“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
– Charles Dickens on the explosion of artificial intelligence (just kidding, it's obviously the first line of A tale of two cities – but it kind of works, right?)
It's conference season in education, and spring has blossomed with dozens of acronym-hosted events across the country (ASCD, DLAC, AASA, etc.). Naturally, the acronym of the day, “ai,” dominated the agenda of all the conferences.
I was able to attend two of these national conferences: the cosn Annual Conference and ASU-GSV in April, almost back to back and on opposite coasts, so I thought it would be fun to capture a comparison of these two conferences that aim to support innovation in education, but in very different ways.
A word of caution: These observations are just my opinions on what I experienced as a veteran education journalist who was only able to collect samples from each lecture due to space and time limitations. I'm sure ai will be able to help me better expand my experience next year!
CoSN and ASU-GSV: Beautiful location
cosn
Check! The InterContinental Miami on the boardwalk offered spectacular views of blue skies with gently swaying boats, graceful seagulls, stunning sunsets, and plenty of fun things to do in the area.
ASU-GSV
Check! The Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego met the same requirements as the InterContinental Miami, just on the opposite side of the country.
Conference topic
cosn
Leading innovation at high speed
ASU-GSV
Here comes the Sun
Primary audience
cosn
CTO K-12, companies looking to do business with them.
ASU-GSV
Venture capitalists/private equity/investors targeting K-20 education and workforce, education startups seeking funding and partnerships, K-20 educators and administrators
Program
cosn
Lots of ai, of course, but there were a slew of other sessions that focused on the work of K-12 technology leaders, and data security and privacy came in second as the most popular session topic.
ASU-GSV
The same goes for the abundance of ai on the agenda, but the ASU-GSV program focused less on the practical applications of ai and more on imagining what it can become in education. This was especially evident at the new conference air show – The first time ASU-GSV organizes a traditional trade show at the same time as the main conference. There was a lot of passion from the founders of these ai companies I spoke to at this event, but I'm hopeful that these dreamers will take the time to ensure their “children” have the time to mature into adults. secure and interoperable young people that solve new problems in education or fill empty niches in the current product offering of the educational industry.
Vibe
cosn
The size of CoSN (around 1000) was perfect for establishing meaningful contacts. I need to reveal my bias here: I've been attending this conference for years and many of our T&L advisors and friends at the company attend as well. That said, I think there's an overall warmth and friendliness to CoSN. The conference is a good combination of meeting and new networking opportunities. Almost every time I was greeted by a friendly face, I was introduced to at least one new person.
ASU-GSV
Actual ASU-GSV attendance figures are likely skewed. The official record is about 8,000, but I suspect that number increases significantly if you take into account the many opportunists who set up shop in the hotel lobby to take advantage of some guerrilla networks. (Not surprising for a conference designed for entrepreneurs!) This conference is all about BUSINESS: making deals, closing deals, you get the idea. The attendees are not unfriendly, they just seemed a little more hurried and determined. This is not a judgment or criticism as I really enjoyed my conversations at the event. I would just describe the atmosphere as a little more serious.
The best place to network
cosn
Hotel lobby.
ASU-GSV
Idem!
Keynote Speaker Examples
cosn
– Dr. Susan Enfield, Retired Superintendent, Washoe County School District
– Jean-Claude Brizard, President and CEO of Promesa Digital
– Hadi Partovi, founder of Code.org
ASU-GSV
-Paula Abdul
– De Jones
– Common
I'm not sure about the educational connection for some of these options, but damn, it was great to see Paula Abdul!
Most frequent educational “celebrity” sightings
cosn
Richard Culatta, executive director of ASCD/ISTE, for the victory. It was the first time I saw him at both conferences and I know he attended many of the other spring acronym events. He also appeared in our Utah Leadership Summit for a surprise visit. He always looks refreshed, happy and welcoming. As it does?!
ASU-GSV
Idem! Runner-up: Carl Hooker. As our official Regional Summit emcee, I see Carl about once a month, but I know he travels as much, if not more, than Richard. He is also always energetic, fun, funny, intelligent and welcoming. I have great respect for this guy!
Some personal favorite moments
cosn
– Puppies! Yes, you read that correctly. A local dog rescue group brought in some really adorable puppies to cuddle and ideally adopt. Cuddling these little furballs was the best mental health break of the day.
– Women's breakfast at IT (image at top): This sold-out session was inspiring and a little discouraging. Dr. Ivy Nelson, Educational technology Manager for the Belton (MO) School District, presented some disappointing statistics about how few women still represent IT in education (2016: 36% of CTOs were women; this number fell to 33 % in 2023). We broke into small groups to discuss a variety of topics which generated some emotional and candid conversations about how much work we still have to do in this area. I'd love to see this expanded into a longer show!
– Live streaming the solar eclipse: Congratulations to the organizers and sponsors of the conference. Slot for interrupting the afternoon's keynote address to broadcast a live broadcast of the solar eclipse through telescopes in Missouri. The narrator was REALLY interested, which was really fun. Watch the footage here.
ASU-GSV
– Free ice cream! Okay, this wasn't an official part of the conference, but when Ben & Jerry's gave out ice cream one afternoon, even the most sheltered business professionals smiled like they were in kindergarten while enjoying their cones by the sea under a beautiful sky blue.
– The new air show: The first year of this new conference went pretty well. Attendance was light the day I went (the last of three days), but that day conflicted with the opening of the simultaneous ASU-GSV conference taking place at the Grand Hyatt down the street from the convention center. Most people I spoke to said the weekend had a good turnout. The design of the event was reminiscent of the international education conference, BETT, with sessions taking place directly on the show floor with vendor displays. There's surely room to grow here, but it's a valiant first-year effort.
– Speaking with Dr. Richard Charles, CIO of Denver Public Schools (but MUCH MORE). I was really impressed by the story of Dr. Charles' life journey and plan to profile his work soon in T&L. I told him the title I suggested for the memoir I hope he writes: “I Wanted to Be an Astronaut, Now the Moon is Within Reach: The Wild Ride of a Lifetime.” Intrigued? You should be. I am honored and grateful that Dr. Charles agreed to share a small portion of his incredible life experience in his keynote address at our Pre-ISTE Leadership Summit on technology and Learning.
“It was the time of foolishness, it was the time of faith, it was the time of disbelief.”
Return to Dickens History of two cities to close this circle. We have certainly entered uncertain times with the ai revolution, and it can be easy to get distracted by the “wow factors” of this new technology. But as Dr. Charles said during our conversation at ASU-GSV, schools should proceed with caution before systematically integrating ai too quickly into school programs. Many of these tools capture private student data, so it is vital to establish guardrails to ensure this data remains secure.
Thanks to the event hosts for their hard work at both conferences. Next up: ISTE in Denver!
