CMS/LMS

The Other Regulatory Time Bomb — from onedtech.philhillaa.com by Phil Hill
Higher ed in the US is not prepared for what’s about to hit in April for new accessibility rules

Most higher-ed leaders have at least heard that new federal accessibility rules are coming in 2026 under Title II of the ADA, but it is apparent from conversations at the WCET and Educause annual conferences that very few understand what that actually means for digital learning and broad institutional risk. The rule isn’t some abstract compliance update: it requires every public institution to ensure that all web and media content meets WCAG 2.1 AA, including the use of audio descriptions for prerecorded video. Accessible PDF documents and video captions alone will no longer be enough. Yet on most campuses, the conversation has been understood only as a buzzword, delegated to accessibility coordinators and media specialists who lack the budget or authority to make systemic changes.

And no, relying on faculty to add audio descriptions en masse is not going to happen.

The result is a looming institutional risk that few presidents, CFOs, or CIOs have even quantified.

From siloed tools to intelligent journeys: Reimagining learning experience in the age of ‘Experience AI’ [Gonick]

On 10/17/2025, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, changing business models, CMS/LMS, collaboration, colleges, community colleges, digital learning, education, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, faculty/staff, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, memory, multimedia, personalized/customized learning, platforms, student-related, teaching & learning, United States, universities, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

From siloed tools to intelligent journeys: Reimagining learning experience in the age of ‘Experience AI’ — from linkedin.com by Lev Gonick

Experience AI: A new architecture of learning
Experience AI represents a new architecture for learning — one that prioritizes continuity, agency and deep personalization. It fuses three dimensions into a new category of co-intelligent systems:

Agentic AI that evolves with the learner, not just serves them
Persona-based AI that adapts to individual goals, identities and motivations
Multimodal AI that engages across text, voice, video, simulation and interaction

Experience AI brings learning into context. It powers personalized, problem-based journeys where students explore ideas, reflect on progress and co-create meaning — with both human and machine collaborators.

Anthology Declares Bankruptcy, Blackboard to Remain as the Core [Hill]

On 10/01/2025, in CMS/LMS, colleges, community colleges, higher education, teaching & learning, United States, universities, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Anthology Declares Bankruptcy, Blackboard to Remain as the Core — from onedtech.philhillaa.com by Phil Hill
The official Chapter 11 plan is to recapitalize around Blackboard and sell off SIS/ERP and CRM/Student Success to competitors

Anthology Inc., the Veritas Capital-backed education-software provider has sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US after a failed attempt to sell the company or parts of the business outside of court protection.

The company filed for Chapter 11 in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, according to a statement on Tuesday. It listed assets and liabilities of $1 billion to $10 billion each in its petition, court documents show.

As part of the process, the firm will focus on its core teaching and learning business, which will be recapitalized with at least $50 million of new cash and its debt completely written off, Anthology said in a press release. The deal is backed by investors that include Oaktree Capital Management LP and Nexus Capital Management, and expected to be completed by early 2026.

Also see this posting out on LinkedIn:

For you Moodlers out there! MoodleMoot Global Conference Notes 2025 [Morgan]

On 09/29/2025, in CMS/LMS, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, digital learning, education technology, faculty/staff, higher education, learning ecosystem, platforms, teaching & learning, universities, by Daniel Christian

MoodleMoot Global Conference Notes 2025 — from onedtech.philhillaa.com by Glenda Morgan
It’s a long way from Me?rida to Edinburgh
.

Moodle Higher Ed
This kept getting underplayed, probably because its exact shape is still undetermined and it will arrive “soon” (where, to quote Marie, “soon is a relative term”). But it’s big in that Moodle HQ is developing a premium product for higher education.

The Moodle execs were careful to say that Moodle Higher Ed won’t be an LMS, per se.

So over the next few years we’re bringing something new to the Moodle product ecosystem. A tailored solution for higher education. Just as Workplace is a specialized product built on top of Moodle LMS for corporate and government needs, we’re bringing that same philosophy to higher ed with an AI assistance strategy focused on point solutions that deliver real institutional value.

Also from Phil Hill on LinkedIn:

Digital Accessibility with Amy Lomellini — from intentionalteaching.buzzsprout.com by Derek Bruff

In this episode, we explore why digital accessibility can be so important to the student experience. My guest is Amy Lomellini, director of accessibility at Anthology, the company that makes the learning management system Blackboard. Amy teaches educational technology as an adjunct at Boise State University, and she facilitates courses on digital accessibility for the Online Learning Consortium. In our conversation, we talk about the importance of digital accessibility to students, moving away from the traditional disclosure-accommodation paradigm, AI as an assistive technology, and lots more.

“The next chapter in learning’s evolution” [Gonick] + other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 09/17/2025, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, change, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, Google, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, learning spaces, liberal arts, lifelong learning, Microsoft, online learning, Open AI, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, skills, student-related, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, tools, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, user experience (UX), vendors, vision/possibilities, youth, by Daniel Christian

From EdTech to TechEd: The next chapter in learning’s evolution — from linkedin.com by Lev Gonick

A day in the life: The next 25 years
A learner wakes up. Their AI-powered learning coach welcomes them, drawing their attention to their progress and helping them structure their approach to the day. A notification reminds them of an upcoming interview and suggests reflections to add to their learning portfolio.

Rather than a static gradebook, their portfolio is a dynamic, living record, curated by the student, validated by mentors in both industry and education, and enriched through co-creation with maturing modes of AI. It tells a story through essays, code, music, prototypes, journal reflections, and team collaborations. These artifacts are not “submitted”, they are published, shared, and linked to verifiable learning outcomes.

And when it’s time to move, to a new institution, a new job, or a new goal, their data goes with them, immutable, portable, verifiable, and meaningful.

From DSC:
And I would add to that last solid sentence that the learner/student/employee will be able to control who can access this information. Anyway, some solid reflections here from Lev.

AI Could Surpass Schools for Academic Learning in 5-10 Years — from downes.ca with commentary from Stephen Downes

I know a lot of readers will disagree with this, and the timeline feels aggressive (the future always arrives more slowly than pundits expect) but I think the overall premise is sound: “The concept of a tipping point in education – where AI surpasses traditional schools as the dominant learning medium – is increasingly plausible based on current trends, technological advancements, and expert analyses.”

The world’s first AI cabinet member — from therundown.ai by Zach Mink, Rowan Cheung, Shubham Sharma, Joey Liu & Jennifer Mossalgue

The Rundown: In this tutorial, you will learn how to combine NotebookLM with ChatGPT to master any subject faster, turning dense PDFs into interactive study materials with summaries, quizzes, and video explanations.

Step-by-step:

Go to notebooklm.google.com, click the “+” button, and upload your PDF study material (works best with textbooks or technical documents)
Choose your output mode: Summary for a quick overview, Mind Map for visual connections, or Video Overview for a podcast-style explainer with visuals
Generate a Study Guide under Reports — get Q&A sets, short-answer questions, essay prompts, and glossaries of key terms automatically
Take your PDF to ChatGPT and prompt: “Read this chapter by chapter and highlight confusing parts” or “Quiz me on the most important concepts”
Combine both tools: Use NotebookLM for quick context and interactive guides, then ChatGPT to clarify tricky parts and go deeperPro Tip: If your source is in EPUB or audiobook, convert it to PDF before uploading. Both NotebookLM and ChatGPT handle PDFs best.

Claude can now create and edit files — from anthropic.com

Claude can now create and edit Excel spreadsheets, documents, PowerPoint slide decks, and PDFs directly in Claude.ai and the desktop app. This transforms how you work with Claude—instead of only receiving text responses or in-app artifacts, you can describe what you need, upload relevant data, and get ready-to-use files in return.

Also see:

Microsoft to lessen reliance on OpenAI by buying AI from rival Anthropic — from techcrunch.com byRebecca Bellan
Microsoft will pay to use Anthropic’s AI in Office 365 apps, The Information reports, citing two sources. The move means that Anthropic’s tech will help power new features in Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint alongside OpenAI’s, marking the end of Microsoft’s previous reliance solely on the ChatGPT maker for its productivity suite. Microsoft’s move to diversify its AI partnerships comes amid a growing rift with OpenAI, which has pursued its own infrastructure projects as well as a potential LinkedIn competitor.

Ep. 11 AGI and the Future of Higher Ed: Talking with Ray Schroeder

In this episode of Unfixed, we talk with Ray Schroeder—Senior Fellow at UPCEA and Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois Springfield—about Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and what it means for the future of higher education. While most of academia is still grappling with ChatGPT and basic AI tools, Schroeder is thinking ahead to AI agents, human displacement, and AGI’s existential implications for teaching, learning, and the university itself. We explore why AGI is so controversial, what institutions should be doing now to prepare, and how we can respond responsibly—even while we’re already overwhelmed.

Best AI Tools for Instructional Designers — from blog.cathy-moore.com by Cathy Moore

Data from the State of AI and Instructional Design Report revealed that 95.3% of the instructional designers interviewed use AI in their daily work [1]. And over 85% of this AI use occurs during the design and development process.

These figures showcase the immense impact AI is already having on the instructional design world.

If you’re an L&D professional still on the fence about adding AI to your workflow or an AI convert looking for the next best tools, keep reading.

This guide breaks down 5 of the top AI tools for instructional designers in 2025, so you can streamline your development processes and build better training faster.

But before we dive into the tools of the trade, let’s address the elephant in the room:

3 Human Skills That Make You Irreplaceable in an AI World — from gettingsmart.com/ by Tom Vander Ark and Mason Pashia

Key Points

Update learner profiles to emphasize curiosity, curation, and connectivity, ensuring students develop irreplaceable human skills.
Integrate real-world learning experiences and mastery-based assessments to foster agency, purpose, and motivation in students.

Jane Hart’s “Top 100 Tools for Learning 2025” is now available

“One-size-fits-all learning is about to become completely obsolete.” [Miller] + other items re: AI in our LE’s

On 08/05/2025, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, CMS/LMS, collaboration, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, game-changing environment, generational differences, Google, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, internet, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, leadership, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, liberal arts, lifelong learning, Microsoft, neurodivergent/special needs, NVIDIA, Open AI, personalized/customized learning, platforms, podcasting, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, tools, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, usability, user experience (UX), user interface design, vendors, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

One-size-fits-all learning is about to become completely obsolete. — from linkedin.com by Allie Miller

AI in the University: From Generative Assistant to Autonomous Agent This Fall — from insidehighered.com by
This fall we are moving into the agentic generation of artificial intelligence.

“Where generative AI creates, agentic AI acts.” That’s how my trusted assistant, Gemini 2.5 Pro deep research, describes the difference.
…
Agents, unlike generative tools, create and perform multistep goals with minimal human supervision. The essential difference is found in its proactive nature. Rather than waiting for a specific, step-by-step command, agentic systems take a high-level objective and independently create and execute a plan to achieve that goal. This triggers a continuous, iterative workflow that is much like a cognitive loop. The typical agentic process involves six key steps, as described by Nvidia:

AI in Education Podcast — from aipodcast.education by Dan Bowen and Ray Fleming

The State of AI in Education 2025 Key Findings from a National Survey — from Carnegie Learning

Our 2025 national survey of over 650 respondents across 49 states and Puerto Rico reveals both encouraging trends and important challenges. While AI adoption and optimism are growing, concerns about cheating, privacy, and the need for training persist.

Despite these challenges, I’m inspired by the resilience and adaptability of educators. You are the true game-changers in your students’ growth, and we’re honored to support this vital work.

This report reflects both where we are today and where we’re headed with AI. More importantly, it reflects your experiences, insights, and leadership in shaping the future of education.

Instructure and OpenAI Announce Global Partnership to Embed AI Learning Experiences within Canvas — from instructure.com

This groundbreaking collaboration represents a transformative step forward in education technology and will begin with, but is not limited to, an effort between Instructure and OpenAI to enhance the Canvas experience by embedding OpenAI’s next-generation AI technology into the platform.

IgniteAI announced earlier today, establishes Instructure’s future-ready, open ecosystem with agentic support as the AI landscape continues to evolve. This partnership with OpenAI exemplifies this bold vision for AI in education. Instructure’s strategic approach to AI emphasizes the enhancement of connections within an educational ecosystem comprising over 1,100 edtech partners and leading LLM providers.

“We’re committed to delivering next-generation LMS technologies designed with an open ecosystem that empowers educators and learners to adapt and thrive in a rapidly changing world,” said Steve Daly, CEO of Instructure. “This collaboration with OpenAI showcases our ambitious vision: creating a future-ready ecosystem that fosters meaningful learning and achievement at every stage of education. This is a significant step forward for the education community as we continuously amplify the learning experience and improve student outcomes.”

Faculty Latest Targets of Big Tech’s AI-ification of Higher Ed — from insidehighered.com by Kathryn Palmer
A new partnership between OpenAI and Instructure will embed generative AI in Canvas. It may make grading easier, but faculty are skeptical it will enhance teaching and learning.

The two companies, which have not disclosed the value of the deal, are also working together to embed large language models into Canvas through a feature called IgniteAI. It will work with an institution’s existing enterprise subscription to LLMs such as Anthropic’s Claude or OpenAI’s ChatGPT, allowing instructors to create custom LLM-enabled assignments. They’ll be able to tell the model how to interact with students—and even evaluate those interactions—and what it should look for to assess student learning. According to Instructure, any student information submitted through Canvas will remain private and won’t be shared with OpenAI.
…
Faculty Unsurprised, Skeptical
Few faculty were surprised by the Canvas-OpenAI partnership announcement, though many are reserving judgment until they see how the first year of using it works in practice.

2025 Learning System Top Picks — from elearninfo247.com by Craig Weiss

Who is leading the pack? Who is setting themselves apart here in the mid-year?

Are they an LMS? LMS/LXP? Talent Development System? Mentoring? Learning Platform?

Something else?

Are they solely customer training/education, mentoring, or coaching? Are they focused only on employees? Are they an amalgamation of all or some?

Well, they cut across the board – hence, they slide under the “Learning Systems” umbrella, which is under the bigger umbrella term – “Learning Technology.”
…
Categories: L&D-specific, Combo (L&D and Training, think internal/external audiences), and Customer Training/Education (this means customer education, which some vendors use to mean the same as customer training).

“Using AI Right Now: A Quick Guide” [Molnick] + other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 06/23/2025, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, change, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, digital video, education, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, face-to-face, faculty/staff, game-changing environment, Google, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, liberal arts, library / librarians, lifelong learning, memory, metacognition / metacognitive skills, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), new media literacies, online learning, online media, Open AI, personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, tools, traditional / tradition, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, user experience (UX), vendors, vision/possibilities, writing, by Daniel Christian

Thoughts on thinking — from dcurt.is by Dustin Curtis

Intellectual rigor comes from the journey: the dead ends, the uncertainty, and the internal debate. Skip that, and you might still get the insight–but you’ll have lost the infrastructure for meaningful understanding. Learning by reading LLM output is cheap. Real exercise for your mind comes from building the output yourself.

The irony is that I now know more than I ever would have before AI. But I feel slightly dumber. A bit more dull. LLMs give me finished thoughts, polished and convincing, but none of the intellectual growth that comes from developing them myself.

Using AI Right Now: A Quick Guide — from oneusefulthing.org by Ethan Mollick
Which AIs to use, and how to use them

Every few months I put together a guide on which AI system to use. Since I last wrote my guide, however, there has been a subtle but important shift in how the major AI products work. Increasingly, it isn’t about the best model, it is about the best overall system for most people. The good news is that picking an AI is easier than ever and you have three excellent choices. The challenge is that these systems are getting really complex to understand. I am going to try and help a bit with both.

First, the easy stuff.

Which AI to Use
For most people who want to use AI seriously, you should pick one of three systems: Claude from Anthropic, Google’s Gemini, and OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Also see:

Student Voice, Socratic AI, and the Art of Weaving a Quote — from elmartinsen.substack.com by Eric Lars Martinsen
How a custom bot helps students turn source quotes into personal insight—and share it with others

This summer, I tried something new in my fully online, asynchronous college writing course. These classes have no Zoom sessions. No in-person check-ins. Just students, Canvas, and a lot of thoughtful design behind the scenes.

One activity I created was called QuoteWeaver—a PlayLab bot that helps students do more than just insert a quote into their writing.

Try it here

It’s a structured, reflective activity that mimics something closer to an in-person 1:1 conference or a small group quote workshop—but in an asynchronous format, available anytime. In other words, it’s using AI not to speed students up, but to slow them down.
…
The bot begins with a single quote that the student has found through their own research. From there, it acts like a patient writing coach, asking open-ended, Socratic questions such as:

What made this quote stand out to you?
How would you explain it in your own words?
What assumptions or values does the author seem to hold?
How does this quote deepen your understanding of your topic?
It doesn’t move on too quickly. In fact, it often rephrases and repeats, nudging the student to go a layer deeper.

The Disappearance of the Unclear Question — from jeppestricker.substack.com Jeppe Klitgaard Stricker
New Piece for UNESCO Education Futures

On [6/13/25], UNESCO published a piece I co-authored with Victoria Livingstone at Johns Hopkins University Press. It’s called The Disappearance of the Unclear Question, and it’s part of the ongoing UNESCO Education Futures series – an initiative I appreciate for its thoughtfulness and depth on questions of generative AI and the future of learning.

Our piece raises a small but important red flag. Generative AI is changing how students approach academic questions, and one unexpected side effect is that unclear questions – for centuries a trademark of deep thinking – may be beginning to disappear. Not because they lack value, but because they don’t always work well with generative AI. Quietly and unintentionally, students (and teachers) may find themselves gradually avoiding them altogether.

Of course, that would be a mistake.

We’re not arguing against using generative AI in education. Quite the opposite. But we do propose that higher education needs a two-phase mindset when working with this technology: one that recognizes what AI is good at, and one that insists on preserving the ambiguity and friction that learning actually requires to be successful.

Leveraging GenAI to Transform a Traditional Instructional Video into Engaging Short Video Lectures — from er.educause.edu by Hua Zheng

By leveraging generative artificial intelligence to convert lengthy instructional videos into micro-lectures, educators can enhance efficiency while delivering more engaging and personalized learning experiences.

This AI Model Never Stops Learning — from link.wired.com by Will Knight

Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have now devised a way for LLMs to keep improving by tweaking their own parameters in response to useful new information.

The work is a step toward building artificial intelligence models that learn continually—a long-standing goal of the field and something that will be crucial if machines are to ever more faithfully mimic human intelligence. In the meantime, it could give us chatbots and other AI tools that are better able to incorporate new information including a user’s interests and preferences.

The MIT scheme, called Self Adapting Language Models (SEAL), involves having an LLM learn to generate its own synthetic training data and update procedure based on the input it receives.

Edu-Snippets — from scienceoflearning.substack.com by Nidhi Sachdeva and Jim Hewitt
Why knowledge matters in the age of AI; What happens to learners’ neural activity with prolonged use of LLMs for writing

Highlights:

Offloading knowledge to Artificial Intelligence (AI) weakens memory, disrupts memory formation, and erodes the deep thinking our brains need to learn.
Prolonged use of ChatGPT in writing lowers neural engagement, impairs memory recall, and accumulates cognitive debt that isn’t easily reversed.

MOOC-Style Skills Training — from the-job.beehiiv.com by Paul Fain
WGU and tech companies use Open edX for flexible online learning. Could community colleges be next?

Open Source for Affordable Online Reach
The online titan Western Governors University is experimenting with an open-source learning platform. So are Verizon and the Indian government. And the platform’s leaders want to help community colleges take the plunge on competency-based education.
…
The Open edX platform inherently supports self-paced learning and offers several features that make it a good fit for competency-based education and skills-forward learning, says Stephanie Khurana, Axim’s CEO.

“Flexible modalities and a focus on competence instead of time spent learning improves access and affordability for learners who balance work and life responsibilities alongside their education,” she says.

“Plus, being open source means institutions and organizations can collaborate to build and share CBE-specific tools and features,” she says, “which could lower costs and speed up innovation across the field.”

Axim thinks Open edX’s ability to scale affordably can support community colleges in reaching working learners across an underserved market.

Reflections on “2025 EDUCAUSE Students and Technology Report” [Christian]

On 04/14/2025, in accessibility / UDL, adjunct faculty, Alternatives, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), blended learning, career development, CMS/LMS, colleges, communications, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, faculty/staff, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), hybrid learning, instructional design, intelligent systems, IT in HE, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning preferences, neurodivergent/special needs, online learning, student-related, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, technology (general), United States, universities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

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2025 EDUCAUSE Students and Technology Report: Shaping the Future of Higher Education Through Technology, Flexibility, and Well-Being — from library.educause.edu

The student experience in higher education is continually evolving, influenced by technological advancements, shifting student needs and expectations, evolving workforce demands, and broadening sociocultural forces. In this year’s report, we examine six critical aspects of student experiences in higher education, providing insights into how institutions can adapt to meet student needs and enhance their learning experience and preparation for the workforce:

Satisfaction with Technology-Related Services and Supports
Modality Preferences
Hybrid Learning Experiences
Generative AI in the Classroom
Workforce Preparation
Accessibility and Mental Health

DSC: Shame on higher ed for not preparing students for the workplace (see below). You’re doing your students wrong…again. Not only do you continue to heap a load of debt on their backs, but you’re also continuing to not get them ready for the workplace. So don’t be surprised if eventually you’re replaced by a variety of alternatives that students will flock towards.
.

DSC: And students don’t have a clue as to what awaits them in the workplace — they see AI-powered tools and technologies at an incredibly low score of only 3%. Yeh, right. You’ll find out. Here’s but one example from one discipline/field of work –> Thomson Reuters Survey: Over 95% of Legal Professionals Expect Gen AI to Become Central to Workflow Within Five Years

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Figure 15. Competency Areas Expected to Be Important for Career

Reflections on “Are You Ready for the AI University? Everything is about to change.” [Latham]

On 04/10/2025, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, accreditation, adjunct faculty, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assessment, Blockchain, bots, career development, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, collaboration, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, cost of getting a degree, credentialing, culture, curriculum, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, Design Thinking, digital learning, disruption, education technology, emerging technologies, Emotion, engagement / engaging students, expectations, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, global / globalization, Google, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), IBM, ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, leadership, learner profiles, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, learning spaces, liberal arts, lifelong learning, MBA, Michigan, new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, organizational change, pace of change, pedagogy, personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, reinvent, skills, society, staying relevant, strategy, student-related, surviving, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, tools, trends, United States, universities, usability, user experience (UX), virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, workplace, by Daniel Christian

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Are You Ready for the AI University? Everything is about to change. — from chronicle.com by Scott Latham

Over the course of the next 10 years, AI-powered institutions will rise in the rankings. US News & World Report will factor a college’s AI capabilities into its calculations. Accrediting agencies will assess the degree of AI integration into pedagogy, research, and student life. Corporations will want to partner with universities that have demonstrated AI prowess. In short, we will see the emergence of the AI haves and have-nots.
…
What’s happening in higher education today has a name: creative destruction. The economist Joseph Schumpeter coined the term in 1942 to describe how innovation can transform industries. That typically happens when an industry has both a dysfunctional cost structure and a declining value proposition. Both are true of higher education.
…
Out of the gate, professors will work with technologists to get AI up to speed on specific disciplines and pedagogy. For example, AI could be “fed” course material on Greek history or finance and then, guided by human professors as they sort through the material, help AI understand the structure of the discipline, and then develop lectures, videos, supporting documentation, and assessments.
…
In the near future, if a student misses class, they will be able watch a recording that an AI bot captured. Or the AI bot will find a similar lecture from another professor at another accredited university. If you need tutoring, an AI bot will be ready to help any time, day or night. Similarly, if you are going on a trip and wish to take an exam on the plane, a student will be able to log on and complete the AI-designed and administered exam. Students will no longer be bound by a rigid class schedule. Instead, they will set the schedule that works for them.

Early and mid-career professors who hope to survive will need to adapt and learn how to work with AI. They will need to immerse themselves in research on AI and pedagogy and understand its effect on the classroom.

From DSC:
I had a very difficult time deciding which excerpts to include. There were so many more excerpts for us to think about with this solid article. While I don’t agree with several things in it, EVERY professor, president, dean, and administrator working within higher education today needs to read this article and seriously consider what Scott Latham is saying.

Change is already here, but according to Scott, we haven’t seen anything yet. I agree with him and, as a futurist, one has to consider the potential scenarios that Scott lays out for AI’s creative destruction of what higher education may look like. Scott asserts that some significant and upcoming impacts will be experienced by faculty members, doctoral students, and graduate/teaching assistants (and Teaching & Learning Centers and IT Departments, I would add). But he doesn’t stop there. He brings in presidents, deans, and other members of the leadership teams out there.

There are a few places where Scott and I differ.

The foremost one is the importance of the human element — i.e., the human faculty member and students’ learning preferences. I think many (most?) students and lifelong learners will want to learn from a human being. IBM abandoned their 5-year, $100M ed push last year and one of the key conclusions was that people want to learn from — and with — other people:

To be sure, AI can do sophisticated things such as generating quizzes from a class reading and editing student writing. But the idea that a machine or a chatbot can actually teach as a human can, he said, represents “a profound misunderstanding of what AI is actually capable of.”

Nitta, who still holds deep respect for the Watson lab, admits, “We missed something important. At the heart of education, at the heart of any learning, is engagement. And that’s kind of the Holy Grail.”

— Satya Nitta, a longtime computer researcher at
IBM’s Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY
.

By the way, it isn’t easy for me to write this. As I wanted AI and other related technologies to be able to do just what IBM was hoping that it would be able to do.

Also, I would use the term learning preferences where Scott uses the term learning styles.

Scott also mentions:

“In addition, faculty members will need to become technologists as much as scholars. They will need to train AI in how to help them build lectures, assessments, and fine-tune their classroom materials. Further training will be needed when AI first delivers a course.”

It has been my experience from working with faculty members for over 20 years that not all faculty members want to become technologists. They may not have the time, interest, and/or aptitude to become one (and vice versa for technologists who likely won’t become faculty members).

That all said, Scott relays many things that I have reflected upon and relayed for years now via this Learning Ecosystems blog and also via The Learning from the Living [AI-Based Class] Room vision — the use of AI to offer personalized and job-relevant learning, the rising costs of higher education, the development of new learning-related offerings and credentials at far less expensive prices, the need to provide new business models and emerging technologies that are devoted more to lifelong learning, plus several other things.

So this article is definitely worth your time to read, especially if you are working in higher education or are considering a career therein!

Addendum later on 4/10/25:

U-M’s Ross School of Business, Google Public Sector launch virtual teaching assistant pilot program — from news.umich.edu by Jeff Karoub; via Paul Fain

Google Public Sector and the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business have launched an advanced Virtual Teaching Assistant pilot program aimed at improving personalized learning and enlightening educators on artificial intelligence in the classroom.

The AI technology, aided by Google’s Gemini chatbot, provides students with all-hours access to support and self-directed learning. The Virtual TA represents the next generation of educational chatbots, serving as a sophisticated AI learning assistant that instructors can use to modify their specific lessons and teaching styles.

The Virtual TA facilitates self-paced learning for students, provides on-demand explanations of complex course concepts, guides them through problem-solving, and acts as a practice partner. It’s designed to foster critical thinking by never giving away answers, ensuring students actively work toward solutions.

The Learning & Development Global Sentiment Survey 2025 [Taylor]

On 02/20/2025, in 21st century, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Asia, Augmented Reality (AR), Australia, business, Canada, change, CMS/LMS, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, Europe, experimentation, faculty/staff, game-changing environment, generational differences, global / globalization, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning preferences, lifelong learning, microlearning, personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, skills, technology (general), training / L&D, trends, UK, United States, universities, vendors, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

The Learning & Development Global Sentiment Survey 2025 — from donaldhtaylor.co.uk by Don Taylor

The L&D Global Sentiment Survey, now in its 12th year, once again asked two key questions of L&D professionals worldwide:

What will be hot in workplace learning in 2025?
What are your L&D challenges in 2025?

For the obligatory question on what they considered ‘hot’ topics, respondents voted for one to three of 15 suggested options, plus a free text ‘Other’ option. Over 3,000 voters participated from nearly 100 countries. 85% shared their challenges for 2025.

The results show more interest in AI, a renewed focus on showing the value of L&D, and some signs of greater maturity around our understanding of AI in L&D.

State of Higher Ed LMS Market for US and Canada: Year-End 2024 Edition — from onedtech.philhillaa.com by Phil Hill
Less about market share and more about diverging strategy
.

Learning Ecosystems

Anthology Declares Bankruptcy, Blackboard to Remain as the Core [Hill]

For you Moodlers out there! MoodleMoot Global Conference Notes 2025 [Morgan]

MOOC-Style Skills Training [Fain]

State of Higher Ed LMS Market for US and Canada: Year-End 2024 Edition [Hill]

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