The conversations at THE AI SHOW and the broader ASU+GSV Summit for 2025 felt unlike anything else I participate in throughout the year. I walked away inspired, full of questions, and energized by the people I met and the work being done across the education and workforce sectors.
One big shift stood out to me: the informal systems that have long lived on the edges of education are becoming formalized year over year, and that shift brings both opportunity and responsibility.
Microschools have existed in various forms for years, but most people, including within the Education industry, don’t even know what they are. According to the National Microschooling Center, microschools are small learning environments serving learners from multiple families. And this year, it felt like the education industry finally acknowledged them as a legitimate force — not just fringe experiments or pandemic solutions.
The challenge now is understanding how to support a market that often does not self-identify. Many microschool leaders do not even realize they are part of a broader movement until someone from the outside tells them so. That makes it difficult to design scalable tools and services for them.
Even more complex is the fact that microschools are often deeply tied to the learner’s journey. When a student graduates or moves on, the model often shifts with them. We need to think critically about how to build supportive infrastructure without locking these models into rigid definitions that strip away their flexibility, which is what made them so appealing in the first place.
An introspective session hosted by Stand Together Trust explored how new funding mechanisms like Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) are accelerating the growth of innovative school models, including microschools. The session highlighted how ESAs are being used not just as access tools, but also as vehicles for student success, allowing families to choose educational environments that fit their unique needs. Importantly, the conversation emphasized how this shift has the potential to bridge both progressive and conservative values; reframing school choice as a bipartisan opportunity to reimagine what learning can look like. It also offered practical strategies for charter schools and other providers to engage with ESA frameworks and avoid being left behind in a fast-changing education landscape. Something we hadn’t previously considered.
Microschools may still be informal and fluid by nature, but the policies and funding structures around them are becoming more formalized. As that happens, the sector has a chance to build systems that preserve flexibility while expanding access — and that’s a balancing act worth paying attention to.
Credentialing is another recognized alternative in education that is continuing the move from the margins toward formalization, much like microschooling. Many organizations have entered the education and certification space under the banner of helping learners, but in practice we often see these function more as Human Resources tools that serve employers more than as true learning supports.
That is why Proof of Knowledge (PoK) stood out to us. Beyond the fact they replaced Accredible as the Summit credentialing partner, they use AI to batch process information and combine it with blockchain-based NFTs to issue verifiable credentials. More importantly, PoK makes recommendations to learners about what to pursue next. That simple act shifts the dynamic by centering the learner’s goals, not just the hiring manager’s needs.
This learner-focused approach contrasts sharply with broader trends in credentialing, where accountability is often defined from the top down. As the recent American Enterprise Institute (AEI) Holding New Credentials Accountable for Outcomes report points out, most alternative credentials still lack clear evidence of outcomes. With over 1.1 million credentials available but only 12% delivering significant wage gains, learners face a chaotic marketplace that lacks effective oversight. This staggering gap has led researchers to call for accountability provisions in public funding models that would tie continued support to demonstrated outcomes.
We need to model approaches that challenge credentialing systems to do more than verify. We need to ask them to guide, support, and enhance a person’s learning journey as it directly ties to their education and career outcomes.
As a bit of a bonus, we had the chance to step next door into the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) conference, which overlapped with The AI Show. At first glance, it felt like a fun detour (there were puppies!), but it quickly became clear how much overlap exists between sectors when it comes to workforce development and lifelong learning.
The AAN conference featured industry-specific boards that paralleled the job board released by Whiteboard Advisors at CareerX and Jobs4Ed by EdWeb for the education space. Conversations around credentials, professional development, and continuing education were everywhere, reminding us that no matter the industry, learning is constant and evolving (shoutout to the ASU+GSV 2023 theme “PK to Gray”)!
What does it really mean to support a learning model that changes when the learner does? And how do we avoid building systems that make informal learning spaces conform to formal structures that were never designed for them in the first place? There are no easy answers, but the fact that we are finally asking them and seeing solutions trying to tackle them head on feels like real progress.
It was a long and productive week at the Summit, and I am already looking forward to next year. We’ll be back!
