This year's Future of Education Technology Conference (FETC) took place in Orlando, Fla., on January 14-17, 2025, bringing together more than 9,000 people.

At this year's FETC, News Hour Classroom got the chance to speak with Dr. Micah Shippee, the director of education solutions at Samsung, about his experience adopting ed tech in the classroom when he was a social studies teacher for 22 years. Shippee also discusses Samsung's Solve for Tomorrow competition for grades 6-12 and how solving problems at the local level can have ripple effects across the globe.

"What caused me to really start to love ed tech is that bridge between knowledge and skills as a way for students to show what they're learning," says Shippee.

Shippee also explains how the technical learning curve of implementing artificial intelligence (AI) in the classroom made him change his approach as an educator.

"I remember when in my classroom, if a computer would fail, my knee-jerk would be like, 'Why don't you put your head down while I fix this?' No, I stopped doing that," says Shippee. "Let them watch me struggle. Let them watch me say, you know what, guys, this might fail. Let's try something new today and then pivot on it right in front of them. That's a critical life skill that transcends most of our content."

Teachers and students can visit Samsung's Solve for Tomorrow website to see examples of this year's projects and learn how to get involved for next year.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Be sure to check out PBS News Hour Classroom's Invention Education collection full of lessons and video stories featuring student inventors and their teachers.

We also have an Invention Educator Network (no experience necessary!), which brings together teachers from various subjects and grade levels to discuss all things invention & innovation. Sign up here to learn more.

Produced by Victoria Pasquantonio and Gianfranco Beran, News Hour Classroom's production assistant.

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