Shows / EdTechnical
EdTechnical
Hosted by EdTechnical co-founders Libby Hills (CEO) and Owen Henkel (Research Director), the EdTechnical podcast explores AI in education through a research-grounded lens.
Each episode, Libby and Owen ask experts to help educators sift the useful insights from the AI hype. They ask questions like: how does this actually help students and teachers? What do we actually know about this technology, and what is just speculation? And (importantly!) when we say AI, what are we actually talking about?…
Episodes
- EdTechnical
Can AI give teachers their Sunday nights back?
In this episode of EdTechnical, our podcast hosts Libby and Owen welcome back John Roberts, CEO and co-founder of Oak National Academy, to discuss the results…
- EdTechnical
Does AI help with homework but harm exam performance?
In this EdTechnical short, Owen is joined by guest co-host Alyssa Van Camp, research lead at EdTechnical, to discuss a recent paper on the learning penalty…
- EdTechnical
How are teachers using AI?
In this episode, Libby and Owen speak with Joanna Cannon, senior fellow at the Walton Family Foundation, where she supports a growing body of research on how…
- EdTechnical
Notes from the Festival of Learning: The future of AI in education
In this episode of EdTechnical, Owen reports back from the Festival of Learning in South Korea, the annual gathering that brings together academics in AI…
- EdTechnical
AI Pre-Mortem: Getting Ahead of AI's Risks in Education
In this episode of EdTechnical, Libby and Owen speak with Rebecca Winthrop, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, where she directs the Center for…
- EdTechnical
England's Bet on AI in the Classroom
Libby is on maternity leave, so Hermione Thompson steps in to guest co-host this episode alongside Owen. Hermione is AI and EdTech lead at Purposeful Ventures…
- EdTechnical
Should We Be Embracing Cognitive Offloading?
This season EdTech founder Libby Hills and AI researcher Owen Henkel continue to speak with leading researchers, practitioners and educators on the EdTechnical…
- EdTechnical
AI That Acts: What “Agents” Mean for Classrooms
In this EdTechnical short, Libby and Owen unpack ‘AI agents’ and what they mean for education. Agents are large language models connected to tools and…
EdTechnicalVoice AI Is Listening. But Is It Actually Hearing? (Recorded Live at SXSW EDU 2026)
At this year's SXSW EDU, Owen joined a panel on what it takes to make voice AI for assessment work in classrooms. In this live recording of the session, the…
- EdTechnical
A Teddy Bear That Talks Back?
In this EdTechnical short, Libby and Owen test a conversational plush toy to understand more about AI-powered toys designed for young children. Recent research…
- EdTechnical
AI broke take-home assignments. Can it fix them too?
In this episode of EdTechnical, Libby and Owen speak with Panos Ipeirotis, Professor at NYU Stern School of Business, about his experiment using AI to run oral…
- EdTechnical
Why AI Can't Automate Just the "Boring" Parts of Teaching
In this EdTechnical Short, Libby and Owen explore how AI might reshape teaching through the lens of the “weakest link” theory from economics. They discuss the…
- EdTechnical
Are Roboteachers Coming? (Probably Not)
In this episode of EdTechnical, Libby and Owen speak with Kristyn Sommer, a developmental psychologist and child robot interaction researcher. Together, they…
- EdTechnical
Adding It Up: Dan Meyer on Math, Tech & AI Scepticism
In this episode of EdTechnical, Libby and Owen sit down with Dan Meyer: math educator, EdTech innovator, and self-proclaimed “token AI sceptic”. Dan’s rare mix…
- EdTechnical
How Revolutionary is Alpha School?
In this episode of EdTechnical, Libby and Owen look at Alpha School, a model that started as a micro-school in Austin, Texas, and is now expanding. At its…
- EdTechnical
Back to the Future: Two Years on with Daisy Christodoulou
In this episode Libby and Owen are joined by Daisy Christodoulou MBE, EdTechnical’s very first guest from two years ago. Daisy is Director of Education at No…
- EdTechnical
Guardrails and Growth: California’s AI Safety Push
Millions of students now study with AI chatbots. There are growing concerns about what happens when vulnerable teens form emotional bonds with AI. Tragic teen…
- EdTechnical
Is social media really destroying teen mental health?
In this episode of EdTechnical, Libby and Owen speak with Candice Odgers, a psychologist and researcher studying how online experiences influence children's…
- EdTechnical
Why AI Detectors Don't Work for Education
In this episode of Ed-Technical, Libby and Owen explore why traditional AI detection tools are struggling in academic settings. As students adopt increasingly…
- EdTechnical
Rewiring the Brain: Reading, AI and the Science of Literacy
In this first episode of EdTechnical Season 3, Libby and Owen speak with Dr. Jason Yeatman from Stanford University about how the brain learns to read, the…
- EdTechnical
Assessment in Education: To AI or Not to AI?
In this episode of EdTechnical, Libby and Owen speak with assessment expert Dylan Wiliam, Emeritus Professor at UCL Institute of Education, about how formative…
- EdTechnical
Is ChatGPT Rotting Your Brain?
In this short, Libby and Owen digest a recent MIT study attracting a lot of attention, ‘Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt When Using an AI…
- EdTechnical
Finding Their Voice: Voice AI for Literacy Support
Voice AI is having a moment in education. As schools grapple with declining literacy scores and stretched teaching resources, voice-enabled tools have the…
- EdTechnical
Coach or Crutch?: Using AI to hone self regulation (not outsource it)
In this episode, Libby and Owen talk to Sanna Järvelä and Inge Molenaar, two of the world’s leading scholars on self‑regulated learning (SRL). Together they…
- EdTechnical
A1 sauce for all: Reflections from SXSW and ASUGSV
This week Owen and Libby reflect on two recent EdTech conferences in the US: SXSW Edu in March and ASUGSV in April. They discuss how much things have shifted…
- EdTechnical
Mimicry versus meaning: why context is important for AI tools
Another live Ed-Technical episode! In this short, Owen does a deep dive on AI and discourse analysis (the study of how meaning is constructed through language)…
- EdTechnical
Live from SXSW EDU: Evidence Eats AI for Breakfast
Everyone is talking about AI’s power to provide answers, but what about your lingering questions? What does the latest research actually tell us? Join Libby…
- EdTechnical
181 Papers Later: What We Know (and Don't) About GenAI in Schools
In this episode, Owen and Libby chat with Chris Agnew about Stanford's new generative AI hub for education. Chris leads this initiative within Stanford's SCALE…
- EdTechnical
Is two years of learning possible in six weeks with AI?
In this short, Owen and Libby discuss a recent World Bank blog post about a study in Nigeria that evaluated the impact of Microsoft Copilot (powered by…
- EdTechnical
Babies & AI: what can AI tell us about how babies learn language?
In this episode, Libby and Owen interview Mike Frank, Professor at Stanford University and leading expert in child development. This episode has a different…
- EdTechnical
Teachers & ChatGPT: 25.3 extra minutes a week
In this short, Libby and Owen discuss a hot-off-the-press study that is one of the first to test how ChatGPT impacts the time science teachers spend on lesson…
- EdTechnical
How & why did Google build an education specific LLM? (part 2/3)
This episode is the second in our three-part mini-series with Google, where we find out how one of the world’s largest tech companies developed a family of…
- EdTechnical
AI tutoring part 2: How good can it get?
In this episode, Owen and Libby chat about AI tutoring with guests, Ben Kornell, Managing Partner at Common Sense Growth Fund, and Alex Sarlin, a veteran in…
- EdTechnical
Inside the black box: How Google is thinking about AI & education (part 1 of 3)
This episode is the first of a three part mini-series with Google. There is a lot of interest in how big tech companies are engaging in AI and education and…
- EdTechnical
Big data and algorithmic bias in education: what is it and why does it matter?
This episode, Owen and Libby speak to Ryan Baker, a leading expert in using big data to study learners and learning interactions with educational software…
- EdTechnical
Think aloud or think before you speak?: OpenAI’s new model for advanced reasoning
In this short episode, Libby and Owen discuss OpenAI’s new model for advanced reasoning, o1. They talk about its new capabilities and strengths, and what they…
- EdTechnical
Misconceptions about misconceptions: How AI can help teachers understand & tackle student misconceptions
In this episode, Libby and Owen are joined by Craig Barton, Head of Education at Eedi and host of the Mr Barton Maths and Tips for Teachers podcasts, along…
- EdTechnical
Why Language Models are suck ups and how this can be bad for learning
In this short, Libby and Owen discuss recent research from Anthropic looking at sycophancy – the tendency to agree with users – in large language models…
- EdTechnical
Passionate about planning (and Tim Walz): automated lesson planning tools
In this short, Libby and Owen discuss automated lesson planning tools (after Owen stops talking about his Tim Walz crush). There’s now a growing number of…
- EdTechnical
Short: Generative AI Can Harm Learning - our quick takes
In this short, Libby and Owen discuss a recent paper that has generated interest and discussion called ‘Generative AI Can Harm Learning’. The paper presents…
- EdTechnical
Tangerines & loquats: Building AI EdTech for low resource settings
This episode, Owen and Libby speak to Carmen Strigel, Senior Director of Education Technology at RTI, a non-profit global research organisation. Carmen has…
- EdTechnical
Short episode: What do teachers, parents, and students really think about AI chatbots?
In our second short episode of the season, Owen and Libby chat about the recently released results of a US poll (conducted on behalf of Walton Family…
- EdTechnical
From biscuits to AI: Teacher Tapp's surprising insights on teacher preferences
In this episode of Ed-Technical, Owen and Libby speak with Becky Allen, co-founder of Teacher Tapp, a survey tool that polls a representative sample of…
- EdTechnical
Voice AI for teacher feedback: navigating noisy classrooms and building teachers' trust
In the second episode of season two Owen and Libby speak to Alyssa Van Camp, Head of Research at EdTech start-up TeachFX. TeachFX is an app for teachers that…
- EdTechnical
Short episode: Google's newest research on genAI for education, and the problem with hypotenuses...
In the first short episode of season two, Owen and Libby share their warm takes on two big releases from OpenAI and Google. They reflect on the OpenAI demo…
- EdTechnical
Season 2 : Three decades of AI in education: assessment to classroom collaboration
This season Libby Hills from the Jacobs Foundation and AI researcher Owen Henkel continue to speak with leading researchers, practitioners and educators on the…
- EdTechnical
Season 1 Highlights & Lingering Questions
In this final episode of season 1 Owen and Libby pull out highlights from each episode. They reflect on some of the common themes, and their lingering…
- EdTechnical
Short 3: What out-there EdTech idea would you buy or sell?
This week we're doing our third short episode - a chat between Libby and Owen about the more speculative or out-there EdTech ideas they could get behind (or…
- EdTechnical
Behind the scenes of building AI EdTech for schools
Introduction: Join two former teachers - Libby Hills from the Jacobs Foundation and AI researcher Owen Henkel - for the Ed-Technical podcast series about AI in…
- EdTechnical
(Short) Behind the scenes: How impactful can an AI tutor be?
This week we're doing our second short episode - a behind the scenes chat about a recent paper of Owen’s that has been generating some interest online. In the…
- EdTechnical
Investing in the Future of Learning: Can AI Unlock New Learning Experiences?
In the seventh episode of this series, Libby and Owen talk to six EdTech investors about their views on AI in education. Guests join from Rethink Education…
- EdTechnical
(Short) Owen's Spicy Take on Hallucinations and Libby's Strong Disagree
This week, we're trying something a bit different and doing a short episode. The gloves come off as Libby and Owen engage in a lively debate about the…
- EdTechnical
Navigating Assessment in the Age of AI: What Counts as Cheating?
In the sixth episode of this series, Libby and Owen talk to Matt Glanville, Director of Assessment at the International Baccalaureate (IB). The IB works with…
- EdTechnical
The quest to save teachers’ Sunday evenings with AI
Introduction: Join two former teachers - Libby Hills from the Jacobs Foundation and AI researcher Owen Henkel - for the Ed-Technical podcast series about AI in…
- EdTechnical
Helping Teachers One AI Experiment at a Time
In the fourth episode of this series, Libby and Owen talk to John Roberts, co-founder and Director of Product and Engineering at Oak National Academy. Oak was…
- EdTechnical
The Inside Story Behind Khan Academy's AI Tutor Khanmigo
Join two former teachers - Libby Hills from the Jacobs Foundation and AI researcher Owen Henkel - for the Ed-Technical podcast series about AI in education…
- EdTechnical
Is AI the answer to quicker, better feedback for teachers?
Join two former teachers - Libby Hills from the Jacobs Foundation and AI researcher Owen Henkel - for the Ed-Technical podcast series about AI in education…
EdTechnicalShould ChatGPT replace teachers’ red pens?
Join two former teachers - Libby Hills from the Jacobs Foundation and AI researcher Owen Henkel - for the Ed-Technical podcast series about AI in education…