At this year’s MindCET Israel EdTech Week, hosted by the Center for Educational Technology at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, one keynote stood out for both its global outlook and its sense of urgency.
Dr. Lev Gonick, chief information officer at Arizona State University, spoke about what he calls “the opportunity of our generation”: using artificial intelligence to redefine student success.
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Dr. Lev Gonick, chief information officer at Arizona State University
(Photo: Sefi Shelvin)
For Gonick, the question is no longer whether AI has a place in education. The real issue, he said, is how we use it and for whose benefit. “For 800 years, education has been built around institutions,” he said. “Now, for the first time, we can build it around the learner.”
That shift, he explained, marks the difference between EdTech and what he calls TechEd. In EdTech, technology supported teaching. In TechEd, it drives learning that is fluid, personalized, and lifelong.
Gonick’s message carries weight because ASU is already putting this transformation into practice. With 200,000 students, half on campus and half online, ASU is the largest university in the United States. It offers more than 1,200 degrees and has been ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the most innovative university in the country for 12 consecutive years.
“We’re trying to scale and have impact,” Gonick said. “Our goal is to help students succeed. We’re extremely excited about this AI moment because it allows us to move from a one-size-fits-all factory model to a highly personalized experience.”
That vision is coming to life through Experience AI, an ASU initiative that integrates generative, multimodal, and agentic AI. Students engage with intelligent agents that respond to voice, video, and text, creating what Gonick calls “experience AI,” where multiple intelligences support each learner’s journey. “We’re moving from scaling systems to scaling people,” he said. “AI lets us personalize at scale.”
Gonick emphasized that the transformation is not about analytics or dashboards. “The goal is not the gradebook, the professor, or the student information system,” he said. “The goal is you, your journey as a learner.”
“We founded the GESA competition 12 years ago out of a genuine need to create a platform for EdTech startups that would expand their global reach and potential," Avi Warshavsky, CEO of MindCET "We recognized that many countries, including Israel, do not have a large enough EdTech market on their own to sustain breakthrough ventures. From that need, the competition has evolved over the years into a global community of more than 140 partners (countries and organizations) and has connected over 9,000 EdTech companies, a network that enables today’s winners to propel their ventures to the next stage".
First published: 23:44, 11.03.25