The Learning Stack captures the layered elements involved in learning. It draws inspiration from the concept of technology stacks—combinations of tools and frameworks—but applies this idea to the intersections of education, cognitive science, and technology.
New episodes every other week.
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Lance Eaton on (i)nnovations, AI, Pirates, and Access (Ep. 007)
Lance Eaton is a writer, educator, and researcher behind AI+Education Simplified and a long-time advocate for open education, technology equity, and rethinking academic publishing.
For essays and expanded show notes, subscribe to the Learning Stack on Substack (https://learningstack.substack.com/).
Episode Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:06 Defining Big I and Small i Innovations
04:25 Tracing AI's effects in Education
06:15 Evaluating Innovations in Education
08:05 On scaling Small i Innovations Responsibly
12:08 Guardrails for Evaluating New Tools
15:43 On Assessments in Higher Education
19:58 Building Trust and Relationships in Education
23:54 The Role of AI in Student Assessment
27:51 Concerns About AI Detectors and Predictive Analytics
31:13 Minimum Viable AI Policy Architecture
34:44 Defining Success for AI Policies in Education
37:08 Implementing AI Policies in Education
38:22 Crowdsourcing AI Policies: Insights and Trends
40:15 Norms in AI Syllabi: Verification and Attribution
41:26 The Serials Crisis in Academic Publishing
42:30 The Rise of For-Profit Publishers
44:44 The Impact of Subscription Models on Access
46:43 The Ethics of Academic Piracy
49:29 The Role of Academic Pirate Networks
50:37 Rethinking Copyright in the Age of AI
52:40 The Future of Open Access and AI
59:33 Access Disparities in Global Academia
01:01:50 The Interplay of Open Licensing and AI
01:06:19 Lance Eaton's Vision for the Future
Resources and Links
Lance's Blog (https://www.lanceeaton.com/)
Lance's Substack AI + Education = Simplified (https://aiedusimplified.substack.com/)
Lance's Syllabi Policies for Generative AI Repository (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lM6g4yveQMyWeUbEwBM6FZVxEWCLfvWDh1aWUErWWbQ/edit?usp=sharing)
Peter Suber, Open Access (Free Access (https://direct.mit.edu/books/book/3754/Open-Access))
Matt Beane, The Skills Code
Sci-Hub, Library Genesis, Anna’s Archive (discussed in context of academic access)
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The Learning Stack Podcast is produced by the team at Eduaide.Ai (https://www.eduaide.ai/)
22 Jul 2025
Michael Lubelfeld on Public Education as the Great Equalizer, Systemic Misconceptions, and Leading with Humility (Ep. 006)
Michael Lubelfeld is a veteran superintendent, author, and outspoken advocate for public education as a cornerstone of democratic society. Since 2010, he has led Illinois’s North Shore School District 112, overseeing nine schools and serving thousands of students in the communities of Highland Park and Highwood. With decades of experience in school leadership, Lubelfeld has become a national voice on the challenges facing public schools—both visible and invisible.
In this conversation, Michael joins Thomas to demystify what it actually takes to run a public school system. He explains why the superintendent’s job is more “orchestra director” than instructional leader, what most people get wrong about school governance, and why political noise is one of the least glamorous but most consequential parts of the job. He also shares candid reflections on the future of teacher retention, the importance of school culture over salary, and why professional development is the most underrated line item in a school budget.
Along the way, they discuss the importance of student voice, what metrics really define educational success, how school systems can evolve beyond outdated age-based structures, and why collaboration across school types—public, private, charter, and micro—is essential. If you want to understand how schools really function and what it means to lead with humility, purpose, and clarity, this episode offers valuable insights from a true practitioner.
“Public education is the great equalizer. That doesn’t mean it’s perfect. It means it’s necessary.”
Read an enhanced transcript with helpful links at Eduaide.Ai (https://eduaide.ai).
Recorded 18 July 2025
30 Apr 2025
Brandon Hendrickson on Wonder, Storytelling, and the Forgotten Tools of Learning (Ep. 005)
Brandon Hendrickson is the creator of Science is Weird, a homeschooling program that aims to restore wonder and depth to science education. Blending the insights of philosopher Kieran Egan with his own experiences as a curriculum architect, classroom teacher, and autodidact, Brandon brings a rare clarity to debates about what learning is, and what it could be.
In this wide-ranging conversation, Brandon joins Thomas to explore why curiosity is not enough, what most people get wrong about progressive and classical education, and how stories, songs, riddles, and emotion shape cognition. They discuss why the trivium isn’t built for children, how literacy rewires the brain, and what’s missing in the way we teach science, history, and language.
The conversation also touches on Brandon’s experiences teaching from his apartment, his evolving view of homeschooling, his critiques of Montessori and Sayers, and his ambitious effort to build a new, Egan-inspired curriculum that reconnects students with the “shiny” richness of reality.
Read an enhanced transcript with helpful links at Eduaide.Ai.
Recorded 25 March 2025
22 Apr 2025
Katie Davis on Kids, Screens, Self-regulation, and Boredom in the Digital Age (Ep. 004)
Katie Davis—associate professor at the University of Washington, director of the UW Digital Youth Lab, and author of Technology’s Child—has spent two decades untangling how digital media shape young people’s learning, development, and well‑being.
In this conversation, Katie joins Thomas to probe the hopes and fears we project onto new technologies and how to ask more nuanced questions about our relationship with tech than “How much screen time is too much?”
26 Mar 2025
Dylan Kane on Pre-Teaching, Fads, Working Memory, and Conceptual Understanding (Ep. 003)
Dylan Kane is a seventh-grade math teacher in Leadville, Colorado, and the voice behind "Five Twelve Thirteen" on Substack, where he writes thoughtfully about the craft and science of teaching mathematics. As an active classroom teacher with a deep understanding of how students learn, Kane brings practical wisdom to the ongoing discussions about math education.
In this conversation, Dylan joins Thomas to explore what makes for effective math instruction, why curriculum fidelity has become a concerning trend, and how teachers can balance procedural fluency with conceptual understanding. Drawing on his classroom experience and reflective practice, he discusses everything from the limitations of administrative oversight in education to specific teaching strategies like pre-teaching, choral response, and retrieval practice.
Kane also addresses why educational blogging has changed over the years, what schools get wrong about communicating with parents, and what Generative AI might mean for the future of computation and math education. Whether you're a math teacher looking for practical approaches, an administrator thinking about curriculum implementation, or anyone interested in how students learn mathematical concepts, you'll find valuable insights in this honest conversation about the realities of teaching.
Check out Five Twelve Thirteen here: https://fivetwelvethirteen.substack.com/ (https://fivetwelvethirteen.substack.com/)
Read an enhanced transcript with helpful links at Eduaide.Ai.
Recorded 27 February 2025
20 Feb 2025
Regan Gurung & John Dunlosky on Effective Learning Strategies, Student Success, and the Science of Studying (Ep. 002)
Regan Gurung and John Dunlosky are shaping how today’s educators think about learning science, effective studying, and the craft of teaching.
In this conversation, they join Thomas to explore why strong research makes for better teaching, how to identify the most effective study strategies, and what it really takes to improve student success.
Drawing on their shared experiences as researchers, authors, and instructors, they discuss everything from overcoming common barriers to learning (like poor note-taking or misconceptions about memory) to designing courses that build in retrieval practice, spacing, and timely feedback. They also tackle how teacher training can benefit from a deeper understanding of cognitive processes, examine the promises and pitfalls of AI-enabled feedback, and address what personalized learning could look like when done well. Whether you’re teaching in a K–12 setting, designing higher-ed courses, or simply trying to study more efficiently, you’ll come away with powerful insights for turning learning research into real-world classroom practice.
Read an enhanced transcript with helpful links at Eduaide.Ai.
Recorded 09 December 2024
5 Feb 2025
Richard Mayer on Multimedia Learning, Transfer, and the Future of Educational Psychology (Ep. 001)
Richard Mayer is one of the most influential educational psychologists of the past half-century. His research on multimedia learning, instructional design, and cognitive processes has shaped how educators and designers think about effective teaching. Best known for his principles of multimedia instruction, Mayer’s work explores how students learn from words and pictures, how technology can enhance or hinder learning, and what cognitive science tells us about education in the digital age.
Richard joins Thomas to discuss what makes a well-designed PowerPoint, why transfer is so elusive in education, how to balance cognitive load in instructional design, whether AI-generated feedback can be effective, what virtual reality gets wrong about learning, how prior knowledge impacts multimedia instruction, why game-based learning often misses the mark, whether younger generations are better at processing digital media, how to separate education fads from real breakthroughs, what he’s learned from decades of collaboration, and what he’s working on next.
Read an enhanced transcript with helpful links at Eduaide.Ai.
Recorded 15 January 2025
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