Send us a text Jerome Pesenti is the founder of Sizzle AI , an AI-for-learning company whose mission is to make learning amazing for everyone. Jerome has worked in AI for the past 25 years, including as VP of AI at Meta, co-CEO of BenevolentAI, VP at IBM Watson, and co-founder of Vivisimo (sold to IBM). 💡 5 Things You’ll Learn in This Episode: How Sizzle AI uses bite-sized, adaptive learning to help students study more effectively. Why Jerome left big tech to tackle educational challenges with ...
Jun 30, 2025•30 min
Send us a text For this Week in EdTech Part 2, Alex Sarlin interviews two visionary founders tackling early education and classroom AI from the ground up—with a focus on teacher support, inclusive innovation, and practical AI implementation. [00:02:12] Yesi Sevilla, CEO of CHALK on why early education must start with supporting teachers [00:30:55] Ed Buckley and Marlee Strawn, Co-founders of Scholar Education on how AI-powered dog bots support students and teachers 🎧 Missed Part 1? Go back to h...
Jun 25, 2025•59 min
Send us a text Join hosts Alex Sarlin and Matt Tower as they explore the evolving edtech landscape—from rising AI use to old-school solutions for modern challenges. ✨ Episode Highlights: [00:00:20] Banning AI boosts student engagement and brings back handwritten assessments [00:03:23] Gallup finds AI use in the workplace has doubled in two years [00:06:15] OpenAI’s college push sparks backlash over trust and cheating concerns [00:09:30] Professors turn to blue books and flipped classrooms to fig...
Jun 25, 2025•1 hr 5 min
Send us a text Eric Swanson currently holds the position of Senior Vice President of Practice and Instructional Products at Renaissance Learning . In this capacity, he works with educators, technologists, and researchers to build best-in-class practice products and experiences that improve academic outcomes for students and educators. Working with the Renaissance Next, myON, Accelerated Reader, Lalilo, and Freckle teams, as well as our Math and Literacy product portfolios and new product venture...
Jun 23, 2025•53 min
Send us a text Join hosts Alex Sarlin and Ben Kornell as they explore the latest developments in education technology, from AI breakthroughs to high-stakes funding rounds and institutional shifts in AI strategy. ✨ Episode Highlights: [00:02:45] OpenAI’s $10B Annual Run Rate: ChatGPT drives unprecedented growth [00:05:12] Anthropic CEO criticizes proposed 10-year ban on state AI regulation [00:08:04] Google.org Accelerator: New cohort tackling generative AI for good [00:10:17] News Sites Struggle...
Jun 17, 2025•1 hr 17 min
Send us a text Dr. Mike McKenna is the Senior Advisor at Tuck Advisors and also serves as the Chief Academic Officer for one of the largest school districts in Pennsylvania. With deep expertise in curriculum development, special education, and teaching and learning, Mike brings a proven track record of building inclusive, high-impact academic programs. In addition to his work in K-12 education, Mike has extensive experience in higher education and has also served as an advisory board member for ...
Jun 16, 2025•26 min
Send us a text Juan Zavala joined New Markets Venture Partners in 2019 and is a Partner. He is responsible for sourcing, evaluating, and executing new investment opportunities as well as supporting existing portfolio companies and firm operations. He serves as a Board Director for Brains and Motion Education, Nexford University, and CreatorUp, and as a Board Observer for App Academy, BetterLesson, Censia, Climb Credit, Concentric Educational Solutions, Datapeople, Motimatic, and Regent Education...
Jun 09, 2025•57 min
Send us a text Dr. Margaret Honey joined the Scratch Foundation as the organization’s President & CEO in January 2024. She is widely recognized for her work using digital technologies to support children’s learning and brings decades of non-profit leadership experience and expertise to the Scratch Foundation. Prior to joining the Foundation, Dr. Honey led the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) for 15 years, where she leveraged the museum as a platform for innovation in STEM education and devel...
Jun 02, 2025•38 min
Send us a text Join hosts Alex Sarlin and Ben Kornell as they explore the latest developments in education technology, from AI breakthroughs to new VC investments and edtech reports. ✨ Episode Highlights: [00:02:10] Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn says AI is more scalable than teachers, sparking debate on the future of educators [00:10:45] Google I/O 2025 introduces Gemini 2.5, Project Astra, and real-time AI translation with broad implications for edtech [00:18:30] OpenAI launches Codex, a cloud-base...
May 26, 2025•1 hr 17 min
Send us a text David Bleicher is the Co-Founder and CEO of Jotit , a company on a mission to bring handwriting back to the forefront of education in the digital age. By blending proven learning methods with advanced technologies, Jotit enhances student outcomes and executive functioning in the classroom. 💡 5 Things You’ll Learn in This Episode: Why handwriting remains essential in today’s tech-driven classrooms. How Jotit integrates handwriting, AI, and executive function tools for students. Th...
May 26, 2025•29 min
Send us a text Join hosts Alex Sarlin and Ben Kornell as they explore the latest developments in education technology, from AI in classrooms to workforce shifts and EdTech innovation across the globe. ✨ Episode Highlights: [00:03:16] Ezra Klein podcast brings AI and education to mainstream conversation [00:07:20] Alex and Ben compare and critique GPT-4, Claude, Gemini, and other AI tools [00:09:28] Utah emerges as a leading hub for EdTech startups and innovation [00:12:21] New AI bundles help ed...
May 22, 2025•1 hr 4 min
Send us a text This is a very special episode featuring our sponsor, Starbridge . Justin Wenig, Founder and CEO of Starbridge, joins us to discuss how school spending creates barriers to EdTech innovation. Justin previously co-founded Coursedog, scaling it to over 300 institutions and a nine-figure exit. With Starbridge, he’s now helping EdTech businesses navigate public sector procurement using AI to identify and close their best-fit leads. 💡 5 Things You’ll Learn in This Episode: Why broken p...
May 21, 2025•50 min
Send us a text MacKenzie Price is a Stanford grad, mom of two, and the Co-Founder of 2 Hour Learning - a revolutionary learning platform that harnesses the power of AI to give kids a 1:1 personalized learning experience. Her students excel in academics while spending most of their day learning life skills that set them up for future success. She founded the first Alpha School ten years ago in Austin, Texas and now has eight schools, with others opening in the fall. 💡 5 Things You’ll Learn in Th...
May 19, 2025•51 min
Send us a text Join hosts Ben Kornell and Alex Sarlin as they explore the latest developments in education technology, from AI breakthroughs and policy shakeups to new funding rounds and workforce shifts shaping the future of learning. ✨ Episode Highlights: [00:00:00] Silicon Valley debates the rise of “AI Slop” and the impact of vibe coding. [00:03:36] Columbia student suspended for AI cheating tool raises $5.3M to commercialize it. [00:04:56] Anthropic’s Drew Bent explains why code literacy no...
May 14, 2025•1 hr 31 min
Send us a text Mike Yates is a Senior Designer at Teach for America's Reinvention Lab , with over a decade of experience at the intersection of technology and learning. A former classroom teacher and founding member of Alpha School, he now leads the Lab’s AI initiatives, creating workshops, coaching educators, and prototyping innovative AI solutions. Mike has built partnerships with organizations like Playlab AI, Google, and Snapchat, and remains dedicated to helping educators navigate the futur...
May 12, 2025•30 min
Send us a text Join host Alex Sarlin alongside special guest co-hosts Ben Wallerstein and Anna Kimsey Edwards , Co-Founders of Whiteboard Advisors , as they break down: [00:03:00] Trump’s AI Executive Order launches cross-agency education task force [00:05:00] 27 states already advancing AI education policy [00:07:00] Workforce EO targets 1M AI-related apprenticeships [00:10:00] Accreditation EO pushes competition and student outcomes [00:14:00] “Beyond Degrees” report urges non-degree pathways ...
May 07, 2025•1 hr 19 min
Send us a text Betsy Corcoran and Dr. Jeremy Roschelle co-host the Future Fluent podcast, where they explore how learning is changing in the age of AI. Betsy is the cofounder of EdSurge and now leads Lede Labs, advising education leaders. Jeremy is a leading learning scientist and Executive Director of Learning Science Research at Digital Promise. Together, they bring decades of journalism and research experience to their shared mission: redefining literacy and learning in a world transformed by...
May 05, 2025•50 min
Send us a text In this special episode, we go behind the scenes of the Edtech Insiders GenAI K-12 Education Market Map , a first-of-its-kind framework connecting real classroom needs to AI-powered tools. Co-created by Alex Sarlin , Laurence Holt , Jacob Klein , and the Edtech Insiders team, this evolving resource helps educators, entrepreneurs, and researchers make sense of a fast-changing landscape. 💡 5 Things You’ll Learn in This Episode: Why the GenAI Education Map focuses on pedagogy and le...
Apr 30, 2025•55 min
Send us a text Levi Belnap is the CEO of Merlyn Mind , where he has been instrumental in driving the company's vision and growth since joining in 2019. Before assuming his current role, Levi served as Chief Strategy Officer for nearly four years and later as Chief Revenue Officer. Prior to Merlyn Mind, Levi built an impressive career in business development and entrepreneurship. He worked for Defy Ventures, served as Vice President of Business Development and Strategic Partnerships at Wyzant, an...
Apr 28, 2025•48 min
Send us a text Join hosts Alex Sarlin and Ben Kornell as they explore the latest developments in education technology, from ASU+GSV insights to AI model releases, international edtech innovations, and federal policy shake-ups. ✨ Episode Highlights: [00:01:45] ASU+GSV recap and post-conference energy [00:04:48] Strategic AI integration gains traction [00:05:56] Edtech market braces for consolidation [00:08:45] Linda McMahon engages at ASU+GSV [00:10:18] Challenges merging CS and AI in schools [00...
Apr 25, 2025•1 hr 9 min
Send us a text Vikas Pota is an entrepreneur and investor in education and digital businesses that seek to address some of the sector's intractable challenges and to advance education quality and opportunity. He is the founder of T4 Education , the Global EdTech Prize and the World's Best School Prizes. He is the Executive Chairman of the Education Leaders Forum, where he convenes the CEOs and leaders of many of the world’s biggest and most influential education businesses to advance their growt...
Apr 24, 2025•25 min
Send us a text Robert Barnett co-founded the Modern Classrooms Project , which has empowered 80,000+ educators in 180+ countries to meet every learner’s needs. Before that he taught math, computer science, English, social studies, and law, from the middle-school to university levels, at public and private schools in the U.S. and Switzerland. He graduated cum laude from Princeton University and Harvard Law School; speaks English, French, and Spanish; and lives in Washington, DC. His book, Meet Ev...
Apr 21, 2025•47 min
Send us a text In this special episode, EdTech Insiders hits the floor at ASU+GSV 2025—one of the world’s premier EdTech conferences—for rapid-fire conversations with the leaders reshaping learning. From AI-native campuses to multilingual agents and human-centered R&D, we go behind the scenes with the innovators driving the future of education. 🎙️ Featured Guests: Siya Raj Purohit , Go-to-Market Lead for Education at OpenAI @ [00:01:25] Maureen Heymans , GM of LearnX at Google @ [00:19:16] ...
Apr 18, 2025•1 hr 35 min
Send us a text Tom Vander Ark is an advocate for innovations in learning. As CEO of Getting Smart , he advises schools, districts, networks, foundations, and learning organizations on the path forward. Tom is the author of Getting Smart , Smart Cities That Work for Everyone , Smart Parents , Better Together , The Power of Place, and Difference Making at the Heart of Learning . He has published thousands of articles and papers through GettingSmart.com and LinkedIn. Previously he launched one of t...
Apr 18, 2025•32 min
Send us a text Kees Bol is the CEO of 2U , a global leader in education technology that expands access to affordable, career-relevant learning in partnership with the world's top universities, institutions, and industry experts. As CEO, Bol oversees all aspects of 2U's business while driving its long-standing mission: to provide learners worldwide with life-changing higher education that unlocks potential, fosters social mobility, and enhances economic security. Before joining 2U, he was the CEO...
Apr 14, 2025•38 min
Send us a text Pierre Le Manh , PMP, has been serving as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Project Management Institute since September 2022. A global executive with a multicultural background and experience in leading companies across multiple knowledge industries, he has a proven track record of delivering results and guiding organizations through complex transformations and globalization. Before joining PMI, he served as CEO for North America and as Global Deputy CEO at Ipsos. ...
Apr 07, 2025•51 min
Send us a text Brent Bushnell is an entrepreneur and engineer focused on experiences for entertainment and learning. He's the founder of Two Bit Circus , a live entertainment company that builds and exhibits all-ages, social attractions. He’s chairman of the non-profit Two Bit Foundation which uses games and play to inspire students about invention. Brent is a Sir Edmund Hillary Fellow, a supporter of Clowns Without Borders and publishes on social media @brentbushnell. 💡 5 Things You’ll Learn i...
Mar 31, 2025•53 min
Send us a text Join hosts Alex Sarlin and Ben Kornell as they break down a pivotal week of AI announcements, edtech disruption, and education policy shifts. ✨ Episode Highlights: [00:00:00] China introduces AI education for 6-year-olds, sparking urgency for U.S. to respond [00:05:23] OpenAI teases a creative writing model as Google and Anthropic push into coding AI [00:07:59] Gemini Canvas and Deep Research go free, redefining educational productivity tools [00:11:09] Copyright clash: OpenAI wan...
Mar 28, 2025•1 hr 27 min
Send us a text Lawton Smith is a literacy advocate focused on adolescent reading engagement and the co-founder and CEO of Literal (LiteralApp.com). Praised as a “game changer”, a “Top Tech for Advanced Learners of ELA”, and awarded a rare five stars out-of-five for “Student Engagement” by Common Sense Media, Literal is an all-in-one digital reading platform for modern classrooms that is fundamentally changing what it means to read books on screens. 💡 5 Things You’ll Learn in This Episode: Why r...
Mar 24, 2025•48 min
Send us a text In this special episode, we sit down with three innovative Stanford Graduate School of Education (GSE) students who are exploring cutting-edge applications of AI in education. Michael Chrzan is a Master’s student and Dean’s Fellow in the Education Data Science program at Stanford. A former Master Teacher in Detroit, he taught Mathematics and AP Computer Science for seven years. His research uses machine learning to predict large-scale school closures and inform equitable decision-...
Mar 17, 2025•57 min
