January 5, 2021

Dr. Sean Leahy | Director of Technology Initiatives, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University
Dr. Punya Mishra | Associate Dean and Professor, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University
Jodie Donner | Lead Technology Strategist and Head of IgnitED Labs, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University

The maxim we cannot predict the future, but we can invent it (and its derivatives) is often cited as a call to engage in design and strategic forecasting tools and methodologies. Join us as we create a space to explore what we describe as Learning Futures. Visualize with us how we might rethink our teaching and learning environments by harnessing the opportunities of our collective uncertainty. We will explore emergent strategic foresight frameworks as we consider multiple future scenarios to reveal the risks and opportunities of disruptions, and propose strategies for engaging in futures thinking in your own organizational contexts.

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10:45 a.m. Short Track Hack(athon): Build Your Own Olympic Village

This 105-minute session takes place at the same time at the Olympic Village Breakout Sessions.

Heather Haseley & Dan Munnerley | Co-Executive Directors and Lead Design Architects, Learning Futures, Arizona State University

Even in largely virtual times, people need engaging spaces to convene. What does a virtual ballroom look like? And what about an interactive space for collaboratively building 3D objects? Join the ASU Learning Futures Collaboratory for a hackathon that's all about creating active digital spaces. The LFC will lead this DIY building hackathon with the aim for participants to create a village of connected Hubs rooms. Then, as is customary for all inspiring spaces, Winter Games spectators will enjoy a virtual tour.

Hosted by

Bobsleighing Tech Fears

Olympic Village Breakout Sessions

10:45 a.m. Sessions

Smart Campus - Stories to Inspire Action and Share Successes

Panelists:

Barak Weinisman - VP & General Manager Cox 2m
Heath Price - Associate CIO University of Kentucky
Chris Richardson - Deputy CIO ASU

Moderated by: John Rome - Deputy CIO ASU

As smart campus planning advances, one constant variable impacts the speed, trajectory and dismount: evolving stakeholder relationships. It all starts with building a collaborative mindset between technologists, educators and learners. Strap on those cross-country skis for the scenic route of intersecting and diverging perspectives from two smart campus leaders, Arizona State University and University of Kentucky. While their journeys and techniques may be nuanced, there is much common ground when it comes to defining what it means to be a smart campus today -- and 20 years from now. Cox Business, a significant R&D leader and investor in this space will share how sustainable practices call for sustainable solutions.

An Olympic Approach to Education: 20 Years of Living & Competing with Olympic Athletes

Kevin McMahon | Founder of Design Dojo and Art Heroes, Graphic Art Instructor at Bellarmine College Preparatory

Two-time Olympian, 10-year Adobe Education Leader, and 20-year digital media instructor Kevin McMahon present takeaways and connections from his experience as an Olympic track and field athlete - and how they can benefit instruction and student learning.

Bobsleighing Tech Fears

Innovating the Future of Learning: Schussing Downhill With Driving K-12 Innovation

Keith Krueger | CEO, CoSN
Kim Flintoff | Technology Innovation Design Entrepreneurship Sustainability Coordinator

Snap-on your skis, put on your goggles and join us as we explore what innovation looks like during remote/hybrid learning in a pandemic. This may be the best time for a transformation of learning. Find out about the key 2021 trends from CoSN’s Driving K-12 Innovation initiative: hear about the Hurdles, Accelerators and Tech Enablers that global experts agree are most important NOW. Your coaches will help guide you to the future of learning so you can win a gold medal leading the innovation conversation.

Breaking Down Digital Barriers in Smart Cities

Panelist:

Eric Ju Yoon Kim | Founder & CEO of DOT Incorporation
Joseph Flynn | Chief Technology Officer - Public Sector, Boomi
Rob Silverberg | CSIO Digital Communities, Dell
Bianca M. Lochner, Ph.D. | Assistant Chief Information Officer, City of Phoenix

Moderators:

Diana Bowman | Arizona State University
Dominic Papa | Arizona Commerce Authority

The smart cities movement has evolved from sensors on light poles aimed at improving traffic flow to connected platforms that are practical, efficient and equitable for government, businesses and residents. The rapid urbanization of cities in America and around the globe coupled with the rise of technology in the past 20 years has presented technologists and policymakers with a unique opportunity to try to fix the problems with life in cities. However, with the acceleration of tech in cities, there is the worry that some cities are exacerbating an ever-increasing digital gap between those with access to digital tools and resources and those that do not have access. Realizing this, cities are beginning to work together for digital equity, to ensure all residents and neighborhoods have the information technology capacity needed for civic and cultural participation, employment, lifelong learning, and access to essential services. This panel will discuss specific examples of collaborations between education, community and business partners on intentional strategies and investments to create opportunities and to reduce and eliminate historical barriers to technology access and use.

Bonus Smart Region Session

11:45 a.m. Sessions

Graduate Assistant Professional Development During and After COVID

Khara Lukancic | Assistant Lecturer for the Department of Cinema and Photography, and Program Coordinator at the Center for Teaching Excellence, Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Karla Berry | Director of the Center for Teaching at Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Benjamin Bradley|Graduate Assistant, Center for Teaching at Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Often professional development is reserved only for faculty. At the Center for Teaching Excellence at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, we strive to provide multiple professional development activities for graduate student instructors (in addition to our programs for faculty) because we believe that graduate students can innovate and not rely on the simple mimicry of their teaching mentors.

In this discussion, we will explore the experience of the graduate student instructor by sharing our professional development strategies, as well as engaging in an interactive activity to brainstorm alternate paths and opportunities for the graduate student instructor. In this activity we will use a digital whiteboard platform to brainstorm and play a game of educational chutes and ladders -- adapted as ski slopes and obstacles -- so that we can transform teaching and learning from the perspective of the teaching assistant.

How the Future of Technology can be used to Equalize Public K12 education

Zuzana Skvarkova | Innovation in Society Student, College of Global Futures, ASU

If you are a student in the United States currently attending Public K12 education, you should have the right to an education of equal quality regardless of your geographic location and socioeconomic class. In some parts of the country, 60% of kids drop out of high school. In the Native American communities, it is 80% of kids. If we halved that number, one estimate is that it would create a net gain to the U.S. economy over 10 years of nearly one trillion dollars. This is a major issue that has only continued to increase with time. If we don't confront this issue, it will only worsen.

This session will explore how future advancements in technology can help minimize the wide socioeconomic inequality gap that is existent within the nation and highly impacts the quality of education that a young student receives. One student living in a lower-income community deserves the same education that another student receives in one of a higher-income class. By integrating technologies into classroom learning and emphasizing its funding, future students will be able to gain a more equal education giving everyone a better chance to one day receive the same opportunities.

Not only that but as technology advances it poses a certain threat to the future job market. This session will explore how technological advancements can be integrated into an education curriculum reform, rather than allow it to outpace the value of a human K12 education. Let's imagine the future of public K12 education together!

Bobsleighing Tech Fears

Smart Sister Cities

April Cavaletto |Youth and Education Coordinator at Phoenix Sister Cities
Cora Stevens |Assistant to the Vice President - Intern at Phoenix Sister Cities

Phoenix Sister Cities exists to create people-to-people relationships between the residents of Phoenix and its sister cities. Through commercial, educational, cultural and artistic exchange programs and events, Phoenix Sister Cities creates and sustains global, long-term, international partnerships and business opportunities for the citizens of Phoenix.

Come learn how Phoenix and its 10 sister cities across the world are progressing in their development of smart city initiatives to enhance the quality, performance, and interactivity of urban services, optimize resources and reduce costs. Analyze the current communication pathways that exist and discover what is being done to enhance collaboration globally, one sister city connection at a time.

12:30 p.m. Let's Do Lunch! : "Outrageously Yours” Showcase your Triple Axel

Come in off the learning slopes for virtual hot chocolate, conversation with colleagues and an opportunity to playfully explore our collective vision for learning + living in the digital age. This first of three daily lunch sessions focuses on a combination of your best serious and silly/outrageous ideas to produce positive change. Bring your creativity and imagination!

4:00 p.m. Fireside Chat: State of the Smart Region

The Connective brings together 23 city, town, and county local government organizations, all to collaboratively create the nation’s largest and most connected Smart Region. Get the latest update on how The Connective is transforming Greater Phoenix into a top global market for innovation and technology.

Following the State of the Smart Region, singer/songwriter Biddy Healey will perform an intimate acoustic solo set featuring music from her recent album, Salt River Bed. Healey's music is distinctive in its lyrical and harmonic richness, inspired by her hometown in Australia, the Sonoran desert surrounding Phoenix and the global ecological collapse we are now witnessing. Part entertainment and part exploration of the event’s themes, this performance will nudge you to connect more deeply to the country you are in.

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6:00 p.m. Après-Ski: State of the Smart Region Gala

Dean Doug Sylvester, Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, Arizona State University

Panelists:

Major General John Wharton
Supervisor Bill Gates | Maricopa County
Sandra Watson | President & CEO, Arizona Commerce Authority
State Representative Jeff Weninger | Legislative District 17
Dean Sanjeev Khagram | ASU Thunderbird School of Global Management

Join the Institute for Digital Progress (iDP), Arizona State University Technology Office, Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC), Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG), Cox Business and the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) for the Annual State of the Smart Region Gala! We’re excited to celebrate the one year anniversary of the Smart Region Consortium, officially called the Connective.

In this exclusive event, the State of the Smart Region Gala will gather Elected Officials, Chief Information Officers, University Leaders, and Technology Industry Champions to network, discuss, learn and showcase the latest advancements of Smart Campus, City and Region initiatives.

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