2026 UEN Tech Summit

How IT leaders can become influential in helping schools, departments, and LEAs improve their technology processes.

“Free” classroom apps and quick approvals now carry real legal and cybersecurity consequences. This session explains how Utah districts can move from “click and hope” to compliant, termination-ready EdTech governance under H.B. 55, Title 53E, and federal privacy law.

Most school districts have approved at least one digital tool that started with a well-meaning teacher saying, “It’s free, and everyone else uses it.” Too often, that click-through approval becomes a permanent system handling student records, behavioral data, and sensitive communications—without meaningful oversight. At the same time, Utah’s legal landscape has changed. With the passage of H.B. 55 (2026), districts are now required to maintain termination-ready contracts, enforce strict data governance standards, and demonstrate active vendor oversight. Informal adoption practices that once seemed harmless now create legal, operational, and cybersecurity risk. This session translates Utah’s statutory, regulatory, and federal privacy requirements into a practical, repeatable approval system that districts can actually run. Through real-world scenarios, breach case studies, and contract examples, participants will learn how to replace “click and hope” with “click, verify, and comply.” Attendees will leave with usable templates, workflow models, and governance tools that support instructional innovation while reducing legal exposure and reputational risk.

The Utah Office of AI Policy presents its agenda on establishing trust and safety via regulation while fostering innovation through regulatory relief for AI in healthcare.

The Utah Office of Artificial Intelligence Policy (OAIP) represents a pioneering state-level initiative designed to balance innovation facilitation with responsible AI governance in regulated industries. Established within Utah's Department of Commerce, the Office operates under a mandate to develop evidence-based policy frameworks that promote technological advancement while safeguarding public health and consumer safety. The Office's approach to policy research emphasizes stakeholder engagement, scientific rigor, and iterative policy development. Following its 2025 agenda on AI in mental health counseling, the Office’s priorities for 2026 include a proactive agenda to systematically address critical questions regarding AI implementation in various healthcare settings, with particular attention to clinical decision support systems, remote healthcare services, transparency, and patient safety protocols. The Office's regulatory mitigation program represents a comprehensive approach to fostering AI innovation in healthcare through its Utah AI sandbox initiative, which provides regulatory relief for qualifying AI healthcare products. The application and review process includes initial expert and stakeholder consultation. The review process incorporates multiple assessment dimensions, including clinical safety evaluation, regulatory compliance analysis, data protection verification, and public health impact assessment. The presentation includes a walkthrough of recent successful sandbox applications for AI-in-healthcare products and services. The integration of AI technologies and telehealth practice presents transformative opportunities for healthcare delivery. For example, innovations can include various forms of comprehensive clinical decision support, autonomous AI decision making for a carefully scoped selection of healthcare services, and integrations with wearable fitness and wellness trackers. However, these technological advances also introduce complex challenges regarding data privacy, patient and provider transparency, and clinical liability. The successful integration of AI in telehealth requires careful consideration of technical and ethical dimensions alongside appropriate regulatory oversight. The 30-minute presentation will be followed by a 30-minute discussion during which the audience is invited to share their perspectives on how AI can contribute to expand remote-healthcare services in Utah safely and beneficially in collaboration with existing healthcare systems in the State. Dr. Alice Schwarze joined OAIP as Head of Research in 2024. She received a PhD in applied mathematics from the University of Oxford in 2019. Prior to joining the Utah AI policy office, she worked as a researcher and lecturer at UCLA, the University of Washington, and Dartmouth College, covering topics from computational neuroscience, data science for public health, and the mathematical foundations of artificial intelligence. In her current role, Dr. Schwarze leads the Office's research efforts that underlie the Office's issued guidance letters, policy recommendations, and the Office's assessment of the clinical safety and public-health benefits of AI-in-healthcare proposals in the Office's regulatory sandbox.

Move beyond solving technical issues and start supporting the people using technology. This session introduces a customer-service approach tailored for K-12 IT teams that uses empathy, active listening, and clear communication to de-escalate difficult situations and turn frustrated users into collaborative partners.

IT professionals in K-12 education spend much of their time troubleshooting devices, networks, and software—but many support challenges are not purely technical. Frustration, miscommunication, and time pressure can turn small technology issues into larger disruptions for teachers and classrooms. This session introduces T.E.A.C.H., a practical communication framework designed specifically for education technology support teams. The framework helps IT staff manage the human side of support interactions while still resolving technical problems efficiently. Participants will explore five core practices: • Take Time to Greet & Listen • Empathize and Disarm Conflict • Ask Effective Questions • Chart the Path Forward • Help Beyond the Moment. Through real-world K-12 support scenarios, attendees will learn techniques for active listening, empathetic communication, structured troubleshooting conversations, and translating technical concepts into language that educators can easily understand. The session includes a short interactive activity in which participants identify common support requests and discuss simple strategies—such as knowledge base articles or quick training resources—that can prevent repeat issues. Attendees will leave with a practical framework and communication strategies they can immediately apply to improve support interactions, reduce frustration, and strengthen collaboration between IT teams and educators.

In our mission to provide internet access and technology infrastructure to our education and telehealth stakeholders, we support and conduct research of our own. We'll talk about the state of our current research efforts, what we have learned so far, and how this research supports our core services.

This presentation will cover research efforts within UEN/UTN and partners. In particular, we'll touch on advances in AI & machine learning, Network management, Wildfire cameras, the WildWEST project, collaboration with the Center for High Performance Computing at the University of Utah, collaboration with outside researchers, and more! This will be a panel discussion covering project developments and findings.

Utah's legislature considered a record number of bills during the 2026 General Session, so if you are wondering how to keep track of everything, you're not alone. This session will focus on getting you the information you need to start integrating new data privacy requirements into your policies and practices. You'll be most at home in this session if you are the privacy point person at your district or charter, but everyone is welcome!