What 2026 Means for Access, Learning, and Work

How AI Is Personalizing Postsecondary Education

What if every student had a tutor who was always available, always personalized, and always ready with the right feedback at the right moment? In this episode of Inside the Learning Experience, host Betheny Gross sits down with Lauren Zito, a senior research scientist at WGU Labs, to explore how AI is transforming postsecondary education — not just as a delivery tool, but as a core part of how courses are designed. They dig into the science behind why timely feedback matters, what personalization actually looks like in practice, and how role-play and simulation are opening up entirely new kinds of learning that weren't possible before. Plus: the "experience gap" facing new workers, and why Lauren believes students need to learn how to learn with AI before they can effectively work with it.

The Future of Postsecondary in the Age of AI: New Pathways, Real Access

What if AI could finally help higher education do what it’s been trying to do for decades? In this episode of Inside the Learning Experience, Betheny Gross and Drew Ceccato discuss how AI is enabling new postsecondary pathways, closer alignment with workforce needs, and expanded access for learners who’ve historically been left out. From degrees to micro-credentials and everything in between, this conversation explores what the future of learning could look like—and what it will take to get there.

What 2026 Means for Access, Learning, and Work

2025 wasn’t just another year for higher education; it was the moment theory turned into reality. Institutions stopped planning for AI and started deploying it. Things broke. New tools emerged. And long-standing assumptions about how students learn, how credentials work, and who controls educational pathways began to crack. In this episode of the Inside the Learning Experience Podcast, we dive deep into our 2025 End of Year Impact Report [https://www.wgulabs.org/posts/reimagining-a-system-that-works-end-of-year-impact-report-2025] to examine how AI is being used to tackle higher education’s most persistent wicked problems.

Designing Proactive Student Support: What Learners Want from AI

What happens when students don’t get the help they need, despite institutions offering robust support services? In this episode of Inside the Learning Experience, WGU Labs researchers unpack what they’re learning from students as they design Stu, an AI-powered student support tool built to proactively connect learners with the right resources at the right time. Betheny Gross is joined by senior research scientists Youngki Hong and Stephanie Reeves to explore why student support services are underutilized, how barriers like belonging, stigma, and awareness shape help-seeking behaviors, and where AI can and can’t step in. Drawing on large-scale surveys, interviews, and early user testing, the conversation highlights critical design insights, equity considerations, and open research questions around personalization, trust, and the role of AI in supporting motivation, belonging, and long-term student success.

Inside an AI Mentor: Powering Personalized Student Support with Data

What does it take to build an AI mentor—and what data should power it? In this episode of Inside the Learning Experience, WGU Labs explores how AI can support students by scaling mentoring, personalizing guidance, and connecting learners to the right resources at the right time.