From MIT’s Teaching Systems Lab, new series brings teacher and student voices to the frontlines of education’s AI revolution
Cambridge, MA — July, 29, 2025 — The MIT Teaching Systems Lab today announces the launch of The Homework Machine, a new podcast series from TeachLab, hosted by Justin Reich and Jesse Dukes. As schools grapple with the arrival of generative AI, this timely series explores how the technology is reshaping the daily lives of K-12 teachers, staff, and students.
In a moment where tech leaders are telling us ChatGPT and other AI tools are going to transform education for the better, The Homework Machine takes listeners inside real classrooms and conversations. With candid interviews, data-driven insights, and stories from students themselves — including revealing anecdotes about AI-powered cheating in their classrooms — the series lays out both the promise and peril of this new tech in education.
Host Justin Reich says that when major changes happen in education, like advances in AI tools, “one of the most important things we can do is listen closely to the stories and experiences of the folks on the front lines of change: teachers, students, and school leaders. Rich stories from today’s classrooms help us understand the major shifts happening in schooling right now, and how we can support educators in protecting and enhancing the values of our public schools through an important transition.”
“It’s been three years since the advent of an instantaneous homework machine and both teachers and students are telling us that schools, in many cases, still haven’t caught up, and still haven’t had the important conversations about what values to center when they decide how and whether to use AI,” says co-host Jesse Dukes.
Episodes in the series include:
Buckle Up, Here It Comes: Stories of Excitement, Fear, and Scrambling when AI arrives
The Duplicitous Nature of Humanity: Teachers’ stories of AI plagiarism
Busted!: Frank stories from students about temptations and gray areas.
AI For Good: Educator strategies for using AI to support learning, not replace it
The Homework Machine is now available on all major podcast platforms.
For more information or to listen to the podcast, visit:
About the MIT Teaching Systems Lab
Based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Teaching Systems Lab designs, implements, and researches the future of teacher learning. All around the world, educational leaders are working to support more ambitious teaching and learning in classrooms–with less recitation and passive listening, and more active engagement and student-centered learning. Better student learning depends upon better teacher learning. TSL produces books, films, podcasts and resources for teachers and educators to learn from each other.
About Justin Reich
Justin is an associate professor of digital media in the Comparative Media Studies/Writing department at MIT and the director of the Teaching Systems Lab. He is the author of Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in Schools and Failure to Disrupt: Why Technology Alone Can’t Transform Education, and he is the host of the TeachLab Podcast. He started his career as a high school history teacher.
About Jesse Dukes
Jesse is a veteran journalist, podcast producer, and researcher. He was a senior producer of podcasts at WBEZ, Chicago for seven years, serving as the longtime audio producer at Curious City, and producing season 4 of Motive. He has taught audio storytelling at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke and at Denison University.
