Edtech Insiders
Edtech Insiders
Alex Sarlin and Ben Kornell
At Edtech Insiders, we interview founders, investors, operators, educators, and thought leaders about the future of education technology. You’ll hear from leaders across the education technology industry and learn about all of the important edtech trends happening globally.
Why Leadership Matters More Than Technology with Aneesh Sohoni of Teach For America
Send us Fan Mail Aneesh Sohoni is CEO of Teach For America and a former high school English teacher and TFA corps member. He has also led TFA Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana and One Million Degrees. 💡 5 Things You’ll Learn in This Episode: Why leadership matters more than technology in education.How teachers can build practical AI fluency.Teach For America’s 4 Ds framework for using AI.Why AI can’t replace human connection in learning.How teachers are using AI to personalize learning.✨ ...
Aug 31
21 min
Week in Edtech 8/19/26: ChatGPT for Teens, $265M Reach Capital Fund, The EdTech Backlash, AI’s Competitive Shakeup, and More! Feat. Sabine Wallis, NWEA & Andy Rotherham and Marisa Mission, Bellwether
Send us Fan Mail Join hosts Ben Kornell and Alex Sarlin as they break down the biggest stories shaping AI, Edtech investment, the growing tech backlash, and the future of assessment. ✨ Episode Highlights: [00:05:47] ChatGPT for Teens introduces new safety and learning features [00:11:29] Generalized AI models raise new challenges for Edtech companies [00:13:47] OpenAI partners with CodeAI on AI learning and youth safety [00:17:07] Reach Capital launches a new $265M fund focused on early-stage...
Aug 28
1 hr 15 min
Why Edtech Needs Less Hype and More Honesty with Tony Wan & Betsy Corcoran
Send us Fan Mail Tony Wan is Head of Platform at Reach Capital and co-founder and former managing editor of EdSurge. Betsy Corcoran is a writer, speaker, serial entrepreneur, and co-founder of EdSurge who explores AI and learning through her work and podcast, Future Fluent. 💡 5 Things You’ll Learn in This Episode: How EdSurge helped shape the early edtech ecosystem.Why edtech needs more honest and nuanced storytelling.What the tech backlash gets right and where it misses the bigger picture.Wh...
Aug 24
50 min
Week in Edtech 8/12/26: Educator AI Adoption Hits 80%, Varsity Tutors Exits Schools, Higher Ed Rethinks Grading, Open vs. Closed AI, and More! Feat. Reg Leichty of Foresight Law + Policy & Mike Wales and Madison McCormick of CodePath
Send us Fan Mail Join hosts Ben Kornell and Alex Sarlin as they break down the biggest stories shaping educator confidence, tutoring, higher ed grading, AI models, education policy, and AI workforce development. ✨ Episode Highlights: [00:02:47] Edtech Insiders heads to Teach For America’s 35th anniversary [00:05:19] HMH survey shows educator AI adoption reaches 80% [00:08:45] Varsity Tutors exits school-based tutoring [00:11:46] What makes tutoring effective? [00:13:00] MIT drops freshman gra...
Aug 21
1 hr 8 min
Inside Reach Capital’s $265M Fund V with Jomayra Herrera
Send us Fan Mail Jomayra Herrera is a Partner at Reach Capital, an early-stage venture fund investing across learning, health, and work. Previously, she worked at Emerson Collective and Cowboy Ventures, investing in companies including Handshake, Guild, Contra, and Career Karma. 💡 5 Things You’ll Learn in This Episode: Why Reach Capital is doubling down on pre-seed and early-stage investing with its new $265M Fund V.How learning, health, and work intersect to create new opportunities for inno...
Aug 18
50 min
AI Should Support Teachers, Not Replace Them with Joy Delizo-Osborne of Student Achievement Partners
Send us Fan Mail Joy Delizo-Osborne is President and CEO of Student Achievement Partners, where she works to improve instructional quality and connect evidence-based practices with curriculum and edtech. A former teacher, instructional coach, and principal, Joy brings more than 20 years of experience in education. 💡 5 Things You’ll Learn in This Episode: How AI can support and not replace teachers and students.Why productive struggle still matters in AI-powered learning.What districts should ...
Aug 17
52 min
Week in Edtech 8/5/26: Higher Ed Leadership Turnover Accelerates, OpenAI Expands Its Education Push, AI “Slop” Floods Teachers Pay Teachers, Students Propose AI Rules, and More! Feat. Janice Jackson of Aspen Institute
Send us Fan Mail Join hosts Ben Kornell and Alex Sarlin as they break down the biggest stories shaping higher education, AI adoption, school technology policy, and the future of learning. ✨ Episode Highlights: [00:05:13] Higher ed leadership turnover accelerates amid political, financial, and AI pressures [00:11:00] OpenAI launches new AI tools for college students, professors, and K–12 educators [00:17:27] OpenAI pushes deeper into higher ed with AI-powered academic workflows [00:20:40] AI c...
Aug 14
58 min
How Boddle Turned Classroom Math into a Game Kids Choose to Play with Edna Martinson
Send us Fan Mail Edna Martinson is the Co-founder and COO of Boddle Learning, a gamified K–6 learning platform used by millions of students to build confidence in math, literacy, and science. She is passionate about combining great game design with research-backed learning experiences that teachers and students love. 💡 5 Things You'll Learn in This Episode Why Boddle was built to compete with video games.How gamification drives learning and confidence.What teachers want from classroom technol...
Aug 10
49 min
Week in Edtech 7/29/26: Gates Foundation Shakeup, OpenAI's AI Workforce Push, Y Combinator Backs AI Tutors, Coursera Invests $100M on AI Learning, and More! Feat. Kavitta Ghai of Nectir & Aidan McDowell of UniqLearn
Send us Fan Mail Join hosts Ben Kornell and Alex Sarlin as they break down the biggest stories shaping AI, edtech investment, philanthropy, the future of work, and AI-powered learning. ✨ Episode Highlights: [00:02:33] Bridges AI Summit brings district leaders together to discuss AI adoption, pilots, and edtech purchasing [00:05:19] Imagi raises $4.5M with backing from OpenAI, Lovable, Will.i.am, Kahoot!, and ElevenLabs [00:09:18] AI, cross-sector platforms, and portfolio consolidation drive e...
Aug 7
1 hr 33 min
Inside the Inaugural Columbians in EdTech Showcase: Meet the Winners
Send us Fan Mail Inside Columbia's First EdTech Showcase, Alex Sarlin sits down with the founders and leaders behind the inaugural Columbia EdTech Showcase to explore the startups, ideas, and innovations shaping the future of learning from AI-powered discussion tools to health education, learning science, and content curation. 🎙️ Featuring insights from: [00:01:56] Pete Novak, Founder, Columbians in EdTech [00:14:48] Dan Wang, Co-Founder, CAiSEY [00:32:43] Kyleigh Sudlow, Lead Engineer, Puber...
Aug 3
1 hr 19 min
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