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- NewsEdSurge15 Jul 2026
What Is the AI Cheating Panic Really About?
Microsoft's 2026 AI in Education Report shows high trial rates but low daily use, a drop in student optimism, and training gaps. Pat Yongpradit argues the cheating panic reflects longstanding temptation, not AI alone.
Original abstract
<p>Microsoft just released the third edition of its AI in Education Report, surveying more than 3,000 students, educators and leaders across six countries. Ira Apfel sat down with <a href="https://conference.iste.org/2026/program/search/detail_presenter.php?id=118445480">Pat Yongpradit</a>, general manager of global education and workforce policy at Microsoft, which sells AI tools including Copilot to schools, at <a href="https://conference.iste.org/2026/">ISTELive 26</a> in Orlando, to talk through what the data reveals about daily use, trust, training gaps, and where the policy backlash against AI in schools may be headed next.</p><h2>Pat Yongpradit on Adoption, Trust and Cheating</h2><p>Yongpradit walks through why daily AI use in schools still lags far behind overall adoption, even though nine in 10 educators, students and leaders report having tried the tools at least once. He addresses the recent drop in student optimism, framing it as a predictable dip on a familiar technology adoption curve rather than a warning sign.</p><p>The conversation also covers the wide gap between how much training school leaders believe their staff have received and what teachers and students say they have actually experienced. Yongpradit also shares his candid take on academic integrity, arguing that the panic around cheating has more to do with long-standing temptation than with any single tool.</p><p>Listen to the episode:</p><h2>Stories Mentioned in This Episode</h2><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/patyongpradit_2026-ai-in-education-report-ugcPost-7475673037405679616-_qCk/"><u>2026 AI in Education Report</u></a> by Microsoft</p><p><strong>This Week with EdSurge</strong> is a weekly podcast from <strong>EdSurge</strong>. Subscribe to <a href="https://www.edsurge.com/newsletters">EdSurge newsletters</a> for more news and analysis on education and technology.</p>
- NewsEdSurge14 Jul 2026
Anthropic Introduces Claude for Teachers
Anthropic launched Claude for Teachers, a free large language model for U.S. K-12 educators, featuring a library of teaching skills and connection to evidence-based curricula mapped to academic standards. The tool aims to ease lesson planning but faces skepticism from some educators regarding AI in classrooms.
Original abstract
<p>Artificial intelligence giant Anthropic today upped the ante in its quest to win the increasingly competitive market for AI in education by debuting <a href="https://claude.com/solutions/teachers"><u>Claude for Teachers</u></a>, a free large language model designed for U.S. K-12 educators.</p><p>Claude for Teachers includes a library of teaching skills and a “direct connection to evidence-based curricula, mapped to academic standards in all 50 states,” the company <a href="https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-for-teachers">said</a> in a statement.</p><p>The move by Anthropic is the latest in a series of initiatives by tech giants including <a href="https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-for-teachers/">OpenAI’s ChatGPT for Teachers</a>, <a href="https://elevateforeducators.microsoft.com/">Microsoft Elevate for Educators</a>, and <a href="https://edu.google.com/learning-center/google-ai-educator-series/">Google AI Educator Series</a> to earn market share in an increasingly competitive AI and edtech space.</p><p>“We built Claude for Teachers to close the distance between what the evidence recommends and what a teacher’s week allows,” the Anthropic statement continued.</p><p>Although some educators are skeptical of AI usage in the classroom, particularly in early childhood education, Anthropic cited<a href="https://scale.stanford.edu/research-in-action/understanding-evidence-base-ai-k12-education"> <u>Stanford research</u></a> suggesting that AI tools, when designed and used correctly, can aid teachers and improve student learning.</p><p><strong>Privacy and Security Measures</strong></p><p>Claude for Teachers has access to academic standards in all 50 states, so it can create lessons that are “scaffolded and aligned to teaching standards.” The tool’s library of skills, co-developed with Learning Commons, was piloted with teachers in Prospect Schools in Brooklyn, New York, and other sites. Anthropic said it plans to evaluate Claude for Teachers in the Detroit Public School
- NewsEdSurge1 Jul 2026
When the Algorithm Reaches Its Limit, Who Steps In?
A teacher built an AI book recommendation app, LibraryAid, to match students with books, but found that algorithm success still requires teacher intervention for motivational conversations. Another teacher analyzed the instructional time lost enforcing Yondr phone pouches, questioning where technology ends and educator responsibility begins.
Original abstract
<p>What happens when a tool works exactly as designed, and still falls short? <a href="https://www.edsurge.com/author/david-webb"><u>David Webb</u></a>, an international school teacher in Jakarta, India, spent a year building <a href="https://libraryaid.net/"><u>LibraryAid</u></a>, an AI-powered book recommendation app without a computer science background, and discovered precisely where an algorithm ends and an educator begins. <a href="https://www.edsurge.com/author/gabe-nitro"><u>Gabe Nitro</u></a>, a high school teacher in California, watched his school embrace Yondr phone pouches as a solution to classroom distraction and found himself doing the math on how much instructional time the enforcement itself was consuming. Two tools, two classrooms, one question: when the technology reaches its limit, who steps in?</p><h2><strong>A Year of Vibe Coding, One Unexpected Lesson</strong></h2><p>Webb describes the process of building LibraryAid through vibe coding, describing what he wanted in plain English and letting AI tools write the code, spending a year marked with near defeats and small breakthroughs. The app now tracks roughly 30 factors to match students to books in their own school library catalog. One student reading two grade levels behind made three times the average reading progress after the app connected him to a book series he loved. Yet Webb found himself returning, again and again, to a line he wrote in his piece for <strong>EdSurge</strong>: the algorithm had done its job, and what the child needed next was a conversation with a trusted adult. Join us on <strong>This Week with EdSurge</strong> where we ask what Webb learned about reading, motivation, and the irreplaceable role of the teacher in the loop.</p><h2><strong>The Pouch Solved One Problem. Then What?</strong></h2><p>Gabe Nitro is a high school teacher in California whose school uses Yondr pouches to lock students’ phones away for the school day. He is not arguing for phones in classrooms. He i
- NewsEdSurge24 Jun 2026
Vibe Coding Sparked a Love of Reading in My Classroom
A primary school teacher used vibe coding—AI-assisted software development—to build a personalized reading recommendation app that increased student engagement with the school library catalog. The tool connects children to books likely to excite them, addressing the problem of curated books sitting untouched on shelves.
Original abstract
<p>I have had big ideas before. Ideas that felt urgent and important at 11 p.m. and somehow evaporated by morning. So, when the idea for creating an AI-powered reading recommendation system to generate student excitement about our school’s library catalog came to me, I asked my partner what she thought about me giving up evenings and weekends for a year or two. “Just go for it,” she said.</p><p>That conversation was in May 2025. By November, my <a href="http://www.libraryaid.net"><u>vibe-coded app</u></a> was live in my classroom.</p><h2>Why I Started Vibe Coding</h2><p>I’m a U.K.-trained primary school teacher with 11 years of experience in international schools across the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Over the years, I have seen librarians carefully curate books only to have them sit untouched on library shelves. This is because there was no systematic way to connect each child to the book most likely to excite them.</p><p>Existing solutions were expensive, rigid, and built around proprietary book lists that didn’t match our collection. The more I looked at what was available, the more I realized the problem wasn’t that the technology didn’t exist — it was that nobody had built it for teachers like me, working in schools like mine.</p><p>So, I decided to build one myself, using an AI technique that I had read about with increasing interest: vibe coding.</p><h2><strong>Learning to Build an App</strong></h2><p>Vibe coding is a practice where people use AI tools to generate software code by describing what they want in plain language to the tool, with little to no traditional programming knowledge required. So, I started vibe coding and telling a large language model what I was trying to build. </p><p>Progress was painfully slow — a day forward, three days back. Over the summer months I nearly quit several times. The early architecture decisions haunted me: I was working on a 12-year-old Mac I hadn’t upgraded, and just getting the right development environment inst
- NewsEdSurge17 Jun 2026
5 Things We Did Wrong with Edtech
The article critiques early 2000s edtech adoption, highlighting five key mistakes: adopting technology without clear purpose or guardrails, insufficient professional development, adding too many platforms causing noise, and failing to address digital distraction. It argues for intentional adoption and sustained training to make technology effective for learning.
Original abstract
<p>In the early 2000s, classrooms were simple.</p><p>One desktop computer sat in the back of the room, usually reserved for Accelerated Reader quizzes, and a computer lab down the hall hosted weekly keyboarding lessons. When laptop carts arrived, it felt like the future had rolled in on wheels.</p><p>My principal believed in slow, intentional adoption. The first month, she handed each teacher a laptop and said, “Keep it on your desk. Turn it on. That is all you have to do.” For most teachers across the country, the shift looked nothing like this. Schools scrambled to adopt technology, sometimes for learning, sometimes simply to keep up.</p><p>Debates emerged: Should we still teach cursive if students will be typing anyway? Should computer labs disappear? Should every student have a device? As the years progressed, students arrived more digitally fluent than ever and quickly outpaced teachers despite ongoing professional development. Districts kept adding more software, more platforms, more bells and whistles. Learning management systems became central to instruction. Individually, each tool was an advancement. Collectively, they created noise.</p><p>COVID accelerated everything, but it was not the sole cause of technology fatigue. By 2021, <a href="https://www.edweek.org/technology/what-the-massive-shift-to-1-to-1-computing-means-for-schools-in-charts/2022/05">90% of schools</a> had adopted at least one new digital platform, but fewer than half provided sustained professional development to support its use. Teachers were overwhelmed. Parents were unprepared. Students were distracted.</p><p>So where did we go wrong, and how do we get back on track?</p><h4><strong>1. We Adopted Technology Without Guardrails or Purpose</strong></h4><p>Before adopting any tool, districts must answer a simple question: Is this for learning, productivity, accessibility, or innovation? The distinction matters. Digitizing worksheets is not innovation.</p><p>Tools should help students create