Maria Anderson (Ph.D. '11), CEO of Socrait, PBC, brings over 30 years of experience in education, including classroom teaching, online learning design, and EdTech innovation. Throughout her career, she has focused on improving teaching and learning, leveraging research, learner data, and observations to engineer better educational experiences across digital, blended, and face-to-face environments.
Maria co-founded Coursetune, an EdTech company she successfully grew and exited after five years. After selling the company, she returned to her passion for teaching, joining Beehive Academy of Science and Technology to work directly with K-12 students. This experience reinforced her understanding of classroom challenges, fueling her current work leading Socrait, a voice-enabled AI-powered class assistant that helps teachers save time, reduce burnout, and capture actionable classroom data.
“My career-long focus is on improving teaching and learning. I rely on learning research, platform data, and learner observations to make decisions that engineer better learning experiences.”
A longtime advocate for evidence-based learning and innovative teaching practices, Maria has designed and led over 400 workshops for faculty, instructional designers, and administrators, taught more than 10,000 college students, and created digital educational games and MOOCs. Her work combines instructional design, user experience, quality assurance, and product development, especially in STEM education.
Reflecting on her career trajectory, Maria emphasizes her dedication to learning and teaching: “My career-long focus is on improving teaching and learning. I rely on learning research, platform data, and learner observations to make decisions that engineer better learning experiences.”
As an HESA alumna, Maria credits her graduate experience with equipping her to navigate complex educational systems, balance leadership and innovation, and connect pedagogy with technology to make meaningful impacts in classrooms and learning platforms worldwide.