Libsyn Directory

#82 - On Efficacy & Impact

Release Date: 09/10/2017

#302 The Secret Sauce: Why Children Still Need Humans in a Digital World

The Edtech Podcast

In this episode, Philippa Wraithmell and Rob Hughes, co-founder of Tandem, explore a revolutionary approach to screen time that challenges the narrative of “parenting guilt” and passive consumption. Rob explains how Tandem leverages generative AI not to replace parents, but to act as a “tech for two” bridge that sparks creativity, co-creation, and shared reading moments. The conversation also addresses complex emotional challenges such as hospital visits and family separation. As they delve into the ethics of AI guardrails and the crucial difference between a “digital pacifier” and...

#301 A policy perspective on AI and equity: a fireside chat with Alina Sava

The Edtech Podcast

In this episode, our host Philippa Wraithmell is in conversation with Alina Sava, a Senior Education Specialist at the World Bank, discussing Alina’s journey in education and the transformative role of AI in the sector. She emphasizes the importance of equity in education, the necessity of lifelong learning, and the evolving curriculum that incorporates critical thinking. Alina highlights the need for governments to create frameworks for AI integration while ensuring that teachers remain central to the learning process. The discussion also touches on the potential digital divide in AI access...

#300 What If CPD Actually Worked for Teachers, Not Against Them? - With Hachette Learning

The Edtech Podcast

Teachers today are genuinely time-poor. Between increasing administrative demands, constant assessment, and the rapid rise of AI, finding professional development that truly fits into a teacher’s reality can feel impossible. Too often, CPD remains one-size-fits-all detached from linguistically diverse classrooms and the real challenges educators face every day. When professional learning fails to connect with practice, the impact goes far beyond wasted hours. Essential skills such as oracy, effective EAL strategies, and healthy digital habits are overlooked, contributing to teacher burnout...

#299 The AI Paradox: Why the World’s Poorest Classrooms Are Adopting What the West Fears

The Edtech Podcast

In many Western classrooms, the mobile phone is viewed as the "forbidden fruit", a primary source of distraction that must be banned, confiscated, or locked away in magnetic pouches. Teachers and parents alike are exhausted by the constant battle over "screen time," whilst struggling to engage students in an education system that hasn't evolved in decades. Lectures are often unengaging, leading students to drift away, yet we blame the device rather than the delivery. Is this prohibitive approach a catastrophic mistake? Stephen Hodges warns that Western nations risk being "digitally...

#298 - SAUDI LEARN - Can AI Detect Your Emotions? Inside Saudi Arabia’s Most Ambitious Learning & Innovation Program

The Edtech Podcast

Can an AI detect your sadness? 🤔 This episode will change how you think about mental health and finance. We're at Saudi Learn speaking to the next generation of innovators! Hear from the brilliant minds behind: · Voice Recognition for Mental Health: A powerful app that charts your emotional patterns and spikes. They tell us why this is CRUCIAL 50% of people worldwide are walking around undiagnosed. · The AI Finance Advisor: We meet the team who spotted a "desperate need" for financial help, leading them to...

#297 OpenAI: The Great Equaliser? AI and the Future of Fair Learning.

The Edtech Podcast

In this episode, Jayna Devani - International Education Lead at OpenAI, shares how ChatGPT has rapidly become one of the most widely used learning tools in the world and how OpenAI is partnering with educators, universities, and governments to support responsible, equitable AI adoption. She discusses real examples from institutions like Oxford University and national initiatives like Estonia, showing how AI can enhance learning through personalization, creativity, and teacher-led innovation. Exploring how students are using ChatGPT as a study partner, coach, and career companion, and how...

#296 Author of Gifted? The Shift to Enrichment, Challenge and Equity

The Edtech Podcast

Imagine a child sitting in the corner of the classroom, written off as 'average' or even disruptive, yet harbouring a remarkable, untouched spark of curiosity within. Morgan Whitfield, educator and author of Gifted, invites us to delve into this poignant reality, where the label of 'gifted' often serves as an exclusionary wall that stifles potential, rather than a bridge to achievement . Through heart-stirring real-life stories, this episode challenges us to stop viewing education as an exclusive competition for a select few and start embracing every child with high, compassionate...

#295 Nicole Ponsford - EdTech, Equity & 26,000 Voices

The Edtech Podcast

If you’ve ever felt that education is changing faster than the systems meant to support you, this podcast gives you a clearer and more human way to understand that shift. You’ll explore how inclusion, data literacy, AI and school culture can be viewed through a lens that actually reflects real lived experiences. In this episode you join Dr Nicole Ponsford, a former teacher turned researcher and founder of a platform built on more than twenty six thousand voices from schools around the world. Her work challenges long standing assumptions about data, belonging and leadership in ways that...

#294 Universities Without Walls : Future Skills future Work

The Edtech Podcast

What if the universities of the future had no walls, no lecture halls, and no stressful exams? In this episode, Philippa Wraithmell speaks with James Newby(President & CEO, NMITE – New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering, UK) and Dr Thomas Funke (Founding President, Tomorrow University, Germany). They explore how higher education is evolving, moving away from rigid traditional systems towards models of learning that are more human, challenge-based, and aligned with the future of work. From hands-on learning and mission-driven education to the development of emotional...

#293 One Hour to Mastery: The Science Behind Lasting Knowledge

The Edtech Podcast

This episode explores the science of long-term memory and “time-sequenced learning”, a neuroscience-based instructional approach that helps students retain knowledge deeply and efficiently. Simon explains how the technique was inspired by research showing that firing synapses in a particular sequence chemically strengthens memory — “tattooing” information into the brain. This method, initially tested in schools and later scaled digitally, can compress weeks of traditional instruction into an hour while improving retention and confidence. He and Philippa discuss: The neuroscience...

More Episodes

#82 - On Efficacy and Impact in Edtech

The third part of the ASU GSV Summit Series on The Edtech Podcast. Listen here.

Welcome everyone to this third episode from the ASU GSV Summit series on The Edtech Podcast. This week we hear about efficacy and impact touching upon evidence-based education, why you shouldn't attempt to be a researcher, and why accreditation isn't the answer in the complicated world of education!

Don't forget to check out the reference links below, for more follow up videos, podcasts and reading on this topic.

What's in this episode?

Message from this week's episode sponsors Qatar Foundation International and The Michelson 20MM Foundation
Sophie Bailey introduction - latest events, competition winners and news
Deborah Quazzo with the GSV Cap. perspective on efficacy and impact
1:1 interviews featuring:
Bart Epstein, Founding CEO, Jefferson Education Accelerator (recorded at ASU GSV Summit)
Tom Bennett, Director and founder of researchED
Sophie Bailey outro - what's next in the series?

Sample quotes:

Rather than saying let’s do it like this because Vgotsky said so in the 1920s, let’s look at what is the alternative

Very very infrequently is the efficacy and impact judged in advance of major policy decisions

We want to make it more likely that the edtech products that reach our classrooms will have the best impact, not just the best marketing claims

References:

Bart Epstein - Jefferson Education Accelerator

Tom Bennett - ResearchED

Like this episode? Check out these related videos and podcasts:

Solving Higher Ed's complex problems with Bart Epstein, Founding CEO, Jefferson Education Accelerator and Research Associate Professor at the University of Virginia and company...

Under 30 Conversation: Dorm Room Founders On Impact And Reform with Caroline Howard, Editor, Forbes with Jacob Allen, Founder-CEO, pilotEd Schools (30 Under 30 2017), Alexis Morin, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Students for Education Reform (30 Under30 2013) and Joe Vasquez, Co-Director, Runway Incubator; Co-Founder, Michelson Runway EdTech Accelerator (30 Under 30 2017):

Solving K-12’s most complex issues across ed-tech dev, funding, and procurement with Katrina Stevens, Former Deputy Director of the Office of Educational Technology, U.S. Department of Education and Bart Epstein, Founding CEO, Jefferson Education Accelerator and Research Associate Professor at the University of Virginia moderating...

Messages from The Edtech Podcast:

Our website has just launched! You can check it out here.
Applications to host a guest episode of The Edtech Podcast are now open. Find out more here
Have you checked out Innovate Edtech yet? It takes place in November and focuses on learner experience. More here.
Do you love The Edtech Podcast? Share the love by checking out our Patreon campaign and joining our list of awesome Patrons!
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Thank you to this week's sponsors:

The ASU GSV Summit annually brings together the most impactful people from diverse constituencies – entrepreneurs, business leaders, K12 and higher ed leaders, policymakers, leading tech companies, and philanthropists – to create partnerships, explore solutions, and shape the future of learning and talent innovation.

Go to: https://www.asugsvsummit.com/

This episode is brought to you by the Michelson 20MM Foundation. A nonprofit based in Los Angeles, California that supports and invests in leading edge entrepreneurs, technologies, and initiatives with the potential to improve access, affordability, and student success in higher education. In 2016, 20MM launched the Michelson Runway, the world’s first accelerator dedicated to supporting innovations in higher-ed and career training. Both were founded thanks to the generous support of renowned spinal surgeon, Dr. Gary K. Michelson and his wife, Alya. Visit 20mm.org and michelsonrunway.com for more information.

Qatar Foundation International (QFI), LLC, is a U.S.-based member of Qatar Foundation (QF). QFI operates as both a grant-making organization, and a convener of thought leaders on issues related to global and international education, open education and education technologies as they intersect with the three core QFI programmatic areas: Arabic language and Arab culture, STE{A}M (STEM plus the Arts), and Youth Engagement.

Go to: http://www.qfi.org/

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Prof. Rose Luckin, Professor of Learner Centred Design, UCL Knowledge Lab - photo in past guests folder

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