DatabasED Podcast

Co-hosts Molly Stewart (Director of Research & Analytics Services) and Rosh Dhanawade (Vice President of Interoperability Solutions) chat with Kayla Bollinger, a Senior Research Analyst at Education Analytics, to explore the hidden power of business rules in education data analysis. From defining what qualifies as "continuously enrolled" to choosing the right test score, Kayla breaks down how these often-invisible choices shape meaningful insights. We also dive into documentation practices, the impact of shifting policies, and the balance between data access and risk—especially in an era of AI and self-service analytics.

Co-hosts Molly Stewart (Director of Research & Analytics Services) and Rosh Dhanawade (Vice President of Interoperability Solutions) chat with Principal of Technical Product Strategy Erik Joranlien about running EA's Stadium, a data warehouse product. Throughout the episode, Erik discusses how Stadium integrates seamlessly with StartingBlocks or any Ed-Fi API, and it can be hooked up to Podium or other dashboard tools.

Co-hosts Molly Stewart (Director of Research & Analytics Services) and Rosh Dhanawade (Vice President of Interoperability Solutions) chat with Staff Data Engineer Tom Reitz about EA's tooling, Earthmover and Lightbeam. Throughout the episode, Tom discusses the roadblocks he and the team encountered while building Earthmover and Lightbeam and how they overcame them, the resources she would recommend to people interested in learning more about Earthmover and Lightbeam, and what is next for the tools.

Co-hosts Molly Stewart (Director of Research & Analytics Services) and Rosh Dhanawade (Vice President of Interoperability Solutions) chat with Cloud Engineer Manager Eshara Mondal about EA's open-source operational data store product, StartingBlocks. Throughout the episode, Eshara discusses the roadblocks she and her team encountered while building StartingBlocks and how they overcame them, the resources she would recommend to people interested in learning more about StartingBlocks, and what is next for the product as it relates to EA's complete product stack.

In Part 2 of the podcast re-launch, co-host Molly Stewart (former Director of INsite and EA’s Research Scientist II – Interoperability) talks with EA's Chief Solutions Officer Noah Bookman and Chief of Staff Libby Pier. During the episode, Molly chats with Libby and Noah about EA's opportunity for impact in Indiana, how the changing financial landscape poses challenges for school districts, and how EA's history as a research center informs our involvement in tackling the data infrastructure challenge in education.

In Part 1 of the podcast re-launch, co-host Molly Stewart (former Director of INsite and EA’s Research Scientist II – Interoperability) talks with co-host Rosh Dhanawade (EA’s Director of Cloud Engineering & Interoperability) about where the podcast began, what they’ve learned throughout the process of creating and maintaining the podcast, and their vision for the podcast going forward. During the second half of the episode, Molly talks with EA’s CEO Andrew Rice about bringing researchers to the table in discussions about Ed-Fi, what has changed within the intersection of interoperability and research since Molly last interviewed Andrew in 2021, and what Andrew thinks will be possible within the Ed-Fi community and the education data space in the next five years.