Bill Gates a featured speaker at SXSW.edu

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Educators, techies, business leaders and policymakers began arriving in Austin on Monday for the first day of SXSW.edu.

And while they are here, they'll be trying to absorb a lot in a short amount of time. Among the featured speakers is Bill Gates. He is scheduled to be the keynote speaker on Thursday.

In a nutshell, SXSW.edu is all about the latest and greatest for the classroom -- new technology for teachers and students. The event runs until Thursday.

 Some sessions will also dive into the challenges teachers are facing right now plus changes that could be coming out of the state Capitol certainly impacting students and parents in Central Texas.

Event organizers say about 5,000 people have registered from all 50 states and more than 27 countries.

Volunteers are still needed. If you want to get involved, a special web page has been established to help.

Here's the schedule of events.