E512
Catching Up: Who Should Own a Learner's Data, NAEP Tests, and Direct Instruction
From Getting Smart Podcast · Hosted by Tom Vander Ark
Episode summary
In this episode of Getting Smart Podcast: Who should own a learner's data in an AI world, the platform or the learner? In this episode of Catching Up, Nate McClennen and Mason Pashia talk about LearnKit, a proposal for learner-owned data and learner wallets in an AI world. The conversation also covers the second season of Sold a Story and what schools can keep from direct instruction while still making room for inquiry and student agency, what students say they want from school, and how pathway schools in…
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Original publisher description
Who should own a learner's data in an AI world, the platform or the learner? In this episode of Catching Up, Nate McClennen and Mason Pashia talk about LearnKit, a proposal for learner-owned data and learner wallets in an AI world. The conversation also covers the second season of Sold a Story and what schools can keep from direct instruction while still making room for inquiry and student agency, what students say they want from school, and how pathway schools in Tacoma and Issaquah are connecting learning to community. Nate also explains how NAEP works and shares a school shout-out for Harwood Union High School's competency-based transcript, and the episode closes with an AI-made song and a challenge for listeners. 📬 Free weekly newsletter: https://www.gettingsmart.com/newsletter/ 🍎 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/getting-smart-podcast/id1017984086 · 🟢 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2cUXLWi6LxdMxihgzzTntf?si=c4754b8f8bd449fc 🌐 More episodes: https://www.gettingsmart.com/podcast/ 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Getting_Smart Links mentioned in this episode: LearnKit: https://www.gettingsmart.com/whitepaper/learnkit/ Harwood Union High School profile and transcript: https://harwood.org/profile-transcript NAEP reading: https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/reading/ NAEP mathematics: https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/mathematics/ NAEP long-term trend: https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/ltt/ NPR on the 2025 NAEP long-term trend results: https://www.npr.org/2026/06/10/nx-s1-5844932/naep-long-term-trends-reading-math Artificial Intimacy by Sherry Turkle: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/sherry-turkle/artificial-intimacy/9780316573962/ Weak Bundle, Strong Bundle: How AI Redraws Job Boundaries (CEPR discussion paper): https://cepr.org/publications/dp21453 The emerging fight against grade inflation in K-12 classrooms (The Hechinger Report): https://hechingerreport.org/the-emerging-fight-against-grade-inflation-in-k-12-classrooms/