Edtech Insiders

Edtech Insiders joined the first Common Sense Summit on America's Kids and Families hosted by Common Sense Media at Pier 27 in San Francisco on January 28–30.

The conference brought together advocates, researchers, youth leaders, policymakers, and other experts to take stock of America's kids and families and explore solutions to the most pressing issues across four core topic areas: kids and technology, youth mental health, early childhood education, and K–12 education. 

In this special episode, Alex and Ben interviews Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI.

In this episode of Week in Edtech, Ben and Alex discuss:

1. AI

• OpenAI Completes Deal That Values the Company at $80 Billion
• OpenAI’s Sora
  • Rivals In The Works—Including From Google And Meta

2. Edtech

• Online course provider 2U faces doubts it can continue

3. PreK-12

• Unleashed Brands to Acquire Sylvan Learning

4. Reports

• Reach Capital’s 2023 US EdTech Funding Report 
• Oppenheimer Report

Special Guest:

• Matt Sherman, Founder and CEO at LSAT Lab

Robyn Cook is the Chief Academic Officer for Aauti School, a online digital science curriculum powered by AI. She’s an experienced education professional who has served as served as a Director of Curriculum and Instructional Supports, a STEM and Science Content specialist, and a chemistry and biology teacher, dedicated to transforming K-12 education through innovative curriculum development and instructional leadership. 

Robyn is responsible for driving and communicating Aauti’s instructional strategy.  She ensures pedagogical coherence of Aauti School’s tools along with being a key executor of Aauti’s go to market strategy. Robyn, also, works closely with Aauti’s partnering districts to ensure teachers and students' needs are being met.

Recommended Resources:
Opportunity Myth by TNTP

Edtech Insiders joined the first Common Sense Summit on America's Kids and Families hosted by Common Sense Media at Pier 27 in San Francisco on January 28–30.

The conference brought together advocates, researchers, youth leaders, policymakers, and other experts to take stock of America's kids and families and explore solutions to the most pressing issues across four core topic areas: kids and technology, youth mental health, early childhood education, and K–12 education. 

In this special episode, Alex and Ben interviews Hillary Clinton.

Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton served as the First Lady of the United States to the 42nd President, Bill Clinton. She went on to become a U.S. Secretary of State and U.S. Senator from New York. In the 2008 election, Clinton was a leading candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination.

In this episode of Week in Edtech, Ben and Alex discuss:

1. AI

• Google Launches AI Opportunity Initiative For Europe; Announces €25M Funding To Support AI Skills Development

2. Edtech

• India
  • ASU GSV Emeritus Event in India
  • PhysicsWallah’s FY23 Profit Tanks 91% To INR 90M
  • Deborah Quazzo and Michael Moe on BYJU's
  • Deborah Quazzo follow-on investments in India
  • How Eruditus survived the evisceration of edtech
• Duolingo is largest language platform in the world

3. K-12

• Tyton Partners’ ‘Investing in Tomorrow’ Research Reveals a $100,000 Per Student Impact of High School Financial Education

4. Higher Ed

• Savvas Learning Company Acquires Outlier.org

5. M&A

• Google acquires Edlyft 
• SchoolStatus Announces Acquisition of SchoolNow
• Quantum5 acquires Trivie / US, Assessments

Special Guests:

• Adeel Khan, Founder at MagicSchool AI
• Gary Eimerman, Chief Learning Officer at Multiverse

Mari Nazary is the Chief Experience Officer at Bloom Institute of Technology, formerly known as Lambda School, Mari has dedicated over 15 years to transforming the landscape of online education. She believes in making education a universal key, accessible and effective for all, without the financial burden often associated with higher learning.

Mari's journey in EdTech began with her role at Rosetta Stone, where she developed the company’s first online classroom experience. Her passion for instructional design and product development led her to impactful positions at Education First, Voxy, and DataCamp. In these roles, she spearheaded the expansion of learning products, significantly impacting millions of learners worldwide.

At BloomTech, Mari has been instrumental in redefining the education experience. Her initiatives include building a proprietary platform, reducing the cost per learner, and incorporating an AI tutor, significantly enhancing the learning process and improving outcomes. She oversees critical aspects like product development, data management, instructional design, operations, and customer support, with a focus on results-driven learning experiences that cater to a diverse range of students.

Mari's background as the daughter of Afghan immigrants in Queens, NY, has profoundly influenced her perspective on education. She holds degrees in classics, Spanish, and linguistics and is a fervent advocate for making tech careers accessible to those traditionally underserved by higher education. Living in Washington, D.C., Mari continues to challenge the status quo, ensuring that education paves a direct path to greater opportunities and success.

Recommended Resources:
AI for Education blog
Lenny’s Podcast

Edtech Insiders joined the first Common Sense Summit on America's Kids and Families hosted by Common Sense Media at Pier 27 in San Francisco on January 28–30.

The conference brought together advocates, researchers, youth leaders, policymakers, and other experts to take stock of America's kids and families and explore solutions to the most pressing issues across four core topic areas: kids and technology, youth mental health, early childhood education, and K–12 education.

In this special episode, Alex and Ben interviews Sal Khan.

Sal Khan is the founder and CEO of Khan Academy, a nonprofit educational organization that offers free lessons in math, science and humanities, as well as tools for parents, teachers and districts to track student progress. Khan Academy is piloting an AI guide called Khanmigo that is a tutor and teaching assistant.

Sal Khan founded Khan Academy in 2008. Khan Academy is a nonprofit educational organization with 220 employees. In addition to math, they offer free lessons in the sciences and humanities. Outside of the Khanmigo pilot, more than 500 public school districts and schools across the United States partner with Khan Academy (up from nine before the pandemic). Khan Academy is used in more than 190 countries and is available in more than 50 languages. They have more than 160 million registered users worldwide.

In this episode of Week in Edtech, Ben and Alex discuss:

1. AI

• OpenAI partners with Common Sense Media to collaborate on AI guidelines
• Edsafe AI Fellowships

2. Big Tech

• Senate blasts tech CEOs over child safety

3. Workforce

• upGrad To Open 100 Experience And Learning Centers, Commits INR 1,000M

4. PreK-12

• Byju’s Says Investors Don’t Have Voting Right To Remove Founder From Edtech Group 

5. K-12

• Zum Raises $140M
• Instructure Completes Acquisition of Parchment

6. HigherEd

• Shaq is joining Sam Altman in backing a $29 million community college startup

Special Guests:

• Sohan Chouhury, Flint
• Erin Mote, InnovateEDU and Zac Chase, US DOE

Recommended Resources:

• 2024’s National Educational Technology Plan
  • Story Map
  • Appendices - Office of Educational Technology

Disclosure: InnovateEDU was a member of the consortium that developed the 2024 National Educational Technology Plan.<

Nick Hernandez is the CEO and Founder of 360Learning, a leading advisor and investor in the SaaS technology industry, and the author of Collaborative Learning: How to Upskill from Within and Turn L&D into Your Competitive Advantage.

Nick founded 360Learning in 2013 and has since grown the company into a leader in the EdTech sector. In late 2021, Nick and his team secured $200m in funding from Sumeru, SoftBank, and Silverlake for 360Learning to continue their mission of championing upskilling from within through collaborative learning. He is based in Paris, France.

Recommended Resources:

• Lex Fridman podcast
• The Logan Bartlett Show podcast

Lydia Logan is the Vice President of Global Education and Workforce Development, Corporate Social Responsibility at IBM, where she leads IBM's community and university skilling initiatives that create more inclusive and effective schools and workforces. Her programs help fulfill IBM’s pledges to skill 30 million people worldwide by 2030, and to train two million learners in AI through 2026, particularly those from historically underresourced, underserved, and underrepresented communities.

She also develops and manages strategic global partnerships with IBM's clients, non-profit organizations, government, and content and curriculum developers that relate to education and career readiness.

For this role, she applies her decades of leadership and programmatic expertise in the realms of philanthropy, education, public policy, and economic development. These experiences inform the strategic development and execution of acclaimed global career readiness programs, particularly IBM SkillsBuild.  

Prior to IBM, Lydia successfully spearheaded education initiatives while serving in senior leadership roles at Verizon, the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, and Kimsey Foundation.

In addition, she was VP and executive director of the Institute for a Competitive Workforce at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where she led national policy and program initiatives to improve education and workforce development.

Earlier in her career, she led Chiefs for Change, a national membership organization of Chief State School Officers.

Recommended Resources:
IBM SkillsBuild
Principled Instructions Are All You Need for Questioning LLaMA-1/2, GPT-3.5/4 by John Bailey
Tools Competition by Schmidt Futures