Agenda

Virtual Field Trips: DEMystified

Ever wonder what it takes to create one of DE's signature Virtual Field Trips? Allison Andrews and Maria Truitt will pull back the curtain on the magic and the mayhem. From tech mishaps to unexpected on-location surprises, this session dives into the challenges and triumphs that can make or break a VFT. By hearing the funny insider stories and producer perspectives, you'll gain a new appreciation for the planning, creativity, and problem solving that go into every VFT.

Immersive Storytelling

How Narrative and Atmosphere Drive Learning, Retention, and Motivation. We will explore the powerful role of storytelling in immersive learning environments. the session shows how compelling narratives and richly designed atmospheres can captivate learners, enhance memory retention, and spark intrinsic motivation. We'll examine how immersive storytelling, whether in augmented reality, virtual reality, or interactive digital experiences (like games) creates emotional connections and contextual relevance that deepen understanding and engagement.

The DNA of a DE Original

Some of our best-loved stories are series such as DE-Mystified, Need to Know, Need to Know Jr., Hands on Activities and more. But what makes a DE Original? Mark Miano and Vashti Williams will share perspective from behind and in-front of the camera for all of the things that make DE Originals so special. Did you know that there are 'pillars' to the storytelling, with guidelines for what each story must contain? Did you know that most of our on-screen hosting is done by people who work at Discovery Education? Learn all the ins and outs of what it takes to make a DE Original.

Listen, Watch, Learn, and Explore... How Design Uses All of the Senses

Discover how the Career Connect team has utilized cutting-edge research interview tools and methodologies to enhance the user experience and design of the product. The team will share how design updates are released incrementally based on user feedback and data analysis. Exemplars will include working figjam brainstorm templates, dovetail research studies, educator and employee interviews, user journey samples, looker dashboards and more.

Video Producing: Soup to Nuts

Producing is fun ... but, it's a lot more work than you might imagine. And the details ... oh, the details. Frances Walterman shares everything you need to know about producing from beginning to end. And about those details, pro tip: don't forget food for the crew (hence soup to nuts.)

Behind the Scenes: Meet the Makers of Immersive Experiences

Step into the world of immersive creation and discover the magic behind the curtain. This session lifts the lid on the creative technologies—and the people—powering immersive learning experiences. Ever wondered what Unity is, why we use it, and how it brings virtual worlds to life? You'll meet the developers, artists, and storytellers who use this powerful engine to build interactive educational content and games. Learn how Unity and 3D artistry serves as both as creative tools and gateways into exciting careers in tech, gaming, and digital storytelling.

Meet the DE Characters

Weiwei Zhou and Kandice Levero will share the DE Characters story from first sketches to research, to AI animation and rules of their world. Nora Hand will speak to the User Research and how it shaped everything from form to personality. Joyce Tai-Chau will show off how the Characters appear in Ready-to-Use Lessons across multiple products. Test your knowledge of the Characters and win fabulous prizes.

Dreambox to the Future!

Lynn Bataillon and Tyler Mead will show off how they arrived at the new Dreambox Math neon user interface including gaming research, design, animation, dev implementation and more! Sam and Goose will talk through the development and showcase the progress of Avatars!

Design at Scale: Evolving how we leverage Design Systems and Operations at DE

Join Darrell Moore and Adam Sedwick to learn about the past and future of scaling design at DE. With over 15 years of combined experience at DE they will explain what a design system is, how we use and create ours, and how we compete with the industry's best. Discover the planetary impact systems have on the business, and get a preview of what's on the horizon.

Go Back to School

Discover how Marketing Designers Valerya Calleros and Laura Belge used visual design research to bring their Back-to-School (BTS) vision to life. Join the team as they dive into the creative process behind their hand-drawn style, featuring Procreate sketches and the strategic rollout of their style guide across multiple channels. Oh, and did we mention? There will be SWAG!

Delivering Difficult Stories to the Classroom

Join Lizzy Lambley and Ben Isaacs learn how we help children make sense of the world through our curriculum-aligned news service.

Global by Design

Creating video content for global markets. What you need to think about both editorially and visually for content to be easily localized and used across the globe. We'll showcase case how we crafted a globally customizable and combinable series of Art and Design resources, including lessons, videos and a character makeover!

Choose-Your-Own-Path Interactive Experience

Combining the best of our illustration work and interactive experiences, the new Choose-Your-Own-Path project for CVS pushes the boundaries of both mediums by leveraging Stornaways interactive storytelling platform. In this presentation we will review all the work that went into creating a compelling student experience.

Sandbox Live

Live session building a sandbox. showing how you can create your own compelling worlds to share internally or with new and existing partners. Full of all the tips and tricks we use to create our popular sandboxes.

AI-Generated Artwork

AI-generated artwork is revolutionizing our creative processes, enabling faster and more cost-effective production while expanding the boundaries of what is possible. In this session we will review several current applications of the technology and highlight the efficiency and time savings experienced. We will also discuss the present challenges, such as the need for precise prompts, limitations, and some pitfalls. Additional topics include ethics and copyright issues.

Sandbox Live

Live session building a sandbox. showing how you can create your own compelling worlds to share internally or with new and existing partners. Full of all the tips and tricks we use to create our popular sandboxes.

Creativity and Constraints: Making Mystery Science Activities

Activity developer Matt Jorge and visual storyteller Amy Schleser will show you how they create hands-on activities for elementary school kids. This session will tackle: Which ideas make it past the drawing board? How do the videos get written and filmed? What is our collaborative process like?

From Questions to Creations

Creativity doesn't always start with a blank page; it often begins with a conversation. In this session, we'll explore how listening to teachers has informed our design process, from early research to final designs. You'll get a behind-the-scenes look at how we turn teacher feedback into creative solutions, with practical ideas for integrating user voices into your own work.

Mystery Science Mini-Lessons: Somewhere Over Sharkcano

From picking the question of the week to writing a tight 5-minute script to pulling it all together with wow visuals, this session will give you a peek behind the curtain into how the Mystery Science mini-lesson team brings some of our trickiest topics to life.

Create with Mystery Writing

Join the Mystery Writing creative team for a deep dive into how we engage students, break down complex ideas, and problem solve to help the most reluctant writers put the pencil on the page. We'll be giving a tour of some of the engagement and learning strategies we've used before, and then you'll have a chance to put your creative mind to work and design your own mystery writing lesson!