higher education

Two solid items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 05/06/2026, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, colleges, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, emerging technologies, experimentation, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning theories, memory, productivity / tips and tricks, training / L&D, universities, youth, by Daniel Christian

6 Reasons Universities Are Building Media Labs Now — from edtechmagazine.com by Brad Grimes
Digital production centers help institutions close the gap between academic training and professional practice.

Higher education is undergoing a significant transformation in how it prepares the next generation of media professionals. Across the country, universities are investing in state-of-the-art media labs — facilities built not around traditional classroom instruction, but around the tools, workflows and collaborative environments that define today’s professional production landscape. These spaces represent a fundamental rethinking of what it means to train students for careers in film, animation, gaming and digital storytelling.

What does journalism education look like when AI is starting to do entry-level work? [Caplan]

On 04/25/2026, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, ethics, faculty/staff, higher education, ideas, journalism, morals/values, staying relevant, surviving, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Jeremy Caplan’s post on LinkedIn:

Or see Jeremy’s post on substack — i.e., from wondertools.substack.com.

The Role of Faculty in the University of the Future [Gamby, Kil, Koblic, LeBlanc, Moldoveanu, & Siemens]

On 04/25/2026, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, colleges, communications, community colleges, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, education technology, emerging technologies, faculty/staff, higher education, IT in HE, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, professional development, teaching & learning, United States, universities, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

The Role of Faculty in the University of the Future — from er.educause.edu by Tanya Gamby, David Kil, Rachel Koblic, Paul LeBlanc, Mihnea Moldoveanu, and George Siemens
In the age of AI, the true future of higher education lies not in replacing faculty but in freeing them to do what only humans can—build meaningful relationships, cultivate wisdom, and guide students through the ethical and intellectual challenges machines cannot navigate.

Today, the work of knowledge transfer is often done better, faster, with more precision, and more patiently by AI. These systems can provide nonjudgmental, individualized learning opportunities twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Think of AI as a “genius teaching assistant” who assumes much of the work of basic knowledge transfer, unlocking learning when students get stuck and providing real-time assessment. Such a genius TA would offer faculty dashboards that update student progress, flag those who are struggling, and recommend targeted interventions. These tasks free faculty to focus on building genuine relationships with students, using the classroom to foster human skills, and curating community. This may be the great gift of AI to education. But it requires a profound reimagining of faculty roles—perhaps the single biggest hurdle to reimagining higher education, and equally its greatest opportunity.

A concerned faculty member might hear all this and conclude they are becoming obsolete. The opposite is true. The evolution of faculty roles demands more—not less—of what makes a great teacher.

This means intervening in high-impact moments when the genius TA has not unlocked learning; curating class time to lift students from knowing material to applying it in contexts that require critical thinking, judgment, and discernment; and cultivating the human skills that will be most prized in the age of AI: effective communication, constructive dialogue, empathy, creativity, and professional disposition. Most importantly, it means building genuine relationships with students—that make them feel like they matter—the kind that fuels transformation.

From DSC:
A quick comment on one of the sentences in the article, which asserts:

Centers for teaching and learning, which have long supported faculty development at many institutions, will be among the busiest places on campus in the years ahead.

I would change the word will be to should:

Centers for teaching and learning, which have long supported faculty development at many institutions, should be among the busiest places on campus in the years ahead.

For that statement to be true, centers for teaching and learning need to be well-versed in the tools and pedagogies involved, plus in learning science. Those centers need to have credibility for faculty members to value their services. And that’s just it, isn’t it? The faculty members need to see those centers for teaching and learning as having something that they lack…that they need assistance with. Otherwise, if such centers are just viewed as superfluous, nothing much will change.

Also, my experience has been that if those centers for teaching and learning are in an IT group/department, they should be moved to the academic side of the house instead. Many faculty members don’t value people from IT enough to make changes in how they teach — no matter how qualified those people are. They view those people as “IT” only.

You might also be interested in the other articles in that series:

The “Cognitive Offloading” Paradox [Hardman]

On 04/19/2026, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Asia, colleges, community colleges, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, Europe, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning theories, student-related, teaching & learning, UK, United States, by Daniel Christian

The “Cognitive Offloading” Paradox — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman
New research shows that offloading learning tasks to AI can improve – rather than erode – human thinking and learning

The Rise of the “Offloading Paradox”
In March 2026, the International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education published a study that went beyond the question “does offloading hurt?” and asked a harder one: when students form genuine partnerships with AI — treating it as an intellectual collaborator rather than a passive tool — what actually happens to the way they think and learn? Specifically, do two cognitive responses — critical evaluation of AI outputs (what the researchers call cognitive vigilance) and strategic delegation to AI (cognitive offloading) — compete with each other, or can they coexist?

Based on previous research, Wang and Zhang hypothesised that cognitive offloading would hurt transformative learning. They expected the familiar story: delegation reduces cognitive struggle, struggle is where learning happens, therefore delegation undermines learning.

The study — 912 students across China, Europe, and the United States, using a three-wave time-lagged survey design that measured partnership orientation first, cognitive strategies two weeks later, and learning outcomes two weeks after that — found something more interesting than a simple reversal.

Make learning accessible to all in higher education — from The Times Higher Education

When accessibility is placed at the heart of teaching and learning, rather than treated as a bolt-on, every student benefits. This week’s spotlight guide offers advice on designing universally accessible learning, in-person and online. Find out how to ease the burden of disability disclosure with universal design for learning, better support neurodivergent students and students with hearing or vision issues, design more accessible assessments and ensure digital tools work for all.

Also see:

Dr. Ian Kelleher’s introduction to his paper here on LinkedIn

What the Future of Learning Looks Like in the Era of AI [U of M’s Center for Academic Innovation]

On 04/15/2026, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, apprenticeships, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, collaboration, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, corporate / business world, credentialing, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, internships, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, Michigan, real-world assignments, student-related, teaching & learning, United States, universities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

What the Future of Learning Looks Like in the Era of AI — from the Center for Academic Innovation at the University of Michigan, by Sean Corp

AI & the Future of Learning Summit brings industry, education leaders together to discuss higher education’s opportunity to lead, what students need, and what partnerships are possible

As artificial intelligence rapidly reshapes the nature of work and learning, speakers at the University of Michigan’s AI & the Future of Learning Summit delivered a clear message: higher education must take a leading role in defining what comes next.

One CEO of a leading educational technology company put it like this: “The only bad thing would be universities standing still.”

Universities must embrace their roles as providers of continuous, lifelong learning that evolves alongside technological change.

…
This shift is already affecting early-career pathways. Employers are placing greater emphasis on experience, while traditional entry-level roles are becoming less accessible. There is often a gap between what a credential represents and the expectations of employers.

That gap is particularly evident in access to internships. Chris Parrish, co-founder and president of Podium, noted that millions of students compete for a limited number of internships each year, making it increasingly difficult to gain the experience employers demand.

“If you miss out on an internship, you’re twice as likely to be unemployed,” Parrish said.

More than a quarter of private colleges are at risk of closing, new projection shows [Marcus]

On 04/14/2026, in 21st century, business side of he, change, colleges, faculty/staff, funding / grants, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, higher education, parents/guardians, student-related, surviving, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

More than a quarter of private colleges are at risk of closing, new projection shows — from hechingerreport.org by Jon Marcus
As one Vermont college finishes its last semester, an estimated 442 others may be in trouble

A new estimate projects that 442 of the nation’s 1,700 private, nonprofit four-year colleges and universities, with a combined 670,000 students, are at risk of closing or having to merge within the next 10 years.

More than 120 institutions are at the very highest risk, according to the forecast, by Huron Consulting Group, which analyzed enrollment trends, tuition revenue, assets, debt, cash on hand and other measures. Many are, like Sterling, small and rural.

“We have too many seats. We have too many classrooms,” said Peter Stokes, a managing director at Huron. “So over the coming five to 10 years, this shakeout is going to take place.”

What Are The College Degree Levels? [teachthought.com]

On 04/06/2026, in colleges, community colleges, higher education, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

What Are The College Degree Levels? — from teachthought.com
Overview of associate, bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral, and professional degrees: definitions, and typical length/credit requirements.

The Campus Crisis No One’s Talking About — from linkedin.com by Jeff Selingo

Sports Betting Is Now a Campus-Wide Habit

The headline number: About 60% of 18-to-22-year-olds are engaging in sports betting, a figure that climbs to two-thirds among college students specifically, according to an NCAA-commissioned study.

“It’s sort of a learned behavior for them at a very young age,” Clint Hangebrauck, the NCAA’s managing director of enterprise risk management, told us on the latest episode of Future U. “I do think this could be the next big public health crisis that we’re facing as a country and particularly within higher ed.”
College-age individuals are 3x more likely to develop problematic gambling behaviors than the general population. Gambling often co-exists with other behaviors now prevalent in colleges, such as sleeplessness, binge drinking, drug use, anxiety and depression.

Gambling among college students isn’t confined to athletes. Rather, it’s embedded across campus life, and with athletes often most visible in Division III, where oversight is lighter. Gambling often coexists with—and can exacerbate—other student challenges, from mental health struggles to substance use. If this is the next public health issue on campus, it’s arriving without the same level of attention.

From DSC:
I don’t mean to be self-righteous here. But shame on the older adults who are promoting gambling in any fashion — marketing, advertising, sales, and/or whatever. It’s a cancer in our society, and it’s impacting our youth in a big way (and also older folks as well). I’m not a gambler, but I’m well acquainted with weakness. And the Bible confirms that we all are acquainted with weakness:

Isaiah 53:6

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

The adults out there know it. We are well acquainted with our sins and shortcomings.

Parents want the best for their kids. They don’t want dangerous habits being formed in their children. “Coping skills” that are majorly busted, and can lead to incredibly negative events. And the parents don’t want these habits to be formed at colleges and universities across the nation.

I wish those involved with promoting gambling could be at the dinner tables, or in the bedrooms, or in the living rooms, or in the vehicles out there when a spouse finds out that the other spouse (or significant other) has gambled away a significant amount of the couple’s savings. They no longer have rainy-day funds. They can no longer pay their bills. They no longer have the college funds for their other kids. Emotions erupt, fights begin. Relationships are threatened — and divorces sometimes occur because of this issue/habit.

So if you are involved with promoting gambling, consider reading this article from Jeff Selingo…then go take a long look in the mirror.

The Most Obvious Fix in Education — from michelleweise.substack.com by Michelle Weise
The No-Brainer Nobody’s Doing

We know what better learning looks like. We have known for a while.

Real problems. Real roles. Built-in conflict. Conditions that simulate the messiness of actual work. Reflection that asks not just what did you do but who are you becoming? These are not radical ideas. They are not untested theories. The research is clear, employers are asking for exactly this, and students consistently report that the closest they got to real work was the most valuable part of their education.

So why aren’t universities doing more of it?

That is the question worth sitting with — because the gap between what we know and what we do is not a knowledge problem. It is a design problem, an incentive problem, and if we’re being candid, a courage problem.

Because in the meantime, learners are paying the price. They graduate credentialed but untested. They enter labor markets that want proof of performance and experience, not transcripts. They lack the networks, the exposure, and the scar tissue that comes from navigating real work.

Also relevant, see:

The Apprenticeship (R)Evolution — from insidehighered.com by Sara Weissman and Colleen Flaherty
Once synonymous with hard hats and tool belts, apprenticeships are branching into health care, artificial intelligence, business services, advanced manufacturing and more.

Such programs also challenge stereotypes about apprenticeships—namely that they’re only in construction, an earn-and-learn catchall for traditionally apprenticeable occupations such as bricklayer, plumber, carpenter and electrician. In integrating robotics, automation, machining and logistics, the manufacturing development program is a bridge to understanding how apprenticeships are evolving to support some of the nation’s fastest-growing industries. These include advanced manufacturing, but also health care, information technology and other business services.

Are we not shooting ourselves in the foot with AI and recent college graduates? [Christian]

On 03/24/2026, in 21st century, adjunct faculty, apprenticeships, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, career development, change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, corporate / business world, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, game-changing environment, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), intelligent systems, internships, learning ecosystem, liberal arts, marketplaces, parents/guardians, productivity / tips and tricks, reinvent, skills, society, sociology, strategy, student-related, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, tools, trends, United States, universities, vendors, vocational / trades, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
The types of postings/articles (such as the one below) make me ask, are we not shooting ourselves in the foot with AI and recent college graduates? If the bottom rungs continue to disappear, internships and apprenticeships can only go so far. There aren’t enough of them — especially valuable ones. So as this article points out, there will be threats to the long-term health of our talent pipelines unless we can take steps to thwart those impacts — and to do so fairly soon.

To me…vocational training and jobs are looking better all the time — i.e., plumbers, carpenters, electricians, mechanics, and more.

Can New Graduates Compete With AI? — from builtin.combyRichard Johnson
The increasing adoption of AI automation is compressing early-career jobs. How should new graduates get a foothold in the economy now?

Summary: AI is hollowing out entry-level roles by automating routine tasks, eliminating a rung on the career ladder. New graduates face intense competition and a rising skill floor. While firms gain short-term productivity, they risk a long-term talent shortage by eliminating junior training grounds.

Conversations about AI have covered all grounds: hype, fear and slop. But while some roll their eyes at yet another automation headline, soon?to?be graduates are watching the labor market with a very different level of urgency. They’re entering a world where the old paradox of needing experience to get experience is colliding with a new reality: AI is absorbing the standardized, routine tasks that once defined entry?level work. The result isn’t just a shift in job descriptions or skill-requirements, but rather a structural reshaping of the career pipeline.

Entry-level workers face an outsized disruption to their long-term career trajectories. They have the least buffer to adapt given their lack of relevant job market experience and heightened financial pressure to secure a job quickly with the student-debt repayment periods for recent graduates looming.

Momentum early in one’s career matters, and the first job on a resume shapes future compensation bands and opportunities. It also serves as a signal for perceived specialization or, at minimum, interest. Losing that foothold has compounding effects to one’s career ladder.

Also relevant/see:

New Anthropic Institute to Study Risks and Economic Effects of Advanced AI — from campustechnology.com by John K. Waters

Key Takeaways

Anthropic has launched the Anthropic Institute, a new research effort focused on the biggest societal challenges posed by more powerful AI systems.
The institute will study how advanced AI could affect the economy, the legal system, public safety, and broader social outcomes.
Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark will lead the institute in a new role as the company’s head of public benefit.
The new unit brings together Anthropic’s existing red-teaming, societal impacts, and economic research work, while adding new hires and new research areas.

Across the divide: reimagining faculty-staff collaboration in higher education — from timeshighereducation.com by Saskia van de Gevel
Academic units do best when they harness different viewpoints – from field scientists and curriculum designers to extension professionals – to drive innovation and relevance. Saskia van de Gevel offers proactive advice

Universities are not sustained by individual leaders or isolated units. They are sustained by teams of people who bring different kinds of expertise to a shared mission. When faculty and professional staff collaborate as genuine partners – aligned around outcomes, clear about roles and committed to mutual respect – institutions become more resilient, innovative and effective.

Also from timeshighereducation.com, see:

The five levels of learning designer support — from timeshighereducation.com by Daniel Searson
Learning designers and academics may have different expectations when it comes to collaborating on course design. Here’s how a five-point scale can help
Harness the power of your university librarian in the age of information chaos — from timeshighereducation.com by Ben Meunier
Find out how to tap the mine of knowledge your university library has, for trustworthy research sources, data expertise and information literacy advice
How employability teams can strengthen academic programmes — from timeshighereducation.com by Hanene Duprat
Working like recruitment partners, rather than just career advisers, can help align teaching with industry needs, writes Hanene Duprat
Excerpts:

Again, we don’t send them 200 CVs. We might send 20, but they’re meticulously shortlisted. The employer saves time, the student feels they are being taken seriously and trust builds quickly on both sides.

And because we work closely with employers, we learn something universities often struggle to find out early enough: what the market is asking for now.

What academics need to know: we can’t do this without you
If I could say one thing to academic colleagues anywhere, it’s that employability can’t sit next to the curriculum. It has to live with it.

The benefits of engaging third space practitioners in curriculum development — from timeshighereducation.com by Steve Briggs
Third space practitioners are often overlooked in the curriculum development process, to everyone’s detriment. Here’s a look at the viewpoints they can offer and how to engage them better
Teaching deaf, deafblind and hard-of-hearing students: practical steps that benefit everyone — from timeshighereducation.com by Annelies Kusters
When educators design communication to work across multiple modes from the outset, classrooms become more accessible – and more effective – for everyone, says Annelies Kusters

The Surprising Power Of A Degreeless Career [Perna]

On 03/19/2026, in apprenticeships, career development, colleges, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, higher education, internships, parents/guardians, real-world assignments, skills, student-related, workplace, by Daniel Christian

The Surprising Power Of A Degreeless Career — from forbes.com by Mark C. Perna
Fueled by ballooning tuition and disillusionment with higher education, degreeless careers are on the rise. Here’s how to thrive in today’s workplace without a college degree.

“We are beginning to break down the national narrative that you have to go to college to get a ‘good job’,” says Kathleen deLaski, author of “Who Needs College Anymore?” and founder and chairman of The Education Design Lab. “The fastest growing form of college enrollment is actually short term certificates and certifications at community colleges, rather than degrees.”

But the real dealbreaker is the fast-rising cost of college, especially for the debt-averse Generation Z. “Most folks know someone who is saddled by student debt,” says deLaski. “So they have more of a ‘buyer-beware’ view when considering a four year degree.”

This presents a challenge especially to younger workers, who simply haven’t had the time yet to gain that experience. It’s a catch-22: to land the entry-level job, you must have experience, but to gain that experience, you have to have that entry-level job.

The answer is to expand our definition of work experience. It doesn’t have to be gained in the exact field where you want to be hired, nor does it strictly have to be in an employment setting. “Earning certifications, doing internships and apprenticeships, even volunteering, and leading a team or a project really add authenticity to your resume,” says deLaski.

In other words, work skills gained via personal experience are usually highly transferable to other industries. Work, learning and volunteer experience of any kind—if you can make the case for its relevance—is the new litmus test.

Learning Ecosystems

6 Reasons Universities Are Building Media Labs Now [Grimes]

What Are The College Degree Levels? [teachthought.com]

Across the divide: reimagining faculty-staff collaboration in higher education [van de Gevel]; plus several other items from timeshighereducation.com

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