UX of EdTech

What's your dream project? In this episode of the UX of EdTech podcast, hosts Alicia Quan and Sarah Mondestin explore their dream EdTech projects and the values behind them. 
Join us as we talk about products that inspire us, people who motivate us, and boy band posters we grew up with. We talk about the intersection of traditional and non-traditional edtech products, children's books, kids building things, and the importance of accessibility when creating products. Also, what is our favorite edtech tool?
EdTech Product Inspo (Article)

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UX of EdTech is a design studio that cultivates learning, creativity, and play.
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This is a must-listen for those who want to get into the mind of a teacher. 
Alicia Quan and Sarah Mondestin interview Missy Testerman, the 2024 National Teacher of the Year. Missy shares her journey from aspiring to be a teacher from a young age to becoming a specialist in teaching English as a second language in Rogersville, Tennessee. 
Reflecting on her career, Missy discusses the importance of face-to-face teaching, the integration of technology in education, and the challenges and rewards of being an educator. 
The conversation also explores the role of AI in classrooms, the importance of reducing non-instructional tasks for teachers, and the balance of motherhood and a teaching career. Missy emphasizes the value of interacting directly with students and shares her experiences with mentors, technology, and personal anecdotes about balancing work and family life.
Follow Missy on LinkedIn, Instagram, and her website. 
Chapters
00:15 - Missy's Early Inspiration
01:22 - Missy's Teaching Journey
06:49 - Early Tech in Education
12:32 - First Year Teaching Challenges
15:19 - Tech Tools in Modern Teaching
24:49 - Digital Natives and Tech Integration
25:42 - AI in Education
27:09 - Face-to-Face Teaching vs. Tech
30:15 - The Role of Language in Child Development
31:47 - EdTech Trends and Teacher Workload
35:44 - AI's Impact on Education
43:33 - Balancing Work and Motherhood

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Alicia Quan and Sarah Mondestin interview Alex Darrow, Principal Designer at Microsoft Education. 
Alex discusses his journey from a childhood love for gaming to leading the design of innovative reading tools at Microsoft. He shares his experiences working on reading products, including the development of the Reading Coach and Reading Progress tools that have become essential in classrooms, especially during the COVID pandemic. Alex highlights the importance of observing children's learning processes and emphasizes creating engaging, gamified educational experiences. 
The episode also features a special guest, Alex's daughter Zoe, who provides her perspective on her dad's work and shares valuable advice for designers creating educational tools for kids.

Chapters
01:13 - Early Gaming Influences
03:04 - Career Journey and Academic Background
05:07 - Transition to Microsoft and EdTech
10:02 - Voice User Interface Design
12:11 - Hackathons and Product Development
19:17 - Reading Progress and COVID-19
27:01 - Future of Reading Coach and Gamification
31:34 - AI Hype vs. Panic: Where Do You Stand?
32:21 - The Role of AI in Education
33:57 - Advice for EdTech Designers
34:14 - Personal Literacy Journeys
38:01 - The Impact of Reading Progress and Flipgrid
42:02 - Lightning Round: Quickfire Questions
49:03 - Special Guest: Zoe's Perspective

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This might be our most giggly conversation yet. Alicia Quan and Sarah Mondestin interview Annabel Blake (they/them), Principal AI Design Researcher at Canva.
The three discuss connections throughout Annabel’s career and life, touching on various topics like research, kids, play, AI, ethics, toys, authorship, and advice for designers and researchers working the spaces of education and AI. 
So much gold in this one!

About Annabel
Annabel works on conversational interfaces, generative experiences for education and on early R&D. Annabel’s work lives at the intersection of research, design, and play and includes studying how young people experiment with AI recreationally and how they use it for fun, comfort, and creativity. Annabel also writes “strange little books for children, like a book you wear on your head or a story about a robot goat… that comes with a chatbot goat (called Sardine!).”

Annabel’s Links
⁠Playful Futures⁠
⁠annabelblake.com⁠
⁠bookandbot.com⁠ 
⁠Center for Humane Technology⁠ 

Chapters
00:00 - Annabel's Squiggly Career Path
03:14 - Olympic Journey and Injury
04:42 - Reflections on Career Squiggles
06:07 - Intersection of Research, Design, and Play
08:38 - Kids and AI: Restoration and Exploration
12:46 - Children's Books and Technology
17:39 - Young People and AI: Surprising Uses
21:39 - Designing for AI vs. Traditional UX
28:17 - Co-Design and Early Access Testing
32:48 - Educators and AI Tools
36:22 - Innovative Teachers and Their Challenges
39:24 - The Importance of Playfulness in Education
46:11 - AI in Education: Balancing Innovation and Ethics

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👋The UX of EdTech Studio teams up to support companies with product design, UX research, and UX writing.
UX of EdTech is an engine for broader impact through its growing community, podcast, and newsletter dedicated to advancing design in education. Follow to find talent and opportunities.
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Alicia Quan and Sarah Mondestin hang out with Michelle Lee, Partner and Managing Director of IDEO’s Play Lab. This convo is so delightful and fun! So much inspiration to go around. Listeners will be enriched.
Michelle discusses her unconventional career journey from mechanical engineering to toy design, and eventually to leading kid-focused projects. She emphasizes the importance of play in learning and its application beyond childhood, highlighting her work with companies like VTech, IDEO, and Sesame Workshop. Michelle shares insights into designing engaging and meaningful digital experiences, such as Elmo Calls and the Space Explorer Bus project. She also explores the application of playful design in unexpected areas like smoking cessation and robo-investing. 
Michelle provides valuable advice for designers and researchers in the EdTech space, encouraging them to observe, learn, and engage with the target audience, particularly children. The conversation also touches on balancing digital and real-life learning experiences and includes personal stories of learning new skills and bonding through play.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction; from Aerospace to Toy Design
06:25 Balancing Digital and Real-Life Learning
14:21 Designing for Preschoolers
21:11 Incorporating Play in Unexpected Places
24:49 The Role of Play in Learning
27:26 Balancing Seriousness and Play
29:41 Advice for Designers and Researchers
34:36 Curiosity and Inspo
Follow us
👋The UX of EdTech Studio teams up to support companies with product design, UX research, and UX writing.
UX of EdTech is an engine for broader impact through its growing community, podcast, and newsletter dedicated to advancing design in education. Follow to find talent and opportunities.
LinkedIn
Podcast
Community Publication
Newsletter