Edtech Insiders

Al Kingsley has over 30 years’ experience in educational technology and digital safeguarding.

For the last 25 years Al has been the Group Managing Director of NetSupport, an international software company developing market-leading software solutions used by over 18 million customers, designed to support the effective use of instructional technology in classrooms alongside eSafety technologies to safeguard students online.

Al writes for a range of international titles on all aspects of education, with a particular focus on Digital Strategy, the use of EdTech, Blended Learning, Safeguarding and broader strategic planning.

He is the author of “My Secret Edtech Diary” and “My School Governance Handbook” and the co-host of the “EdTech Shared” podcast.

Recommended Resources:
The Innovator's Dillema: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business by Clayton M. Christensen
Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns by Clayton M. Christensen

Sheryl Cababa is a multi-disciplinary design strategist with more than two decades of experience and has worked extensively in human-centered design within the social impact space. She specializes in developing tools and methods for designers to expand their mindsets beyond user-centered design, anticipate unintended consequences, and engage in systems thinking. Some of her recent work with the Gates Foundation includes leading student voice research to inform the K-12 Balance The Equation Grand Challenge, working with Gates Foundation teams to provide equity-centered technical assistance to their grantees. She’s worked with IKEA, Microsoft, frog design and at Substantial, A hybrid-first Insights, Design + Development Studio, where she is the Chief Design Officer. Her newest book, Closing the Loop: Systems Thinking for Designers, came out in Feb 2023; you can find a link to it in the shownotes for this episode .

Recommended Resources

• Closing the Loop: Systems Thinking for Designers
• Gholdy Muhammad, Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy

In this Week in Edtech, Ben and Alex talk about the rise of open-source LLMs and what it means for education, Sam Altman's Congressional testimony and coming AI regulations, and  systemic changes affecting the entire Edtech venture landscape.

We also speak to Hussainatu (Hussa) Blake, who leads Edtech and Workforce for the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation about global AI and Edtech

We check in with Arman Jaffer, Tom Whitnah and Corey Crouch, the founding team of the powerful AI Teaching tool Brisk Teaching.

Adrian Ridner is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Study.com and an industry leader in education technology.

Adrian has created the leading online learning platform in the world at delivering a personalized learning experience to students and teachers from grade school through college and beyond. Adrian has spent the past two decades bringing together academic experts across all subjects, with the leading technologists and learning scientists to build the most innovative micro-learning platform with the sole purpose to eliminate the most common educational barriers and make education accessible.

Adrian has been committed to advancing personalized and engaging learning at scale for students of varying needs and diverse backgrounds to help level the playing field. Study.com's short video lessons and online courses help students achieve their educational goals and degrees needed to unlock economic opportunities. As an Argentine immigrant, Adrian is particularly proud that Study.com helps students, teachers and parents in the U.S. and around the world. He gets excited about each learner that shares their personal story, from every corner of the globe, about how Study.com empowered them to achieve their education and career dreams.

In 2017, Adrian launched the Working Scholars® program as an accelerated pathway to a bachelor's degree offering flexibility, convenience and little to no student debt for working adults. The program has expanded nationally to dozens of cities, uplifting underserved communities one college graduate at a time. Adrian is very proud of the impact Working Scholars is having and humbled that is was named CA Non-Profit of the Year.

Katie Kirsch is a designer, engineer, and social entrepreneur. At Stanford, IDEO, and Designer Fund, she has launched several products, programs, and ventures in education. A few favorite projects have included working & living at a K-12 boarding school in India, scaling a menstrual healthcare organization in Uganda, and road​-​tripping across the US for 14 weeks in an RV to teach leadership workshops for 1200 girls.

Most recently, Katie founded Twenty, a coaching & community platform that empowers young adults to crush their twenties. Katie holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS in Product Design Engineering from Stanford.

Recommended Resources:

• The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter--And How to Make the Most of Them Now by Meg Jay
• What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20 by Tina Seelig

Audrey Wisch is the CEO and Co-Founder and Curious Cardinals, a global community where K-12 students discover and pursue their passions, build confidence, and unlock their greatest potential with the guidance of college mentors they aspire to be.

Audrey started Curious Cardinals as an undergraduate at Stanford University; after teaching her first workshop on mass incarceration to high school students at the start of the pandemic, Audrey decided to mobilize her most ambitious peers at Stanford and beyond to join her in teaching the topics they were passionate about to K-12 students and serving as their near-peer mentors.

Since then, Audrey has taken time off from Stanford to pursue Curious Cardinals full time, now a community of over 400 college mentors mentoring students around the world. The company has raised $6.8 million in seed funding led by Anthos Capital and Audacious Ventures, and has been featured on CNN and Bloomberg. Audrey was also recognized in the 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 Education and Youngest category.


Recommended Resources

• Curious Cardinal student Matthew’s video game that he has been building with mentors over the past two years can be seen here and a video of Matthew + his parents here.
• Failure to Disrupt by Justin Reich
• System Error by by Rob Reich, Mehran Sahami andJeremy M. Weinstein 
• Infinite Game by Simon Senak

Curious Cardinals is Hiring!

Lucy Chen is hiring for two roles on my team. 

Both work directly with the most amazing part of Curious Cardinals: our mentors, a community of the most passionate and ambitious college students in the world! 

1. Mentor Success Manager (mid-level) 

Looking for a system-minded ops person with strong learning background to scale our current ways of supporting mentors and preparing mentors to teach. 

2. Mentor Talent & Community Manager (entry- OR mid-level)  

Looking for a passionate community person to recruit and curate the mentor community. Strongly prefer someone with prior experience managing both virtual and in-person communities. 

In this Episode, Guests:

• Nishaad Balachandran of Avathon Capital on Private Equity for Edtech 
• Kavitta Ghai of Nectir on the launch of Soma, their new AI community tool

Big Story: 

• Byju's Properties Raided by Indian Authorities
• Explained: Why Edtech start-up Byju’s is facing heat from ED

Other articles discussed:

• Teachers Feel Growing Obligation to Incorporate ChatGPT
• California bill proposes 50% school staff salary hike over 7 years
• Bias in AI: Do Chatbot Tutors Work Better When They're Upbeat — and Female?
• Unionization Efforts Spread Through Higher Education As Colleges Double Down

Michael Wegerbauer is the Vice President, Learning Solutions/Educational Publishing at M & R Consultants Corporation (MRCC). With 25 years of experience focused on technology in education, project management, process improvement, technology consulting, and business development, Michael spent 6+ years at UCLA developing solutions to support both administrative and educational initiatives and 12+ years at MRCC supporting learning technology, rich media, and content development.

Founded in 1996 MRCC is an accredited IT solutions company that has dedicated over 25 glorious years to supporting clients and partners across the global spectrum. They offer a vast suite of services under Learning, Publishing, Technology, and IT Staffing.

Recommended Resources

• Your Kid's Going to Be OK by Michael Delman

News Covered: 

MICROSCHOOLING:

• New Research Reveals The Breadth And Impact Of The Microschooling Movement Forbes

INDIA: THE HAVES AND THE HAVE-NOTS

• Unacademy To Be Profitable At Group Level In April: CEO Gaurav Munjal Upstart
• Ed-tech Firm Simplilearn Plans Acquisitions, Expansion Amid Funding Winter : Business Standard
• upGrad to expand Study Abroad programme in Africa, South-East Asia and Middle East The Hindu Business Line
• Edtech Startup BrightChamps Makes Third Acquisition, Enters B2B Arena The Economic Times
• Woes Of The Funding Winter Continue To Jitter Indian Edtechs; Are There Any Hopes Of Revival? INC42

EVIDENCE IN EDTECH AND LEARNING LOSS

• EdTech Evidence Toolkit by the Office of Education Technology: Supporting Schools’ Use of Evidence to Guide EdTech Adoption | US Department of Education
• COVID-19 Hit Schools Unequally, But Data Shows Learning Recovery Is Equally Slow Edsurge

SKILLS-BASED HIRING LEADS TO HIGHER ED EXPERIMENTATION

• Students Want More Workplace Skills From Colleges. Will Higher Ed Adjust? | EdSurge
• As ‘Skills-Based Hiring’ Becomes All The Rage, These Education Leaders Want To Overturn A 117-Year-Old Way Of Measuring Students’ Experiences- Forbes
• Colleges Push 3-year Degrees As Enrollments Fall, Costs Rise The Washington Times
• More Than 40 Million Americans Have Now Attended College Without Earning A Degree Forbes

Perry Kalmus is the co-founder of Akala, which is leveling the playing field for college admissions by providing best-in-class college advising to learners who would not have been able to afford it through technology. Before Akala, Perry ran the Princeton Education Network for over a decade together with his co-founder Barbara - who is also his mother. Together, they have helped over 15,000 students achieve their dreams of attending college.

Recommended Resources
Your College-Bound Kid podcast
The Privileged Poor by Anthony Abraham Jack
Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be by Frank Bruni
Lord of the Rankings by Malcolm Gladwell
lesshighschoolstress.com