Vote for Optimistic Design’s Submissions for SXSW EDU 2025!
After an exciting year filled with projects that spanned from the future of K-12 math to creating inclusive R&D tools, Optimistic Design is thrilled to announce that we have submitted several proposals for SXSW EDU 2025.
Now we need your support to bring these ideas to the stage!
Why Your Vote Matters
Your votes play a crucial role at SXSW EDU— as a community-driven event, these votes help determine which sessions will be featured at the conference in March. By voting for our submissions, you are supporting initiatives that aim to make education more inclusive, equitable, and innovative.
Our Submissions
Here's a sneak peek at what we have in store for SXSW EDU 2025:
1. Envisioning Relevant & Liberatory K12 Math Futures
This dynamic panel will explore a vibrant, collaborative future for math education as envisioned by K-12 students, teachers, and caregivers. Gain insights into the historical developments that have shaped today's math landscape, and discover emerging trends and possibilities for the future. Leave inspired and equipped with actionable steps to create the engaging, joyful math experiences that our students truly deserve.
2. Want to Innovate? Let's Talk About AUTHENTIC Co-Design
Learn about the distinction between traditional research methods and how to authentically co-design with students, teachers, and caregivers to create equitable and impactful products and services. Participants will gain tools to understand when and how to use creative, action-oriented co-design approaches, as well as the factors affecting co-design.
3. Rethinking Student Personas in Postsecondary Education
The growing popularity of design thinking in education requires us to reexamine the tools we use to undertake this innovative practice. In this talk, participants will learn about how personas, often produced through this process, help edtech developers, institutions, and funders consider end users but can be reductive and stereotypical.
4. Inclusive & Innovative K-12 R&D: Tools to Get You Started
Join us for a panel talk on building innovative K-12 products and services through an inclusive, equity-centered approach. Learn how to evaluate and reorient your R&D processes for equitable outcomes, discover best practices and tools for equity-oriented research, and explore effective youth engagement strategies.
Spread the Word
A huge thank you from all of us at Optimistic Design for your help in spreading the word to your friends, colleagues, and networks via social media. Every vote counts—thank you for your support and for believing in our mission of centering equity-centered design and innovation in education!
Let’s Design the Future of Learning, Together