Why should we care about equity-centered design in education? What impact does it make? In today’s episode, Sheryl Cababa, Chief Strategy Officer at Substantial, shares her experience and advice on how we can practically and effectively design learning experiences with equity in mind. Sheryl shares how she became interested in education and design research and discusses her work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation using design thinking and equity-centered design to inform investment strategies. She discusses some of the key principles to follow when practicing equity-centered design ..read more

What do educators need to battle burnout? How do they feel about AI in the classroom? Francie Alexander, SVP of Research at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, shares key takeaways from HMH’s 9th annual Educator Confidence Report. Recommended Resources from the Interview HMH's 2023 Educator Confidence Report Writable About Our Guest Francie Alexander is the SVP of Research at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, also known as HMH, where she works closely with districts across the country to lead HMH's efficacy efforts and provide inspirational and informative leadership on topics from early and adolescent learn ..read more

Do you see yourself in the stories you read? Are your beliefs, culture, and traditions embraced? Do you see heroes that look like you? In this episode, Louisa Kiwana Olafuyi, Co-Founder of Kunda Kids, shares how she practices multifaceted representation and her mission to inspire children around the world with inclusive stories that teach them about African culture and heritage. Kunda Kids is an award-winning, Black-owned children's publishing, EdTech, and media company whose mission is to expose children to diverse and inclusive stories that make them feel represented and teach them about ot ..read more

What makes a successful unstructured play experience and how can unstructured play impact the future of EdTech? In today’s episode, Tanner Higgin shares how unstructured play can be integrated into education and EdTech. Play is a powerful force for learning and unstructured play is a type of play that gives players a system of tools that they can use to create their own experiences. Tanner sees play as research and describes some of the key factors that make a successful unstructured play experience including exploration, surprise, and social negotiation. The key aspects of unstructured play ..read more

Women have been underrepresented in STEM education and STEM careers for as long as STEM has existed. Why do we need more representation and why does that disparity continue to exist? How can we encourage more women to explore STEM careers? In this episode, Naomi Harm, CEO and Founder of Innovative Educator Consulting, discusses her decades long journey in bringing more representation to STEM education. Naomi describes her excitement about STEM, or Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, and views STEM as an integrated thematic unit that empowers creativity. She describes how she became pa ..read more

Bop It…Twist It…Pull It! From the 90s and beyond, these sounds have been an integral part of many people's childhood. In today’s episode, Dan Klitsner, multi-award winning Toy Inventor and creator of Bop It, joins us to discuss leveraging tactile technology to transform play experiences.  How did the idea for Bop It evolve? As is the case with many inventions, success can come from failure. It all began when Dan pitched the idea for a new type of interactive tv remote for kids. When other ideas were pursued instead, Dan explored turning it into a game and behold - the Bop It…Twist It…Pul ..read more

This episode was recorded in April 2023. In this episode, two very special guests from CodeCombat’s Live Online Classes, Ami and Luka, share their coding adventures together as instructor and student. These two have been coding together for years and have an inspiring teacher-student relationship. Luka describes his early experiences in coding and shares his thoughts on the most challenging parts of learning how to code. He reflects on how he’s seen himself grow in his coding skills and Ami chimes in with her thoughts on Luka’s growth in coding. She then discusses bringing creativity to codi ..read more

Digital learning refers to the use of digital technologies to facilitate and enhance the educational process and is becoming increasingly popular given the advancement of technology and widespread reach of the internet. In this episode, Joel Kupperstein, Senior Vice President of Product Strategy at Learning A-Z, discusses creating digital learning content that empowers educators with effective resources and provides students with the impactful instruction they need to thrive. Digital learning includes a wide range of educational resources and activities and offers advantages like increased co ..read more

“EdTech has this great potential if we design for inclusion of mind, if we involve users of diverse backgrounds in what we develop to create more equitable learning experiences.” - Christine Reich An important part of data equity is making sure that you have the data that you need to make equity-based decisions and to think about the design of the learning experience from a universal design standpoint at the very beginning of a project. Furthermore, formative evaluation and the inclusion of diverse audiences during development is essential. In this episode, Christine Reich discusses the evalu ..read more

Trigger Warning // death Please note that about 5 minutes into this conversation, Joshua describes his childhood experiences which includes mention of a friend’s death. Whether you're 12 years old or a high school student, it’s never too early to start preparing for college. In this episode, Joshua Samuel, CEO & Founder of Coins For College, shares how he’s found a way to convert a student’s day-to-day school activities into scholarship incentives. Coins For College empowers education through community, helping prepare students for college academically, financially, and most importantly ..read more