In this episode of No Such Thing , I talk with Laura Slover, Managing Director of the Skills for the Future initiative—a joint effort by ETS and the Carnegie Foundation. We explore what it means to move beyond the century-old Carnegie Unit and toward a system that captures the full spectrum of what learners know and can do. From internships to outdoor leadership, from dashboards to transcripts that actually reflect growth—this conversation is for anyone thinking about how we build a more human, ...
Jun 25, 2025•46 min•Ep. 142
Exploring how simulations are shaping education research and practice, with insights from the book Promoting Equity through Approximations of Practice in Mathematics Education . It examines how approximations of practice can help educators sharpen their skills while keeping equity at the forefront. It’s not just about improving instruction; it’s about ensuring that all students, regardless of background, have access to high-quality learning experiences. Links: Lee, C., Bondurant, L., Sapkota, B....
Jun 10, 2025•53 min•Ep. 141
For decades, the conversation around youth and technology has been dominated by powerful voices—media, researchers, and word-of-mouth warnings—painting a picture of digital tools as the looming threat to young people’s well-being. But what if that narrative isn’t the whole story? What if, instead, we favored the spectrum of possibilities in the digital present and future, instead of a good or evil binary. It would take a a vibrant counter-movement, led by passionate advocates and young people th...
May 21, 2025•58 min•Ep. 140
Roderic Crooks is an associate professor in the Department of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine. His research examines how the use of digital technology by public institutions contributes to the minoritization of working-class communities of color. His current project explores how community organizers in working-class communities of color use data for activist projects, even as they dispute the proliferation of data-intensive technologies in education, law enforcement, financia...
May 08, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 139
Sylvia Martinez was an aerospace engineer before becoming an educational software producer and vice president of a video game company. She spent a decade as the President of Generation YES, the groundbreaking non-profit that provides educators with the tools necessary to place students in leadership roles in their schools and communities. In addition to leading workshops, Sylvia delights and challenges audiences as a keynote speaker at major conferences around the world. She brings her real-worl...
Apr 03, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 138
Dave Edwards, PhD (ABD), MAT, is a queer person and career educator who has served in almost every role in preK-12th grade school communities. After getting started as a special education paraprofessional in an Autism classroom in Saint Paul Public Schools, he served as a special education teacher, middle/high school classroom teacher, special education coordinator, Dean of Students, and Assistant Head of School. From 2015-2018, Dave made the jump to higher education as lead instructor for the n...
Feb 25, 2025•55 min•Ep. 137
Moombix is an all-in-one solution for online music education that includes a vigorous marketplace with profiles for each teacher, a booking and payment system, a timeline that charts all communications and shared files, a calendar, lesson-planner and a learning platform that is tailored for the online lessons with all the basic tools within reach. Margret Juliana is an Icelandic serial entrepreneur and the founder of Moombix. She is a professional musician herself, a singer, pianist and a compos...
Jan 16, 2025•50 min•Ep. 136
Laylah Bulman (she/her) Laylah Bulman is a passionate advocate for immersive, inclusive game-based learning for all students. As Executive Producer for Minecraft: Education Edition, she leads strategy and content for computer science, cybersecurity and esports, producing leading learning experiences for students around the world, such as Minecraft’s Hour of Code. Laylah spearheaded the creation of Minecraft Esports and Microsoft Esports Teacher Academy, building a community of thousands of crede...
Dec 04, 2024•57 min•Ep. 135
After growing up with severe anxiety and firsthand experiencing the lack of mental health resources in schools, Tessa (she/her) founded Upstream Education to ensure teachers have the tools to help their students manage anxiety and foster well-being. She received a B.S. in Social Entrepreneurship from the Watson Institute at Lynn University. Tessa also holds a 200 hour yoga teacher certificate from Strala Yoga. In 2016, Tessa won the Denver Public Schools Imaginarium Innovation Lab's Design Chall...
Nov 12, 2024•54 min•Ep. 134
Barry F. Malkin is the Chief Executive Officer of Carnegie Learning . An active operator, investor, and advisor to the educational services sector for over 25 years, Barry took on the role of CEO in 2015. Prior to Carnegie Learning, he was Head of Corporate Development and Strategy at Apollo Education Group, leading corporate development and strategy for one of the world’s largest educational services companies. Carnegie Learning is the world’s leading edtech company using research and AI to dra...
Oct 22, 2024•52 min•Ep. 133
Read the report: AI in Professional Learning: Navigating Opportunities and Challenges for Educators Brendon Krall is a Research Project Manager at the Annenberg Institute at Brown University, where he assists the Research Partnership for Professional Learning (RPPL). Prior to joining Annenberg, Brendon worked as a research assistant for Dr. Stephen Raudenbush, at the Behavioral Insights and Parenting Lab, and at the World Bank's Development Impact Evaluation (DIME) group primarily focusing on pr...
Sep 26, 2024•47 min•Ep. 132
Dr. Chris Emdin (he/him) Dr. Christopher Emdin is the Maxine Greene Chair for Distinguished Contributions to Education and Professor of Science Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. He is also the Director of Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship At the STEAM DREAM and Ideal Lab. Sam Seidel (he/him) Sam Seidel has taught in a variety of settings, from first grade to community college, and directed youth programs for young people affected by incarceration. He now works with se...
Aug 02, 2024•49 min•Ep. 131
Dan White believes that good gameplay and good learning are complementary rather than oppositional forces. An alumnus of Cornell University and the University of Wisconsin – Madison, Dan earned an M.S. in Education Technology under seminal learning game scholars Drs. Kurt Squire and James Paul Gee. Prior to founding Filament, Dan worked as a teacher, an instructional designer, and a game developer. Dan’s passions include learning games, sustainability, mindfulness, and modernizing institutional ...
Jul 17, 2024•56 min•Ep. 130
Mike Flanagan is the CEO of the Mastery Transcript Consortium (MTC), a growing group of high schools creating a digital high school transcript that opens up opportunity for each and every student — from all backgrounds, locations, and types of schools — to have their unique strengths, abilities, interests, and histories fostered, understood, and celebrated. Mike oversaw the design and development of Mastery Transcript software products, connecting with members and advisors to manage the MTC prod...
Jun 19, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 129
Louisa Rosenheck is a thought leader in the ed tech field, with a passion for game-based learning and playful pedagogies. She works to promote deeper learning through designing playful experiences, developing creative ways to assess learning, and building capacity in other organizations to implement innovative digital learning and curriculum in their own contexts. She is a co-author of the book Resonant Games and teaches a graduate course on ed tech design at the Harvard Graduate School of Educa...
May 29, 2024•44 min•Ep. 128
Shai Reshef is the President of University of the People (UoPeople). Reshef has over 25 years of experience in the international education market. Reshef has been widely recognized for his work with UoPeople, including being awarded the 2023 Yidan Prize for Educational Development, referred to as the Nobel Prize for Education; an honorary doctorate from the Open University, named one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business; awarded an Ashoka fellowship; joined UN-GAID as a High-le...
May 16, 2024•53 min•Ep. 127
About Layla ( From Yolanda Stewart) The importance of having a space for young women of color to inquire about sexuality and mental health is often a challenge – and nearly non-existent in some cases. For Tiffany Lloyd, this is among the reasons for creating the online big sister “ Layla’s Got You. ” The multigenerational chatbot is a space for women of color who are seeking answers to personal questions and focuses on the premise of being a community made for women, by women. Layla embodies the...
Apr 24, 2024•59 min•Ep. 126
BackpackX is a new educational initiative from Women Rise which uses short film VR animations to create immersive experiences. BackpackX is designed to educate children (aged 8-14) from marginalised communities where the educational systems are broken or non-existent and focuses on important topics of their time such as gender equality, climate change, refugee crisis, financial independence, emerging technologies and more. Using the power of art and innovative technology, BackpackX will provide ...
Apr 04, 2024•50 min•Ep. 125
Stakeholders in a nascent program in NYC talk about their roles building formal pathways from high school programs to careers in the growing video game economy. Marc joins the gathering to celebrate one of partners' latest achievements in Harlem, a youth-driven exhibition that celebrates the role of video games in the lives of young people, challenging negative tropes about being an enemy to positive growth and development. Special thanks to Harlem School For The Arts, host and without whose sup...
Feb 26, 2024•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 124
Leticia Britos Cavagnaro, Ph.D. , is a scientist turned designer with a knack for creating transformative learning experiences. She holds a Ph.D. in Developmental Biology from Stanford's School of Medicine, and is a former member of the Research in Education & Design Lab (REDlab) from Stanford’s School of Education. She is the co-founder and co-Director of the University Innovation Fellows, a program of the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (d.school), which empowers students to be co-desig...
Feb 02, 2024•59 min•Ep. 123
About Blue Fever A high trust, community diary where authentic self expression unlocks peer support and resources for your well-being.We are a new type of social well-being platform for young people that provides a bridge between their mental health and wellness needs and the resources that can best support them. Greta McAnany I'm a VC backed entrepreneur + empath with media roots who believes innovation should serve our most human needs- I think mental health is the greatest challenge of our ge...
Dec 22, 2023•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 122
Eric Wang focuses on leveraging AI to improve learning experiences and promote academic integrity around the world. He leads the AI transformation of Turnitin as VP of AI. Turnitin is one of the world's largest EdTech companies. Turnitin AI, is a globe spanning AI research org that develops and deploys cutting edge scalable AI to improve teaching, feedback, efficiency, and academic integrity at over 16,000 educational institutions, reaching 40+ million students. Eric has over 15 years of hands-o...
Dec 04, 2023•58 min•Ep. 121
Priten Shah, M. ED and B.A, Harvard, is the CEO of Pedagogy.Cloud, which provides innovative technology solutions to help educators navigate global challenges in a rapidly evolving world. He is also the author of the Wiley’s Jossey-Bass publication, “ AI & The Future of Education: Teaching in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. “ Pedagogy.Cloud has worked with over 200 different educational organizations to adapt and innovate during major world events including the Covid-19 Pandemic. He and ...
Nov 09, 2023•46 min•Ep. 120
David McCool is President and CEO of Muzzy Lane , a company that was recently awarded 1EdTech™ 's 2022 Gold Learning Impact Award . Since founding the company, Dave’s goal has been to build technology that empowers authors to create compelling online experiences and helps students practice skills with guidance and feedback. Dave was previously involved in the founding of two successful startups. He graduated from MIT with a BSEE. He can be reached at dave@muzzylane.com or LinkedIn: https://www.l...
Oct 16, 2023•40 min•Ep. 119
Liza (Cope) Bondurant, PhD began her career in 2005 as a 7-12 math teacher in upstate New York and is currently an Associate Professor at Mississippi State University. Liza’s research focuses on bridging the gap between theory and practice in mathematics teacher education. She uses an equity-focused lens to study simulations, noticing, embodied cognition, and math action technology. She was a PI on two consecutive Department of Education Math Science Partnership grants (2013-2018) and has been a...
Aug 30, 2023•47 min•Ep. 118
Today's episode is about AI in Education, but more specifically we're talking to the guy I once designated without his permission, my New Math Therapist back in Episode 76 . Dan Meyer and I talk in this episode about AI's relationship to teaching math. Dan Meyer is the Chief Academic Officer at Desmos Dan loves questions, the kind that rattle around in your brain at all hours, in the shower, etc. Math always had the most interesting questions for him as a kid. Then math education as an adult. He...
Aug 08, 2023•50 min•Ep. 117
Lauren Race is an accessibility designer, researcher, and educator working in academia and industry. Her process combines human-centered, multisensory, and co-design methods to remove barriers to information access. After earning her master’s from NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP), she joined the NYU Ability Project—a research space dedicated to the intersection of disability and technology. There, she researches the design of accessible educational tools in formal and informal ...
Jul 06, 2023•53 min•Ep. 116
Dan Garcia (UC Berkeley MS 1995, PhD 2000) is a Teaching Professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department at UC Berkeley. Selected as an ACM Distinguished Educator in 2012 and ACM Distinguished Speaker in 2019, he has won all four of the department's computer science teaching awards, and holds the record for the highest teaching effectiveness ratings in the history of several of the department's courses. He is a national leader in the "CSforALL" and "A's for All (as time a...
Jun 13, 2023•56 min•Ep. 115
As President and CEO of ETS , Amit Sevak leads the largest private educational assessment organization in the world, delivering products and services across 200 countries, serving tens of millions of people each year. Sevak has been a driving force in education, learning and workforce development around the globe. He has led the University of Europe in Madrid in Spain, INTI International University in Malaysia and Universidad Tecnológica de México (UNITEC) in Mexico. His transformational style o...
May 18, 2023•41 min•Ep. 114
Dr. Elizabeth Bishop is an educator, researcher and youth advocate with two decades of instructional and administrative experience in public schools, universities and non-profit organizations across the United States. Bishop currently teaches on the faculty of the City University of New York and the University of San Francisco. She is Co-Founder of Global Turning Points, an international consulting collective based on the praxis of critical pedagogy. Bishop’s writing includes her 2015 “Becoming ...
Apr 25, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 113
