Your votes delivered! The first official wave of community-selected sessions, crowdsourced directly through PanelPicker®, is here.
Our community submitted over 1,400 session proposals, generating an incredible 53,358 community votes—an increase of nearly 10,000 votes over last year. The submissions were rigorously reviewed by the Advisory Board and SXSW EDU staff, and we are thrilled to announce the 178 sessions that rose to the top.
-- Julia Shatilo, Senior Director of SXSW EDU
This year's accepted proposals paint a clear picture of the most pressing challenges and opportunities facing education. With the top tracks being Teaching & Learning, Equity & Belonging, and Future of Tech, there is a clear focus on forging the right path for a better tomorrow.
The new program balances the need to foster human and soft skills for the AI-driven future of work with urgent issues like student and educator burnout. Sessions highlight proactive leadership strategies required to renew trust in schools and approaches to leverage local institutions amidst fluctuating policy and funding, along with many other prominent topics.
Dive into the newest sessions and save your favorites in the SXSW EDU Schedule.
Conversations
- A New Vision for School Leadership (Leadership for Tomorrow)
- Afraid of AI? In Cleveland, It’s Enabling Economic Mobility (Work Reimagined)
- Dear Teachers, Can We Talk About the Future? (Leadership for Tomorrow)
- Engineering Confidence: Raising Girls to Build Companies (Startups & Investment)
- Follow the Money: Rethinking State & Federal Funding (Policy & Advocacy)
- Glowing Brains & Robosuits: Terminating the AI Cliché (Future of Tech)
- Higher Ed Needs Caring & Liberatory Leadership to Thrive (Leadership for Tomorrow)
- Multilingual by Design: Reframing the Science of Reading (Teaching & Learning)
- Radical Retention: Educator Wellbeing Without Compromise (Health & Wellbeing)
- Sanctuary Mindsets & Accompañamiento for Immigrant Students (Equity & Belonging)
- Shifting Gears: a NASCAR Racer on Autism & Mediamaking (Arts & Culture)
- Storytelling for Language & Immigration Justice (Community Initiatives)
- Student Centered By Design: Building Belonging Through Tech (Equity & Belonging)
- Syncrets To Success: From Classroom to Credits (Film, TV) (Arts & Culture)
- The Way It’s Always Been: Rethinking College Internships (Work Reimagined)
- Tomorrow’s Tools Today: AI Solutions for School Leaders (Future of Tech)
- Transforming Teaching: Inclusive Practices That Work (Accessibility Solutions)
- Vital Lessons Live: Trust, Health, & Schools (Health & Wellbeing)
Meet Ups
- AI in Higher Ed: Who’s Being Heard, Who’s Not? (Future of Tech)
- Beyond Glass Ceiling–A Women’s Guide to Leadership in EdTech (Startups & Investment)
- Climate, Mental Health, & Education Meet Up (Health & Wellbeing)
- Connect & Reflect: A Meet Up for Service-Learning Folx (Community Initiatives)
- ECE Stories That Move Us: A Fieldwide Conversation (Community Initiatives)
- Educational Tabletop Gaming Meet Up Series (Arts & Culture)
- Let’s Talk Spanglish (Equity & Belonging)
- Let's Talk Teaching Abroad: Meet Up (Global Initiatives)
- Media Literacy in Every Classroom Meet Up (Teaching & Learning)
- Plate to Planet: Educating the Next Gen for Climate Action (Leadership for Tomorrow)
- Proximity in Practice: Social Entrepreneur & Funder Mixer (Startups & Investment)
- Removing Barriers to Attendance Together (Community Initiatives)
- School Counselor Meet Up: Empathy & Impact (Health & Wellbeing)
- Shifting the Narrative on Arts Education (Arts & Culture)
- The Business of Education: Trends, Tensions, & What’s Next (Startups & Investment)
- Transfer Credit: The Glue Connecting Learning Across Sectors (Teaching & Learning)
- Using Badges to Celebrate Progress in Asynchronous Courses (Teaching & Learning)
- What We’re Unlearning on Supporting Education Systems (Policy & Advocacy)
Panels
- A Model for Culturally Responsive STEAM Ecosystems (Future of Tech)
- Addressing Climate Anxiety in Classrooms (Health & Wellbeing)
- ADHD Is a Superpower: Young People Rewrite the Narrative (Accessibility Solutions)
- Adult Charter Schools: Drivers of Economic Mobility (Work Reimagined)
- Advancing the Educational Attainment of Boys & Men (Community Initiatives)
- AI & the Brain: As We Embrace AI, Let’s Not Forget Our Minds (Health & Wellbeing)
- Beyond Bricks: Hybrid Models That Boost Outcomes (Work Reimagined)
- Beyond the Sales Pitch: Evaluating EdTech for Efficacy (Future of Tech)
- Building a New, Future-Proof University in 2026 (Startups & Investment)
- Building Belonging: K–12 Success for Latino Students (Equity & Belonging)
- Civic Education in a Divided Nation (Policy & Advocacy)
- Code Switch: Defending Black EdTech amid AI Crackdowns (Equity & Belonging)
- Cultivating Connection & Early Learning Through Song (Community Initiatives)
- Data for Mobility: Building Better Career Navigation Tools (Work Reimagined)
- Defending College Access for Undocumented Students (Equity & Belonging)
- Demanding Diversity When Diversity Is “Illegal” (Equity & Belonging)
- Educating Minds: Critical Thinking for the AI Generation (Teaching & Learning)
- Efficacy Equation: Educators, Students, Families as AI Agents (Future of Tech)
- Empowering Students with Dyslexia & Dyscalculia (Accessibility Solutions)
- Experiencing Learning: Hedging against AI Disruption (Leadership for Tomorrow)
- Failing Forward: Moving from Tools to Transformation with AI (Future of Tech)
- From Prison to Possibility: How Higher Ed Can Open Doors (Equity & Belonging)
- From TikTok to Toolbelt: Preparing Gen Z for Work (Work Reimagined)
- Future at Stake: How Students Debate Today Affects Tomorrow (Policy & Advocacy)
- Future-Ready Frameworks for Higher Ed's Title IX Challenges (Equity & Belonging)
- Grow or Let Go? Navigating M&A in Education (Startups & Investment)
- Growing Your Own - Pathways to Teaching in Rural Texas (Work Reimagined)
- How AI & Mixed Reality Are Transforming Teacher Prep (Future of Tech)
- How to Raise Changemakers: Lessons from Brazil’s Youth (Global Initiatives)
- It Takes a Region: Cybersecurity Pathways in Rural Alabama (Work Reimagined)
- Learning Without Borders: Preparing Kids for a Global Future (Global Initiatives)
- Mental Health Fitness (Health & Wellbeing)
- Multi-Campus Model for First-Gen College Student Success (Equity & Belonging)
- Passing the Baton: Strengthening Local College Ecosystems (Community Initiatives)
- Pedagogy, Politics, & Place: Video PD for a Polarized Age (Arts & Culture)
- Pre-K Pioneers: Fresh Models for Early Learning (Teaching & Learning)
- Pride + Resilience: LGBTQ+ Youth in Online Spaces (Equity & Belonging)
- Prioritizing Education R&D: Voices from States & Districts (Leadership for Tomorrow)
- Screen Time vs. Green Time: Reimagine Play in a Digital Age (Health & Wellbeing)
- Solving the Math Problem: Leading Change in K–12 Systems (Teaching & Learning)
- Standing Strong: Safeguarding DEI in Higher Education (Equity & Belonging)
- Start-Up Spirit: The Real-World Impact of Student Ventures (Startups & Investment)
- Student Voice, Real Power: Shaping Schools from Within (Leadership for Tomorrow)
- Supporting the Early Childhood Workforce that Powers Us (Work Reimagined)
- Teaching Beyond Transcripts with Career-Connected Learning (Work Reimagined)
- The Honesty Gap: Why Your Kid’s Test Score Lied to You (Policy & Advocacy)
- The State of the States: Bipartisanship in Education Today (Policy & Advocacy)
- Uncheatable: Authentic Assessment in the Age of AI (Teaching & Learning)
- Unpaid, Unused, Unhinged: Reimagine Campus-Community Collabs (Community Initiatives)
- Urban Superintendents on Leading, Lasting, & Learning (Leadership for Tomorrow)
- Voice AI & Assessments: Science, Ethics & Potential (Future of Tech)
- We Can Teach Hard Things: Being a Civics Teacher in America (Teaching & Learning)
- What If Less Is More? Chronic Absenteeism’s Unexpected Fix (Health & Wellbeing)
- Winning the Wild West of Higher Education (Work Reimagined)
- Young Leaders Have the Solutions for A Better, Kinder World (Leadership for Tomorrow)
Podcasts
- Bringing Students Back from the Brink (Equity & Belonging)
- Navigating the Tides of an Education Law Sea Change (Policy & Advocacy)
- The Blindspot: Why Neurodiversity Needs More Than Awareness (Equity & Belonging)
- Tomorrow's Principal Podcast: Don't Stop at Disruption (Leadership for Tomorrow)
- Trending in Ed March Madness of Learning Trends 2026 (Future of Tech)
- When Teens Can’t, Won’t & Don’t Read: What We Can Do (Teaching & Learning)
Solos
- AI’s Rise, Talent’s Fall: Fixing the Skills Deficit (Work Reimagined)
- Beyond the Diagnosis: Turning Parent Panic into Partnership (Accessibility Solutions)
- Building Brave Classrooms: An Ally’s Toolkit for Equity (Equity & Belonging)
- CTRL + SHIFT: Reimagining School Engagement Through Esports (Arts & Culture)
- Empowering Students for the Jobs of Tomorrow (Equity & Belonging)
- From Charges to Chances: A Second-Chance College Model (Equity & Belonging)
- From Curriculum to Culture: Leading Change in the Age of AI (Global Initiatives)
- Hospitality as Pedagogy (Arts & Culture)
- Letters from Camp: Gamifying Culture & Connection (Work Reimagined)
- LGBTQIA+ Students' Voices of Belonging & Visibility (Equity & Belonging)
- Mastery Is a Mirror: How Reflection Builds Resilience (Teaching & Learning)
- Problem-Solvers Wanted (Teaching & Learning)
- Public School Choice with Purpose: The Magnet School Model (Policy & Advocacy)
- Reclaim Focus: How Students Can Thrive in Attention Economy (Health & Wellbeing)
- Reducing the Cognitive Cost of Change to Drive Innovation (Teaching & Learning)
- Responsive Violence Prevention Across Schools & Communities (Community Initiatives)
- Slow Is a Pedagogy: Reclaiming Humanity in Early Learning (Health & Wellbeing)
- Startup Lessons from The Baby-Sitters Club (Startups & Investment)
- Students + AI: Setting the Boundaries Before It’s Too Late (Teaching & Learning)
- Teaching in the AI Era: What Still Matters? (Leadership for Tomorrow)
- Teaching on the Frontier: Skills for the AI Era (Work Reimagined)
- Teaching Students to Make AI a Coach, Not Just a Shortcut (Future of Tech)
- Teaching the Stressed Brain: How to Improve Academic Success (Health & Wellbeing)
- The American Exchange Project: Civic Learning in Action (Community Initiatives)
- The Art Gallery Is the New Gym: Get Creative, Get Smarter (Arts & Culture)
- The Best Investment to Rebuild Education Is in Human Capital (Leadership for Tomorrow)
- The Future Is Low-Tech: Lessons from the Early 2000's (Future of Tech)
- The Neuroscience of Belonging in Learning Systems (Equity & Belonging)
- The New Imaginary Friend: Children & Their AI companions (Health & Wellbeing)
- The Parent Equation in LGBTQIA+ Affirming Care (Equity & Belonging)
- The Photovoice of Black Fatherhood (Equity & Belonging)
- The Reimagineering of Education (Teaching & Learning)
- Transforming Education Through Community & Mentorship (Global Initiatives)
- What Does it Mean to be Literate in the Age of AI? (Teaching & Learning)
- Wizards, Dinos, &… Bob: A Story of Improvised Storytelling (Teaching & Learning)
- Writing in the AI Age: Guiding Students Toward Thoughtful Use (Teaching & Learning)
Special Program
- Reimagining Learning by Building AI Support for Your Context (Future of Tech)
Workshops
- 320 Ways to Support EBs: Language + Content = Classroom Joy (Teaching & Learning)
- All We Are Is Story: Decolonizing Youth Voice & Identity (Arts & Culture)
- An Artful Approach to Belonging: Poetry, Art, & Literacy (Arts & Culture)
- Beyond Copy-Paste: Designing AI-Resilient Assignments (Teaching & Learning)
- Beyond Handouts: Building a Culture of Basic Needs Support (Equity & Belonging)
- Beyond the Page: Experiencing Dyslexia & Dysgraphia (Accessibility Solutions)
- Bridging K-16 & Beyond: A Workforce Future Lab (Community Initiatives)
- Building Belonging Through Inclusive Creative Computing (Equity & Belonging)
- Building Trust in Schools: Promising Partnership Practices (Community Initiatives)
- Co-Designing EdTech with Kids (Future of Tech)
- Community Data Labs: Schools Partner with Local EdTech (Startups & Investment)
- Confronting White Nationalism in Schools: A Toolkit Approach (Equity & Belonging)
- Cultivating Belonging for Students, Staff, & Families (Equity & Belonging)
- Design Thinking with AI: Empowering People & Connection (Future of Tech)
- Designing Belonging: Centering Identity in Math EdTech (Future of Tech)
- Designing Systems-Level Partnerships as Ecosystems (Leadership for Tomorrow)
- Educational Leadership in Today’s Political Climate (Global Initiatives)
- Find Out Who Your Friends Are: Allyship in Hostile Times (Equity & Belonging)
- Finding Wonder in the Weird: Tapping into Student Creativity (Arts & Culture)
- From Burnout to Bandwidth: Using AI to Reclaim Your Day (Future of Tech)
- From Dream to Destiny: Empowering Underestimated Youth (Equity & Belonging)
- Future-proofing & Empowering Youth via Project Management (Teaching & Learning)
- Go Sideways! How Collaborative Mentoring Rebuilds PD (Leadership for Tomorrow)
- Heard It in the Playground: Classroom News Discussions (Teaching & Learning)
- Hit The Switch: Making Learning Through Play Accessible (Accessibility Solutions)
- In Search of Hope: Teaching Climate Emotions Through Story (Teaching & Learning)
- Leadership in the Red Zone: Chaos, Change, & Courage (Leadership for Tomorrow)
- Learning Hubs 2.0 - Designing for Early Learning Everywhere (Community Initiatives)
- Let's Draw! Joyful Learning with Fractal Gridding Comics (Teaching & Learning)
- Map Your Imagination: Exploring Creativity in the Age of AI (Teaching & Learning)
- Navigating the Cosmos of Inclusive Learning (Accessibility Solutions)
- Power to the Classroom: Design the Data Ed You Need (Teaching & Learning)
- Read the Room: How School Design Impacts Culture & Outcomes (Leadership for Tomorrow)
- Refusing Student Erasure: Educators vs. Anti-Trans Policies (Equity & Belonging)
- States Matter: Using Ed R&D to Drive Student Outcomes (Policy & Advocacy)
- Talk With Me, Not At Me: Family Engagement Reset (Community Initiatives)
- Teaching Civic Innovation for an Age of Abundance (Leadership for Tomorrow)
- The AI Effect: How Gen Z Is Redefining Connection (Health & Wellbeing)
- The AI Time Machine: Use AI to build the future of learning (Future of Tech)
- The Light, the Child, & the Pinecone (Arts & Culture)
- The Thinking Game (Teaching & Learning)
- Transforming Education through Hip Hop Pedagogy (Equity & Belonging)
- Using Improv Ideas to Transform Your Class Writing (Teaching & Learning)
- Why Educators Switch Tools: Live Interview Insights (Startups & Investment)
Registration is open for SXSW EDU 2026. Buy your badge at the lowest rate of the season and catch these speakers, as well as the recently announced Keynote and Featured Speakers in Austin, Texas March 9-12, 2026.
SXSW EDU 2026 Speaker photos (left to right in order of appearance): Michael Rosenbaum, Randi Weingarten, Vin Gupta, Saskia Lane, Jésabel DC, Jay Dixit, Megan Holmes
