Last week, along with several of our Pearson colleagues, I attended the ASU+GSV Summit. (These several colleagues included our CEO Andy Bird, who held a fireside chat-style interview with aerospace engineer/social media influencer Naia Butler-Craig. From the content and the approach, it was clear: this isn’t your grandparents’ Pearson!)
COVID-wise, the conference scene was an odd one: we’d all shown proof of a negative test within the previous 72 hours; it seemed safe to assume (and our conversations indicated) that most attendees were vaccinated; and we were required to wear masks inside all conference spaces…
…except when we were eating or drinking. And if you’ve been to a conference, you know that a lot of eating and drinking occurs. As we attendees gathered outside the coffee shop or in the bar, we shed our masks, until we had a two-image scene: one of masked participants, voicing questions to panelists from a healthy remove and carrying on muffled conversations, and another that looked like a 2019 conference, with perhaps a bit of extra distance built in. A bit.
ASU+GSV took place during the very week that many students around the country were returning to school, typically with mask requirements in place. States and districts discussed vaccine mandates, considered offering remote schooling, and debated testing and masking, all in the largely shared priority of returning kids safely to school, even as the Delta variant explodes in communities with low vaccination rates.
So ASU+GSV was a meta-experience: educators, policymakers, and other leaders establishing policies and procedures in order (however messily, just like in schools) to engage, in person, discussing….how best to be able to recover our education system from this pandemic. The conference’s organizers established months ago that they would convene face-to-face, and as Delta surged and vaccination rates flagged, they maintained that determination. Perhaps there were deposits on the line, or other financial incentives in place, but I believe that ASU+GSV’s primary objective was to enable real, purposeful discussion and discourse: this organization has been investing in education enterprises for years, certainly in order to earn a return, but clearly also to make an impact.
I’ve thus far heard of no COVID cases traced to the conference; fingers crossed that none arise, both for the sake of us attendees, but primarily for the signal this sends to and about how we can educate our kids.