My EdTech Life

Dr. Fonz Mendoza

My EdTech Life is where education meets innovation with clarity, caution, and purpose. Hosted by Alfonso "Fonz" Mendoza Jr., this podcast features real conversations with educators, founders, researchers, and thought leaders who are shaping the future of learning. From classroom-tested tools to emerging AI trends, we cut through the noise to spotlight what truly works in K–12 and higher education. As a leading voice in responsible AI adoption, Fonz challenges the hype and elevates voices that often go unheard, bringing practical, ethical, and future-forward insights to every episode. Whether you're a teacher, instructional coach, policymaker, or edtech creator, this is your space to connect, question, and grow.  

  1. 4d ago

    Strategy Beats the Tool in AI for Schools ft. Karle Delo | My EdTech Life 365

    What happens when a former curriculum director becomes an AI strategist for an entire state? You get the kind of zoomed-out view most of us in education never get to see. In this episode, I welcome back my good friend Karle Delo, AI Strategist at Michigan Virtual, for a real conversation about what's actually working in school districts, what's flopping, and what the secret AI culture in your building probably looks like right now. Karle works with districts across Michigan, helping them build AI guidance, professional learning, and integration plans. She's seen the speedboats, the tugboats, and the anchors. And she's not here to sell you on hype. We get into: → Why one-and-done AI PD is setting your district up to fail → The "shadow AI" problem and why pretending it doesn't exist makes it worse → Why students say AI feedback from teachers feels like a slap in the face → The AI-slop cycle, where teachers, students, and graders are all just feeding the machine → The three things every school leader needs to read on a billboard → Why your authentic voice matters more in 2026 than it ever has → The one question to ask students that will change how you think about AI in your school Chapters 00:00 Welcome and Sponsors 00:56 Meet Carly the AI Strategist 07:24 District AI Guidance and Onboarding 17:51 Why AI Efforts Succeed or Fail 27:05 Avoiding AI Mistakes 30:39 Spotting AI Slop 36:16 What Students Want 47:55 Kryptonite and Wrap Up If you're a superintendent, CTO, instructional coach, or classroom teacher trying to figure out where to start, where to slow down, or where you might already be off track, this episode is for you. Karle reminds us that you don't need every teacher to be an AI super user. You don't need 20 tools. You need a strategy. You need community. And you need to actually talk to your students. This is the kind of conversation that cuts through the noise and gives you something you can take back to your building on Monday. 🎙️ Connect with Karle: Social media: @CoachKarle Free resources from Michigan Virtual: michiganvirtual.org/ai Includes a student guide, teacher guide, admin guide, integration framework, and AI literacy videos for middle and high school students. ☕ Support Our Show If My EdTech Life has added value to your work, consider supporting the show so we can continue bringing you great episodes like this one: 👉 https://buymeacoffee.com/myedtechlife/membership 🙏 A huge thank you to our sponsors who make this show possible: ☕ Come Back Coffee 📘 Book Creator 🤖 EduAid 📚 Peel Back Education 🌐 Visit us at www.myedtech.life to check out this episode and all 364 other conversations where you'll find some great gems you can sprinkle on to what you are already doing great. 🔔 Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share this episode with a colleague who needs to hear it. Stay Techie ✌🏼 Support the show

    52 min
  2. Why AI Won't Save a Classroom Without Curiosity ft. Olivia Odileke | My EdTech Life 364

    May 20

    Why AI Won't Save a Classroom Without Curiosity ft. Olivia Odileke | My EdTech Life 364

    What if the missing ingredient in your classroom isn't a new tool, a new curriculum, or another PD session, but curiosity itself? In this episode, I sit down with Olivia Odileke, founder of Spark Curiosity EDU, Education Week contributor, and creator of the Spark Curiosity GPT Coach. Olivia brings an industrial engineering background into the world of education, and her perspective on how we teach, how we evaluate, and how we use AI in classrooms is one you don't want to miss. We get into why so many teachers are burning out trying to cover the curriculum instead of letting students uncover it. Olivia shares her seven-minute teacher talk rule, her Spark Task method with multiple entry points for every learner, and the powerful idea that the smallest unit of school improvement is a teacher who feels psychologically safe to try something new. We also dig into AI in the classroom and how Olivia is using it to amplify student thinking, not replace it. From the Spark Curiosity GPT Coach to her Fearless Educator Radio project with 100+ AI-generated songs for educators, Olivia is showing what it looks like when teachers use AI as a thought partner instead of an answer machine. Plus, get all the details on the Spark Curiosity Conference, July 31 to August 2, 2026 in Austin, Texas, where Olivia and her team are modeling what a curious classroom can actually feel like. Chapters 00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro 02:38 Olivia’s Path to Inquiry 10:00 Engineering Mindset in Teaching 14:05 Seeing Students and Sparking Curiosity 34:26 Fail Forward Culture 39:04 Spark Curiosity GPT Coach 45:27 Curiosity With AI 49:26 Conference And Closing Connect with Olivia: 🌐 Website: https://oliviaodileke.com/ 🤖 Spark Curiosity GPT Coach: https://ai.sparkcuriosityedu.com 🎵 Fearless Educator Radio: https://fearlesseducator.com 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olivia-odileke/ A huge thank you to our amazing sponsors who make this show possible: ☕ Come Back Coffee https://comebackbev.com/ 📚 Book Creator https://bookcreator.com/ 🎓 EduAide.AI https://www.eduaide.ai/ 💛 Support the Show: If My EdTech Life has given you some practical ideas to build on what you're already doing well, consider becoming a Producer or Super Producer through our Buy Me a Coffee membership. Your support keeps the conversations coming. 👉 https://buymeacoffee.com/myedtechlife/membership Stay Techie ✌🏼 Support the show

    1h 2m

  3. May 10

    What AI Can't Replace in Instructional Design ft. Jonathan De La Cruz | My EdTech Life 363

    AI can write your design doc. It can build your storyboard. It can draft your script, your rubric, your assessment, your video outline, and half of your e-learning module before lunch. So what's left for the instructional designer? According to Jonathan De La Cruz, everything that actually matters. Jonathan is an instructional designer at a supply chain company and at a Plano, Texas startup building an AI-assisted learning management system. But before all of that, he was a music educator. He worked at DePauw University and Indiana University. He played mariachi on weekends, jazz combos, cathedral gigs, Costa Rican punk reggae, full symphonies. He didn't know "instructional designer" was a job title. He just knew he loved video editing, building websites, and figuring out how learning actually happens. In this conversation, Jonathan and I talk about the parts of instructional design AI is genuinely making faster and the parts no model will ever touch. The language you use when you collaborate. The way you receive feedback. The relationships you build before you ever press record on a training. The reason someone will or won't watch what you built. Jonathan also breaks down the custom AI agent he trained on his reviewers' feedback patterns to cut his iteration cycles from version 5 down to version 2. He shares how he manages a tech stack that includes Articulate, Camtasia, Arcade, Figma Make, Claude Code, Gemini, NotebookLM, and Perplexity, and why he just bought a Claude Code membership last week. If you're an instructional designer wondering where you still fit, an educator thinking about transitioning into ID, or anyone trying to figure out what the human in the loop actually does, this episode is for you. 🎙️ What We Cover: ✅ Why a music educator's brain is built for instructional design ✅ The "agency" lesson Jonathan's first CEO taught him ✅ How to build trust in AI inside a workplace that doesn't trust it yet ✅ The "but vs. and" language hack that changes team collaboration ✅ Why "feedback" is a neutral word and "criticism" isn't ✅ The custom AI feedback agent that cut his iterations in half ✅ His real working tech stack as an instructional designer in 2026 ✅ The human capacities to invest in if you want to stay irreplaceable ✅ Why your training won't land if nobody in the room likes you Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Instructional Design and AI 12:29 The Journey from Music to Instructional Design 21:13 Navigating Confusion in Instructional Design 22:54 The Importance of Collaboration in Instructional Design 27:33 The Human Element in Instructional Design 30:16 Integrating AI into Instructional Design Workflows 39:14 The Importance of Communication Skills 45:46 Final Thoughts and Advice for Future Designers 🔗 Connect With Jonathan De La Cruz on LinkedIn. ☕ Huge thanks to our sponsor Comeback Coffee for keeping us energized and creative through every episode. Check them out and grab some coffee soda! 🎧 Listen to My EdTech Life on every major platform: 🌐 Website: https://www.myedtech.life 🎙️ Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeart, and wherever you get your podcasts 💛 Support the Show: If My EdTech Life has given you some practical ideas to build on what you're already doing well, consider becoming a Producer or Super Producer through our Buy Me a Coffee membership. Your support keeps the conversations coming. 👉 https://buymeacoffee.com/myedtechlife/membership Stay Techie ✌🏼 Support the show

    54 min

  4. May 4

    The Human Edge: Smarter Decisions in the Age of AI ft. Cheryl Strauss Einhorn | My EdTech Life 362

    What happens to your judgment when AI starts answering before you finish the question? In this episode, Dr. Fonz sits down with Cheryl Strauss Einhorn, founder of Decisive, decision-sciences educator at Cornell and the University of Miami, and author of the new book The Human Edge: Smarter Decisions in the Age of AI (Cornell Publishing, May 8th). Cheryl spent over a decade as an investigative journalist at Barron's, where her bearish company stories halted stock trading, shut down companies, and once helped send a CEO to ten years in prison. That work taught her something every educator and student needs to hear right now: the hardest part of any decision isn't the information. It's the judgment. Cheryl walks us through her AREA Method (Absolute, Relative, Exploration & Exploitation, Analysis), a system for complex problem solving built to check our cognitive biases and protect our thinking when we work with AI. She unpacks why "AI as a time-saver" is a myth doing real damage in classrooms, why students still feel pressure to run their assignments through AI to "polish them up," and why the eight moments of human judgment in any complex decision are the things educators should be teaching first. We also get into the cautious advocate's question: what mindset shift do tenured professors need to feel their expertise still matters? How do we lower the barrier for the educators who haven't started using these tools yet? And what does learning look like five years from now if we get this right? Whether you're a K-12 teacher, a professor, a district leader, or a student wondering how to keep your own voice in your own work, this conversation will give you a framework to stop outsourcing your thinking and start leading the machine. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to AI and Decision Making 04:59 Cheryl's Journey and the Area Method 09:57 Understanding the Human Edge in AI 14:59 Reclaiming Agency in Decision Making 20:10 The Area Method Explained 24:48 Challenges and Insights from Teaching AI 31:06 The Role of Educators in AI 38:37 Debunking AI Myths 📚 Connect with Cheryl: Website: areamethod.com Book: The Human Edge: Smarter Decisions in the Age of AI (May 8) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherylstrausseinhorn/ 🙌 A huge thank you to our sponsors who keep this mission going: ☕ Comeback Coffee for keeping us caffeinated and ready to podcast 📚 Book Creator for empowering student voice in classrooms everywhere 🏫 Peel Back Education for helping teachers do more with less 🤖 Eduaide.AI for putting thoughtful AI tools in educators' hands We do what we do for you and because of you. Thank you for listening, sharing, and engaging with the show. Stay Techie ✌🏼 Peel Back Education exists to uncover, share, and amplify powerful, authentic stories from inside classrooms and beyond, helping educators, learners, and the wider community connect meaningfully with the people and ideas shaping education today. Authentic engagement, inclusion, and learning across the curriculum for ALL your students. Teachers love Book Creator. Support the show

    54 min

  5. Apr 27

    If You Live on Earth, You've Been Opted Into AI ft. Valerie Brock | My EdTech Life 361

    There's no opt-out button for AI. That's the reality Valerie Brock, Curriculum Lead at Day of AI, brings to this conversation, and it changes how we think about AI literacy in K-12. In this episode, Dr. Fonz sits down with Valerie to unpack what AI literacy actually means (hint: it's not prompt engineering), why early childhood classrooms belong in this conversation, and how Day of AI is building developmentally appropriate, tool-agnostic curriculum that's now reaching students in Australia, Rwanda, Taiwan, New Zealand, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, the Philippines, and beyond. Valerie draws on 13 years as a New York City special education teacher and six years with NYC's Computer Science for All initiative to explain how accessibility, UDL, and real classroom experience shape every lesson her team creates. She also shares the stories behind Day of AI's NYC Public Library pilot, the family toolkits built with Common Sense Media, and the new AASA fellowship putting superintendents at the center of AI rollout. Whether you're a teacher, a school leader, a curriculum designer, or a parent trying to figure out where to start, this episode gives you the language, the framework, and the free resources to move forward. ⏱️ CHAPTERS 00:00 Welcome to My EdTech Life 01:20 Meet Valerie Brock 02:30 From NYC classrooms to Day of AI 05:00 What Day of AI actually is 06:30 The "opt out" button doesn't exist 09:30 Accessibility, UDL, and designing for every learner 13:30 What AI literacy really means 17:00 The fear teachers bring to PD 19:00 The NYC Public Library pilot 20:45 Why kindergartners can handle this conversation 24:30 How Day of AI decides what's developmentally appropriate 30:00 Program Hubs around the world 35:00 The AASA superintendent fellowship 40:00 How to get started with Day of AI 45:00 Valerie's AI kryptonite and billboard message 🔗 CONNECT WITH VALERIE 🌐 Day of AI: https://dayofai.org 💼 LinkedIn: Valerie Brock 🙌 THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS ☕ Come Back Coffee 📚 Book Creator 🎓 EduAid.AI 🌱 Peel Back Education 👍 If this episode helped you, smash that LIKE button, SUBSCRIBE for more conversations with EdTech's best, and share it with an educator who needs to hear it. ☕ SUPPORT THE SHOW If My EdTech Life has added value to your work, consider becoming a member and helping us keep the conversations going. 🔗 https://buymeacoffee.com/myedtechlife/membership Stay Techie ✌🏼 Peel Back Education exists to uncover, share, and amplify powerful, authentic stories from inside classrooms and beyond, helping educators, learners, and the wider community connect meaningfully with the people and ideas shaping education today. Authentic engagement, inclusion, and learning across the curriculum for ALL your students. Teachers love Book Creator. Support the show

    52 min

  6. Apr 15

    The #1 AI Governance Mistake Schools Are Making ft. Betsy Cooper | My EdTech Life 360

    Episode 360: The #1 AI Governance Mistake Schools Are Making ft. Betsy Cooper What's the biggest mistake schools are making with AI right now? According to Betsy Cooper, it's not taking it seriously from day one. In this episode, Dr.Alfonso sits down with Betsy Cooper, Founder and Executive Director of the Aspen Policy Academy, for a powerful conversation on the AI governance decisions quietly reshaping schools — and what educators, leaders, and parents can do about it. Betsy brings a one-of-a-kind perspective shaped by her work as a former DHS attorney, her time leading the UC Berkeley Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity, and her doctorate from Oxford. Through Aspen Policy Academy, she's on a mission to democratize policymaking, helping teachers, parents, technologists, and community advocates learn how to identify problems, build solutions, and actually drive change. Together, Dr. Alfonso and Betsy unpack why "ooh, that looks pretty, let's try it" is the wrong way to evaluate new tools, how smooth vendors and shrinking budgets are pushing districts into risky decisions, and why K-12 students need adult stewards more than ever in this moment. Betsy also shares the castle and moat metaphor every school leader needs to hear, a three-step crisis plan for overwhelmed CTOs and superintendents, and her four-step policy impact framework for educators ready to advocate for change. Whether you're a teacher, CTO, superintendent, or parent, this episode will leave you with practical tools and a renewed sense of agency to push back, ask better questions, and advocate for the students who can't speak up for themselves. Chapters 00:00 — Welcome & Sponsor Shoutouts 01:30 — Meet Dr. Betsy Cooper & The Origin of Aspen Policy Academy 07:00 — What Policy Literacy Means for Educators (and Why It's Free) 14:00 — The 4-Step Policy Impact Framework 19:30 — The #1 AI Governance Mistake Schools Are Making 24:30 — How CTOs Should Evaluate AI Tools & Vendors 31:00 — Who Should Be Writing AI Policy for Schools 35:00 — Cybersecurity in K-12: The Castle, The Moat & The Breach Plan 39:30 — Cyber Civic Engagement & Becoming a Local Advocate 43:30 — Speed Round & Closing Thoughts Don't forget to: ✅ Subscribe to My EdTech Life on your favorite podcast platform ✅ Leave a review and share this episode with a fellow educator ✅ Visit www.myedtech.life for more amazing conversations 💜 Thank you to our sponsors: Eduaide.AI | Book Creator | Peel Back Education | Comeback Coffee Peel Back Education exists to uncover, share, and amplify powerful, authentic stories from inside classrooms and beyond, helping educators, learners, and the wider community connect meaningfully with the people and ideas shaping education today. Authentic engagement, inclusion, and learning across the curriculum for ALL your students. Teachers love Book Creator. Support the show

    48 min

  7. Apr 6

    No CS Background. Below Poverty Line. Now Learning Quantum ft. A.M. Bhatt | My EdTech Life 359

    What happens when you take public high school students with zero computer science background — 87% of whom are below the federal poverty line — and put them in one of only two quantum computing programs for high schoolers in the entire nation? That's exactly what A.M. Bhatt and his nonprofit DAE are doing in Connecticut, and the results are challenging everything we think we know about education reform, student potential, and what it really means to prepare young people for the future. In this episode of My EdTech Life, host Dr. Alfonso Mendoza sits down with A.M. Bhatt to unpack why traditional education is stuck in an industrial-era mindset, why the push for "job readiness" might actually be more dangerous than the problem it's trying to solve, and why real education reform starts with identity formation — not content coverage. Bhatt shares how his students complete 24 college credits worth of computer science in just 10 months, why he left a successful career advising Fortune 500 executives to work with underserved youth, and what a simple bowl of soup has to do with building a real learning community. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to the Podcast and Guest 01:37 A.M. Bhatt's Journey in Education 09:36 The State of Education: Challenges and Opportunities 15:37 Identity Formation in Education 22:01 Preparing Students for the Future: Players vs. Audience 26:31 The Importance of Non-Technical Skills 28:09 Real-World Hiring Insights 32:13 Remedial Humaning in Education 34:32 Infrastructure vs. Human Development 39:10 Dropping Seeds of Knowledge 43:46 Kryptonite in Education 45:50 Messages for the Future Connect with Dr. Fonz: 🎙️ Website: https://www.myedtech.life/ 📲 Follow on LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook & YouTube Thank you to our sponsors: 📚 Book Creator: Use Code MYEDTECHLIFE for Premium Access! 🤖Eduaide.AI 🎓 Peel Back Education ☕Comeback Coffee Peel Back Education exists to uncover, share, and amplify powerful, authentic stories from inside classrooms and beyond, helping educators, learners, and the wider community connect meaningfully with the people and ideas shaping education today. Authentic engagement, inclusion, and learning across the curriculum for ALL your students. Teachers love Book Creator. Support the show

    52 min

  8. Mar 31

    How Two 19-Year-Olds Are Fixing Reading & Writing with AI ft. Almar & Max | My EdTech Life 358

    They’re Only 19… And Already Rethinking Education What happens when two 19-year-olds look at education and say… this isn’t working? In this episode, I sit down with Almar Tishenko and Max Litvinenka, two young founders building Reading Rooms, a platform designed to rethink how students read, write, and receive feedback in the age of AI. This isn’t about replacing teachers. This is about giving them time back, strengthening critical thinking, and using AI the right way. 🚀 What You’ll Learn •Why delayed feedback is hurting student learning •How Reading Rooms is changing reading & writing workflows •Why banning AI isn’t the answer •How to use AI without killing critical thinking •What teachers actually want from EdTech •The future skills students NEED right now Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Background of Guests 02:07 Celebrating 6 Years of My EdTech Life 04:56 Meet Almar and Max: Young EdTech Innovators 08:51 Problems in Education: Grading and Critical Thinking 11:46 Impact of AI on Education and Teachers' Concerns 16:49 Connecting with Educators and Understanding Needs 32:29 Introducing Reading Rooms Platform 36:27 Features of Reading Rooms: Homework Builder and Tools 48:07 Skills for the AI-Driven Future 01:01:57 Advice for Educators and District Leaders 01:04:33 Final Thoughts and Contact Information Connect with Dr. Fonz: 🎙️ Website: https://www.myedtech.life/ 📲 Follow on LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook & YouTube Thank you to our sponsors: 📚 Book Creator Use Code MYEDTECHLIFE for Premium Access! 🤖Eduaide 🎓 Peel Back Education ☕Comeback Coffee Peel Back Education exists to uncover, share, and amplify powerful, authentic stories from inside classrooms and beyond, helping educators, learners, and the wider community connect meaningfully with the people and ideas shaping education today. Authentic engagement, inclusion, and learning across the curriculum for ALL your students. Teachers love Book Creator. Support the show

    1h 6m
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4.7
out of 5
14 Ratings

About

My EdTech Life is where education meets innovation with clarity, caution, and purpose. Hosted by Alfonso "Fonz" Mendoza Jr., this podcast features real conversations with educators, founders, researchers, and thought leaders who are shaping the future of learning. From classroom-tested tools to emerging AI trends, we cut through the noise to spotlight what truly works in K–12 and higher education. As a leading voice in responsible AI adoption, Fonz challenges the hype and elevates voices that often go unheard, bringing practical, ethical, and future-forward insights to every episode. Whether you're a teacher, instructional coach, policymaker, or edtech creator, this is your space to connect, question, and grow.  

Information

  • Creator
    Dr. Fonz Mendoza
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    368
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 My EdTech Life
  • Show Website
    My EdTech Life

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