ShiftED Podcast

What is the real purpose of assessment? Is it to produce a grade, or to move learning forward?

In ShiftED Podcast #108, Chris Colley sits down with Tom Schimmer and Natalie Vardabasso of the Canadian Assessment Centre to explore how assessment can better support student learning. They challenge the reliance on percentages, unpack the difference between measuring what students learn and understanding how they learn, and explo...

What if the biggest lesson in a video game isn’t the one you were supposed to learn? On this episode of ShiftED, Chris Colley sits down with Concordia professor and author David Waddington to explore the hidden curriculum of video games—and the ways games can shape how we think, learn and see the world. They unpack gamification, game-based learning, classroom practice and the surprising connection between video games, A...

What happens when we stop trying to control the math—and start trusting kids with it? In this episode, Zak Champagne gets into the messy, curious, wonderfully human side of mathematics: student thinking, math identity, productive struggle, routines, and the power of a teacher saying, “I trust you.” We talk about why speed and being right can get in the way, what genuine student voice looks like, and how small shif...

In this episode of ShiftED, Chris Colley sits down with Dan Fitzpatrick to look back at the Back to School AI Summit 2026. Across two days and 22 live sessions, educators explored some of the biggest questions facing schools: how to help students think with AI without outsourcing their thinking, what AI-rich classrooms actually look like, how assessment needs to change, student voice and AI policy, safeguarding, and the role of edu...

In this episode of ShiftED, Chris Colley sits down with Amy Reyes-Hauff to rethink what young children really need to learn, grow, and thrive. They explore why play shouldn’t be treated as a break from learning, how movement and outdoor experiences support development and self-regulation, and what happens when screens become too central to early childhood. Amy brings decades of experience in early learning to a conversation a...

Movement is the foundation for learning, not the reward for finishing it. On this episode of the ShiftED Podcast, we speak with Stephanie Lord-Darby, an early childhood educator and program coordinator at GymbaROO-KindyROO in Australia, about the neuroscience behind play. Stephanie unpacks "firing and wiring," why stillness is actually a form of balance built through movement, and how "provocations" let children choose their own pa...

As Québec classrooms head back to school, we kick off a new season of ShiftED with Dr.Adam Dubé of McGill’s Technology, Learning & Cognition Lab. We talk about what technology actually changes about learning, how children experience AI, and what years of EdTech research can teach us about today’s AI moment. From educational games and apps to generative AI, Adam challenges us to look beyond the hype—and ask a b...

What if the languages your students speak at home are actually your most powerful teaching tool? Erin Quirk, linguist and researcher at the Université de Sherbrooke, joins Chris to unpack what the research tells us about plurilingual children in Quebec's English-language classrooms. From cross-linguistic transfer to family engagement, Erin makes the case that multilingualism isn't a challenge to manage — it's a strength to bu...

In this episode of ShiftED, we sit down with Lisa Green, Canadian author of Outsmarted: The Changing Face of Learning in the Era of Smartphones and Technology. Together, we explore how smartphones, AI, and the attention economy are reshaping classrooms and challenging traditional ideas about teaching and learning. Lisa shares practical insights on inquiry-based learning, student agency, digital literacy, and why keeping learning de...

What does it mean to belong to a place that’s constantly redefining itself? In this episode, Chris Colley sits down with playwright, filmmaker, and author Guy Rodgers for a thoughtful conversation about identity, language, and the often-overlooked story of English-speaking Quebec. From his childhood between Australia and Canada to his deep dive into Quebec’s history, Rodgers shares the experiences that shaped his work&m...

Gina Tesoriero just finished her PhD — and her research is a reminder that the best way to understand how students use AI is to just... ask them.
A special education teacher turned researcher, Gina spent years watching STEM transform engagement for her most overlooked students. That spark sent her into a doctoral program studying how recent high school graduates are using tools like ChatGPT to navigate school, work, and li...

Language is the foundation. Everything else is built on it.
In this episode of the ShiftED Podcast, Chris Colley sits down with Dr. Danielle "Nell" Thompson — literacy leader, coach, and former speech-language pathologist — for a wide-ranging conversation on what really sits at the heart of teaching children to read.

Nell traces her thinking back to a moment standing in a museum inside the Arctic Circle, when she real...

What if everything you thought you knew about English-speaking Quebec was wrong? In this episode, LEARN sits down with Morgan Gagnon of the Provincial Employment Roundtable (PERT) to unpack a staggering $1.5 billion employment gap between Quebec's English and French speakers—and the myth-busting research behind it. They dig into why language is only part of the story, what the future of work holds amid AI and a shifting econo...

On this episode of the ShiftED Podcast, Timothy Shanahan joins the conversation to unpack the evolving debate around literacy, reading instruction, multilingual classrooms, and the “science of reading.” Drawing from decades of research and his book Leveled Reading, Leveled Lives, Shanahan explores why strong reading comprehension still sits at the center of critical thinking, digital literacy, and student success. From ...

In this episode of ShiftED, Nicole Muñoz-Guzman brings a grounded perspective to artificial intelligence in Québec’s vocational and adult education settings. Drawing from her work as a pedagogical advisor, she explores how teachers are moving beyond the hype to experiment with AI in practical, meaningful ways. The conversation highlights the importance of creativity, critical thinking, and small, manageable shifts in practice...

Change is the only constant—and Cindy Finn would know. The Director General of Lester B. Pearson School Board joins Chris Colley to talk leading through chaos, the real story behind the cell phone ban, and why stress in the staffroom shows up in the classroom. Plus: the surprising reason today's students might be the most compassionate generation yet. Honest, hopeful, and packed with insight for anyone who cares about schools...

AI is flooding into classrooms faster than educators can keep up — but are we actually building AI literacy, or just assuming it'll happen on its own? In this episode, Chris sits down with Amanda Bickerstaff, founder of AI for Education, to unpack why "they're already using it" isn't good enough. Amanda draws on lessons from digital literacy, the illusion of easy AI tools, and a broken assessment system that generative AI is ...