In this EdTechnical short, Libby and Owen unpack ‘AI agents’ and what they mean for education. Agents are large language models connected to tools and workflows that are allowed to take actions like searching, summarising, and completing multi-step tasks. Recent progress comes from the combination of stronger models and better systems for connecting agents to external tools, enabling more complex and autonomous outputs.

Applying agents to education brings a tension between flexibility and reliability. Agentic systems can be useful for teachers, who operate across varied contexts and need adaptable support. For students, especially in structured learning, too much flexibility can reduce clarity and introduce inconsistency.

This matters because effective learning depends on structure and progression. The value of agents in education depends on how well they are applied to the specific task and learning goal.

Links:

• OpenClaw & Moltbook: The viral story of AI agents building their own Reddit-like social network https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/30/openclaws-ai-assistants-are-now-building-their-own-social-network/
• Claude Research Mode: Anthropic's explainer on deep research https://www.anthropic.com/news/research

Join us on social media:

• BOLD (@BOLD_insights), Libby Hills (@Libbylhhills) and Owen Henkel (@owen_henkel)
• Listen to all episodes of EdTechnical here: https://bold.expert/ed-technical
• Subscribe to BOLD’s newsletter: https://bold.expert/newsletter
• Stay up to date with all the latest research on child development and learning: https://bold.expert

Credits: Sarah Myles for production support; Josie Hills for graphic design; Anabel Altenburg for content production.

At this year's SXSW EDU, Owen joined a panel on what it takes to make voice AI for assessment work in classrooms.

In this live recording of the session, the panelists untangle how voice AI works, and what testing this technology with kindergartners looks like in rural Georgia. They explain why the distinction between capturing what a student said versus what they meant matters enormously for literacy assessment and why questions of privacy, equity and model bias are not afterthoughts but design requirements.

Where does voice AI genuinely open up new possibilities in education, and where is the evidence still thin?

The other panelists were Patti Ura, Director of Learning Technology Research at Digital Promise, Amelia Kelly, VP of Data Science at Curriculum Associates and former CTO of Soapbox Labs, and Kristen Hoff, Head of Measurement at Curriculum Associates.

Links:

• Soapbox Labs, now part of Curriculum Associates
• Digital Promise
• OpenAI Whisper, the open source speech-to-text model

Join us on social media:

• BOLD (@BOLD_insights), Libby Hills (@Libbylhhills) and Owen Henkel (@owen_henkel)
• Listen to all episodes of EdTechnical here: https://bold.expert/ed-technical
• Subscribe to BOLD’s newsletter: https://bold.expert/newsletter
• Stay up to date with all the latest research on child development and learning: https://bold.expert

Credits: Sarah Myles for production support; Josie Hills for graphic design; Anabel Altenburg for content production.

In this EdTechnical short, Libby and Owen test a conversational plush toy to understand more about AI-powered toys designed for young children. Recent research from Cambridge shows that preschool-aged children can form rapid emotional connections with social robots like these, even when the responses from the robot are inconsistent.

Children’s experiences with AI toys are shaped by voice and real-time interaction. Could highly responsive, frictionless AI systems in toys influence children’s expectations of human relationships?

Libby and Owen discuss the difference between shared, supervised play and extended solo interaction with the toy, which may be less advisable. As the technology continues to improve, the key challenge becomes how these tools are introduced and used in early childhood environments.

Links:

• BBC Article: AI toys for children misread emotions and respond inappropriately, researchers warn
• Cambridge study on AI toys in early childhood
• AI chatbots and the “empathy gap” in children

Join us on social media:

• BOLD (@BOLD_insights), Libby Hills (@Libbylhhills) and Owen Henkel (@owen_henkel)
• Listen to all episodes of EdTechnical here: https://bold.expert/ed-technical
• Subscribe to BOLD’s newsletter: https://bold.expert/newsletter
• Stay up to date with all the latest research on child development and learning: https://bold.expert

Credits: Sarah Myles for production support; Josie Hills for graphic design; Anabel Altenburg for content production.