AI Fluency for Schools, Universities, and Ministries
Schools · Universities · Ministries · Worldwide
Teach students and educators to research with AI, design real projects with AI, and assess learning beyond the essay, all with humans at the center.
We support students and educators with AI fluency. This includes researching with AI, designing learning experiences with AI, and various ways of assessment and planning to integrate student portfolios.
You don't build AI fluency from courses. You build it from projects.
Our Approach
What AI Fluency Looks Like
Every PBL Future Labs engagement, curriculum pack, or course is built around three fluencies we believe every teacher and student needs.
Research with AI
Students learn multiple strategies to use AI for research, including media literacy, digital literacy, interrogating sources, surfacing counter-arguments, and researching with citations. We teach the difference between using AI like a Google search and using AI with purpose and learning, and how to capture that learning and critical thinking process.
Example outcome
A Year 9 student uses NotebookLM to compare twelve primary sources on climate adaptation, then defends a position in a Socratic seminar with no AI in the room.
Design Real Projects with AI
Teachers learn to co-design student-centered, rigorous, standards- and skills-aligned projects with AI, depending on the requirements for the grade. With AI, they can generate driving questions, build scaffolds, and automate parts of the planning that used to eat their evenings.
Example outcome
A middle-school humanities teacher designs a four-week project on local history in a single afternoon, with handouts, rubrics, and differentiated resources ready to ship.
Build Alternative Assessments with AI
Assessment isn't just an essay or a group work project anymore. We help schools design alternative assessments such as oral defenses with AI research, project portfolios, student portfolios, dialogues, speech-to-text reflections, process journals, and performance tasks.
Example outcome
A school replaces its end-of-unit test with a 15-minute viva and a public project showcase, using an AI-built rubric the whole faculty trusts.
AI fluency is built where research, design, and assessment meet, in real projects, with real students, doing real work.
Every engagement, pack, and course we offer is built on these three fluencies. See how we work.
How We Work With You
Three ways to bring AI fluency into your school
Three ways to bring human-centred AI fluency into your school, university, or ministry, whether you're piloting with one classroom or rolling out across a network.
Full Implementation
Consulting Engagements
Custom AI fluency programs designed and delivered with your team.
Best for
Schools, districts, universities, and ministries ready to build a sustained AI strategy with humans at the centre.
What's included
- Discovery, audit, and strategy roadmap tailored to your context
- Live workshops, coaching, and co-design with your educators
- Ongoing advisory across implementation, assessment, and policy
Starts at $6,000 USD
· scoped per engagement
Ready for Monday Morning
Project-Based Curriculum Packs
Drop-in AI projects your teachers can run this week.
Best for
Individual schools, micro-schools, home-school co-ops, and teachers who want proven projects without building from scratch.
What's included
- Full project briefs with student handouts and teacher guides
- Rubrics and alternative-assessment templates aligned to standards
- Prompt libraries for Claude, NotebookLM, Gemini Gems, ChatGPT, and Boodle Box
Starts at $29 per pack
· bundles available
Self-Paced
On-Demand Video Training
Build AI fluency on your own schedule.
Best for
Teachers, parents, learning coaches, and small programs that want practical AI skills without a consultant in the room.
What's included
- Courses on prompting, AI-assisted research, and project design
- Modules on building alternative assessments with AI
- Lifetime access, certificate of completion, and a teacher community
Starts at $49 per course
· team licences available
Not sure which fits? Tell us about your context and we'll point you to the right starting place.
Who We Serve
AI Fluency, Built to Fit
Whether you're a five-student micro-school or a ministry serving a million learners, we build AI fluency programs around the three pillars above. Same principles, different scale.
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, universities, and ministries from 100 to 10,000+ students.
Whether you serve 10 learners or 10,000, we build the implementation to fit. Start the conversation.
For Lean Budgets
AI Fluency Without a Consultant in the Room
Not every school is ready for a full engagement, and they shouldn't have to wait. Our curriculum packs, video training, and toolkits put research, project design, and alternative assessment skills into teachers' hands today.
Project-based curriculum packs
Drop-in AI projects with student handouts, teacher guides, and rubrics. Ready for Monday morning.
On-demand video training
Self-paced courses on prompting, AI project design, and facilitation, for teachers, parents, and learning coaches.
Toolkit & templates
Frameworks, prompt libraries, and assessment templates you can copy, adapt, and ship.
Tool-Agnostic, Practitioner-Tested
Our AI Stack
PBL Future Labs is AI tool-agnostic. We help schools choose the right tools for their context, their policies, and their budget, not the tools a vendor wants to sell them. In our day-to-day implementation work, we primarily support five platforms our practitioners have field-tested with students and teachers worldwide.
Claude
Our go-to for deep research, long-form writing, and Claude Projects and Skills that let teachers package reusable AI workflows for their classrooms.
Google NotebookLM
The fastest way for students to interrogate sources, generate study guides, and turn dense material into audio and visual artefacts.
Gemini Gems
Custom AI assistants teachers can build once and reuse across lessons, with strong integration into the Google Workspace schools already run.
ChatGPT
Broad-purpose AI fluency for prompting, brainstorming, and project ideation, with a maturity curve most teachers and parents already recognise.
Boodle Box
A multi-model classroom platform that lets schools give students safe, structured access to several AI tools through one interface.
Don't see your stack here? We work with whatever your school has chosen, including Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity, and emerging tools. The principle is the same: humans at the centre, AI in support.
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, higher ed, and ministry contexts. He leads the implementation research behind every PBL Future Labs framework and field note.
Phillip Alcock
CEO, Co-Founder, AI Lead
An edtech practitioner and writer whose work on AI in education, covering Claude Projects, Claude Skills, and NotebookLM, reaches over 50,000 impressions every week. With 11,000+ LinkedIn followers, Phillip advises schools, universities, and edtech companies worldwide on putting AI into the hands of teachers and students with humans at the centre.
Global Focus
Where We Work
Headquartered in the USA and Mexico, with active engagements across Europe, the United Kingdom, Latin America, the Middle East, South Africa, Asia, and Australia. Serving schools, universities, and ministries worldwide.
- United StatesActiveNorth Carolina, Iowa
- MexicoActiveHome base
- United KingdomActiveLondon
- EuropeActiveGermany
- Latin AmericaActiveArgentina
- Middle EastActiveDubai
- South AfricaActive
- AsiaActive
- AustraliaActiveTasmania
- CanadaExpanding
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.
Windsor School Bahamas
Nassau, Bahamas
A three-campus independent day and boarding school in Nassau serving students from 18 months to 18 years. Accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Windsor offers a Cambridge-rooted curriculum with cutting-edge courses in Marine Science, STEM, Music, and Business.
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.
Keynote Speaking
ISTE + ASCD
Keynoted on human-centered learning at the intersection of curriculum standards and emerging AI.
Beaconhouse
Keynoted for Asia's largest school network, mapping AI-integrated project-based learning across thousands of sites.
Fayetteville State University
Keynoted the Presidential Challenge on AI and project-based learning, supporting K–12 teachers and facilitators at a historically Black university advancing equity through education.
Metro Toronto Movement for Literacy
Keynoted on AI and project-based learning for community-driven adult literacy and skills development.
Regent Business School
Keynoted on technology-enhanced project-based education for diverse communities in South Africa.
Advisory & Strategy
Stanford University
Advised the GenAI Accelerator Program on integrating project-based learning with AI.
TeachAI
Shaped strategy on responsible AI integration across K–12 systems as part of the core working group.
TeachCraft
Advised on the design of tools that help practitioners build rich, engaging project-based experiences.
Workshops & Webinars
The Circle India
Led a webinar for over 10,000 participants on collaborative, project-driven learning for India's next generation.
ED3 DAO
Presented on open, community-owned project-based learning in decentralized education.
KidsAI
Delivered sessions on AI through project-based learning for Emirates schools, making AI literacy accessible and purposeful.
Human Intelligence Movement
Co-founded and facilitated workshops championing human creativity, empathy, and critical thinking in an AI-driven era.
Get in Touch
Tell us about your school, university, or ministry and we'll reply within 2 business days.