In this episode of Kinwise: AI Insights for Education Leaders, host Lydia Kumar sits down with Sandra Jin, Senior Director of Innovation and AI Strategy at Leading Educators. Sandra has spent nearly a decade designing professional learning grounded in three tenets: agency, advocacy, and belonging. Those values show up in her work from national initiatives with rural school districts to career day at her kids' elementary school. This conversation is about what it actually looks like to bring AI into schools in a way that honors what educators and students need, and the question Sandra keeps coming back to: who are you becoming through how you use AI?

What happens when a student's frustrating trip to the DMV turns into a meeting with the governor's office? In this fourth episode of Kinwise's special series on the NC AI Solve-a-Thon, host Lydia Kumar sits down with the second-place finishers in North Carolina's first-ever AI Solve-a-Thon, the team built an AI-powered app designed to make DMV visits faster, clearer, and less frustrating.

The Byrd Brains, third-place winners of the NC AI Solve-a-Thon, built the Jade Book to help unhoused residents in Cumberland County find critical resources. One team member has experienced homelessness three times.

Satviki and Anwita, first-place winners of the NC AI Solve-a-Thon, share how they built NC Connect Link, an AI-powered app helping North Carolinians find critical resources in one place.

North Carolina's first student AI competition showed what's possible when K-12 students are trusted with real community problems. Hear from the NC DPI leaders who built it.

Most schools start their AI conversation with "Does this tool work?" Educator and philosopher Priten Shah argues that's the wrong first question. In this episode, Priten shares a bioethics-based framework for ethical decision-making in K-12 and makes the case that classroom teachers, not district admins, are the most consequential AI decision-makers in any school

Think rural districts are "behind" on AI? Think again. Wyoming’s tech leader Steven Priest reveals how small schools are using high-trust, low-bureaucracy environments to lead the nation in AI adoption.

In this episode, we’re joined by Dr. Sawsan Jaber, a global educator, equity strategist, and author of Pedagogies of Voice. Dr. Jaber’s work is rooted in her lived experience as the daughter of refugees and her profound belief that classrooms must be healing spaces that nurture student voice and radical love.

North Carolina’s Vera Cubero helped craft some of the nation’s first K-12 AI guidelines. She joins Lydia to share why project-based learning, durable skills, and ongoing teacher PD are essential for human-centered AI adoption, especially in rural and underserved schools.

What happens when an AI tutor shrinks core academics to two hours? Alpha guide Ben Gordon Sniffen shares a model that trades seat-time for mentorship and real-world skills.

Educator Tanzania Brown discusses using AI for student affirmation, confronting AI bias, and closing the educational equity gap.

North Carolina’s Vera Cubero helped craft some of the nation’s first K-12 AI guidelines. She joins Lydia to share why project-based learning, durable skills, and ongoing teacher PD are essential for human-centered AI adoption, especially in rural and underserved schools.