Unbundling Custodial Care and Instruction

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Adam Mangana is the Co-Founder and CEO of Optima Ed, the first full-time VR homeschool backed by Meta. With over 15 years in edtech leadership, he’s pioneering immersive, AI-driven learning experiences that expand access to quality education and reimagine how, where, and why students learn.

💡 5 Things You’ll Learn in This Episode:

1. How Optima Ed blends classical education with cutting-edge VR technology.
2. Why the future of learning is immersive, individualized, and accessible.
3. The role of AI tutors and digital twins in supporting teachers and students.
4. How education savings accounts (ESAs) and policy innovation are enabling new school models.
5. Why Adam believes the next era of schooling will liberate learning and bring world-class education anywhere.

✨ Episode Highlights:
[00:02:37] Entering a cell, not just watching one — the power of immersive learning.
[00:07:36] Optima Ed brings top teachers to every home through VR.
[00:11:33] Solving online school loneliness with metaverse classrooms.
[00:16:25] Teachers gain flexibility to teach from anywhere in the world.
[00:20:07] ESAs and spatial computing are transforming school choice.
[00:43:56] AI-powered tutors enable personalized, multilingual learning.
[00:49:20] “Learning liberated” — Optima Ed’s mission for global access.

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This season of Edtech Insiders is once again brought to you by Tuck Advisors, the M&A firm for EdTech companies. Run by serial entrepreneurs with over 30 years of experience founding, investing in, and selling companies, Tuck believes you deserve M&A advisors who work as hard as you do.

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