EdTechnical

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 and previously advised on education policy inside the UK Prime Minister’s Office at 10 Downing Street. Owen and Hermione sit down with Minister Olivia Bailey, the UK Department for Education minister responsible for AI in schools, for a conv...

This season EdTech founder Libby Hills and AI researcher Owen Henkel continue to speak with leading researchers, practitioners and educators on the EdTechnical podcast series about the cutting edge of AI in education. They will break down complex AI concepts into non-technical insights to better understand what the research says and help educators sift the useful insights from the AI hype. In the...

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 workflows that are allowed to take actions like searching, summarising, and completing multi-step tasks. Recent progress comes from the combination of stronger models and better systems for connecting agents to external tools, enabling more complex...

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 panelists untangle how voice AI works, and what testing this technology with kindergartners looks like in rural Georgia. They explain why the distinction between capturing what a student said versus what they meant matters enormously for...

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 from Cambridge shows that preschool-aged children can form rapid emotional connections with social robots like these, even when the responses from the robot are inconsistent. Children’s experiences with AI toys are shaped by voice and real-...

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 exams in university courses. As generative AI makes it easier for students to outsource written assignments, educators are asking whether traditional take-home assessments still measure real understanding. Panos introduced AI-mediated oral...

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 possibility of full job replacement, partial task automation, and productivity gains for teachers. Automation often shifts the composition of work rather than eliminating roles, as with bank tellers and radiologists.  In schools, planning, g...

In this episode of EdTechnical , Libby and Owen speak with Kristyn Sommer, a developmental psychologist and child robot interaction researcher. Together, they explore how young children learn through imitation, why physical presence matters for learning, and what the so-called robot deficit reveals about engagement, psychological safety, and learning outcomes. Kristyn explains where robots can sup...

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 of classroom experience and product design insight gives him a unique perspective on how technology intersects with real classrooms. He shares what the classroom teaches him about student engagement, the challenges teachers face, and why m...

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 core, Alpha condenses academic learning into a morning block where students work largely independently using software, supported by guides rather than traditional teachers. Afternoons are reserved for enrichment and life skills. Libby and Owen...

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 More Marking and a leading voice in assessment. Daisy, Owen and Libby reflect over what’s changed in the two years since that first episode, including Daisy’s own views about the opportunities for AI use in assessment. Daisy shares what her t...

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 deaths have sparked intense debate about how to protect young people from AI systems that blur the line between tool and companion. California just drew the first regulatory lines—but they're messy and educational AI is caught in the mi...

In this episode of EdTechnical, Libby and Owen speak with Candice Odgers , a psychologist and researcher studying how online experiences influence children's mental health. They revisit the debate around social media and teen wellbeing, questioning the claims that social media use  has caused rising rates of depression and anxiety. Candice calls for a more careful reading of the evidence and...

In this episode of Ed-Technical, Libby and Owen explore why traditional AI detection tools are struggling in academic settings. As students adopt increasingly sophisticated methods to evade AI detection - like paraphrasing tools, hybrid writing, and sequential model use - detection accuracy drops and false positives rise. Libby and Owen look at the research showing why reliable detection with auto...

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 power of better assessment, and a broader look at how AI is beginning to reshape our relationship with reading itself. They touch on the science behind reading as a learned skill, the surprising overlap between visual and auditory processing,...

In this episode of EdTechnical, Libby and Owen speak with assessment expert Dylan Wiliam, Emeritus Professor at UCL Institute of Education, about how formative assessment and AI are reshaping classroom practice. Dylan brings decades of experience in educational research and teacher development to a timely conversation about what works, what doesn’t, and what’s next for assessment.  They cover:  Wh...

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 Assistant for Essay Writing’. The study looked at how using tools like ChatGPT for writing essays affects people's brains and writing abilities compared to using search engines or just their own thinking. Is there a potential trade-off...

Voice AI is having a moment in education. As schools grapple with declining literacy scores and stretched teaching resources, voice-enabled tools have the potential to help. But what's already working in real classrooms, and what challenges remain? In this episode, Libby and Owen speak with Kristen Huff from Curriculum Associates and Amelia Kelly from SoapBox Labs about the emerging field of...

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 cover SRL 101: what self-regulated learning is and why it is a valuable skill. Self-regulated learning is students setting their own goals and then monitoring their learning to achieve those goals. Self-regulation can come more naturally in i...

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 for US education over this short time period, and three themes that stood out to them both: AI literacy, transformation versus efficiency, and the disruptive potential of AI for education.  Join us on social media:  BOLD (@BOLD_insights) , Li...

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) with three experts. The conversation explores the intersection between AI, particularly Large Language Models (LLMs), and the study of discourse.  This is a topical conversation as LLM capabilities continue to evolve. LLMs have mastered sen...

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 and Owen for this live session from SXSW EDU as they delve into the latest research to uncover where AI is truly adding value in the educational landscape — and where it falls short. They’re joined by two expert guests: Kristen DiCerbo from Kh...

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 program, which aims to be a trusted source for education system leaders on what works in AI and learning. Chris walks us through their research repository of 181 papers examining AI's impact in K-12 education. He outlines the...

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 ChatGPT) on student learning outcomes. In a six-week after school programme, students were supported to use Copilot. The full study hasn’t been published yet but the blog post reports “overwhelmingly positive effects on learning outcomes”. It repor...

In this episode, Libby and Owen interview Mike Frank, Professor at Stanford University and leading expert in child development. This episode has a different angle to the others, as it is more about AI as a scientific instrument rather than as a tool for learning. Libby and Owen have a fascinating discussion with Mike about language acquisition and what we can learn about language learning from lar...