Can I have your attention?
The challenge of getting and keeping the attention of students in schools and colleges 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 policy debates of the year in K-12 education. But listeners were also drawn to episodes that looked at bigger issues, such as how phones have changed student attention even when the devices are put away.
As we start 2025, we’re looking back at the top podcast episodes chosen by listeners like you, and you can see a countdown of the top 10 below.
Topics around how AI fits into education continued to draw 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 the growing skepticism of college made the cut, both of which focused on how students are changing how they think about what to do after high school.
A key theme in most of these is how educators are struggling to make students feel connected to the material in today’s classrooms. It’s a complex issue we’ll continue to explore in the year ahead.
Thanks for listening!
10. Is It Time for a National Conversation About Eliminating Letter Grades?
Is it time to give traditional letter grade systems an F and replace them with alternatives that focus more on getting more students to master material? It turns out that doing so will require a major reeducation effort for parents, students and teachers, argues Joshua Eyler, who has led teaching centers at several colleges, in a new book.
9. How Growing Skepticism of College Is Making Students Savvier Edu Shoppers (Doubting College, Ep. 2)
For part two of our podcast series Doubting College, which explores the growing skepticism of higher ed, we talked to students and counselors at a public high school about how students are thinking through their choices after graduation.
8. How Is the ‘College Is a Scam’ Narrative Influencing Who Goes to Campus? (Doubting College, Ep. 3)
There’s growing skepticism of higher education, complete with popular memes on social media that “college is a scam.” Experts in policy and marketing 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 that the education system can do even more to counter the negative health effects of social media. One award-winning teacher has changed his lessons and the way he teaches to try to help students learn to focus better — even reserving class time for quiet reading away from distraction 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 for helping students feel they belong in school or college. And new research points to better ways to strengthen student-teacher relationships and a sense of belonging, argues Greg Walton, a psychology professor at Stanford University.
5. Should Chatbots Tutor? Dissecting That Viral AI Demo 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 are featured in a recent demo of ChatGPT’s latest version. 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?
Did the education theories that drive today’s schools and teaching practices get off track, and do they need a reset — one that gets back to earlier days of oral storytelling? That was the argument of philosopher Kieran Egan, whose educational ideas have recently gotten attention.
3. AI Is Disrupting Professions That Require College Degrees. How Should Higher Ed Respond?
A recent study ranked the top professions that are likely to be disrupted by ChatGPT and other new AI technologies, and most of them require college degrees. How does higher ed need to change what it teaches to respond?
2. How Smartphones Have Changed Student Attention, Even When They’re Removed
Holding student attention may be harder than ever. Even if educators make students put away their smartphones, internet-connected devices have changed the way people relate to others and made it harder to be present, argues a Georgetown University professor.
1. Inside the Push to Bring AI Literacy to Schools and Colleges
There’s a growing push to add AI literacy as a subject in schools and colleges. But what exactly is AI literacy, and can educators promote curiosity about the subject amid their own concerns, and in some cases fear, around ChatGPT and other generative AI?
