Education By Design

Phil Evans

The Education by Design podcast explores the architecture of learning environments—how schools are designed, not just operated—how culture is disrupted to make way for innovation and reaching potential.  Your host, Phil Evans is a career educator and creative. His guests bring inspirational and practical ideas into classrooms, all over the world. Join him as he engages with innovators who untangle the complexity of educational systems to align with shared values, common practices, and a common language to create powerful, human-centered learning experiences.  For any formal schooling system to have an impact, the central focus must be on learning. Let's learn together. Dive deeper on the EduByDesign Blog: https://edubydesign.com/blog 

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  1. Season 2, Episode 1 Trailer

    S2:E0 "Inside Out" with Phil Evans

    Share your thoughts WELCOME TO SEASON 2 OF THE EDUBYDESIGN PODCAST! This past year, I decided to sit with an uncomfortable truth: education is full of contradictions. We say every child matters, then design systems around averages. We ask teachers to innovate, then measure them on compliance. We talk about the future constantly — and use it as a reason to wait. For Season 2 of EduByDesign, I hope you will join me as we stop waiting.  In this short introduction episode, "Inside Out" I share what I have been learning as I listen to educators, leaders, and innovators, each carrying a piece of what education could become. I step inside the questions myself: How do we support each other so our schools and school systems have greater vitality? How do we work with our contradictions instead of hoping they'll resolve themselves as we keep adding new initiatives and innovations? And what can we begin creating today — because if meaningful change were easy, we'd have done it by now. At the heart of one of our shared contradictions is belief that education's purpose is not only about earning diplomas, baccalaureates, certificates, degrees, and the like. Recently on Instagram, I saw a meme that reasoned, "We don't learn to swim by reading about water." Education's purpose is about learning how to learn. So our job is to meet every learner where they are; trust and equip the people closest to the work, our teachers; and build connections across borders and across systems to co-create the kind of education a generation's future actually depends on. In this short episode, you'll hear more about where Season 2 is headed, why the conversation should be grounded in the present with our past and our future in mind, and why I think it is time we saw less competition and isolation in the world of education, and more collaborative innovation. If something here sparks for you, please pass it on — share it with a colleague, leave a comment or rating wherever you're listening, and tell me what it sparked by writing me a note or finding me on social media.  That's how the show grows — but more importantly, it's how we keep moving toward the high-quality education we want for all students, while doing the things that make it possible, today! Thank you for listening and subscribing to the podcast. You might also like to visit the EdubyDesign blog or my new Substack. Find me on LinkedIn, Instagram, X (Twitter), or BlueSky socials. Follow the EduByDesign Blog to explore the podcast topics, further. And please let Phil know what resonates with you, in the comments.

    S2:E0 "Inside Out" with Phil Evans

  2. Episode 1

    S2:E1 "Teaching at the edge: Think more, not less" w. Michele Lackovic

    Share your thoughts "I don't need an AI detector to tell me this isn't your work." After twenty-five years of reading student writing, Michele Lackovic knows when a voice goes missing from the page — and what she does next is the heart of this episode. Not policing. A conversation. And these learning dialogues with students have reduced her own take home workload, freeing her up to get creative to remove barriers to learning in the classroom. Yes, this is a discussion about AI in education. But it's not only about that. We discuss strategies that are grounded in making the learning visible not just so teachers can be sure students did the work themselves, but to help each learner understand how they are learning, and why it matters. Michele Lackovic is an IB Literature and Theory of Knowledge teacher, workshop leader, examiner, and author, and the voice behind Teaching at the Edge. We explore what it means to teach at the edge — not the edge of technology, but the edge where students and teachers have agency. Along the way: foam swords and Shakespeare, visible drafting, her voice authentication protocol, and why the most powerful response to AI in the classroom is convincing students their own voice is enough. This is why Michele designed the V.O.I.C.E framework as authentication process. This one is full of things you can carry straight into a classroom — and a reminder that tech tools have never been the answer on their own. It's always been the pedagogy behind them. If something here sparks for you, please pass it on — share it with a colleague, leave a comment or rating wherever you're listening, and tell me what it sparked by writing me a note or finding me on social media.  Tribute and dedication: This episode is dedicated to Michele's late mother Nancy Bianco, who passed away suddenly in June 2026. Nancy was a longtime Information Security Systems Association leader and cybersecurity pioneer, helping create a space where security leaders could collaborate, learn, and support one another. Michele would often discuss her work in education with her mother, who was so supportive of providing high-quality education, for all students. Read more about Nancy's work. Connect with Michele on LinkedIn Read Michele's Substack Explore the AI in education pioneers, Michele mentioned in the episode: Michelle Kassorla from Georgia State University Perimeter College &  Ethan Mollick from The Wharton School. Follow the EduByDesign Blog to explore the podcast topics, further. And please let Phil know what resonates with you, in the comments.

    S2:E1 "Teaching at the edge: Think more, not less" w. Michele Lackovic

  3. Episode 2 Bonus

    Point of Reflection S2E1 - Voice, silence, and owning our thinking

    Share your thoughts The Point of Reflection is the companion to each episode of Education by Design — a short, spoken reflection recorded after the conversation ends. This is where I sit with the ideas discussed with my previous guest. It's good to sort through what our learning is stirring in our own lives and work, and think openly. This is a window into how learning happens for me: slowly, personally, and iteratively. If the episode is the conversation, this is what the conversation is shaping, for me. This is the point of my reflection After my conversation with Michele on AI, student writing, and authenticating rather than policing, I continued to think about experiences that shape my own voice.  In this reflection, I trace that question through my own life: a self I once lost and spent years recovering, a friend who has been to six silent retreats, the hardest pose at the end of every yoga class, and a recent silence I didn't choose — one I'm learning to sit inside anyway. Some of what I'm pondering: We worry about students outsourcing their writing. Are we paying enough attention to what they're outsourcing with it?Whose version of you is circulating right now — and did you author it?Is stillness something we're born able to do, or a practice we owe ourselves before life demands it?What would it mean to treat reflection not as a luxury at the end of the day, but as the work itself?Here is Michele's V.O.I.C.E authentication resource and Substack  I hope this reflection gives you a reason to sit alone with your thoughts, too. 🎧 Full episode with Michele Lackovic Follow the EduByDesign Blog to explore the podcast topics, further. And please let Phil know what resonates with you, in the comments.

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About

The Education by Design podcast explores the architecture of learning environments—how schools are designed, not just operated—how culture is disrupted to make way for innovation and reaching potential.  Your host, Phil Evans is a career educator and creative. His guests bring inspirational and practical ideas into classrooms, all over the world. Join him as he engages with innovators who untangle the complexity of educational systems to align with shared values, common practices, and a common language to create powerful, human-centered learning experiences.  For any formal schooling system to have an impact, the central focus must be on learning. Let's learn together. Dive deeper on the EduByDesign Blog: https://edubydesign.com/blog 

Information

  • Creator
    Phil Evans
  • Episodes
    16
  • Seasons
    2
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Education By Design
  • Show Website
    Education By Design