SALTISE 2025 Keynote Plenary Panels

As SALTISE marks nearly 15 years of fostering pedagogical transformation, this two-part plenary brings together founding members, institutional leaders, policymakers, and cross-sector collaborators to reflect on the past, interrogate the present, and imagine the future of educational innovation.

This two-part panel series explores what it takes to enact and sustain meaningful educational change—both within communities of educators and across broader learning ecosystems.

The first panel, Communities that Change, examines how pedagogical transformation is cultivated through participation in Communities of Practice (CoPs), where shared repertoires and evolving norms act as levers for change. Drawing on recent research and long-standing collaborations, panelists will reflect on the cultural and institutional conditions that support or constrain innovation from within.

The second panel, Beyond the Campus, shifts the lens outward to consider how educational institutions can engage with community leaders, technologists, policymakers, and industry to co-create inclusive, sustainable learning systems. Panelists will discuss systemic constraints, the promise and peril of emerging technologies like AI, and the kinds of cross-sector partnerships needed to shape the future of education. Together, these panels highlight how transformation depends not just on new tools or policies, but on the people, practices, and relationships that bring change to life.

Panel 1 (June 4): Origins and Influence

Title: Communities that Change: Repertoires, Participation, and Transformative Practice
13:15 – 14:30 | Cineplex Forum, auditorium #4

Why does change in teaching practice succeed in some communities and stall in others? This panel explores how innovation takes hold through sustained participation in Communities of Practice (CoPs), where shared repertoires—tools, routines, and ways of thinking—help educators shift how they teach and learn together.

Drawing on research and lived experience, panelists will reflect on the cultural and institutional conditions that support or constrain pedagogical change. From policy pressures and institutional fragmentation to the local dynamics of peer support, the conversation highlights how community—not just individual effort—shapes what becomes possible in classrooms.

Guiding Questions:

  • What does it take to build communities where change is not only introduced, but integrated into practice and sustained?
  • How might we strengthen the relationships, routines, and shared commitments that keep those communities growing?
  • How might these insights inform the creation of future coalitions for transformative change in education?

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Panel 2 (June 5): Futures and Forward Motion

Title: Beyond the Campus: Convening for the Future of Learning Ecosystems
10:30 - 11:45 | Cineplex Forum, auditorium #4

This forward-looking panel explores how educational institutions can work with broader networks—including community leaders, technologists, policymakers, and employers—to co-create sustainable and inclusive learning ecosystems.

Framed by the concept of convening systems, the panelists will reflect on the challenges they face in their diverse roles—as educators, administrators, entrepreneurs, and public-sector leaders—and examine the institutional, technological, and cultural forces shaping those challenges.

Topics will include the pressures of budget cuts, the evolving role of AI in both learning and labor markets, the need for more experiential and equitable learning opportunities, and the ethical and psychological implications of rapid technological change. Panelists will also consider what kinds of cross-sector partnerships and public engagement are needed to strengthen the future of education, and how communities like SALTISE can support this work.

Guiding questions will prompt reflection on:

  • What challenges are most urgent today?
  • What systems, policies, or assumptions reinforce them?
  • What new alliances and actions are needed to move forward?
  • And how can education position itself—not in isolation, but in conversation with society—to meet the demands of a rapidly changing world?

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Meet our panelists