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“All learning starts with relationships,” said Amelia Howser, Director of School Counseling at Mizzou Academy. “When we are vulnerable enough to open up, we can make real connections in the classroom. This can start small with an introduction, emoji, fun fact, or interesting question.” She then invited the nearly 70 participants in attendance at the Mizzou Academy Educational Leadership Conference to share in the chat and break into small groups to practice introductions designed to build connections across our global learning community.
Executive Director Dr. Kathryn Fishman-Weaver set the 2025 conference theme, Human-Centered Computer Interaction. She shared, “At Mizzou Academy, we strive to teach with the knowledge that the world is small, and we are all connected.” She continued in her conference opening, “Today, we are thrilled to welcome teachers and program coordinators from the United States, Brazil, Serbia, Japan, Turkey, and Romania.”
Global Connections for Classroom Impact
Internationally-renowned speaker Flower Darby served as our conference keynote. Her talk included research on human flourishing, joy in teaching, and “finding your fizz online, in-person, and everywhere in between.” Several attendees said her catchphrase “fizz” has stuck with them as they continue to find delight, flow, and purpose in their classrooms.
Another highlight of the conference was when Mizzou Academy high school students, Mirela Cruz and Israel Xavier, presented their work on “Coleta AI,” a project that leverages technology to address recycling and sustainability challenges in the local São Paulo community. They connected their project to the conference theme, sharing that “human-centered computer interaction is not just about machines understanding people, but about people becoming agents of change through technology.”
The conference reaffirmed Mizzou Academy’s commitment to what has always mattered most—our relationships with students and one another. “These connections,” the conference booklet reads, “are the cornerstone of deep, purposeful learning and effective leadership, especially in digital and hyperconnected contexts.”
In her remarks on the conference theme, Fishman-Weaver took attendees through an informative, sometimes nostalgic, and often humorous history of technology developments since the 1940s. She closed her talk by saying, “In a world where technology is ubiquitous, our focus isn’t on how we interact with machines, but on how we center humanity. Said differently, as technology becomes less visible (i.e., more integrated), it becomes increasingly important that we make the relational work of teaching and learning even more visible.”
Building on this idea, Dr. Ta Boonseng led a session on empathy and data. In his session, he encouraged educators to practice empathy immersion experiences where “we explore our courses and activities from a student’s reality or perspective.”
Following Boonseng’s session, one attendee said, “We have been preparing ourselves for an online environment since the pandemic, and now, a few years later, this session made me think how we, the professionals in education, are capable of having more empathy towards students and their experiences in asynchronous learning.”
A Day of Compelling Choices
Boonseng’s session was one of fourteen compelling choices throughout the conference day. These included sessions led by Jill Clingan, Lisa DeCastro, Dr. Sherry Denney, Angie Hammons, Jeff Healy, Kimberly Kester, Dr. Andrea Love-Downs, David Prats Vidal, Greg Soden, Brian Stuhlman, Ericca Thornhill, Dr. Kathryn Fishman-Weaver, Flower Darby, and Dean Kui Xie.
The sessions were organized around three guiding strands:
- Teaching and Learning with AI
- Wholehearted Approaches
- Timeless Teaching Tools for the Digital Age
Renata Vaccari, Director of Brazil Operations, said the sessions “were inspiring and practical,” leaving her “with a fresh perspective to bring back to the schools.” Conference attendee and Coordinator of Brazil Operations, Ana Nikolaou, agreed, adding that the “conference got me thinking about the educators’ important role in society. Having AI taking its place of importance makes us be more aware of our responsibility with the human beings we are teaching, transforming, and influencing.”
One session that especially stuck with Nikolaou was Assistant Professor Brian Stuhlman’s, Waiting and Wondering: (Re-)Discovering That Sometimes, Good Things Take Time. Stuhlman, who serves as our Middle School Coordinator, says, “In a world where attention spans dwindle as bright and shiny distractions crowd every screen, there are a number of OG hacks that may help us decelerate and slowly navigate a world of instantaneous immediacy.”
Assistant Professor Greg Soden led a session on podcasting as a tool for student voice, reflection, and storytelling. He teaches a religious studies course at Mizzou Academy that is built around podcasting as a way to make learning audible. “As we move into the future where AI will be seamlessly woven into numerous aspects of society, it’s important to think about how people can retain the best parts of what it means to be human,” Soden explains. Our stories are among the best parts of what it means to be human. The conference, he adds, “put that future front and center for all of us to consider in real time.”
Thought Leadership in Human-Centered Interaction
Dean Kui Xie of the College of Education and Human Development resonated with our 2025 conference theme, Human-Centered Computer Interaction. “Our students are living in a digital world,” said Xie, addressing the conference attendees. He challenged them to consider “how we can integrate technology to augment and enhance their learning experiences.” He shared that Mizzou Academy is doing important work to lead in this critical space.
Assistant Professor Jill Clingan’s session, called “Bridges not Bots: Human-Centered Feedback in the Age of AI,” addressed practical strategies for giving formative feedback that honors student voice, encourages revision, and builds relationships. Drawing on the idea of “small teaching,” her session focused on “small shifts that make a big difference from tone and timing to digital tools that amplify human connection rather than replace it.”
Clingan said she loved the energy and enthusiasm of the day. Following her session, she attended a yoga-based session. Fishman-Weaver, who led the special session, stated, “Among all the challenges of our hyperconnected world are also wonderful possibilities, such as the fact that so many of us could come together across the globe to share time and space together, to breathe, laugh, learn, and build community.”
“The 2025 Mizzou Academy Educational Leadership Conference was a powerful opportunity to connect with school leaders from both Mizzou and around the world.”
said Vaccari. “I was reminded that technology in education must always serve people first—our students, teachers, and communities.”
Tolga Özdemir, who coordinates our programs across several schools in Turkey, put it simply, “The conference is Mizzou Academy at its best.”