Part one of two.
Ask anyone in education today their view on the current landscape, and while the answers may be different, you can bet they’re all leading back to a single source of truth; the old learning model is gone, and few have a solid handle on what today’s model actually is. And, while that may appear concerning on the surface (and truth be told, it is), if you look at the larger picture, it’s a tremendous opportunity to collectively rewrite the new model; penned by both educators and learners. But, first we need to look at the reality of things.
We are facing significant headwinds across the board. Institutions are facing enrollment and retention challenges, the value of technology in classrooms is being misunderstood or underused. Employers keep saying the same thing: graduates show up with credentials but not always with the judgment the job requires. Most institutions can see all of this. What they don't have is an answer.
Here's the part that should be reassuring: no one does. Not yet.
This isn’t due to anyone being stuck in their ways, it’s just the reality of today. The model most of us grew up with, sit in a room, absorb information, prove you absorbed it, get a credential, was built for a world where knowledge was scarce and hard to reach. That world is gone. Learners today can get an explanation, a tutor, a study plan, and instant feedback from a phone in their pocket. The scarcity that justified the old model doesn't exist anymore. So the model has to earn its place again. It can't just point to tradition.
This isn’t new news, but bears repeating, and often. Institutions know something has shifted, but may be reticent to stop and rebuild in public. It feels safer to keep running the same race a little faster: tighten the curriculum, add a workshop, update the syllabus language. Stopping altogether feels like standing still while everyone else moves, or worse, like walking off a cliff no one can see the bottom of. As long as there isn’t a widely adopted new model, the old model will continue to be THE model.
I understand the fear, but I question if it’s warranted. I’m blessed to be given opportunities to regularly speak with many different folks within the education community, and what I can tell you: there's solid ground on the other side of that reset. You don't have to build the parachute alone. But, we all can’t build different parachutes and expect to land on the ground at the same time.
Three honest moves to reset
Pushing reset starts with three honest moves, and they're not sequential. They happen together.
- First, institutions need the confidence to actually hit reset, not just adjust around the margins. That means naming what's not working instead of defending it. And, they have to be brave to acknowledge there is a need for them to revisit their approach and ask for guidance on a new one.
- Second, we have to get serious about who today's learner actually is. Not the learner in the strategic plan. The one sitting in the class right now, who's already using AI to study, already comparing a degree against a bootcamp or a certificate, already asking what any of this is for. Constantly migrating to find the solution that works on their terms.
- Third, institutions need a real answer on AI, not a temporary policy, not a ban, not a workaround. AI is a permanent part of how learners, faculty, and even parents interact with education now. Treating it as a phase to manage instead of a tool to design for is how institutions fall further behind the people they serve.
No one has the AI playbook yet, and that's the honest truth across every sector. K-12 is working through it with child safety and parent trust as the anchor. Higher ed is working through it with academic integrity and relevance on the line. Professional learning is working through it while trying to break past a compliance ceiling that was never built for this. The starting points are different. The need for a clear, confident voice, one that can lay the foundation across all three and still respect what makes each sector different, is the same. And, while the goal is a more standard approach that works for everyone, it should not be confused with rigidity. We need to create the capacity to evolve responsibly, in line with the dynamism of the learner.
Education in the Making: InstructureCon 2026
This is why I'm looking forward to InstructureCon 2026 in Louisville next week. The theme this year is "Education in the Making," which is really just naming what's already true: we're not polishing a finished system, we're building the next one while we're standing in it.
I'll be sitting down for a fireside chat with Michael Horn, who's spent his career studying how learning innovation actually takes hold. We'll dig into what it looks like for AI to move past efficiency, past just doing things faster, and into something that gives educators back the time and space to actually connect with students. That's the reset I want to talk about.
In part two, I'll get into what happens next: how we take everything being tested right now, all this scattered, energetic experimentation, and turn it into a shared roadmap instead of a hundred separate detours.
