Save the Date for MTU's 2026 Essential Education Symposium
Mark Your Calendar: Michigan Tech’s 2nd Annual Essential Education Symposium will take place on campus on April 29, 2026 — the Wednesday after spring semester final exams.
The first Essential Ed symposium, held in April 2025, was highlighted by our special guest Shane Sutherland, the founder, CEO and “chief mischief maker” of PebblePad, Michigan Tech’s ePortfolio platform. His lunchtime keynote focused on how other academic institutions around the world are using e-portfolios to maximize student reflection, communicate skill acquisition and application, and showcase student academic accomplishments to future employers and academic programs.
The 2026 Essential Ed Symposium will feature highlights from the launch of each element of Essential Education. More exciting sessions relating to Essential Ed, its impact on students, faculty support resources and best practices, and the skill needs of future employers, will be announced in early spring. In the meantime, the many elements of Michigan Tech's Essential Education program are highlighted in our short video: “What is Michigan Tech’s Essential Education?”
Essential Ed on YouTube
We encourage you to visit the Michigan Tech Essential Ed YouTube channel. This is the home of videos being created to promote Michigan Tech’s Essential Education program rollout and outline the value of this educational experience to current and future students. Videos with information on future symposium presentations and materials serving as resources for instructors teaching Essential Education program courses will also be available on this channel.
Here are some quick links to highlighted presentations from the 2025 symposium. Visit our YouTube Channel to see more 2025 symposium session recordings.
- 2025 Essential Ed Symposium Highlights
- 2025 Michigan Tech Essential Ed Symposium - Building Community Partnerships for EssEd Experiences
- 2025 Michigan Tech Essential Ed Symposium - Essential Abilities: from a corporate perspective
- 2025 Essential Ed Symposium Keynote: Shane Sutherland Founder of PebblePad - The Power of ePortfolio
For more information on Michigan Tech's Essential Education rollout, visit the Essential Education Newsblog.