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The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (SXSWEdu 2014)

By: Anthony Kim on March 12th, 2014

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The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (SXSWEdu 2014)

Personalized Learning  |  Teachers  |  Education Elements  |  Curriculum Strategy & Adoption  |  Classrooms

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This spaghetti western is one of my favorites...but also appropos to my time in Austin last week. Something about SXSWEdu actually felt a little bit like throwing spaghetti against a wall to see what would stick. It is an event that is trying to piece together representation from all aspects of the education sector, with topics that range from civic engagement, to shark tank style startup pitches, to leadership/inspiration. And speakers? Well, they ranged from Diane Ravitch to Michelle Rhee and Wendy Kopp. It is an event that is like our education system - edtech companies new and old, policy makers, philanthropists, teachers, students, parents, school leaders all coming together with sometimes similar, sometimes wildly divergent solutions to a complex set of problems. SXSWEdu was a microcosm of the system for three days. Three, unseasonably cold days, in Austin. Good thing there were lots of heated debates inside the conference walls!

The good
I go to a lot of conferences. And a lot of conferences seem to be about the founders, CEOs, and biz dev guys from the same companies (including publishers and early stage startups) trying to get recognized, and the reform-minded hipsters trying to get people to listen. I was pleased to see a much more diverse group this year, one that included actual practitioners, including the superintendents and leadership of Houston ISD, Mooresville, Baltimore County, Horry County, Enlarged City of Middletown, Iredell Statesville, and DC Public Schools.

The evening parties this year were bigger and there were more of them. When I first starting coming to SXSW in the inaugural year, we hosted a party with Learn Capital and Imagine K12. We were the only party that year which wasn’t sponsored by SXSW. This year, Monday night was Amplify and Edsurge - both we very different in feel and attendance; Tuesday was NewSchools/Rethink Education/Kapor Capital/Social Capital, Pearson, Macmillian, and a SXSW mixer. The number of events compared to a few years ago is amazing and a sign of increased interest and investment in the conference. In fact, I couldn’t handle another day of parties so I didn’t go to any on Wednesday.

Some of the panelists were just terrific. I loved this reality check session on how the industry is not capable of supporting big data yet. Folks have been working on this for a very long time and the code is not cracked and I have to plug our session: #GoBigorGoHome - Scaling Personalized Learning. We got tremendous feedback and I want to thank the speakers: Cynthia Elsberry, Superintendent of Horry County Schools; Ken Eastwood, Superintendent of Enlarged City School District of Middletown; Melanie Taylor, Associate Superintendent of Iredell-Statesville Schools.

The bad
I must admit, that I had trouble getting to sessions in the conference center. The lobby of the Hilton was packed and it would often take more than 15 minutes to get through the lobby as I made my way through all the waves, handshakes, and eye contact nods. It was great to connect with everyone but made me late for nearly everything.

The great thing about these types of conferences is that people dedicate time to network, reconnect and follow up. The bad thing is that a certain percentage of us will continue to see each other for several upcoming event, like GSV Education Innovation in Scottsdale in just a few weeks. I sometimes have to remind myself to make every effort to meet new people, instead of just hanging with the crew. SXSWEdu is great because of all the people there I don’t know; I just need to make the time each year to meet them.

The ugly
This year was the coldest SXSWEdu ever in Austin - it even included an ice storm. I prefer Austin when time not in the conference center is spent outside in the warm Texas air.

Each year there are big product announcements and splashes; at least some of which do not amount to much in the end. I’d be curious to track and look back at some product launches and big splashes from prior years and say “what ever happened to….”. There are likely a lot of lessons we could all learn about when and how to announce, what to say and how to launch.

The takeaway
My biggest takeaway from SXSWedu? It’s grown tremendously in a good way. All aspects of the education system were represented in Austin. It was clear to me at everyone sees a wave of change coming. Our students need new ways of engagement, agency, and strategies to become learners in a technology mandatory world. Our teachers need to build a new set of skills to serve and meet this demand. And finally, a level of personalization is expected at all levels of the education system because that’s what we’ve become accustom to everywhere else in our world, so we are finally starting to demand it, and be able to deliver it, in classrooms.

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About Anthony Kim

Anthony Kim is a Corwin Press bestselling author, with publications including The New Team Habits, The New School Rules, and The Personalized Learning Playbook. His writing ranges the topics of the future of work, leadership and team motivation, improving the way we work, and innovation in systems-based approaches to organizations and school design. Anthony believes that how we work is the key determinant to the success of any organization. He is a nationally recognized speaker on learning and his work has been referenced by the Christensen Institute, iNACOL, EdSurge, CompetencyWorks, Education Week, District Administration, and numerous research reports. In addition to his writing, Anthony is the founder and Chief Learning Officer of Education Elements, a trusted partner and consultant to over 1,000 schools nationwide. Anthony has been the founder of several companies across multiple industries, including online education, ecommerce, and concerts and events.

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