The Future of EdTech Podcast

What if making learning easier to build is actually making learning worse?In this episode of the Future of EdTech Podcast, Emil Reisser-Weston speaks with Graham Hutchings, CEO of Profitability Business Simulations, about gamification, AI and why effective learning needs to reflect the messy reality of work.Can AI help us create better learning, or is it simply making it easier to create more of it?Graham: https://www.linkedin.com/in/graham-hutchings-05344b26/Ready to experience the future of Edtech? Visit https://openelms.com or if you have a learning requirement book a meeting https://library.openelms.com/book/andy-howie-discovery00:00 Meet Graham Hutchings00:49 How AI Is Changing Business Simulations01:05 AI Has Supercharged Customisation02:46 Vibe Coding Learning Experiences04:47 What Does AI-Powered Gamification Look Like?05:07 Inside Profitability's Business Simulations07:37 Building Digital Team Simulations10:03 When Technology Gets in the Way of Learning10:36 Gamification vs Game-Based Learning11:12 Golf vs Football: Complicated vs Complex Problems11:55 Why Bad Gamification Doesn't Work13:47 When AI Role Play Works and When It Doesn't15:10 Turning Simulations Into Behaviour Change18:46 Measuring the Real ROI of Learning19:14 Proving Business Impact21:58 AI Adoption Inside Business Simulations23:48 Do Humans Make Better Decisions With AI?24:46 The Wild West of Workplace AI26:26 If It's Easy to Build, Will It Actually Work?27:15 Where to Find Profitability28:02 Outro#FutureOfEdTech #Gamification #GameBasedLearning #AI #LearningAndDevelopment #EdTech #FutureOfLearning #WorkplaceLearning

If AI can give us almost any piece of knowledge instantly, what is actually left to teach?In Episode 17 of the Future of EdTech Podcast, Emil Reisser-Weston speaks with Adam Lacy, co-founder of Assemble You, about the dramatic skills shift taking place as AI changes how we work and learn.Adam argues that knowledge is becoming increasingly accessible, but that doesn't make learning and development obsolete. Instead, its role is shifting towards harder-to-develop human capabilities such as judgement, critical thinking, interpersonal skills and accountability.The challenge now is developing the human skills to know what to do with it.Find out more about Assemble You and listen to the Assembly podcast:https://www.assembleyou.com/https://www.assembleyou.com/the-assembly/the-assembly-podcastSubscribe for more conversations exploring the future of AI, EdTech and workplace learning.00:00 Meet Adam Lacy01:00 If AI Knows Everything, What's Left to Teach?02:58 How L&D Needs to Change03:39 AI Could Remove the Admin From Work04:59 The Human Skills AI Makes More Important05:43 How Do You Teach Judgement?07:41 Are Younger Workers Missing Critical Skills?11:36 Will Chat Become the New Learning Interface?12:43 Using AI to Practise Real-World Skills13:24 Personalising Learning With AI16:26 The Coming Flood of AI-Generated Content18:22 Why People Hate eLearning18:53 Could AI Make Learning Worse?21:16 Why eLearning Tools Are Holding Us Back22:13 Why Should Learners Care?23:15 Can AI Create Great Learning?24:45 Do We Still Need L&D Professionals?26:03 L&D's Opportunity in an AI-First Business27:29 Why Assembly U Started With Audio28:57 Learning When You Don't Have Time32:25 Keeping Learning Content Up to Date33:18 Using AI to Audit Existing Content35:35 Why Accountability Matters More With AI37:04 Why Full AI Automation May Never Happen40:33 Using AI to Practise Failure Safely42:18 What EdTech Needs to Change42:26 Why Completion Is a Useless Metric44:04 How AI Can Analyse Real Performance46:24 The Assembly Podcast47:02 Outro

AI won't change your job. But someone using AI might.

In Episode 16 of the Future of EdTech Podcast, Emil Reisser-Weston speaks with Ross Garner, Chief Learning Officer at Mind Tools Kineo, about what AI adoption really means for employees, managers and L&D teams.

Ross argues that the biggest change isn't the technology itself, but how people respond to it. Someone is going to change the way your job works. It could be you, your manager, or someone who learns to use AI to do the same work faster and more effectively.

They explore why simply teaching people how to use AI tools isn't enough, the four barriers holding back enterprise AI adoption, why managers can unintentionally kill AI innovation, and why employees need the confidence and freedom to experiment.

Ross also explains why AI could fundamentally change written workplace content, why L&D should focus on improving performance rather than simply producing more courses, and how personalised AI learning could reshape workplace development.

The question isn't whether AI will change work. It's who takes control of that change.

Subscribe for more conversations exploring the future of AI, EdTech and workplace learning.

Chapters

00:00 Meet Ross Garner

00:39 We Forgot to Record the Podcast

01:04 Stop Thinking of AI as a Tool

02:55 Is AI Coming for Our Jobs?

04:41 Letting Go of Your Professional Identity

05:40 The Challenges of AI Adoption

06:10 The Four Barriers to AI Adoption

07:23 Why Organisations Must Reward AI Innovation

08:48 Building AI Skills From the Top Down

10:07 Should Businesses Build Their Own AI Systems?

11:48 The Human in the Loop

12:19 Ten Years of the Mind Tools Podcast

13:05 When Nobody Knew What a Podcast Was

14:35 Why Podcasts Generate Better Ideas

15:04 What 500 Podcast Episodes Teach You

16:08 What EdTech Needs to Change

16:22 Fewer Courses, Better Learning

17:07 Mind Tools Kineo's AI Skills Academy

18:26 Outro

AI can do almost anything. But that doesn't mean it should.In Episode 15 of the Future of EdTech Podcast, Emil Reisser-Weston speaks with Jon Poulter, Director of AI Transformation at the Data and AI Literacy Academy, about why organisations should stop starting with AI and start with the problem.Jon explains his “task then tool” approach to AI transformation, why qualitative data is becoming incredibly valuable, how to put the right human in the right loop, and why learning should be measured by business outcomes rather than completions.They also explore AI adoption, Copilot, vibe coding, job displacement and why being able to generate learning with AI doesn't automatically make someone a learning designer.AI can do anything. The real question is: what should it do?Jon Poulter: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-md-poulter/https://www.dl-academy.comChapters00:00 Introduction to Jon Poulter01:19 Why AI Transformation Should Start With the Problem01:36 Task First, Tool Second02:49 Understanding What Employees Actually Need04:27 AI Can Do Anything. That's the Problem05:44 Why Giving Everyone AI Isn't Transformation06:17 The Hidden Risks of Copilot08:20 Use the Tools You Already Have10:51 The Problem-First Approach12:08 Using Data to Find the Real Problems14:28 Unlocking the Value of Qualitative Data17:14 Bridging Technical and Non-Technical Teams19:40 Measuring the Business Impact of Learning22:57 The Right Human in the Right Loop25:33 Why Experts Get Things Wrong Too28:17 Where AI Should Make Decisions30:07 Breaking the Quality, Cost and Speed Trade-Off31:29 Will AI Lead to Job Losses?34:33 Transforming Organisations, Not Just Processes35:35 Why Curiosity and Confidence Matter39:02 The Problem With Too Many AI Ideas41:34 Can Anyone Create Good Learning With AI?43:35 Data and AI Literacy Academy44:04 Outro

What if AI’s biggest opportunity isn’t improving the way we already work, but making entirely new ways of working possible?

In this episode of the Future of EdTech Podcast, Emil Reisser-Weston speaks with Johanna Pellenin, co-founder of VouLearning, about the difference between incremental innovation and genuine transformation, and why AI is fundamentally changing what organisations can do.

Johanna explores how AI could reinvent competency mapping, dynamically uncover employee skills, analyse development conversations and turn qualitative information into meaningful business insight. She also explains why she prefers the concept of “augmented intelligence”, with AI enhancing human thinking and decision-making rather than simply replacing it.

Find out more about Johanna and VouLearning:

VouLearning: https://www.vuolearning.com/en/

Johanna Pellenin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pellinenjohanna/

Chapters

00:00 Meet Johanna Pellenin

01:01 From Philosophy to EdTech Founder

02:11 What Was Broken With eLearning?

02:43 Building Mobile-First Learning

04:18 Incremental vs Transformational Innovation

07:40 How AI Enables Transformational Change

08:31 Reinventing Competency Mapping With AI

10:38 Where Human Judgement Still Matters

10:54 Why AI Is Really Augmented Intelligence

12:43 Combining Employee and Company Data

13:46 Turning Conversations Into Business Insights

15:57 AI, Data Security and Ethics

18:16 Why Traditional Competency Mapping Fails

20:18 Can AI Evaluate Employees?

21:04 Why Employees May Prefer AI Assessment

23:20 Is HR Ready for AI?

24:11 The Shift From Content to Skills

25:29 Personalisation vs Organisational Consistency

27:53 How Philosophy Influences EdTech

30:56 Bringing L&D Into One Platform

32:20 What EdTech Needs to Change

33:01 Where to Find Johanna Pellenin

What happens when the C-suite realises AI can create learning faster and cheaper than traditional L&D teams?

In this episode of the Future of EdTech Podcast, Emil Reisser-Weston speaks with Derek Mitchell, founder of Gallus Insight, about one of the biggest problems facing Learning and Development: proving that it actually delivers business value.

Derek argues that completions, enrolments and engagement metrics tell us very little about whether training worked. Instead, L&D needs to measure behavioural change and connect learning directly to real business outcomes.

They explore why AI could fundamentally change the role of L&D, how to calculate genuine learning ROI, the five data points that matter, why traditional LMS analytics fall short and how organisations can finally connect training to performance.

Find out more about Derek Mitchell:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derekmitchelluk/

Gallus Insight: https://www.gallusinsight.com/

#FutureOfEdTech #LearningAndDevelopment #LND #ArtificialIntelligence #EdTech #LearningAnalytics #LearningROI #AI #Elearning #lms

If AI can give us almost any piece of knowledge instantly, what is actually left to teach?

In Episode 17 of the Future of EdTech Podcast, Emil Reisser-Weston speaks with Adam Lacy, co-founder of Assemble You, about the dramatic skills shift taking place as AI changes how we work and learn.

Adam argues that knowledge is becoming increasingly accessible, but that doesn't make learning and development obsolete. Instead, its role is shifting towards harder-to-develop human capabilities such as judgement, critical thinking, interpersonal skills and accountability.

The challenge now is developing the human skills to know what to do with it.

Find out more about Assemble You and listen to the Assembly podcast:

https://www.assembleyou.com/

https://www.assembleyou.com/the-assembly/the-assembly-podcast

Subscribe for more conversations exploring the future of AI, EdTech and workplace learning.

00:00 Meet Adam Lacy

01:00 If AI Knows Everything, What's Left to Teach?

02:58 How L&D Needs to Change

03:39 AI Could Remove the Admin From Work

04:59 The Human Skills AI Makes More Important

05:43 How Do You Teach Judgement?

07:41 Are Younger Workers Missing Critical Skills?

11:36 Will Chat Become the New Learning Interface?

12:43 Using AI to Practise Real-World Skills

13:24 Personalising Learning With AI

16:26 The Coming Flood of AI-Generated Content

18:22 Why People Hate eLearning

18:53 Could AI Make Learning Worse?

21:16 Why eLearning Tools Are Holding Us Back

22:13 Why Should Learners Care?

23:15 Can AI Create Great Learning?

24:45 Do We Still Need L&D Professionals?

26:03 L&D's Opportunity in an AI-First Business

27:29 Why Assembly U Started With Audio

28:57 Learning When You Don't Have Time

32:25 Keeping Learning Content Up to Date

33:18 Using AI to Audit Existing Content

35:35 Why Accountability Matters More With AI

37:04 Why Full AI Automation May Never Happen

40:33 Using AI to Practise Failure Safely

42:18 What EdTech Needs to Change

42:26 Why Completion Is a Useless Metric

44:04 How AI Can Analyse Real Performance

46:24 The Assembly Podcast

47:02 Outro

What if getting things wrong was actually essential to better learning?

In this episode of the Future of EdTech Podcast, Emil Reisser-Weston speaks with George Hanshaw, Digital Learning and AI Innovation Leader at Los Angeles Pacific University, about psychological safety, active learning and how AI can give learners the confidence to question, challenge and experiment.

They explore Socratic AI, conversations with historical figures, data-informed course design, the changing role of subject matter experts, augmented reality and why real-time, problem-based AI learning could eventually cut learning time in half.

George also explains why EdTech needs to move beyond AI hype and focus on what genuinely improves learning.

Find out more about George:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ghanshaw/

Hanshaw's Horizon: https://hanshawshorizon.com/

#FutureOfEdTech #ArtificialIntelligence #EdTech #LearningTechnology #HigherEducation #AIinEducation #LearningAndDevelopment #Elearning

Are we thinking big enough about what AI can actually do?In this episode of the Future of EdTech Podcast, Emil Reisser-Weston is joined by Josh Penzell, Founder and CEO of Imagination Applied to explore why the biggest limitation on AI might not be the technology, but our own imagination.From using AI to simply create PowerPoints and courses faster to building personalised learning experiences, simulations and entirely new approaches to workplace learning, Josh argues that we need to stop using revolutionary technology to recreate what already exists.AI isn't the limit. Our imagination is.

Josh Penzell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-penzell/

https://www.joshpenzell.com/

Emil Reisser-Weston: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilrw/

www.openelms.com

www.openelms.ai

#FutureOfEdTech #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #EdTech #ImaginationApplied #LearningTechnology #Elearning #LearningAndDevelopment #LMS #WorkplaceLearning

What happens when AI completely changes the way learning platforms are built?

In Episode 10, Emil is joined by Daniel Murphy, Head of Site Reliability at PwC and creator of the Talk Tech To Me YouTube channel, to explore how AI is transforming learning technology, software development and the future of workplace learning.

If you're interested in AI, learning technology, workplace learning or the future of software development, this conversation is packed with practical insights from someone building enterprise AI every day.

Dan Murphy:

Website: https://danmurphy.life/Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-murphy-254a2046/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TalkTechToMe-Dan

Emil Reisser-Weston: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilrw/

Explore Open eLMS:https://www.openelms.com