Displaying a picture of Star Wars' Luke Skywalker crouched next to Yoda, Gates spoke about the importance of personalized learning. Yoda was a great teacher, Gates argued, because the Jedi master understood when Skywalker is losing interest.

"With this wave of software that's being created that personalizes to the student ... there's real promise here that the kids can go back and engage in a way they couldn't before," he said.

The Gates Foundation is investing heavily in education technology. It recently announced that it has invested $100 million in startup inBloom, a service that helps teachers tailor lessons to individual students.