By Charles Sosnik

No sooner does it seem like we have fallen back for Fall, then it is time to Spring forward for the Learning Counsel’s Spring events. Yep, the Learning Counsel has announced their schedule of 2023 Learning Leadership Symposia (or symposiums, if you want to go with the modern spelling).

I’ll stick with Symposia; the traditional spelling of the plural has served us well for 2300 years. However, our teaching methods could use an update.

The Learning Leadership Symposia, hosted by the Learning Counsel, are regional professional learning events designed to promote innovation in the field of education. By combining timely research and knowledge of trends and market changes on the horizon, the Learning Counsel facilitates a high-level experience in a single-day workshop format. Organized around guest speakers and collaborative learning structures, the symposia maintain a professional profile in the education field and are seen as visionary by education leaders nationwide.

The Symposia Personalize Learning for School & District Leaders

Each event will be hosted by a local school district in partnership with a regional office of education or service district. By engaging hosting organizations, event attendance will be broadened to include a wider range of represented positions. To address the unique professional learning needs of each hosting organization, a range of content topics will be available to choose from, effectively customizing the agenda and experience.

Structured, Relevant and Timely Content

Event agendas and experiences are designed to engage participants on three main levels of learning, woven into a content-intensive day.

Research – As a leading research and media organization, the Learning Counsel maintains one of the most comprehensive data sets of teacher and administrator opinion, EdTech purchasing trends, strengths and threats, and forward-facing system evolution in the market. A primary element of the Learning Counsel’s regional symposia is the presentation of research data placed in context by Learning Counsel CEO LeiLani Cauthen. This briefing gives educational leaders critical insight into the issues and pressures they are facing and provides the foundational knowledge they need to inform systemic movement.

Collaboration – Collaboration, reflection, and application are the cornerstones of quality professional learning and are built explicitly into each symposium. By providing a structure for cooperative learning, participants are immersed in an application of knowledge, collaboration with peers, sharing of ideas, and making meaning specific to their own context.

Sharing What Works – Each symposium brings together some of the best and brightest in education to share their learning and successes toward a personalized and flexible learning environment. Guest speakers include superintendents, technology officers, teaching and learning executives, and practitioners who present current practice and innovations in their own systems.

The 2023 Learning Leadership Symposium schedule

Spring

1) Orange County, CA – Feb. 7th

2) Phoenix, AZ – Feb. 9th

3) Tampa, FL – Feb. 14th

4) Houston, TX – Feb. 23

5) Austin, TX – Feb. 28th

6) Boise, ID – Mar. 7

7) Salt Lake City, UT – Mar. 9

8) Atlanta, GA – Mar 14

9) Charlotte, NC – Mar. 1

Fall (Dates soon to be Announced)

1) Baltimore, MD

2) St. Louis, MO

3) Cincinnati, OH

4) Indianapolis, IN

5) Queens/Laurelton, NY (Long Island)

6) Seattle, WA

7) Denver, CO

8) Nashville, TN

9) Irving/Arlington/Dallas TX

For those of us that have had cabin fever for the last couple years, the Learning Leadership Symposia are a great way to ease yourself back into the conference scene. Unlike the big, multiday conferences set across giant convention halls with hundreds of programs to choose from, these Learning Counsel events get to the heart of the matter, designed for today’s education executive, with real answers to the challenges plaguing every district in America. These are not fill-your-bag-with-swag social events (Not that there is anything wrong with that), but rather, important top-level professional development opportunities delivered by the best informed, best qualified education experts in the business.

I guarantee you’ll still have fun, but along the way you’ll pick up the resources you need to continue to serve up the best learning opportunities possible for your students.

How fun is that?

About the author

Charles Sosnik is an education journalist and editor and serves as Editor in Chief at the Learning Counsel. An EP3 Education Fellow, he uses his deep roots in the education community to add context to the education narrative. Charles is a frequent writer and columnist for some of the most influential media in education, including the Learning Counsel, EdNews Daily, EdTech Digest, and ET Magazine. Unabashedly Southern, Charles likes to say he is an editor by trade and Southern by the Grace of God.