SXSW 2026: EDU & Innovation

10:00 AM–5:00 PM  Explore all lounge activations.

9:30 AM Session: Leading at the State Level: EdTech, AI, and Digital Opportunity (SETDA)

State edtech leaders have long served as designers and implementers of policies that influence school-level use of digital tools and platforms. Join SETDA, the principal association representing state edtech leaders, as we discuss their priorities and concerns and brainstorm ways that states can lead on issues ranging from AI to digital opportunity.

10:30 AM Session: This pop-up experience explores how futures thinking can transform education leadership and strategy.

In the first half, Margo Roen (Imagine Network), Adrian Bustillos (Aldine ISD; Imagine Network Cohort Leader), Ali Chin (Siegel Family Endowment), and Samantha Holquist (Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching) will share how futures thinking can shape real decisions today. Drawing from district, ecosystem, and field-building perspectives, they’ll discuss how bold, long-term visions can translate into practical strategy and meaningful implementation.

In the second half, participants will roll up their sleeves for hands-on activities that bring futures thinking to life. Together, we’ll explore what it means to lead for the long view—and how to move district planning beyond short-term fixes toward lasting, future-focused change.

Panelists

• Moderator: Ali Chin, Grantmaking Manager, Siegel Family Endowment
• Margo Roen, CEO, Imagine Network
• Adrian Bustillos, Chief Transformation Officer, Aldine ISD; Imagine Network Cohort Leader
• Samantha Holquist, Director of Research Engagement, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

12:00–5:00 PM  Step into the Stanford d.schools experience, featuring the Creative Bar where personalized 1:1 coaching will inform your strategic design approaches. Then imagine bold possibilities in the Future View space to reflect and record your vision for the future. Lounge Activations open.

10:00 AM–3:00 PM: Youth Takeover Day transforms the Stanford d.school and Siegel Family Endowment lounge into a youth-led space where young people, educators, and journalists explore education, creativity, and civic engagement. Designed by young people, for young people, the day centers student voice and media-making.

Hosted in partnership with The Bell, PBS News Student Reporting Labs, and NPR’s Student Podcast Challenge, anyone under 24 is invited to participate in hands-on workshops, storytelling sessions, and collaborative dialogue.

Participants will have opportunities to:

• Produce live recordings, short podcasts, and micro-journalism pieces.
• Develop story ideas, refine narratives, and build media skills with partner organizations.
• Explore what stories about young people are missing from mainstream media and how students can shape the broader education conversation.
• Join a student networking lunch and afternoon idea swap with peers and professionals.

Youth Takeover Day Schedule

9:30–10:30 AM
Breakfast + informal tabling (NPR, Student Reporting Labs, The Bell)
10:00 AM – Welcome and overview of the day

10:00–10:30 AM
Discussion Activity: What do you wish the media understood about your community? What stories about young people are missing?
Led by Student Reporting Labs

10:35–11:05 AM
Workshop: The Art of the Interview
Learn interviewing fundamentals from NPR, Student Reporting Labs, and The Bell, then practice live.

11:00 AM–12:00 PM (Ongoing Activation)
Club Fair + “Leave Us a Voicemail” with NPR’s Student Podcast Challenge
Record a voice memo with NPR producers and take home a conference keepsake.

12:00–1:00 PM
Student Networking Lunch
Topic-organized tables + partner organizations

1:00–3:00 PM
Young Changemakers Idea Swap

Education is about students—so why don’t they typically have a voice in shaping it? This session changes that. The Young Changemakers Idea Swap creates a space where young people’s ideas are not only heard, but directly connected to the professionals responsible for implementing change on the ground.

In the first half, students will work in breakout groups to generate ideas and recommendations rooted in their lived experiences. In the second half, professionals will join to listen, engage directly with student proposals, and explore how those ideas can translate into real-world action. Together, we’ll build meaningful dialogue across generations—and move from insight to implementation.

3:00-5:30 PM Closed 

5:30–7:30 PM
Public House Futures Party
Join us for live music and an open bar.

Wake up to Bloody Marys, bloody good music, and a morning that will change how you think. The Public House turns big tech-and-humanity questions into hands-on experiments. Play games and puzzles, wrestle with creative contradictions, and take a seat at the Creative Bar, where d.school coaches offer 1:1 advice and free books to crack your thorniest innovation challenges. No slides, no stage - just you, brilliant strangers, and breakthroughs (Did we mention Bloody Marys?)

Storytellers reveal truths that connect us—uncovering patterns, holding up mirrors to society, exploring shared humanity, and amplifying voices at the margins. Individual stories gain power when they accumulate, from the #MeToo movement to documentaries that change how we see the world. But decades of choices—about technology, distribution, and profits—have left storytellers without basic infrastructure to tell stories that matter. How do storytellers preserve their power to reveal, connect, and transform? Lunch to follow. 

Speakers

• Emily Best, co-founder (m)otherboard and founder and CEO Seed&Spark
• Ifeoma Ozoma, subject of My NDA, Co-Sponsor of the "Silenced No More" Act, Director of Tech Policy at Kapor Center Advocacy

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Lunch has never been this creative. Grab food, sip something delicious, and turn tech’s biggest questions into playful experiments. Crack puzzles, tackle creative contradictions, then pull up to the Creative Bar for 1:1 coaching from Stanford d.school design pros. Walk away energized with new perspectives and a free book. Way better than scrolling your phone in a conference hallway. 

For decades, the open movement championed sharing as the path to knowledge equity—billions of works freely accessible and reusable across research, education, and culture. But AI weaponizes that openness: what was built to democratize knowledge now trains models that concentrate power and profit. Open data scraping. Closed model development. Free content fueling extraction. As we mark Creative Commons' 25th anniversary, we confront a difficult question: how do we keep knowledge open without enabling its exploitation?

Takeaways

In an era of AI, climate urgency, political and social unrest, and increasing enclosure of digital spaces, the open knowledge movement must evolve.

Legal, technical, and social analysis of this current moment as we come together to shape sharing in the age of AI.

Discuss how funders, partners, and communities can come together to support the sustainability of open infrastructure.

Speakers

• Lawrence Lessig
• Anna Tumadottir
• Lisa Watts
• sam seidel

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In uncertain times, creativity and decisive action matter more than perfect plans. This hands-on workshop draws on Stanford d.school methods to help you navigate ambiguity, make bold decisions with incomplete information, and design possibilities others can’t yet see. Through rapid prototyping exercises, you’ll practice moving from “what if” to “what now”—building muscles to act confidently in ambiguous times. Bring real challenges; leave with new approaches and free design books.  Stay for the afterparty.

• Present frameworks for making better decisions under uncertainty when the stakes are real and perfect information isn’t coming.
• Offer guided space to prototype solutions alongside Stanford d.school designers, who have been a beacon for design and innovation for two decades.
• Drive home that ANYONE can possess the creative potential to generate bold ideas and act courageously 

Calling all of society’s boldest designers and movers! Come raise a glass with us and celebrate the people shaping the future of technology and society. DJ spinning, drinks flowing, and ideas on tap.  One last chance to connect with your own free Stanford d.school design coaches, snag a book from our giveaway stash, dive into hands-on interactive activities, and soak up the high-energy vibes. Celebrate creativity, community, and better tech futures.

Location: Hilton Austin Downtown - Salon E

11-12:30 PM: In this interactive session, leaders from Learner-Centered Collaborative, Remake Learning, and the Stanford d.school share how meaningful K–12 transformation takes hold when outcomes, learning experiences, and enabling conditions are intentionally aligned around the learner. Through real-world examples and practical tools, participants will examine their own context, surface leverage points, and leave equipped to spark system-level change in their schools and communities.

Panelist:

• Katie Martin, Co-CEO at Learner-Centered Collaborative
• Laura McBain, Managing Director at Stanford d.school
• Gregg Behr, Executive Director at The Grable Foundation

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Location: Austin Marriott Downtown - Waterloo Ballroom 4

2:00–2:45 PM: What does a truly future-ready young person’s day actually look like? In this session, we’ll discuss and co-design the ideal day for a K–12 student learning in the age of AI. We’ll move beyond coding as job prep and explore computing education as creative learning, the kind of thinking that helps students problem-solve, navigate uncertainty, build enduring skills, leverage emerging tools, and become architects of their own futures.

Through live audience participation and prototyping a “future-ready” school day, attendees will leave with ideas for helping students shape technology rather than be shaped by it.

Panelists:

•  Moderator: Joshua Elder, Senior Vice President & Head of Grantmaking, Siegel
• Family Endowment
• Katy Boody Adorno, Founder & CEO, Leanlab Education
• Jake Baskin, Executive Director, Computer Science Teachers Association
• Student representative TBA

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Location: Austin Marriott Downtown - Waller Ballroom C

2-2:45 PM: In 2026, education stands at a paradox: the promise of transformative innovation meets widening inequities. While AI and evidence-based pedagogy offer unprecedented potential, many educators face increasing demands amid shrinking resources and deepening divides. Join a globally informed panel of researchers, designers, and school leaders to explore how to bridge innovation and equity—by connecting educators to research, resources, and each other—so they can thrive in uncertainty, not just survive it.

Panelist:

• Manasa Yeteru, Head Of Learning Experience Design, Extreme & Lecturer Stanford University d.schoolhead of Learning Experience 
• David Runge, Director at Future Schools Network
• Glenn Savage, Professor at University of Melbourne
• Louie Montoya, Lead Experience Design/ Lecturer at Stanford University

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Location: Courtyard Marriott - Rio Grande Ballroom A

Presenters: Marc Chun
10-11:30 AM: A mysterious archive of artifacts from the year 2051 has just been discovered in Austin, and SXSW EDU participants are the first invited to investigate. In this imaginative, immersive, hands-on session, participants will explore provocative “ephemera from the future of education,” collaborate to reverse-engineer how we got there, and reflect on what must change now to shape a better tomorrow. Featuring worldbuilding, collective analysis, and live performance, this experience invites educators to engage in creative resistance for a future aligned with justice, joy, and collective imagination.

Panelist:

• Marc Chun, Designer
• Tara Odorizzi, Staff Interactive Designer at Mixpanel
• Jackie Moy, Experiential Designer Independent

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Location: The Westin Austin Downtown – Paramount I-II

11:30 AM–12:15 PM: As AI takes center stage and political resistance to equity accelerates, Black-centered EdTech stands at a crossroads. This panel spotlights philanthropic, nonprofit, product, and platform leaders working to protect the cultural, pedagogical, and digital infrastructure of Black EdTech. 

Panelist:
Moderator: Symone Campbell, Internal Research Fellow, Siegel Family Endowment
Shauna Knox, Founder & CEO, The Emancipation Group
Angela Romans, Executive Director, Innovation for Equity
Tiffany Green, CEO, Uprooted Academy

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9:00-10:30am, The Boardwalk at Lady Bird Lake

Come take a stroll with us and talk product design with d.school designers and industry leaders. We'll come with prototypes and iconic products in hand as we exchange ideas and discuss the future of products and emerging markets. RSVP to let us know you're coming! Facilitated by Associate Director of Affiliates and External Partnerships at the Stanford d.school + Instructor, Ise Lyfe.

6:30-8:00pm, Taverna - Downtown Austin

We're always enthused to engage and create with the rising and emerging generation of executives and enterprise leaders taking up the mantle of innovation and problem solving. Is this you? Come chill and have a slice on us during a downbeat at SXSW at Taverna Austin inside the Baci Room! Join us for our rising exec convo with designers and early career executives. RSVP - limited seats available. 258 W 2nd St, Austin, TX.

5:00-7:00pm, Punch Social

Gaming and Play innovators unite! Punch Bowl Social is all fun and games, and the perfect container for our collaborative design session with game and play industry designers, marketers, dreamers, and executives. If this is your lane (pun intended), let us know you're in and come build with us for a bit. RSVP - limited seats available. 522 N Congress Ave, Austin, TX.

6:30-8:00pm, ATX Cocina - Downtown Austin

Data, shipping, and distribution need love too :) At the d.school we are eager to wrap our design wings around + learn more about the way products, people, and information travel around our rapidly changing world. Environment, ethics, technology, communications -- all of it! If this is your sphere of influence we'd love you to join us for a conversation with designers and fellow logistics experts for a curated talk and dinner with us at ATX Cocina. RSVP - limited seats available. 110 San Antonio Street, Austin, TX.