Plenary Session: 10:00-10:55 PDT: Angela Gunder and Sean Leahy
From generative art to synthetic personas, AI is both a muse and a mirror—disrupting how we create and even who we think we are. This thought-provoking session weaves together three vignettes to explore AI's role in creativity, identity, and the urgent need for AI literacies. It challenges us to reflect on how intelligent machines are reshaping education, society, and what it means to be human.
11:00-11:45 PDT: Invited Speaker: Matthew Lippincott
An exploration of field work using AI to enhance team performance improvement, including an increased sense of belonging and stronger relationships. The instruments and intervention frameworks used include the Druskat and Wolff Team EI model highlighted in The Emotionally Intelligent Team released by Harvard Business Review Publishing in July, 2025. They draw on decades of field observation and testing with 455 teams - including nearly a dozen Fortune 500 and Fortune Global 500 companies. They are also informed by work with leaders and teams at AWS, Novo Nordisk, Gilead Sciences and many others. AI functionality has been integrated from proprietary work delivered to over 900,000 peer, adaptive and 360 coaching users over the past three years.
11:00-11:25 PDT: Dr Laura Spencer, Meghan Freeman: Beyond Engagement: Redefining Curriculum with AI + VR for SEL and Academic Mastery
"In this fast-paced session, explore how IlluminateXR is redefining curriculum by merging virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI) to create learning experiences that go beyond engagement. We’ll share how our team builds immersive VR scenarios—like lunar missions and real-world problem-solving challenges—and pairs them with AI-driven tools that support reflection, skill development, and real-time feedback. Rather than layering tech on top of outdated lessons, our approach designs from the ground up to integrate academic content with SEL-based life skills like resilience, empathy, and collaboration. Participants will see real examples of how AI and VR can support deeper learning, increase participation, and create space for meaningful student voice—all while aligning to standards and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles. We’ll close with actionable insights on how educators and curriculum leaders can begin implementing these tools in ethical, practical ways—even with limited time or tech infrastructure."
11:30-11:55 PDT: Andy Albrecht: What We Learned: Rethinking Generative AI for Teaching and Learning on ScienceDirect
"Over the past seven months, I have been leading an early-stage product discovery initiative aimed at transforming ScienceDirect from a static repository of peer-reviewed information into an adaptive, instructor-driven teaching and learning companion. This journey has radically reshaped our understanding of how generative AI can—and should—support education. Our initial hypothesis was straightforward: layering a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) system atop ScienceDirect’s trusted corpus would offer a compelling educational experience by enabling students to interact conversationally with high-quality content. However, instructor feedback and emerging research quickly challenged that assumption. While tools like ChatGPT excel at delivering quick answers and summaries, studies show they often hinder deeper learning by encouraging shortcut-seeking behavior over critical engagement. As a result, our thinking has evolved in two key ways. First, we are moving away from unstructured, student-facing chatbot experiences toward a more instructor-led design that empowers educators to craft bespoke learning journeys grounded in their own teaching goals and aligned with proven cognitive learning theory principles. Second, rather than offering AI as an all-knowing tutor, we are exploring ways to use generative AI as a scaffold—one that helps instructors curate materials, guide student inquiry, and shape the domain space in which learning occurs. This presentation will share the arc of our discovery process, how our hypothesis has changed over the past 8 months and how customer feedback has helped us move beyond novelty toward delivering actual pedagogical value. I’ll reflect on the challenges of designing AI tools that truly support critical thinking, and share emerging design principles for leveraging agentic generative technologies to enhance—not replace—the intentional work of educators. This session is not a product demo, but a case study in applied learning science, human-centered design, and educational AI ethics. It offers a grounded look at what it means to responsibly build AI tools that support meaningful, deep learning experiences in a rapidly shifting landscape.
12:00-12:45 PDT: Invited Speaker: Stewart Tucker Lundy
This session invites participants to reimagine innovation through the lens of disability—not as deficit, but as design wisdom. We’ll explore how AI, XR, and community-grounded storytelling can build more accessible spaces—both digital and real-world. From advocacy to architecture, we’ll ask: Who gets left out of innovation, and how do we build systems that truly belong to everyone?
1:00-1:25 PDT: Lori Robbins: AI on Every Campus: What Students Worldwide Are Doing With GenAI
"What are today’s students actually doing with generative AI, and how does that vary across different types of institutions and global contexts? This session presents findings from an international, multi-institutional survey exploring how undergraduate students are using generative AI in their academic, personal, and professional lives. The data includes responses from a wide range of higher education institutions, including liberal arts colleges, large research universities, regional public institutions, and community colleges across multiple countries. Key trends include frequent use of generative AI for productivity tasks, creative exploration, and career preparation, along with a strong student desire for clearer institutional guidance and ethical support. The research also reveals how institutional culture, access, and disciplinary norms shape student behavior and attitudes toward AI. This session highlights how students are navigating generative AI often independently of formal instruction or policy, raising important questions about digital literacy, equity, and responsible use. Attendees will gain insight into how student engagement with AI is evolving globally and will leave with practical strategies for supporting student agency, aligning policy with practice, and designing responsive, inclusive approaches to AI in education."
1:30-1:55 PDT: Cynthia Sistek, Scott H. Moss: Emotional Intelligence Meets Artificial Intelligence: Building Durable Human Skills for the AI Era
"The Human Intelligence Movement is needed for educators, educational agencies, in the workplace, for policymakers, parents, and ALL persons. Humans hold unique skills superior to those of other animals in the animal kingdom. Recognizing human attributes (intelligence) is necessary to live, just like air, food, and water. Do you believe in the theory of Multiple Intelligence (Gardner) or feel Emotional Intelligence EQ, (Goleman, 1995) needs to be developed in every human? As educators, we need to develop social and emotional learning and literacy by applying research-based instruction, strategies, and engagement. Let's dive into the Whole Human, Whole Child, Whole Community, tSEL, Life Skills, with an emphasis on education, and become humans who are intelligent, feeling, and compassionate people. Social and Emotional Learning and Literacy (SELL) intersect in everything we do, it is every minute, every day, and everywhere. Just like SELL is a human right, so is developing human intelligence. This presentation will address the broad relevance of human intelligence and emotional literacy, and their intersections with social-emotional and educational practices. "
