the keynote stage, the growth of the event is a direct reflection of the public’s deep passion and interest with teaching and learning—no surprise, when we acknowledge that education is the foundation on which everything is built!

More than the growth of SXSW EDU, though, what’s been most interesting to observe is the evolution of the topics that the community wants to address, as reflected through our crowd-sourced program. Each year, the community proposes thousands of suggestions for sessions and workshops and speakers. As such, the SXSW EDU community’s conversation about teaching and learning continues to become richer and more diverse, spanning the complete life cycle of learning, from early childhood, to and through college, career, and beyond.

While past programs for SXSW EDU focused largely on the standards and structures of schooling, today the program has grown to additionally address the intersection of culture and learning. Stated another way, beyond exploring the 4- or 8- or 12-year curriculums associated with the traditional classifications of elementary, secondary, and post- secondary education, it’s been fascinating to see the program enriched with discussions about lifelong learning in the real world, against the backdrop of rapidly changing expectations to prepare learners for a future that will look far different than today.…Read More

8 maker tools to inspire next-gen innovation and design

Looking to develop designers and entrepreneurs? SXSWedu offered several ideas

How can schools prepare students to be the designers, innovators, and entrepreneurs our economy needs for future success? That was a key area of focus at the 2016 South by Southwest Education (SXSWedu) conference in Austin, Texas, March 7-10, and a number of ed-tech companies and organizations demonstrated possible solutions.

The “maker movement” can play an important role in getting kids interested in innovation and design, and littleBits—which makes easy-to-use electronic building blocks—is finding itself at the center of this movement. Until now, the company has focused mostly on the consumer market, but during a March 8 keynote session, littleBits founder and CEO Ayah Bdeir announced a new kit made specifically for schools.

“We want to unleash the inventor in everyone,” Bdeir said.…Read More

Seven new ed-tech tools to know about

These seven tools were on display at major education conferences in the last month

ed-tech-toolsIn just the last month, Austin has hosted two major ed-tech conferences: the Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) conference and the South by Southwest Education conference (SXSWedu).

You can find our full coverage of TCEA 2014 at this link, but here are some leftover announcements from that show—along with new ed-tech tools and products that caught our eye from SXSWedu as well.

(New tools are listed in alphabetical order by company name)…Read More