Leading the design of reading products at Microsoft Edu

Alicia Quan and Sarah Mondestin interview Alex Darrow , Principal Designer at Microsoft Education. Alex discusses his journey from a childhood love for gaming to leading the design of innovative reading tools at Microsoft. He shares his experiences working on reading products, including the development of the Reading Coach and Reading Progress tools that have become essential in classrooms, especially during the COVID pandemic. Alex highlights the importance of observing children's learning processes and emphasizes creating engaging, gamified educational experiences. The episode also features a special guest, Alex's daughter Zoe, who provides her perspective on her dad's work and shares valuable advice for designers creating educational tools for kids. Chapters 01:13 - Early Gaming Influences 03:04 - Career Journey and Academic Background 05:07 - Transition to Microsoft and EdTech 10:02 - Voice User Interface Design 12:11 - Hackathons and Product Development 19:17 - Reading Progress and COVID-19 27:01 - Future of Reading Coach and Gamification 31:34 - AI Hype vs. Panic: Where Do You Stand? 32:21 - The Role of AI in Education 33:57 - Advice for EdTech Designers 34:14 - Personal Literacy Journeys 38:01 - The Impact of Reading Progress and Flipgrid 42:02 - Lightning Round: Quickfire Questions 49:03 - Special Guest: Zoe's Perspective 👋

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Leading the design of reading products at Microsoft Edu is an episode from UX of EdTech by Alicia Quan.

This episode is 00:56:04 long.

This episode was published on Nov 6, 2025.

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