vision/possibilities

Cleveland Institute of Art’s Interactive Media Lab Redefines What an Art School Can Be — from edtechmagazine.com

The landscape for specialized colleges and universities such as art schools is shifting as higher education continues to evolve to fit emerging job markets and student interest.

Founded in 1882, Cleveland Institute of Art continuously challenges itself to stay modern and relevant. Years ago, the school’s leadership had the vision to partner with the city to revitalize an area due for reinvigoration.

The result was the Interactive Media Lab, which brings together the university, the city and private industry into a satellite campus that gives students and the community a space to create media, art and experiences with the most up-to-date tools available.

Also see:

GenAI practice blossoms through the open exchange of insights — from timeshighereducation.com by Samuel Doherty, who is the education and innovation coordinator at the University of Newcastle in Australia
How a structured GenAI professional development series, built around practice, peer voices and multiple entry points, fosters open exchange among colleagues, universities and industry

Connect internal practice to sector-wide thinking
Whatever is happening within any single institution is only part of the picture. Effective GenAI practice grows through open exchange of insights among colleagues, universities, professional bodies and industry, and a development programme that is entirely inward-looking risks missing both useful knowledge and important shifts in expectation.

Our AI sector voices sessions aim to bring external contributors into the programme: researchers, practitioners and sector representatives working at the intersection of GenAI and higher education. The aim is to situate institutional practice within the wider conversation and to signal to staff that the institution is genuinely engaged with that conversation, not just managing it internally.

In the Australian context, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Teqsa) people pillar positions staff as drivers, enablers, users and innovators of GenAI practice, and identifies a lack of information or understanding as one of the primary barriers to ethical and effective engagement. That framing is useful regardless of regulatory context: institutions that treat their people as active participants in shaping practice, rather than recipients of policy, are likely to develop more durable capability.

Regular, lightweight communications, a weekly community of practice update and a monthly all-staff digest can maintain momentum between sessions without adding significantly to anyone’s workload.

Workplace Readiness: Can Higher Education Develop AI-Ready Students? — from learningguild.com by Eddie Lin and Roshan Bharwaney

For higher education to remain relevant, curricula must evolve. Here are some overarching recommendations for directions in higher education to bridge the skills gaps between universities and workplaces:

AI ethics and safety: Prepare students to navigate issues of fairness, bias, privacy, and societal impact.
Tackling complex questions: Emphasize open-ended challenges that blend structured and unstructured skills and reduce reliance on standardized tests and repetitive drills.
Critical thinking: Develop new assessments for judgment, creativity, and metacognition—essential to supervise AI outputs.
Human-AI synergy: Embed AI fluency across all disciplines, encouraging students to find the niches where human value is maximized.
Industry connection: Maintain close industry partnerships and collaborations including open innovation opportunities and collective intelligence approaches (Bharwaney & Sleeva, 2024).

Experiential learning and communities of practice are central to this vision. Internships, simulations, and cross-disciplinary projects can help students practice human-AI collaboration, resilience, and decision-making in environments that mirror the workplace’s ambiguity and complexity.

Universities that condemn the use of AI by students risk isolating themselves from the realities of today’s workplace, where interns and new hires are expected to be or quickly become adept at using AI for routine tasks and complex projects.

Why universities must become flexible lifelong partners, not one-time providers [Sivarajah]

On 05/28/2026, in adjunct faculty, apprenticeships, business, career development, change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, corporate / business world, credentialing, curriculum, Daniel S. Christian, Europe, faculty/staff, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, higher education, ideas, innovation, internships, leadership, learning ecosystem, lifelong learning, MBA, new business models, organizational change, pace of change, participation, pathways, professional development, skills, strategy, student-related, teaching & learning, technology (general), UK, United States, universities, vision/possibilities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Why universities must become flexible lifelong partners, not one-time providers — from timeshighereducation.com by Sankar Sivarajah
As careers become increasingly non-linear and shaped by rapid change, universities must evolve beyond traditional degree provision, says Sankar Sivarajah. Here, he outlines strategies

From programmes to learning ecosystems
These pressures point towards a broader redefinition of higher education. Rather than viewing education as a one-time experience culminating in a degree, universities increasingly need to see themselves as partners in professional development across an entire career.

This means moving from a model centred on programmes to one focused on learning ecosystems that allow individuals to enter, leave and re-engage with higher education as their needs evolve.

Business schools may be particularly well placed to lead this shift because of their close engagement with employers and their long tradition of educating professionals at different stages of their careers.

But success will depend on more than introducing new modules or certificates. Universities must confront a fundamental question. Are the systems, structures and cultures that define higher education capable of supporting genuinely flexible learning?

The sector has already embraced the language of lifelong learning – the next step is ensuring that universities themselves are built to deliver it.

From DSC:
Long-time readers of this blog have seen this graphic of mine posted over the last 12+ years:
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Also relevant/see:

What if the undergraduate journey were a four-year internship? — from timeshighereducation.com by Michelle Seref
Treating work placements and co-curricular programmes as optional or supplementary misses deeper questions about whether traditional degrees prepare students for careers. Michelle Seref explains

Attending workshops or polishing a résumé in their final semester does not make students career-ready. They need to practise how to work – how to collaborate, navigate ambiguity, manage projects and apply knowledge in context – throughout their academic experience. The reality is that career readiness is not a co-curricular programme; it is an essential part of an integrated curriculum.

To be clear, employers do not expect classrooms to become training centres. What they are asking for – implicitly and explicitly – is graduates who can function in complex environments from day one. That means graduates who can work in teams, communicate professionally with stakeholders, adapt when plans change, apply theory to real constraints and learn continuously on the job.

These capabilities do not develop through passive learning. But experiential learning is often misunderstood as a single, high-impact activity: an internship, a capstone project or study abroad. In reality, its power comes from repetition and progression. One experience introduces exposure. A sequence of experiences builds competence.

We are proposing a paradigm shift: repositioning the undergraduate journey as a four-year professional internship rather than a continuation of the K-12 classroom environment.

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From DSC:
The problem with this innovative idea is that faculty often are not out in the “real world.” The best chance higher ed has to deliver on this idea is via the adjunct faculty members out there. Often, they are the ones practicing what they are teaching. They are constantly pulse-checking — and actively involved with — their industries and have more up-to-date, practical knowledge.

But this is a problem for traditional institutions of higher education, which have treated their adjunct faculty members poorly through the years. Adjunct faculty members hardly make minimum wage, have no benefits, no retirement plans, etc. — plus they have little to no say in faculty senates.

Organizational change would be a requirement.

Three items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 05/26/2026, in adjunct faculty, business, career development, colleges, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, law schools, learner profiles, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, liberal arts, policy, productivity / tips and tricks, student-related, teaching & learning, training / L&D, United States, universities, vision/possibilities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

I Was a University AI Czar. I’m Not Equipped to Teach in the Age of AI. — from jgellers.substack.com by Josh Gellers, PhD

The reason that I claim I am not well-suited to thrive as an instructor in the age of AI is because both AI Enthusiasts and AI Resisters put a lot of thought and energy into completely redesigning their classes in response to AI. This is the one takeaway that I don’t think the Exhausted Majority has fully accepted yet—to excel as a teacher in this AI era, you need to totally revise how you teach and how you assess what students learn in your classes.

I can say this much—whatever solution our industry comes up with, it’s likely to emerge from teaching and learning centers. Contrary to what Paul Schofield wrote in the Chronicle of Higher Education, pedagogy experts are the best hope we have to equip today’s faculty with the tools required to succeed in this uncertain educational environment. As I always tell my students, “I was trained for 7 years to become a researcher and 2 days to become a teacher.” The idea that only disciplinary experts know how to teach and have nothing to learn from so-called “nonscholars” is so laughable that one has to wonder whether an AI agent jokingly wrote that sad opinion piece to troll the whole academe.

Also from Dr. Gellers, see:

The Worst AI Policy in Higher Ed
How Berkeley Law Boalt-ed From Expertise in Favor of Abstinence

Last week, one of the top law schools in the United States, the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, released its final policy on artificial intelligence, effective summer 2026. In the span of a breezy 1.5 pages, the school outlined the challenge AI poses to legal education and how it plans to address this problem. Despite these intentions, this AI policy is, in my estimation, the worst AI policy in higher education I have seen.

From AI Tutors to AI Study Mates— from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr Philippa Hardman
New research reveals how AI can enable real learning — not just productivity gains

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The point isn’t that AI is inherently bad for learning — it’s that the meta-analyses showing that LLMs improve assignment and performance scores are measuring the wrong thing. They’re measuring performance with the AI present, not learning that persists once it’s gone.

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From DSC:
Notice that when an AI-based learning system can remember what you’ve worked on and how you are doing — where you are struggling or doing well — it can have a positive impact on your longer-term learning. That, to me, is where long-term based learner profiles come in.

Later in the article, Dr. Hardman points out that “if we want to deliver AI tooling which supports substantive learning, we need to intentionally create a new category of AI tool for ‘learning at work’ which prioritises learning and development over productivity.” While I agree with that, I do wonder if businesses will care, so long as the work gets done and gets done well. But this calls into mind the word “experience” — something that traditionally has been hard fought to get in the corporate world. But the corporate realm often doesn’t like to pay for experience (beyond key AI-based jobs) when they perceive it’s getting too expensive. Ask all those 50 and over who had or have a target on their backs.

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Reflections on “Want Students to Build a Healthier Relationship With Technology? Start With The Arts” [Marshall]

On 05/16/2026, in Adobe, Apple, art, communications, communities of practice, content development, aggregation, repositories, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, design, digital audio, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital video, education technology, Emotion, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, faculty/staff, graphics, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning preferences, liberal arts, library / librarians, media/film, multimedia, music, new media literacies, online media, presentations, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, reading, real-world assignments, simulations, skills, STEAM-related, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, technology (general), tools, United States, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, web design and production, by Daniel Christian

Want Students to Build a Healthier Relationship With Technology? Start With The Arts — from techlearning.com by Adrianna Marshall
Arts classrooms demonstrate what technology integration at its best can look like

But at a moment defined by rapid AI adoption and ongoing debates about screen time, the argument for protecting and investing in arts education needs to take on a new tone. The arts continue to be one of the most effective places in school for students to build healthier, more intentional relationships with technology.

In short, in the age of AI, we need the arts more than ever.
…
Digital composition software, notation tools, and recording platforms allow students to experiment, revise, and refine their ideas in ways that would have been far more time-consuming a decade ago. Students can layer tracks, hear immediate playback, annotate their own scores, and collaborate across devices. The same is true in other contexts besides music; in visual arts, for instance, a variety of digital drawing and painting platforms enable students to practice with new mediums, styles, and techniques without having to worry about supplies or messes. But in either case, the core intellectual work of looking and listening critically, understanding structure, and making aesthetic choices remains entirely human and part of the learning.

From DSC:
I agree. At one of my previous positions, I spent 10 years supervising a digital studio — helping professors and students use a variety of applications to create things. The applications were from Adobe, Apple, and a variety of smaller vendors. The deliverables could be graphics, edited soundtracks, music, videos, flyers, posters, collages, edited photographs, presentations, websites, and more. I longed for people to discover the power of multimedia to communicate their messages, tell stories, stir emotion, powerfully engage themselves (and others), and unleash their creativity.

There were several obstacles to our digital studio being more impactful at that institution. It was under the IT department, not the academic side of the house. It was in the basement of the library, where few students and faculty traveled. During those years, it was highly uncommon for faculty members to require multimedia-based assignments — so many students had to WANT to develop these skills on their own time. The majority of students didn’t see the value in developing the types of digital skills that we were trying to build…or they didn’t have the time.

Also relevant/see:

Want to boost early literacy skills? Try singing — from hechingerreport.org by Jackie Mader
Experts say music can help prepare children for reading success.

The Role of Faculty in the University of the Future [Gamby, Kil, Koblic, LeBlanc, Moldoveanu, & Siemens]

On 04/25/2026, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, colleges, communications, community colleges, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, education technology, emerging technologies, faculty/staff, higher education, IT in HE, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, professional development, teaching & learning, United States, universities, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

The Role of Faculty in the University of the Future — from er.educause.edu by Tanya Gamby, David Kil, Rachel Koblic, Paul LeBlanc, Mihnea Moldoveanu, and George Siemens
In the age of AI, the true future of higher education lies not in replacing faculty but in freeing them to do what only humans can—build meaningful relationships, cultivate wisdom, and guide students through the ethical and intellectual challenges machines cannot navigate.

Today, the work of knowledge transfer is often done better, faster, with more precision, and more patiently by AI. These systems can provide nonjudgmental, individualized learning opportunities twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Think of AI as a “genius teaching assistant” who assumes much of the work of basic knowledge transfer, unlocking learning when students get stuck and providing real-time assessment. Such a genius TA would offer faculty dashboards that update student progress, flag those who are struggling, and recommend targeted interventions. These tasks free faculty to focus on building genuine relationships with students, using the classroom to foster human skills, and curating community. This may be the great gift of AI to education. But it requires a profound reimagining of faculty roles—perhaps the single biggest hurdle to reimagining higher education, and equally its greatest opportunity.

A concerned faculty member might hear all this and conclude they are becoming obsolete. The opposite is true. The evolution of faculty roles demands more—not less—of what makes a great teacher.

This means intervening in high-impact moments when the genius TA has not unlocked learning; curating class time to lift students from knowing material to applying it in contexts that require critical thinking, judgment, and discernment; and cultivating the human skills that will be most prized in the age of AI: effective communication, constructive dialogue, empathy, creativity, and professional disposition. Most importantly, it means building genuine relationships with students—that make them feel like they matter—the kind that fuels transformation.

From DSC:
A quick comment on one of the sentences in the article, which asserts:

Centers for teaching and learning, which have long supported faculty development at many institutions, will be among the busiest places on campus in the years ahead.

I would change the word will be to should:

Centers for teaching and learning, which have long supported faculty development at many institutions, should be among the busiest places on campus in the years ahead.

For that statement to be true, centers for teaching and learning need to be well-versed in the tools and pedagogies involved, plus in learning science. Those centers need to have credibility for faculty members to value their services. And that’s just it, isn’t it? The faculty members need to see those centers for teaching and learning as having something that they lack…that they need assistance with. Otherwise, if such centers are just viewed as superfluous, nothing much will change.

Also, my experience has been that if those centers for teaching and learning are in an IT group/department, they should be moved to the academic side of the house instead. Many faculty members don’t value people from IT enough to make changes in how they teach — no matter how qualified those people are. They view those people as “IT” only.

You might also be interested in the other articles in that series:

This Is a Hard Time to Start a Career. These Two Words Can Help. [Kantor]

On 04/19/2026, in career development, emerging technologies, Emotion, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, society, student-related, vision/possibilities, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

This Is a Hard Time to Start a Career. These Two Words Can Help. — a gifted article from nytimes.com by Jodi Kantor
Advice on building a rewarding work life, even amid employment gloom.

If you’re sweating about what field to enter, here are a few things you can do now. Buy a cheap, thin notebook. Keep it on you. Every week, make a practice of writing down which actions you enjoy and which ones you hate, whom you like being around and whom you can’t stand. Keep running lists of what you’re good at and what ideas move you. Notice yourself.
…
Look to your friends instead. Think about what roles you take on with them: math tutor, party planner, psychologist, workout coach. These answers often reveal truths that our résumés do not. In social relationships, we aren’t bound by suffocating expectations about our future. Our friends have needs, and by noticing how we respond to them, we can learn who we are.

There is a wiser way to seize the future, which is to think about need. What is your own assessment of what society will need most during your working years, the next four or five decades? What kind of care; what kind of products; what kind of information?

The people I see thriving at work are the ones who chased some bigger need — not imposed by hollow conventional wisdom, but articulated through independent observation. Craft gives their work authority. Need gives it propulsion.

What’s one way your school is helping students discover that they matter? [Steven Hornyak]

On 04/15/2026, in education, education reform, Emotion, engagement / engaging students, ideas, K-12 related, student-related, teachers, United States, vision/possibilities, youth, by Daniel Christian

Steven Hornyak’s posting on LinkedIn is here.

Axios CEO Jim VandeHei’s note to his kids: Blunt AI talk [VandeHei]

On 02/04/2026, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, active learning, adjunct faculty, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, business, career development, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, corporate / business world, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, game-changing environment, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, informal learning, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, K-12 related, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, liberal arts, library / librarians, lifelong learning, productivity / tips and tricks, skills, society, staying relevant, student-related, surviving, teachers, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, tools, trends, United States, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

Jim VandeHei’s note to his kids: Blunt AI talk — from axios.com by CEO Jim VandeHei
Axios CEO Jim VandeHei wrote this note to his wife, Autumn, and their three kids. She suggested sharing it more broadly since so many families are wrestling with how to think and talk about AI. So here it is …

Dear Family:
I want to put to words what I’m hearing, seeing, thinking and writing about AI.

Simply put, I’m now certain it will upend your work and life in ways more profound than the internet or possibly electricity. This will hit in months, not years.
The changes will be fast, wide, radical, disorienting and scary. No one will avoid its reach.

I’m not trying to frighten you. And I know your opinions range from wonderment to worry. That’s natural and OK. Our species isn’t wired for change of this speed or scale.

My conversations with the CEOs and builders of these LLMs, as well as my own deep experimentation with AI, have shaken and stirred me in ways I never imagined.

All of you must figure out how to master AI for any specific job or internship you hold or take. You’d be jeopardizing your future careers by not figuring out how to use AI to amplify and improve your work. You’d be wise to replace social media scrolling with LLM testing.

Be the very best at using AI for your gig.

…more here.

Also see:

Also relevant/see:

Farewell to Traditional Universities | What AI Has in Store for Education [Jensen Huang, NVIDIA]

On 01/31/2026, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business side of he, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, cost of getting a degree, credentialing, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, internet, IT in HE, law schools, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, learning spaces, lifelong learning, more voice more choice more control, personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, skills, society, student-related, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, trends, United States, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

Farewell to Traditional Universities | What AI Has in Store for Education

Premiered Jan 16, 2026

Description:

What if the biggest change in education isn’t a new app… but the end of the university monopoly on credibility?

Jensen Huang has framed AI as a platform shift—an industrial revolution that turns intelligence into infrastructure. And when intelligence becomes cheap, personal, and always available, education stops being a place you go… and becomes a system that follows you. The question isn’t whether universities will disappear. The question is whether the old model—high cost, slow updates, one-size-fits-all—can survive a world where every student can have a private tutor, a lab partner, and a curriculum designer on demand.

This video explores what AI has in store for education—and why traditional universities may need to reinvent themselves fast.

In this video you’ll discover:

How AI tutors could deliver personalized learning at scale
Why credentials may shift from “degrees” to proof-of-skill portfolios
What happens when the “middle” of studying becomes automated
How universities could evolve: research hubs, networks, and high-trust credentialing
The risks: cheating, dependency, bias, and widening inequality
The 3 skills that become priceless when information is everywhere: judgment, curiosity, and responsibility

From DSC:
There appears to be another, similar video, but with a different date and length of the video. So I’m including this other recording as well here:

The End of Universities as We Know Them: What AI Is Bringing

Premiered Jan 27, 2026

What if universities don’t “disappear”… but lose their monopoly on learning, credentials, and opportunity?

AI is turning education into something radically different: personal, instant, adaptive, and always available. When every student can have a 24/7 tutor, a writing coach, a coding partner, and a study plan designed specifically for them, the old model—one professor, one curriculum, one pace for everyone—starts to look outdated. And the biggest disruption isn’t the classroom. It’s the credential. Because in an AI world, proof of skill can become more valuable than a piece of paper.

This video explores the end of universities as we know them: what AI is bringing, what will break, what will survive, and what replaces the traditional path.

In this video you’ll discover:

Why AI tutoring could outperform one-size-fits-all lectures
How “degrees” may shift into skill proof: portfolios, projects, and verified competency
What happens when the “middle” of studying becomes automated
How universities may evolve: research hubs, networks, high-trust credentialing
The dark side: cheating, dependency, inequality, and biased evaluation
The new advantage: judgment, creativity, and responsibility in a world of instant answers

FutureFit AI — helping build reskilling, demand-driven, employment, sector-based, and future-fit pathways, powered by AI

On 01/29/2026, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, career development, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, skills, society, staying relevant, surviving, tools, training / L&D, United States, vendors, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

FutureFit AI — helping build reskilling, demand-driven, employment, sector-based, and future-fit pathways, powered by AI
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The above item was from Paul Fain’s recent posting, which includes the following excerpt:

The platform is powered by FutureFit AI, which is contributing the skills-matching infrastructure and navigation layer. Jobseekers get personalized recommendations for best-fit job roles as well as education and training options—including internships—that can help them break into specific careers. The project also includes a focus on providing support students need to complete their training, including scholarships and help with childcare and transportation.

The Learning and Employment Records (LER) Report for 2026: Building the Infrastructure Between Learning and Work [Smart Resume & others]

On 01/29/2026, in 21st century, adult learning, Alternatives, apprenticeships, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, career development, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, consortiums, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, credentialing, Daniel S. Christian, education, future, game-changing environment, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, IT in HE, K-12 related, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, legislatures / government / legal, liberal arts, lifelong learning, marketplaces, platforms, professional development, skills, society, student-related, tools, training / L&D, United States, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

The Learning and Employment Records (LER) Report for 2026: Building the infrastructure between learning and work — from smartresume.com; with thanks to Paul Fain for this resource

Executive Summary (excerpt)

This report documents a clear transition now underway: LERs are moving from small experiments to systems people and organizations expect to rely on. Adoption remains early and uneven, but the forces reshaping the ecosystem are no longer speculative. Federal policy signals, state planning cycles, standards maturation, and employer behavior are aligning in ways that suggest 2026 will mark a shift from exploration to execution.

Across interviews with federal leaders, state CIOs, standards bodies, and ecosystem builders, a consistent theme emerged: the traditional model—where institutions control learning and employment records—no longer fits how people move through education and work. In its place, a new model is being actively designed—one in which individuals hold portable, verifiable records that systems can trust without centralizing control.

Most states are not yet operating this way. But planning timelines, RFP language, and federal signals indicate that many will begin building toward this model in early 2026.

As the ecosystem matures, another insight becomes unavoidable: records alone are not enough. Value emerges only when trusted records can be interpreted through shared skill languages, reused across contexts, and embedded into the systems and marketplaces where decisions are made.

Learning and Employment Records are not a product category. They are a data layer—one that reshapes how learning, work, and opportunity connect over time.

This report is written for anyone seeking to understand how LERs are beginning to move from concept to practice. Whether readers are new to the space or actively exploring implementation, the report focuses on observable signals, emerging patterns, and the practical conditions required to move from experimentation toward durable infrastructure.

…

“The building blocks for a global, interoperable skills ecosystem are already in place. As education and workforce alignment accelerates, the path toward trusted, machine-readable credentials is clear. The next phase depends on credentials that carry value across institutions, industries, states, and borders; credentials that move with learners wherever their education and careers take them. The question now isn’t whether to act, but how quickly we move.”

– Curtiss Barnes, Chief Executive Officer, 1EdTech

The above item was from Paul Fain’s recent posting, which includes the following excerpt:

SmartResume just published a guide for making sense of this rapidly expanding landscape. The LER Ecosystem Report was produced in partnership with AACRAO, Credential Engine, 1EdTech, HR Open Standards, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. It was based on interviews and feedback gathered over three years from 100+ leaders across education, workforce, government, standards bodies, and tech providers.

The tools are available now to create the sort of interoperable ecosystem that can make talent marketplaces a reality, the report argues. Meanwhile, federal policy moves and bipartisan attention to LERs are accelerating action at the state level.

“For state leaders, this creates a practical inflection point,” says the report. “LERs are shifting from an innovation discussion to an infrastructure planning conversation.”

As seen on LinkedIn.com:

Philippa provides a link to:

How AI Agents Are Changing Corporate Learning with Dr. Philippa Hardman (Podcast Episode 7)

AI and the Work of Centers for Teaching and Learning [Bruff]

On 01/23/2026, in adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, faculty/staff, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, law schools, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning spaces, liberal arts, library / librarians, pedagogy, productivity / tips and tricks, student-related, teaching & learning, United States, universities, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

AI and the Work of Centers for Teaching and Learning — from derekbruff.org by Derek Bruff

Penelope Adams Moon suggested that instead [of] framing a workshop around “How can we integrate AI into the work of teaching?” we should ask “Given what we know about learning, how might AI be useful?” I love that reframing, and I think it connects to the students’ requests for more AI knowhow. Students have a lot of options for learning: working with their instructor, collaborating with peers, surfing YouTube for explainer videos, university-provided social annotation platforms, and, yes, using AI as a kind of tutor. I think our job (collectively) isn’t just to teach students how to use AI (as they’re requesting) but also to help them figure out when and how AI is helpful for their learning. That’s highly dependent on the student and the learning task! I wrote about this kind of metacognition on my blog.

In the same way, when I approach any kind of educational technology, I’m looking for tools that can be responsive to my pedagogical aims. The pedagogy should drive the technology use, not the other way around.

Learning Ecosystems

Cleveland Institute of Art’s Interactive Media Lab Redefines What an Art School Can Be [edtechmagazine.com]

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