The iNACOL national conference this year will be held on October 28-31, 2019, at the Palm Springs Convention Center in Palm Springs, California. At this event, experts, practitioners, educators, policymakers and researchers gather and work to transform education. This year’s theme is “Shining a Light on the Future of Learning” and we’ll be presenting alongside many of our KnowledgeWorks teammates.
October 28, 2019
Opportunities to Shape the Future of Learning, 12-3 pm
In this conference pre-session, Jason Swanson will help attendees explore the future of learning. a What actions should be taken to ensure that every child and community thrives in the face of rapid change? Over the next decade, education – like the rest of society – will be faced with navigating profound change. Education has the opportunity to help lead the way in developing new organizing principles for a new era and in applying strategic insights about the future to shape what learning looks like and how it is supported in school, district and other organizational contexts.
Workshop participants will explore changes on the horizon and develop strategies to shape the future of learning, as informed by Navigating the Future of Learning: A Strategy Guide identifying opportunities for education stakeholders in K-12, postsecondary and community-based learning settings to take informed action in response to the changes on the horizon raised by our latest ten-year forecast, Navigating the Future of Learning.
October 29, 2019
It’s Time to Talk about Race and Education Innovation, 10 am – 12:15 pm
For too long, conversations about racial equity and education innovation have operated in separate spaces. It’s time for these conversations to converge. Virgel Hammonds joins Julianna Charles to open a space to create common understanding around the foundational principles of anti-racism, confront the ways which these principles have been absent from the conversation around education innovation, and explore the fundamental interdependence of these movements in creating a just future for every learner.
Designing Policy Systems to Support Personalized Learning: Lessons from Three States, 2:15-3:15 pm
As states empower districts to scale personalized learning, policymakers are beginning to ask the question: what’s next? This session will feature education policymakers from Utah, North Dakota and South Carolina – three states actively working to evolve their policy system to support personalized learning. This session will be moderated by Lillian Pace, Sarah Jenkins and Terrance Sullivan of KnowledgeWorks, who will share their own insights from building a policy blueprint for statewide transformation.
Off the Wall: Operationalizing Vision Through Agency, 2:15-3:15 pm
Design a learner-centered “off the wall” vision. Engage in a discussion to grapple with effective strategies to ensure vision lives not only on the wall, but is actualized in the fabric of the school culture and student experience. Engaging learners in the process promotes their social emotional learning and contribution to their school culture. Join this session with Ashley Thompson, Diane Mankins and Heather MacLaughin from Marysville Exempoted Village School District, as well as Robin Kanaan from KnowledgeWorks to discuss how we involve learners in the branding, becoming and belonging phases of school visioning.
October 30, 2019
Morning Keynote: Student Panel, 8 – 9:15 am
Virgel Hammonds will facilitate a student panel featuring:
- Aidyn Grice, Learner, Norris Academy, Wisconsin
- Alyssia Leach, Learner/Entrepreneur, GripTape and University of Louisville, Kentucky
- Elias Hernandez, Learner, River Springs School, California
- Landon Kreps, Learner, Alamosa High School, Colorado
- Victoria Borunda, Learner, ACE Leadership High School, New Mexico
Preparing Learners for an Uncertain Future of Work: Building Portraits of a Graduate to Drive Personalized, Competency Based Learning, 11:15 am – 12:15 pm
Large-scale change requires a strong sense of “why” in order be successful and sustainable. Districts in North Dakota have engaged their communities in developing a Portrait of a Graduate, a vision, articulating the community’s aspirations for all students. This work, developed with a focus on the future of work and its implications on student readiness, serves as a North Star for the personalized learning and a foundation for system transformation led by the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction. Learn more in this session with presenters Ann Ellefson, Cory Steiner, Beth Slette, Jason Swanson and Valerie Greenhill.
October 31, 2019
Practicing What We Preach: Engaging Educators and Educator Competencies to Support Shifts to Personalized, Learner-Centered Education, 8:30 – 10:30 am
In 2015, the Educator Competencies for Personalized, Learner-Centered Education were released to provide a framework for understanding and applying the knowledge, skills and disposition necessary for educators to shift and sustain their practices to be more personalized and learner-centered. Four years later, it’s time to refresh the Competencies and explore further how this framework can be designed to engage states, districts, schools and practitioners in the implementation these practices. Learn more in this session presented by Anne Bowles, Ryan MacDonald and Rebecca Wolfe.