Podcasts with LeiLani Cauthen
Author, Researcher, Systems Strategist
These conversations go beyond trends to examine what is structurally changing in education—and what must follow.
Topics include the forces reshaping learning at every level: legislation and policy constraints, AI agent and temporal personalization, the collapse of industrial-era schooling models, emerging learning architectures, and the evolving intersection of technology, human development, and economic reality. Discussions span system design, identity and security, organizational change, learner motivation, hybrid logistics, and the growing shift toward networked, distributed learning environments.
A Distinct Point of View
People often sense that education isn’t working—but cannot articulate what replaces it.
The issue isn’t a lack of options. It’s a lack of structural understanding.
Technology is not simply a set of tools layered onto classrooms. It is a force that redefines how time, access, instruction, and organization work together. When those elements shift, the entire model of schooling must shift with them.
Today’s tension in education reflects a deeper misfit:
- between how humans actually learn and how time is structured
- between institutional models and economic realities
- between policy frameworks and technological possibility
Choice, in this context, is not meaningful unless the underlying structure is understood.
These podcasts explore that structural shift—what is breaking, what is emerging, and what is still missing. They connect leadership decisions, technology architectures, and learning design into a coherent view of where education is going.
Most importantly, they aim to make the future visible—not as speculation, but as something already taking shape.
About the Host
LeiLani Cauthen brings a rare combination of perspectives—researcher, author, media leader, and technology architect. As the founder of Learning Counsel and Knowstory, her work spans industry analysis, system design, and the development of next-generation learning models, including Time AI and AI-driven course creation.
Through conversations with education and technology leaders, she surfaces not just what is happening—but how the pieces fit, and what they point to next.
Science Learning from Anywhere
Do you want to be thoroughly impressed about cross-curricular STEM learning remotely? Anika Chebrolu, a 14-year-old, won the 3M Young Scientist Challenge and was named America’s Top Young Scientist of 2020. She found a molecule that can selectively bind to the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in an attempt to find a cure for the pandemic. Programs for schools from Discovery Education combine these sorts of challenges with world-class STEM learning. Hear the discussion with Beth Meyer, VP of Growth and Partner Activation from Discovery Education; Mahfuza B. Ali, Ph.D., Corporate Scientist, 3M Materials Resource Division and 3M Young Scientist Challenge Mentor; and Anika.
Recovery from a Lost Year of Reading Achievement
Tens of thousands of school leaders are realizing they may have lost a year of progress with students. LeiLani discusses with Dr. Liz Brooke, Chief Learning Officer at Lexia and Felecia Evans, Principal at Lander Elementary School, Mayfield Heights, OH, what to do about realigning student learning amidst ongoing alternate schedules including on-campus, remote and hybrid learning. As educators come out of the fog of issuing millions of devices and making sure students have connectivity, they are finding a professional world of digital curriculum to help them play catch-up. This discussion focuses on practical leadership from the front lines by a Principal and new software qualities that result in leaps upward in achievement in shorter time – a critical discussion right now for K12 schools who hope to recover in language literacy.
Now is the Future of Teaching
LeiLani discusses with guest, Marty Reed of RANDA Solutions, the mass attrition of teachers during this historic perfect storm of Covid-19. Educator frustrations with remote teaching, and a lack of elevation of the profession up to the digital universe has magnified the already crisis level issue of teacher retention. Marty’s take on teacher free agentry changes the entire dynamics of teaching. By creating an ecosystem around teacher licensure, intellectual property, professional learning and community, context can be established around credentials and portfolios of work. Teachers can present to the world the complete picture of themselves as a professional educator. When schools can’t get the teachers they need, a turn to the wide world of professionals across the internet could be the only solution for thousands of administrators. The “Lifelong Learning Project, powered by teachers” with a digital identity solution in Teacher Wallet is on the horizon.
Education Tech Chaos
LeiLani Cauthen discusses the general education tech chaos with Tricia Kennedy, Executive Director, Instructional Development and Support, Gwinnett County Public Schools in Atlanta, Georgia. Kennedy has led years' worth of preparedness to have a fully integrated learning ecosystem so that total chaos was never evident for them in America’s March 2020 move to quarantines with all schools shutting down. While other schools went into hyper-drive, Kennedy’s chaos was minimal. With 180,000 students, Gwinnett’s tech vision leans on Amazon Web Services for dependency to watch traffic load and manage downtime in real-time, ensuring equitable access for all students. Listen to find out the how this district kept it together in one of the most sophisticated operations nationally.
The Lost Learning Year: Intelligent Recommendations
LeiLani discusses recent findings by researchers Dr. John Bielinski and Dr. Kyle Wagner at Illuminate Education on the effect quarantines and remote learning have had on K-8 learning outcomes. Schools working through remote learning transitions have focused on engagement, but the data indicates that there is a clear hierarchy of needs and educators will need the tools to pinpoint risk quickly and make a recovery plan.
Avatar A.I. Helping Hybrid Learning
LeiLani and Lewis Johnson of Alelo discuss avatars used with artificial intelligence for asynchronous teaching and professional development. A technology that has been around for awhile in the corporate sector and military is now coming to the rescue in education to create engagement and efficiencies.
This technology is set to help teachers teach with more engagement and an iterative process where they can update an avatars response based on how students are learning, perfecting trainings over time. Teacher’s may soon be able to have dimensional libraries for addressing interactive learning on various topics so that they get a return of precious time to focus on direct instruction.
A Story about PODS
In this EduJedi Report Podcast, LeiLani talks about PODS, the new trend in homeschooling-tied-to-schools. With the advent of the pandemic, a scenerio she first talked about in her book, The Consumerization of Learning, is coming true. She reads a purely fictional account of a student’s journey in a POD from the last chapters of her book, giving a glimpse into the future.
Looking Back Before Looking Forward
Guests, Dr. Travis Taylor, Instructional Technology Specialist from Little Rock School District, Arkansas, and Berj Akian, CEO of ClassLink, have a lively conversation about one of the biggest organizational conundrums for schools as quarantines went into effect and how to better prepare for the future. Dr. Taylor shares how Little Rock is using single sign-on and analytics to bring order to remote learning in an evolving digital landscape.
New Norms of Hybrid Professional Development
Guests Tyce Miller, the CEO of Mobilemind and Sarah Porisch, Director of Technology, Brainerd Public Schools, discuss what’s happening now with teaching the teachers. Where schools once had those eight-hour days of intensive professional development, training is now shifting to on-demand and highly personalized through advanced technology. The talk focused on the success from Minnesota, and how Sarah helped lead change with all their teachers becoming immersed in how to use technology successfully for their student learners.
Remote Learning in the Hot Zone
What’s it been like to transition to digital remote learning in one of our nation’s hot zones? One district with a “Keep Learning, Don’t Miss Out” motto made every day in quarantines count.