How AI Is Disrupting Education with Katie Boody Adorno of LeanLab Education

·29 min·2 clips

Katie Boody Adorno reveals how her nonprofit's AI research, backed by Gates and Zuckerberg, is reshaping education for children.

The episode begins with host Matt Watson introducing Katie Boody Adorno, founder and CEO of Lean Lab Education, a nonprofit focused on using technology and AI to improve education. Katie shares her background as a teacher in Kansas City through Teach for America, which inspired her commitment to educational equity. She founded Lean Lab over 13 years ago out of frustration with the lack of innovation in schools and persistent achievement gaps. Initially, Lean Lab operated as an incubator, conducting listening tours with hundreds of interviews to identify pain points and co-design solutions with teachers and students. They launched ventures like InquireEd and accessibility technologies. The pandemic marked a turning point, as schools rapidly adopted edtech, leading Lean Lab to pivot toward research on AI tools' effectiveness. Katie describes their current work, including a study comparing AI tutor co-pilots with direct-to-student tools, emphasizing the role of human connection in learning. The discussion explores debates over technology's impact, with Katie noting that technology alone isn't a silver bullet but can enhance learning when paired with strong pedagogy. Matt and Katie also touch on the social implications of technology, the importance of motivation and real-world learning, and the potential for AI to disrupt higher education costs. Katie outlines Lean Lab's mixed revenue model, including grants from foundations like Gates and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and fees-for-service research. The episode concludes with Katie sharing contact information for Lean Lab Education.

As heard by us

A practical look at how schools and ed-tech companies test whether tools are actually delivering results.

At its core, this piece asks a straightforward ed-tech question: how can schools know whether the tools they buy are actually making a difference?

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Why you'd press play

You want the school-tech version of due diligence, with real classroom stakes.

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