Learning How to Learn in the Age of AI

A few weeks ago, I sat in the middle of Bryant Park for a casual, wide-ranging conversation about what’s happening in education and edtech today. It was unstructured, a bit spontaneous, but exactly the kind of space where you find clarity in complexity.

Here’s what I’ve been thinking about lately, less about what’s flashy in edtech, and more about what’s fundamental.

The Tools That Actually Matter

When people ask me about AI tools, my response is usually:
“A tool is a tool. What problem is it solving?”

That’s the first filter. Not whether it has AI. Not whether it looks slick. Just: Does it make a real difference to learners or educators?

Right now, teachers are overwhelmed. Not by instruction, but by administrative load. Students are distracted and disengaged. Start there.

We don’t need more tools. We need fewer, better ones, and ideally, tools that do multiple things well instead of fragmenting the experience. One of the few products I use heavily is Notebook LM. It changes the nature of learning by turning a static PDF or a video into a conversation. Suddenly, learners are not passive recipients, but they’re active participants. That’s a big leap.

EdTech Shift

The most powerful tools in education right now aren’t just digital, they’re dialogic. AI tools that enable two-way interaction (not just delivery) are redefining what it means to “study.”

How I Think About Trends (Spoiler: I Don’t)

I’m not a fan of the word “trend.” To me, it sounds like something fleeting. In education, we should be building for permanence, scale, and true behavioral change, not chasing buzzwords.

Instead of trend-spotting, I try to identify structural shifts. Two of the biggest right now?

1. Bi-Directional Learning

No more one-way consumption. Learners need to engage, question, and apply.

2. Personalization at Scale

Every learner is different. If tech can’t reflect that, it’s not useful.

Take AR and VR. There’s enormous potential, especially for experiential learning. However, scalability is still a challenge. Hardware issues, motion sickness, and cost all stand in the way. Until we solve that, these tools will remain niche.

We don’t need more demos. We need more deployment.

From My Team to the Industry: Learning Starts With Mindset

I manage a team that’s constantly adapting. The tools we use today weren’t on our radar two years ago. What keeps us going isn’t tool mastery, it’s mindset.

Here’s what I look for when hiring or coaching:

• Curiosity – If you’re not curious, you’re not learning. Period.
• Humility – You have to accept what you don’t know to grow.
• Adaptability – If the first two are present, this comes naturally.

In edtech, we obsess over “lifelong learning” for students, but it’s just as important for us, the builders. We can’t preach what we don’t practice.

Ironically, the more I use AI tools, the more I value human judgment.

What’s good content? What’s great? Most of today’s AI users don’t know the difference. They rely on outputs without context, without critique. That’s dangerous.

AI can give you answers. But can you question them?

I’ve been spending more time thinking about analog skills: discernment, reasoning, nuance. Not because I’m nostalgic, but because AI flattens creativity unless you know how to stretch it.

Content: For Machines or Humans?

I’m constantly reflecting on the content glut. We’re producing more than ever, but does it matter?

We’re entering a space where SEO writing may not even be for search engines anymore, and the terms AEO, GEO, etc., are on the rise. People search less on Google now. They ask ChatGPT or Perplexity. That shifts the content strategy entirely.

So I ask:

• Are you writing for machines or people?
• Is your content something a human wants to read, or just something an algorithm will rank?

I don’t have a final answer. But the people I follow and trust? They’re doing something unique, not replicable. And that might just be the difference.

The Final Question: What Do You Want?

All these tools, all this tech, it’s only useful if you know what you’re optimizing for.

If you don’t know what you want to achieve, AI won’t shorten your workday. It’ll just fill it with more tasks. Start with your purpose. Then use the tools to remove what’s in the way. Learning is the great equalizer. It’s the most powerful force we have, whether you’re in a classroom, a boardroom, or sitting in the middle of a park, wondering what to learn next.