Edtech Insiders
At Edtech Insiders, we interview founders, investors, operators, educators, and thought leaders about the future of education technology. You’ll hear from leaders across the education technology industry and learn about all of the important edtech trends happening globally.
Episodes
372 episodes
Exploring Science in Virtual Reality with FotonVR’s Vijay Thakkar & Nisha Panchal
Vijay Thakkar is a visionary entrepreneur, educator, and the CEO & Co-founder of FotonVR. He’s transforming the way children learn...
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Season 10
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49:34
Week in EdTech 7/16/2025: ChatGPT Agents, AI Companions for Teens, Google’s Gemini Push, Windsurf Talent Wars, Scale AI Layoffs and More! Feat. Writer Matthew Gasda & Marc Graham of Spark Education AI
Join hosts Alex Sarlin and Claire Zau, a Partner and AI Lead at GSV Ventures as they explores the latest developments in educat...
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Season 10
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1:32:42
Securly’s Vision for Safer, Smarter School Technology with CEO, Tammy Wincup
Tammy Wincup has served for over 25 years as a business executive at the intersection of technology and education. Tammy is currently the Chief Executive Officer of
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Season 10
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50:04
Week in Edtech 7/9/2025: OpenAI’s $28M K-12 Push, Meta’s Talent War, Higher Ground Bankruptcy, Teaching Lab + Relay Merger & More! Feat. Josh Reibel, Dreamscape Learn; Dr. Jennifer Cruz, Pendergast Elementary; & Thomas Thompson & Thomas Hummel, Eduaide.ai
Join hosts Alex Sarlin and Ben Kornell as they explore the latest developments in education technology, from AI showdowns to immersive learning pilots and funding updates.✨ Episode Highlights:[00:02:00] OpenAI announ...
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Season 10
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1:37:34
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Celebrating Teacher Leadership with Edthena's 2025 Impact Award Winners
In this special episode, we speak with the founder of Edthena and five outstanding educators who were honored as 2025 Teacher Leader Impact Award winners. Each guest shares how they’re shaping the future of professional learning, using technolo...
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Season 10
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1:24:31
Why AI Education Should Start at Age Six and How to Do It Right with Sam Whitaker of Studyfetch
Sam Whitaker is the Senior Director of Social Impact and Institutional Development at StudyFetch, an all-encompassing AI learning pla...
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Season 10
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47:56
Week in Edtech 7/2/2025: Google Unveils 50 AI Tools for Schools, $6B in Federal Funding Frozen, ICE Raids Impact Attendance, 60% of Teachers Use AI, and More! Feat. Matt Dalio of Endless Studios & Anne Trumbore, Author of The Teacher in the Machine
Join hosts Alex Sarlin and Ben Kornell with guest Jacob Kantor as they explore a transformative Week-in-Edtech, from Google’s AI-powered classroom revolution to major political sh...
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Season 10
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1:34:52
AI as an Extra Set of Hands: Redefining Classroom Roles with Matt Miller of OKO Labs
Matt Miller is the CEO and Co-Founder of OKO Labs, an innovative EdTech company developing human-centric, pro-social AI to power collabora...
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Season 10
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46:00
Week in Edtech 6/25/25: MIT Study on AI Sparks Brain-Rot Fears, Cheating Scandal in Debate Nationals, Teachers Sound the Alarm on LLMs, and More! Feat. Sara DeWitt of PBS KIDS & José Francisco Ochoa Ordóñez of Academia del Océano
Join hosts Alex Sarlin and Ben Kornell for a thought-provoking summer edition of Week in Edtech, featuring headline debates on AI in education, a rare look into PBS KIDS’ funding crisis, and grassroots innovation in ocean learning from Ecuador....
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Season 10
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57:08
Sizzle AI and the Rise of the AI Study Companion with Jerome Pesenti
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...
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Season 10
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30:17
Week in Edtech 6/18/25 (Part 2): Featuring Special Guests Yesi Sevilla of Chalk and Ed Buckley & Marlee Strawn of Scholar Education
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.[00:02:1...
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Season 10
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58:51
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Week in Edtech 6/18/25 (Part 1): Professors Battle Cheating, Students Lose Sleep, Meta Buys Scale AI, AI Use Doubles, Gallup & McKinsey Reveal AI Trends, OpenAI Faces Backlash, Handwriting Returns, Parents Drive College Choices, and More!
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 b...
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Season 10
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1:04:31
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How Renaissance Learning Built a Unified Edtech Ecosystem – With Eric Swanson & Storey Sitwala
Eric Swanson currently holds the position of Senior Vice President of Practice and Instructional Products at Renaissance Learning. ...
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Season 10
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52:43
Week in Edtech 6/11/25: OpenAI’s $10B Milestone, Meta’s AI Superteam, Grammarly’s $1B Raise, Ohio State’s AI Mandate, IXL & CodeHS Acquisitions, and More! Feat. Rod Danan of Prentus & Lars-Petter Kjos of We Are Learning
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...
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Season 10
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1:16:48
Tuck Advisors on When to Sell, Scale, or Stay the Course in EdTech with Dr. Mike McKenna
Dr. Mike McKenna is the Senior Advisor at Tuck Advisors and also serves as the Chief Academic Officer for one of the largest s...
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Season 10
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25:35
Why Flashy Valuations Fail in EdTech: Juan Zavala of NMVP on Sustainable Growth
Juan Zavala joined New Markets Venture Partners in 2019 and is a Partner. He is responsible for sourcing, evaluat...
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Season 10
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57:22
Scratch: Margaret Honey on the Platform That Makes Kids Feel Like Superheroes
Dr. Margaret Honey joined the Scratch Foundation as the organization’s President & CEO in January 2024. She is...
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Season 10
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37:39
Week in Edtech 5/21/2025: Duolingo CEO Sparks Debate, Google I/O’s AI Tools, OpenAI’s Codex Launch, and More! Feat. Senan Khawaja of Kollegio and Rebecca Taber Staehelin & Connor Diemand-Yauman of Merit America
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...
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Season 10
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1:15:37
Handwriting Meets High Tech: David Bleicher on Jotit's Mission to Reinvent Classroom Learning
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 ...
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Season 10
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29:18
Week in Edtech 5/14/25: AI Lawsuits in Classrooms, Utah’s EdTech Surge, Youth Unemployment Rises, Google’s Gemini Targets Students, Corporate AI Layoffs Accelerate, Personalized Tutoring at Scale, and More! Feat. Sam Chaudhary of ClassDojo
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]
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Season 10
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1:03:31
The Secret Playbook to EdTech Sales with Starbridge CEO Justin Wenig
This is a very special episode featuring our sponsor,
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Season 10
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49:50
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Why AI Alone Won’t Fix Education—MacKenzie Price Explains the Missing Ingredient
MacKenzie Price is a Stanford grad, mom of two, and the Co-Founder of 2 Hour Learning - a revolutionary learning platform that har...
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Season 10
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50:55
Week in Edtech 5/7/2025: Columbia’s AI Cheating Scandal, Duolingo’s AI Shift, AI Education Mandate, Google’s AI Overviews Cut Clicks 34.5%, Higher Ed Under Fire, and More! Feat. Brian Malkin of Rang, John Marshall of Brainfreeze & Scott Nadzan of Panopto
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 High...
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Season 10
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1:30:59
Can Teachers Outsmart AI? Mike Yates on AI Poetry Slams and Hackathons at the Reinvention Lab
Mike Yates is a Senior Designer at Teach for America's Reinvention Lab, with over a decade of experience at the intersection of te...
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Season 10
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29:54
Week in Edtech 5/2/2025: Trump’s AI and Workforce Orders, Accreditation Shakeup, ESSER Fallout, Israel’s AI Tutors, Duolingo’s Language Leap, and More! Feat. Anna Iarotska of Robo Wunderkind, Julia Dixon of ESAI, and Tigran Sloyan of CodeSignal
Join host Alex Sarlin alongside special guest co-hosts Ben Wallerstein and Anna Kimsey Edwards, Co-Fo...
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Season 10
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1:19:29
