Send us a text In this episode, we ask some of our favorite guests (and Edtech C-suiters) to give their reviews of Edtech in 2022 and what we can expect to see in 2023. Karl Rectanus, CEO of LearnPlatform on Edtech Evidence in 2023 (2:54) Sarah Mauskopf, CEO of Winnie on Childcare and Teaching in 2023 (20:22) Maria Barrera, CEO of Clayful on SEL and COVID funding in 2023 (29:46) Sunil Gunderia, CIO of Age of Learning on Early Childhood Edtech (46:58) Anthony Kim, CLO of Scholarus Learning on AI ...
Jan 10, 2023•1 hr 32 min•Season 4Ep. 16
Send us a text Michael Preston, PhD is the Executive Director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center , a pioneering thought leader at the intersection of technology, media, and children’s learning. He leads the Center’s efforts to explore new frontiers and new literacies, support and translate research into action, and guide the field toward better opportunities and outcomes for kids. Previously, Michael co-founded CSforALL, the hub for the national Computer Science for All movement; after launching a 1...
Jan 09, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Season 4Ep. 15
Send us a text Steve Grubbs is the CEO and Co-Founder of VictoryXR , one of the world leaders in virtual reality educational product development. He founded VictoryStore.com, ChalkBites and Victory Enterprises. Steve is also YPO Member. Early in life, he served as Chairman of the House Education Committee in the Iowa House of Representatives and passed the largest technology funding bill in state history. More recently, he chaired the YPO Technology Network for two years. Steve is now working to...
Jan 03, 2023•45 min•Season 4Ep. 14
Send us a text Kris Jagasia is the co-founder and CEO of Off2Class , responsible for directing company strategy and vision. He has built the commercial teams at the company including, sales, marketing and customer success. As the son of immigrants, Kris grew up with a keen appreciation for the benefits of learning – his parents investing the lion's share of their resources in his own multilingual education. He saw the power of education to create limitless opportunities. That background wou...
Jan 03, 2023•16 min•Season 4Ep. 13
Send us a text 2022 was a consequential year for Edtech. Join us as we review some of the top trends of the year! In this super-sized episode, Ben and Alex review top trends from the year that was and make some predictions for 2023. We discuss: The "Edtech winter" for startups worldwide, with a renewed focus on profitability The crash in Chinese edtech and the continued rise for India, Europe and other regions. Increasing consolidation in the sector through mergers and acquisitions The...
Jan 01, 2023•1 hr 20 min•Season 4Ep. 12
Send us a text This episode features special guest Joshua Broggi of Woolf University , the first global collegiate higher education institution that allows education organizations to join as member colleges and offer accredited degrees. In this episode we discuss: 1) Higher Education's Sea Change (Axios) - Changes coming to higher ed from many directions- testing, rankings, enrollment woes, hybrid courses and more. How can Edtech best support HE in a time of great pressure and change? 2) Cr...
Dec 20, 2022•51 min•Season 4Ep. 11
Send us a text Heather Shen is the CPO and co-founder of Praxis Labs. As graduate students at Stanford, Shen and classmate Elise Smith, 30, bonded over their mutual interest in helping companies and institutions do a better job at diversity and inclusion training. They came up with the idea for Praxis Labs, a startup that can deliver diversity training using either VR headsets, mobile phones, laptops or desktops. Heather is a member of the Forbes 30 Under 30 List for Education. Heather has also ...
Dec 19, 2022•51 min•Season 4Ep. 10
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Dec 15, 2022•50 min•Season 4Ep. 9
Send us a text Cherian Thomas is a senior vice president at BYJU’S who led the company’s acquisition of Osmo from BYJU’S and the company’s entry to the North American market—as its first international employee. A computer scientist by training and a self-proclaimed nerd through his college years and beyond, Cherian began his career as an engineer and quickly found his passion in the world of startups, including the gaming company Zynga. Prior to BYJU’S, Cherian founded his own startup, Cucumbert...
Dec 15, 2022•50 min•Season 4Ep. 8
Send us a text Dr. Yair Shapira is the founder and CEO of Amplio. Following two decades as an executive in successful start ups, he founded Amplio to help the millions of children with special needs maximize their potential, starting with his son, who stutters. His previous roles include executive positions in sales, marketing, business development and R&D. Dr. Shapira holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering and speech processing from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. Luann L. P...
Dec 12, 2022•52 min•Season 4Ep. 7
Send us a text Kate Eberle Walker is an education industry leader, author, and working mom with more than 20 years of experience managing, advising, acquiring, and investing in high-profile education companies. Currently, Kate is the CEO of Presence , the leading provider of teletherapy services for children with diverse needs. Previously, Kate was CEO of The Princeton Review and Tutor.com , and she managed strategy and investments for Kaplan, Inc. She has served on several education-focused boa...
Dec 05, 2022•51 min•Season 4Ep. 6
Send us a text This Week, we cover: 1. McKinsey Reports on Edtech Five Trends to Watch in the Edtech Industry 2. Owl Ventures Owl Outcomes Report 3. Online Tutoring Schools across the U.S. have turned to Paper’s online tutoring. Some worry it’s falling short 4. Mental Health Hiring Crisis in Schools: Schools struggle to staff up for youth mental health crisis | AP News Schools struggle to hire more mental health professionals for students | PBS NewsHour 5. Edx + Emeritus edX Teams Up with Emerit...
Nov 30, 2022•58 min•Season 4Ep. 5
Send us a text Younes Mourri is the CEO and Founder of Livetech.ai , a course platform that offers low-cost high quality instructor-led courses in high-demand technical subjects. Younes is the co-creator many of the most popular artificial intelligence MOOCs, including Andrew Ng’s Artifical Intelligence class and Deeplearning.ai’s Natural Language Processing specialization. Younes holds a Master’s and Ph.D in Artificial Intelligence from MIT and a Master’s in Statistics from Stanford, where he h...
Nov 28, 2022•41 min•Season 4Ep. 4
Send us a text Pablo Simko is the Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Coleap , a marketplace of expert-designed learning communities. Previously, he was the Chief Operating Officer at Elenas, a startup which enables Latin American women to set up online stores from the comfort of their mobile phones and has onboarded 300,000+ entrepreneurs throughout the region, and a Chief of Staff at Polymath Ventures, a startup studio for emerging markets. Resources: Building the Intentional University by Stephen M. Kos...
Nov 21, 2022•41 min•Season 4Ep. 3
Send us a text On this Week in Edtech: 1) A16z on Edtech Andreessen Horowitz is 'betting heavily' on edtech 2) Layoffs in Tech... Latest layoffs: Companies making cuts Thousands of tech workers were laid off last week 3) ...and Edtech Ed Tech - LayoffsTracker Coursera announces layoffs Unacademy cuts 10% of jobs Brainly Fires Employees 4) Indian Edtech is Messi BYJU'S unveils Lionel Messi as Global Brand Ambassador Will Offline Push Help Unacademy, BYJU’S & Co Beat Edtech Blue...
Nov 14, 2022•47 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Send us a text Evan Hill-Ries is Deputy General Counsel at Amplify , a next-generation curriculum and assessment company serving 10 million students in all 50 states. Responsible for supporting Amplify's K–8 digital curriculum product teams on content issues, development best practices, data privacy, and sales and marketing compliance, as well as company-wide work on corporate and strategic transactions, equity incentive plans, information security, accessibility, and HR policies. Evan has ...
Nov 14, 2022•1 hr 17 min•Season 4Ep. 1
Send us a text On this Week In Edtech, we talk to: Mohammed Almadani, CEO of Classera , a gamified and personalized LMS for emerging markets that raised $40M this week Matthew Rascoff, Vice Provost for Digital Education at Stanford University, and the Stanford Digital Education Team about their Pandemic-Era Online Learning Strategy report We also cover: Election Season in the US Why National Advocates Are Getting More Involved in School Board Elections At Center of MI Election, a School Choice M...
Nov 08, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Season 3Ep. 30
Send us a text In this first-of-its-kind episode, Edtech Insiders hosts a debate about the value of Practical vs. Classical Education. What is the true goal of education? In an age when the talk of the "ROI" of education is everywhere, what is the role of the classical liberal arts ideal of an enlightened and informed citizenry? Dr. Christian Marty studied history, philosophy and media studies at the University of Zurich and received his doctorate there in 2019 with a thesis on Max Web...
Nov 07, 2022•47 min•Season 3Ep. 29
Send us a text Shawn Young is a co-founder and CEO of Classcraft Studios Inc . He taught 11th grade physics for 9 years, holds a bachelor’s degree in physics and master’s in education from Université de Sherbrooke and is also a seasoned web developer. Shawn is the vice-president of the Edteq Association and is an Ambassador for the Education faculty of University of Sherbrooke. Classcraft is an Engagement Management System for schools, making it easy for schools to inject gamification into many ...
Oct 31, 2022•56 min•Season 3Ep. 28
Send us a text In this episode, we speak to Claire Chen of Stanford GSB and Brighteye Ventures, who just put out the brand new report, Understanding the Edtech Content Landscape . We also discuss: 1) Video & Tiktok in Education Revyze is building the TikTok of educational videos ( Techcrunch ) Kids content to remain ad-free on Netflix ( Kidscreen ) Consumers turning from SVOD to AVOD and FAST ( Digital TV Europe ) 2) College Environment Shifts, In Part Due to Decreased Enrollment As Enrollme...
Oct 30, 2022•53 min•Season 3Ep. 27
Send us a text In this episode, we speak with Joe Connor of Odyssey , which raised a $4.75M dollar seed round this week to help districts and families use flexible education funding sources, like Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) and microgrants. Ben and Alex also discuss: 1) Elections & Education: The Rise of Education Polarization Is College Worth It? Voters Are Split. ( Five Thirty Eight ) How the Diploma Divide Is Remaking American Politics ( New York ) ‘There Are Two Americas Now: One W...
Oct 30, 2022•56 min•Season 3Ep. 26
Send us a text Monica Arés is the Head of Immersive Learning at Meta, where she is focused on building an ecosystem that will allow anyone, anywhere to learn and grow in the metaverse. As a Harvard Graduate School of Education alumna, former math educator, curriculum developer, and planetarium director, Monica is at the forefront of skilling the next generation of AR/VR creators and developing products, programs and content to make learning more powerful and accessible. In this podcast, we discu...
Oct 24, 2022•55 min•Season 3Ep. 25
Send us a text Guest Julia Stiglitz, CEO of CoRise and former GSV partner The Massive Lego/Brainpop acquisition Lego Acquires Brainpop - WSJ Questioning the ROI for Higher Ed Ranking 4,500 Colleges by ROI (2022) How liberal arts colleges are adding work-focused courses students want Byju's Layoffs/Edtech in India Byju’s cuts 2,500 jobs Post-Pandemic World Poses Existential Challenge to India’s Edtech Sector Online Ed Research What researchers learned about online higher education during the...
Oct 19, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Season 3Ep. 24
Send us a text In this episode, we speak to Greg Toppo and Jim Tracy, co-authors of Running with Robots: The American High School’s Third Century from MIT Press, available at Amazon , Bookshop or wherever you get your books! Greg Toppo is a journalist with more than 25 years of experience, most of it covering education. He spent 15 years as the national education reporter for USA Today and was most recently a senior editor for Inside Higher Ed. From 2017 to 2021, he was president of the Educatio...
Oct 17, 2022•1 hr 16 min•Season 3Ep. 23
Send us a text In this episode, we talk to some of the standout stars of the StartEd New York Edtech Week conference. Sari, Kide Science (story-based early years learning with platform for educators from Finland!) Nikita Gupta, Symba (internship and apprenticeship management) Matthew Evans, Julius (job training for green economy jobs) Rachel Jordan, TeachFX (measuring pedagogical 'talk' in the classroom) Warning: This was a crowded event, and the audio quality of the interviews can be ...
Oct 12, 2022•57 min•Season 3Ep. 22
Send us a text In this episode, guest host Matt Tower of Edtech Thoughts and Alex discuss: 1. The Possible "Second Boom" of the Edtech Investing Market as per Brighteye The evolution of Edtech: Activity in private and public markets | Dealroom.co Edtech’s honeymoon might be over, but expect a second boom | TechCrunch 2) Addictive Game Mechanics Used For Good Opinion | I Make Video Games. I Won’t Let My Daughters Play Them. - The New York Times (nytimes.com) Roblox jumping into ads in e...
Oct 12, 2022•42 min•Season 3Ep. 21
Send us a text In this short episode, we talk to Jamie Poskin, CEO and founder of TeachFX , about TeachFX's new $10mm funding round and how the company is finding a completely new source of classroom data in the 'talk' that happens in both online and in-person classes.
Oct 10, 2022•13 min•Season 3Ep. 20
Send us a text In this episode, we speak to Shawna Young and Mitchel Resnick of the Scratch Foundation , which runs the largest creative computing community in the world around the Scratch programming language. Recommended Resources: Mitch Resnick and Ken Robinson, Lifelong Kindergarten 2021 Scratch Foundation Annual Report Shawna Young is the Executive Director of the Scratch Foundation. Before coming to Scratch, Young led the Duke University Talent Identification Program (Duke TIP), one of the...
Oct 10, 2022•58 min•Season 3Ep. 19
Send us a text Acky Kamdar is the CEO of Magic EdTech and Magic Finserv. He is a technology entrepreneur and an investor in the fields of digital technologies, blockchain, machine learning, AI and NLP. Acky has over 25 years of experience in Process Management, Technology Solutions, and Outsourcing services at companies like Genpact, Headstrong, Compaq Computers and the HCL group. Currently, he also serves as General Partner at Solmark, a NY-based entrepreneurs equity fund. Recommended Resources...
Oct 03, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Season 3Ep. 18
Send us a text Francie Alexander is Chief Research Officer at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) and an industry leader in the fields of Early Childhood Education, Literacy, and Intensive Intervention for striving reading and math students. Francie provides inspirational and informative leadership on topics from early and adolescent learning to brain development and its influence on childhood and teenage learning and is focused on Future Ready Readers and the future of learning. She works closely t...
Sep 26, 2022•51 min•Season 3Ep. 17
