Conversations with Innovators
In-Depth Conversations for Invited Guests and Innovation Experts
presented by
The Center on Innovations in Learning
Purpose: The event enables regional comprehensive center staff, SEA staff, and League of
Innovators members to engage in conversation with experts who have authored chapters in the
CIL volume Handbook on Personalized Learning for States, Districts, and Schools.
Invitees: Each of the 15 regional comprehensive center directors and liaisons are invited to
participate and bring their SEA League of Innovators members and other interested staff, with
acceptance on a first-come, first-served basis until a maximum number is reached.
Where: Temple University, Philadelphia.
When: June 22nd, 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. for primary event. A follow-up breakfast for informal
discussion is also scheduled for those who plan to stay overnight, for the morning of June 23rd,
8:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Fee for Meals and Incidentals: There will be no fee for participation, but a minimal fee of
$25.00 per participant will be collected on-site to cover the cost of lunch, and $15.00 for the Day
2 breakfast option, per federal regulations.
Travel and Lodging: Invitees will be responsible for their own travel, hotel, and transportation
to the university from the hotel and the airport. CIL will provide a list of nearby hotels.
Entrance Ticket: All attendees (including CIL facilitators, speakers) submit a question, one
week in advance, for either one of the three session topics.
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The Program
Moderator: Marilyn Murphy
Dialogue Facilitators: Allison Crean Davis, Stephen Page and Mark Williams
Session Introductions: League of Innovators Design Team members
Format: There will be three sequential sessions. Each expert within their session will open with
5-7 minutes of remarks framing their approach to the session topic. The facilitator will then open
the floor to questions for discussion and proceed with a conversational, lightly facilitated session.
During the session, the facilitator will choose from the questions submitted in advance and posse
a selection of them for discussion as time permits. Authors will be given an opportunity for
summative remarks.
Flow of the Session
1. Introduction (facilitator), 5 minutes
2. Initial focusing questions (facilitator and each speaker), 5–7 minutes each
3. Discussion: Stimulating questions to speakers and audience (pre-brainstormed by the
facilitator and speaker); questions and reactions from the audience
4. Wrap-up: Facilitator prompts closing thoughts from two speakers, 5 minutes total
Session 1
Personal Competencies as Propellants of All Learning
Experts
Joe Layng, Converging Qualities of Personal Competencies
Sam Redding, Competencies in Personalized Learning
Facilitator: Stephen Page
Sam Redding explores the relationship between personalized learning, competency-based education, and
three types of student competencies: academic, career/occupational, and personal. He classifies four
personal competencies: cognitive, motivational, metacognitive, and social/emotional. Joe Layng takes up
Redding’s 4-fold classification to argue that these personal competencies themselves “consist of critical
building-block competencies that converge in such a way that no clear demarcation between each may be
possible,” and that personal competencies can be “directly taught and measured using criteria established
for teaching complex cognitive skills.”
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Session 2
Personalizing Instruction: Student Voice and Choice
Experts
Melinda S. Sota, Co-Designing Instruction with Students
Karen Mahon, Personalizing Curriculum: Curation and Creation
Facilitator: Mark Williams
Personalized learning implies that the student is an active agent in his or her own instructional
path. But how should students be given that responsibility, and what are the proven methods for
making the most of “student voice and choice?” Authors Sota and Mahon will discuss some of
the opportunities and pitfalls of co-designing and personalizing the curriculum, and dispel a few
myths along the way.
Session 3
Information Technologies to Advance Teaching and Learning
Experts
Ryan Baker, Using Learning Analytics in Personalized Learning
Janet Twyman, Personalizing Learning through Precision Measurement
Facilitator: Allison Crean Davis
Data, its analysis, and the technologies that manage it play an important role in understanding
what students know and don't know, and how they can better learn. In this session, Baker and
Twyman will look at how we are harnessing the wealth of information available to educators to
improve teaching and learning, and the abundant opportunities available to personalize the
learning experience.