Inkwire founder Aatash Parikh on authentic learning and original thinking in the age of AI

01/24/24 • 29 min

Welcome to the premiere episode of the EdTech Startup Showcase, an original series produced by the Be Podcast Network. This series is all about spotlighting and amplifying some of the most innovative emerging companies in edtech.

Today, Inkwire founder Aatash Parikh joins the show to discuss his company’s efforts to empower students to build and share their body of work. Aatash is an educator and engineer who has worked at companies like Google and Khan Academy, and also as a middle school teacher in the Oakland Unified School District.

Hear about:

Aatash’s journey from classroom teacher to edtech founder
What authentic digital portfolios mean for student learning
The results students and teachers get when they engage with the Inkwire platform
The launch process and initial school successes
Vision for the future of learning

About Inkwire

In a world in which generative AI has called into question the value of traditional curriculum and assessments, Inkwire is a platform that engages students in real projects and helps them demonstrate their original thinking & skills through portfolios. Learn more: https://inkwire.co

About today’s guest

Aatash Parikh is an educator and an engineer. Aatash has worked as a software engineer at companies like Google & Khan Academy and as a middle school teacher in Oakland Unified School District. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science from UC Berkeley and an M.Ed. in Educational Leadership from the High Tech High Graduate School of Education. Learn more:

About today’s host

Scott Schuette is a Learning and Development Executive with years of experience driving the creation of innovative, multi-million dollar learning platforms and education programs for major corporate enterprise companies.

He is cohost of The Fabulous Learning Nerds, a podcast sharing new ideas, learning tools, approaches and technology that increase learner engagement and impact — All while having FUN! Listen to the show and subscribe here: https://fabulouslearningnerds.transistor.fm

Hear about:

Aatash’s journey from classroom teacher to edtech founder
What authentic digital portfolios mean for student learning
The results students and teachers get when they engage with the Inkwire platform
The launch process and initial school successes
Vision for the future of learning

About Inkwire

About today’s guest

About today’s host

Previous Episode

Introducing the EdTech Startup Showcase

This Be Podcast Network original series is all about spotlighting and amplifying some of the innovative and impactful edtech companies who are not yet household names — but soon could be.

Over the course of the next year, you’ll hear from our founding cohort of amazing startups:

Be More Colorful with their premier product CareerViewXR
Classroom Mosaic
Connected Class
Inkwire
Pedagogy.Cloud and specifically its AI service Pedagog.ai

We’ll have conversations with the companies’ founders, partners, and the educators who are using their products in schools today. You’ll not only become familiar with new solutions relevant to your chronic challenges and opportunity-expanding ideas to go into uncharted directions, but you’ll get a sense of the journey each of these growing organizations is on.

EdTech Startup Showcase is now available wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe today to hear these thought-provoking conversations and to join the effort to transform teaching and learning for the better.

Follow the Be Podcast Network:

Next Episode

Connected Class founder Christel Reaves on creative and hands-on approaches to increase student achievement

Christel Reaves, founder and CEO of Connected Class, is our guest for this episode. She shares the story of her company’s work to support education teams with engaging, research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. These include hands-on, interactive activities and technology-based resources to supplement language arts and math curriculum for grades K-8.

Hear about:

Christel's journey from struggling student to EdTech Innovator
The organic growth story of Connected Class
The power of video in education
Addressing academic gaps and social-emotional learning
The impact and future of Learning Link
Christel’s upcoming goals and what motivates her work

About Connected Class

We build communication between the classroom and home environment through exciting games, strategies, and activities to help students succeed academically. Learn more:

About today’s guest

Christel Reaves, founder and CEO of Connected Class, is an enthusiastic educator dedicated to improving learning and equipping educators to succeed. Her passion for ensuring family engagement throughout the learning process is evident and at the core of every product and service provided by Connected Class. She oversees a team of Instructional Specialists to support schools, focusing on helping educators analyze data, develop action plans, implement instructional strategies, and enhance family engagement for improved student achievement.

Before Christel was the founder of Connected Class, she was a classroom teacher, county resource educator and district administrator. She worked closely with the state to remove low performing Title I schools from Intervene status. Over the past 25 years, she has helped many schools improve their student performance and engage families.

About today’s host