How can we give all kids the best possible teaching and learning experience, so that they can grow and thrive in our complicated world?

In the Pittsburgh region, we’re lucky: We have a great many people who care about this question. And they don’t just think about it. They innovate, collaborate and test creative ideas, and they build meaningful answers.

These educators and innovators from the Pittsburgh region — members of the Remake Learning network — also share their ideas with others around the world. And in the coming weeks, you have the chance to help them do that.

By casting a free vote, you can help share Pittsburgh-connected ideas with the global audience at the South by Southwest conference in March, 2027.

South by Southwest (known as SXSW) takes place in Austin, Texas each spring. Along with keynotes from renowned speakers, major movie premieres and much more, the festival includes SXSW EDU. That’s where creative thinkers and innovators from around the world present the latest research and discoveries related to learning.

The fun part: The general public gets to help decide which presentations make it to the SXSW stage. At the SXSW “panel picker” website, this year you can vote for nine different panels, workshops and podcast presentations — all Pittsburgh-connected and offering inspiring, transformative ideas.

Just click on the links below to vote for these proposals, now through Aug. 23 (if you don’t have a free SXSW account, it takes only a moment to make one):

• A Community Committed to Every Learner: Public schools are preparing young people for a world that no single institution can navigate alone. Around the globe, communities are asking a new question: How can we organize our educational, civic, cultural, and economic assets to help every learner flourish? This panel explores how meaningful community engagement and partnerships can align schools, families, employers, community organizations, philanthropy, and government around learner success while strengthening public education.
• Monsters of Appalachia: A Playable Learning Ecosystem: Leave the conference room behind and step into a living learning ecosystem. In this immersive, game-based workshop, participants enter the world of Monsters of Appalachia, a role-playing experience inspired by Appalachian folklore. As cryptids with distinct motivations, players work together and sometimes compete to solve challenges, forge alliances, and shape their community. Through gameplay and reflection, participants experience ecosystem building from the inside, revealing how trust, coordination, and collective action create resilient learning ecosystems.
• The Hidden Architecture of Innovation: Innovation is often credited to bold ideas, breakthrough programs, or visionary leaders. But lasting change is built on something less visible: trust, relationships, shared ownership, and intentional stewardship. This session introduces the Hidden Architecture of Innovation, a practical framework for understanding how cross-sector collaboration moves from isolated efforts to lasting impact. Participants will leave with actionable strategies to strengthen partnerships and create the conditions where innovation can thrive.
• The History of the Future of Learning: From Confucius to Montessori, calls to remake learning are nearly as old as learning itself. Countless thinkers have looked ahead to the future, taking cues from emerging trends to rethink how, where, and why young people learn. Some ideas were prescient. Others were best consigned to history. The future of learning has a long past. In this live episode of “Remaking Tomorrow,” we’ll explore how learning has (and hasn’t) changed with the times. With help from two educators leading the field into the future, we’ll ask what’s next — and what history might teach us as we look to tomorrow.
• Beyond the GPA: The Village Transcript Tells The Whole Story: What if a transcript told the whole story of who a student is, not just a grade point average and a course list? The Village Transcript expands the high school record to document learning that happens everywhere: community service, leadership, internships, work-based learning, entrepreneurship, the arts, athletics, civic engagement, and capstone projects. This session shows how a district can capture these experiences and build the partnerships that make the record credible to colleges and employers, shifting the focus from what students know to who they become. (Learn more about the Village Transcript here.)
• The Superintendent as Chief Culture Officer (CCO): What if the superintendent’s most important responsibility isn’t managing schools — but designing culture? Discover how educational leaders can become Chief Culture Officers by creating systems that foster belonging, mattering, innovation, and engagement. Explore practical strategies including communication architecture, student voice, co-created leadership, flexible strategic planning, and culture-driven decision-making to align every initiative around one shared vision that helps students and educators thrive.
• What’s Next for Me? Redesigning Learning for Student Futures: High school is being reimagined in the Pittsburgh region. This session will focus on the main takeaways including innovative ideas ready for implementation, challenges, and future plans from a year-long project with project teams from six high schools in western Pennsylvania to reimagine learning in high school to better prepare students for the future. (Learn more about this project here and here.)
• Beyond the Building: A New Lens for Learner Ecosystem: Real transformation rarely comes from one new program—it comes from realigning the whole system around learners. This session explores how districts, funders, and community partners are moving beyond school walls to build true learning ecosystems, where families, libraries, museums, employers, and schools work as one connected, learner-centered system. Participants will examine a five-layer ecosystem framework, see real examples of cross-sector partnership, and get hands-on time sketching the ecosystem their own community needs.
• Rooted in Wonder: Digital Thriving Inspired by Fred Rogers: Fred Rogers once said: “No matter what the machine may be, it was people who thought it up and made it.” Decades before smartphones and AI, Rogers understood how to root learning in the enduring ingredients that help children and youth flourish. This panel draws on artifacts from the Fred Roger Archive, developmental science, and digital wellbeing research to explore Rogers’ “Six Fundamentals of Learning and Growing,” an essential guide no matter the latest technological innovation. Walk away with a practical roadmap for reclaiming the simple and deep interactions that we all need to thrive.
• Why Teenagers Need Audiences, Not Just Assignments: Students spend years creating work for grades, yet rarely have opportunities to create for authentic audiences. Drawing on lessons from City Theatre Company’s Young Playwrights program (now in it’s 27th year), this interactive workshop explores how public sharing transforms motivation, ownership, revision, and learning. Participants will redesign familiar assignments through the lens of audience and leave with practical strategies for helping students create work that matters beyond the classroom.
• Schools & Employers Co-Creating Career-Connected Learning: Career-connected learning thrives when communities become an extension of the classroom. This interactive session explores how educators can build authentic, sustainable partnerships with employers and community organizations that create meaningful real-world learning experiences. Participants will leave with practical strategies to strengthen career readiness, expand students’ professional networks, integrate community connections into existing curriculum, and empower educators to transform local partnerships into lasting opportunities for all learners.
• Belonging Beyond One Building: School improvement can happen across a region, not just one building at a time. An intermediary nonprofit convened 20 districts across six counties into a regional learning network centered on student belonging through house systems. Within that network, schools strengthened engagement, leadership, and culture by learning with—and from—one another. Through discussion and collaborative planning, participants will explore a replicable model for sustained collaboration. They’ll leave with a new way of thinking about how schools improve together, plus practical strategies for making it happen.

Meet the Storyteller

Melissa Rayworth

Melissa Rayworth is a writer for regional and global news outlets, and a communications consultant who works with people, foundations and companies to tease out and tell their stories across media.