2026 Utah Rural Schools Conference: Full Schedule

Welcome to URSA 2026 at Southern Utah University! All sessions will be in buildings on the upper campus (east end). Here’s the Campus Map (PDF) if needed.

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1:30pm MDT

Craft Your Digital Teaching Assistant: Building Custom AI Assistants with Google Gemini Gems

Wednesday July 15, 2026 1:30pm - 2:30pm MDT

ED 202 - Emma Eccles Jones Education Building, Room 202

Come discover how to move beyond basic prompting and start building your own specialized AI team. Using Google Gemini Gems, you will learn how to "program" custom AI assistants tailored to your specific classroom or administrative needs—no coding required. You'll also learn about an existing library of pre-made Gemini Gems you can easily copy and start using right away! Make sure to bring your own laptop or Chromebook to this session and leave with a personalized digital assistant ready to tackle your unique tasks.

Participants MUST HAVE one of the following platforms/devices in order to participate in this session: Mac Laptop; Windows Laptop; Chromebook

Speakers

Rob Bentley

Instructor and Adobe Product Manager, UEN - Utah Education Network

Rob taught secondary Spanish and Language Arts for 6 years. For the last 19 years, he's been teaching teachers how to integrate technology effectively into their curriculum. During his time at UEN, he's presented at URSA, UELMA, UCET, ISTE, FETC, UFLA, SUMS, and the CTE conferences... Read More →

Wednesday July 15, 2026 1:30pm - 2:30pm MDT
ED 202 - Emma Eccles Jones Education Building, Room 202 351 W. University Blvd., Cedar City, UT 84720

Educational Technology - including Artificial Intelligence (AI), Beginner - limited to no experience; no prerequisite skills required.

Session Format 1 hour BYOD (Bring Your Own Device): Hands-On-Activities
Grade Level All Grade Levels
Audience Teachers, Library Media Specialists, EdTech Coach / Digital Teaching & Learning Specialists
Subject Area Not Applicable

1:30pm MDT

Creating a Connected Classroom: Strategies to decrease behaviors and increase academics.

Wednesday July 15, 2026 1:30pm - 2:30pm MDT

ED 102 - Emma Eccles Jones Education Building, Room 102

This presentation will provide attendees with the brain science behind how brains develop and why students have specific behaviors. The brain science will then lead to practical, real life application on how to actually use the science to increase academic output and decrease negative behaviors. Attendees will leave the session with skills they can apply the next day in the classroom.

Participants MUST HAVE one of the following platforms/devices in order to participate in this session: None

Participants MAY FIND IT USEFUL to have one or more of the following platforms/devices during this session: None

Speakers

Amie Huggins

TBRI Coach for Schools, Raise the Future

Amie Huggins is a 30 year classroom teacher. She is also a TBRI Practitioner and the co-author of the book, Creating a Connected Classroom. She works for a non-profit called Raise the Future and through them has developed the curriculum, Tools for Transformation. This curriculum... Read More →

Wednesday July 15, 2026 1:30pm - 2:30pm MDT
ED 102 - Emma Eccles Jones Education Building, Room 102 351 W. University Blvd., Cedar City, UT 84720

Instructional Coaching, Beginner - limited to no experience; no prerequisite skills required. | School-based Mental & Behavioral Health, Beginner - limited to no experience; no prerequisite skills required.

Session Format 1 hour BYOD (Bring Your Own Device): Hands-On-Activities
Grade Level All Grade Levels
Audience Everyone
Subject Area Instructional Coaching, Mental/Behavioral Health

1:30pm MDT

Why PD Sucks (and Why Personalization is the Cure)

Wednesday July 15, 2026 1:30pm - 2:30pm MDT

SC 128 - Science Center, Room 128

Stop me if you’ve been here: it’s 3:30 PM, the fluorescent lights are humming, and you’re fighting the urge to check your watch (or the back of your eyelids) during another one-size-fits-all staff meeting. If that sounds familiar, it’s time to flip the script on Professional Development. This session offers a fast-paced "peek" into how we can kill the "yawn factor" by moving away from "sit-and-get" models and toward a personalized, choose-your-own-adventure experience for your entire school. You will go beyond just hearing about personalization—you’ll actually experience a unique learning path firsthand. By brainstorming with peers and exploring new strategies, you’ll walk away with a toolkit to make educator learning purposeful, relevant, and—dare we say—actually fun.

Participants MUST HAVE one of the following platforms/devices in order to participate in this session: Mac Laptop; Windows Laptop; Chromebook; Windows Tablet / Smartphone; iPad / iPhone; Android Tablet / Smartphone

Participants MAY FIND IT USEFUL to have one or more of the following platforms/devices during this session: Mac Laptop; Windows Laptop; Chromebook

Speakers

Kayla Towner

Senior Product Trainer, UEN - Utah Education Network

Kayla Towner is a Senior Product Trainer at the Utah Education Network (UEN) and, first and foremost, a passionate educator. She loves spending time with her family—playing soccer ⚽️, reading books 📚, hiking 🥾, and adventuring across Utah 🏔️. Kayla is dedicated to... Read More →

Dani Sloan

IT Product Manager, UEN - Utah Education Network

Dr. Dani Sloan helps educators lead, research, and teach digital citizenship. She's a UEN Product Manager and Instructor at the University of Utah. She is a former Elementary Teacher and current mom to a seventh grader. Dani is passionate about preparing students for a digital world... Read More →

Wednesday July 15, 2026 1:30pm - 2:30pm MDT
SC 128 - Science Center, Room 128 351 W. University Blvd., Cedar City, UT 84720

Leadership, Beginner - limited to no experience; no prerequisite skills required.

Session Format 1 hour BYOD (Bring Your Own Device): Hands-On-Activities
Grade Level Not Applicable
Audience Everyone
Subject Area Leadership, Instructional Coaching

2:50pm MDT

From Generic to Gem: Building Your First Gemini Gems

Wednesday July 15, 2026 2:50pm - 3:50pm MDT

ED 202 - Emma Eccles Jones Education Building, Room 202

Tired of typing the same prompts over and over? It’s time to meet Gems — your customizable chatbots designed to handle whatever task for you. Whether you need a persistent lesson planner, a student feedback coach, or a schedule sorter. Gems allow you to package your best instructions into a single, reusable tool.We’ll cover the breakdown of a Gemini Gem, use cases for educators, tips and tricks and have time to live build! In this hands-on session, we will start with the basics to then begin building. By the end of the hour, you’ll have a custom AI assistant ready to go to work for you! Note: Participants will need access to Gemini Gems through their Google account. Skills may be transferable to over AI platforms with custom chatbots (SchoolAI, MagicSchool, etc.)

Participants MUST HAVE one of the following platforms/devices in order to participate in this session: Mac Laptop; Windows Laptop; Android Tablet / Smartphone; iPad / iPhone; Windows Tablet / Smartphone; Chromebook; Other (If not listed above, please indicate what device(s) would benefit attendees in your session description)

Participants MAY FIND IT USEFUL to have one or more of the following platforms/devices during this session: None

Speakers

Emma Moss

Digital Teaching & Learning Specialist, Canyons School District

Emma Moss is a Digital Teaching and Learning Specialist and AI Project Co-Lead in Canyons School District, as well as the Artificial Intelligence for K-12 Program Director in Utah. She founded the Utah AI Collaborative and leads monthly meet-ups on AI and innovation in education... Read More →

Wednesday July 15, 2026 2:50pm - 3:50pm MDT
ED 202 - Emma Eccles Jones Education Building, Room 202 351 W. University Blvd., Cedar City, UT 84720

Educational Technology - including Artificial Intelligence (AI), Beginner - limited to no experience; no prerequisite skills required. | Assessment & Data Management, Beginner - limited to no experience; no prerequisite skills required.

Session Format 1 hour BYOD (Bring Your Own Device): Hands-On-Activities
Grade Level All Grade Levels
Audience Teachers, Everyone
Subject Area Not Applicable

2:50pm MDT

Data Privacy Basics Live!

Wednesday July 15, 2026 2:50pm - 3:50pm MDT

CC Sage Valley - R. Haze Hunter Alumni Center, Sage Valley Room (100 Level)

Last year, the Student Data Privacy team at the Utah State Board of Education introduced an asynchronous Canvas course that many districts and charters have used to meet requirements for data privacy training. This session will be a special live edition of that training! We'll walk through all the most critical info you need to know about Data Privacy Basics; including Data Privacy Rights, Sharing Data, and Protecting Data. Pro-tip: Check with your district or charter ahead of time to see if this course will be a requirement of your back to school training. If so, you can leave this session with a certificate of completion so you can skip that step in the fall! If you would like to get a certificate of completion, please bring a device to participate.

Participants MUST HAVE one of the following platforms/devices in order to participate in this session: None

Participants MAY FIND IT USEFUL to have one or more of the following platforms/devices during this session: Any of these

Speakers

Nicole Sanchez

Student Data Privacy Specialist, USBE - Utah State Board of Education

Nicole Sanchez is a former junior high teacher and instructional coach, and is now a Student Data Privacy Specialist at the Utah State Board of Education. Nicole especially loves to work with districts and charter schools across the state to help them improve their privacy practices... Read More →

Wednesday July 15, 2026 2:50pm - 3:50pm MDT
CC Sage Valley - R. Haze Hunter Alumni Center, Sage Valley Room (100 Level) 351 W. University Blvd., Cedar City, UT 84720

Educational Technology - including Artificial Intelligence (AI), Beginner - limited to no experience; no prerequisite skills required. | Digital Citizenship & Media Literacy, Beginner - limited to no experience; no prerequisite skills required. | Other, Beginner - limited to no experience; no prerequisite skills required.

Session Format 1 hour BYOD (Bring Your Own Device): Hands-On-Activities
Grade Level All Grade Levels
Audience Everyone
Subject Area Not Applicable

2:50pm MDT

What Worked When It Mattered? Pandemic Recovery Success in Utah

Wednesday July 15, 2026 2:50pm - 3:50pm MDT

ED 102 - Emma Eccles Jones Education Building, Room 102

When faced with new challenges and uncertainty following pandemic-related disruptions, some Utah schools beat the odds in their student academic recovery. What school-level factors made this possible? In this interactive session, the Utah Education Policy Center (UEPC) will share findings from a statewide mixed-methods study of eight schools that demonstrated strong post-pandemic recovery. Conducted in partnership with USBE and ULEAD, the study examined the school-level factors that leaders and educators identified as most important to academic recovery in their schools. The findings point to reinvesting in the fundamentals rather than adopting pandemic-specific interventions: adaptive school leadership, high-quality PLCs, data-informed instruction, and other aligned support systems coherently working together. Adaptive leadership emerged as a key driver in these contexts, as leadership promoted the central coherence needed for these schools to improve outcomes through the strategic, sustained use of the people, structures, and practices already available to them. Session OutcomesParticipants will:Learn about key findings from the UEPC Pandemic Recovery study.Explore school portraits of success that make the study’s findings more concrete within school contexts.Reflect on their own school's strengths and opportunities for growth in relation to the study's findings.Develop action plans for high-leverage next steps, key partners, and needed supports.Why This MattersThis session translates research into actionable insights for schools, offering rural educators and leaders a research-informed starting point for strengthening the systems and practices that support student outcomes. All participants will leave with printed school portraits and a conversation guide to support continued reflection.

Participants MUST HAVE one of the following platforms/devices in order to participate in this session: None

Participants MAY FIND IT USEFUL to have one or more of the following platforms/devices during this session: Any of these

Speakers

Andrea Rorrer

Director, UEPC - Utah Education Policy Center

Dr. Andrea K. Rorrer  is the Director of the UEPC and a Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy. Andrea, who has 35 years of experience in education, received her master’s degree at the University of Virginia and her Ph.D. from the University of Texas... Read More →

Kody Colvin

Lead School & District Improvement Specialist, Utah Education Policy Center

Kody Colvin is a Lead School and District Improvement Specialist with the Utah Education Policy Center, where he partners with schools and systems to strengthen instructional leadership, professional learning, and continuous improvement efforts. With over 15 years of experience in... Read More →

Amy Reynolds

Research and Evaluation Associate, Utah Education Policy Center

Amy L. Reynolds, Ph.D., is a Research Associate at the Utah Education Policy Center (UEPC), where she leads research and evaluation projects in partnership with state agencies and educational organizations within and beyond Utah. Her recent work includes a statewide governance study... Read More →

Wednesday July 15, 2026 2:50pm - 3:50pm MDT
ED 102 - Emma Eccles Jones Education Building, Room 102 351 W. University Blvd., Cedar City, UT 84720

Leadership, Intermediate - basic core competency; some prerequisite skills required. | Professional Learning Communities (PLCs & PLNs), Intermediate - basic core competency; some prerequisite skills required.