The SXSW EDU 2026 season is starting with a bang! We are so excited to be announcing the first Keynote of the event, six inspiring Featured Sessions, an early teaser at PanelPicker, and so much more that you can look forward to March 9-12, 2026.
With AI continuing to be top of mind in the education community, our Keynote Speaker, Adeel Khan, will be diving into how we can think about AI while reasserting the need and importance of quality teachers. The Featured Sessions cover an array of timely topics, including how words make us better thinkers, changes to international education in higher ed, the positive effects of closing digital literacy gaps for women in the Middle East, and more.
Are you ready? We’re giving you a sneak peek at what you can expect from PanelPicker this year! With 16 sessions covering every track, focus area, and format offered at SXSW EDU, this collection of sessions tackles topics from how to reframe dyslexia as a superpower to helping students build civic engagement skills, and much more.
Surprise! The SXSW EDU Schedule is live earlier than ever. Start saving these sessions to your schedule today.
Crossover Day is back – and it’s bigger and better than ever before! This year, with Thursday, March 12 being the last day of SXSW EDU and the first official day of SXSW, SXSW EDU attendees can enjoy access to live music at dozens of SXSW Music Festival venues, select film screenings from the SXSW Film & TV Festival, Mentor Sessions, Meet Ups, and more! You won’t want to miss this jam-packed final day.
Registration for SXSW EDU 2026 is now open! Secure your badge today at the lowest rate of the season.
Keynote
Keeping Teachers at the Center of AI in Schools
Millions of teachers are experimenting with AI tools, discovering new ways to save time, avoid burnout and enhance student learning. A former educator who has created the most-used AI platform in schools will share unfiltered insights on what's working and what's not and how to prepare students for an AI future responsibly. Learn actionable strategies to harness AI in the classroom effectively, while always keeping educators at the center – because "teachers are magic," not the AI.
Adeel Khan, Founder & CEO, MagicSchool AI
Featured Sessions
Beyond Bans: Defending LGBTQ+ Stories & Literary Freedom
Number 1 NYT bestselling author Casey McQuiston joins leaders from PFLAG National and the American Library Association to discuss actionable solutions to preserve access to LGBTQ+ literature and stories amid discriminatory book bans. This timely panel discussion will explore effective solutions, including community partnerships between libraries, nonprofits, and cultural leaders; direct distribution programs; and grassroots advocacy that transforms resistance into sustained movements for literary freedom helping LGBTQ+ youth feel safe, seen and valued.
Brian Bond, CEO, PFLAG National
Casey McQuiston, Author
Nadra Kareem Nittle, Education Reporter, The 19th News
Sam Helmick, President of the American Library Association and Community & Access Services Coordinator of Iowa City Public Library
Exclusion to Empowerment: Women, Tech, & the Future of Learning
Millions of young women around the world are still locked out of digital opportunities. As technology transforms how we learn and work, those left behind risk losing their futures. In this session, we'll hear one woman's journey from growing up in Afghanistan to creating new pathways in tech for girls worldwide and offers a vision for education that is inclusive, practical, and full of possibility.
Roya Mahboob, CEO, Digital Citizen Fund
Feeding Kids Like We Give a Damn: Transforming School Food
Every day, 30M+ kids eat in nearly 100K school cafeterias—America’s largest restaurant. But, ultra-processed foods dominate, fueling 30+ chronic diseases and harming wellness. These foods impact behavior, learning, & emotional health. It’s not what kids want—it’s decades of underinvestment, outdated kitchens, and an underpaid & undervalued workforce. But change is underway. This panel explores how scratch-cooked meals, investments in infrastructure, and smart policy can transform school food into a force for equity, sustainability and systemic change. Let's ask: What are healthy kids worth?
Representative Jim McGovern, Congressman, Second District of Massachusetts, United States House of Representatives
Mara Fleishman, CEO, Chef Ann Foundation
Maya Miller, Student, Environmental Studies, University of Pennsylvania
Norbert Wilson, Director, Duke World Food Policy Center
How State Constitutions Empower & Protect Youth
State constitutions play a huge role in young people's access to the ballot, the safety and autonomy of the LGBTQIA community, states’ ability to respond (or refuse to respond) to climate change, and even the quality of state education systems. Despite that, fewer than half of Americans know their state has its own constitution. Our expert panel—state constitution superusers, if you will—will demonstrate how dynamic learning about state constitutions can be, including by highlighting history-making lawsuits brought by youth plaintiffs, explaining the hurdles faced and victories achieved.
Celina Stewart, CEO, League of Women Voters of the United States
Erin Geiger Smith, Writer & Editor, Brennan Center for Justice
Harper Seldin, Senior Staff Attorney, American Civil Liberties Union
Julia Olson, Co-Executive Director & Chief Legal Officer, Our Children's Trust
New Ground Rules: Rethinking U.S. International Education
What happens when top talent—both international and domestic—no longer sees the United States as the destination for study, research, and innovation? As U.S. international education policy shifts, colleges and universities face new uncertainty. This panel brings together university and diplomacy leaders to explore how higher education is adapting, what data reveals about these changes, what’s at stake for the nation’s workforce and innovation pipeline, and how international education shapes America’s role in the world.
Deneyse Kirkpatrick, President & CEO, Texas International Education Consortium
Jason Czyz, President, Institute of International Education
Lawrence Schovanec, President, Texas Tech University
Vivian Walker, Co-President of the Public Diplomacy Council of America, Practitioner in Residence and Professor at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, The Public Diplomacy Council of America; Georgetown University
Word Magic: How Etymology Ignites Curiosity, Precision, & Joy
Words carry the soot of history, the fingerprints of conquest, the graffiti of teenagers, the prayers of scholars, and a great deal beyond. Often dismissed as useless trivia, etymology is a pedagogical skeleton key. It tightens vocabulary, clarifies syntax, improves reading retention, and crosswires subjects like history, science, literature, linguistics, philosophy, and civic life. A single root can smuggle an entire discipline into a student's mind. This session invites educators into the secret life of language and empowers them to unlock interdisciplinary insight, stimulate linguistic curiosity, and build bridges between learners and cultures.
Jess Zafarris, Author
PanelPicker Sneak Peek
Dive into the early look at what you can expect from PanelPicker for SXSW EDU 2026:
Conversations
- Accidental Entrepreneurs: Building Products & Spilling Tea (Startups & Investment / Convergence)
- Born to Be Wired: 4 Rules for AI in Early Childhood (Health & Wellbeing / Early Learning)
Meet Up
- Justice with Young Folks in 2026 (Equity & Belonging / K-12 Education)
Panels
- Calming the Storm: Navigating College Admissions Today (Leadership for Tomorrow / Higher Education)
- College on the Clock: How Work Becomes a Degree (Work Reimagined / Higher Education)
- Flipping the Script to Elevate Early Ed & All Educators (Arts & Culture / Early Learning)
- LA Responds: Protecting Immigrant Students & Families (Community Initiatives / K-12 Education)
- Media That Matters: Nuclear Weapons & the Next Generation (Global Initiatives / K-12 Education)
- Missing Millions: Confronting the Attendance Crisis (Teaching & Learning / K-12 Education)
- Reframing Dyslexia as a Hyper-Ability (Accessibility Solutions / Convergence)
- The Climate Paradox of AI Education (Future of Tech / Higher Education)
Podcasts
- How Teen Journalists Drive Change in Their Communities (Equity & Belonging / K-12 Education)
- How to Think When Machines Think Faster (Work Reimagined / Continuing Education)
Solo
- Reclaiming Truth: From Erasure to Native Leadership (Leadership for Tomorrow / Higher Education)
Workshops
- Democracy High: Building Civics Skills to Design Tomorrow (Policy & Advocacy / K-12 Education)
- The Box Sent Back from the Future (Arts & Culture / K-12 Education)
