AI & Education Symposium 2.0 : Run of Show

Watch Ann-Katherine Kimble, Director of School Success at XQ, and Aatash Parikh, Founder & CEO of Inkwire, demo how well Inkwire AI customizes high school PBL lessons grounded in the XQ Competencies to create a dynamic four-week high school unit on the Cold War. The XQ Competencies + Inkwire AI is a magic combination for creative lesson planning. The collaboration raises lesson planning to an art form, connecting public history with personally meaningful content. Learning activities are drawn from the XQ palette of competencies and essential skills such as computational thinking, global connections, and responsible community engagement. Here Inkwire AI functions as an attuned copilot for PBL lesson development by helping teachers save valuable time with tasks such as forming meaningful community partnerships, creating engaging essential questions, and designing learning activities to engage diverse cultures and identities.

Check out Betsey Schmidt and Vriti Saraf’s introduction to Steven Johnson’s NotebookLM demo . Vriti dives into Bloom’s Taxonomy, explaining how it helps us evaluate educational goals based on cognitive complexity—from remembering and understanding to analyzing and creating. She notes that if NotebookLM can handle the remembering, understanding, and evaluating levels, “That presents us with a huge opportunity to change the way we learn in school.”  

Steven Johnson, best-selling author and Editorial Director at Google Labs, demonstrates how the “thought companion” NotebookLM is changing the game for middle and high school lesson planning. This powerful tool goes beyond the basics, sparking deeper thinking and helping educators craft lessons grounded in trusted research. In front of a packed audience of educators, students, and edtech developers, Steven designed an inspiring four-session urban planning course based on Jane Jacobs’ writings—all powered by NotebookLM! And learners of all ages are loving the Audio Overview feature, which turns exploring complex information into an engaging conversation.

Here’s the Q&A following Steven Johnson’s demo featuring Vriti Saraf , Co-Founder of Ed3 DAO, Ann-Katherine Kimble, Director of School Success at XQ, and Betsey Schmidt MeshEd CEO & Founder. This panel focuses on how NotebookLM fosters deeper thinking in lesson design for middle and high school. Vriti Saraf asks Steven, “How does NotebookLM change the way students consume texts?” Steven emphasizes how NotebookLM’s ability to generate Socratic dialogue from any source can transform learning. Betsey Schmidt highlights NotebookLM’s ability to support teachers in developing engaging curricula. In closing, Ann-Katherine Kimble points out the transformative potential of NotebookLM to “ elevate how we teach young people to ask questions and engage with knowledge.”