Research and innovation for learning, work, and society.https://educationfutures.com/https://educationfutures.com/post/10-schools-cannot-teach-30-40-50-kids/https://educationfutures.com/post/10-schools-cannot-teach-30-40-50-kids/In one classroom, a student copies notes about a centuries-old war. Outside that school, they build game mods, edit videos for social media, and debate politics in global online forums.Wed, 02 Apr 2025 05:00:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/2025-gefri-finds-wide-readiness-gaps-and-a-global-innovation-bottleneck/https://educationfutures.com/post/2025-gefri-finds-wide-readiness-gaps-and-a-global-innovation-bottleneck/The 2025 Global Education Futures Readiness Index (GEFRI) finds wide differences in how prepared countries are for education futures. It examines readiness across infrastructure, human capital, access, innovation, and governance.Mon, 15 Dec 2025 14:56:26 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/a-comparative-analysis-of-ai-in-education-policy-frameworks-and-initiatives/https://educationfutures.com/post/a-comparative-analysis-of-ai-in-education-policy-frameworks-and-initiatives/The integration of artificial intelligence into educational settings is rapidly transforming the landscape of teaching and learning. As AI becomes more common in schools, strong policies are needed to use it effectively and ethically.Sun, 24 Nov 2024 06:00:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/a-theory-for-invisible-learning/https://educationfutures.com/post/a-theory-for-invisible-learning/This second article in a three-part series develops a theory of invisible learning. It examines how informal, non-formal, and serendipitous experiences shape what people know.Mon, 16 May 2016 03:42:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/acknowledgements/https://educationfutures.com/post/acknowledgements/Manifesto 25 was never meant to be a solitary project. From its earliest drafts to this companion book, it has been shaped by conversations, critiques, encouragement, and acts of generosity from friends and colleagues around the world.Thu, 04 Sep 2025 16:50:29 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/activism-as-learning/https://educationfutures.com/post/activism-as-learning/This article argues that activism can be one of learning’s most authentic expressions. It explores how organizing, civic participation, and speaking truth to power develop knowledge and agency.Fri, 23 May 2025 14:35:57 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/agency-self-efficacy-transformative-learning/https://educationfutures.com/post/agency-self-efficacy-transformative-learning/At the heart of meaningful education is a powerful idea: learners thrive when they are trusted to shape their learning and believe they are capable of success. This fusion of agency (being afforded real choices) and self-efficacy (believing in one’s ability to act on those choices) transforms education from routine compliance into purposeful growth.Tue, 22 Apr 2025 20:40:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/ai-and-open-educational-resources/https://educationfutures.com/post/ai-and-open-educational-resources/David Wiley’s recent post at Improving Learning got me thinking about the rise of “generative OER” for content creation and customization and how AI is reshaping educational content. He also touches on the idea of “open prompts” and “open weights” as emerging forms of OER, enabling users to adapt content for specific needs.Mon, 30 Sep 2024 21:00:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/ai-as-anti-democratic-infrastructure-and-what-education-can-do-about-it/https://educationfutures.com/post/ai-as-anti-democratic-infrastructure-and-what-education-can-do-about-it/Alex Karp (2026), CEO of Palantir, recently framed AI as a force that will reduce the power of “highly educated, often female voters, who vote mostly Democrat,” while increasing the power of non-college-educated, working-class men.Fri, 13 Mar 2026 14:15:23 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/ai-powered-student-feedback-for-low-resource-environments/https://educationfutures.com/post/ai-powered-student-feedback-for-low-resource-environments/Virtual Alchemy explores how AI-powered formative feedback can expand learning access where teachers are difficult to reach. The project integrates an AI bot with Moodle for remote, resource-constrained, and crisis-affected settings.Tue, 03 Oct 2023 16:28:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/announcing-the-gefri-beta-benchmarking-education-futures-readiness/https://educationfutures.com/post/announcing-the-gefri-beta-benchmarking-education-futures-readiness/The Global Education Futures Readiness Index (GEFRI) is now available in public beta. GEFRI is a new, open tool for benchmarking how prepared countries are for the future of education.Fri, 16 May 2025 21:29:54 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/approaches-for-enabling-invisible-learning/https://educationfutures.com/post/approaches-for-enabling-invisible-learning/This final article in a three-part series presents approaches for enabling invisible learning. It highlights participation, play, exploration, and learner self-determination.Mon, 16 May 2016 03:42:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/authentic-learning-comes-from-freedom/https://educationfutures.com/post/authentic-learning-comes-from-freedom/For too long, education has been structured around control. Students are placed on predetermined paths, told what to learn, when to learn it, and how their success will be measured.Fri, 28 Feb 2025 06:00:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/bad-use-of-technology-is-a-symptom-not-the-problem/https://educationfutures.com/post/bad-use-of-technology-is-a-symptom-not-the-problem/This article argues that failures involving educational technology are symptoms of deeper problems in how learning is designed. It calls for using technology to transform learning rather than simply reproducing old practices.Mon, 24 Feb 2025 06:00:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/beyond-standardization/https://educationfutures.com/post/beyond-standardization/Standardization prioritizes predictability over possibility, compliance over creativity, and repetition over risk-taking. When education reduces students to manufactured products, it ignores their unique potential to seek out their own passions and solve problems creatively.Sun, 23 Mar 2025 15:03:12 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/bigtech-estan-colonizando-educacion/https://educationfutures.com/post/bigtech-estan-colonizando-educacion/Los educadores enfrentan una creciente sensación de preocupación frente a la inteligencia artificial. Nuevas herramientas ingresan a las aulas más rápido de lo que las políticas pueden adaptarse.Sun, 28 Dec 2025 22:04:24 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/break-the-rules/https://educationfutures.com/post/break-the-rules/In classrooms built for quiet, success often means staying inside the lines, even as the world outside demands we redraw them. Today’s schools reward silent conformity over courageous inquiry, sending an implicit message to learners: don’t ask too much, don’t reach too far.Thu, 22 May 2025 20:30:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/build-a-positive-rebellion-is-now-available/https://educationfutures.com/post/build-a-positive-rebellion-is-now-available/Education Futures announces the release of Build a Positive Rebellion: Create New Education Futures, a book by Dr. John W. Moravec about transforming education for a changing world.Tue, 07 Apr 2026 15:42:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/building-a-leapfrog-university/https://educationfutures.com/post/building-a-leapfrog-university/In 2006, the University of Minnesota engaged in a strategic repositioning process to transform it into one of the top universities in the world. To many, it seemed like a lot of promises, but not much substance.Thu, 12 Jul 2018 18:44:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/building-an-education-policy-academy/https://educationfutures.com/post/building-an-education-policy-academy/This project develops a modular, gamified platform for education policy learning. It is designed to strengthen professional learning and policy capacity across education systems.Fri, 15 Apr 2022 15:55:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/building-communities-of-trust/https://educationfutures.com/post/building-communities-of-trust/In many places, unfortunately including my home country of the United States, learning is no longer nurtured. It is managed.Fri, 11 Apr 2025 14:08:51 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/can-we-expect-a-white-collar-ai-bloodbath/https://educationfutures.com/post/can-we-expect-a-white-collar-ai-bloodbath/It’s almost amusing (if it weren’t so tragic) how each new wave of AI panic gets dressed up as breaking news. “AI could kill millions of jobs,” the experts say, as if this were a revelation.Thu, 29 May 2025 22:31:25 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/charting-the-uncharted-navigating-the-intersection-of-disruptive-tech-and-education/https://educationfutures.com/post/charting-the-uncharted-navigating-the-intersection-of-disruptive-tech-and-education/We find ourselves in an era where the languages of technology—bytes, pixels, and algorithms—have become as fundamental as the ABCs we learned in school. But are our educational systems keeping up?Sun, 01 Oct 2023 05:00:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/cheating-the-death-of-imagination-teaching-the-unknowable/https://educationfutures.com/post/cheating-the-death-of-imagination-teaching-the-unknowable/The idea of a Technological Singularity has been discussed and debated intensely since the early 1990s. Coined by Vernor Vinge and popularized by Ray Kurzweil, the idea is that as technologies evolve, technologies improve, costs decrease; and, in turn, the process of technological evolution advances and speeds itself up, creating a J-curve of exponential, accelerating change.Tue, 12 Dec 2017 07:08:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/christel-hartkamp-children-are-like-slaves-of-the-modern-age/https://educationfutures.com/post/christel-hartkamp-children-are-like-slaves-of-the-modern-age/Editor’s note: This provocative commentary originally appeared in Heb jij iets geleerd vandaag? – Een Sudbury school perspectief op leren, a blog by Sudbury schools in the Netherlands.Sat, 08 Sep 2012 01:41:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/coach-digital-nepal/https://educationfutures.com/post/coach-digital-nepal/Coach Digital Nepal is a digital coaching platform designed to monitor and strengthen teacher development. It supports foundational teaching skills with tools suited to low-connectivity environments.Sun, 30 Jun 2024 15:34:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/coach-digital-sierra-leone/https://educationfutures.com/post/coach-digital-sierra-leone/Coach Digital Sierra Leone delivers offline-first coaching tools that help teachers strengthen foundational teaching skills. The initiative supports professional learning in one of the world’s least connected environments.Fri, 30 Jun 2023 15:33:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/creative-classrooms-in-patagonia/https://educationfutures.com/post/creative-classrooms-in-patagonia/Education Futures founder, John Moravec, had the pleasure of visiting with the Ministry of Education in the Province of Chubut, Argentina for Aulas Creativas on February 27-28 this year. The program team recently published this excellent video, which outlines new perspectives for thinking about education.Sun, 12 Apr 2015 13:55:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/deception-by-design-educations-role-in-countering-disinformation/https://educationfutures.com/post/deception-by-design-educations-role-in-countering-disinformation/This article examines how misinformation is designed to spread and why education must respond. It argues for learning approaches that build critical judgment, media literacy, and democratic resilience.Mon, 25 Nov 2024 06:00:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/defining-the-knowmads-of-work-and-education-in-the-21st-century/https://educationfutures.com/post/defining-the-knowmads-of-work-and-education-in-the-21st-century/Read this special issue of On the Horizon for free until 20 June 2013.Fri, 24 May 2013 15:38:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/designing-campus-futures/https://educationfutures.com/post/designing-campus-futures/A few months ago, I received an invitation for a dream gig. Simon Fraser University at Burnaby, British Columbia is designing a master plan to guide the institution for the next 50 years, and they needed an education futurist to provide some thought leadership.Fri, 26 Jan 2018 12:00:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/designing-the-future-of-research-libraries-and-special-libraries-in-knowmad-society/https://educationfutures.com/post/designing-the-future-of-research-libraries-and-special-libraries-in-knowmad-society/This article considers how research and special libraries can evolve for a Knowmad Society. It explores the changing role of libraries in connecting people, knowledge, technology, and innovation.Mon, 26 Oct 2015 12:32:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/did-ai-replace-the-need-for-stem-learning/https://educationfutures.com/post/did-ai-replace-the-need-for-stem-learning/This article examines how artificial intelligence is changing the skills and competencies people need. It distinguishes capabilities likely to be affected by generative AI from those that remain essential for future learning and work.Fri, 16 Feb 2024 18:00:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/disruptive-technologies-and-global-transformations/https://educationfutures.com/post/disruptive-technologies-and-global-transformations/The past year was crucially important for the world to work on building better futures for education as societies found ways to better cope with COVID-19 and schools gradually reopened. At the same time, the world experienced tremendous setbacks, such as global disruptions caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the climate catastrophe in Pakistan, with floods that destroyed or damaged nearly 27,000 schools.Thu, 29 Dec 2022 22:01:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/disruptive-technologies-and-the-future-of-education-in-prague/https://educationfutures.com/post/disruptive-technologies-and-the-future-of-education-in-prague/This project applies strategic foresight to guide educational transformation in Prague. It considers how digital and disruptive technologies can inform education policy and practice.Thu, 15 Sep 2022 20:36:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/does-the-modern-university-end-at-ai/https://educationfutures.com/post/does-the-modern-university-end-at-ai/AI Trends in Higher Education,” hosted by Emerald Publishing and the Higher Education Teaching and Learning Association (HETL), March 26,.Fri, 28 Mar 2025 14:36:55 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/educating-for-a-shared-planet/https://educationfutures.com/post/educating-for-a-shared-planet/We are living through overlapping global crises: climate breakdown, mass displacement, ecological collapse, rising authoritarianism, and digital fragmentation. These forces are not distant trends; they shape everyday life.Mon, 24 Mar 2025 17:24:37 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/educating-to-build-futures-we-cannot-yet-imagine/https://educationfutures.com/post/educating-to-build-futures-we-cannot-yet-imagine/Education is teaching yesterday to children who will live in tomorrow. While medicine rewrites genomes and technology engineers intelligence, schools remain firmly anchored to the past.Mon, 24 Mar 2025 14:33:03 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/educational-innovation-in-puebla/https://educationfutures.com/post/educational-innovation-in-puebla/Education Futures and Fundación Ceibal (Uruguay) are pleased to share the outcomes of their 2-month research project for the Secretary of Public Education of the State of Puebla (“SEP-Puebla,” Mexico). Dr.Thu, 02 Feb 2017 19:28:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/educational-innovation-in-puebla-2/https://educationfutures.com/post/educational-innovation-in-puebla-2/This project creates a participatory roadmap for educational innovation in Puebla, Mexico. It grounds recommendations in the voices and experiences of students, teachers, and other education stakeholders.Thu, 01 Dec 2016 22:28:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/embracing-a-tomorrow-beyond-automation/https://educationfutures.com/post/embracing-a-tomorrow-beyond-automation/Over the past decades, I’ve explored the evolving landscape of learning and work in the 21st century. The imminent arrival of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is a pivotal moment in this journey, marking a transition from the theoretical to the very real and imminent.Wed, 06 Dec 2023 06:00:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/embracing-the-ai-storm-in-learning/https://educationfutures.com/post/embracing-the-ai-storm-in-learning/Manifesto 15, conceptualized in 2015, is a forward-thinking document outlining a vision for the future of education. It proposes a shift from traditional, rigid, and standardized educational models to flexible, learner-centered, and experience-driven paradigms that embrace change, encourage lifelong learning, and foster creativity.Mon, 24 Jul 2023 13:00:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/engaging-youth-to-solve-global-grand-challenges/https://educationfutures.com/post/engaging-youth-to-solve-global-grand-challenges/This project develops a scalable, story-based learning platform to engage young people with global grand challenges. It connects experiential learning with digital tools and opportunities for meaningful action.Tue, 15 Dec 2020 17:12:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/gamificamos-el-hacer-trampa-con-ia-con-un-poco-de-ayuda-de-los-duendes/https://educationfutures.com/post/gamificamos-el-hacer-trampa-con-ia-con-un-poco-de-ayuda-de-los-duendes/Este artículo explora cómo gamificar el uso de la inteligencia artificial para hacer trampa y convertirlo en una oportunidad de aprendizaje. Education Futures utiliza el juego para fomentar la curiosidad, la ética y la reflexión.Thu, 06 Nov 2025 22:00:25 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/gamifying-cheating-with-ai-building-an-ethics-of-play/https://educationfutures.com/post/gamifying-cheating-with-ai-building-an-ethics-of-play/This article explores how gamifying cheating with AI can turn misconduct into an opportunity for learning. Education Futures uses play to encourage curiosity, ethics, and reflection about how technology is used.Tue, 04 Nov 2025 22:03:01 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/genuine-equity-demands-creative-schools/https://educationfutures.com/post/genuine-equity-demands-creative-schools/Education systems that narrowly define success solely in terms of conformity and compliance inherently perpetuate inequity. This restrictive approach marginalizes students whose strengths lie in innovation, originality, or unique thinking, overlooking learners who approach problems differently or express themselves in unconventional ways.Fri, 14 Mar 2025 05:00:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/global-education-futures-readiness-index-gefri/https://educationfutures.com/post/global-education-futures-readiness-index-gefri/The Global Education Futures Readiness Index (GEFRI) measures how prepared countries are to shape and respond to changing education futures. It combines global benchmarking with data visualization across key readiness dimensions.Wed, 21 May 2025 17:31:52 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/how-big-tech-is-silently-colonizing-education/https://educationfutures.com/post/how-big-tech-is-silently-colonizing-education/Educators face a growing sense of concern about artificial intelligence. New tools enter classrooms faster than policies can adapt.Tue, 25 Nov 2025 15:36:51 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/how-did-we-get-from-schools-kill-creativity-to-ai-kills-creativity-in-schools/https://educationfutures.com/post/how-did-we-get-from-schools-kill-creativity-to-ai-kills-creativity-in-schools/When Sir Ken Robinson delivered his now-iconic TED Talk in 2006, proclaiming that “schools kill creativity,” he struck a chord that continues to reverberate through education systems worldwide. Robinson’s argument that our schools systematically squash imagination in favor of conformity and compliance sparked a movement for more creative, learner-centered approaches.Tue, 20 May 2025 20:00:33 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/ihanainens-affordances-of-pedagogy/https://educationfutures.com/post/ihanainens-affordances-of-pedagogy/Pekka Ihanainen, a Finnish teacher educator, is one of the most abstract, conceptual thinkers I have ever known. He is a crafter of ideas.Thu, 09 Jan 2020 02:40:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/innovating-physical-and-virtual-learning-spaces-fostering-the-growth-of-modern-knowmadic-learners/https://educationfutures.com/post/innovating-physical-and-virtual-learning-spaces-fostering-the-growth-of-modern-knowmadic-learners/In this technological era, we cannot shy away from speaking about knowmadic people, not just learners, but workers, community members and global citizens alike. A knowmad is someone who is flexible, fluent in the technology of their time, and unafraid to take risks.Wed, 23 Aug 2023 14:23:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/intermezzo-breaking-away-redefining-freedom/https://educationfutures.com/post/intermezzo-breaking-away-redefining-freedom/When we wrote Manifesto 25, we knew it would never be complete. The manifesto was not intended as a final prescription or rigid doctrine, but as an open provocation.Tue, 19 Aug 2025 15:02:13 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/intermezzo-kids-are-people-too/https://educationfutures.com/post/intermezzo-kids-are-people-too/Some truths are so simple that we forget how radical they are. Kids are people, too: four words that, said out loud, draw easy nods.Fri, 15 Aug 2025 14:28:27 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/international-education-in-the-era-of-covid-19/https://educationfutures.com/post/international-education-in-the-era-of-covid-19/Note: This article originally appeared in Sociální Pedagogika | Social Education, 8(1), 38-42.Wed, 15 Apr 2020 12:40:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/introducing-knowmapped-a-platform-for-mapping-knowledge/https://educationfutures.com/post/introducing-knowmapped-a-platform-for-mapping-knowledge/KnowMapped began as an internal tool at Education Futures. We built it because we kept working with ideas that were difficult to represent in ordinary documents, slide decks, or outlines.Tue, 18 Aug 2026 21:10:57 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/invisible-learning-as-organic-process/https://educationfutures.com/post/invisible-learning-as-organic-process/Most learning unfolds as an organic process: quiet, continual, and often unseen. Like breath or the silent growth of roots, it extends beneath the surface of formal schooling, leaving little trace on a transcript.Mon, 05 May 2025 20:37:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/invisible-learning-the-revolution-outside-of-the-classroom/https://educationfutures.com/post/invisible-learning-the-revolution-outside-of-the-classroom/Who gets to decide what kids learn? For whose benefit is all this, really?Mon, 28 Aug 2017 23:04:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/is-ai-making-organizations-lazy/https://educationfutures.com/post/is-ai-making-organizations-lazy/” The answer, I argued, is not really. It is a tool, just like a calculator or book, that can enhance human capacity.Wed, 08 Oct 2025 14:21:04 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/is-ai-making-us-cognitively-lazy/https://educationfutures.com/post/is-ai-making-us-cognitively-lazy/AI has renewed debate about learning, memory, and creativity in an age of cognitive offloading. Cognitive offloading means using tools to do mental work we could do ourselves.Wed, 27 Aug 2025 05:00:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/john-moravec-at-the-world-bank-knowmadic-futures-for-youth/https://educationfutures.com/post/john-moravec-at-the-world-bank-knowmadic-futures-for-youth/Youth are the main consumers and participants in education. Despite intimate knowledge of the successes and failures of modern education, youth rarely become architects, shapers, or producers of a system that is built on their behalf.Wed, 16 Nov 2016 07:12:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/john-moravec-embarks-on-global-tour-to-redesign-education/https://educationfutures.com/post/john-moravec-embarks-on-global-tour-to-redesign-education/Education Futures founder Dr. John Moravec has embarked on a global tour to redesign mainstream education systems.Tue, 21 Nov 2017 07:50:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/john-moravec-evolving-our-understanding-of-education-and-helping-humans-to-be-more-human/https://educationfutures.com/post/john-moravec-evolving-our-understanding-of-education-and-helping-humans-to-be-more-human/Oli Anderson interviewed Education Futures‘ John Moravec for Design Decode, a project exploring design for improving the human experience.Sun, 09 Jun 2019 01:19:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/kids-are-people-too/https://educationfutures.com/post/kids-are-people-too/When students are trusted to co-create the structures and rhythms of school life, the outcomes are measurable and lasting.Thu, 17 Apr 2025 18:27:22 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/knowmad-society-released/https://educationfutures.com/post/knowmad-society-released/I am very pleased to share that the print edition of Knowmad Society is released, and it is beautiful!Tue, 11 Jun 2013 14:19:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/knowmads-in-society-30/https://educationfutures.com/post/knowmads-in-society-30/In the pre-industrial age, nomads were people that moved with their livelihood (usually animal herding) instead of settling at a single location.Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:52:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/knowmads-on-umbrales/https://educationfutures.com/post/knowmads-on-umbrales/Last week, the Peruvian television program “Umbrales” (TV Perú) broadcasted a program on knowmads in Peru and Latin America. Dr.Sun, 26 Oct 2014 14:03:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/knowmapped-visualizing-and-connecting-knowledge-with-ai/https://educationfutures.com/post/knowmapped-visualizing-and-connecting-knowledge-with-ai/Development of KnowMapped, a platform for creating, exploring, and sharing visual knowledge.Tue, 18 Aug 2026 20:39:42 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/landscape-review-for-global-teacher-coaching/https://educationfutures.com/post/landscape-review-for-global-teacher-coaching/This project provides strategic design and implementation guidance for scalable, inclusive teacher coaching. It reviews digital learning platforms and educational technologies for use across low- and middle-income contexts.Mon, 30 Mar 2020 20:50:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/leapfrogging-in-stem-higher-education-pre-active-leadership-for-a-world-in-disruption/https://educationfutures.com/post/leapfrogging-in-stem-higher-education-pre-active-leadership-for-a-world-in-disruption/Last week, I had the privilege of presenting the closing keynote at the International Meeting on Educational Innovation and STEM Teaching hosted by Instituto Tecnológico de Buenos Aires, Argentina. I shared my perspectives on the urgent need to rebuild higher education from the ground up and on the importance of pre active leadership in a world increasingly shaped by technological disruption, global complexity, and…Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:21:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/learning-does-not-happen-in-boxes/https://educationfutures.com/post/learning-does-not-happen-in-boxes/This article challenges the idea that learning fits neatly into classrooms, schedules, and institutional categories. It argues that meaningful learning is exploratory, connected, and shaped by life beyond school.Mon, 28 Apr 2025 20:22:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/learning-in-networks/https://educationfutures.com/post/learning-in-networks/In early 2020, as COVID-19 swept across the globe, the world was confronted with a challenge that no single expert, institution, or government could tackle alone. The response to the crisis demanded a convergence of diverse insights, rapid experimentation, and global collaboration to develop new knowledge.Tue, 06 May 2025 13:23:07 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/learning-together-teaching-together/https://educationfutures.com/post/learning-together-teaching-together/In most schools today, students are grouped strictly by age, progressing year by year in parallel cohorts. While this structure simplifies scheduling and curriculum delivery, it also narrows the social and cognitive range of experiences available to learners.Tue, 06 May 2025 17:24:31 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/manifesto-15/https://educationfutures.com/post/manifesto-15/A global call to rethink the purpose, design, and impact of education in the 21st.Thu, 01 Jan 2015 06:01:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/manifesto-15-evolving-learning/https://educationfutures.com/post/manifesto-15-evolving-learning/Like many of us, I did some reflecting over the New Year. It seemed it was time to re-center, and get back to basics.Mon, 05 Jan 2015 15:59:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/manifesto-25/https://educationfutures.com/post/manifesto-25/Manifesto 25 is a bold call to reimagine education as a collective act of resistance and renewal. It offers principles for reclaiming learning as a human, democratic, and future-oriented practice.Wed, 01 Jan 2025 06:01:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/manifesto-25-companion/https://educationfutures.com/post/manifesto-25-companion/This book builds on Manifesto 25: A Blueprint for Reclaiming Education. Conceived as a companion volume, it expands and tests the manifesto’s provocations through 25 short essays.Tue, 24 Jun 2025 17:52:30 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/manifesto-25-released/https://educationfutures.com/post/manifesto-25-released/January 1, 2025 marks the official release of Manifesto 25, a visionary document calling for urgent action to transform global education systems. The manifesto challenges the status quo, asserting that education as we know it is failing to prepare learners for the complexity and uncertainty of our rapidly changing world.Wed, 01 Jan 2025 06:00:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/matt-novak-takes-us-on-a-paleofuture-look-into-our-hopes-and-fears/https://educationfutures.com/post/matt-novak-takes-us-on-a-paleofuture-look-into-our-hopes-and-fears/Matt Novak uses a paleofuture perspective to examine how earlier generations imagined tomorrow. The conversation reveals what those visions say about our hopes, fears, and assumptions about the future.Wed, 08 May 2013 15:24:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/measure-what-we-value/https://educationfutures.com/post/measure-what-we-value/Our mainstream education systems are caught in a damaging obsession with measurement, yet they consistently measure the wrong things. Schools meticulously track test scores, attendance, and graduation rates, acting as if these numbers genuinely define learning.Sun, 09 Mar 2025 06:01:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/minnevate/https://educationfutures.com/post/minnevate/A statewide dialogue to shape bold, community-driven education.Mon, 01 Dec 2014 22:42:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/motivation-is-something-we-create-with-students/https://educationfutures.com/post/motivation-is-something-we-create-with-students/Thomas Arnett’s piece “AI can personalize learning. It can’t make students care” makes a compelling case that adolescent motivation is deeply social and that AI, however powerful, can’t replace the human need for recognition and belonging.Wed, 09 Jul 2025 17:08:22 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/new-book-emerging-education-futures/https://educationfutures.com/post/new-book-emerging-education-futures/Education Futures is pleased to announce the release of the book, Emerging education futures: Experiences and visions from the field. With contributions from four continents, this volume reveals a ‘snapshot’ of some of our best thinking for building new education futures.Sun, 06 Jan 2019 12:00:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/new-paper-ai-coloniality-and-educational-sovereignty/https://educationfutures.com/post/new-paper-ai-coloniality-and-educational-sovereignty/This paper examines how artificial intelligence can reproduce colonial patterns in education and knowledge production. It calls for educational sovereignty, institutional responsibility, and more critical approaches to AI policy.Tue, 02 Jun 2026 21:58:23 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/nine-key-characteristics-of-knowmads-in-society-30/https://educationfutures.com/post/nine-key-characteristics-of-knowmads-in-society-30/A knowmad is what I have previously termed a nomadic knowledge and innovation worker – that is, a creative, imaginative, and innovative person who can work with almost anybody, anytime, and anywhere. Moreover, knowmads are valued for the personal knowledge that they possess, and this knowledge gives them a competitive advantage.Thu, 12 Jan 2012 05:50:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/no-future/https://educationfutures.com/post/no-future/Czech media maverick Bohumil “Bob” Kartous asks, can steam engines carry us into the virtual world?Fri, 24 Jan 2020 04:12:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/no-hope-without-action/https://educationfutures.com/post/no-hope-without-action/Note. This preface originally appears in the book, Build a Positive Rebellion: Create New Education Futures.Sun, 01 Mar 2026 06:00:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/plan-ceibal-2020-future-scenarios-for-technology-and-education/https://educationfutures.com/post/plan-ceibal-2020-future-scenarios-for-technology-and-education/I am pleased to have collaborated with Matías Mateu and Cristóbal Cobo on the publication of research regarding the future of Uruguay’s national technological and innovation policy initiative, Plan Ceibal. As this paper is directly related to Matías‘ master’s thesis, Cristóbal and I took on largely advisory roles to support his work.Mon, 11 Jun 2018 00:30:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/prefacio-no-hay-esperanza-sin-accion/https://educationfutures.com/post/prefacio-no-hay-esperanza-sin-accion/Nota. Este prefacio aparece originalmente en el libro Construir una rebelión positiva: Crear nuevos futuros educativos.Tue, 10 Feb 2026 21:15:06 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/quantum-computing-future-of-education/https://educationfutures.com/post/quantum-computing-future-of-education/Quantum computing will disrupt education more profoundly than AI. Explore its potential, risks, and what policymakers must do to guide it responsibly.Thu, 01 May 2025 13:19:47 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/question-everything/https://educationfutures.com/post/question-everything/In our era defined by radical uncertainty, a primary duty of education should be to develop our courage to question relentlessly. Otherwise, we will never learn.Tue, 24 Jun 2025 20:26:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/realidad-no-es-opcional/https://educationfutures.com/post/realidad-no-es-opcional/Este artículo sostiene que la realidad no es opcional en la educación ni en la vida pública. Examina cómo se descartan los hechos por conveniencia política y por qué debemos defender instituciones democráticas basadas en evidencia.Tue, 04 Mar 2025 06:00:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/reality-is-not-optional/https://educationfutures.com/post/reality-is-not-optional/Recent developments illustrate how easily facts can be dismissed when they become politically inconvenient. Donald Trump’s return to the presidency of the United States signals a shift from mere pressure tactics to the outright dismantling of government agencies focused on public health, equity, climate monitoring, and air traffic control oversight, among other critical areas.Tue, 04 Mar 2025 06:00:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/reclaiming-education-for-inclusive-democratic-institutions/https://educationfutures.com/post/reclaiming-education-for-inclusive-democratic-institutions/This morning, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson with the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.Mon, 14 Oct 2024 21:00:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/reclamando-la-educacion-para-instituciones-democraticas-inclusivas/https://educationfutures.com/post/reclamando-la-educacion-para-instituciones-democraticas-inclusivas/Esta mañana, la Real Academia Sueca de Ciencias otorgó a Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson y James A. Robinson el Premio Nobel de Ciencias Económicas 2024.Thu, 14 Nov 2024 21:59:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/report-from-the-european-democratic-education-community-2013-conference/https://educationfutures.com/post/report-from-the-european-democratic-education-community-2013-conference/This report reflects on the 2013 European Democratic Education Community conference. It considers how democratic education supports learner agency, participation, and new approaches to schooling.Sun, 11 Aug 2013 14:14:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/resilient-second-channel/https://educationfutures.com/post/resilient-second-channel/Explore how LoRa-based mesh (Meshtastic) communication can keep education programs running when the internet and electricity fail.Fri, 16 Jan 2026 16:06:45 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/rise-of-the-knowmads-john-moravec-at-tedxumn/https://educationfutures.com/post/rise-of-the-knowmads-john-moravec-at-tedxumn/Knowmads are nomadic knowledge workers –creative, imaginative, and innovative people who can work with almost anybody, anytime, and anywhere. The jobs associated with 21st century knowledge and innovation workers have become much less specific concerning task and place, but require more value-generative applications of what they know.Sun, 06 Oct 2013 14:09:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/sandbox/https://educationfutures.com/post/sandbox/This sandbox post contains experimental content used to test the Education Futures publishing system. It supports development and quality assurance for article layouts and migration features.Fri, 03 Jul 2026 14:05:48 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/school-access-and-gender-parity-in-sub-saharan-africa-gefri/https://educationfutures.com/post/school-access-and-gender-parity-in-sub-saharan-africa-gefri/Education is one of the most powerful levers for social progress and economic development. Yet across Sub-Saharan Africa, access to schooling and the achievement of gender parity remain elusive.Tue, 26 Aug 2025 15:03:30 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/schools-must-be-havens/https://educationfutures.com/post/schools-must-be-havens/Education is failing its most fundamental test: preparing people to be human in a complex, interconnected world. Schools claim to shape the leaders, innovators, and citizens of tomorrow, yet they still operate on outdated models that prioritize compliance over curiosity, standardization over self-awareness, and competition over collaboration.Wed, 26 Feb 2025 06:00:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/seconds-beyond-the-inflection-point/https://educationfutures.com/post/seconds-beyond-the-inflection-point/This article examines how generative AI and other technologies may automate large portions of people’s work. It considers what this inflection point means for education, skills, and human agency.Fri, 19 Jan 2024 06:00:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/shifting-toward-a-knowmadic-public-policy-an-agile-proposal/https://educationfutures.com/post/shifting-toward-a-knowmadic-public-policy-an-agile-proposal/Knowmads are not confined by the classic structures of a fixed workplace or set of tools. They are agile, adaptable, and adept at navigating the complexities of the modern world.Mon, 28 Aug 2023 14:08:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/six-things-i-learned-at-the-pioneers-festival/https://educationfutures.com/post/six-things-i-learned-at-the-pioneers-festival/Last week, I attended the two-day Pioneers Festival in Vienna. Housed in the Hofburg imperial palace (an “impossible to book” venue), the event was a mixture between discussions, speeches and interactive workshops with topics concerning entrepreneurship, innovation, and technology.Tue, 06 Nov 2012 07:12:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/teacher-30-sharing-creating-and-connecting-knowledge/https://educationfutures.com/post/teacher-30-sharing-creating-and-connecting-knowledge/This article explores what Teacher 3.0 might look like in a networked learning environment. It focuses on sharing, creating, and connecting knowledge beyond traditional classroom roles.Wed, 16 May 2012 16:34:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/teachers-as-knowmads-in-the-era-of-ai/https://educationfutures.com/post/teachers-as-knowmads-in-the-era-of-ai/In recent talks in Argentina, Spain, and Colombia, I delved into the competencies essential for “knowmads” in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). This transformative era requires a shift in how educators approach teaching and learning, and it’s critical to understand what this means for teachers today.Mon, 03 Jun 2024 05:00:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/teachers-at-the-crossroads/https://educationfutures.com/post/teachers-at-the-crossroads/We ask teachers to prepare students for an unpredictable, AI-infused, climate-volatile world. Yet we treat those same educators as if their job is to execute instructions, not invent solutions.Fri, 30 May 2025 16:43:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/the-biggest-problem-in-mainstream-education-is-that-it-does-precisely-what-it-is-designed-to-do/https://educationfutures.com/post/the-biggest-problem-in-mainstream-education-is-that-it-does-precisely-what-it-is-designed-to-do/In many the conversations about design thinking in schools, we tend to assume that mainstream education is poorly designed. What if it wasn’t?Mon, 15 Jul 2013 14:17:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/the-crisis-is-not-artificial-intelligence-it-is-institutional-imagination/https://educationfutures.com/post/the-crisis-is-not-artificial-intelligence-it-is-institutional-imagination/This article argues that education’s central crisis is not artificial intelligence but institutional imagination. It examines why schools reproduce outdated pedagogies even when new technologies make other possibilities visible.Thu, 28 May 2026 13:03:42 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/the-eternal-struggle-is-it-okay-for-students-to-use-technologies/https://educationfutures.com/post/the-eternal-struggle-is-it-okay-for-students-to-use-technologies/After decades of wondering if calculators, phones, or Wikipedia have a place in schools, the next target is obviously generative AI.Tue, 05 Dec 2023 12:30:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/the-future-belongs-to-nerds-geeks-makers-dreamers-and-knowmads/https://educationfutures.com/post/the-future-belongs-to-nerds-geeks-makers-dreamers-and-knowmads/The future belongs to curious, passionate individuals unafraid to take intellectual risks, not to those who are passively obedient and skilled at following instructions. Society rewards creativity, innovation, and a willingness to embrace uncertainty, not compliance.Tue, 11 Mar 2025 05:00:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/the-future-of-digital-learning-communities-beyond-algorithms/https://educationfutures.com/post/the-future-of-digital-learning-communities-beyond-algorithms/The modern internet is aging, and the cracks are showing. For nearly three decades, we have built online spaces rooted in structures that, while groundbreaking at the time, now struggle to serve the ways we live, work, and learn today.Tue, 25 Feb 2025 15:36:21 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/the-gefri-mid-2026-update-new-data-persistent-readiness-gaps/https://educationfutures.com/post/the-gefri-mid-2026-update-new-data-persistent-readiness-gaps/The mid-2026 GEFRI update provides a view of how well education systems are positioned to respond to social, technological, economic, and institutional change.Thu, 16 Jul 2026 14:30:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/the-missing-planet/https://educationfutures.com/post/the-missing-planet/A school day begins with a bell. Students move from worksheets to whiteboards while forests burn and rivers shrink outside.Thu, 22 May 2025 17:09:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/the-need-for-invisible-learning/https://educationfutures.com/post/the-need-for-invisible-learning/Note: This is the first article in a three-part series on a new theory for invisible learning.Tue, 29 Mar 2016 03:30:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/the-phone-ban-was-never-about-phones/https://educationfutures.com/post/the-phone-ban-was-never-about-phones/This article examines what school phone bans reveal about control, trust, and the purpose of education. It argues that the debate is less about devices than about how institutions understand learning and student agency.Tue, 05 May 2026 15:54:08 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/the-power-and-potential-of-edtech-using-ai-as-a-study-tool-and-maybe-more/https://educationfutures.com/post/the-power-and-potential-of-edtech-using-ai-as-a-study-tool-and-maybe-more/As reported in The Verge, Quizlet, came up with AI features to assist students using their tools. The notion sounds compelling, right?Sat, 12 Aug 2023 14:18:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/the-singularity-and-schools-an-interview-with-vernor-vinge/https://educationfutures.com/post/the-singularity-and-schools-an-interview-with-vernor-vinge/In this interview, John Moravec speaks with science fiction author and mathematician Vernor Vinge about the technological singularity. They consider how accelerating technological change could affect schools and society.Tue, 17 Jul 2012 01:56:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/the-university-of-the-future-marching-toward-obsolescence/https://educationfutures.com/post/the-university-of-the-future-marching-toward-obsolescence/A couple weeks ago, Carlos Scolari interviewed me for a project on pedagogical innovation and disruptive practices in higher education at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona). The aim of the project is to produce a document on the “university of the future,” including diagnosis, trends, and proposals for moving forward.Tue, 09 Apr 2013 04:46:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/training-for-climate-finance-readiness/https://educationfutures.com/post/training-for-climate-finance-readiness/Development of modular training manuals to strengthen project proposal development for climate adaptation.Sun, 30 Jun 2024 21:11:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/transforming-learning/https://educationfutures.com/post/transforming-learning/Education Futures is a research and innovation consultancy focused on redesigning how people learn. This profile describes its approach to creating more meaningful, human, and future-oriented learning systems.Tue, 18 Feb 3000 23:18:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/understanding-digital-citizenship-in-mexico/https://educationfutures.com/post/understanding-digital-citizenship-in-mexico/This project examines digital citizenship in Mexico through national dialogue and participatory research. It brings together perspectives from students, teachers, parents, and policymakers.Sat, 01 Dec 2018 22:22:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/uruguay-implemented-plan-ceibal-now-what/https://educationfutures.com/post/uruguay-implemented-plan-ceibal-now-what/This project examines how Uruguay’s Plan Ceibal shaped educational technology and community participation. It asks what comes next for meaningful, equitable use of digital tools in primary education.Thu, 01 Dec 2016 22:49:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/we-cannot-manage-knowledge/https://educationfutures.com/post/we-cannot-manage-knowledge/Education often mistakes knowledge for information, reducing learning to the storage and recall of facts. Students are tested on their ability to recall information, not on their depth of understanding.Sun, 09 Mar 2025 06:00:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/what-do-we-know-about-digital-citizenship-in-mexico/https://educationfutures.com/post/what-do-we-know-about-digital-citizenship-in-mexico/Education Futures founder John Moravec lead a diagnostic review the Secretary of Public Education’s digital citizenship program in Mexico, bringing together voices of students, teachers, and parents.Thu, 27 Dec 2018 08:51:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/what-the-gefri-data-tells-us-that-we-didnt-expect/https://educationfutures.com/post/what-the-gefri-data-tells-us-that-we-didnt-expect/The Global Education Futures Readiness Index (GEFRI) provides the first comprehensive, data-driven answer. Covering 217 countries, including large economies, small island states, and nations in crisis, GEFRI benchmarks how prepared each is to meet the demands of rapidly changing educational, social, and technological landscapes.Mon, 02 Jun 2025 17:54:44 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/when-a-degree-has-the-shelf-life-of-a-banana/https://educationfutures.com/post/when-a-degree-has-the-shelf-life-of-a-banana/In a world defined by rapid advances in science, technology, and the very structure of work, a university degree can become obsolete faster than a banana browns on your kitchen counter. The old paradigm of “earn your diploma, land a career, follow a predictable path” no longer makes sense in what many call an Age of Disruption (see, for example, World Economic Forum, 2023).Sun, 02 Mar 2025 18:00:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/white-paper-unprepared-education-beyond-2030/https://educationfutures.com/post/white-paper-unprepared-education-beyond-2030/In a new paper, John Moravec argues that education’s crisis beyond 2030 is not a lack of preparation but the loss of power to govern the systems shaping learning, work, and public life.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/who-are-knowmads/https://educationfutures.com/post/who-are-knowmads/Over 20 years ago, I crafted the knowmad concept while a PhD student, investigating the future of work at the University of Minnesota. A few years later, I wrote a blog post with a general definition … and then things took off, catching me off guard.Sun, 28 Jul 2024 14:13:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/why-pokemon-go-and-minecraft-in-the-classroom-are-very-bad-ideas/https://educationfutures.com/post/why-pokemon-go-and-minecraft-in-the-classroom-are-very-bad-ideas/It’s “back to school” season in the United States and Europe, and the social media universe is ablaze with ideas on how to harness the Pokémon Go craze in the classroom.Tue, 30 Aug 2016 05:35:00 GMThttps://educationfutures.com/post/yes-we-have-a-new-website/https://educationfutures.com/post/yes-we-have-a-new-website/Noticing something different? Indeed, the Education Futures Web site has undergone a comprehensive reconstruction.Wed, 19 Feb 2025 19:52:54 GMT