Experiential Learning – Teaching Empathy

David (DJ) Begbie is a Director and senior spokesman for the Crossroads Foundation, a humanitarian aid and development organization headquartered in Hong Kong. This agency provides direct assistance to those in need, and an online humanitarian platform

connecting corporates and NGOs globally. They currently operate out of an 8-acre former army base, and impact almost 1 million people, across 50 nations, per year.

DJ is also the Director of Crossroads’ experiential programs which have seen over 250,000 participants engage in simulations, including attendees at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. DJ holds a Bachelor of Arts in East Asian Studies and a Master of Arts in Leadership.

The Education Innovators Podcast is a set of conversations between Eric Byron and guests from all aspects of education around the world. We look for innovative ideas and practical examples of things happening in schools and learning environments that are of interest to teachers, corporate trainers, school administrators, EdTech providers, students, parents, and anyone else interested in education.

Links:

David (DJ) Begbie:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-dj-begbie-248359252/

Crossroads Foundation:

https://www.crossroads.org.hk/

The Education Innovators Podcast Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551034804742

The Education Innovators Podcast YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLru4kYugzLerU1S8mQu2Jo2-jX6H_3kd3

The Human Intelligence movement:

https://www.humanintelligencemovement.org/

This podcast is produced entirely by Eric Byron.

You can contact Eric at eric@edinnovationpod.com

Designing Different

Adrian Ireland is an international educator, systems thinker, and author dedicated to reimagining the architecture of learning. With extensive experience teaching and leading across Asia and Europe, Adrian has spent his career challenging the traditional, standardized models of education by championing learner-centered approaches that value individuality, curiosity, and creativity. His entrepreneurial mindset drives him to experiment with bold ideas, test innovative systems, and design frameworks that empower both students and educators to thrive.

He wears a mix of hats that have shaped his perspectives on education: Watching the development and natural learning progressions of his two boys as father. Coaching Volleyball at both high and low levels. Teaching in the classroom in both middle and high school. Leading full school change efforts around interdisciplinary learning and project-based learning. Redesigning time and scheduling to allow space for change and most recently Coordinating the MYP (Middle Years Program).

Rooted in both practical classroom experience and a deep understanding of educational theory, Adrian believes that the future of learning lies not in small improvements, but in daring to create something fundamentally different. His work blends systems thinking with human-centered design principles, helping schools and organizations shift toward environments that foster authentic engagement and personal growth.

In "Designing Different", Adrian shares the lessons, insights, and strategies gathered from years of navigating the complexity of educational reform, inspiring others to move beyond "better" and design the future of learning.

The Education Innovators Podcast is a set of conversations between Eric Byron and guests from all aspects of education around the world. We look for innovative ideas and practical examples of things happening in schools and learning environments that are of interest to teachers, corporate trainers, school administrators, EdTech providers, students, parents, and anyone else interested in education.

Links:

Adrian Ireland

https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrian-ireland-413191278/

Book “Designing Different: A New Architecture for Learning”:

https://designingdifferent.carrd.co/

The Education Innovators Podcast Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551034804742

The Education Innovators Podcast YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLru4kYugzLerU1S8mQu2Jo2-jX6H_3kd3

The Human Intelligence movement:

https://www.humanintelligencemovement.org/

This podcast is produced entirely by Eric Byron.

You can contact Eric at eric@edinnovationpod.com

Creators and Destroyers of Worlds

Iuri Melo is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 20 years of experience and the proud father of five. He’s the co-founder of SchoolPulse, a nationwide student support service that delivers positivity, optimism, and growth mindset tools to students, parents, and faculty via text and email. After several teen suicides in his community, Iuri co-created SchoolPulse in 2017 to proactively support student well-being. He’s also the author of Mind Over Grey Matter and the teen best-seller Know Thy Selfie, and the developer of “Adventure Based Therapy.” With over 300 schools in 25+ states, Iuri’s mission to “bless the human family” is inspiring students every day through kindness, psychology, and powerful weekly videos.

The Education Innovators Podcast is a set of conversations between Eric Byron and guests from all aspects of education around the world. We look for innovative ideas and practical examples of things happening in schools and learning environments that are of interest to teachers, corporate trainers, school administrators, EdTech providers, students, parents, and anyone else interested in education.

Links:

Iuri Melo:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/iuri-melo-1b41482/

SchoolPulse:

https://schoolpulse.org/schools/schoolpulse/

The Education Innovators Podcast Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551034804742

The Education Innovators Podcast YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLru4kYugzLerU1S8mQu2Jo2-jX6H_3kd3

The Human Intelligence movement:

https://www.humanintelligencemovement.org/

This podcast is produced entirely by Eric Byron.

You can contact Eric at eric@edinnovationpod.com

Thriving in an AI World

Stefan Bauschard is a course instructor (teaching the Introduction to AI) at Union College. He is also an AI literacy curriculum designer for Study Hall in the UK. He is also an AI Education Policy Consultant, and, as featured in his first appearance on the Education Innovators Podcast, Stefan is a debate coach.

He has come back on the show to talk about one of his weekly newsletters that struck a chord with me. Honestly, many of his newsletters strike a chord with me, but his article titled “Shifting AI Readiness Benchmarks from In-School Use to Thriving in an AI World” is particularly insightful, in my humble opinion.

The Education Innovators Podcast is a set of conversations between Eric Byron and guests from all aspects of education around the world. We look for innovative ideas and practical examples of things happening in schools and learning environments that are of interest to teachers, corporate trainers, school administrators, EdTech providers, students, parents, and anyone else interested in education.

Links:

Stefan Bauschard:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefan-bauschard-4b87589/

Shifting AI Readiness:

https://stefanbauschard.substack.com/p/shifting-ai-readiness-benchmarks

Education Disrupted:

https://stefanbauschard.substack.com/p/beyond-policing-text-to-text-a-call

The Education Innovators Podcast Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551034804742

The Education Innovators Podcast YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLru4kYugzLerU1S8mQu2Jo2-jX6H_3kd3

The Human Intelligence movement:

https://www.humanintelligencemovement.org/

This podcast is produced entirely by Eric Byron.

You can contact Eric at eric@edinnovationpod.com

Blazing New Trails in Virtual Education

Annette Levesque is the Founder & CEO of The Global Education Station, a platform dedicated to providing modern resources and professional learning workshops for educators, helping them stay ahead of today’s technological advancements. She is also the host of the video podcast The Global Education Station Presents.

Annette is an award-winning author. Her book “Elearning Gold: The Ultimate Guide for Leaders” (2023), offering insights into building successful eLearning programs. With a master’s degree in distance education, she has a proven track record of developing innovative virtual education systems. In 2002, Annette founded one of the world’s first fully virtual accredited private high schools, followed by the launch of a second global virtual school in 2005, which became one of the largest online international high schools in Ontario, Canada.

The Education Innovators Podcast is a set of conversations between Eric Byron and guests from all aspects of education around the world. We look for innovative ideas and practical examples of things happening in schools and learning environments that are of interest to teachers, corporate trainers, school administrators, EdTech providers, students, parents, and anyone else interested in education.

Links:

Book Website: https://elearninggold.com/

Author Website: annettelevesque.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annettelevesque/

X/Twitter https://x.com/Annettelevesqu_

The Global Education Station Presents:

https://globaledstation.podbean.com/

The Education Innovators Podcast Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551034804742

The Education Innovators Podcast YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLru4kYugzLerU1S8mQu2Jo2-jX6H_3kd3

The Human Intelligence movement:

https://www.humanintelligencemovement.org/

This podcast is produced entirely by Eric Byron.

You can contact Eric at eric@edinnovationpod.com

Knowledge graphs and neural networks – reimagining AI-powered math tutoring

This episode is a relatively technical discussion with a brilliant researcher about the potential of a hybrid AI solution to be used to develop an accurate and adaptive AI-powered math tutor.

Haihao Liu is currently serving as the Education Director for the Asian Community Development Center, a growing US-based nonprofit with a mission to empower the Asian American community. He is passionate about education equity and reform. He is pursuing a Master of Education in Learning Design, Innovation, and Technology at Harvard (currently on hiatus).

Haihao graduated from Rice University summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 2018 with dual degrees, a BS in Materials Science and Nano-Engineering and a BA in Mathematics. He worked from 2019 to 2022 as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and PhD Candidate at MIT, researching machine learning for making new materials, LLMs (before they were large), and embedding domain knowledge explicitly into the ML model architecture itself.

His nonprofit/startup Ternity Education aims to combine the bleeding edge of AI (including knowledge graphs and multi-agent IL+RL) with our modern understanding of neuroscience and learning sciences, to ultimately transform how students learn in this century and beyond!

The Education Innovators Podcast is a set of conversations between Eric Byron and guests from all aspects of education around the world. We look for innovative ideas and practical examples of things happening in schools and learning environments that are of interest to teachers, corporate trainers, school administrators, EdTech providers, students, parents, and anyone else interested in education.

Links:

Haihao Liu:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/haihaoliu

https://linktr.ee/hhliu

Ternity Education:

https://ternity.education/

The Education Innovators Podcast Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551034804742

The Education Innovators Podcast YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLru4kYugzLerU1S8mQu2Jo2-jX6H_3kd3

The Human Intelligence movement:

https://www.humanintelligencemovement.org/

This podcast is produced entirely by Eric Byron.

You can contact Eric at eric@edinnovationpod.com

AI Characters – Friend or Foe?

In this episode I talk with Sonia Tiwari who has a unique expertise in the design and development of characters that enhance learning experiences.

Sonia Tiwari holds a PhD in Learning, Design, and Technology from Penn State University where she also was an Adjunct Professor of Learning Experience Design. She has been a children’s media research consultant for almost 9 years and has developed a framework for designing AI-powered characters as facilitators of learning experiences.

This year, Sonia was selected as one of 20 scientists from across the world to participate in Falling Walls Foundation's year-long 'Female Science Talents Intensive Track' program to support significant career breakthroughs. Her research explores the impact of AI character interactions on children's learning experiences.

The Education Innovators Podcast is a set of conversations between Eric Byron and guests from all aspects of education around the world. We look for innovative ideas and practical examples of things happening in schools and learning environments that are of interest to teachers, corporate trainers, school administrators, EdTech providers, students, parents, and anyone else interested in education.

Links:

Sonia Tiwari:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/soniastic/

Designing AI Characters for Kids:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/soniastic_kidtech-keynote-ai-characters-activity-7296208908627374080-bde7/

The Education Innovators Podcast Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551034804742

The Education Innovators Podcast YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLru4kYugzLerU1S8mQu2Jo2-jX6H_3kd3

The Human Intelligence movement:

https://www.humanintelligencemovement.org/

This podcast is produced entirely by Eric Byron.

You can contact Eric at eric@edinnovationpod.com

Beyond AI: Student Centric Education

This episode is a follow up to my solo episode about the Alpha School, “A School with no Teachers”. My guest is here to cut through the hype and tell us the real story.

Jon Stewart is a creative strategist and leader in the education technology space, currently serving as Head of Engagement at Alpha School in Austin, TX. In this role, he crafts compelling educational narratives that reshape how families engage with Alpha’s innovative K–12 model. He leads cross-functional teams to design authentic communication touchpoints, optimize enrolment strategies, and translate complex educational concepts into emotionally resonant messages.

His expertise in storytelling and AI-assisted learning models bridges traditional education with future-focused approaches, driving academic excellence and personalized student experiences. Jon is also the founder of NarrativeDrive.org, a platform dedicated to mentoring diverse, emerging screenwriting talent and offering educational workshops globally. A passionate speaker and thought leader, Jon frequently addresses the intersection of AI, education, and storytelling, and is organizing the TEDxAlpha Austin School Youth event in May 2025.

The Education Innovators Podcast is a set of conversations between Eric Byron and guests from all aspects of education around the world. We look for innovative ideas and practical examples of things happening in schools and learning environments that are of interest to teachers, corporate trainers, school administrators, EdTech providers, students, parents, and anyone else interested in education.

Links:

Jonathon Stewart:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jstew3/

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1139293/

The Alpha School:

https://alpha.school/

The Education Innovators Podcast Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551034804742

The Education Innovators Podcast YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLru4kYugzLerU1S8mQu2Jo2-jX6H_3kd3

The Human Intelligence movement:

https://www.humanintelligencemovement.org/

This podcast is produced entirely by Eric Byron.

You can contact Eric at eric@edinnovationpod.com