In this episode of The Smarter Campus Podcast, Zach sits down with Dave McCool, President & CEO of Muzzy Lane, to explore how AI can help higher education move beyond traditional assignments and create more experiential, authentic learning. Dave argues that some of the most promising uses of AI aren’t about inventing entirely new approaches to education. Instead, AI can make proven methods—simulations, role-playing, authentic problem-solving, and skills-based assessment—dramatically easier for faculty and instructional designers to build and scale. He shares how Muzzy Lane has used AI to reduce the creation time for simulation-based assessments from weeks to minutes while keeping humans in the loop. The conversation also tackles AI detection, the return to blue books, “experience inflation” in the job market, and why students often cheat when coursework feels disconnected from their lives. Dave shares examples of virtual internships and scenario-based assessments that allow students to demonstrate durable skills like critical thinking while gaining experiences they can actually talk about with employers. For educators and higher education leaders, the episode raises an important challenge: AI shouldn’t make learning easier by removing the thinking—it should help us design experiences that make students think harder.

In this episode of Make It Mindful, Seth talks with Judy Paulick — associate professor of teacher education at the University of Virginia — about a question her field has never really studied: what home visits mean to the families receiving them, not just the teachers making them. Her team has just begun data collection on a new W.T. Grant Foundation-funded study following 25 teachers and 75 families to find out. Together, Seth and Judy explore why the impact of home visits on families has gone almost entirely unstudied even as the impact on teachers has been documented for years, and what her new study — following 25 teachers and 75 Latine families — is designed to find. They talk about what her team learned checking back in with teachers seven and eight years after their first home visits, how she teaches student teachers to hold general cultural frameworks and specific family identities at the same time, and what a simulated home visit — complete with a live actor animating an on-screen avatar — can and can't replicate. Judy also gets candid about how she checks her own bias as an advocate for a practice she's spent her career studying. Key topics: New W.T. Grant Foundation study on the family experience of home visits Why family-side impact has gone unstudied while teacher-side impact has been documented Seven-to-eight-year follow-up focus groups from the 2018 home visits study Teaching cultural humility and cultural frameworks without stereotyping individual families Active listening, comfortable silence, and building trust across cultural difference Simulated home visits: role plays and the "interactor" avatar training tool Checking researcher bias as an advocate for the practice you study Links & Resources Judy Paulick — UVA faculty profile: https://education.virginia.edu/about/directory/judy-paulick Parent Teacher Home Visits — national organization supporting schools implementing home visiting programs: https://pthvp.org/ Paulick, J., Lucas, M., & Hill-Maini, T. (2024). "Teachers Centering Families and Building Rapport During Home Visits." American Educational Research Journal. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/00028312231222270 Palacios, N., Paulick, J., Kibler, A., & Blatt, A. (2025). "Humanizing Students: Teacher Reflections Before and After Home Visits." Teachers College Record. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/01614681251347426 Paulick, J. et al. (2024). "Examining Teacher Candidates' Responses to Parental Disclosures During Simulated Conferences and Home Visits." Action in Teacher Education. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01626620.2024.2442328 Paulick, J. et al. (2024). "Factors Influencing Kindergarten Families' Perceptions of Home–School Interactions." Infant and Child Development. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/icd.2540 Paulick, J. et al. (2026). "Seeing Students Anew: How Relationship-Building Asset-Framed Home Visits Deepen Teachers' Understanding of Bilingual Families." Language, Culture and Curriculum. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01434632.2026.2654080 Paulick, J. (2022). "Power Dynamics and Positioning in Teacher Home Visits with Marginalized Families." American Journal of Education. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/721872 Guest Bio: Judy Paulick Judy Paulick is an associate professor of teacher education at the University of Virginia's School of Education and Human Development, where she studies how teachers learn about their students and families through home visits and how that knowledge shapes classroom practice. Her team has just begun data collection on a new W.T. Grant Foundation-funded study following 25 teachers and 75 families to examine, for the first time, what home visits mean to families themselves. Earlier in her career she taught elementary school in Compton, California, and served as an educator in the Peace Corps in Tonga; she holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University. About the Host: Seth Fleischauer is the founder of Banyan Global Learning and host of Make It Mindful: An Education Podcast. Through Banyan, he designs live virtual programs that connect K-12 classrooms to global peers and expert facilitators — building the kind of structured, human-centered learning the podcast explores. See https://www.banyangloballearning.com/programs/global-cohorts

What happens when a high-achieving leader drops the mask of perfection?  Meet Jasper Calcara! Jasper Calcara is a CEO, entrepreneur, single father, author, and speaker whose work centers on helping people build success without sacrificing what matters most. In this episode, structural engineer and entrepreneur Jasper Calcara spent decades in the high-pressure construction industry,  He realized early on that clear communication is vital to project success. However, personal success didn't automatically heal internal struggles.  Jasper opens up about shedding his "Superman complex," navigating divorce, overcoming the need for external validation, and why embracing vulnerability actually empowers your team to be more authentic and productive. "Real strength is not carrying the weight alone. It's in the courage to repair the damage within." ~ Jasper Calcara Key Takeaways: the high cost of perfection why flawlessness in business and life leads to burnout communication as a survival tool how to communicate in fast-paced engineering environments the power of vulnerability the costs of not being vulnerable redefining success sources of validation finding genuine internal peace and purpose ...and so much more! Connect with Jasper Calcara: Website: jaspercalcarra.com Listen to the Podcast, subscribe, leave a rating and a review: Apple: Spotify: YouTube: https://youtu.be/Lx0lfbikJsg

In this episode, live at ISTE, Jethro D. Jones talks with Kip Glazer, principal at Mountain View High School, about her book "Ready to Lead with AI: A Practical Guide for School Leaders." They dive into the emotional weight of school leadership — managing competing stakeholder demands, setting boundaries, and navigating disagreement while staying grounded in research and shared purpose. Kip explains why she actively shares positive stories from her school on social media to counter media narratives that skew toward the sensational, and discusses the post-pandemic emotional toll on educators and parents alike. She closes with a reminder that leadership is about listening, building empathy, and trusting that small, consistent connection has real impact.

Ross talks with returning guest Mitch Weathers and Dr. Sarah Oberle about their new book, Executive Functions for Every K–3 Classroom: Promoting Self-Regulation for a Strong Start, published by Corwin. The conversation explores how core executive functions — working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility — develop in young children and how K–3 teachers can reduce cognitive load through intentional routines, environment design, and instruction that helps students self-regulate and succeed. In this episode, we discuss: What led from the first book (Grades 3–12) to a K–3 edition, and why primary teachers were asking for it The three core executive functions: working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility — and what they look like in early elementary classrooms How working memory capacity and cognitive load affect young students' ability to attend, follow directions, and learn The "Betty and the Bats" example — unpacking the hidden cognitive demands of a seemingly simple first-grade writing task How to reduce extraneous cognitive load through visual environment, acoustic environment, and purposeful classroom routines Why a noisy classroom isn't always a productive classroom — and how to make noise purposeful Building students' self-awareness of their own attention and self-regulation How understanding executive functions becomes an intuitive lens for teachers — not another thing on their plate Making the case for resistant educators: why every teacher, not just specialists, should understand executive functions The unique role of primary teachers in laying the cognitive foundation for all future learning Get the book, Executive Functions for Every K–3 Classroom, from Corwin or at https://organizedbinder.com/books Learn more about Organized Binder: https://organizedbinder.com Listen to Ross's previous episode with Mitch, Executive Functions for Every Classroom: https://authoritypodcast.net/episodes/executive-functions-for-every-classroom-with-mitch-weathers About today's guests Mitch Weathers is a teacher and founder of Organized Binder, Inc. He became an exceptional educator because he once struggled as a student. Recognizing the importance of laying a foundation for learning, he created Organized Binder — a research-backed system that empowers teachers to explicitly teach executive functioning skills without sacrificing instructional time. Mitch is the author of Executive Functions for Every Classroom: Creating Safe and Predictable Learning Environments (Grades 3–12) and co-author of Executive Functions for Every K–3 Classroom: Promoting Self-Regulation for a Strong Start, both published by Corwin. Together with the Organized Binder team, he works with K–12 schools and colleges in the US and internationally. Connect with Mitch at organizedbinder.com or on LinkedIn. Dr. Sarah Oberle is an educator, author, speaker, and professional learning designer with 18 years of experience as a primary classroom teacher. She holds a doctorate in educational leadership with a specialization in cognitive science. Her work centers on helping educators understand how learning happens and how that understanding shapes daily instructional decisions. Sarah designs and facilitates evidence-informed professional learning for teachers and school leaders, both in person and virtually. She works with national and international organizations to ensure professional learning is research-informed, practical, and responsive to the realities of teaching. Her work focuses on attention, memory, and executive functions, with an emphasis on pedagogy rather than programs. Connect with Sarah at sarahoberle.com or on LinkedIn. About the host Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies, a coaching and consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K–12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Bluesky or LinkedIn.