Send us a text Guests : David Harris , OpenStax at Rice University & Justin Weinberg , Aktiv Learning Topics This Week: Back to School, But Media Narratives Say Education Is in Trouble Teacher Shortage Local School Grades Plummeting HMH report: education is not an appealing field Value of Higher Ed in Question Why Americans are increasingly dubious about going to college Higher Ed Must Change or Die A New Vision for College Excellence The Shrinking of Higher Ed Cardona Speech Feds cancel $4B...
Aug 20, 2022•49 min•Season 3Ep. 7
Send us a text Gauthier Van Malderen is the co-founder and CEO of the University Digital Library Perlego. Gauthier decided to start Perlego as a Cambridge student after realizing how many people were having problems financing their textbooks. In 2017, he decided to found a subscription service to provide all the textbooks a student would need, in eBook form, at an affordable price. Perlego raised $50 million in March (out of $75M total funding) to expand its business after seeing its platform bo...
Aug 16, 2022•48 min•Season 3Ep. 6
Send us a text Topics This Week: Fall Election Cycle Va. Gov. Youngkin faces second suit over teacher tip line Democrats Cede ‘Party of Education’ Label to GOP 2022 CHLOE 7 Report Announcement + PDF Online learning leaders think fully in-person will be a rarity Big Tech vs. Udemy Amazon Launches Udemy Competitor Facebook Working on a Udemy Competitor? Metaverse Harvard Metaverse in Education Report Deloitte Metaverse Report AppLovin wants to buy video game maker Unity for $20 billion Funding + M...
Aug 12, 2022•49 min•Season 3Ep. 5
Send us a text Josh Chernikoff is an educational entrepreneur and small business advisor. For the last 14 years, he has founded and grown two successful educational enrichment programs serving hundreds of thousands of students in 85 schools across six states. He now runs Cascade Communications, an edtech advisory. Josh and his team at Cascade are, above all, content and relationship experts in the educational space, leveraging email communication and live relationship roundtables to engage the e...
Aug 09, 2022•40 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Send us a text Welcome to Season 2 of This Week in Edtech! Guest: Matthew Tower , Principal @ Workshop Venture Partners Subscribe to Matt’s weekly newsletter @ https://matthewtower.substack.com/ Topics This Week: Byju’s Layoffs , debt , litigation!? Bearish OPMs Phil Hill: ”The brutal spring and summer for OPMs & MOOCs” Zovio sells OPM business to University of Arizona Global Campus 2U Layoffs + tuition share agreements Funding Landscape HolonIQ – Global Edtech Funding 2022 H1 Metaverse Coll...
Aug 05, 2022•55 min•Season 3Ep. 3
Send us a text Jonathan Finkelstein is the CEO of Credly , one of the leading organizations in the credentialing space for education technology around the world. Credly is a Pearson business. Previously, as founder of LearningTimes, he helped mission-driven organizations produce and launch innovative online programs, products and platforms that impacted the lives of millions of users. He was also a co-founder at HorizonLive, which was acquired by Blackboard, and author of Learning in Real Time ....
Aug 01, 2022•44 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Send us a text Sophie Ruddock is a former impact investor and consultant with 10+ years experience across the private, public and non-profit sectors. She is one of the founding members of Multiverse, a tech company building an outstanding alternative to college. She spent the last 4 years growing Multiverse’s delivery operations in the U.K, before moving onto leading their expansion to NYC as GM North America. Recommended Resources The Job , a weekly newsletter by Paul Fain...
Jul 25, 2022•43 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Send us a text Troy Williams is a Managing Director at Achieve and University Ventures . Troy leads both firm’s investments in education technology companies, including AdmitHub , EverTrue , Examity , Motimatic , Packback and Ready Education . Prior to UV, Troy was a senior executive at Macmillan where he was CEO of Macmillan Enterprise Solutions and President of Macmillan New Ventures. Previously, Troy founded and served as CEO of Questia Media, an early ebook company. Prior to Questia, He was ...
Jul 18, 2022•55 min•Season 2Ep. 30
Send us a text Alec Levin is the co-founder and CEO of Learners. Learners, formerly known as UXR Collective, started as a small meetup in Toronto and has become an online learning platform for researchers and designers around the world. Before Learners Alec worked in product and user research at a number of Toronto-based startups including Thalmic Labs, Finaeo, and Meta. Recommended Resources Economic Facts and Fallacies by Thomas Sowell...
Jul 11, 2022•46 min•Season 2Ep. 29
Send us a text Melissa Jones leads Technical Programs for Shopify , focused on empowering the Research and Development teams with the technical skill and support they need to be successful. She oversees onboarding, leadership development, communications and early talent initiatives for engineering and the other R&D disciplines. Prior to joining Shopify, Melissa served in leadership roles at General Assembly , Code.org and Adobe . Alison Evans Adnani is the senior program lead for the Dev Deg...
Jul 06, 2022•50 min•Season 2Ep. 28
Send us a text Guest: Quinn Taber , Founder & CEO @ Immerse Topics This Week: Politics Heat Up Colleges aren’t prepared for Roe’s fall Schools Are Spending Billions on High-Tech Defense for Mass Shootings 'Don’t Say Gay’ bills will make it harder for teachers to support students The public cost of private schools Education Department Approves $8 Billion in Public Service Loan Forgiveness ISTE A Call For ‘A Major Infusion of Joy’ Teachers Are Reminded of the Value They Bring to Ed-Tech C...
Jul 01, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Season 2Ep. 27
Send us a text Andrew Baird is the President & CEO of the global hub of Education For Employment (EFE-Global). Andrew brings to EFE more than twenty-five years of experience in advancing private sector-led strategies to create inclusive employment and livelihoods around the world - including in several countries where EFE operates. He is a strong advocate for women’s economic employment, and promoting entrepreneurship. He co-founded the Global Center for Youth Employment , a membership-based...
Jun 27, 2022•42 min•Season 2Ep. 26
Send us a text Guest: Victoria Ransom , Founder & Co-President of Prisma Topics This Week: Higher Ed Adapts? Dartmouth College eliminates undergraduate student loans and replaces them with scholarship grants Higher Ed Invests in Student Success Tech – Is It a ‘New Golden Age’ or Just Vague Talk? McKinsey: Technology is shaping learning in higher education Americans support student loan forgiveness, but would rather reign in college costs Livestreaming against a Teacher Shortage General Catal...
Jun 24, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 2Ep. 25
Send us a text Patrick Ward is the Vice President of Marketing at Rootstrap, a digital studio that provides UX/UI design, app and web development and staff augmentation to a variety of companies, including major edtech companies like Masterclass and Emeritus. In this conversation, we’ll talk about the marketing and technology strategies that top edtech companies use to grow, as well as the future of alternative education. Recommended Resources Section4 Blog by Professor Scott Galloway Education ...
Jun 20, 2022•47 min•Season 2Ep. 24
Send us a text Guest Charles Schilling , President, Enterprise Business - US, Europe & Canada @ Emeritus Topics this week: Teacher Shortages at the End of the School Year Overworked and underappreciated, teachers are burning out Cardona: Americans Shouldn't be Surprised by Teacher Shortage Work-Based Learning Google partners with Figma to bring design tools to student Chromebooks The Uncertain Pathway from Youth to a Good Job Metaverse/VR? What Will Learning in the Metaverse Look Like? ...
Jun 19, 2022•56 min•Season 2Ep. 23
Send us a text Kavitta Ghai is the Co-Founder and CEO of Nectir , a communication platform for higher ed that uses instant chat to build a community in every class. Kavitta founded Nectir in 2018 during her time as a student at UC Santa Barbara, and has since raised over $2.25M to bring communication infrastructure to every campus and classroom out there. Her goal is to make quality education accessible to every student around the globe. Nectir is a communication platform for higher education th...
Jun 13, 2022•59 min•Season 2Ep. 22
Send us a text Guest: Philip Cutler , CEO @ Paper Topics This Week: Metaversities With Money From Facebook, 10 Colleges Turn Their Campuses into ‘Metaversities’ Guild & Oprah Guild Education Reaches $4.4B Valuation As Labor Market Demands Continue – And A Downturn Threat Rises Apprenticeships Multiverse nabs $220M at a $1.7B valuation Sanoma in Italy Sanoma acquires Pearson’s local K-12 learning content Beyond Byju’s PhysicsWallah becomes unicorn with $100M Series A Cuemath Doubles its Valua...
Jun 10, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Season 2Ep. 21
Send us a text Sarah Toms is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Wharton Interactive . She is a serious games expert and demonstrated thought leader in the educational technology field, fueled by a passion to find and develop innovative ways to make every learning environment active, engaging, more meaningful, and learner-centered. Sarah has built transformative gaming platforms for education from the ground up, like Wharton Interactive’s award winning Alternate Reality Courseware platform....
Jun 06, 2022•39 min•Season 2Ep. 20
Send us a text Topics This Week: Edtech Funding Landscape Why Some Investors Say Edtech ‘Doom and Gloom’ Overhyped Unacademy tells employees to focus on profitability at all costs to ‘survive the winter’ College Enrollment College Enrollment Drops, Even as the Pandemic’s Effects Ebb Credential Train Is Leaving the Station—Get on Board If Students Had Their Way, Hybrid Learning Would Be Here To Stay Tech as Content Teaching AI to All Students ITE and Microsoft Collaborate to Equip over 4,000 Stud...
Jun 03, 2022•41 min•Season 2Ep. 19
Send us a text Erin Mote is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of InnovateEDU , a non-profit that brings together leaders in education and technology to design and develop breakthrough models and tools to help ensure that all students graduate from high school ready to succeed in college and careers of their choosing. Erin is also the co-founder of Brooklyn Laboratory Charter School and has served in an advisory capacity to the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Obama ...
May 30, 2022•59 min•Season 2Ep. 18
Send us a text Guest: Jeffrey Cohen , CEO of FullBloom Topics This Week: Class Technologies Acquires Blackboard Collaborate $210M Deal PhilOnEdTech Take Metaverse Mercedes Bent on why Metaverse isn’t Over-hyped World Economic Forum: the future of education is in experiential learning & VR Virtual Is the New Reality for M.B.A. Students Invact Metaversity cancels first cohort Big Tech in Ed Facebook Working on a Udemy Competitor? Declining Enrollment at Public Schools NYT ‘Seismic Hit’ Take Fu...
May 27, 2022•1 hr•Season 2Ep. 17
Send us a text Sophie Brickman is the author of the new book “Baby, Unplugged: One Mother’s Search for Balance, Reason and Sanity in the Digital Age” , all about how parents can try to navigate the world of technology. Sophie Brickman is a writer, reporter and editor based in New York City. Her journalistic work has appeared in The Guardian, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The San Francisco Chronicle, the Best Food Writing compilation, and the Best American Science W...
May 23, 2022•49 min•Season 2Ep. 16
Send us a text 1. Brutal Year for EdTech It’s Been A ‘Brutal’ Year for Public Education Companies 2. Major Breaking News: Byju’s in Talks to Buy Chegg or 2U India’s Byju’s Eyes Chegg or 2U as It Weighs US Acquisition Scott Galloway’s edtech startup, Section4, lays off a quarter of staff 3. Advertising and Marketing over Education in College Spend GAO Report on Online Program Managers Was Only a Start 4. K-12 Beat: California Community Schools California set to launch hundreds of community school...
May 21, 2022•41 min•Season 2Ep. 15
Send us a text Louisa Rosenheck is the Director of Pedagogy at Kahoot! , one of the largest and most influential gamified edtech companies in the world. Louisa is also an ed tech designer with a passion for game-based learning and playful pedagogies, and teaches educational technology at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she earned her Master’s degree in the Harvard TIE program. Previously, she was the co-founder of MIT’s Playful Journeys lab, and a researcher at the MIT Education ...
May 16, 2022•50 min•Season 2Ep. 14
Send us a text Topics This Week: Higher Ed’s Commodification and Decentralization Upskilling Trend Brings Coupons, ‘Flash Sales’ and Other Marketing Gimmicks edX’s Role After 2U Acquisition The Future Of Learning Is Radically Decentralized K-12 LAUSD makes 'historic' $50M investment to address digital divide Union pushback on Meta Twitter sale shows us why edtech companies should be accountable to schools TikTok May Be More Dangerous Than It Looks Workforce Development Unpaid Internshi...
May 13, 2022•50 min•Season 2Ep. 13
Send us a text Jordan Adair is the Vice President of Product at Honorlock , an online proctoring platform dedicated to maintaining academic integrity. Jordan began his career in education as an elementary and middle school teacher. After transitioning into educational technology, he became focused on delivering products designed to empower instructors and improve the student experience. Honorlock is an assessment integrity service that combines AI & live test proctors to make online proctori...
May 10, 2022•42 min•Season 2Ep. 12
Send us a text Guest: Ashley Andersen Zantop , CEO & Chairman of Cambium Learning Group Topics This Week: Google Grow Good? Training now free for 500 workers at every U.S. business Student Debt Cancellation Broad cancellation could backfire We should cancel student debt, but only for some Income caps + Online certificate programs Kinder-Crisis? Reading recovery's long-term effects ECD going downhill The pandemic erased a decade of public preschool gains Returning to Offline Vedantu slas...
May 06, 2022•49 min•Season 2Ep. 11
Send us a text Eli Bildner is a Senior Director at Guild Education , where he helps to provide opportunity for America’s workforce through education and upskilling, all funded by employers. Eli was also the co-Executive Director and co-founder of Rivet School , a non-profit which simplifies college by pairing an accredited online degree with real-world supports, such as a personal coach, financial aid, a community of peers, career planning, emergency funds, tech support and coworking spaces. Eli...
May 02, 2022•44 min•Season 2Ep. 10
Send us a text Guest: Stratsi Kulinski , President of NewU University International Bubble? New Oriental Education , Unacademy , BYJU's Metaverse Meta , Fidelity , Athenaverse , Immerse , Moonhub Adult Learning Udemy's Global Workplace Learning Index Mental Health Data CDC report , Securly , LeanLab , SMART Technologies + Kooth Funding + M&A Zenda , Newton School , Blue Sky , Vivfy , 9jacodekids , Aztec Software Akadasia , Veranda ,...
Apr 29, 2022•51 min•Season 2Ep. 9
Send us a text Mario Vasilescu is co-founder of Readocracy , an online learning platform that makes all the content you consume count. Readocracy includes a knowledge profile that quantifies and showcases your passions, private insights like a “Fitbit for your information diet”, and social features that reward people for being well-informed. With his team, they are on a mission to create a future where how we feed our minds matters just as much as how we feed our bodies. Mario is a robotics engi...
Apr 25, 2022•55 min•Season 2Ep. 8
