Call for Presenters 23

Learning Sessions

Call for Presenters is now closed

for the 2023 Summit.


Conference dates:

May 16-17, 2023


About the Learning Sessions

The Tennessee STEM Innovation Summit is intended to showcase innovative strategies to advance STEM integration in the classroom, providing direction on where to start planning and how to grow existing programs. All learning sessions should be designed to stimulate thinking across a broad range of subject areas and grade levels.

A hybrid conference opens doors for showcasing best practices to all educators across Tennessee. In-person sessions encourage interactive, hands-on demonstrations and networking. Virtual sessions allow presenters to collaborate with anyone, no travel needed, and are able to showcase places, facilities, and partners that the audience otherwise might not be able not see. By having both in-person and virtual components at the 2023 Summit, we hope to provide the best experience for all Tennessee educators, no matter their availability or budget!

Our staff and our team of producers are excited to work with you to help make your in-person or virtual learning session fun, creative, and informative!

Presentation  Types

In-person, Live-streamed Session

In-person sessions will be live-streamed and made available for on-demand viewing for all participants after the Summit. A session should be 45 minutes and should be a mix of presentation and discussion/hands-on activity. In-person sessions will be recorded and made available on demand for virtual participants. (Scroll down for engagement ideas!)


Room monitors will be responsible for moderating the question-and-answer session portion of your session. They will need a laptop and be on our virtual Summit platform to help online, virtual participants ask you questions and be interactive with your session. If your session is chosen for a live-streamed, in-person session, your chosen room monitor will receive a code to have their admission to the Summit 2023 be free of charge. If you do not name a room monitor, a room monitor will be assigned to your live-streamed, in-person session. 


Virtual, Pre-Recorded Session
Recorded sessions will be made available at any time during the conference (not scheduled). Sessions are to be 45 minutes in length and made up of pre-recorded video. The presenter email address will be made available for follow up questions. 


If you are not sure which presentation type is best for your idea, our team and our event production staff will meet with you to discuss how to best present your session! 

 Learning Session Focus Areas

The learning sessions are intended to provide attendees opportunities to interact with educational leaders and practitioners who are seeing success with integrating STEM practices in their classrooms and communities. Learning Sessions are to focus on timely, relevant topics centered on one of six focus areas. (Click each to read more.)

  • School Culture

    A school culture is intangible, but it’s essential. This track will explore strategies for creating a shared sense of purpose and value, instructional norms of continuous learning and improvement, and collaborative relationships that drive a STEM school culture.

  • Innovative Instructional Strategies

    Classroom learning can be highly engaging when infused with innovative STEM instructional strategies. In this track, participants will explore effective and unique classroom techniques to enrich traditional curricula. 

  • Community Partnerships

    When schools and community organizations collaborate to strengthen student learning outcomes, everyone benefits. In this track, strategies for intentionally selecting and engaging community stakeholders will be shared.

  • STEM Career Awareness

    Mastering the skills necessary for the jobs of the future is essential in preparing students for the future. In this track, the employability skills students must possess to be successful are identified along with practices to promote post-secondary success.

  • Engaging Underrepresented Groups

    Ensuring traditionally underrepresented populations of students have access to quality STEM teaching and learning experiences is a critical step to ensure STEM for All. In this track, key strategies for expanding access to STEM education for specific groups of students will be shared.

  • Computer Science Education

    Computer Science is emerging as an integrative part of high quality STEM instruction cutting across all grade levels and content areas.  In this track, participants will discover innovative strategies and ideas for integrating students’ exposure to computer science and computational thinking concepts and skills as part of rigorous instruction.

 
How to Record a Virtual Session

We do not expect you to be a technical wizard and it's ok to be a little intimidated by the idea of recording a session! That is why we have brought in a team of virtual event production experts. Our team will work with you every step of the way! Just express your ideas as best as you can in your proposal submission, and we can help sort through the technical stuff. 

 

Hybrid Session Ideas and Examples

Have a great idea, but not sure how to pull it off? Don’t worry! We have some suggestions to help you make sure your session is great, whether it's virtual or in-person. For virtual sessions, we have a team of virtual conference producers who ARE the experts, and they will help walk you through the process, step by step!

Embrace the Virtual! 

1. Visit the office or facility of a business partner to show how you use this community setting to design PBL units for students.

2. Record part of your staff meeting and show how your school uses unique collaboration methods to create cross-curricular lessons.

3. Ask your students a question or have them perform a task and record the results to show during your session. Facilitate a group discussion about how to embed other subjects, how to extend or remediate the learning, or how you might assess where they were in mastering your objectives.

4. Take participants on a tour of your Makerspace (or other creative space) and show them the tools you use for your program(s). 

5. Invite some parents or other community members to join you in a live discussion on how you’re working together. (Or pre-record the conversation and share it as part of your session.)

6. Conduct a mini-PLC (professional learning community) and design your session around student work samples that can be shared with participants. Include discussion around what you had to do to get that kind of work out of the students or how looking at this informs what your next steps might be. Lead a brainstorming session on what other tools might help enhance the learning for future plans.

 

Still not sure how to best capture your idea? No problem! Just let us know what you are thinking in your proposal, and we can work with you to help make your ideas come to life. 

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Make In-Person, Live-streamed Sessions Interactive

 1. Engage participants through collaborative activities like small groups or learning circles. 

2. Utilize your Room monitor to engage with both in-person and virtual participants through question-and-answer sessions. Use polling technology to periodically check in with the participants and encourage them to share their voice.

3. Create an activity for participants to engage in. Observe and ask probing questions to learn how they’re engaging with the task.

4. Provide shareable moments like activities that require participants to create STEM-related prototypes, collages, or gallery walks.

5. Ask participants to design a short presentation together and deliver it to the whole group.

6. Poll for common problems, group according to concern, and then run small brainstorming sessions to create solutions for shared problems. 

7. Utilize case studies and recent research to ground your session in evidence. 

 How to Apply to Present

Download the preview form below and prepare and save your response. Then, please visit our online proposal portal to apply. All proposals  must be submitted through our online portal. If your school blocks Submittable, please apply using a different computer and/or from a different Wi-Fi connection (home, coffee shop, etc.). 


Please note:

1. You can save your work and return later to finish your application.

2. You may collaborate with a second presenter on your proposal; you will not be required to fill out two separate proposals. 

3. Once you submit your proposal, a confirmation of your submission will be emailed to you from Submittable as confirmation of your submission. This email will come directly from Submittable, so please check your junk mail if you don't see it in your inbox immediately.


The window to apply to present is closed. Applicants will be notified January 2023.




Download Preview Form

Proposal Evaluation

All proposals will be evaluated on the following criteria: 
  • Is the proposed session relevant to a conference area of focus? (School Culture, Community Partnerships, Innovative Instructional Strategies, STEM Career Awareness, Engaging Underrepresented Groups, and Computer Science Education)
  • Does the proposed session have applicability to the intended audience?
  • Does proposed session have an interactive focus and does the proposal outline the specifics of the participant engagement?
  • Does the proposed session demonstrate ideas or activities with proven effectiveness?
  • Does the proposal clearly describe the session?
  • Is the proposed session topic timely / appropriate?
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