Aurora Institute Symposium 2024

A few weeks ago, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to be in New Orleans attending the annual Aurora Institute Symposium.   It was my fourth time over the last decade, and my second time presenting!  I discussed tabletop roleplaying games in the classroom, particularly from the perspective of personalized competency-based education (CBE) and equity.

Special thanks to my colleague Kathy House for taking photos of my session.

Besides my gratitude at being able to lead a session, there were plenty of memorable learning experiences, from keynotes to breakout sessions to chance encounters in the hallway.  Here are a handful of highlights:

• Rhonda Broussard was a keynote speaker. (Later, I purchased her book One Good Question and was excited to get it signed!) She helped me think differently about classroom inquiry by posing the following three characteristics of what makes a good question for students: 
• It's not about the teacher (don't reveal your own teacher bias).
• Anticipates multiple perspectives.
• Requires mixed-methods reflection (needs sources outside of yourself).
• There was a student panel (led by Broussard) which generated some great quotes.  Samarah Bentley, a freshman at LSU, pointed out that when looking at what we value in school, an educator's "investments reveal your intentions," and when including students in your learning space, it should be beyond tokenistic representation in your curriculum or just asking survey questions, but a true dialogue: "Not just input, but an exchange!"  When Broussard asked the students to pose one good question for us in the audience, David Ramirez (a student at New Orleans Charter Science and Mathematics High School) gave a powerful plea: "Will you listen?"
• Representatives from CAST -- Melissa Sanjeh (Senior Professional Learning and Implementation Specialist) and Sherann Jackson-Alkins (Head of ABCD University HS, an alternative school in Boston) -- shared some wonderfully pragmatic and effective tools when universally designing for learning (UDL).    I particularly liked the website's interactive guidelines, as well as the idea of "journey mapping" to see the lesson/unit from the perspective of different students to determine barriers and plan for scaffolding.
• Another keynote by Sabba Quidwai on artificial intelligence reminded us that our concern that AI is producing the work and not the human doesn't quite fit how we treat assistive, collaborative writing in other contexts: "Politicians have speechwriters. Authors have ghostwriters. Musicians have songwriters. Entrepreneurs have investors."
• A panel on "Advancing Equity Through Grading Reform in K-12 Education" was led by Starr Sackstein (Mastery Portfolio), Bryanna Hanson (Learner Centered Collaborative), and Sierra Holtzheuser (SpacesEDU).   Among many good points and shared resources, I particularly appreciated Mastery Portfolio's glossary of equitable grading terms, Learner Centered Collaborative's CBE Reporting Playbook site, and Holtzheuser's reminder that digital portfolios should avoid a "scrapbook mentality." 
• Finally, it was good to run into old friends. Laurie Gagnon and Chris Sturgis reminded us where we've been and where we are going with CBE.  Karin Hess, Jonathan Vander Els, and Brian Stack have recently published a wonderful new book Elevating Competency-Based Learning in a PLC at Work (full disclosure: I'm quoted in the introduction and first chapter!) and ran a helpful session about effective professional learning communities.  With an introduction from David Cook (former Kentucky Department of Education Director of Innovation), Adrienne Usher, Jesse Bacon, and Michael Ekbundit shared how strategically and intentionally they have involved the Bullitt County community with implementing their Graduate Profile.  Sarah Snipes (the current KDE Director of Innovation), along with members of the University of Kentucky's Center for Next Generation Leadership (Susan Dugle, Karen Perry) and the Center for Innovation in Education (Gretchen Morgan), discussed Kentucky's journey toward a local assessment accountability system.  Last but not least, my OVEC colleagues Carmen Coleman, Lacey Eckels, and Rachel Albright presented on their portrait of a learner work with Kentucky's Fayette County Dixie Magnet Elementary School.

My embedded Wakelet collection below has an expanded story of my Symposium experience with additional resources and links.   Be sure to also check out social media posts from the event using the hashtag #Aurora24.