Building on our annual tradition of providing education leaders the opportunity to engage in candid conversations about our field, we will hold this year's Symposium Oct. 6-8 in Atlanta. With the establishment of the College of Lifetime Learning in 2024, this year's Symposium will expand in scope while remaining a dynamic convergence around education's most relevant and pressing topics. 

Attendees will explore best practices and research around the facilitation of lifetime learning through the creation and growth of affordable offerings – whether at-scale degree or professional education programs, stackable certificates, or digital credentials. Additionally, we will consider access to quality, impactful learning across the entire arc of one's lifetime. Proposals should consider our four planned tracks:

The Value Proposition of Lifetime Learning 

This track will focus on ROI and how we measure programmatic outcomes and their impacts on institutions and society. We look for presentations that explore how we should shape conversations and drive change in our institutions. This might include how to measure outcomes or how to shape related policy and governance. 

Affordable At-Scale Programs 

This track will focus on establishing sustainable at-scale online programs through the use of technology to reach large student populations, from 500 to 10,000. Presentations could include successful solutions, emerging challenges, or how to apply lessons from higher education to K-12 and workforce populations.

Alternative Credentials 

This track explores challenges and opportunities in credentialing as we account for widely dispersed, non-traditional learning, as well as nonlinear learning within traditional institutions. Presentations might consider technology support for sharing credentials, "packaging" credentials, or standardization necessary to facilitate adoption.  

Research in Impactful Online Programs 

This track will focus on research and experimentation to codify and test our understanding of learning, including how do we maximize the benefits of a connected learning ecosystem that focuses less on broadcasting knowledge and more on how it is received and incorporated into learners’ lives. Presenters could discuss the need for business integration in this space or what different phases of learning could learn from each other.

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Our expectation is to have presentations occur in person. Proposals might cover any point on the arc across the lifetime of learning (K-12, higher education, and professional workforce development). Please note that, depending on the number and nature of the proposals we receive, we may ask if you would be interested in presenting under a different track.  Proposals 300-500 words in length should be submitted online no later than July 14, 2025, and we will send notification of acceptance by August 4.