GUEST PODCAST: EdTechnical Series 3 Episode 6
Authors
This season EdTech funder Libby Hills and AI researcher Owen Henkel continue to speak with leading researchers, practitioners and educators on the EdTechnical podcast series about the cutting edge of AI in education. They will break down complex AI concepts into non-technical insights to better understand what the research says and help educators sift the useful insights from the AI hype.
In this episode of EdTechnical, Libby and Owen look at Alpha School, a model that started as a micro-school in Austin, Texas, and is now expanding into private and charter schools. At its core, Alpha condenses academic learning into a morning block where students work largely independently using software, supported by guides rather than traditional teachers. Afternoons are reserved for enrichment and life skills.
Libby and Owen discuss the appeal of this approach, the evidence behind mastery-based learning, and the big questions about scalability and cost. Is this a breakthrough for education or just a well-designed version of ideas we’ve seen before? Join them for a brief dive into Alpha School’s model and what it could signal for future learning models.
Links
Alpha School’s white paper
A parent review of Alpha School
A Wired article about Alpha School
EdTechnical’s forecasting competition
Authors