We are deep in our annual planning season at my university where I work in the School of Education preparing educators for the ever-changing landscape of K12 education. I’ve been thinking about all the ‘wicked problems’ we try to solve each year, especially in post-pandemic education where we know students face a precarious combination: a considerable loss of learning and the addition of social and emotional stresses.

I was thinking about what’s surfacing and trending as current problems and challenges we need to be addressing as we continue to design and innovate learning experiences to meet not only the changing needs of our learners but also the changing needs of their future students.  

But AI can support us in some innovative ways in the education space, and I’m finding brainstorming ideas for further research to be one such way. As a learning experience design advocate, I always want to come from a lens of empathy, but sometimes having a viewpoint contributor who is less capable of genuine empathy allows me to pressure test my ideas with less personal bias.

I’m sharing a compilation of short-term and long-term impacts of the pandemic on the future of K-12 as a result of my ‘conversation’ with ChatGPT, trends validated from other reading and research. I’m also sharing some thoughts about how we are and will be addressing these ‘wicked problems’ in education where I work.

ChatGPT: The shift to remote learning has accelerated the use and development of educational technology, which will likely continue to play a significant role in teaching and learning even after the pandemic. This could lead to more personalized and adaptive learning experiences, as well as increased access to resources for students in remote or underserved areas.

Kim Round:  Our work at WGU has always focused on underserved populations including rural learners. Our planning for next year includes the expansion of our already personalized learning (competency-based education) with more adaptive learning features and enhanced services and support in our Community of Care. In our first 25 years, we have been serving an older audience with some college experience, but in the last year, we have seen a considerable influx of first-time, full-time students with less real-world experience and few if any college credentials. They are going to bring unique needs to our work and we’re already diving into our data and research to better understand that. Their expectations from an ed-tech perspective will be substantially different from their predecessors. Understanding generational differences, such as Gen Z preferences can help us build an adaptive, personalized model that meets students where they are.

Kim Round: All of us in higher education are seeing the headlines where employers are focused on skills gaps. The ASU-GSV conference this year is giving considerable bandwidth to this topic as well. For us, this means staying true to our skills-based architecture to ensure every course along the learning journey provides skills with workforce relevance that build upon the graduate’s ability to get a return on their investment. We’re expanding our curriculum in areas that build skills Pearson identified in their Skills Outlook Report as ‘human skills’ employers need that AI can’t provide. There’s an opportunity in the US to increase the certificates, micro-credentials and endorsements that students earn while en route to a degree by designing and delivering stacking degrees that build relevant skills and expertise in addition to knowledge.

ChatGPT: The mental health challenges faced by students, teachers, and parents during the pandemic have underscored the need for a more holistic approach to education. This may lead to increased emphasis on social-emotional learning, mental health support, and the development of resilience and coping skills in future educational policies and programs.

Kim Round: The urgency on this one can’t be overemphasized because our failure to solve this leads to the most heart-breaking results. We’re working to build healthy learning environments for our students that embrace, educate, and model social-emotional learning, diversity equity and inclusion, character, basic needs, and mental health. We hope that by the time our students graduate, they will have seen this modeled by our faculty and staff, and they will have had it integrated into their curriculum so they will be better positioned to support their school district in providing social and emotional support and healthy learning to their students.

ChatGPT: The learning loss and widened achievement gaps experienced during the pandemic may have long-term consequences, particularly for disadvantaged students. Addressing these gaps will require targeted interventions, resources, and sustained efforts to ensure equal opportunities for all students.

Kim Round: I don’t think any of us in higher education are unaware of this widening gap and the huge social justice issue this causes. The societal cost is enormous, and we must all continue to innovate in everything from our curriculum to our support services and even our recruitment strategies.

Kim Round: I recall so many of our graduates talking about how they felt like they fared better than peer teachers when the sudden classroom closure and move to remote learning occurred. They understand how online education worked because they earned their degrees that way. All teacher candidates need digital literacy. Many of our graduates used virtual reality in their courses with us to better hone their skills in a safe ‘do no harm’ environment. All future educators would benefit from instruction in hybrid and online learning. Excellent online learning cannot be achieved by simply lifting and shifting lesson plans to PowerPoint. We’ve seen this. Great online instruction can help lift up every learner, with their unique needs and skills. We have a lot of work to do on this one nationally.

Other trends ChatGPT said had merit were around shifts in school funding and resource allocation (that one is kind of a safe bet as trends go – it will always need examination and iteration), better collaboration between education leaders and parents, and addressing ongoing teacher shortages. The teacher shortages can be addressed in many ways from policy work to getting deserved pay raises and creating ideal working conditions, to the grassroots grow-your-own pipelines that helps teacher aides become paraprofessionals, and paras become teachers. We’re really interested in these grow-your-own pipelines and have begun work in many states to bring these opportunities into affordable realities for future teachers.

The final trend ChatGPT brought forward from my probing questions was perhaps the most poignant and pressing: social justice.

ChatGPT: The pandemic has made it impossible to ignore the systemic issues that contribute to educational disparities. This increased awareness may lead to more concerted efforts to address these issues and create more equitable educational opportunities for all students.

Kim Round: Let’s hope so. That’s why I go to work every day. There’s so much we can do, especially if we work at it together in collaborations, associations, policy and grant work, legislative sessions, and within the teams of faculty and staff, and administrators at universities and colleges nationwide.