Empower EDU

What if every student had a “backpack” filled with books they could access anytime, anywhere? In this session, we’ll explore practical, budget-friendly strategies for expanding access to high-quality texts for all learners. From free digital libraries to creative classroom solutions, you’ll discover how to remove barriers and ensure every student has meaningful reading opportunities.You’ll also see how Google Gemini can be used to generate personalized “backpack books” and read-alouds tailored to students’ identities, interests, and experiences. By creating custom stories that act as mirrors and windows, educators can ensure every learner sees themselves reflected in what they read while also exploring new perspectives. Whether you’re working with limited resources or looking to reimagine literacy through AI, you’ll leave with ready-to-use ideas that make reading more inclusive, engaging, and accessible for all.

From Compliance to Self-Direction: Democratizing Learning for Agency, Mobility, and OpportunityThe U.S. learning ecosystem was largely designed for standardization, sequencing, and compliance—optimizing for scale in an industrial-era model of education. While this system expanded access, it positioned learners primarily as participants in predefined pathways rather than active agents in shaping their own learning journeys. Today, this model is increasingly misaligned with the rate of technological change and a labor market that demands adaptability, continuous skill development, and the ability to navigate complex career pathways.This session explores a paradigm shift from compliance-based learning to self-direction as a foundational design principle (Boyer, 2020). Drawing on the International Society for Self-Directed Learning’s definition (2020), self-direction is framed not as an individual trait, but as a system-enabled capacity—one that can be intentionally designed for and supported at scale.We examine how three critical enablers—personalized learning pathways, competency-based frameworks, and digital credentials—collectively provide levers for enhancing and cultivating environments that embrace self-directed learning. Personalization allows learning experiences to adapt to individual goals and contexts, in real time, with relevance and meaning; competency frameworks make skills explicit, measurable, and tied to mastery rather than seat time; and digital credentials (both degree and non-degree based) render those skills visible, portable, and actionable across education and employment systems.Together, these elements shift learning from static pathways to dynamic navigation, empowering individuals to make informed decisions about their education and careers. This transformation has significant implications for social mobility, enabling more equitable access to opportunity by equipping learners with the tools to understand, articulate, and leverage their skills in a rapidly evolving economy.Participants will leave with a conceptual framework for designing self-directed learning ecosystems and practical insights into how institutions, employers, and intermediaries can operationalize this shift.Additional citations and references available as required.

We will discuss and review different strategies for slowly incorporating agency into your instruction in order to promote more self-directed learning in your classroom.

Are you looking for standards alignment, inquiry-based design, and student agency all built into units?  Curriculum Genie can grant that wish by harnessing AI to help educators build brand-new lesson plans and full units, or revise existing ones, in minutes, with built-in support for North Carolina learning standards and Portrait of a Graduate competencies. Come explore how smart prompting can generate and refine differentiated, self-directed learning experiences that meet students where they are and move them forward.

In this session, we’ll explore how school leaders can leverage digital tools such as Curriculum Genie, CommonLit, and Project PBL to support microcredentialing and strengthen teacher capacity in differentiation across core subject areas. Aligned with our school-wide PDP goal of differentiation, participants will learn how to guide and encourage teachers as they earn targeted microcredentials that recognize their growth in designing personalized and engaging learning experiences for every student.We’ll also highlight how strategies like brag tags can motivate staff, celebrate progress, and create a culture where professional growth is visible and valued. Participants will leave with practical ideas, digital resources, and practical strategies to implement microcredentialing within their schools—empowering teachers to refine their practice while making professional learning engaging, meaningful, and impactful.

This session highlights a competency-based micro-credential offered through the Office of Rural Promise titled “Leveraging the Arts to Identify and Characterize Emotions.” Participants will explore how creative expression can be intentionally designed to strengthen emotional vocabulary, support social-emotional development, and improve learner engagement.Attendees will review the structure of the micro-credential, including the supporting research base, clearly defined outcomes, and evidence requirements that ensure measurable application of skills. The session will also examine how performance-based artifacts and reflection are used to demonstrate competency rather than seat-time completion.Participants will leave with adaptable lesson frameworks, practical templates, and clear “do’s and don’ts” for effective arts integration. Emphasis will be placed on designing learning experiences that are human-centered, competency-driven, and scalable across diverse learning environments.

Are you ready to harness the expertise of a professional learning community to create competency-based micro-credentials for teacher professional development? Join us to learn how the Empower Teaching Learning research project equips and supports teachers in transforming their content-area knowledge and classroom experience into high-impact micro-credentials through a scaffolded research, writing, and peer review process.

Key takeaways include:

• Developing a structured project plan and workflow that result in polished products mapped to educator interest and district focus
• Unpacking the conventions of micro-credential writing and design
• Providing support for subject matter experts in research best practices
• Building community through a positive peer review process

Speakers will share tips and tools for bridging skill gaps and applying feedback for continuous improvement and capacity-building. Attendees will leave with adaptable examples, templates, and a research‑informed process model that they can implement to develop meaningful, peer-driven professional development with the potential for expansive reach.