ASU+GSV Summit

Recorded live at the 2026 ASU+GSV Summit, Mary McCall Leland sat down with Kavitta Ghai, Co-Founder and CEO of Nectir — the Higher Education category Fan Favorite for the 2026 GSV Cup, presented by AWS & GSV Ventures and supported by Pearson. They discussed how AI infrastructure is transforming higher education by delivering personalized, FERPA-compliant learning support for every student.This GSVtv interview explores how Nectir integrates directly into learning management systems to provide AI-powered tutoring, advising, and student support while keeping faculty in control through pedagogical guardrails. Kavitta shares the inspiration behind building Nectir, the company's recent $12.5 million Series A funding, its partnership with the California Community Colleges system, and why equitable access to personalized learning is central to the future of higher education.

Watch the 2026 GSV Cup Fan Favorite finals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZXZt-wlsF0

Recorded live at the 2026 ASU+GSV Summit, GSV's Amanda Grace David sat down with Luyen Chou, Founder and CEO of DeweyLearn — the Workforce category Fan Favorite for the 2026 GSV Cup, presented by AWS & GSV Ventures and supported by Pearson. They discussed how AI can bring expert-level analysis to teaching and learning through video-based classroom insights.This GSVtv interview explores how the company uses AI to analyze classroom interactions, coaching sessions, and other learning environments to provide scalable insights into student engagement, teaching practices, and learning outcomes. Luyen Chou also reflects on the evolution of education technology, the opportunities created by AI-native companies, and his advice for the next generation of education entrepreneurs.Watch the 2026 GSV Cup Fan Favorite finals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZXZt-wlsF0

Julie Lammers, President and CEO of Britebound, joined Alex Sarlin at the ASU+GSV Summit 2026 to discuss how career readiness, profession-based learning, and AI are helping middle and high school students prepare for a rapidly changing workforce.Recorded live at the ASU+GSV Summit 2026, this GSVtv podcast explores Britebound's mission to expand career exploration and work-based learning opportunities for young people. Julie Lammers discusses the organization's evolution from American Student Assistance to Britebound, the importance of career readiness beginning in middle school, profession-based learning, AI-powered career navigation, durable skills, policy, and the launch of a new tool designed to help students navigate education and career pathways.

Sandra Liu Huang, President of Learning Commons, and Laurence Holt, Senior Advisor at XQ Institute and Teaching Lab, joined Alex Sarlin at the ASU+GSV Summit 2026 to discuss how shared AI infrastructure can help education technology deliver more effective, research-based learning experiences at scale.Recorded live at the ASU+GSV Summit 2026, this GSVtv podcast explores how Learning Commons is building open infrastructure for AI in education through its Knowledge Graph, educational evaluators, and developer platform. Sandra Liu Huang and Laurence Holt discuss the importance of learning science, shared standards, curriculum mapping, background knowledge, AI quality evaluation, and why open tools can help developers create more effective products that better support teachers and students.

Sandra Liu Huang, President of Learning Commons, and Thomas Thompson, Co-Founder and CEO of Eduaide, joined Alex Sarlin at the ASU+GSV Summit 2026 to discuss how open AI evaluation tools are helping developers build higher-quality educational experiences that improve teaching and learning.Recorded live at the ASU+GSV Summit 2026, this GSVtv podcast explores Learning Commons' latest literacy evaluators and how they enable education technology developers to measure AI-generated content against research-based educational standards. Sandra Liu Huang and Thomas Thompson discuss grade-level appropriateness, background knowledge, instructional scaffolding, transparency, and the importance of open infrastructure and rigorous evaluation to ensure AI supports meaningful student outcomes.

Jason Fournier, Senior Vice President of Product Management, AI Initiatives, and Data at Imagine Learning, and Sambit Mohanty, Associate Vice President and Head of Education Practice at Infosys, joined Alex Sarlin at the ASU+GSV Summit 2026 to discuss how AI can improve student outcomes by supporting educators, scaling innovation, and strengthening education systems.Recorded live at the ASU+GSV Summit 2026, this GSVtv podcast explores how AI is delivering measurable value across education—from accelerating teacher feedback and improving student engagement to enabling institutions to identify at-risk students and scale personalized support. Jason Fournier and Sambit Mohanty discuss the importance of curriculum-informed AI, institutional readiness, data foundations, faculty adoption, responsible AI governance, and why successful AI implementations are designed to enhance, not replace, human judgment.

Recorded live at the 2026 ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego, this session featured Vivian Wu, Managing Partner, Ventures at Chan Zuckerberg Initiative; Atin Batra, Director, Impact Investing at ECMC Group’s Education Impact Fund; Matt Zieger, Chief Programs and Partnerships Officer at GitLab Foundation; and Esther Benjamin, CEO & ED at World Education Services.

Philanthropy had increasingly begun borrowing from venture and open-source models, prioritizing speed, transparency, and proximity to the people it serves. This session brought together foundation leaders rethinking the fundamentals of philanthropic capital, including shorter funding cycles that enable rapid learning, ROI frameworks that guide decisions rather than constrain them, and collaborative models that invite educators and learners to help co-create public goods.

Drawing on lessons from open-source communities and organizations, speakers explored how philanthropy can act with agility even without perfect data, break out of silos, and translate good intentions into meaningful progress at scale. The conversation examined how mission-driven organizations can adopt startup-speed principles while maintaining a focus on long-term public value and equitable impact.

By redefining how philanthropic capital is deployed, this session highlighted a new playbook for foundations seeking to move faster, learn continuously, and build more responsive systems for social and educational innovation.

Recorded live at the 2026 ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego, this session featured Deepanshu Arora, Founder & CEO at Toddle; Arif Karakus, CFO at Doping Technology; Joleen Liang, Co-founder at Squirrel AI Learning; Zara Zaman, Investor & Head of Platform at Emerge Capital; and Joy Chen, Senior Advisor at GSV Ventures and Stanford Accelerator for Learning.

Some of the world’s most ambitious EdTech companies had been built not in Silicon Valley, but in intensely competitive markets around the globe defined by massive demand, rapid iteration, and high stakes for learners and families. As more of these companies looked beyond their home markets, this session explored why the path from local success to global relevance is anything but straightforward.

This conversation brought together founders and operators at different stages of international expansion to examine what it truly takes to scale globally. Speakers discussed key challenges and strategic decisions spanning early market selection, product localization, partnerships, regulation, and organizational readiness. Panelists also shared lessons learned, ongoing missteps, and practical insights from navigating the complexities of expanding across borders.

By exploring how leading EdTech companies move from dominant local players to globally relevant organizations, this session highlighted the operational, strategic, and cultural considerations shaping the next generation of international education innovation.

Recorded live at the 2026 ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego, this session featured Kaylee Seely, Head of Immersive at Pearson Labs, Pearson; Elina Ollila, Deputy Center Director and Professor of Practice at Endless Games and Learning Lab at ASU; Nicole Staubli, Head of Education at Meta; and Jim Chilton, Board Director at SNHU Board.

Immersive technology had long promised to transform learning, but this session explored how the real shift today is not hype—it is infrastructure. With game engines, spatial computing, and high-fidelity world-building tools now making it possible to construct persistent learning environments, speakers examined how students can increasingly explore, manipulate, and inhabit educational spaces in new ways.

This conversation focused on how immersive learning is moving beyond one-off VR experiences into fully realized educational worlds. From digital twins of laboratories and historical sites to interactive simulations that mirror real systems, panelists discussed how the next generation of platforms is building environments where learning happens through participation rather than observation.

Speakers also examined what it takes to bring immersive learning into real classrooms, including the technical stack behind these environments, the design principles that make virtual worlds educationally meaningful, and the practical realities of district adoption as immersive tools move from experimentation to infrastructure.

By exploring both the promise and implementation challenges of AI + XR, this session highlighted how immersive technologies may finally be positioned to scale as meaningful educational infrastructure in the future of learning.

Recorded live at the 2026 ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego, this session featured Brian Johnsrud, Director of Education at Adobe; Will Ji, Head of Customer Success at HeyGen; Gabrielle Rosemond, Head of Industry, Education & Services at TikTok; and Dan Quine, Senior Director of AI and Engineering at Learning Commons.

As AI gained the ability to draft marketing copy, design graphics, generate video avatars, remix audio, and simulate entire creative workflows, this session examined a defining question: when creation becomes frictionless, what changes?

Speakers explored how AI is reshaping authorship and ownership, whether prompting is emerging as a new creative skill, and how direction, taste, and curation are becoming increasingly important core competencies. The conversation also examined what happens to mastery when output becomes abundant and how professional creators must evolve in a world of infinite generation.

By addressing the intersection of creativity, learning, and AI, this session highlighted how education and creative industries are redefining the skills that matter most when human imagination is augmented by increasingly powerful generative tools.