AI That Learns From You: The Future of Teachable Agents in Education with Adam Franklin
Feb 17, 2025
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Adam Franklin, a former high school history teacher and edtech entrepreneur, discusses his transition from Nearpod to founding StudyBuds, a platform for AI-powered teachable agents. He highlights how these agents foster deeper engagement by allowing students to learn through teaching. Adam critiques traditional assessments and explains how AI can improve them. The conversation dives into the potential of AI to co-create with students, offering them a sense of agency. Lastly, he emphasizes the exciting role of venture studios in advancing AI technologies in education.
Co-creating with AI fosters productive learning experiences as students refine prompts to interact effectively with language models.
Adam Franklin's transition from teacher to EdTech entrepreneur highlights the importance of aligning personal passion with impactful educational technology creation.
Teachable agents provide an innovative method for students to learn by teaching, enhancing understanding and revealing knowledge gaps through interactive practice.
Deep dives
The Rise of Co-Creation with AI
Co-creation with AI is becoming an essential skill, as refining prompts to work with language models can lead to productive learning experiences. The podcast emphasizes that engaging with AI models, like GPT, requires users to experiment with their input, fostering a fun and productive struggle. This process encourages users to discover what works and what doesn’t, enhancing their understanding of how to effectively interact with AI for desired outcomes. Developing this collaborative mindset with AI is crucial for future learning environments.
Adam Franklin's Journey to EdTech Entrepreneurialism
Adam Franklin, a former teacher and Nearpod executive, has transitioned into the role of an EdTech entrepreneur with his new venture, StudyBuds. His background in teaching and experience at Nearpod has shaped his dedication to creating educational tools that promote deep thinking and engagement in the classroom. Upon having a child and reflecting on his career, he decided to pursue a project that integrates AI into education, ultimately joining the Teaching Lab Studio to further develop his ideas. This journey underscores the importance of aligning personal ambitions with meaningful work in education technology.
Teachable Agents and Their Impact on Learning
Teachable agents, which allow students to practice their knowledge by teaching a virtual character, offer a powerful method for fostering understanding. This approach is supported by educational research indicating that teaching others can reveal one’s knowledge gaps and enhance mastery. Historical studies, such as Betty's Brain, have shown the benefits of this framework, and advancements in technology now allow for more flexible and engaging implementations. The future of AI-driven teachable agents holds great promise for improving student engagement and depth of understanding across subjects.
The Importance of Contextualized Learning
The integration of bounded learning environments with AI tools, like StudyBuds, ensures that students engage with relevant educational content. Franklin’s approach emphasizes aligning educational experiences with existing curriculum and resources, facilitating effective teacher adoption. By grounding interactions in familiar materials and allowing students to interact with AI characters, the platform helps illuminate complex topics through contextualized learning. This model fosters a richer academic environment that connects students with substantive educational content.
The Future Landscape of EdTech and AI
The ongoing evolution of AI in education offers the potential to revitalize outdated teaching methods and enhance student learning experiences. As the podcast discusses, leveraging AI to analyze multimodal student inputs can lead to more meaningful learning assessments compared to traditional multiple-choice formats. New developments, like the work from Snorkel and Enlighten AI, illustrate this shift towards understanding holistic student outputs rather than relying purely on standardized testing. By fostering environments where creativity and deep thinking are prioritized, the future of EdTech promises to inspire a generation of learners.
In this special episode, Alex sits down with Adam Franklin, our very first guest on EdTech Insiders, who returns three years later with an exciting new venture.
Adam is a former high school history teacher turned edtech entrepreneur. He previously taught at YES Prep Brays Oaks HS in Houston, TX and coached the varsity soccer team. Adam earned a masters degree in Learning, Design, and Technology from Stanford GSE in 2016 where he also served as a researcher and writer for the Stanford History Education Group. In 2017, he joined Nearpod, then a Series A startup, to help lead the content arm of the business where he stayed through their $650M acquisition by Renaissance in 2021. In early 2024, Adam left Nearpod to join the Teaching Lab Studio as a fellow to build out innovative products at the intersection of AI and Education, with StudyBuds, a teachable agent practice platform, being his primary focus.
💡 5 Things You’ll Learn in This Episode:
How AI-powered teachable agents help students learn by teaching.
Why AI can boost engagement and deeper learning in classrooms.
The limitations of multiple-choice assessments and AI’s role in fixing them.
How AI can co-create with students instead of just giving answers.
Why venture studios like Teaching Lab Studio are investing in AI-powered learning.
✨ Episode Highlights:
[00:01:18] Adam Franklin’s journey from teacher to edtech founder. [00:06:46] How teachable agents create interactive student practice. [00:12:39] Training AI to “not know” and learn from students. [00:16:56] The Pokémon effect—why students love training AI characters. [00:22:57] Why students outsource thinking and how AI can change that. [00:31:23] StudyBuds aligns with curricula to support teachers. [00:37:20] Inside Teaching Lab Studio’s unique edtech venture model. [00:44:48] The future of AI in education and multimodal learning.
This season of Edtech Insiders is brought to you by Starbridge. Every year, K-12 districts and higher ed institutions spend over half a trillion dollars—but most sales teams miss the signals. Starbridge tracks early signs like board minutes, budget drafts, and strategic plans, then helps you turn them into personalized outreach—fast. Win the deal before it hits the RFP stage. That’s how top edtech teams stay ahead.
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 25 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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