Dear Commons Community,

InsideTrack published earlier this month its predictions for where higher education is heading in 2024. Here are its top ten trends to follow. 

Trend 1.
Linking education to career paths

Trend 2.
Making sense of the AI explosion‍

Trend 3.
Prioritizing mental health on campus

Trend 4.
Getting creative to support equity‍

Trend 5.
Questioning the ROI of a four-year degree‍

Trend 6.
Paving the path to success for adult learners‍

Trend 7.
Putting staff and faculty burnout on the front burner‍

Trend 8.
Understanding financial aid obstacles in the midst of FAFSA overhaul‍

Trend 9.
Making a case for liberal arts‍

Trend 10.
Focusing on more meaningful metrics

These all seem quite important.  I find Trend 2 (Making sense of the AI explosion) as very pertinent.  I have added its full InsideTrack‘s write-up below.‍

Good info here!

Tony

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Trend 2.
Making sense of the AI explosion

By now it’s clear that the transformative power of AI has come to college campuses. Everyone agrees the technology is powerful, but no one agrees on much else… yet. A recent survey by BestColleges revealed that 56% of college students have used artificial intelligence technology to complete assignments. Concerns over this rapidly growing technology are many: plagiarism, inaccurate information, cheating on exams, and students not learning how to write their own papers or do their own work. But the exploding popularity of AI makes it impossible for colleges and universities to ignore. As a result, most schools are developing campus-wide AI strategies — both for students and for faculty.

Chapman University, for example, has pulled together a best practices sheet using information provided from schools at the forefront of AI usage (Harvard, Stanford, UCLA and Arizona State among them), with official AI policies, as well as guidance for instructors and guidance for students. According to a report from Hanover Research and Inside Higher Ed, the biggest AI issue for many schools centers around the reliability and ethical implications of AI in an educational setting as generative AI systems like ChatGPT can lack context and accuracy. The study cites “establishing clear guidelines” as a crucial step toward harnessing the power of this burgeoning technology, and cautions that rather than implementing bans, institutions should offer guidelines and training to allow faculty to determine whether and how they integrate AI into their classrooms and coursework.

Highlighting the positive, the study lists 10 AI benefits in higher education — benefits that can encourage deeper understanding of the material over rote memorization, foster critical thinking and enhance problem-solving skills. Potential benefits include:

• Personalized learning
• Interactive learning
• Feedback and assessment
• Educational accessibility
• Academic guidance
• Academic integrity
• Efficient study tools
• Real-time query resolution
• Preparation for future careers
• Data-driven insights

The flip side of the coin is that there are, of course, concerns — including the opportunity for misuse in a variety of scenarios. While AI does indeed hold promise for enhancing learning experiences, it’s imperative to address the concerns. The Hanover/Inside Higher Ed study cites six key areas of potential challenges and inherent risks. This includes:

• Lack of transparency
• Accuracy
• Bias
• Intellectual property and copyright
• Cybersecurity and fraud
• Sustainability

So where does this leave us? Now that the initial dystopian brouhaha is receding, many positive uses for the technology are coming to light. Forbes, for example, says that when it comes to teaching new and complex topics, AI offers “the ability to act like an infinitely patient grandmother, never rushing or giving up and going on to the next thing.” Institutions are noting that AI can be used as a powerful classroom aid to make lessons more interactive. And faculty members say the technology can help generate personalized lesson plans and save time on administrative tasks. And this is only the beginning…

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