The CanadianED Leadership Show

Dean interviews Rebecca Winthrop (Brookings Center for Universal Education) and Tom D’Amico about Brookings’ February 2026 Global Task Force report on generative AI in primary and secondary education. Based on an 18‑month process and a scan across 50 countries, the report’s debated headline conclusion is that current rollouts make risks overshadow benefits, especially with “wide” use where students directly interface with general-purpose chatbots and AI companions. They contrast this with “narrow” use—vetted content embedded in strong pedagogy that scaffolds learning—and discuss risks such as cognitive stunting, undermined critical and creative thinking, erosion of relational trust, desocialization, emotional manipulation, and dependence. They explore policy responses (including limits by age), the need for AI literacy for students and adults, and examples of beneficial uses like translation support, early detection tools, and career-focused virtual experiences.

00:00 Risks Versus Benefits
00:34 Welcome And Guests
00:58 Brookings Report Setup
04:52 Task Force Findings
07:59 Adults And AI Risks
12:30 Why The Headline Matters
16:40 Trust And Authenticity
19:11 Estonia LEAP AI Lessons
26:44 Companionship And Wellbeing 31:28
Do Nothing Approach
32:00 Where AI Still Helps
33:15 Student AI Boundaries
35:29 Tom on Bans and Balance
37:47 Moratoriums and Do No Harm
42:04 Narrow AI That Helps
45:44 Translation and Teacher Insights
48:16 Report Takeaways and Where to Start
50:31 AI Pedagogy Audit Mix
53:10 Rapid Fire and Wrap Up

Dean interviews Andrew Holland about leadership in Surrey School District, focusing on how a large, diverse system creates community while maintaining autonomy. Holland emphasizes shared values—compassion, stewardship, and putting children first—modeled consistently to shape culture, along with treating teachers and principals as skilled professionals with ownership in decisions. He argues districts must plan for culture as intentionally as strategic plans and leaders must lean into uncomfortable, clear conversations to maintain trust, alignment, and accountability while normalizing mistakes as learning. Holland describes Surrey’s community outreach across varied neighborhoods, the importance of listening and soliciting diverse voices, and a provincial mindset of sharing practices across districts. He shares experiences that shaped his beliefs: meaningful real-world learning changed his self-perception, and he critiques letter grades as sorting rather than learning. He highlights evidence and indicators for improving Indigenous student graduation rates and belonging.
 00:00 Shared Values Lead
01:13 Meet Andrew Holland
 03:20 Coffee Chat Setup
04:19 Autonomy and Alignment
09:01 Mistakes and Accountability
11:36 Lean Into Discomfort
14:33 Planning for Culture
17:41 Diversity and Outreach
20:24 Two Stories on Learning
24:41 Beyond Letter Grades
28:50 One System Mindset
34:45 Measuring Indigenous Success
39:49 Rapid Fire Wrap Up
42:23 Closing Thanks

Dean interviews Dr. Steve Joordens about using AI to address long-standing challenges in education, especially assessment. Joordens argues education is in a paradigm shift and proposes AI-based oral assessments to move beyond multiple choice toward more holistic evaluation of knowledge and skills at scale, potentially supporting mastery learning (“try till you fly”) and reducing reliance on grades. He describes building conversational AI agents (including a “virtual Steve”) that provide 24/7 student support, personalize learning, assist teamwork by acting as a project manager in each group, and simulate scenarios like de-escalation and interview practice, with features such as full-duplex voice, personality, emotions, and reduced sycophancy. They discuss social anxiety, risks of unhealthy attachment to AI, and the need to help students transition to human connection, plus a call for a community of practice to pilot AI assessment across K–12 and beyond.

00:00 Assessment Drives Learning
01:10 Meet Dr Steve Joordens
03:30 How Steve Uses AI
04:35 Three Big Education Wins
05:01 AI Oral Assessments
07:43 Conversational Skills Crisis
09:42 Virtual Steve Office Hours
11:24 Teamwork and Beyond
12:42 Building the AI Platform
13:36 Humanlike Conversation Design
14:26 Personality and Simulations
16:05 Anti Sycophancy and Emotion
17:53 Student Support Beyond Class
21:22 Does It Sound Like Steve
24:06 AI Relationships and Anxiety
27:50 AI Wins in Class
28:32 Phones and Social Connection
31:30 AI Oral Assessment Workflow
33:27 Can AI Grade Fairly
37:24 Mastery Over Grades
40:27 Teachers as Coaches
42:10 Personalized Inclusive Testing
44:19 Advice for K12 Adoption
48:28 Rapid Fire Wrap Up

Dean interviews Alberta educator and ed-tech coordinator Michelle Baragar about her 30-year teaching journey and doctoral research on generative AI and teacher workload. Michelle describes major technology disruptions in her career (internet, smartphones, AI), how earlier tools often added layers of work, and why ChatGPT prompted her to pivot her EdD toward workload intensification and whether AI can “claw back” time, illustrated by a teacher generating a stoichiometry retest in under a minute. She shares findings from a survey (29 respondents) and interviews (4 AI-using participants), highlighting an “efficiency and workload paradox”: AI helps with tasks like lesson planning and drafting difficult emails, but creates a verification burden and new integrity challenges, including unreliable AI detection and privacy concerns. They discuss the need for transparent, community-based guidelines, better assessment practices, rural constraints and opportunities, and keeping the teacher-student relationship central while using AI to boost creativity and human connection.

00:00 AI Gives Time Back
03:55 Michelle Teaching Journey
05:48 Minecraft Research Breakthrough
08:46 Tech Promises And Workload
10:08 Three Disruptive Waves
11:39 ChatGPT Shifts The EdD
18:28 Workload Paradox And Verification
28:02 Student AI Fears And Assessment
34:26 Transparency And Community Talk
37:22 Rural Schools Unique Challenges
39:46 AI as Teaching Partner 40:36 Budget Limits and Tool Choices
42:22 Teacher Built AI Tools
43:17 Rural Diversity and Policy Challenges
44:33 No AI Ban Coming 46:19 Classroom Phone Agreements
49:38 Applying Trust to AI
57:07 Assessment and Busting Myths
58:54 AI for Human Connection
01:02:14 Personal AI Wins and Wrap Up

Dean welcomes Professor Christian Muise (Queen’s University computing science) to discuss how generative AI is disrupting education, ethics, assessment, and human interaction. They acknowledge the loss of traditional take-home assessments and the upheaval educators face, arguing excitement about AI should not gloss over real challenges. Christian explains why optimism or pessimism depends on context, how ethical issues have intensified with the recent scale of generative AI (including resource use), and why AI literacy matters differently for everyday users versus decision-makers deploying tools in schools. They explore misconceptions about AI as “truth,” the jagged capability landscape, and the rapid impact on higher-ed assessments, prompting shifts to in-person quizzes/exams and redesigned coursework. They also discuss risks like cognitive atrophy and changing social behavior, while highlighting ways to use AI that strengthen thinking, and Christian shares how he approaches AI with his grade-4 daughter to protect creativity.

00:00 Education Upheaval
00:54 Meet Christian Muise
03:35 Optimism Versus Pessimism
05:07 Ethics Goes Mainstream
07:15 Narrow AI And AGI
09:58 How Generative AI Works
11:58 AI Literacy For Everyone
16:00 Surprises In Education
17:59 Companionship And Psyche
21:47 Process Over Product
22:57 Using AI Without Atrophy
25:17 Course Assessment Redesign
29:27 Education Upheaval Reality
30:23 AI Misconceptions Truth
31:00 Token Generator Limits
32:23 Jagged Capability Curve
34:08 Workflow Atrophy Warning
35:22 K12 District Guidance
39:15 Curiosity Critical Community
41:12 Parenting AI Creativity
45:28 Multidisciplinary Conversations
47:50 Rapid Fire Wrap Up
51:12 Closing Thanks Farewell

Dean kicks off season six of the Canadian Ed Leadership Show with a nostalgic conversation about his hometown of Morden, Manitoba, and an interview with Western School Division superintendent Steven Jaddock. Jaddock shares his path from teaching and leadership in Dauphin/Mountain View School Division to his first year in Morden, describing the community’s unusual sustained rural growth, increasing diversity, and resulting pressure for new school capacity. They discuss Manitoba’s unique local school taxation, ongoing budget cycles and advocacy for improved provincial funding formulas, and a more open relationship with the current education ministry. Jaddock outlines supports for newcomers through EAL funding, settlement workers, and partnerships, acknowledges challenges of inclusion and limited rural capacity for specialized needs, and previews plans for AI guidelines, expanded technical-vocational learning, learning on the land, and relationship-centered culture.

00:00 Relationships First
00:39 Season Six Kickoff
01:06 Nostalgia for Morden
03:22 Meet Steven Jaddock
03:51 Why Move to Morden
05:13 Community Growth and Diversity
11:03 Leading Through Listening
14:46 Manitoba Education Dynamics
16:21 Funding and Local Taxation
19:24 Government Relations
22:15 Supporting Newcomers
25:25 Inclusion Capacity Challenges
30:47 Partnerships Solve Problems
34:38 AI in Schools
40:46 Five Year Vision
41:37 Tech Voc and Land Learning
44:57 Staff Culture and Purpose
46:51 Rapid Fire Questions
49:42 Hidden Gems of Morden

Dean interviews high school philosophy teacher Marcus Blair about how discovering a student had used ChatGPT shifted his initial curiosity into fear and urgency, prompting questions about AI’s impact on classrooms, education, and society. Blair explains how his philosophy background helps him ground AI decisions in critical thinking and ethics, drawing on thinkers like Descartes and approaches like utilitarianism and virtue ethics to move beyond policing toward student integrity. He describes practical classroom systems—AI integration “stamps,” a signed student AI agreement, and QR-code disclosure forms—plus strategic cognitive offloading so students can focus on intended learning outcomes. Blair shares examples including AI-supported reporting followed by in-class ethical judgment, emphasizing standards-based assessment, process-focused writing instruction, reduced homework, and district leadership supporting capacity-building and dialogue.

00:00 Caught Using ChatGPT
01:06 Meet Marcus Blair
03:25 First Encounter Fear
05:30 Existential Classroom Shift
07:23 Why Philosophy Matters
10:53 Integrity Over Policing
12:53 Student Win With AI
14:31 Classroom AI Guardrails
19:20 Cognitive Offloading Example
22:46 Standards Based Assessment
24:51 Process Over Product
27:17 Rethinking Homework
29:43 District Leadership Pride
32:35 Finding Common Ground
35:13 Gratitude And Rapid Fire
37:03 Books Shows Hidden Gems
40:59 Closing Thanks

Ryan Strang on the Evolution of School Communications: Strategy, Storytelling, Crisis, and Trust Dean interviews Ryan Strang, Senior Manager of Communications and Community Relations for Ontario’s Grand Erie District School Board and president/executive director of CASE, about how school communications has evolved beyond “just tweeting” into strategic advising, storytelling, brand ambassadorship, customer service, and crisis management. Ryan describes how social media shifted communications from one-way to fast, two-way engagement, increasing pressure for rapid response and amplifying challenges like polarization and misinformation. They discuss choosing channels based on metrics and audience (including stepping back from X, focusing on Facebook/Instagram, and monitoring/responding on Reddit), balancing playful brand voice with professionalism, and the emerging opportunities and risks of AI—especially around privacy and student images. Ryan shares a career highlight: quickly organizing a maple-syrup outdoor education experience for Syrian newcomer families in Peel, showing communications’ impact through relationship-building and storytelling.

00:00 Comms Role Defined
00:50 Why Comms Emerged
01:28 Meet Ryan Strang 
04:28 Beyond Social Media 
10:45 CASE Growth Post Pandemic
14:11 Storytelling Versus Risk 
19:58 Finding Brand Voice
23:30 Playful Comms Examples
25:50 Snow Day Trust Building
28:40 Big District Complexity
30:06 Strategic Comms Value
30:52 Digital Customer Service
31:54 Choosing Social Channels
33:39 Metrics Over Hype
35:20 Facebook Instagram Reddit
38:44 New Platforms Playbook
40:37 AI Opportunities Risks
44:07 Authenticity Versus Automation
45:28 Career Success Story
47:10 Syrian Families Maple Trip
53:22 Hidden Gems Hamilton Brantford
55:13 Closing Reflections

Dean interviews Kate Arthur about what it means for a skill to become a “literacy” and why AI literacy must build on foundational reading, writing, and numeracy alongside access to networks, tools, and skills. Arthur shares her nontraditional education path, 25 years at the intersection of tech, communications, and education, and how classroom moments like students using Siri pushed her to connect literacy with AI’s growing presence. They discuss integrating AI learning across subjects rather than isolating it, the risk of focusing on tools over outcomes like critical thinking, and concerns about widening divides when basic literacy gaps persist. Arthur describes a shift from an attention economy to an attachment economy in generative AI, the ethics of human–machine relationships, and the need to democratize AI knowledge currently concentrated among a few leaders. She also recounts lobbying that secured $6M for youth skills education and emphasizes community-driven change.
 00:00 What Makes Literacy
 01:06 Meet Kate Arthur
03:06 Kate’s Education Journey
04:57 Stumbling Into AI
07:09 Defining AI Literacy
11:17 Frameworks And Gaps
14:35 Teaching Across Subjects
16:52 Tools Versus Skills
19:17 Best Case AI Future
22:25 Screens Bans And Balance
26:37 From Attention To Attachment
30:33 AI Relationship Guilt
31:39 Depth Versus Shallow
33:11 Humans Versus Chatbots
38:50 Innovation At Risk
40:41 Proudest Career Moments
42:00 Lobbying For Education
45:35 How Lobbying Works
48:45 Leadership And Mentors
54:37 Montreal Hidden Gem

Dean records an on-the-road podcast in Moose Jaw with his friend Alan Levine.. They discuss what’s still good about the internet in 2026, emphasizing curiosity, surprises, creativity, and niche communities that share knowledge, alongside the shift of social media from creation to consumption and parasocial influence. Alan describes teaching curiosity through hands-on activities and the value of low-stakes connection and storytelling. He explains his work at Open Education Global, the roots of open education and OpenCourseWare, its worldwide reach, and how openness supports quality through adaptation, educator involvement, and open pedagogy with students co-creating resources. They also cover Alan’s storytelling tools (Five Card Flickr Stories and PechaFlickr), mixed feelings about AI, and brief personal topics including his Canadian citizenship, reading about AI and photography, favorite shows, and Moose Jaw highlights.
00:00 Internet Still Surprises 
01:27Why This Interview Exists
03:47 Coffee Shop Setup
04:19 Family Archives and Voices
05:11 What’s Good Online
07:09 Teaching Internet Curiosity
08:31 Social Media Then Now
11:11 Micro Communities and Fixes
13:23 Becoming Canadian
16:14 Open Education Explained
21:00 Quality and Open Pedagogy
23:36 Digital Storytelling Today
26:55 Beyond Video Storytelling
28:02 Five Card Flickr Stories
30:10 PechaFlickr Improv Talks
33:41 Why These Tools Work
34:41 AI Thoughts and Tradeoffs
37:39 Practical AI Use Cases
42:32 Reading on AI Photography
47:50 Binge Watch Favorites
48:55 Moose Jaw Hidden Gems
50:46 Wrap Up and Thanks