The show is about learning with technology, the realities and exciting potential.
13/08/2025
Great opportunity with a great organization.
This , join us in celebrating youth-led stories with ! 🌍✨
YouthMADE stands for Youth Making, Activism, Art, and Design in Education, representing a broad spectrum of youth creativity and innovation, whether through STEM, media, fine and performing arts, advocacy and activism, design, and more.
From climate action to tech for good, we’re amplifying youth voices around the world who are making change happen.
Be a part of the global movement today!
• Explore inspiring stories from our YouthMADE blog series: bit.ly/YouthMADEstories
• Get involved by registering for our next YouthMADE info session on Aug. 20: https://bit.ly/3J38cyJ
31/07/2025
“We wouldn’t send someone to a two-week summer workshop in Chinese and expect them to teach it in the fall. But that’s exactly how we’ve rolled out computer science education in schools.”
In this episode of No Such Thing, I talk with Diane Levitt, Senior Director of K–12 Education at Cornell Tech, about the real work of scaling CS education—and why equity depends on iteration, not perfection.
We dig into the partnership between Cornell Tech and the City of New York, the challenges of teacher prep, and how AI literacy is reshaping what kids need to know.
🎧 Listen now: https://shows.acast.com/nosuchthing/episodes/debugging-efforts-in-cs-education
Tagging: Cornell Tech
01/07/2025
My daughter said, “This week doesn’t count—we’re not learning anything.” My son called it “state-mandated screen time.”
They’re joking (kind of), but it says a lot about how we’ve come to define learning. In this episode of *No Such Thing*, I talk with Laura Slover about why it’s time to move beyond the old rules—like the Carnegie Unit—and how we can help kids see learning in the places it’s always been: on the field, in a summer job, or leading a camp activity.
If you care about what counts as learning—and who gets to decide—this one’s for you. My thanks Laura Slover, ETS, Carnegie Foundation, and Skills for the Future
Can Simulation Train Equitable Teaching? Simulation is everywhere—whether we realize it or not. And in education, it’s more than just flight simulators or virtual reality games. Structured simulations are increasingly used to train teachers, helping them refine their practice in controlled, risk-free environments. Research shows that simulation-based learning is a growing component of professional development, particularly for developing social-emotional learning (SEL) and classroom management skills. But how effective are these tools? And can they be leveraged by educators outside of formal research settings?
In this episode, we’re exploring how simulations are shaping education research and practice, with insights from the book "Promoting Equity through Approximations of Practice in Mathematics Education." Think of this book as a compass for educators—a wayfinding tool that helps practitioners navigate the gap between theory and practice. It examines how approximations of practice—structured, simulated teaching experiences—can help educators sharpen their skills while keeping equity at the forefront. It’s not just about improving instruction; it’s about ensuring that all students, regardless of background, have access to high-quality learning experiences.
My thanks Liza Bondurant, Bima Sapkota, Meghan Shaughnessy, Heather H., and Dr. Gregory B.
22/05/2025
You might think of this as a David and Goliath story. EPISODE 140
For decades, the conversation around youth and technology has been dominated by powerful voices—media, researchers, and word-of-mouth warnings—painting a picture of digital tools as the looming threat to young people’s well-being. But what if that narrative isn’t the whole story? What if, instead, we favored the spectrum of possibilities in the digital present and future, instead of a good or evil binary. It would take a a vibrant counter-movement, led by passionate advocates and young people themselves, determined to reclaim the digital world for good. And good news, there is one.
This episode was recorded live at Sesame Workshop, bringing together a true who's who of leaders and do-ers in the world of “Digital Wellness for Young People.” At the heart of our conversation is Young Futures—a startup initiative funding projects through the crucial lens of digital wellness. Young Futures is empowering the next generation to create, innovate, and advocate for a healthier digital landscape, supporting ideas that prioritize well-being over profit.
Joining us are visionaries from the Scratch Foundation, the organization behind the world’s largest free creative coding platform for kids, empowering millions to express themselves and solve problems through technology. We’re also honored to welcome leaders from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, a research and innovation lab that advances learning in a digital age, inspired by the pioneering spirit of Sesame Street.
You just heard one of two incredible organizations that will bookend the live event - both are grantees of recent challenges from Young Futures: Hiphop into Learning from St. Louis, using music and culture to inspire educational engagement, and BeLoud Studios from New Orleans, amplifying youth voices through creative media.
If you’re catching this episode after the deadline for the most recent Young Futures proposal round, have no fear—head over to YoungFutures.org to learn more about upcoming opportunities to propose your work and join this movement.
A great recent video about the state of Math Literacy in the US. Check it out, link below. Help the Algebra Project to answer the question: “What would you need to see from a math literacy campaign to say that the campaign was successful?” Visit: https://algebra.org/nmlc/
The Algebra Project
09/05/2025
08/05/2025
For decades, we've been told that technology opens doors—that platforms and hardware might be the great equalizer, promising transformative outcomes for educators, students, and families who willingly give over their time and data to adopt them. I think that at different times in my career I might've fallen into the trap of believing (maybe telling?) this story. But what if, in practice, access doesn’t mean equity? What if, as UC Irvine Informatics Prof. Dr. Roderic N. Crooks argues, “you can't get there from here”? 🤔
🎙️Join me for a interview exploring Dr. Crooks's book, Access is Capture: How EdTech Reproduces Inequality.
Racially and economically segregated schools across the United States have hosted many interventions from commercial digital education technology (edtech) companies who promise their products will rectify the failures of public education. Edtech's benefits are not only trumpeted by industry promoters and evangelists but also vigorously pursued by experts, educators, students, and teachers. Why, then, has edtech yet to make good on its promises? In Access Is Capture, Roderic N. Crooks investigates how edtech functions in Los Angeles public schools that exclusively serve Latinx and Black communities. These so-called urban schools are sites of intense, ongoing technological transformation, where the tantalizing possibilities of access to computing meet the realities of structural inequality. Crooks shows how data-intensive edtech delivers value to privileged individuals and commercial organizations but never to the communities that hope to share in the benefits. He persuasively argues that data-drivenness ultimately enjoins the public to participate in a racial project marked by the extraction of capital from minoritized communities to enrich the tech sector.
I mention the good folks at Center for Humane Technology and Your Undivided Attention's April 21 episode in my intro, so tagging them here to high five and say keep up the good work!
03/04/2025
In this episode of , we're diving deep into the intersection of and artificial intelligence with two extraordinary guests who bring truly unique perspectives to the conversation. 🎙️🎙️🎙️🎙️
My thanks Ken Kahn and Sylvia Libow Martinez for dialogue that goes well beyond the "Good or bad for the classroom?" noise.
As Seymour Papert once said, 'The role of the teacher is to create the conditions for invention rather than provide ready-made knowledge.' This sentiment resonates deeply with the work of both Sylvia and Ken, who challenge traditional approaches to education and champion the transformative power of creativity and discovery.
Together, they bring a wealth of knowledge and passion to the table, highlighting the crucial need to move beyond debates about whether AI is good for education and instead explore how it can be embraced as a powerful thinking tool—one that sparks creativity, fosters collaboration, and expands what's possible in teaching and learning. https://shows.acast.com/nosuchthing/episodes/learnersapprentice-ai-education
25/02/2025
🎙️ If you're uncomfortable for any reason continuing the dialogue about serving every student that comes through the doors in public schools, this episode of , my talk with Gender-Inclusive Schools Author Dave Edwards, may not be for you. Or maybe it is? Maybe you're a teacher in one of more than 1000 school districts in the US (roughly 10% of the whole) where students are identifying with a third option in their student information systems, or in one of the 22 states who've written legislation protecting individuals based on this one (of many) dimensions of their learner identity. This episode IS for the educator that sees their duty to the mission of public education (to ensure the success of every soul who walks through their doors) above all else.
Dave Edwards, PhD is founder of Gender Inclusive Schools, providing parent and educator training to proactively create safe learning environments for LGBTQ+ young people. "We specialize in facilitating full-staff professional development sessions on a variety of equity topics, providing small group consultations, collaborating on support for individual students, and school-board policy development." + đź«° https://shows.acast.com/nosuchthing/episodes/the-duty-of-care
16/01/2025
I hope you'll enjoy the latest episode of , "The Platform Urging Adults to Learn Instruments with Trained Musicians" 🎻 I'm talking Icelandic funeral hymns and one-horn towns with with Moombix Founder Margret Juliana Sigurdardottir, one of Forbes most exciting European entrepreneurs.
There's so much magic in Music. "Music can lift us out of depression or move us to tears - it is a remedy, a tonic, orange juice for the ear," Oliver Sacks writes in his book Musicophilia. Indeed, research has shown that music can reduce anxiety and stress, boost motivation, and even aid in pain management. As we explore a bit with Margret, the landscape of music education in the digital age, it's worth noting that these health benefits are now more accessible than ever, with innovative platforms bringing the joy and healing power of music to our fingertips. https://shows.acast.com/nosuchthing/episodes/moombix
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About The Show
The podcast is about learning with technology, the realities and exciting potential, but it's also about youth and the practitioners who support them--youth developers, museum educators, teachers, mentors, counselors, parents--as they grow their identity, and journey forward.
The show’s first episodes were produced in partnership with City University of New York's Masters Program in Youth Studies at SPS. Learn more on the School of Professional Studies website.
Shows are made possible with support from Mouse, a national youth development nonprofit that believes in technology as a force for good.
The music in this podcast was produced by Leroy Tindy, a guest in episode zero. You can find him on SoundCloud at AirTindi Beats.
The podcast is produced by Marc Lesser. Marc is a specialist in the fields of digital learning and youth development with broad experience designing programming and learning environments in local and national contexts. Marc is currently the Youth Studies Fellow at City University of New York, and directs the national efforts to design and develop web-based and live offerings for Mouse.
Marc is the co-founder of Emoti-Con NYC, New York's biggest youth digital media and technology festival, and in 2012 was named a National School Boards Association “20-to-Watch” among national leaders in education and technology. Connect with Marc on Twitter @malesser, or by email: marc[at]mouse.org.
What's with the ice cream truck in the logo? In the 80's, Richard E. Clark at University of Southern California set off a pretty epic debate based on his statement that "media are mere vehicles that deliver instruction but do not influence student achievement any more than the truck that delivers our groceries causes changes in nutrition." * So, the ice cream truck, it's a nod to Richard Clark, who frequently rings in my ear when I'm tempted to take things at face value. "Is it the method, or the medium?" I wonder.
The title, No Such Thing, has a few meanings. Mostly, it emphasizes the importance of hard questions as we develop and document the narrative of "education" in the US. For Richard E. Clark, the question is whether there's such a thing as learning from new technologies. For others, it might be whether there's a panacea for the challenges we face in this field. Whatever your question, I hope that it reminds you to keep asking--yourself, your learners, others--what's working and how so.
* Clark, R. E. (1983) Reconsidering Research on Learning From Media. Review of Educational Resarch 53(4) 445-459.
