"As AI technology becomes more integrated into daily life, some parents are introducing AI companions to their children. These digital companions can provide learning support, teach empathy through simulated interactions, and offer safe, engaging ways for kids to interact with technology. For children who may need extra assistance with schoolwork or social skills, AI companions can be fun, encouraging, and educational.

With proper parental guidance, AI companions can encourage creativity, curiosity, and responsibility in children. Parents can set boundaries on topics and ensure that interactions are both safe and productive. AI companions can also help children develop social skills, such as practicing conversation or learning to express emotions appropriately, providing a low-stress environment for growth.

However, parents should be cautious to ensure that AI companions don’t replace real-life socialization. Children need human relationships to develop authentic emotional intelligence, and AI should be used as a supplement to these connections. With balance, AI companions can be a valuable tool for education and development, helping children grow in a safe, controlled way. "

Hi everyone, I'm interviewing for a job next week.

I'm a PowerSchool administrator and the job that I'm interviewing for is skyward.

The CTO just said that he wants to do data analytics and data visualizations for students. I know exactly how to do that with PowerSchool, but does anybody have any idea how to do it with skyward?

Hello! I manage a bunch of classrooms all around the world, and one of the challenges we've had in many locations, is that culturally, students speak very softly. We've been trying for years to try and change that, but at this point, it makes sense to meet them where they're at.

So, we're looking for recommendations on classroom amplification systems where the students are amplified, not the teacher. I'm seeing a few, but they are all focused around the teacher. I would love for there to be microphones that could be placed on each table that would pick up the student voices and then they're connected to speakers.

I've never looked for something like this before, and so I would love any input or guidance from others who have done this before on where I should look to help me find the right systems to use.

Thank you!

Hello! I'm a district administrator in the southeast US, but I am also a graduate student studying how K-12 schools handle strategic planning data.

If you're a school administrator, principal, IT director, or data director, I'd love your input on a 15-20 minute survey about:
💰Current enrollment & budget projection practices
📈Data dashboards, Ed-Fi integration, and combining data from different sources
📋Strategic planning challenges
📊Predictive analytics and creating reports for stakeholders

Your insights will help inform my class project on data challenges in K-12 schools. Important Note: This survey is being conducted for a graduate course assignment and is not an IRB-approved research study. Your responses will be used solely for academic purposes.

Interested in participating? Please comment or DM me for the survey link! Thank you for helping a fellow education professional! 🙏
#K12Education #EdLeaders #EdTech #DataAnalytics

Hey there I am curious if anyone here has insights or recommendations for funding accelerators and incubators focused on edtech startups specifically I am looking to learn more about programs in the United States Canada Europe and Mena region

I am interested in programs that provide mentorship networking funding opportunities specialized support for b2b

Hey all,

We have McGraw Hill Wonders(reading) and Reveal(Math) grade K-5. As the technology director my primary focus has been break fix, data, and device maintenance and I’m looking to try to make an impact with student achievement.

Ultimately our staff typically reverts back to paper/pencil workbooks which are purchased by the district alongside the digital content.

I dove into the admin tools and reporting for McGraw Hill and it seems to be pretty robust.

Are there any districts who have these curriculums and feel like they utilize all the online content for students and reporting for admin to its fullest? From what I can see if the online content is used we can see mastered standards, proficiency level by standard, etc. since we assess and do so much out of the system the data is not accurate in the online reports.

Our curriculum leaders are old school and I’m trying to figure out how to get them to understand the benefits of utilizing the online content.

My assumption is that the more data we have on our students the easier we can know what our students truly need help with and I feel like these tools can help that.

I’m curious if everyone else’s experience with this specific curriculum and if you feel like utilizing these online tools help us help our students better.

As a lot of educators are exploring new tech, I’ve been curious about how AI is being used to simplify everyday tasks like creating lesson plans, grading, or even generating engaging content. I recently tried a tool that helps turn slides into videos, which seemed like a time-saver, but I’m sure there are other innovative approaches out there.

What tools or strategies have you found most useful for integrating AI into your teaching workflows? Would love to hear your experiences!

Hi all,

I'm a higher education professional with a Master's degree and am looking to pivot into the edtech field. From what I've seen, the typical pathway into edtech seems to be through sales, but I’m curious if there are other avenues I should consider.

I have experience in academic program management, student support, and advising, and I’m eager to leverage my background in a new context. Does anyone have advice on how to make this transition, or if there are specific roles in edtech that align well with a background like mine?

I’ve attached my resume for reference.

Any insights would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

https://preview.redd.it/zopc3543f41e1.png?width=1046&format=png&auto=webp&s=3096108b3ab2da08172ee4a19d40f55a30e1807f

We have recently banned all cell phones in our school, which has been great for improving social connections and classroom focus, but has put us in a bind for video creation, as students primarily used their phones for recording in the past. We would like to invest in a class set of iPads instead of relying on phones. These would be for middle school students (Grades 6-8) and high school students (Grades 9-12) to use. My IT Director thinks we should get regular iPads. Another school I visited recommended we get iPad Airs at the minimum so we can future proof ourselves for any new features that might emerge with Apple Intelligence in the next couple of years. I personally have been considering iPad Pro 11" models due to the better camera and hardware performance. My IT director has balked at the cost of these, which I understand, but we luckily have access to decent funding and can afford any of these options. I'm curious for broader feedback though - will it make a big difference in having the iPad Pro vs the iPad Air?

Hello,

I am a teacher who is thinking about moving into EdTech. What sorts of skills should I try to acquire before I make the move? Do EdTech companies generally look to hire former teachers?

For context, I have a Bachelor's in Secondary Education, and I will soon be done with an MBA as well.

Any advice helps :)

My team and I need a calendar/scheduling software that allows institutions to book overlapping time slots to share their testing times with us. We are on standby via phone for any help they need based on this calendar. Sometimes 5-10 institutions will take our test at the same time. We have tested Google Calendar, Microsoft Bookings, Calendly, and Zcal, amongst others. Zcal does allow overlapping appointments, but there is no calendar view on the back end and when I try to connect it to a Google or Outlook calendar, it blocks overlapping appointments. Previously, over 100 institutions sent us individual emails and we added each one to our Outlook calendar manually.

Our established EdTech platform is looking to explore International markets in the 2025 year. We have a small but growing presence in the US and are familiar with all the Conferences in the US and Canada.

We are definitely going to BETT in London. We are strongly considering EduTech Asia in Singapore.

Do y'all have any recommendations for:

Latin America Ed-Tech Conferences?

Middle Eastern Ed-Tech Conferences?

African Ed-Tech Conferences?

The larger the better, considering the travel costs from the US involved. Thanks for any advice.

I saw a similar question about an alternative for FlipGrid posted here in the past. But it is 5 years old and I'm sure the landscape of virtual forums has changed in that time.

Our PTO is hoping to host a virtual talent show where we have students upload short (<=3 min) videos of their talent to a virtual platform and then release them at a specific time for the students, teachers and parents to view from home. I imagine the entire process (a few weeks for uploading videos and about a week of availability for viewing) would all be less than a month.

Last year we used FlipGrid for free as the school district had already paid for this service. But we no longer have FlipGrid and need to find an alternative. Everything I am finding in my search is either not secure (e.g., uploading videos to something like Google Drive) or waaaaay too involved and expensive for our short-term purposes (e.g., Padlet).

Any ideas what forum might be a good fit for a short-term project like this? I think we can spend some PTO money on this project, but not hundreds of dollars.

Thanks for any ideas you can share!

I recently partnered with someone who claimed to be a “technical co-founder” for our project, but the experience has been eye-opening in all the wrong ways. As an example, I coded the background of this graph in just a few minutes, while it took this person an entire week to add a few sloppy, hand-drawn lines (see attached image). The result? A graph that’s confusing, poorly executed, and lacks any hint of professionalism.

If you’re looking for a true technical partner, make sure they can actually deliver quality work efficiently. I’ve found that some people are more focused on gaining attention online than genuinely contributing. They may talk big about their “technical” abilities but end up producing subpar results that undermine the project.

For those using platforms like YC to connect with co-founders, remember: actions speak louder than words. Ask for examples of their work, set deadlines, and make sure they’re capable of meeting them. Don’t get stuck with someone who’s a wannabe or simply needs validation; your project deserves better.

Hi! I’m a student in the MS-HCI program at Georgia Tech, working on a project to help middle schoolers improve reading comprehension by exploring metacognitive strategies. We’re really eager to create something that genuinely supports students, so we’d love to connect with as many teachers as possible from different backgrounds to get their input. Please please message me if you are interested in talking with us and helping us out with our project.

Please consider filling our short survey. It will ask questions related to your experience teaching ELA, the tools and strategies you currently use to support reading comprehension and the use of metacognitive strategies. It should take approximately 5-15 minutes to complete:

https://gatech.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_b8IqI5ypr9ERmd0

I’m happy to share more about myself, my program, or the project if needed. Your input will be invaluable in helping us create tools that make reading more engaging, effective, and accessible. Thank you for your time and support! 

I am having an issue with students miusing ipads. Managing this behavior in my smaller classes is doable, but I'm getting overwhelmed with my larger classes.

Usually I have students work in guided access mode, but we're using MIT app inventor and it requires them to open and close the app often. I've tried setting up time limits for other apps, but I think that students are accessing settings and messing with them.

Some of the ipads are from a past teacher and I can't get rid of the old account without her password. She hasn't been in our district for years. I brought this up with our tech department, but when they took the tablets to work on them, their priority was getting their tracking software on them and they didn't remove the old account. If I put in another work order, I know that it's going to take a month or so as they are understaffed.

Another issue, is that I am limited in what childproofing restrictions I can add, because I do not want to add my personal phone number to my school apple ID and I don't feel I should have to.

How are other educators childproofing the settings and ability to add apps without a phone number?

Hello, If you've ever tried learning programming and are still interested in it and related technical topics using online resources and social media, we're conducting a study to evaluate tools aimed at supporting informal online learning experiences.

To participate, please complete this form: https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=yRJQnBa2wkSpF2aBT74-h7Pr4AN75CtBmEQ1W5VUHGpUQVNOS1NWNVM4MkhYR05FMU84MDJUS1RaUS4u&route=shorturl

Thank you for supporting this research on online learning tools.

Sami PhD Candidate @ OpenLab, Newcastle University https://openlab.ncl.ac.uk/people/sami-alghamdi/

Could use some advice from anyone in the literacy edtech/curriculum industry OR educators who have had to advocate for SoR in their own school/district.

I work for an educational publisher that was founded on guided reading principles. They pivoted in 2021/2022 to market a few "SoR-friendly" products. When I joined the company, I thought they were trying to move away from the old ways. Well, it turns out they bad mouth SoR and "the phonics people" internally at every turn. They have no plans to get rid of curriculum that's based on ineffective strategies. If anything, they want to rebrand it to give it a fighting chance in the current climate.

Now, I'm not a decision maker at the company. I'm a worker bee. But I'm having a hard time doing my little job when I don't fully believe in what we're doing. Should I suck it up? Am I naive to think that my work should have meaning? Is it worth trying to convince anyone internally about the benefits of SoR? Are there any companies genuinely supportive of SoR, or are they all stamping the label on to make a quick buck?

Thanks for any help. <3

Sorry if this is the wrong place, when I searched for genially, this is the only sub that consistently came up. I have a bunch of genially presentations that I have prepared on my private (free) account, but now they have been picked up to be used by a team. I have been added as a member of the team, but i can not figure out how to move the presentations into the team. Sharing them with an individual member does not put them into the team folder nor does it add the team watermark. Can someone please help me??

I've always been a visual learner (since school, but I also use lots of diagrams at work to help me explain things). Most of the time I find it difficult to follow concepts in conversation (especially technical ones). My favourite tool at the moment is Excalidraw because it's super quick and easy. Which tools have you found most effective for visual learning / teaching?

Hey folks,

I'm looking for recommendations for teaching delivery (classroom) technology providers in Australia/New Zealand. Could you please share any that you'd recommend?

Is there an audio first edtech platform somewhere? Think audible but educational specific.

I’m especially interested in AI powered solutions where I can type in my own topic and have the AI generate the content and audio for me.

Are AI tools now common? Like AI tutor, or AI predictive learning and adaptive learning. Are these common?

Iv been thinking about how AI writing tools could fit into education specially for students who need support with writing and research. I came across Smodin which seems like it could be helpful for things like structuring essays, summarizing content or even generating ideas when students get stuck.

For educators, Im curious about the potential benefits of introducing tools like this to assist students with learning without it becoming a crutch. I think there’s a fine line between support and over reliance so Id love to hear some thoughts from people who may have tried it.

I am a full time teacher who has been trying to transition to edtech for quite some time. For the past five years, I’ve contracted for various edtech companies, taking on as many projects as I could to gain more experience and add more edtech companies on my resume. My main goal is to land more of a project management style role, rather than a content writer role, but I know that can be easier said than done with the current job market.

I finally received a full time offer in a content writer role, but was disappointed to find out that the salary is less than what I make as a teacher. It’s a few grand less, but after living on a tight budget as a teacher my whole career, I am needing more money, not less.

For those of you who are in the edtech industry, any advice? Would this full time content writer position give me that more of an edge on landing a higher role in the future than my current resume that already has content writer roles on it from my part time edtech work? Any insight is appreciated!

Hello everyone. I'm fairly new to working for a small vocation school. Right now each student signs up for training classes on a wordpress website, we then print out that attendance sheet, collect paper sign in information from attendees (all classes are in person), and then manually input that data into excel. I'm looking for a piece of software that would handle event registration, would create something like a user profile, attendees could sign in and fill out additional information at a class with perhaps an ipad, and then we'd have a per student "transcript" of what classes they'd attended. This isn't my background at all, but thought this might be a helpful place to ask? Thank you for any suggestions anyone might have!

Hey everyone! I hope it’s okay to reach out here—I’m working on something that I really think could use some real insights from folks who know EdTech firsthand. I’m part of a small team building a low-code platform aimed at helping educators create immersive 3D experiences for their students.

We’ve been talking a lot about how this kind of technology could genuinely make learning more engaging and bring real benefits both for students and educators. We’ve made great improvements since the launch last June, but honestly, we’re still figuring things out and would love to learn from your experiences. What do you think would actually make a difference in a tool like this? Are there features you wish existed or specific challenges that come to mind when thinking about XR in education?

Thanks so much for any thoughts or experiences you’re willing to share!