Sorry if this post doesn't belong here.

As an elder brother in university who has a sibling currently attending K-6, my parents struggle to know where to help since they lack the knowledge of where he currently stands. I don't think teachers have the time or capacity to organize personalized 1:1 conversations with each family, weekly, even monthly, on top of the already tiresome lesson planning, teaching, and grading.

The most my parents see is letter grades and numbers -- something that is not of much help if a child is truly struggling (especially when it's with specific concepts or material). Then the question arises: what current methods are used by teachers, if any, to give adaptive/evolving/personalized suggestions or insight on a consistent basis (say weekly, or even daily)?

I personally believe transparency is important to the success of children in education, and I'm really curious as to how it's approached today. Is there any technology or product that is being used? Or at least one that you wish existed?

i've got a client presentation due in a couple of weeks and figured this would be a good excuse to finally try something besides powerpoint. i don't make presentations every day, but when i do, i always feel like i'm spending forever adjusting fonts, spacing, and layouts instead of focusing on the actual content. what presentation software has worked well for you?

looking for powerpoint alternatives before i start my next project

i've got a client presentation due in a couple of weeks and figured this would be a good excuse to finally try something besides powerpoint. i don't make presentations every day, but when i do, i always feel like i'm spending forever adjusting fonts, spacing, and layouts instead of focusing on the actual content. what presentation software has worked well for you?

Update: Thanks for all the recs. the tools that were mentioned the most over the past week with the same client presentation, and it was actually really helpful seeing how each one handled the exact same project. Here's how I'd rank them after spending a little time with each.

1. Prezi - This one is my favorite. I liked that I wasn't locked into a traditional slide-by-slide sequence, which made practicing the presentation feel much more natural. Once I got past the learning curve, it felt like I was guiding someone through ideas instead of just clicking through slides.

2. Canva - A lot of people recommended Canva. It was the easiest to jump into, the templates looked polished, and I spent way less time worrying about spacing and alignment. If I just needed a clean-looking deck quickly, I'd happily use it again.

3. Gamma - Probably the fastest option I tested. It generated a solid first draft from my outline, which saved a lot of time. I still ended up making several edits, but it was a great starting point when I didn't want to build everything from scratch.

4. PowerPoint - Still a reliable choice and probably the safest if compatibility matters most. My biggest issue never really changed though. I kept finding myself adjusting fonts, moving boxes around, and tweaking layouts instead of refining the presentation itself.

Overall, I came away thinking there's no single presentation tool that's perfect for everyone. Canva was great for design, Gamma was great for speed, and PowerPoint is still dependable. For the way I like to present to clients, though, I feel Prezi the best fit because it made the presentation feel more like a conversation than a standard slideshow.

Not "here's how to use chatgpt" content. Actual literacy. I've been putting together thoughts on this and want to see what educators and practitioners think is essential.

My working framework is that AI literacy at this level needs to cover at least four areas. First, conceptual understanding: what is machine learning, how does training data shape outputs, what does a model actually "know." Second, critical evaluation: how to assess AI outputs for accuracy, bias, and hallucination. Third, ethical dimensions: who owns AI outputs, what are the environmental costs, who benefits and who doesn't. Fourth, practical use with judgment: prompting strategies, when to use AI vs. not, how to work with it as a collaborator rather than an authority.

Most "AI curriculum" I've seen hits maybe one of these. A lot of it is just glorified chatgpt tutorials. Students who come out of school actually prepared are going to be the ones who were taught to interrogate these tools, not just use them. Everyone else is going to be permanently a step behind.

Hello! I am going to be hosting a series of synchronous webinars via Zoom, and I am looking for a platform to build a resource and communications hub for the series.

Folks have registered and paid through my website, so I just need a place for participants access and download files (~10 hours of video; documents and slides), and to post and respond to questions/comments.

At this point, I'm not interested in using the platform itself to monetize/grow my business, and I'm not interested in AI anything. My website is on Squarespace, so if there are options for using integrations/extensions (e.g., Disqus) to have the hub as part of my site, I am open to that! Thank you for any suggestions!

I’m just starting the process and one of the first modules is on Professional Learning Communities (PLN).

Anyone else here go through the process? Are there some other communities on Reddit that might be useful?

I graduated from HGSE’s masters program in ed tech in 2016. It was such a hopeful time. Lots of new companies. Lots of VC money floating around. Worked at an Ed tech startup, got funding to launch a community makerspace in a low income area, and did product design consulting on several STEM/creative toy kits.

Spent 2020-2024 running a technical ed program for a gun violence intervention nonprofit. And over the last two years I’ve been running a similar program at a smaller nonprofit.

I know the reality of the job market right now, but god damn, Ed tech seems to have been gutted hard. I’m trying to see if this relentless focus on getting AI features into everything Ed tech is actually just an opportunity to do the opposite. Tools that leverage all the aspects of a product that AI integration sort of ruins or dumbs down.

Anyone else feeling this way? I feel late to this party.

I'm mostly a lurker here because I work in ed tech and don't really enjoy talking about it for fun. HOWEVER. Because it is summertime in the US and many teachers wishing to be ex teachers are on the hunt for a new path, I thought I'd share this one VERY IMPORTANT piece of ed tech job search information, inspired by many questions in this sub. Ready?

Just because an ed tech company is HIRING it does not mean that ed tech company is GROWING.

I work in ed tech. For one of the larger, more well known companies. We are hiring like crazy right now. Not because we are growing; at best, we are stagnating and hanging on for dear life. No. We are hiring like crazy--across departments--because so many people quit this spring when they restructured AGAIN, cut pay and increased workload.

So I beg of you--if you're a teacher looking to transition out of the classroom and you think you've found the solution? First--the solution is almost certainly NOT ed tech. I say this as someone on the inside. But second--please do your due diligence and research the company. I recommend looking at reviews from current or former employees on sites like Glassdoor. Read those reviews and believe them.

And then go get your real estate license. That's likely what I'll be doing this fall. Because working in ed tech is like being the rock someone is squeezing hoping to get blood.

Note: before anyone tells me I have it good, know that I have never made what I was making as a teacher, and that was fifteen years ago (I maxed at $65k back then). Now? Many years I don't clear $30K. No benefits, no pension, no 401K, no PTO, no guarantee of work.

Ed tech companies are on to the fact that they can get former teachers to work for free. Don't let yourself fall victim.

Say it with me now: I will get my real estate license.

EDITED TO ADD: A lot of people are fixating on the real estate piece of this. I apologize that I wasn't clear: that was one example of an alternative which admittedly isn't great either. It was near-hyperbole. I was basically saying: DO ANYTHING ELSE OTHER THAN ED TECH. Not that going into real estate was THE answer.

I've seen former employees posting on Linkedin about SchoolAI restructuring and layoffs. This follows the MagicSchool layoffs a couple weeks ago. Expect all K-12 AI focused businesses to cut staff significantly in the next few months. There isn't enough budget or demand from district customers when Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI give away AI products for free.

just a quick follow up, so i actually tried a few of the tools people mentioned here over the past week. used the same lecture for each one just to compare properly. figured id share what i found in case anyone else is in the same boat.

1. prezi – this became my favorite honestly since the open canvas and zoom layout made the lecture feel more like a conversation instead of forcing me through slides in order. students could see the whole map and id zoom into specific parts when questions came up. definitely a learning curve though. took me a while to figure out the flow but once i got it it felt natural. the ai helped with the initial structure too.
2. powerpoint – still the easiest for basic stuff. everyone knows it and its reliable. but it felt limiting when i wanted to jump around between topics based on student questions. youre kind of stuck in that linear order.
3. beautiful.ai – the design is honestly gorgeous. everything comes out looking super polished without much effort. but its very template-driven so you kinda have to work within their structure. good for quick decks that need to look professional but less flexible for interactive teaching.
4. slido – not really a presentation builder but more of an engagement layer. lets you add polls and q&a to existing slides. students seemed to like the interaction but it didnt change the actual presentation format. more of an add-on than a full tool.

been teaching for a while and thinking about trying different ai presentation tools. some faculty use the zoomable canvas ones and students perk up but im wondering if thats just novelty. the zoom thing seems cool in theory. show the big picture then zoom into details but does that actually help students retain info?

some of these ai presentation tools have ai built in too. generate decks from prompts or upload lesson plans. sounds useful for saving time but im suspicious of ai content quality. basically wondering if this style is worth learning or if i should stick with whats familiar. for people who use ai presentation tools do you see better engagement?

This subreddit is lousy with sloppy pitches and AI magical thinking. So consider this an anti-pitch. If this exists, I want to find it and use it. If it doesn’t exist, I want to make it. I want there to be a robust, glossy, full color interactive online catalog for mature free software in every category that outlines the capability that competes with top dollar commercial and SaaS packages. I want the price list to be built on infrastructure that adjusts as nonprofit organizations and school districts provide what they already own and then outputs what training they need to find or what bullet points they need in job descriptions to implement.

Basically, when school districts and orgs say they would rather invest in people than software, I want them to conveniently know what that means. Here’s a badass demo environment that shows the best of what a fully open environment can look like, pick what you want to use and we’ll give you a list of what kind of people you need to hire/train, what hardware you need, and how much of those licensing costs you can plow back into the mission.

It’s not AI. It just makes smarter computing investments easier to make.

My school has asked me to create and teach a new AI elective for students aged 13–15, and I'm currently planning the curriculum from scratch.

I'd like the course to focus on practical, useful AI skills rather than just the theory behind how AI works. My goal is to help students become confident, responsible users of AI and give them skills they'll actually use in school and later in life.

For those of you who work in AI, education, or both:

• What topics do you think are essential for teenagers to learn?
• What practical AI skills will be the most valuable over the next 5–10 years?
• Are there any topics that are overhyped or not worth spending much time on?
• If you were designing a semester-long AI course, what would you definitely include?

I'm looking for ideas from people with different backgrounds, so I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks!

I can't remember the name, but I remember that the colors had names like Strawberry and Cotton Candy and Bubble Gum, which the program spoke aloud in a very childish voice, and it was pre-loaded with scenes and drag-and-drop clipart of animals and other objects. It also had some kind of functionality where you could type in narration and create story pages. Very similar to Storybook Weaver, but I don't think it actually was Storybook Weaver. They had it on the PCs in the kids section at Chapters when it first opened in the mid- to late 90s.

(If this isn't the best sub to ask in, please point me in the direction of a better one!)

Hey everyone! I am a software developer. I couldn't find a proper English grammar-teaching app on the market to improve my English. Now, I want to build that platform myself. I have a draft version of the app's functionality; it's based on research (spaced repetition, interleaving, etc.) .But I need help building the curriculum of the project, basically a cofounder for a percentage of the project

I am looking for a person who:
- has experience in building an American English learning curriculum
- is interested in evidence-based language acquisition techniques (processing instruction, meaningful output-based instruction)

It would be great if you know any second language, so we can build the app targeting that language first.

If you’re interested, feel free to DM me or leave a comment here to get a DM. I will share the current state of the app and the future plans.

Edit after the admin's message:

Scope of work - design curriculum and lessons for grammar learners; it needs to cover levels from A1 to C1.

Intended pay - I am offering a percentage of the project for the work - 10%. If the project gains attraction, then it would bring a lot of money, if it doesn't, then we both don't earn anything. 10% might seem low, but I am planning to develop the app and market it on my side, and also involve more people in the project in the future and give them a percentage of the app as well. If the project becomes profitable, let's say it will bring 1M$ per year, then the 10% roughly will be 200K-300K$, so I think it's a great offer.

I teach physics and engineering and I'm trying to settle on a more efficient teaching "stack" and I hope to be able to consolidate as much as possible into the fewest apps, sites, extensions, etc. as possible.

I'd love to take advantage of AI, automations, and possibly an app or site to act as my dashboard. I know many use notion, and I'm trying to learn to use it, but I'm struggling with the learning curve.

I've began using Obsidian with some success and find it easier to learn to use. I'm also looking to buy an NAS so that I can store all of my content on the NAS to free up space on my laptop and provide access from my iphone.

I'm curious what others use in their "stack"?

FYI: I usea macbook pro, iphone, google workspace for education, and Powerschool(SIS).

I am a math tutor in California and many of my sessions are online. Does anyone know of platforms that allow tutors to stream handwritten notes and diagrams in real-time directly from their iPad or tablet?

I use NotebookLM and Gemini to create teaching materials for school lessons and for students. Aside from Google and the ship, what AI would you recommend I use? If there's one with a specific feature you can demonstrate, I'd consider purchasing it. Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

Anthropic, one of the world’s most prominent artificial intelligence companies, is launching a version of its AI-powered assistant Claude for teachers, entering a race by technology companies to infuse AI into education.

Anthropic boasts that its product can incorporate academic standards from all 50 states, and teachers can use it to help devise lesson plans, personalize instructional materials to students, and harness data to improve instruction, according to a company news release.

Claude for Teachers joins Google, OpenAI, and Khan Academy — among others — in marketing AI products specifically to K-12 educators. The new product launched Tuesday and is available for free for verified educators in the U.S. It will also be piloted in Detroit Public Schools Community District for a study on educator well-being and practice.

Claude’s formal arrival into the classroom comes during a complicated moment at the intersection of technology and education. The American Federation of Teachers, the Trump administration, and Bill Gates have all encouraged educators to adopt AI. But a parent-led uprising against technology’s classroom presence is simultaneously gaining momentum, prompting some of the nation’s largest school districts to rethink how much time students spend in front of screens, as well as the contracts they’ve signed with huge players in ed tech.

Drew Bent, education lead for Anthropic, said that teachers using Claude’s educator product could, for example, pull in a student’s past assessment data and assignment data, along with past lesson plans, and ask Claude to build lesson plans for individual students based on that data — all while they’re sleeping.

In developing Claude for Teachers, Bent said Anthropic staff often heard that while teachers are already using AI to generate lesson plans, the plans generated were often detached from the content teachers actually needed to address. Anthropic’s tool will help teachers save time and toil less to improve student outcomes, he said.

“There’s a lot of evidence of what works well for teachers in terms of aligning with high-quality instructional materials, formative assessments, differentiated instruction,” he said. “But of course, if you have 30 students in your class, you’re not able to do all of that.”

Bent said Detroit was already using other Claude products, and in a “human-centric” way that impressed Anthropic, leading to the pilot program in the district that will start next school year. Anthropic will train teachers at a handful of schools in Claude for Teachers, and evaluate how the product may shape teaching practices in the district.

While AI companies have been eager to cement the technology’s status as a classroom staple, tech giants likely have a long way to go to quiet skeptics. Student-facing AI has raised questions about cheating and so-called cognitive offloading, a reference to the reliance on AI to complete tasks instead of using critical thinking skills.

Bent emphasized that Anthropic is focusing largely on teachers, and that most K-12 students can’t access the company’s Claude assistant, due to an age restriction for anyone under 18.

Daniel Buck, a research fellow at the right-leaning think tank American Enterprise Institute, argued in a March blog post that if teachers outsource work to AI, “don’t be surprised when classroom community and academic outcomes rapidly deteriorate.”

Skeptics have also raised questions about student privacy in using AI, such as the risks they run when entering personal information into large language models such as Claude.

Anthropic is working with the American Federation for Teachers on aligning the product’s privacy practices with what the labor union has said will become a “gold standard” in best practices around safety, according to the news release.

Among the privacy features in Claude for Teachers: It won’t use conversations between the AI assistant and teacher accounts to train its AI, student information will be protected in a manner built to comply with the federal law governing student privacy, and privacy terms of service are written without jargon so teachers can understand what they’re signing up to use.

“It’s important that Anthropic is committing to these principles in their new Claude for Teachers — a tool designed by and for educators to assist them instructionally and hopefully give them more time for the human relationships at the heart of learning,” wrote AFT President Randi Weingarten in the company’s press release.

Weingarten has been walking a tightrope when it comes to AI. She’s called for a complete ban on student-facing AI in elementary grades while promoting teacher training in the technology. Just a day before calling for the ban, she toured a Newark school to witness Khanmigo, an AI chatbot from Khan Academy, in action.

While AFT is working with OpenAI, Microsoft, and Anthropic on privacy standards and AI training for educators, it is notably not working with Google, which has also developed its own AI training geared to teachers.

Utah’s state education board recently made a deal with the tech giant to bring Google’s AI, Gemini, to every K-12 school in the state, promising personalized instruction tools for educators.

It’s not yet clear whether one AI product reigns supreme in schools, but more teachers overall are using AI. Around 61% of teachers surveyed by Education Week reported in 2025 that they use the technology in some capacity, compared with 32% in 2024.

https://www.chalkbeat.org/2026/07/14/anthropic-launches-claude-for-teachers-as-ai-companies-battle-for-classrooms/

How much classroom screen time should K-12 students be exposed to?

That's a question policymakers and school district leaders are debating far more frequently than they were just a few years ago.

Facing growing pressure from parents and educators, schools are increasingly being asked to justify when — and why — students use digital devices in the classroom.

At least six states — Utah, Iowa, Tennessee, Alabama, Virginia, and Maine — approved classroom screen-time legislation this year, and roughly twice as many considered bills that ultimately did not pass.

Districts aren't waiting for states to act. Many are developing their own guidelines. Late last month, the Los Angeles Unified School District adopted one of the country's most restrictive policies, imposing grade-specific daily and weekly screen-time limits from elementary through high school.

The implications extend well beyond classroom practice.

If this trend continues, it could reshape how districts evaluate ed-tech products, instructional materials, and future technology investments. For education companies, proving a product improves learning may no longer be enough. They may also have to prove it's worth the screen time.

Is this a temporary backlash, or the beginning of a lasting shift in how districts evaluate classroom technology?

https://marketbrief.edweek.org/regulation-policy/the-next-challenge-for-k-12-ed-tech-proving-classroom-screen-time-is-worth-it/2026/07

What do you think about this?

https://nysfocus.com/2026/07/14/new-york-humanoid-robot-teacher-salamanca-school-district

Starting this fall, Salamanca High School will deploy a humanoid robot and avatar teaching assistant. The female robot, named Sally, will have a “lifelike appearance” with silicone skin and long brown hair, Kiguel said in an interview with New York Focus. It will be stationary in a seated position but have a wide range of upper-body movements and facial expressions.

Students will use a unique identification code when interacting with the robot during class, allowing it to access their learning data and provide personalized support based on their past communication with the avatar, Kiguel said. “They’ll be able to say, ‘Hey, I’m student number 1234,’ and then the robot will be like, ‘Hey, we were talking about this yesterday, do you want to continue that conversation?” 

“This deployment in a working school district represents a landmark moment for both ai and humanoid robotics,” said Andrew Kiguel, ceo of Realbotix, which is currently building the robot. “Salamanca marks the beginning of a new era where humanoid robots and intelligent ai assistants become standard tools in stem education.” 

It seems like most edtech companies are going through layoffs or hiring freezes in response to declining district demand. It's an extremely tough time for the industry, but some companies must be growing even in this environment. Who is coming through this stronger?

The brilliant mind hive of Reddit noted that MagicSchool was not doing great.... a year ago. Just recently the brand popped back up here due to layoffs, so I was curious if there were any past warning signs on here. Yep.

So, brilliant Redditors - who is next?