Name: KEYNOTE: Deeper and More Divergent: Designing Learning That Expands Thinking
Start: 2026-08-04T08:50:00-0500
End: 2026-08-04T09:50:00-0500

KEYNOTE: Deeper and More Divergent: Designing Learning That Expands Thinking

Tuesday August 4, 2026 8:50am - 9:50am CDT

Auditorium

AI can generate answers, explanations, images, and polished products in seconds, but faster output is not the same as deeper learning. In this keynote, we will examine the systems, assumptions, and instructional practices shaping how AI enters education, and critique whether our current approaches are expanding student thinking or quietly narrowing it. Together, we will experience intellectual friction, wrestle with competing possibilities, and consider what must remain difficult, human, and consequential in the learning process. The session challenges us to design not only better learning experiences, but stronger learning environments that cultivate judgment, agency, curiosity, and the capacity to think more deeply and divergently.

Speakers

Dave Blanchard

Independent/Keynote/Director of Online @SCSU, Other

Dr. Dave Blanchard is a learning architect, educational strategist, and Director of Online and Distance Learning at St. Cloud State University. His work sits at the intersection of AI, accessibility, and institutional transformation, helping bridge academic vision, technology, and... Read More →

Tuesday August 4, 2026 8:50am - 9:50am CDT
Auditorium

Keynote, All Attendees

Lake ECMECC 2026

Dave Blanchard

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Lake ECMECC 2026

Dave Blanchard

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