Best EdSurge Podcasts (2025)

51
Career Readiness in the Real World 28:26

Play Pause

3M ago28:26

28:26

As industries evolve and the skills gap widens, the question remains: How can we better connect education to employment? In this episode of The Idea Spark, host Carl Hooker welcomes Jennifer Wilkerson, VP of Innovations and Advancements at NCCER (National Center for Construction Education and Research), and Andy Dunaway, Product Manager, Career Con…

51
Live from ISTE+ASCD with Heather Brantley 4:42

3M ago4:42

4:42

Carl Hooker brings us a live podcast from the ISTE+ASCD conference in San Antonio, Texas. He connects with conference attendees, friends old and new, asking each to share a problem they're working to solve in their corner of the education world — or, as Carl puts it: “Tell me your idea spark."In this episode, Carl sits down with Heather Brantley, E…

51
Live from ASCD + ISTE with Lexi Daly 6:02

3M ago6:02

6:02

Carl Hooker brings us a live podcast from the ISTE+ASCD conference in San Antonio, Texas. He connects with conference attendees, friends old and new, asking each to share a problem they're working to solve in their corner of the education world — or, as Carl puts it: “Tell me your idea spark."Carl sits down with Lexi Daly, Learning Innovation Coord…

51
Live from ASCD + ISTE with Victoria Andrews 7:11

4M ago7:11

7:11

Carl Hooker brings us a live podcast from the ISTE+ASCD conference in San Antonio, Texas. He connects with conference attendees, friends old and new, asking each to share a problem they're working to solve in their corner of the education world — or, as Carl puts it: “Tell me your idea spark."Carl sits down with Victoria Andrews. She’s Partner, Pro…

51
Live at ASCD + ISTE with Leo Ortiz Villacorta 7:31

4M ago7:31

7:31

Carl Hooker brings us a live podcast from the ISTE+ASCD conference in San Antonio, Texas. He connects with conference attendees, friends old and new, asking each to share a problem they're working to solve in their corner of the education world — or, as Carl puts it: “Tell me your idea spark."Carl sits down with Leonardo Ortiz Villacorta (aka Leo).…

51
Live at ASCD + ISTE with Bria Jones 5:53

4M ago5:53

5:53

Carl Hooker brings us a live podcast from the ISTE+ASCD conference in San Antonio, Texas. He connects with conference attendees, friends old and new, asking each to share a problem they're working to solve in their corner of the education world — or, as Carl puts it: “Tell me your idea spark."Carl sits down with Bria Jones. Her title is Customer Su…

51
Live from ISTE + ASCD with Jerod Wright 7:33

4M ago7:33

7:33

Carl Hooker brings us a live podcast from the ISTE+ASCD conference in San Antonio, Texas. He connects with conference attendees, friends old and new, asking each to share a problem they're working to solve in their corner of the education world — or, as Carl puts it: “Tell me your idea spark."In this episode, Carl sits down with Jerod Wright, a tea…

51
Live from ISTE+ASCD with Peggy Hammond 6:19

4M ago6:19

6:19

Carl Hooker brings us a live podcast from the ISTE+ASCD conference in San Antonio, Texas. He connects with conference attendees, friends old and new, asking each to share a problem they're working to solve in their corner of the education world — or, as Carl puts it: “Tell me your idea spark."In this episode, Carl sits down with Peggy Hammond. She …

51
Live from ISTE+ASCD with Barbara Bray 4:21

4M ago4:21

4:21

Carl Hooker brings us a live podcast from the ISTE+ASCD conference in San Antonio, Texas. He connects with conference attendees, friends old and new, asking each to share a problem they're working to solve in their corner of the education world — or, as Carl puts it: “Tell me your idea spark."In this episode, Carl sits down with Barbara Bray, an au…

51
Live from ISTE+ASCD with Erika Sandstrom 6:27

4M ago6:27

6:27

Carl Hooker brings us a live podcast from the ISTE+ASCD conference in San Antonio, Texas. He connects with conference attendees — friends old and new — asking each to share a problem they're working to solve in their corner of the education world. In other words: "What is your idea spark?"In this episode, Carl sits down with Erika Sandstrӧm (aka Gr…

51
Live from ISTE+ASCD with Crystal Yang 4:24

4M ago4:24

4:24

Carl Hooker brings us a live podcast from the ISTE+ASCD conference in San Antonio, Texas. He connects with conference attendees — friends old and new — asking each to share a problem they're working to solve in their corner of the education world. In other words: "What is your idea spark?"In this episode, Carl speaks with Crystal Yang, a college st…

51
Live from ISTE+ASCD with Tony Vincent 5:31

4M ago5:31

5:31

Carl Hooker brings us a live podcast from the ISTE+ASCD conference in San Antonio, Texas. He connects with conference attendees — friends old and new — asking each to share a problem they're working to solve in their corner of the education world. In other words: "What is your idea spark?"In this episode, Carl speaks withTony Vincent, an educator, …

1
Dual Enrollment Unpacked 21:13

7M ago21:13

21:13

Carl sits down with Laura Weiss, senior director of commercial strategy and growth initiatives at Pearson, to explore how dual enrollment and early career pathways are helping students move more efficiently and affordably toward their professional goals. Discussion focuses on high-quality, virtual asynchronous courses that support a wide range of l…

1
The Evolving Landscape of CTE 21:52

8M ago21:52

21:52

Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs are evolving, becoming more deeply integrated into mainstream high school curricula. Alongside this transition is an expanded perspective on career exploration, and a stronger emphasis on student agency and well-being.In this first episode of a new series, The Idea Spark podcast, host Carl Hooker speaks…

1
IdeaSpark Episode 0 2:27

8M ago2:27

2:27

IdeaSpark Episode 0 by EdSurge PodcastBy EdSurge Podcast

1
How a Vacant School Building Became a Symbol of Loss, and Then Hope, for a Dying Small Town 54:15

12M ago54:15

54:15

When the only school in Donora, Pennsylvania, closed a few years ago, it hit the town’s residents hard. Now the building may be the town’s best hope, as a community college considers setting up in the former school. A University of Pittsburgh professor spent three years documenting life in this fading town for an unusual podcast series that ran lat…

1
How AI Has Changed Student Cheating — And How to Respond 58:01

12M ago58:01

58:01

One long-time expert on preventing student cheating argues that understanding why students cheat is key to making adjustments in teaching to prevent cheating with AI. It's the argument of Tricia Bertram Gallant, a longtime expert in academic integrity who is director of the Academic Integrity Office at the University of California San Diego who co-…

1
Inside the Push to Bring AI Literacy to Schools and Colleges (Encore Episode) 55:29

1y ago55:29

55:29

There’s a growing push to add AI literacy as a subject in schools and colleges. But what exactly is AI literacy, and can educators promote curiosity about the subject amid their own concerns, and in some cases fear, around ChatGPT and other generative AI? This episode originally ran in January 2024, and was the most-listened-to episode of the year.…

1
What We Learned About Teaching and Creativity By Commissioning a New Podcast Theme Song 43:22

1y ago43:22

43:22

We found the theme song for the EdSurge Podcast on a free music library years ago, after spending hours clicking around searching for the right sound. The music turns out to have an unusual origin story, as we learned when we tracked down the artist this week for a conversation about the intersection of music, creativity and teaching.…

1
Want To Find Highly-Engaged Students at 4-Year Colleges? Look At Transfer Students. 34:44

1y ago34:44

34:44

When students transfer from community colleges to four-year universities, there’s often culture shock. But those transfers are often more motivated and engaged in the classroom than students who arrive straight from high school, experts say. Hear firsthand from a student in his 30s who recently transferred from a two-year college to the University …

1
Should Students Chat With AI Versions of Historical Figures? 59:33

1y ago59:33

59:33

A new documentary project about Sacagawea, the young woman from the Shoshone tribe who helped guide the Lewis and Clark Expedition back in 1804, lets students chat with an animated chatbot of her. Some educators worry about how faithfully such chatbots can represent history, or whether they might keep students from digging into documents to form th…

1
The Effects of Smartwatches on Kids, Schools and Families 47:37

1y ago47:37

47:37

Should kids wear smartwatches? Companies market the wearable devices to kids as young as 4 years old, while digital media experts and educators worry about potential downsides of what some see as an “electronic umbilical cord.” On the EdSurge Podcast this week, we talk with our reporter who spent months researching the issue, Emily Tate Sullivan, a…

1
What Can AI Chatbots Teach Us About How Humans Learn? 57:31

1y ago57:31

57:31

ChatGPT and other chatbots are modeled after how the human brain works. And one of the pioneers of the technology, Terrence Sejnowski, says that what AI has made clear is that we don’t really understand what it means for the human brain to “understand” something.By EdSurge Podcast

1
How Are School Smartphone Bans Going? 37:40

1y ago37:40

37:40

Many school districts and states have enacted new restrictions on smartphones in classrooms during instructional time, in the name of increasing student engagement and counteracting the negative effects that social media has on youth mental health. We checked in with two teachers and an administrator to hear how the new rules are playing out.…

1
How the Job Market Has Changed for College Grads 32:38

1y ago32:38

32:38

College grads are facing a tough job market these days, with experts saying the college degree holds less of a premium in getting hired than in the past. And as it gets easier to apply to jobs online, applicants say they are getting ghosted by employers or applying to hundreds of jobs with little return. How can colleges respond?…

1
Looking Back on the Long, Bumpy Rise of Online College Courses 44:07

1y ago44:07

44:07

When the web was new back in the late 1990s, Robert Ubell was among those pushing for its adoption to help students who couldn’t get to a campus — over the objections of professors who thought it would always be sub-par. The online learning pioneer says the history of online’s growth offers lessons for those trying teaching innovations today.…

1
Inside an Effort to Build an AI Assistant for Designing Course Materials 1:04:00

1y ago1:04:00

1:04:00

Over the past few months, a group of educators has been designing and testing a system that uses ChatGPT to serve as an assistant to instructors as they build courses for students. One key point of the series of design workshops is to learn how educators can make the most effective uses of AI, and where it’s less helpful.…

1
Rebooting Internet Access Programs to Address the ‘Homework Gap’ 1:02:33

1+ y ago1:02:33

1:02:33

As pandemic relief funds run out — which helped many students connect to the internet to keep up with their studies — there’s a danger that the “homework gap” could suddenly widen, argues Nicol Turner Lee, director of the Brookings Institution’s Center for Technology Innovation, in a new book.By EdSurge Podcast

1
How Rising Higher Ed Costs Change Student Choices. (Doubting College, Ep. 6) 39:08

1+ y ago39:08

39:08

The high cost of college is changing how high schoolers think about whether or not to go. A new book, “Rethinking College,” argues for changing the narrative around higher education to be more welcoming to gap years, apprenticeships and other alternatives to college at a time where a degree is so expensive that students worry about its value.…

1
How a Returning College Student Advocated to Improve a Fledgling Online Program 33:52

1+ y ago33:52

33:52

A student who was just a few classes shy of graduating from Morehouse College was excited to try its new online program designed for students trying to finish their degrees. It turned out to be a more challenging process than he expected. Here’s how he helped to improve the program for himself and future students.…

1
AI Chatbots Reflect Cultural Biases. Can They Become Tools to Alleviate Them? 49:54

1+ y ago49:54

49:54

A professor has been running an unusual experiment looking for signs of racial and gender bias in AI chatbots. And he has an idea for developing new guardrails that can check against such bias and remove it before it is shown to users.See show notes and links here: https://www.edsurge.com/news/2024-09-03-ai-chatbots-reflect-cultural-biases-can-they…

1
When the Teaching Assistant Is an AI ‘Twin’ of the Professor 44:29

1+ y ago44:29

44:29

Two instructors made AI chatbot versions of themselves to help teach their classes, and they say class discussion improved as a result. But some teaching experts worry about the long-term implications of bringing in robot teaching assistants.By EdSurge Podcast

1
The Power of the 'Grit' Narrative in Education. Bootstraps Ep. 7 (Encore Episode) 44:10

1+ y ago44:10

44:10

It’s still popular to prize students who have “grit,” who overcome tough odds to succeed. A book by Alissa Quart called “Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream,” looks at why this narrative is so hard to shake — and proposes more community-minded alternatives that could improve equity. This episode first ran in 2022, as the fina…

1
Power, Prestige and the World's Most Famous Scholarship. Bootstraps, Ep. 6 (Encore Episode) 43:41

1+ y ago43:41

43:41

The Rhodes Scholarship was designed to forge a network of people who would go on to rule the world. So who gets this opportunity? And how is the oldest and best-known graduate scholarship dealing with the legacy of its founder, who used ruthless and racist practices to build the diamond empire that funded the effort? This originally ran in 2022, as…

1
Breaking Up With the SAT. Bootstraps, Ep. 5 (Encore Episode) 36:57

1+ y ago36:57

36:57

The SAT can feel very different to different students. While it can give any college applicant stress, some low-income and minority students see it as evidence that selective colleges don't want them. Can the rise of test-optional policies lead to a new, more equitable era of college admissions? | Guest reporter: Eric Hoover, of The Chronicle of Hi…

1
The Tyranny of Letter Grades. Bootstraps Ep. 4 (Encore Episode) 39:54

1+ y ago39:54

39:54

Our current grading system can be a way for kids to prove themselves and win college scholarships, or admission to selective colleges. It can also be a barrier, in sometimes surprising ways. What might a world without letter grades and GPAs look like? This first ran in 2021.By EdSurge Podcast

1
The Strange Past and Messy Future of 'Gifted and Talented.' Bootstraps, Ep. 3 (Encore Episode) 42:38

1+ y ago42:38

42:38

Sometime early in elementary school, kids are put on one of two paths: regular or gifted. Where did this idea come from? The answer goes back more than a 100 years, to a once-famous scholar named Lewis Terman. And it turns out his legacy, and the future of gifted programs, are still very much under debate. This first ran in 2021.…

1
Who Deserves a Seat at the Nation’s 'Best' High School? Bootstraps, Ep. 2 (Encore Episode) 34:56

1+ y ago34:56

34:56

What a debate about the admissions process at one of the best public high schools in the country says about who should get what in education. This first ran in 2021. Find out more on this episode and the rest of the series at: https://www.edsurge.com/research/guides/bootstraps-a-podcast-seriesBy EdSurge Podcast

1
Can You Really Just 'Pull Yourself Up' in Education? Bootstraps, Ep. 1 (Encore Episode) 16:15

1+ y ago16:15

16:15

What the odd and surprising history of 'pulling yourself up by your bootstraps' says about educational equity. This is the first episode in our Bootstraps podcast series on merit, myths and education. This first ran in 2021.By EdSurge Podcast

1
What If Banning Smartphones in Schools Is Just the Beginning? 58:26

1+ y ago58:26

58:26

As momentum grows to limit smartphone use in schools, some educators say that the education system can do even more to counter the negative health effects of social media. One award-winning teacher has changed his lessons and the way he teaches to try to help students learn to better focus — even reserving class time for quiet reading away from the…

1
Should College Become Part of High School? (Doubting College, Ep. 5) 42:08

1+ y ago42:08

42:08

As more students question the value of college, more high schools are bringing college options into their walls. In the latest installment of our Doubting College series, we visit a high school where students can earn a two-year degree without leaving the building, and where students can also get a jump on other career options that don’t require hi…

1
Should Chatbots Tutor? Dissecting That Viral AI Demo With Sal Khan and His Son 55:28

1+ y ago55:28

55:28

Should AI chatbots be used as tutors? Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy, has become one of the most vocal proponents of the idea, and he and his son are featured in a recent demo of ChatGPT’s latest version. But some teaching experts say tutoring should be reserved for humans who can motivate and understand the students they work with. For this wee…

1
How Instructors Are Adapting to a Rise in Student Disengagement (Encore Episode) 30:39

1+ y ago30:39

30:39

Professors are finding that they can’t just go back to teaching as they did before the pandemic and expect the same result. It takes more these days to hold student attention, and convince them to show up. This week we’re rebroadcasting this episode that was reported from the back of large lecture classes to see how teaching is changing. The episod…

1
What Brain Science Says About How to Better Teach Teenagers 42:11

1+ y ago42:11

42:11

One author who spent years researching what brain science says about adolescent learners says their behavior shouldn’t be seen as “deviant” or “immature,” but as a “time of possibility.” And this researcher, Ellen Galinsky, has strong feelings about how to address phones and social media in schools.Read a partial transcript and see show notes at Ed…

1
High School Students Want Answers Before Heading to Campus (Doubting College, Ep. 4) 25:44

1+ y ago25:44

25:44

Today’s high school students are asking more skeptical questions about whether to go to college, or when to go. For this week’s podcast, we visited a career fair at one public high school to ask about the changing ways that high school counselors and education leaders are presenting those choices, and what these students think about their options.…

1
Can ‘Linguistic Fingerprinting’ Guard Against AI Cheating? 47:03

1+ y ago47:03

47:03

Some educators are trying a different approach to guarding against AI cheating — a “linguistic fingerprinting” technique that borrows a page from the playbook of criminal investigations.By EdSurge Podcast

1
A Scholar Hopes to Diversify the Narrative Around Undocumented Students 47:33

1+ y ago47:33

47:33

Felecia Russell was born in Jamaica but moved to Los Angeles as a kid. It wasn’t until she started to apply for college that she learned that she was undocumented, which she worried could derail her dreams. She tells her story in a new book, “Amplifying Black Undocumented Student Voices in Higher Education,” which she hopes will help “diversify the…

1
Why a New Teaching Approach is Going Viral on Social Media (Encore Episode) 1:06:19

1+ y ago1:06:19

1:06:19

When a professor’s research showed that standard methods of teaching problem-solving weren’t working, he set out to figure out what led to more student thinking. His resulting approach is spreading through classrooms, helped by teachers sharing examples on social media. This is a reissue of an episode that first ran in November.…

1
Whatever Happened to Building a Metaverse for Education? 43:46

1+ y ago43:46

43:46

Two years ago the metaverse was getting all the buzz in education circles (and hardly anyone was talking about AI). We checked back in with two educators at the forefront of building a virtual realm for education to see where they see things going now that the hype has faded.By EdSurge Podcast

1
How VR Can Be an ‘Empathy Machine’ for Education 51:53

1+ y ago51:53

51:53

The biggest reason to use VR in education is to tap into a student’s emotional response through immersive experiences, argues Maya Georgieva, director of The New School’s Innovation Center and a leading voice about where VR is headed. Hear her insights in this new interview. Find more details and show notes at: https://www.edsurge.com/news/2024-04-…