K20 Innovative Learning Institute 2025
The K20 Center’s Innovative Learning Institute (ILI) is an annual gathering of approximately 1,000 educators and education leaders from across Oklahoma. ILI provides an excellent opportunity for educators to learn about new technologies and classroom strategies and to network with peers from all parts of the state.
Every year, ILI offers an engaging and inspirational keynote lecture plus a variety of breakout sessions for teachers, counselors, and administrators. Participants can also explore offerings from education vendors and a technology playground.
More information for the future ILI event will be updated here.
K20 Innovative Learning Institute 2024
The K20 Center’s Innovative Learning Institute (ILI) is an annual gathering of approximately 1,000 educators and education leaders from across Oklahoma. ILI provides an excellent opportunity for educators to learn about new technologies and classroom strategies and to network with peers from all parts of the state.
Every year, ILI offers an engaging and inspirational keynote lecture plus a variety of breakout sessions for teachers, counselors, and administrators. Participants can also explore offerings from education vendors and a technology playground.
More information for the future ILI event will be updated here.
Registration Information
To register for ILI 2025, click on the “REGISTER NOW” button below.
Registration Costs
- $200 – ILI Registration Fee
- You will not be billed at registration. Invoices will be emailed after the event
- Registration fees for the following attendees shall be waived:
- Members of current K20 GEAR UP schools
- Members of 2024-2025 or 2025-2026 OETT schools
- Attendees of the Leadership Seminar (plus free admission for one guest) of March, June, September, and October 2024
- SKIE Awardees (plus free admission for one guest)
- Members of the K20 Board of Advocates
- Members of the OETT Board of Trustees
- Non-K20 affiliated schools will be invoiced $200 per person for registration
- To cancel your registration, notify Lindsay Hawkins (lhawkins@ou.edu) no later than 5:00PM on November 12, 2025 to avoid being billed for the conference. We are unable to guarantee a full refund after this date.
Vendors contact Shelby Blackwood (shelby.blackwood@ou.edu) for pricing and additional information.
If you have questions about ILI, please email k20center@ou.edu. We will be in touch with you soon!
Registration information will be available on August 2025
The Nancy O’Brian Lectureship Series
ILI features the Nancy O’Brian lectureship series. Named for Dr. Nancy O’Brian, a former Norman Public Schools educator and a mentor to many members of the K20 leadership team, the lectureship has featured such prominent speakers and educators as Thomas C. Murray, Debbie Silver, Alan November, and Marcia Tate.
Dr. O’Brian provided years of support to the K20 Center beginning with its inception in 1995. She served the Norman Public Schools for 40 years as a teacher, curriculum director, assistant superintendent, and superintendent of schools until her retirement in 2000. She is remembered as an amazing leader who represented each of the district’s core values: integrity, inclusiveness, collaboration, and optimism.
Dr. O’Brian was not only a successful leader for Norman schools and the community, but she was also a recognized educational leader throughout the state. She received numerous awards and was inducted into the Oklahoma Educators Hall of Fame in 1998. Nancy passed away in April 2020. The Nancy O’Brian lectureship series continues to honor her legacy of support as a tireless advocate for all students and for innovation in education.
This Year’s Featured Keynote Speaker
Chase Mielke
Chase Mielke is an award-winning educator, writer, and speaker focusing on preventing teacher burnout and increasing student engagement.
He has been awarded multiple honors, including being a Michigan Teacher of the Year nominee and an Allegan County “Outstanding People for Education” recipient. For his work minimizing the achievement gap with at-risk high schoolers, his Positive Psychology program received a Michigan Association of School Administrator’s “Winner’s Circle Award.” The program teaches concepts of positive emotion, engagement, meaning, and accomplishment to hundreds of students each year, especially at-risk high schoolers. Consistently, students reduce failure rates by at least 50% each year.
In addition to modeling excellence as an educator, his writing has been featured on WeAreTeachers, Huffpost, Edutopia, and EdPost. He received a WordPress “Freshly Pressed” distinction for his viral blog and video “What Students Really Need to Hear,” which has been used across the world to motivate students.
As an engaging, nationally recognized speaker, he has traveled across the nation to speak with students and educators on topics of resilience, mindset, applied neuroscience, and positive psychology.
