Edtech Insiders

Joel Podolny is co-founder and CEO of Honor Education.  Prior to starting Honor Education, Joel was a Vice President at Apple and the founding Dean of Apple University, where he reported directly to Steve Jobs and Tim Cook and oversaw learning in areas such as leadership, management, and company culture. Before that, Joel served as Dean and Professor of Management at the Yale School of Management. He previously held chaired professorships at Harvard Business School and the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Recommended Resources:
🗞️ Edtech Insiders
📰 Honor Education Newsroom
🖥️ Columbia University Online Learning

Tuck Advisors was founded by entrepreneurs who built and sold their own companies, frustrated by other m and a firms, they created the one they wished they could have hired but couldn't find. One who understands what matters to founders and whose North Star KPI is the percentage of deals closed. If you're thinking of selling your ed tech company or buying one contact Tuck advisors now.

Every year, K-12 districts and higher ed institutions spend over half a trillion dollars—but most sales teams miss the signals. Starbridge tracks early signs like board minutes, budget drafts, and strategic plans, then helps you turn them into personalized outreach—fast. Win the deal before it hits the RFP stage. That’s how top edtech teams stay ahead.

This season of Edtech Insiders is brought to you by Cooley LLP. Cooley is the go-to law firm for education and edtech innovators, offering industry-informed counsel across the 'pre-K to gray' spectrum. With a multidisciplinary approach and a powerful edtech ecosystem, Cooley helps shape the future of education.

Innovation in preK to gray learning is powered by exceptional people. For over 15 years, EdTech companies of all sizes and stages have trusted HireEducation to find the talent that drives impact. When specific skills and experiences are mission-critical, HireEducation is a partner that delivers. Offering permanent, fractional, and executive recruitment, HireEducation knows the go-to-market talent you need. Learn more at HireEdu.com.

Join Alex Sarlin and Ben Kornell as they explore the most critical developments in the world of education technology this week:

🎓 OpenAI introduces ChatGPT Edu for universities
🔍 Google AI Overviews visibility drops significantly
🌐 Google’s NotebookLM goes global with enhanced features
📱 Apple’s major announcements at WWDC 2024: Apple Intelligence, Siri makeover and more
💼 Bain Capital to acquire PowerSchool in a $5.6B deal
🇨🇳 Alibaba invests $27M in an AI-powered education start-up
📉 BlackRock slashes Byju’s valuation to zero
💡 Imagine Learning acquires AI-powered CueThink
🤝 University of Tennessee and ASU’s $11.5M collaboration
📊 Doowii secures $4.1M for AI-driven data analytics in education

Plus special guest, Paul Gollash, Senior Vice President of K-16 at ETS

Upcoming Event:
AI Arcade Night at ISTE
When: Monday June 24 from 5 PM - 8 PM
Where: 1Up Arcade Bar 1925 Blake St. Denver CO 90202
Register Here

Don’t forget to subscribe to Edtech Insiders for more updates and insights from the forefront of educational technology!

Tuck Advisors was founded by entrepreneurs who built and sold their own companies, frustrated by other m and a firms, they created the one they wished they could have hired but couldn't find. One who understands what matters to founders and whose North Star KPI is the percentage of deals closed. If you're thinking of selling your ed tech company or buying one contact Tuck advisors now.

Every year, K-12 districts and higher ed institutions spend over half a trillion dollars—but most sales teams miss the signals. Starbridge tracks early signs like board minutes, budget drafts, and strategic plans, then helps you turn them into personalized outreach—fast. Win the deal before it hits the RFP stage. That’s how top edtech teams stay ahead.

This season of Edtech Insiders is brought to you by Cooley LLP. Cooley is the go-to law firm for education and edtech innovators, offering industry-informed counsel across the 'pre-K to gray' spectrum. With a multidisciplinary approach and a powerful edtech ecosystem, Cooley helps shape the future of education.

Innovation in preK to gray learning is powered by exceptional people. For over 15 years, EdTech companies of all sizes and stages have trusted HireEducation to find the talent that drives impact. When specific skills and experiences are mission-critical, HireEducation is a partner that delivers. Offering permanent, fractional, and executive recruitment, HireEducation knows the go-to-market talent you need. Learn more at HireEdu.com.

Dr. Jeremy Roschelle, Executive Director of Learning Science Research at Digital Promise, conducts research on the future of learning with technology. Dr. Roschelle is Fellow of the International Society of the Learning Sciences, with >100 publications, 25,000 citations, and 10 patents. Dr. Roschelle serves as a subject matter expert on Artificial Intelligence to the U.S. Department of Education and on the Advisory Committee for Education at the National Science Foundation. He actively communicates to broad audiences about how findings and insights from research can shape the future of technology use in education.

Recommended Resources:
🔗 Dan Meyer
🔗 EDSAFE AI Alliance
🌐 TeachAI
🔗 Ethan Mollick
🌐 Stanford HAI

Tuck Advisors was founded by entrepreneurs who built and sold their own companies, frustrated by other m and a firms, they created the one they wished they could have hired but couldn't find. One who understands what matters to founders and whose North Star KPI is the percentage of deals closed. If you're thinking of selling your ed tech company or buying one contact Tuck advisors now.

Every year, K-12 districts and higher ed institutions spend over half a trillion dollars—but most sales teams miss the signals. Starbridge tracks early signs like board minutes, budget drafts, and strategic plans, then helps you turn them into personalized outreach—fast. Win the deal before it hits the RFP stage. That’s how top edtech teams stay ahead.

This season of Edtech Insiders is brought to you by Cooley LLP. Cooley is the go-to law firm for education and edtech innovators, offering industry-informed counsel across the 'pre-K to gray' spectrum. With a multidisciplinary approach and a powerful edtech ecosystem, Cooley helps shape the future of education.

Innovation in preK to gray learning is powered by exceptional people. For over 15 years, EdTech companies of all sizes and stages have trusted HireEducation to find the talent that drives impact. When specific skills and experiences are mission-critical, HireEducation is a partner that delivers. Offering permanent, fractional, and executive recruitment, HireEducation knows the go-to-market talent you need. Learn more at HireEdu.com.

Mark Heaps is the Chief Technology Evangelist at Groq® where he leads a diverse team focused on innovative and creative AI solutions with demo applications enabled by the Groq LPU™ Inference Engine. Mark is a longtime technology evangelist who has worked with Adobe, Google, Apple, and others on various projects ranging from digital imaging to AI systems used in some of the most popular applications today. He is passionate about democratizing AI in service of advancing human agency and loves exploring how the next generation of technology end-users will interact with conversational AI. Mark is also a die-hard foodie obsessed with finding the world's best pizza – so far a hole-in-the-wall joint in Croatia (is there any other kind?) is in the lead.

Recommended Resources:
🌐 groq.com
☁️ GroqCloud
📑 groq.com/docs

Tuck Advisors was founded by entrepreneurs who built and sold their own companies, frustrated by other m and a firms, they created the one they wished they could have hired but couldn't find. One who understands what matters to founders and whose North Star KPI is the percentage of deals closed. If you're thinking of selling your ed tech company or buying one contact Tuck advisors now.

Every year, K-12 districts and higher ed institutions spend over half a trillion dollars—but most sales teams miss the signals. Starbridge tracks early signs like board minutes, budget drafts, and strategic plans, then helps you turn them into personalized outreach—fast. Win the deal before it hits the RFP stage. That’s how top edtech teams stay ahead.

Innovation in preK to gray learning is powered by exceptional people. For over 15 years, EdTech companies of all sizes and stages have trusted HireEducation to find the talent that drives impact. When specific skills and experiences are mission-critical, HireEducation is a partner that delivers. Offering permanent, fractional, and executive recruitment, HireEducation knows the go-to-market talent you need. Learn more at HireEdu.com.

Join Alex Sarlin and Ben Kornell as they explore the most critical developments in the world of education technology this week:

🚨 OpenAI announces a new safety board, strikes a $250M content deal with News Corp, and begins training its next flagship AI model
🚀 Anthropic unveils a new method to map large language models
💻 New AI-enhanced Chromebooks are launched for educators
🤝 Microsoft partners with Khan Academy to develop AI educational tools
📉 Guild Education lays off a quarter of its workforce
📊 An edtech firm seeks $515M in Abu Dhabi’s first 2024 IPO
💡 Praktika raises $35.5M for AI avatar language learning
📈 NCAA agrees to a $2.8B settlement for athletes over NIL rights

Upcoming Event:
AI Arcade Night at ISTE
When: Monday June 24 from 5 PM - 8 PM
Where: 1Up Arcade Bar 1925 Blake St. Denver CO 90202
Register Here

Don’t forget to subscribe to Edtech Insiders for more updates and insights from the forefront of educational technology!

Tuck Advisors was founded by entrepreneurs who built and sold their own companies, frustrated by other m and a firms, they created the one they wished they could have hired but couldn't find. One who understands what matters to founders and whose North Star KPI is the percentage of deals closed. If you're thinking of selling your ed tech company or buying one contact Tuck advisors now.

Every year, K-12 districts and higher ed institutions spend over half a trillion dollars—but most sales teams miss the signals. Starbridge tracks early signs like board minutes, budget drafts, and strategic plans, then helps you turn them into personalized outreach—fast. Win the deal before it hits the RFP stage. That’s how top edtech teams stay ahead.

This season of Edtech Insiders is brought to you by Cooley LLP. Cooley is the go-to law firm for education and edtech innovators, offering industry-informed counsel across the 'pre-K to gray' spectrum. With a multidisciplinary approach and a powerful edtech ecosystem, Cooley helps shape the future of education.

Innovation in preK to gray learning is powered by exceptional people. For over 15 years, EdTech companies of all sizes and stages have trusted HireEducation to find the talent that drives impact. When specific skills and experiences are mission-critical, HireEducation is a partner that delivers. Offering permanent, fractional, and executive recruitment, HireEducation knows the go-to-market talent you need. Learn more at HireEdu.com.

Tory Patterson is the co-founder of Owl Ventures and is actively involved with all facets of the firm. As one of the early pioneers in the next generation of leading EdTech companies, Tory has led investments in some of the most successful companies in the sector. As a lead investor and board member he has played a hands-on role helping leading edtech companies across all facets of development including core definition and measurement of value proposition, sales & distribution, hiring, funding and eventual paths to successful exit.

Prior to Owl Ventures, Tory was a Partner at Catamount Ventures where he founded and ran one of the venture industry’s first education investment practices. Tory is a Pahara-Aspen Education Fellow and an Edmund Hilary Global Impact Fellow. He holds a B.A. in Economics from Williams College and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Recommended Resources:
🌐 owlvc.com
✉️ [email protected]

Shantanu Sinha is the VP and GM of Google for Education. In addition to bringing Google products like Workspace to schools, Shantanu and his team build educational products such as Google Classroom, which helps over 150 million students, teachers and education leaders across classrooms around the world, and new experiences such as Practice Sets and Read Along, that demonstrate the power of artificial intelligence for teaching and learning.

Before Google, Shantanu was the founding President and Chief Operating Officer at Khan Academy, where he teamed up with college roommate Sal Khan to build an organization that helped make personalized learning globally accessible and free. Shantanu is also a founding board member of Khan Lab School, where all three of his children attend school.

Shantanu has leveraged his strategy and operations expertise from his time at McKinsey & Company, along with his background in computer science, math, and brain cognitive sciences from MIT, to make an impact in an area he is most passionate about: education. Follow @ShantanuKSinha.

Recommended Resources:
📚 Google Keyword blog
🌐 Google for Education website
🔗 @Shantanu Sinha on Linkedin, @ShantanuKSinha on X

Join Alex Sarlin and Ben Kornell as they explore pivotal topics in this Week in Edtech episode:

🔍 OpenAI's rumored new search engine to challenge Google
🤖 Key findings from Stanford University's 2024 report on AI advancements and challenges
🍎 Apple's development of AI chips and new AI features in the iPad Pro
🏆 Essential traits that define successful founders, according to Jennifer Carolan of Reach Capital
📚 Concerns on AI in Education

Plus special guests, Jason Levin of  WGU Labs and Brian Ashton & Van Christman of BYU-Pathway Worldwide.

Don’t forget to subscribe to Edtech Insiders for more updates and insights from the forefront of educational technology!

Recommended Resources:
Western Governors University
Accelerator Pitch Competition Winner Release
WGU Labs Social Impact Evaluation Framework

Today we’re talking to Kunal Dalal and Wes Kriesel, who are administrators of AI and Innovation at the Orange County, CA, Department of Education, where they support AI education and integration for 28 school districts in California.

Kunal Dalal merges education and AI, driving human-centered AI integration at the Orange County Department of Education. Educated at Oberlin, Harvard, and UC Berkeley, he's evolved from school principal to headphone entrepreneur to tech educator. Dalal's entrepreneurial and community efforts, alongside his AI-focused initiatives like "The A.I. Parent" book, AI Days, and "100 Conversations in 100 Days about AI," showcase his dedication to enriching education with AI, advocating for an empowered, collaborative learning community.

Wes Kriesel is an Administrator of AI and Innovation at Orange County Department of Education. In his work at OCDE, Wes built Orangejuice.ai, where he shares stories from around Orange County about AI in Education. In addition, Wes is the producer for “Squeeze the D.AI”, the Orangejuice.ai podcast that covers AI in public education. Three guiding values for Wes’ work are: inclusiveness, storytelling, and innovation. Wes enjoys photography, his dogs, his Jeep, and spending time with his wife – in reverse order of importance.

Recommended Resources:
📚 orangejuice.ai blog by Wes Kriesel
🤖 Ethan Mollick, Amanda Bickerstaff
📖 Klara and The Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

Join Alex Sarlin and guest host, Matthew Tower,  Founder of etch.club as they explore pivotal topics in this Week in Edtech episode:

🌟 The TIME Edtech 100: Showcasing the leaders shaping the future of education
🧠 Microsoft's groundbreaking release of Phi-3, the smallest AI model to date
📱 The exciting new mobile app from Anthropic
💻 Penn Engineering's pioneering online Master’s Degree in AI - a first in the Ivy League
📉 The turbulent times at Chegg following their latest earnings report and leadership changes, alongside Coursera's financial updates

Plus special guest, Louisa Rosenheck, Director of Learning Design at Kahoot!

Don’t forget to subscribe to Edtech Insiders for more updates and insights from the forefront of educational technology!

Recommended Resource:
Designing for Inclusion, Designing for All whitepaper by Kahoot!