Each year, we look forward to bringing innovative projects and research to SXSW EDU 2026, where we connect, learn, and collaborate with an active and engaged community. This year, we’re proposing three sessions—a panel, a presentation, and an interactive workshop—that explore timely topics across higher education, from nontraditional colleges and learner-centered educational pathways to AI literacy.

We’d love the chance to meet you in Austin and share more! Vote for our proposed sessions using PanelPicker, open through August 23, 2026.

What Can Universities Learn From Microcolleges?

Speakers: Tommaso Bardelli, Ana Isabel Keilson, Laura Marcus, Joel A. Schlosser

As colleges grapple with AI, student disengagement, and declining trust in higher education, a little-known group of institutions may offer unexpected lessons. Microcolleges combine liberal arts education with student self-governance and labor to cultivate responsibility, belonging, and purpose. Most enroll fewer than 50 students, creating close-knit communities in which students have a genuine stake. This panel explores what microcolleges can teach larger colleges and universities about designing educational experiences that foster engagement, character, and student agency.

Who Owns AI Literacy: Towards a Whole Campus Approach

Speaker: Ruby MacDougall

What is AI Literacy and how can it be integrated into teaching, learning, and staff development? This question, at the heart of a multi-year cohort research project, has an important counterpart: Who is responsible for it? In brief, AI literacy is a complex challenge. Librarians, instructional designers, and faculty are all contributing, but often without a shared strategy. This session will explore the support faculty and students need, why AI Literacy is a coordination issue, and how colleges and universities can shift toward a whole-campus approach in support of teaching and learning.

From Silos to Ecosystems: Designing Education for Learners

Speakers: Elizabeth Looker, Tiffany Horton

This interactive workshop explores practical approaches for designing learner-centered ecosystems across education, workforce, and community partners. Participants will examine research on adult learner enrollment and persistence, worker perspectives, and cross-sector collaboration. Using findings from the research, participants will map the organizations, policies, and partnerships that shape learners’ experiences. Through guided activities, they will identify opportunities to reduce fragmentation and build more connected systems that improve learner success and regional economic mobility.