Can I have your attention?
The challenge of capturing and maintaining the attention of students in schools and universities was the topic of several of our most popular episodes of the EdSurge Podcast over the past year.
Part of that involved the question of whether schools should ban smartphones, one of the biggest political debates of the year in K-12 education. But listeners were also drawn to episodes that looked at bigger topics, such as how phones have changed students' attention even when the devices are put away.
As we begin the year 2025, we're looking at the top podcast episodes chosen by listeners like you, and you can see a countdown of the top 10 below.
Topics about how ai fits into education continued to engage listeners this year, including our interview with Sal Khan, founder of the nonprofit Khan Academy, about his group's new ai chatbot tutor.
And two episodes of our narrative series about growing skepticism toward college made the cut, both of which focused on how students are changing the way they think about what to do after high school.
A key theme in most of them is how educators struggle to make students feel connected to the material in today's classrooms. It is a complex topic that we will continue to explore over the next year.
Thanks for listening!
10. Is it time to have a national debate about eliminating letter grades?
Is it time to give traditional letter grading systems an F and replace them with alternatives that focus more on getting more students to master the material? It turns out that doing so will require a significant re-education effort for parents, students and teachers, Joshua Eyler, who has directed teaching centers at several universities, argues in a new book.
9. How growing skepticism toward college is making students smarter educational shoppers (Doubting College, Ep. 2)
For the second part of our Doubting College podcast series, exploring the growing skepticism of higher education, we spoke with students and counselors at a public high school about how students are thinking about their choices after graduation.
8. How does the “college is a scam” narrative influence who goes to campus? (College of Doubts, Ep.3)
There is growing skepticism about higher education, complete with popular memes on social media that “college is a scam.” Policy and marketing experts have some suggestions on how to counter that narrative. We recorded this episode in front of a live audience at the SXSW EDU conference in Austin.
7. What if banning smartphones in schools is just the beginning?
As momentum grows to limit smartphone use in schools, some educators say the education system can do even more to counter the negative health effects of social media. An award-winning teacher changed his lessons and the way he teaches to try to help students learn to concentrate better, including reserving class time for quiet reading, away from the distractions of phones.
6. What new research says about fostering a “sense of belonging” in classrooms
There are key junctures in education that are especially important in helping students feel like they belong at school or college. And new research points to better ways to strengthen student-teacher relationships and a sense of belonging, says Greg Walton, a psychology professor at Stanford University.
5. Should Chatbots give private lessons? Dissecting that viral ai demonstration with Sal Khan and his son
Should ai chatbots be used as tutors? Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy, has become one of the most vocal proponents of the idea, and he and his son appear in a recent demo of the latest version of ChatGPT. But some teaching experts say tutoring should be reserved for humans who can motivate and understand the students they work with.
4. What if myths, metaphors, and riddles are the key to reshaping K-12 education?
Have the educational theories that drive today's schools and teaching practices gone astray? Do they need a reboot, one that returns to the early days of oral storytelling? That was the argument of philosopher Kieran Egan, whose educational ideas have recently attracted attention.
3. ai is revolutionizing professions that require college degrees. How should higher education respond?
A recent study ranked the top professions likely to be affected by ChatGPT and other new ai technologies, with most of them requiring college degrees. How should higher education change what it teaches to respond?
2. How smartphones have changed students' attention, even when they are no longer available
Keeping students' attention can be more difficult than ever. Even as educators force students to put away their smartphones, Internet-connected devices have changed the way people relate to others and made it more difficult to be present, a Georgetown University professor maintains. .
1. Within the initiative to bring ai literacy to schools and universities
There is a growing push to add ai literacy as a subject in schools and universities. But what exactly is ai literacy? Can educators promote curiosity about the topic amid their own concerns, and in some cases fear, around ChatGPT and other generative ai?
