This Week with EdSurge

Epizode

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  Assignments, Invoices, and the AI Fix 19.08.2026 26min

  This week, two guests trace the true cost of AI, one in the classroom and one behind the scenes. Michael Hernandez explains how he taught himself to code so he could build a free tool that flags weak assignments before students ever think about cheating. Mi Aniefuna follows the electricity powering that same technology, tracing the invoice that lands on a district's desk long after the contract is signed. Together, their stories ask what schools are really paying for when they bring AI into the building.WHAT YOU'LL LEARNMichael Hernandez used vibe coding, describing an idea in plain language and letting AI write the code, to build the Cheat Vulnerability Index, a free tool that scans an assignment and flags where it is exposed to cheating.Michael identifies three traits, originality, personal connection, and purpose, that he believes make an assignment resistant to cheating.Mi Aniefuna reports that United States data centers used about 176 terawatt hours of electricity in 2023, roughly 4.4% of the countrys total electricity consumption.Mi points to a Stanford review of more than 800 studies on AI in K-12 education, only 20 of which met the bar for rigorous, causal-impact research, even as adoption keeps outpacing the evidence.STORIES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEStory 1 I Used AI to Build AI-Resistant Assignments by Michael HernandezStory 2 Can Schools Afford an AI-First Future? by Mi AniefunaSTAY CONNECTEDSubscribe to EdSurge newsletters at www.edsurge.com/newsletters.Find the latest education news at edsurge.com/news.Follow EdSurge on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.HOST AND CONTRIBUTORSHost: Ira ApfelFeaturing:Michael Hernandez, Educator and AuthorMi Aniefuna, Public Health and Behavioral Sciences Researcher, EdSurge
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  Supporting Early Childhood Educators 12.08.2026 22min

  What does it actually take to support the adults who shape our youngest learners? Nicol Russell, chief academic officer at Teaching Strategies, argues that early educators deserve the same intentional investment as engineers, not treatment as replaceable hires. Dr. Nneka McGee, founder of Muon Global, brings that same philosophy to how five year olds encounter AI, starting with conversation instead of screens. Both guests land on the same idea from different angles: good tools fail without good follow-through.WHAT YOU'LL LEARNNicol Russell points to a study out of NIEER at Rutgers that found teacher retention increased 23 percentage points when curriculum, assessment, and coaching functioned as one connected system rather than separate tools.Russell draws a line between teacher exhaustion and burnout, and she recommends that program leaders protect a set block of time each week where teachers have complete control over how it is used.Dr. Nneka McGee led a session at ISTELive that pairs Play-Doh with generative AI, using the activity to teach young learners about anthropomorphism while building creative thinking and questioning skills.McGee recommends introducing AI to young children through conversation rather than devices, citing both her own research on early learner readiness and guardrails like COPPA that already limit generative AI use for this age group.STORIES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEStory 1We Talk About Whole Children. What About Whole Educators? by Nicol RussellStory 2AI for Young Learners (Jump Start Guide) by Nneka McGeeSTAY CONNECTEDSubscribe to EdSurge newsletters at edsurge.com.Find the latest education news at edsurge.com/news.Follow EdSurge on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.HOST AND CONTRIBUTORSHost: Ira ApfelFeaturing:Nicol Russell, Chief Academic Officer, Teaching StrategiesDr. Nneka McGee, Founder, Muon Global
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  Is AI Policy Just Guesswork? 05.08.2026 22min

  Today on This Week with EdSurge, we look at AI policy from two very different vantage points. One guest spent a year coding AI policy from more than 100 school districts across the country. The other helped write her own district's policy from the ground up. Listen as they both explore what happens when a policy leaves the page and is applied in an actual classroom.WHAT YOU'LL LEARNDistrict AI policies fall into five levels ranging from actively promoting AI to outright prohibition, and Jody Britten found that 44.3 percent of the 122 districts she studied land in the conditional, teacher-directed middle level.Only 3.3 percent of districts studied sit at Level 1, actively promoting AI with equity built into the design, while nearly a quarter restrict or ban AI outright.Most districts studied operate in states with official AI guidance, yet only 15.6 percent of those districts actually reference that guidance in their own policy.Tambra Clark found that writing her own district's AI governance policy in Birmingham required retraining her committee first, because knowledge in the room was too uneven to write a single line.STORIES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEStory 1Study: The National AI Policy Landscape in K-12 Education by Jody BrittenAI School Policy DatabaseStory 2Learn about the Voices of Change FellowshipSTAY CONNECTEDSubscribe to EdSurge newsletters at edsurge.com.Find the latest education news at edsurge.com/news.Follow EdSurge on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.HOST AND CONTRIBUTORSHost: Ira ApfelFeaturing:Jody Britten, Interim CEO, AI and Education StudioTambra Clark, Technology Integration Facilitator, Birmingham City Schools
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  Vinyl, Pencils, and Life Without AI 29.07.2026 27min

  This week, two educators arrive at the same question from very different directions. Nathan Kraai, Director of Innovation and Design Thinking at The Fenn School, explains what a trip to the record store taught him about artificial intelligence and learning. Court Shuller, a middle school English teacher and EdSurge Voices of Change fellow, joins from ISTELive in Orlando to talk about what their classroom has already decided about AI. Together, they ask what should still take real effort when a shortcut is only a click away.WHAT YOU'LL LEARNNathan Kraai connects the resurgence of vinyl records to what he calls a signal about how people are actually responding to AI, drawing on Jane McGonigal's trends versus signals framework from her book Imaginable.Nathan also explains why watching 9th graders wrestle with capstone speeches, despite having AI tools that could draft a polished version in seconds, left him hopeful rather than worried.Court Shuller, a National Board Certified educator and reading specialist, discusses how their district in New Jersey has responded to AI by returning to pencil and paper.Both guests weigh in on what students should still be required to do themselves.STORIES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEHow a Vinyl Record Resurgence Helped Me Understand the Future of AI in Education by Nathan KraaiWe Must Stop Using AI to ‘Level-Down’ Our Students by Court ShullerSTAY CONNECTEDSubscribe to EdSurge newsletters at edsurge.com.Find the latest education news at edsurge.com/news.Follow EdSurge on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.HOST AND CONTRIBUTORSHost: Ira ApfelFeaturing:Nathan Kraai, Director of Innovation and Design Thinking, The Fenn SchoolCourt Shuller, Middle School English Teacher and Reading Specialist
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  AI Cannot Fake This Kind of Learning 22.07.2026 21min

  Every few months, another headline declares the college degree dead. This Week with EdSurge puts that claim to the test with two guests defending something slow against something fast. Rita Finkel of the Armory Foundation argues that a four-year degree still holds value at a moment when artificial intelligence can produce a credential adjacent skill in minutes. Then Cobretti Williams of the EdSurge Voices of Change Fellowship makes a similar case for writing, where an essay can take months to draft even though AI could produce one in eight seconds. Both guests land on the same idea: skip the time, and you skip the point.WHAT YOU'LL LEARNBachelor's degree holders earned a median of $81,800 in 2024, compared to $50,600 for high school graduates, a gap of 62%, according to the College Board's Education Pays 2026 report.From 2000 to 2025, workers with only a high school diploma consistently faced unemployment rates at least 2.3 percentage points higher than college graduates, according to a St. Louis Fed analysis.A McKinsey survey of more than 3,000 employers found that skills such as critical thinking and judgment remain in high demand from employers even as AI adoption grows.Cobretti Williams describes how the EdSurge Voices of Change Fellowship helps teachers develop their writing across multiple drafts, arguing that the growth between a fellow’s first and fourth essay only comes from doing the work yourself.STORIES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEWhy College Degrees Matter in the Age of AI by Rita FinkelEdSurge Voices of Change Writing Fellowship by EdSurge, featuring Cobretti WilliamsSTAY CONNECTEDSubscribe to EdSurge newsletters at edsurge.com.Find the latest education news at edsurge.com/news.Follow EdSurge on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.HOST AND CONTRIBUTORSHost: Ira ApfelFeaturing: Rita Finkel, Co-President, Armory FoundationCobretti Williams, Editor, EdSurge Voices of Change Fellowship
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  3 Gaps Stalling AI in Classrooms 15.07.2026 25min

  Microsoft just released the third edition of its global AI in Education report, and the numbers raise more questions than they answer. Ira Apfel sits down with Pat Yongpradit, General Manager of Global Education and Workforce Policy at Microsoft, on the floor at the ISTELive and ASCD Annual in Orlando. They dig into the delta between daily use and overall adoption of AI, a sharp drop in student optimism, and a persistent training divide between what leaders believe and what teachers and students actually experience. The conversation also turns to academic integrity and where the policy backlash against AI in schools may be headed next.WHAT YOU'LL LEARNDaily AI use lags far behind overall adoption, with just 33 percent of educators and 27 percent of students using it every day despite nine in ten having tried it.Student optimism about AI dropped 21 points in a single year, a shift Pat links to a predictable trough in the technology adoption curve.Three out of four students and half of educators report no formal AI training, even though seven in ten leaders believe their people are trained.Yongpradit explains why academic integrity worries students and educators for opposite reasons, and what that means for how schools should write AI guidance.STORIES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE2026 AI in Education Report, Published by MicrosoftSTAY CONNECTEDSubscribe to EdSurge newsletters.Find the latest education news at edsurge.com/news.Follow EdSurge on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.HOST AND CONTRIBUTORSHost: Ira ApfelFeaturing: Pat Yongpradit, General Manager of Global Education and Workforce Policy, Microsoft
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  ISTELive 26: Bans, Microdosing, and the Future of AI 08.07.2026 18min

  Ira Apfel wraps up a whirlwind week at ISTELive 26 in Orlando with Sarah McKibben, Editor-in-Chief of EdSurge. Together they unpack the buzziest ideas to come out of the conference, including why so many educators are pushing back on AI bans, and what one surprising theory about AI slop means for the future of student writing. From burnout to breakthroughs, this recap captures everything that stuck with them once the convention center emptied out.WHAT YOU’LL LEARNWhy current education leaders believe relational intelligence could become education’s most valuable currency in the age of AI.How new research cited at the conference links a steep decline in daily conversation, especially among people under 25, to rising social isolation.Why one Educational Leadership contributor’s approach to AI in the classroom centers on microdosing rather than banning it outright.How district leaders are being encouraged to rethink AI policy by comparing it to another everyday risk millions of teenagers already navigate.STORIES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEThis is a special recap episode from ISTELive 26 in Orlando where Ira and Sarah reflect on the hallway conversations, speaker presentations, and podcast interviews they enjoyed throughout the week. Featured speakers include:Pat Yongpradit, GM, Education and Workforce Policy at MicrosoftDr. Nneka McGee, Fmr. Chief Academic Officer and Founder of Muon GlobalIsabelle Hau, Executive Director of the Stanford Accelerator for LearningHeather E. McGowan, Bestselling Author, Leadership Expert, and LinkedIn Global Voice for EducationMelinda Glowacki, MAT Supervisor and Leadership Coach for the University of California, IrvineTambra Clark, Technology Integration Facilitator of Birmingham City SchoolsMary Ehrenworth, Author, Speaker, Consultant, from Teachers College, Columbia UniversityPhilip Seyfried, Student, from Teachers College, Columbia University Jessica Garner, Managing Director, Innovative Learning at ISTE+ASCD Court Shuller from the Voices of Change FellowshipSTAY CONNECTEDSubscribe to EdSurge newsletters at www.edsurge.com/newsletters.Find the latest education news at edsurge.com/news.Follow EdSurge on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.HOST AND CONTRIBUTORSHost: Ira Apfel, Editorial Director, EdSurgeFeaturing: Sarah McKibben, Editor-in-Chief, EdSurge
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  Can an Algorithm Replace a Teacher’s Instinct? 01.07.2026 23min

  This week, two teachers take a hard look at what happens when you hand a problem to a tool and trust it to solve that problem. David Webb, a school teacher based in Jakarta, India, spent a year vibe coding an AI-powered library app called LibraryAid and discovered exactly where the algorithm ends and the educator begins. Then, California high school teacher Gabe Nitro makes a counterintuitive argument: the phone pouches sweeping his district may be swallowing the very instructional time they were designed to protect.WHAT YOU’LL LEARNDavid Webb built LibraryAid, a personalized book recommendation app, using vibe coding techniques with no prior computer science background, and the tool now tracks approximately 30 factors, including student interests, reading history, and classroom topics, to generate personalized reading recommendations.One student reading two grade levels below placement made three times the average reading progress after the app matched him to a book series he loved, demonstrating both the power and the limits of algorithmic recommendation.A study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that Yondr pouches had no statistically significant impact on standardized test scores for high schoolers in English, a finding that surprised even teachers who had adopted the pouches.Gabe Nitro argues that phone pouches consume up to 49 minutes of instructional time per school day in enforcement alone, and that the real distraction problem simply shifts to Chromebooks once phones are sealed away.STORIES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE1. Vibe Coding Sparked a Love of Reading in My Classroom by David Webb2. I’m a Teacher, and I’m Against Phone Pouches by Gabe NitroSTAY CONNECTEDSubscribe to EdSurge newsletters at www.edsurge.com/newsletters Find the latest education news at edsurge.com/news.Follow EdSurge on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.HOST AND CONTRIBUTORSHost: Ira Apfel, Editorial Director, EdSurgeContributors:David Webb, International school teacher, Jakarta; creator of LibraryAidGabe Nitro, High school teacher, California
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  Is TikTok Now a Teacher Training Tool? 24.06.2026 24min

  Two educators are reckoning with who is really in charge: technology or the teacher. First, a teacher notices her students are quietly forming their professional knowledge on TikTok and decides to lean in rather than fight it. Then a high school engineering teacher builds an AI grading tool so efficient that it sent feedback to students without him ever reading it, and confronts what that actually means for his role in the classroom. Together, they raise urgent questions about judgment, accountability, and what teaching is really for.What You'll LearnPre-service teachers are forming their professional knowledge partly through TikTok and social media reels, including content from former teachers who left the profession, raising questions about how teacher prep programs should respond.Evi Wusk argues that the information gleaned from social media is already shaping how future teachers think, so the more productive move is to help them engage with it critically rather than dismiss or ignore it.Steven Swanson built a fully automated AI grading tool that sent feedback directly to students without his review, and after a student thanked him for words he never wrote, he rebuilt the tool to put himself back in the loop.Swanson describes specific assignment types where AI grading adds value versus where it falls short, including the risk of missing opportunities to learn who students actually are as people.Stories Mentioned in This EpisodeWhat TikTok Is Teaching Future Teachers That We Aren't by Evi WuskI Built an AI Grading Tool. Then a Student Thanked Me for Words I Didn't Write. by Steven SwansonUpcoming EventISTE+ASCD Live '26 in Orlando, FloridaStay ConnectedSubscribe to EdSurge newsletters at edsurge.comLatest education news at edsurge.com/newsFollow EdSurge on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, YouTubeHost & ContributorsHost: Ira Apfel, Editorial Director, EdSurgeGuests:Evi Wusk, Ed.D., teacher educator and author of What TikTok Is Teaching Future Teachers That We Aren'tSteven Swanson, high school engineering teacher and author of I Built an AI Grading Tool. Then a Student Thanked Me for Words I Didn't Write.
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  Your Kids Know More About AI Than You Do 17.06.2026 23min

  Schools are racing to write AI policies, but what if the policy is not the first step? This week, we hear from Aleta Margolis, founder and president of the Center for Inspired Teaching, who argues that real progress starts with a conversation, not a rule. Then EdSurge editor-in-chief Sarah McKibben brings it home with what AI actually looks like at her kitchen table, with two middle schoolers navigating it in real time.What You'll LearnA new RAND American Youth Panel survey found that only about one in three students say their school has a school-wide AI policy, and Aleta Margolis of the Center for Inspired Teaching explains why co-creating guidelines with students leads to better outcomes than top-down rule-making.A recent NPR and Ipsos poll found that 54 percent of teachers say AI is making it harder for students to learn critical thinking skills, and nearly three in four believe its impact on education will exceed that of the internet or computers.Sarah McKibben describes the mix of productive and concerning AI use she sees with her own children, including a student using an AI humanizer app to avoid plagiarism detection when submitting AI-written essays.Both guests converge on the idea of productive struggle: the concern is not AI itself but whether students are learning to think with it rather than bypassing the thinking entirely.Stories Mentioned in This EpisodeWhat to Do About AI: Begin by Talking About It by Aleta MargolisNPR / Ipsos Poll: Teachers on AI and Critical ThinkingRAND American Youth Panel: Select FindingsUpcoming EventISTE+ASCD Live '26 in Orlando, FloridaStay ConnectedSubscribe to EdSurge newsletters at edsurge.comLatest education news at edsurge.com/newsFollow EdSurge:LinkedInXFacebookTikTokInstagramYouTubeHost & ContributorsHosted by Ira Apfel, Editorial Director, EdSurgeFeaturingAleta Margolis, Founder and President, Center for Inspired TeachingSarah McKibben, Editor-in-Chief, EdSurgeStay informed, stay curious.
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  Recess, Screens, and Absenteeism 10.06.2026 19min

  Schools have been quietly chipping away at recess for nearly a decade, and a sweeping new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics says it is time to stop. Meanwhile, the federal government has issued a formal advisory on screen time and children, raising urgent questions about how schools, parents, and tech companies should respond. This week, EdSurge reporters Lauren Coffey and Nadia Tamez-Robledo bring both stories together around a single urgent question: what does it look like when kids get less real-world experience and more pressure?What You'll LearnThe American Academy of Pediatrics updated its recess guidelines for the first time since 2013, expanding its recommendations to include middle and high school students.One Massachusetts high school cut chronic absenteeism from 35 percent to 23 percent in a single year after introducing movement breaks, suggesting that belonging and physical activity can drive school attendance in meaningful ways.The screen time advisory issued by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy calls for bell-to-bell phone bans, warning labels on apps, and the elimination of recommendation algorithms for children, but researchers caution that the evidence linking screen time to negative outcomes is correlation, not proven cause and effect.Experts warn that broad phone and screen restrictions could inadvertently affect students with IEPs and disabilities who rely on assistive devices, a tension the advisory acknowledges but does not fully resolve.Stories Mentioned in This EpisodeRecess Took a Break in Some Schools. A Push Is On to Bring It Back by Lauren CoffeySurgeon General Advisory Wants Kids to Live Beyond the Confines of Screens by Nadia Tamez-RobledoStay ConnectedSubscribe to EdSurge newsletters at edsurge.comLatest education news at edsurge.com/newsFollow EdSurge:LinkedInXFacebookTikTokInstagramHost & ContributorsHosted byIra Apfel, Editorial Director, EdSurgeFeaturingLauren Coffey, Reporter, EdSurgeNadia Tamez-Robledo, Reporter, EdSurgeStay informed, stay curious.
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  AI Is in Schools. Teachers Are Not Ready. 03.06.2026 22min

  Three-quarters of school districts now have AI guidelines, up sharply from just a year ago, yet 82 percent of teachers say they have never received formal guidance on how to use AI in their work. EdSurge reporter Lauren Coffey breaks down the 2026 CoSN State of Ed Tech report and what it reveals about AI adoption, cybersecurity gaps, and edtech vetting inside K-12 districts. Then host Ira Apfel talks with Joseph South, chief innovation officer at ISTE+ASCD, about why teachers say they feel unprepared to bring AI into their classrooms and what it would take to change that.What You'll LearnWhy AI adoption in K-12 districts jumped from 54 percent in 2025 to 75 percent this year, and why most prefer local flexibility over state or federal mandates.Why cybersecurity remains many districts' top concern even as two-thirds lack the staff and budget to address it, and what the Canvas ransomware attack reveals about the real cost of that gap.What the Gallup and Walton Family Foundation data actually shows about the teacher guidance crisis: 82 percent of teachers have received no formal AI guidance, 34 percent have received no guidance at all, and 69 percent have received no guidance specifically on using AI for one-on-one instruction or tutoring.How districts in Long Beach, Gwinnett County, and Fairfax County are building transparency-first AI frameworks, and what the Lighthouse Schools model offers as a replicable path for districts that want to move without waiting for policy from above.Stories Mentioned in This EpisodeCoSN U.S. State of EdTech 2026 Report with coverage by Lauren CoffeyTeachers Say Lack of AI Guidance Is a Major Problem from Education Week featuring Joseph South, Chief Innovation Officer, ISTE+ASCDStay ConnectedSubscribe to EdSurge newsletters at edsurge.com/newslettersGet the latest education news at edsurge.com/newsFollow EdSurgeLinkedInXFacebookTikTokInstagramYouTubeHost and ContributorsHosted by Ira Apfel: Editorial Director, JournalismFeaturingLauren Coffey: Reporter, EdSurge (public policy, early childhood education, K-12 technology)Joseph South: Chief Innovation Officer, ISTE+ASCDStay informed, stay curious.
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  How a Vacant School Building Became a Symbol of Loss, and Then Hope, for a Dying Small Town 14.01.2025 54min

  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 late last year. Education was a key theme. On this week's EdSurge Podcast, we talk to the professor about her takeaways for the role of education in the many forgotten small towns around the U.S.
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  How AI Has Changed Student Cheating — And How to Respond 07.01.2025 58min

  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-wrote a new book, “The Opposite of Cheating: Teaching for Integrity in the Age of AI. See show notes at EdSurge.com: https://www.edsurge.com/news/2025-01-07-ai-has-changed-student-cheating-but-strategies-to-stop-it-remain-consistent
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  Inside the Push to Bring AI Literacy to Schools and Colleges (Encore Episode) 10.12.2024 55min

  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.
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  What We Learned About Teaching and Creativity By Commissioning a New Podcast Theme Song 03.12.2024 43min

  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.
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  Want To Find Highly-Engaged Students at 4-Year Colleges? Look At Transfer Students. 19.11.2024 34min

  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 of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
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  Should Students Chat With AI Versions of Historical Figures? 08.11.2024 59min

  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 their own analysis.
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  The Effects of Smartwatches on Kids, Schools and Families 04.11.2024 47min

  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, and hear her read the full story.
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  What Can AI Chatbots Teach Us About How Humans Learn? 27.10.2024 57min

  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.