The Post-AI Classroom Isn’t Coming—We’re Already Building It
We’re living through a moment of disruption. Let me say that again. Higher education, K-12—society is living in a moment of disruption.
AI will change how we work, communicate, and yes—how we teach. For many educators, the last several years have been about catching up: learning the tools, building AI literacy, and figuring out how to fold these systems into our classrooms without losing the heart of what we do.
But AI literacy is just the starting line.
The real question is: what happens next?
What does education look like after the disruption—when AI isn’t just an add-on or experiment, but a seamless part of our learning environments?
That’s where the post-AI classroom begins.
It’s not about teaching with AI—it’s about redesigning teaching itself. Not layering tools onto old systems, but rethinking the system from the ground up.
Because when AI fades into the background and empowers teachers and students, rather than overwhelming them, something extraordinary becomes possible.
A Vision for the Future
What does a post-AI classroom really look like?
Professors and K–12 teachers ask me this question every single week. And while we’re still writing the story, the picture is coming into focus.
Not long ago, a faculty member who used to be one of our most vocal skeptics of AI looked at me and said something that stuck: “Our problem is that we’re trying to force AI into the classroom we already have. We need to rethink the entire thing from the ground up.”
He was right.
Too many of us are still dragging AI into outdated structures—patching it into lesson plans built for a world that no longer exists.
We’re still stuck thinking only about AI literacy.
But this moment? It’s asking more of us. And also—if we’re honest—it’s offering more to us too.
This redesign won’t happen overnight. It takes vulnerability. It takes honesty. And as Bryan Alexander, Senior Scholar at Georgetown University, said at the AAC&U AI Leadership symposium, it often feels like an “unfunded mandate.”
But if we want to serve our students well, we have to ask the harder question: What parts of our classroom are tied to purpose—and which ones are just traditions we’ve carried forward because we haven’t stopped to question them?
Learning in a World of Abundant Answers
The truth is: what students need has changed.
They no longer need to memorize terms or cram facts for a test. That information is everywhere. AI can deliver it instantly.
But AI can’t discern quality. It doesn’t know context. It doesn’t teach students how to ask better questions, how to wrestle with ideas, or how to grow when the answer isn’t obvious.
That’s our job.
A post-AI classroom doesn’t eliminate teaching—it deepens it. It shifts the focus from delivering content to designing learning experiences built around the individual needs, differences, and dreams of our students.
What the Post-AI Classroom Actually Looks Like
A post-AI classroom is more than AI literacy. Literacy will only be a problem for the next 5 years. We need to be designing for the AI-native, the class of 2035. Students who will come of age with AI—like my daughter.
Here’s the classroom I want to build:
🔹 A teacher-coded classroom bot.
It already “knows” the semester map—objectives, lesson plans, bell schedules—because the teacher trained it. The bot isn’t some generic tool. It’s built on your vision, for your students.
🔹 Hyper-personalized tutoring in real time.
John gets a baseball-themed game on addition fundamentals; Mary unlocks pre-algebra challenges that stretch her. The bot adapts to what lights them up—and teaches through it. It knows where they excel and what they need to work on.
🔹 Actionable, human-readable data.
Every Friday, the bot returns individual student snapshots: wins, gaps, and next moves. Parents get a tailored progress brief. Teachers see alerts like “Derek is struggling with subtraction” before the next class.
🔹 Teacher time, reclaimed.
Because admin tasks now run quietly in the background, the teacher can meet one-on-one with every student each week, armed with lessons and ideas tailored to where that learner is stuck or soaring. These are co-created with the individual bots to maximize the teacher’s time with each student.
The Teacher’s Role: Not Replaced, Reimagined
Let’s name the fear that bubbles up most often: “If AI can deliver content, am I still needed?”
Yes. More than ever.
Because AI may be the engine, but you’re the architect.
The post-AI teacher isn’t a content delivery system. They’re a designer of experiences. A guide on the learning journey. A translator of insight into meaning. A curator of curiosity.
We offload what AI can handle so we can double down on what only humans can do: connect, adapt, listen, and empower.
The Goal: Agency—for Everyone
If we build this right, the result isn’t just efficiency. It’s agency—for both students and teachers.
Students who know how to learn, not just what to learn. Teachers who aren’t drowning in paperwork, but present and purposeful in the lives of their learners.
We’ve got work to do. But the tools are here. The pilots are starting. The signals are promising.
This moment doesn’t require perfection. It just requires intention.
If you’re already experimenting—keep going. If you’re feeling stuck—reach out.
And if you’re ready to help shape a classroom where technology expands humanity instead of replacing it, I hope you’ll join the conversation.
Because the post-AI classroom isn’t some distant dream.
It’s a co-created future.
And it starts with us.