Three cities.
Three conferences.
One mission.
After kicking off the year in Orlando and following it up with an incredible stop in Las Vegas, EMC² Learning is packing our bags once again. And this time, we’re heading for the Innovative Schools Summit in Nashville.
This is our third Innovative Schools Summit of the year. In March, we kicked things off with a trip to Orlando. Earlier this month, we made our way to glittery Las Vegas to go “all in” with more than 400 change-minded educators from around the country who gleefully brought the heat from our breakout sessions right back to their classrooms. Now it’s Nashville’s turn! Every stop leaves us with new classroom stories, fresh ideas, and a notebook full of things we can’t wait to try ourselves.
This summer has already taken us from coast to coast, and we’re incredibly grateful for every educator who’s joined us along the way. Nashville is our next opportunity to learn alongside teachers who believe that great instruction should be engaging, purposeful, and unapologetically human.
This time around, we’ll once again be leading two sessions that sit at the heart of everything we do.
Session One
Now That’s What I Call Gamification ’26: Kiss Guessing GamesGoodbye!
Monday, July 27 | 10:00–10:55 AM CT | Volunteer A
Gamification deserves better than brightly colored button mashing and another flashy leaderboard.
Somewhere along the way, the word became synonymous with trivia apps, speed rounds, and whoever can mash the correct button the fastest. That’s never been our vision. Instead, this session explores what today’s best games actually teach us about designing meaningful learning experiences.
We’ll unpack why mechanics matter more than technology, how thoughtful game design fuels motivation, and why playful classrooms can still be academically rigorous. From Monopoly to Mario Kart, we’ll borrow proven ideas from the gaming world and translate them into classroom-ready strategies that foster creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and authentic challenge.
In an era increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, gamification gives students something algorithms can’t manufacture: meaningful struggle, shared experiences, and the satisfaction that comes from earning success together.
No expensive platforms. No complicated software. Just practical ideas you can use the very next day.
Session Two
AI Classroom Survivor: Teacher Tools to Outwit, Outplan and Outlast the AI Blindside
Monday, July 27 | 3:00–3:55 PM CT | Volunteer Arand Ballroom 1–3
The AI conversation has changed.
We’re moving beyond wondering whether AI belongs in education and asking a far better question:
How do we use it wisely?
In this interactive session, we’ll borrow inspiration from Survivor as we count down ten practical tools and strategies that help teachers navigate an AI-powered world without losing what makes great teaching…great.
Attendees won’t just hear about new tools—they’ll experience them from the student perspective through a model lesson designed to demonstrate where AI can amplify learning and where human relationships remain irreplaceable.
We’ll explore everything from lesson planning and personalized feedback to classroom routines that protect creativity, critical thinking, and authentic connection.
The goal isn’t to compete against artificial intelligence.
It’s to become the kind of educator who knows exactly when technology helps—and when people matter most.
Why We Keep Coming Back
Every conference leaves us with new questions, fresh ideas, and conversations that inevitably find their way into the resources we create for EMC² Learning. Every classroom story shared in a hallway, every challenge raised during a session, and every strategy exchanged over coffee helps shape what comes next.
If you’ll be in Nashville, we’d love to meet you.
Stop by, introduce yourself, share what’s working in your classroom, and tell us what challenges you’re tackling this year. Those conversations are some of our favorite parts of conference season.
We’ll see you in Music City!
You can learn more about the conference and register here: Innovative Schools Summit Website
The activities featured in EMC² Learning presentations and workshops are just a handful of the 1,100+ resources available and on their way to arrive shortly in the EMC² Learning library. This entire library is available to all members with an active Engagement Engineer or Engagement Engineer PLUS account, and is included with your annual site membership. We hope you’ll consider joining us as an Engagement Engineer to unlock a full year of site access. For complete details including our exclusive limited time offer for annual site membership, click here.