Image credit: ACM SIGGRAPH Education Committee website, 2026 SOIREE Recordings
By Amie Mile, ACM SIGGRAPH Education Committee
What happens when educators come together to share not only what is working in their classrooms, but also what they are still figuring out?
The answer is in the collaborative spirit of the ACM SIGGRAPH Education Committee’s Symposium on Innovation, Research & Experiences in Education (SOIREE). This annual, free, online gathering is designed to give educators a welcoming space to exchange ideas, explore emerging practices, and learn from one another.
Since its inception, SOIREE has reflected the remarkable range of experiences, opportunities, and challenges within computer graphics and interactive techniques education. Recent programs have explored topics including AI in the classroom, virtual humans and motion capture, cross-disciplinary collaboration, real-time graphics, storytelling and engagement, and innovative approaches to teaching fundamental computer graphics concepts. In 2025, the event brought together educators from large and small institutions, long-time educators, and freshly minted faculty from all around the world.
The breadth of conversations, differing experiences, and perspectives is part of what makes SOIREE so valuable. A presentation might focus on a new technology or teaching methodology. Another might share lessons learned from redesigning a course. Others can offer a candid look at being innovative with limited resources. Many presentations include research or experiments that reveal something unexpected or provide opportunity for connection across disciplines.
The variety of work in SOIREE demonstrates just how approachable it is for any educator working in areas of computer graphics and interactive techniques. Examples of this diversity from past events include topics such as fundamental programming curriculum and integrating generative AI into animation and filmmaking to using photography, lighting, camera techniques, and visual storytelling to strengthen students’ understanding of computer graphics.
In short, SOIREE is not simply about presenting polished results. It is about sharing the work in progress, learning more about the process of teaching, and making connections.
There Is a Place for Educators at Every Career Stage
For early-career educators, SOIREE can be an opportunity to find community, test an emerging idea, and gain perspective from colleagues who have navigated similar challenges. Sharing a new assignment, course experiment, or classroom practice can open the door to feedback and connections that might otherwise take years to develop.
For mid-career educators, SOIREE offers a chance to step back from the semester-to-semester rhythm and reflect on what has evolved in their teaching — and what might be worth sharing with the broader community.
And for experienced educators, it is an opportunity to pass along hard-won knowledge while continuing to learn from new voices, new technologies, and new approaches to pedagogy.
That exchange matters. The ACM SIGGRAPH Education Committee’s broader mission is to support educators in computer graphics and interactive techniques through resources, curriculum guidance, community connections, and conference programming. SOIREE is one expression of that larger commitment: Building an educational community where knowledge moves in every direction.
Bring What You Are Learning
The most valuable idea you can share may not be the one you have completely figured out. It may be the question you are exploring, the experiment you just tried, or the approach that changed how your students engaged with a challenging concept.
SOIREE provides a space for those stories. It’s also a great place to get feedback on ideas if you’ve never submitted to a SIGGRAPH conference before.
Whether you are teaching your first course, leading an established program, working across disciplines, or exploring how rapidly changing technologies are reshaping the classroom, your experience has something to contribute.
The committee encourages all CG educators to consider submitting to the SOIREE call for proposals. You all are a part of this community and help shape the conversation about how education in computer graphics and interactive techniques grows now and beyond.
The future of education is being built in classrooms around the world. SOIREE is an invitation to bring those classrooms together. Whether you submit a presentation or just attend, you’re welcome and we hope to see you there!
Please check out past SOIREE sessions available on the ACM SIGGRAPH Education Committee YouTube channel and learn more about how to submit for the 2027 SOIREE on our website.
