At its core, personalized learning means giving every student opportunities to learn in ways that connect and support them to the fullest extent possible. It’s a tall order—and scores of resources and organizations have emerged to help school leaders with different parts of the journey. Yet that proliferation of resources and ideas can be both helpful—and overwhelming.
That’s why EdSurge is teaming up with Digital Promise to deliver a conference aimed at taking school leaders on the full arc of the personalized learning journey. The keystone ideas: learning, for all, supported through appropriate and powerful technologies.
Our Fusion Conference, slated for Nov. 1-3 in Northern California, is designed to help school leaders identify the most appropriate ideas, tools, and people as they implement personalized learning. To do that, we’re tapping an outstanding collection of thought leaders and partners, starting with LEAP Innovations, NewSchools Venture Fund and the people and resources at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
“We believe in the power of networks to connect us and take innovative ideas from vision to reality,” said Digital Promise President and CEO Karen Cator. “We’re excited to host the Fusion Conference with EdSurge and take the opportunity to gather educators, researchers, and thought partners to advance personalized learning.”
“In order to create equitable, personalized, high-quality learning experiences for all students, we need to effectively bridge the gap between education and innovation,” said Phyllis Lockett, founder and CEO of LEAP Innovations. “Opportunities like the Fusion Conference allow us to better connect stakeholders across the ecosystem—and across the country—to share what’s working, and bring personalized learning to all students.”
The event will feature four powerful strands:
Vision: How do school leaders lead toward a vision for the future that is centered on the student learning experience? What frameworks are relevant to their own school community? How do students and teachers share in that vision?
Research: What does the science of learning tell us about how we learn? How do we better connect research with what is happening in our schools? What processes and tools support that connection?
Implementation: What are nonnegotiable issues as school leaders implement personalized learning? What makes it easier or harder to transform vision into practice? What are the best privacy and security practices? How should tools and technologies work together?
Evidence: What changes do we hope to see from this work? How do we know when an approach or practice is “working”—or not? How do we use these learnings to continuously improve? How do we share these learnings?
In addition, the conference will feature specially designed cohorts, opportunities to connect school leaders with peers who are at different points on the personalized learning trajectory, to spur learning from each other’s experiences.
This first Fusion conference is designed for school leaders—from superintendents of districts and regions, to CAOs, CIOs and CTOs, to principals and teacher leaders. We’re seeking nominations for school leaders who will benefit from this experience—and holding 500 spots for them.
“EdSurge is an important partner to NewSchools, helping us discover and connect with teams of educators and entrepreneurs building innovative schools and products around the country,” says Meghan Amrofell, Chief Operating Officer at NewSchools Venture Fund. “We’re excited to see how the Fusion conference takes their original idea of Teacher Tech Summits to the next level, and are particularly interested in how cohorts of attendees can build meaningful connections to learn more together.”
Over the coming weeks, we’ll be announcing the full lineup of speakers and participants. For everyone convinced that personalized learning is at the core of a vibrant future—and that it will take all of us leveraging the power of ideas and resources to get there—Fusion will be the place to be.
Learn more about the EdSurge Fusion Conference on Nov. 1-3 and request an invitation here.
