This Week with EdSurge

EdSurge Podcast

This Week with EdSurge is the essential weekly podcast that takes you past the headlines and deep into the fascinating, fast-evolving world of education. Hosted by Ira Apfel alongside our talented team of EdSurge contributors, each episode cuts through the hype to explore the human stories shaping our schools—from the rise of artificial intelligence in the classroom to student well-being, shifting policies, and the future of teaching. Whether you are a classroom educator, a district leader, an edtech innovator, or simply a curious mind, this show delivers the rigorous, empathetic, and trusted journalism you need to understand where education is headed.

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494 episodes
Updated Wednesday

Episodes494

Newest first

Sep 29, 2024 · 1 hr 4 min
Inside an Effort to Build an AI Assistant for Designing Course Materials
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.
Sep 23, 2024 · 1 hr 2 min
Rebooting Internet Access Programs to Address the ‘Homework Gap’
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.
Sep 17, 2024 · 39 min
How Rising Higher Ed Costs Change Student Choices. (Doubting College, Ep. 6)
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.
Sep 11, 2024 · 33 min
How a Returning College Student Advocated to Improve a Fledgling Online Program
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.
Sep 3, 2024 · 49 min
AI Chatbots Reflect Cultural Biases. Can They Become Tools to Alleviate Them?
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-become-tools-to-alleviate-them
Aug 27, 2024 · 44 min
When the Teaching Assistant Is an AI ‘Twin’ of the Professor
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.
Aug 20, 2024 · 44 min
The Power of the 'Grit' Narrative in Education. Bootstraps Ep. 7 (Encore Episode)
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 final installment of our Bootstraps series on who gets the best opportunities in American education. For more on the series, see: https://www.edsurge.com/research/guides/bootstraps-a-podcast-series
Aug 13, 2024 · 43 min
Power, Prestige and the World's Most Famous Scholarship. Bootstraps, Ep. 6 (Encore Episode)
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 part of our Bootstraps series on who gets what educational opportunities in America. Find show notes here:https://www.edsurge.com/news/2022-03-02-power-prestige-and-the-world-s-most-famous-scholarship
Aug 6, 2024 · 36 min
Breaking Up With the SAT. Bootstraps, Ep. 5 (Encore Episode)
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 Higher Education | This originally ran in late 2021 as part of our Bootstraps podcast series.
Jul 30, 2024 · 39 min
The Tyranny of Letter Grades. Bootstraps Ep. 4 (Encore Episode)
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.
Jul 23, 2024 · 42 min
The Strange Past and Messy Future of 'Gifted and Talented.' Bootstraps, Ep. 3 (Encore Episode)
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.
Jul 16, 2024 · 34 min
Who Deserves a Seat at the Nation’s 'Best' High School? Bootstraps, Ep. 2 (Encore Episode)
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-series
Jul 9, 2024 · 16 min
Can You Really Just 'Pull Yourself Up' in Education? Bootstraps, Ep. 1 (Encore Episode)
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.
Jun 25, 2024 · 58 min
What If Banning Smartphones in Schools Is Just the Beginning?
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 distraction of phones.
Jun 11, 2024 · 42 min
Should College Become Part of High School? (Doubting College, Ep. 5)
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 higher education.
Jun 5, 2024 · 55 min
Should Chatbots Tutor? Dissecting That Viral AI Demo With Sal Khan and His Son
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 week’s EdSurge Podcast, we talked with Khan to hear more about his vision of AI tutors and the arguments from his recent book.
May 28, 2024 · 30 min
How Instructors Are Adapting to a Rise in Student Disengagement (Encore Episode)
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 episode recently won a national award from the American Society of Business Publication Editors.
May 21, 2024 · 42 min
What Brain Science Says About How to Better Teach Teenagers
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 EdSurge: https://www.edsurge.com/news/2024-05-21-what-brain-science-says-about-how-to-better-teach-teenagers
May 14, 2024 · 25 min
High School Students Want Answers Before Heading to Campus (Doubting College, Ep. 4)
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.
May 7, 2024 · 47 min
Can ‘Linguistic Fingerprinting’ Guard Against AI Cheating?
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.