PBL Future Labs

Project-based learning for the AI era.

Field notes, practical frameworks, and global perspectives for educators building more human, curious, and capable learning communities.

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Who We Serve

Innovation hubs for the next generation of learning

We partner with micro-schools, alternative learning programs, home-school networks, and traditional schools to build AI-powered innovation hubs. From a single learning pod to a network of 10,000 students.

Micro-schools

Project-based AI innovation hubs designed for small, agile learning communities ready to lead the shift.

Alternative learning

Alt learning schools using AI to deepen student-driven inquiry.

Home-school networks

Curriculum and coaching for co-ops and families building serious AI fluency through real projects.

Schools & districts

Scaled implementations for traditional schools and universities from 100 to 10,000+ students.

Whether you serve 10 learners or 10,000, we build the implementation to fit. Start the conversation.

AI and learning design

AI challenges, addressed through learning design

AI is changing how students learn, how teachers teach, and how schools make decisions. PBL Future Labs helps learning communities respond with practical frameworks, professional learning, and project-based experiences that keep human development at the center.

Build confidence without hype or fear

Schools need to make decisions about AI while the tools and public conversation keep changing.

Our frameworks and professional learning help educators and learners build practical understanding and make informed choices about where AI is useful.

Make learning visible when students use AI

AI can produce polished work without showing what a student understands.

We help educators design projects that make student questions, decisions, drafts, feedback, and learning visible.

Use AI to support deeper thinking

Students need opportunities to question, test, and improve ideas rather than accept AI responses at face value.

We help educators plan inquiry projects in which AI supports the work and students remain responsible for their thinking.

Plan for different levels of access

Students and schools may have different devices, connectivity, language needs, and access to AI tools.

We help learning communities shape project designs around their local resources and learners.

Teach students to check AI information

AI systems can produce inaccurate or incomplete answers.

We help educators build source checking, evidence review, and explanation into project work.

Establish responsible student data practices

Schools need to consider privacy when students and staff use digital tools.

Our implementation planning includes responsible tool use and clear routines, shaped around each community's policies and context.

Support teachers without adding unnecessary workload

Teachers need practical ways to explore AI while protecting time for instruction and relationships with students.

We help educators use AI in planning and project design while keeping professional judgment with the teacher.

Connect experiments to school-wide practice

Isolated classroom trials can be difficult to sustain or coordinate.

We help schools connect AI use with curriculum, staff learning, student expectations, and implementation planning.

Keep human development at the center

Efficiency alone is not a sufficient goal for learning.

We help educators design AI-supported projects that make room for curiosity, collaboration, creativity, empathy, and real-world purpose.

Prepare learners to adapt as tools change

Specific AI tools may change, but learners will continue to encounter unfamiliar problems and technologies.

Our project-based experiences give students practice asking questions, evaluating options, creating solutions, and reflecting on their work.

Exploring how AI could support learning in your community?

Tell us about your school, program, or network

Meet the Founders

Advisors and field researchers behind PBL Future Labs.

Thom Markham

Co-Founder & Director of Learning Design

The originator of high-quality, gold-standard project-based learning. A humanistic psychologist and published author, Thom authored the Handbook on Standards-Focused PBL (PBL Works) and, over thirty years, has advised more than six thousand practitioners worldwide on deeper learning across K–12 and higher ed contexts. He leads the implementation research behind every PBL Future Labs framework and field note.

Phillip Alcock

Co-Founder & Director of Emerging Technology

A learning designer and AI workflow builder, Phillip draws on 17 years of ESL and classroom teaching to help schools, universities, and edtech companies turn complex expertise into clearer, more useful learning experiences. With 11,000+ LinkedIn followers, he redesigns learning journeys through project-based, problem-based, and game-based methods, and builds AI-integrated workflows that hold up in practice.

Global Focus

Where We Work

Headquartered in the USA and Mexico, with active engagements across the United Kingdom and Asia-Pacific. Serving schools and universities worldwide.

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Currently expanding engagements worldwide. Get in touch.

Our Partners

Schools, organisations, and platforms we work with worldwide.

Choice Charter School

Iowa, USA

A free Iowa public high school for students who can't or won't return to a traditional brick-and-mortar setting. Choice provides flexible, individualised online learning with mentoring, technology, and personalised pacing to help every learner succeed.

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Engagements & Collaborations

Where Our Work Has Landed

From keynote stages to advisory boards, the founders of PBL Future Labs work with institutions, networks, and AI platforms worldwide to shape how education systems implement AI.

Currently expanding engagements worldwide. Get in touch.