AI in the Classroom - Daily

Dan Cogan-Drew
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AI in the Classroom – Daily helps educators make sense of AI without the hype. This daily podcast explores what responsible AI in the classroom really looks like for teachers, school leaders, and district administrators. Each episode translates the latest AI news, research, and policy debates into clear, practical insight — what's changing, why it matters, and what to do next. I use AI as a thinking partner in preparing each episode, because the best way to talk honestly about AI in education is to work with it openly. Co-Founder & Chief Academic Officer, Newsela dan.cogandrew@newsela.com

  1. 9h ago

    What Makes an AI Tutor Actually Work?

    In this episode we explore what AI tutoring looks like when the goal is to recreate some of the things effective human tutors actually do. Using the AI tool Ello as a case study, we examine a framework drawn from high-dosage human tutoring: understanding what a student partially knows, recognizing when it’s time to shift gears, and building enough of a relationship that the learner wants to keep going. Topics covered: What separates an AI tutor from an AI “teacher”Three moves that effective human tutors makeHow AI can listen for a child’s partial understandingWhy responsiveness and latency matter for student engagementThe role of emotion and relationship in tutoringWhat happens when children become attached to an AI characterThe guardrails developers are building around those relationshipsThe growing tension between school restrictions and AI adoption at homeAI in the Classroom Daily helps educators make sense of AI without the hype. Hosted by Dan Cogan-Drew, co-founder and Chief Academic Officer at Newsela. Sources: https://humanistxyz.substack.com/p/what-it-takes-to-build-an-ai-teacher https://www.ello.com/

  2. 3d ago

    What We Actually Know About AI and Student Learning

    In this episode we explore three stories around how schools can make smart decisions about AI while the evidence is still catching up. We look at a Stanford review of hundreds of studies on AI in K–12 education and what it reveals about learning. We also examine how school districts are moving beyond broad “AI policies” toward rules for specific classroom uses. Finally, we explore a new open infrastructure project designed to give educators and EdTech developers better access to academic standards, learning progressions, and tools for evaluating AI-generated educational content. Topics covered:• Why better performance with AI doesn’t necessarily mean better learning• What happens when students have to perform without the AI scaffold• Where AI may have more potential• How districts are approaching AI differently across specific classroom use cases• Why AI policies might need to be treated as testable hypotheses rather than permanent rules• What educators should know about new open infrastructure for AI and EdTech AI in the Classroom Daily helps educators make sense of AI without the hype. Hosted by Dan Cogan-Drew, co-founder and Chief Academic Officer at Newsela. Sources: https://www.nctq.org/research-insights/ai-can-help-students-and-teachers-but-does-it-improve-learning/ https://www.edsurge.com/news/learning-commons-launches-open-ai-platform-for-k-12-edtech https://www.wbur.org/news/2026/09/22/massachusetts-schools-ai-use

  3. 4d ago

    What Does “Authentic” Student Work Mean in the Age of AI?

    In this episode we explore the question: What does “authentic” student work mean when AI is increasingly part of authentic work in the real world? Prompted by a report about British members of Parliament using AI to help write speeches, we explore a tension at the heart of assessment design. If professional coders use AI to code and politicians use AI to write speeches, should students be expected to do those things without it? In this episode we explore: How AI is exposing a long-standing relevance problem in school assignmentsWhy “authentic assessment” may be getting harder to defineThe tension between how students are expected to learn and how professionals actually workWhat coding, political speeches, and traditional English assignments have in commonWhat educators may need to preserve as more human work becomes AI-assistedAI in the Classroom Daily helps educators make sense of AI without the hype. Hosted by Dan Cogan-Drew, co-founder and Chief Academic Officer at Newsela. Sources: https://ncee.org/scaling-the-school-engagement-cliff/ https://www.hightechhigh.org/ https://www.economist.com/britain/2026/09/23/ai-written-speeches-are-taking-over-politics https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-jensen-huang.html https://gptzero.me/ai-vision

  4. 5d ago

    Why Students Aren’t Using AI Tutors

    In this episode we explore a problem with AI tutors that may have very little to do with the AI itself. Drawing on a recent conversation between Rick Hess and Michael Horn, we look at the “5% problem”—the gap between how widely an education technology is deployed and how many students actually engage with it meaningfully.  We also explore why gamification may not solve the engagement problem, how motivation complicates research about AI and learning, and a practical way educators can test the assumptions behind new AI tools before rolling them out at scale. Topics covered: Why student motivation may be the overlooked challenge facing AI tutorsThe “5% problem” in education technologyThe limits of points, badges, and gamification as substitutes for authentic engagementJustin Reich’s argument that recommendations for classroom AI should be treated as hypothesesWhat teachers and district leaders should ask before deciding an AI product “works” AI in the Classroom Daily helps educators make sense of AI without the hype. Hosted by Dan Cogan-Drew, co-founder and Chief Academic Officer at Newsela. Source: https://www.edweek.org/technology/opinion-the-big-flaw-with-ed-tech-tutoring-isnt-technological/2026/09

  5. 6d ago

    What Happens When You Take the AI Away?

    In this episode we explore a new randomized controlled study on what happens when people get help from AI, and then have to work without it. In this episode we explore: What researchers found when they gave learners AI assistance and then took it awayWhy AI may change a student’s perception of how difficult a task should feelThe connection between AI, cognitive offloading, and productive struggleWhy the design of the study itself raises important questions about its conclusionsHow relevance and authentic assessment might change the way students respond to AIWhat this research suggests teachers should consider when designing assignments AI in the Classroom Daily helps educators make sense of AI without the hype. Hosted by Dan Cogan-Drew, co-founder and Chief Academic Officer at Newsela. Source: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2604.04721

  6. Sep 21

    When AI Writes What Kids Read

    In this episode we explore what happens when the texts students learn to read are increasingly written by AI. What expertise does an educator need to judge whether the resulting text is actually good for students? Topics covered: Why AI-generated reading passages are becoming attractive to educatorsThe tension between practicing reading skills and building knowledgeWhether “learning to read” and “reading to learn” can be separatedWhat happens when AI rewrites textWhy hitting a target Lexile isn’t necessarily goodWhat can disappear when a text is simplified Sources: https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/more-kids-are-learning-to-read-on-ai-generated-text-what-are-the-pros-and-cons/2026/08 https://help.newsela.com/en/articles/13656260-newsela-s-approach-to-leveling-nonfiction-texts

  7. Sep 18

    The New Rules of AI in Schools

    In this episode we explore four stories shaping the conversation around AI in schools. Florida has approved new AI requirements for schools that raise some surprisingly complicated questions about parental consent, student access, and even what counts as an “AI tool” in the first place. We also revisit a provocative argument from MIT’s Justin Reich around expert AI guidance. Then we look at the growing effort to independently evaluate AI products being used in schools. Finally, we explore a new wrinkle in the battle over phones and devices in schools. Topics covered: Florida’s new rules for AI use in schoolsWhy parental consent could become a major AI policy issueThe growing challenge of defining what actually counts as an “AI tool”Justin Reich’s warning about today’s AI best practicesNew efforts to independently evaluate AI learning toolsWhat districts should look for when judging AI productsAI smart glasses and the next challenge for school device policies Sources: https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/florida-board-education-ai-rules-k12-colleges-2027/ https://publicaisummit.org/people/justin-reich/ https://www.edweek.org/technology/new-project-identifies-strengths-and-weaknesses-of-a-collection-of-ai-learning-tools/2026/09 https://ailearningtour.instructionpartners.org/ https://www.edweek.org/technology/districts-expand-cellphone-bans-to-target-ai-smart-glasses-why-it-matters/2026/09

  8. Sep 17

    Does AI Use Help or Hurt Learning?

    In this episode we explore the question: Does AI help or hurt learning? Drawing on a keynote from Princeton computer science professor Arvind Narayanan at the Public AI Summit for Educators, we examine why that may actually be the wrong question, and why the conditions surrounding AI use may matter more than the technology itself. Topics covered include: Why “Does AI help or hurt learning?” may be the wrong starting pointThe difference between essential skills and incidental skillsWhen offloading work to AI might free students to focus on deeper thinkingThe calculator analogyThe complicated relationship between AI, writing, and assessmentWhy schools may need a broader portfolio of ways to evaluate student understandingThe growing disconnect between how students are expected to work in school and how AI is being used in the workplace Source: https://publicaisummit.org/keynote/does-ai-help-or-hurt-learning-wrong-question/

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AI in the Classroom – Daily helps educators make sense of AI without the hype. This daily podcast explores what responsible AI in the classroom really looks like for teachers, school leaders, and district administrators. Each episode translates the latest AI news, research, and policy debates into clear, practical insight — what's changing, why it matters, and what to do next. I use AI as a thinking partner in preparing each episode, because the best way to talk honestly about AI in education is to work with it openly. Co-Founder & Chief Academic Officer, Newsela dan.cogandrew@newsela.com

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