Edtech Insiders
Episodes
491 episodes
HigherEd Series: Can AI Help Higher Education Find Its Purpose Again? With Paul LeBlanc of Southern New Hampshire University
Paul LeBlanc is the former president of Southern New Hampshire University, the largest non-profit provider of online higher educ...
Can AI Actually Teach? Inside Oboe with Nir Zicherman
Nir Zicherman is the CEO of Oboe. Oboe's mission is to teach one billion people one trillion things. In 2015, Nir co-founded Anchor,...
Week in Edtech 8/26/26: Federal EdTech Evidence Guidance, AI Backlash in Schools, OpenAI’s 55 District Deals, Harvard AI Faculty Avatars, MIT Rethinks Learning, and More! Feat. Carl Madi of Stepful & Manny Smith of EdVisorly
Join hosts Ben Kornell and Alex Sarlin as they break down new federal guidance on edtech evidence and efficacy, the growing backlash against AI and big tech in schools, Harvard's AI faculty avatars, and MIT's evolving approach to teaching and l...
HigherEd Series: What Would Higher Education Look Like If We Started Over? with Sasha Thackaberry-Voinovich of Newstate University
Dr. Sasha Thackaberry-Voinovich founded Newstate University in 2026, bringing 20+ years of education leadership from executive roles at Ski...
Why Leadership Matters More Than Technology with Aneesh Sohoni of Teach For America
Aneesh Sohoni is CEO of Teach For America and a former high school English teacher and TFA corps membe...
.png)
Week in Edtech 8/19/26: ChatGPT for Teens, $265M Reach Capital Fund, The EdTech Backlash, AI’s Competitive Shakeup, and More! Feat. Sabine Wallis, NWEA & Andy Rotherham and Marisa Mission, Bellwether
Join hosts Ben Kornell and Alex Sarlin as they break down the biggest stories shaping AI, Edtech investment, the growing tech backlash, and the future of assessment.✨ Episode Highlights:[00:05:47] ChatGPT for Teens introduces ...
Why Edtech Needs Less Hype and More Honesty with Tony Wan & Betsy Corcoran
Tony Wan is Head of Platform at Reach Capital and co-founder and former managing editor of EdSurg...
Week in Edtech 8/12/26: Educator AI Adoption Hits 80%, Varsity Tutors Exits Schools, Higher Ed Rethinks Grading, Open vs. Closed AI, and More! Feat. Reg Leichty of Foresight Law + Policy & Mike Wales and Madison McCormick of CodePath
Join hosts Ben Kornell and Alex Sarlin as they break down the biggest stories shaping educator confidence, tutoring, higher ed grading, AI models, education policy, and AI workforce development.✨ Episode Highlights:[00:02:47] ...
.png)
Inside Reach Capital’s $265M Fund V with Jomayra Herrera
Jomayra Herrera is a Partner at Reach Capital, an early-stage venture fund investing across learning, health, and work. Previous...
.png)
AI Should Support Teachers, Not Replace Them with Joy Delizo-Osborne of Student Achievement Partners
Joy Delizo-Osborne is President and CEO of Student Achievement Partners, where she works to improve instructional quality and connec...
.png)
Week in Edtech 8/5/26: Higher Ed Leadership Turnover Accelerates, OpenAI Expands Its Education Push, AI “Slop” Floods Teachers Pay Teachers, Students Propose AI Rules, and More! Feat. Janice Jackson of Aspen Institute
Join hosts Ben Kornell and Alex Sarlin as they break down the biggest stories shaping higher education, AI adoption, school technology policy, and the future of learning.✨ Episode Highlights:[00:05:13] Higher ed leadership tur...
How Boddle Turned Classroom Math into a Game Kids Choose to Play with Edna Martinson
Edna Martinson is the Co-founder and COO of Boddle Learning, a gamified K–6 learning platform used by millions of students to b...
.png)
Week in Edtech 7/29/26: Gates Foundation Shakeup, OpenAI's AI Workforce Push, Y Combinator Backs AI Tutors, Coursera Invests $100M on AI Learning, and More! Feat. Kavitta Ghai of Nectir & Aidan McDowell of UniqLearn
Join hosts Ben Kornell and Alex Sarlin as they break down the biggest stories shaping AI, edtech investment, philanthropy, the future of work, and AI-powered learning.✨ Episode Highlights:[00:02:33] Bridges AI Summit brings di...
Inside the Inaugural Columbians in EdTech Showcase: Meet the Winners
Inside Columbia's First EdTech Showcase, Alex Sarlin sits down with the founders and leaders behind the inaugural Columbia EdTech Showcase to explore the startups, ideas, and innovations shaping the future of learning from AI-powered discussion...
Claude for Teachers: How Anthropic Is Reimagining AI for Educators with Drew Bent & Sandra Liu Huang
Drew Bent leads Education at Anthropic, where he oversees education initiatives including Claude for Teachers. A former math teacher, Kha...
Student-Centered Learning, AI, and School Redesign with Julie Young of Florida Virtual School
Julie Young is the Founding CEO of Florida Virtual School (FLVS), where she helped pioneer online public education and expand access to mi...
.png)
Week in Edtech 7/15/26: NYC Pauses AI Procurement, Anthropic Launches Claude for Teachers, Norway Restricts AI in Schools, and More! Feat. Louise Baigelman of Storyshares & Ashish Bansal of StarSpark.AI
Join hosts Alex Sarlin and Ben Kornell as they discuss the latest developments in education technology, from growing AI skepticism in schools and major policy shifts to Anthropic's education strategy and conversations with founders tackling lit...
.png)
Why Kids Should Help Design EdTech: Inside the Joan Ganz Cooney Center's Co-Design Movement
Michael Preston, Executive Director, Medha Tare, Senior Director of Research, and
Building an AI Tutor That Gets Students to Think with Sue Khim of Brilliant
Sue Khim is the Co-founder and CEO of Brilliant, the interactive learning platform that has helped millions of learners build deep u...
Week in Edtech 7/1/26: ETS Acquires ACT, Handshake Buys Uplimit, Google's Biggest ISTE AI Announcements, Microsoft AI Adoption Survey, and More! Feat. Karlo Young of Teachstone & Tom Sayer of Ello
Join hosts Ben Kornell and Alex Sarlin as they cover major edtech acquisitions, the biggest AI announcements from ISTE, the future of assessment, and how AI is reshaping teaching and learning.✨ Episode Highlights:[00:04:...
.png)
How AI Coaching Is Transforming STEM Classrooms with Smita Saxena & Alexia Lewis of Maestro
Smita Saxena is the Founder of Maestro, an AI coaching platform helping K-12 STEM teachers improve instruction and student outcomes. Alexia Lewis is an 8th Gr...
.png)
Week in Edtech 6/24/26: Anthropic's $150M AI Workforce Push, Europe's AI Literacy Framework, $27M Social Media Lawsuit, EdSurge's Decline, AI Backlash, and More! Feat. Dr. Ran Liu of Amira Learning & Antonio Pietri of PowerSchool
Join hosts Alex Sarlin and special guest host Daniela Pico, Head of Platform at Forum Ventures, as they discuss the AI backlash, workfor...
Week in Edtech 6/17/26: OpenAI, Google & Anthropic Expand AI Workforce Training, UK Weighs Social Media Ban, DonorsChoose AI Requests Surge, and More! Feat. Tom ap Simon of Pearson & France Hoang of BoodleBox
Join hosts Alex Sarlin and special guest co-host Gemma Lenowitz Picot of Samvid Ventures as they break down the la...
.png)
.png)