Sistema THEAD Brings Scratch Tactile to ISTE Live and ASCD 2026 to Advance More Inclusive Digital Education.

During the first week of July, Sistema THEAD participated in ISTE Live and the ASCD Annual Conference 2026, the world’s leading event for educational technology and innovation, held in Orlando, Florida (USA). There, we showcased our inclusive learning ecosystem, Tactile Jr (Scratch Tactile), to thousands of education professionals from around the world.

At our booth, teachers, researchers, school district leaders, and educational organizations had the opportunity to explore the Tactile Jr Original Kit, Tactile Jr Cards, our new app, which connects the physical cards with a variety of educational robots and a preview of Diversi:Bit, a new inclusive learning resource based on the micro:bit that we are currently developing.

During the conference, we also had the opportunity to participate in “Play, Create, Connect: A Universal Learning Space”, organized by ASCD, where we shared experiences and educational approaches for promoting more accessible, creative, and inclusive learning.

One of the most rewarding aspects of the event was connecting directly with preschool, elementary, and special education teachers, university educators, educational leaders, and leading organizations in the field. The response to Scratch Tactile was overwhelmingly positive.

Many professionals immediately recognized the value of screen-free, hands-on learning as a way to make coding and computational thinking accessible to all learners, especially those who face greater barriers in traditional digital learning environments.

We also established new connections with organizations and institutions from the United States, Canada, Japan, Mexico, China, Poland, and many other countries, creating exciting opportunities for future international collaboration and helping us expand the reach of our project.

Another important milestone resulting from our participation is that, thanks to new commercial partnerships, Tactile Jr will soon be distributed directly from the United States, making it easier for schools and educational organizations across North America to access our resources.

Our participation in ISTE and ASCD also coincided with a particularly meaningful moment for Sistema THEAD: receiving the European Digital Skills Award 2026, presented by the European Commission in the “Inclusion in the Digital World” category for the Scratch Tactile project.

These two milestones reinforce our belief that digital skills should be accessible to everyone from the earliest stages of education. We will continue working to ensure that more and more children can learn programming, develop computational thinking, and fully participate in the digital world, regardless of their abilities.