Margin of Thought with Priten

In this episode, Priten speaks with Ratna Gill, who supports the partnerships team at Rocket Learning, a nonprofit tackling early childhood education in India through WhatsApp. Ratna shares her journey from child safety work to early childhood education and explains how Rocket Learning delivers bite-sized educational content to caregivers and Anganwadi workers serving 5 million children who lack access to early stimulation. The conversation explores their AI-powered personalized tutor,  the importance of cultural contextualization, and what ethical ed tech looks like when working with resource-constrained communities—ultimately landing on a hopeful note: technology can expand access to education without replacing the irreplaceable human connections that make learning joyful.

Key Takeaways:

• Meet communities where they already are. Rocket uses WhatsApp because families are already there—no new apps, no tech burden.
• Technology should supplement, not replace, human interaction. APU is capped at 15-20 minutes daily to preserve parent-child engagement.
• Context matters more than content. Effective ed tech adapts cultural references, not just language, for each region.
• Test slowly, learn deeply. Field testing revealed that background noise breaks speech-to-text—rushing would have shipped a broken product.
• Parents are the most transformative tool. AI can model joyful pedagogy, but it can't replace human connection.

Ratna Gill serves as Lead, Special Projects at Rocket Learning. Previously the Head of Government Partnerships at Mumbai-based child safety nonprofit Aangan, she worked with state governments across the country to train school administrators and police officers to create safer communities for children in hotspots for child trafficking. Ratna graduated from Harvard Kennedy School in 2022, where she studied the impacts of parental labor migration on education and development outcomes for adolescents. She has a B.A. in Economics from Harvard College.

In this episode, Priten speaks with Lance Eaton, Senior Associate Director of AI and Teaching and Learning at Northeastern University, about navigating the integration of AI and educational technology in higher education. Lance shares his 15-year journey through instructional design—from community colleges to Ivy League institutions—and offers practical wisdom on how educators can thoughtfully adopt AI without losing sight of pedagogy. The conversation explores everything from reflection bots and embodied learning to the tension between commercial tech platforms and educational values, ultimately landing on a hopeful note: we've navigated dozens of technological shifts before, and we can figure this one out too.

Key Takeaways:

• Start small and ground AI in learning goals. Like any instructional design challenge, begin with what you want students to demonstrate—then find where AI fits naturally.
• Use AI to deepen reflection, not replace it. A "reflection bot" that asks follow-up questions can help students dig deeper than a one-time submission ever could.
• Pick two or three tools and stick with them. The app explosion taught us this lesson—chasing every new AI tool leads to burnout, not better teaching.
• AI literacy is discipline-specific. Every field will be impacted differently; the goal isn't generic AI skills but understanding what AI means for your particular context.
• We've been here before. Higher ed has absorbed 80+ technologies since the 1970s. The playbooks exist—we just need to adapt them for this moment.

Dr. Lance Eaton is the Senior Associate Director of AI in Teaching and Learning at Northeastern University. His work engages with the possibility of digital tools for expanding teaching and learning communities while considering the profound issues and questions that educational technologies open up for students, faculty, and higher ed as a whole. He has engaged with scores of higher education institutions about navigating the complexities and possibilities that generative AI represents for us at this moment. His musings, reflections, and ramblings on AI and Education can be found on his blog: 

In this episode, Priten speaks with Justin Cerenzia, Executive Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Episcopal Academy, about navigating the complex ethical decisions administrators face when integrating AI and educational technology in K-12 schools. Justin shares his journey from early AI adoption with GPT-3.5 to implementing thoughtful frameworks for tech integration, discussing everything from AI tutors and cell phone policies to the tension between preparing students for the workforce versus fostering deep learning. The conversation explores how schools can balance innovation with pedagogy, the importance of making student thinking visible, and why ethical decision-making requires moving beyond simple policies to embrace experimentation, nuance, and a design mindset that puts learning outcomes first.

Key Takeaways:

• There's no shared AI experience. Different platforms and access levels mean students and teachers use fundamentally different tools—making unified policies nearly impossible.
• AI detection is a losing battle. Focus instead on making student thinking visible through conversations and walled-garden tools like Flint.
• "Do no harm" cuts both ways. Schools must prevent misuse while also ensuring students aren't left behind on AI literacy.
• Understand learning science before deploying AI. The key question: are students cognitively offloading the task, or genuinely learning?
• The future is a design problem, not a prediction problem. Decide what you want from AI and build toward it—don't just react to updates.

Justin Cerenzia is the Buckley Executive Director of the Center for Teaching & Learning at The Episcopal Academy, where he leads work at the intersection of cognitive science, teacher inquiry, and AI-informed practice. His work centers on translating research into practical, human-centered tools that improve teaching and learning at scale.

In this episode, Priten talks with Joe Carver, Associate Head of School at The Meadow School. Joe shares his unconventional journey from debate coach to technology director to school leadership. He discusses his philosophy of values-driven technology integration—one that involves all stakeholders, resists both hasty adoption and knee-jerk resistance, and centers the teacher-student relationship. He explores how schools can thoughtfully embrace AI and educational technology by using core values as a North Star, building cultures of innovation through targeted adoption, and preparing educators to stay conversant with emerging tools. Joe emphasizes the importance of reverse-engineering what students miss in digital-first communities and advocates for data-informed, iterative decision-making that protects what matters most while navigating what's coming.

Key Takeaways:

• Schools shouldn't rush to adopt every new technology. Taking time for thoughtful due diligence and involving all stakeholders (teachers, division directors, student support services) leads to better outcomes than being the first to implement.
• Technology decisions should trace back to institutional core values. If a tool can't be connected to values like inquiry or community, it's a hard no.
• Implement a three-tier approach: no access for youngest students, guided access for middle grades, and unfettered access for upper school.  
• Educators must remain conversant in emerging technologies even if they choose not to adopt them. You can't effectively guide students away from tools you don't understand.
• Today's students are building digital communities without the face-to-face foundation previous generations had. Schools must explicitly teach digital norms and social skills that used to develop naturally through in-person interaction.

Joseph Carver is the Associate Head of School at The Meadows School, a Prek-12 independent school in Summerlin, Nevada and the Head of School Elect for the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Previously, Joseph served as the Chief Innovation Officer at The Meadows and the Director of Technology at Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart.

A sought-after speaker and panelist on technology, he has presented at a series of national conferences, including  ATLIS, NDCA, FCIS, and FETC, on topics ranging from social media in schools to ongoing education for non-instructional staff. Joseph has worked alongside the Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning. His focus is on a data-driven, mind and brain education approach to decision-making in all aspects of school life.  Additionally, he is a certified Situational Leadership facilitator and a graduate of both the ATLIS Leadership Institute and the Center for Humane Technology’s Foundations of Humane Technology program. Joseph is also the founder and host of “At the Meadow”, a popular podcast focused on Innovation in independent schools.

Joe’s experience as instructional faculty, coach, and administrator at Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart has profoundly impacted his “mission-informed” approach to technology integration in schools. Joe currently oversees Technology and Innovation, Advancement, Communications, Athletics, and Admissions at The Meadows School. Joe was unanimously selected as a recipient of the 2025 ATLIS PIllar Award, recognizing his many contributions and long-standing service to and leadership within the independent school educational technology community.

In this episode, Priten speaks with Aidan Kestigian, COO of Thinker Analytix, about why nearly half of college graduates lack basic reasoning skills and how explicit instruction in critical thinking can address this gap. They discuss the ethical commitments that should guide EdTech development, including prioritizing pedagogy over gamification, maintaining transparency with students, and building genuine relationships with educators.

Key Takeaways:

• Critical thinking requires explicit instruction—it's not automatically developed through traditional coursework
• Ethical EdTech means putting pedagogical goals first, not engagement metrics or "stickiness"
• Reasoning is inherently difficult and requires sustained practice; shortcuts undermine real learning
• Direct accountability between EdTech developers and educators leads to better products and outcomes
• Mission-driven organizations can prioritize both growth and integrity when the mission guides decision-making

Aidan Kestigian, Ph.D. Chief Operating Officer for ThinkerAnalytix, an education non-profit organization, and a visiting Associate of the Department of Philosophy at Harvard University. Aidan received her Ph.D. in Logic, Computation, and Methodology from Carnegie Mellon University in 2018 and taught logic and ethics to college students for a decade before and during her time at TA. She is the author of Democratic Decisions in a Critical Thinking Crisis (2025).

In this episode, Priten introduces Margin of Thought, a podcast that creates space for important questions about education, technology, and civic life. This introductory episode explains the show's mission: to explore tensions in modern life that shape how we raise and educate children.

The podcast will feature conversations with educators, civic leaders, technologists, academics, and students, focusing on two main threads:

1. Ethics of Education Technology – Examining AI, surveillance, privacy, and digital safety in K-12 schools (companion to Priten's upcoming book Ethical Ed Tech)
2. Civics Education – Exploring how to prepare students for meaningful democratic participation

At its core, the show asks: How do we preserve what matters while navigating what's coming? Through thoughtful dialogue and deliberate reflection, Margin of Thought aims to help shape institutions that better serve our children.

Relevant Links:

• listen.priten.org
• ethicaledtech.org