Even before the pandemic, improving student engagement in critical "gateway" math/science courses was a tricky business, especially in traditionally underserved communities. In this episode of EdTech Today, Aurora Martinez, VP & General Manager at Wiley, discusses the diversity gap in tech careers and how we can leverage education to help close it. Prior to joining Wiley, Aurora was the COO and Managing Director at Gamelearn--a game-based learning company and the co-founder and CEO of EVERLEARNING. She spent the majority of her career in executive leadership positions for two of the world ..read more

This week Kevin Hogan and the EdTech Today show went on the road to the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego. Hogan used the opportunity to sit down with the biggest leaders in EdTech to discuss what they have learned from the successes and failures of remote learning and more importantly the lessons we can take away to improve the technology instead of backing away from it as we exit the pandemic. The CEO of Mursion, Mark Atkinson, sits down with Hogan to discuss how the company is imagining a new era in which all people have equal access to the future. Mursion has been recognized at the summit as bei ..read more

The more data that drops, the clearer the message for institutes of higher learning—in order to keep pace with today's society, operations must change. In this episode, Kshitij Nerurkar, Education Business Leader at Cognizant, drills down on his numbers for further evidence. Cognizant last week released the findings of its study, “The Work Ahead in Higher Ed: Repaving the Road for the Employees of Tomorrow.” The study reveals disruption for students and educators caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has only just begun with 45% of educators surveyed believe the pace is accelerating. With the sudden ..read more

Big news this week from Digital Promise—it will co-lead a new five-year, $20 million initiative aimed at creating artificial intelligence (AI) tools to advance human learning and education. In this episode of EdTech Today, Jeremy Roschelle, Executive Director of Learning Sciences Research at Digital Promise and one of the co-Principal Investigators (PIs) of the NSF grant, explains what this phase change will mean for future learning tools. The NSF AI Institute for Engaged Learning will produce transformative advances in STEM teaching and learning by bringing together a team that includes resea ..read more

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt recently released its 2021 educator confidence report, and the findings were not particularly optimistic. In this clip from MarketScale's EdTech Today, host Kevin Hogan weighs in on what the report's findings might mean for both the short and long-term future of education. "As with most news coming out these days about the state of education in the midst of the pandemic, there are good numbers and there are bad numbers. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt came out with their annual 2021 educator confidence report, which is an annual barometer, now in its seventh year, where the ..read more

Levi Belnap wants to make this clear from the beginning—artificial intelligence will never replace human teachers, at least not in our lifetime. What he and his colleagues at Merlyn Mind believe is that AI can enhance teachers' work. In this episode, Levi introduces us to his nascent company's offering and provides some insights on how they believe the classroom experience can be better for all involved. The company launched out of stealth mode last month to unveil the first digital assistant built specifically for education that empowers teachers to more naturally use the technology in their ..read more

The current economic zeitgeist suggests that workers need to start re-educating themselves if they want to not only survive but thrive. David Blake, CEO of Learn In, thinks differently. On this of EdTech Today, David breaks down why the employers are the ones that should shoulder the burden of educating the workers in order to not only retain workers but save money in the process. His company recently announced that it has partnered with Degreed, the leading enterprise learning experience platform. The partnership will enable Degreed’s 7 million users access to a marketplace of short, cohort-b ..read more

New research released today by the Center for Public Research and Leadership (CPRL) at Columbia University finds that digitally accessible, high-quality instructional materials designed to bring students, families and educators together increased student learning and engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research reveals possibilities for sustained partnership between schools and families moving forward. Despite challenges associated with remote learning, students, families, and educators from nine school districts and charter school organizations across seven states told researchers th ..read more

Never before has edTech been more essential, or more coveted in the investment community. In this of EdTech Today, Liam Pisano, Managing Partner at EduLab Capital Partners, talks about the current phenomenon and what it means for the industry moving forward. EduLab Capital Partners is a seed-stage venture capital firm focused on learning and workforce technologies, investing in business models that transcend the traditional education landscape. EduLab’s Boston and Tokyo-based team provides foundational support to entrepreneurs to help expand their customer base, make key early-stage hires, and ..read more

The idea of trial and error (aka failure) used to be a tricky subject in education circles. Now during pandemic times, it has become part of the process whether we like it or not. Al Kingsley, CEO of Netsupport believes that some new aspects of this risk-taking culture should remain, in both industry and the classroom. In this episode of EdTech Today, Al discusses this and several other ideas imparted in his recent book release My Secret #EDTECH Diary. Kingsley looks at educational technology through a wider lens as both executive and education advocate, who has also founded education trusts ..read more