The winds of change are blowing through academia, and at the heart of this transformation lies a powerful force: artificial intelligence (AI).
Once considered a long-standing tradition, universities are turning to innovative AI to enhance learning, personalize the educational experience, and provide students with the skills they need to succeed in a rapidly evolving job market. Technology is increasingly being adopted at the forefront.
How will AI reshape academia to prepare students to thrive in the technology environment of the future?
There are four main impacts of AI on today's Gen Z students:
- AI is poised to fundamentally transform the way academia and universities support student success.
- Ethical considerations such as intellectual property protection and data privacy are at the forefront of today's business conversations.
- Universities play a critical role in preparing students for an AI-driven workforce.
- Continuous learning and adaptability are essential skills in a world where students may have multiple jobs and careers.
To better understand how leading higher education institutions are adapting to and incorporating AI to prepare students for their next opportunity, I spoke with Arizona State University (ASU) and Phoenix Chief Information Officer We reached out to two thought leaders, including Lev Gonik, an expert on the topic. Chris Johnson, CEO of LT, an applied AI expert based at LT, said:
Revolutionizing Gen Z student support and university management
As we watch AI fundamentally change how universities support students, support student success, and enhance academic research and business operations, we see why effective technical support is so necessary. It becomes clearer.
“For us at ASU, our core business is student success,” said ASU CIO Gonick. “We see the work we are doing at ASU as a company-wide venture, starting with leveraging the use of generative AI, among many other AI technologies, to support student success. That is the basis of our efforts.”
Rather than dictating how best to utilize AI in learning and research environments, ASU has looked to faculty and staff to lead innovation in their fields to make a greater impact.
To begin the university's recently announced collaboration with OpenAI, ASU is issuing an innovation challenge for faculty and staff users to accelerate student success, open new avenues of research, and support student achievement. submitted suggestions on how to best leverage ChatGPT Enterprise to streamline organizational processes for . Gonick said more than 150 proposals were submitted in the first phase, with the most prominent ones being considered: using AI to improve operational efficiency and staff training, strengthening learning design capabilities, and supporting academic writing. , and use cases dealing with AI-assisted behavioral health applications. .
Gonick noted that human oversight remains as important as ever to ensure that AI acts as a tool that amplifies human potential rather than replacing it. .
“We believe that AI is a very disruptive and potentially transformative technology, but we are also very focused on the humans in the middle,” he said. I did. “Whether it's faculty or professional staff, we want to keep our focus and attention on student success.”
Prepare today’s Gen Z students for tomorrow’s workforce
It is becoming increasingly clear that the areas of AI and higher education are increasingly intertwined. This is mainly because many jobs in the future are likely to be influenced to one degree or another by AI.
Rather than teaching students specific technologies, it will be even more important to use AI as an accelerator to teach them how to learn.
“Many universities are very cautious in their approach to AI, in part because they don't understand it,” added Chris Johnson. “But in terms of teaching skills, now is not the time to be cautious. We want to educate our students so that when they go out into the world, they are best prepared and best equipped to compete in the marketplace.” thinking about.”
Maximize the impact of innovation through security
Mr. Gonik highlighted key concerns around protecting institutions' intellectual property, ensuring data privacy, and implementing robust security measures. He went on to emphasize the importance of collaboration between the university and industry, citing the collaboration with OpenAI to ensure that ASU's data and intellectual property are protected.
“What we do know is that it's really important, especially for universities and large organizations, to understand that intellectual property is probably one of their base currencies,” Gonick emphasized. did. “Alongside making our security measures as robust as possible, it is clear that the privacy of our employees, and in our case our employees and students, is of paramount importance.”
ASU's goal in the aforementioned ChatGPT Enterprise Innovation Challenge is to provide ongoing support for use cases while leveraging the institution's knowledge core (the faculty, researchers, and staff that distinguish ASU from other organizations and institutions). It's about being at the cutting edge. Discovery and implementation. ASU faculty and staff are leading innovation through Gonick's ASU Enterprise Technology, the university's central IT organization, supporting the secure environment necessary to ensure data privacy.
Pursuing continuous learning
As AI systems evolve, the need for continuous learning becomes paramount. This includes integrating AI awareness into course syllabi and promoting academic integrity practices that recognize the role of AI in research and learning.
“It's great that ASU has access to all these tools, and now our professors need to work harder on how to actually use these tools in their fields,” Johnson said. Ta. “If students don’t understand very good prompting techniques, how to avoid bias, and how to get the most out of it, it’s hard to actually incorporate generative AI into instructional plans in a way that works for students right now. You can't tool.”
As the convergence of AI and academia continues to evolve, a continued focus on collaborative engagement, ethical stewardship, and an unwavering commitment to human-centered values is essential. In balancing innovation and ethics, it is important that universities demonstrate a commitment to leveraging AI to expand and transform human potential.
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