Kathleen is asked about the title in every media interview, before and since the Feb. 25 book release. “It has generated a lot of questions,” she said in our recent book chat. “I tell people to focus on the word, ‘who.’ Who needs college anymore? That’s in keeping with the design thinking frame, where you look at the needs of individuals and what needs are not being met.”
In the same conversation, Kathleen reminded us that only 38% of American adults have a four-year degree. “We never talk about the path to the American dream for the rest of folks,” she said. “We currently are not supporting the other really interesting pathways to financial sustainability — apprenticeships, short-term credentials. And that’s really why I wrote the book, to push the conversation around the 62% of who we call New Majority Learners at the Lab, the people for whom college was not designed.” Watch the full clip
She distills the point into one sentence in this SmartBrief essay: “The new paradigm is a ‘yes and’ paradigm that embraces college and/or other pathways instead of college or bust.”
What can colleges do moving forward? In this excellent Q&A with Inside Higher Ed, Kathleen shares her No. 1 suggestion: “College needs to be designed as a stepladder approach, where people can come in and out of it as they need, and at the very least, they can build earnings power along the way to help afford a degree program.”
In her Hechinger Report essay, Kathleen lists four more steps colleges can take to meet the demand for more choices, including “affordability must rule.”
From white-collar apprenticeships and micro-credential programs at local community colleges to online bootcamps, self-instruction using YouTube, and more—students are forging alternative paths to GREAT high-paying jobs. (source)
2025 College Hopes & Worries Survey Report — from princetonreview.com We surveyed 9,317 college applicants and parents about their dream schools and their biggest college admission and financial aid challenges. .
Today, we’re launching NextGenAI, a first-of-its-kind consortium with 15 leading research institutions dedicated to using AI to accelerate research breakthroughs and transform education.
AI has the power to drive progress in research and education—but only when people have the right tools to harness it. That’s why OpenAI is committing $50M in research grants, compute funding, and API access to support students, educators, and researchers advancing the frontiers of knowledge.
Uniting institutions across the U.S. and abroad, NextGenAI aims to catalyze progress at a rate faster than any one institution would alone. This initiative is built not only to fuel the next generation of discoveries, but also to prepare the next generation to shape AI’s future.
“My goal isn’t to make him a generative AI wizard,” White said. “It’s to give him a foundation for using AI to be creative, build, explore perspectives and enrich his learning.”
White is part of a growing number of parents teaching their young children how to use AI chatbots so they are prepared to deploy the tools responsibly as personal assistants for school, work and daily life when they’re older.
Blind Spot on AI — from the-job.beehiiv.com by Paul Fain Office tasks are being automated now, but nobody has answers on how education and worker upskilling should change.
Students and workers will need help adjusting to a labor market that appears to be on the verge of a historic disruption as many business processes are automated. Yet job projections and policy ideas are sorely lacking.
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The benefits of agentic AI are already clear for a wide range of organizations, including small nonprofits like CareerVillage. But the ability to automate a broad range of business processes means that education programs and skills training for knowledge workers will need to change. And as Chung writes in a must-read essay, we have a blind spot with predicting the impacts of agentic AI on the labor market.
“Without robust projections,” he writes, “policymakers, businesses, and educators won’t be able to come to terms with how rapidly we need to start this upskilling.”
Imagine with me for a moment: Training is no longer confined to scheduled sessions in a classroom, an online module or even a microlearning you click to activate during your workflow. Imagine training being delivered because the system senses what you are doing and provides instructions and job aids without you having to take an action.
The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) and wearable technology has made it easier than ever to seamlessly integrate learning directly into the workflow. Smart glasses, earpieces, and other advanced devices are redefining how employees gain knowledge and skills by delivering microlearning moments precisely when and where they are needed.
AI plays a crucial role in this transformation by sensing the optimal moment to deliver the training through augmented reality (AR).
Kennelly and Geraffo are part of a small team at their school in Denver, DSST: College View High School, that is participating in the School Teams AI Collaborative, a year-long pilot initiative in which more than 80 educators from 19 traditional public and charter schools across the country are experimenting with and evaluating AI-enabled instruction to improve teaching and learning.
The goal is for some of AI’s earliest adopters in education to band together, share ideas and eventually help lead the way on what they and their colleagues around the U.S. could do with the emerging technology.
“Pretty early on we thought it was going to be a massive failure,” says Kennelly of last semester’s project. “But it became a huge hit. Students loved it. They were like, ‘I ran to second period to build this thing.’”
As writing instructors, we have a choice in how we frame AI for our students. I invite you to:
Experiment with AI as a conversation partner yourself before introducing it to students
Design assignments that leverage AI’s strengths as a thought partner rather than trying to “AI-proof” your existing assignments
Explicitly teach students how to engage in productive dialogue with AI—how to ask good questions, challenge AI’s assumptions, and use it to refine rather than replace their thinking
Share your experiences, both positive and negative, with colleagues to build our collective understanding of effective AI integration
Inside Higher Ed’s 2025 Survey of College and University Presidents was conducted by Hanover Research. The survey asked presidents from 298 public and private, largely nonprofit two- and four-year institutions timely questions on the following issues:
General financial and economic confidence, plus mergers and acquisitions
Politics, policy and the 2024 election’s impact on higher education
Public perceptions of higher ed and the value of a degree
Campus speech
Race on campus
Artificial intelligence
Environmental sustainability goals
Campus health and wellness, including student mental health
Management, governance and the hardest part about being a president
This work leads me to desire three wishes for higher education leaders in 2025, namely that they:
Be disposed to accepting the facts.
Be willing to explore all strategic options.
Be agreeable to accepting external help.
Northland College to close after turnaround falls short — from highereddive.com by Ben Unglesbee Despite recent restructuring efforts, the Wisconsin nonprofit’s board chair said it couldn’t weather “economic and demographic storms” hitting the sector.
One finding from our student survey that stood out to us: Many college and university students are teaching themselves and their friends about AI without waiting for their institutions to provide formal AI education or clear policies about the technology’s use. The education ecosystem is in an important moment of exploration and learning, but the rapid adoption by students across the country who haven’t received formalized instruction in how and when to use the technology creates disparities in AI access and knowledge.
The enclosed snapshot of how young people are using ChatGPT provides insight into the state of AI use among America’s college-aged students. We also include actionable proposals to help address adoption gaps. We hope these insights and proposals can inform research and policy conversation across the nation’s education ecosystem about how to achieve outcomes that support our students, our workforce, and the economy. By improving literacy, expanding access, and implementing clear policies, policymakers and educators can better integrate AI into our educational infrastructure and ensure that our workforce is ready to both sustain and benefit from our future with AI.
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.
AI in K12: Today’s Breakthroughs and Tomorrow’s Possibilities (webinar) How AI is Transforming Classrooms Today and What’s Next
Audio-Based Learning 4.0— from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman A new & powerful way to leverage AI for learning?
At the end of all of this my reflection is that the research paints a pretty exciting picture – audio-based learning isn’t just effective, it’s got some unique superpowers when it comes to boosting comprehension, ramping up engagement, and delivering feedback that really connects with learners.
While audio has been massively under-used as a mode of learning, especially compared to video and text, we’re at an interesting turning point where AI tools are making it easier than ever to tap into audio’s potential as a pedagogical tool.
What’s super interesting is how the solid research backing audio’s effectiveness is and how well this is converging with these new AI capabilities.
From DSC: I’ve noticed that I don’t learn as well via audio-only based events. It can help if visuals are also provided, but I have to watch the cognitive loads. My processing can start to get overloaded — to the point that I have to close my eyes and just listen sometimes. But there are people I know who love to listen to audiobooks and prefer to learn that way. They can devour content and process/remember it all. Audio is a nice change of pace at times, but I prefer visuals and reading often times. It needs to be absolutely quiet if I’m tackling some new information/learning.
In Conversation With… Ashton Cousineau — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman A new video series exploring how L&D professionals are working with AI on the ground
In Conversation With… Ashton Cousineau by Dr Philippa Hardman
A new video series exploring how L&D professionals are working with AI on the ground
AI-Infused Learning Design – A structured approach to AI-enhanced assignments using a three-step model for AI integration.
Mathematical Dance and Creativity in STEAM – Using AI-powered motion capture to translate dance movements into mathematical models.
AI-Generated Instructional Videos – How adaptive AI-powered video learning enhances problem-solving and knowledge retention.
Immersive Language Learning with XR & AI – A new framework for integrating AI-driven conversational agents with Extended Reality (XR) for task-based language learning.
Decision-Making in Learning Design – A scoping review on how instructional designers navigate complex instructional choices and make data-driven decisions.
Interactive E-Books and Engagement – Examining the impact of interactive digital books on student motivation, comprehension, and cognitive engagement.
Elevating Practitioner Voices in Instructional Design – A new initiative to amplify instructional designers’ contributions to research and innovation.
Here’s a quick teaser of key developments in the world of AI & learning this month:
DeepSeek R-1, OpenAI’s Deep Seek & Perplexity’s ‘Deep Research’ are the latest additions to a growing number of “reasoning models” with interesting implications for evidence-based learning design & development.
The U.S. Education Dept release an AI Toolkit and a fresh policy roadmap enabling the adoption of AI use in schools.
Anthropic Release “Agentic Claude”, another AI agent that clicks, scrolls, and can even successfully complete e-learning courses…
Oxford University Announce the AIEOU Hub, a research-backed research lab to support research and implementation on AI in education.
“AI Agents Everywhere”: A Forbes peek at how agentic AI will handle the “boring bits” of classroom life.
[Bias klaxon!] Epiphany AI: My own research leads to the creation of a specialised, “pedagogy first” AI co-pilot for instructional design marking the continued growth of specialised AI tools designed for specific industries and workflows.
Through my work with leading educational institutions at Kaltura, I’ve seen firsthand how AI agents are rapidly becoming indispensable. These agents alleviate the mounting burdens on educators and provide new generations of tech-savvy students with accessible, personalized learning, giving teachers the support they need to give their students the personalized attention and engagement they deserve.
This HQ includes all of my AI guides, organized by tool/platform. This list is updated each time a new one is released, and outdated guides are removed/replaced over time.
Artificial intelligence is poised to fundamentally change the job of teaching. AI-powered tools can shave hours off the amount of time teachers spend grading, lesson-planning, and creating materials. AI can also enrich the lessons they deliver in the classroom and help them meet the varied needs of all students. And it can even help bolster teachers’ own professional growth and development.
Despite all the promise of AI, though, experts still urge caution as the technology continues to evolve. Ethical questions and practical concerns are bubbling to the surface, and not all teachers feel prepared to effectively and safely use AI.
In this special report, see how early-adopter teachers are using AI tools to transform their daily work, tackle some of the roadblocks to expanded use of the technology, and understand what’s on the horizon for the teaching profession in the age of artificial intelligence.
The California State University system has partnered with OpenAI to launch the largest deployment of AI in higher education to date.
The CSU system, which serves nearly 500,000 students across 23 campuses, has announced plans to integrate ChatGPT Edu, an education-focused version of OpenAI’s chatbot, into its curriculum and operations. The rollout, which includes tens of thousands of faculty and staff, represents the most significant AI deployment within a single educational institution globally.
We’re still in the early stages of AI adoption in education, and it is critical that the entire ecosystem—education systems, technologists, educators, and governments—work together to ensure that all students globally have access to AI and develop the skills to use it responsibly
Leah Belsky, VP and general manager of education at OpenAI.
As you read through these use cases, you’ll notice that each one addresses multiple tasks from our list above.
1. Researching a topic for a lesson
2. Creating Tasks For Practice
3. Creating Sample Answers
4. Generating Ideas
5. Designing Lesson Plans
6. Creating Tests
7. Using AI in Virtual Classrooms
8. Creating Images
9. Creating worksheets
10. Correcting and Feedback
Bellebuono’s story isn’t unique. A recent study from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported the widest unemployment gap between new graduates and experienced degree holders since the 1990s.
The struggle to find work
The unemployment gap is partly due to the increase in competition and changing employer expectations, said David Deming, professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School.
…
Skill requirements for entry-level roles are higher today than a decade ago, he said. But the change has been gradual from year to year.
Five things to know before you launch a research podcast — from timeshighereducation.com by David Allan and Andrew Murray Starting a podcast can open up your research to a new audience. David Allan and Andrew Murray show how
Launching a podcast isn’t necessarily difficult. Sustaining it, on the other hand, is difficult. You’re entering a crowded market – it’s estimated that there are more than 4 million of them – and audience share is far from equal. An alarmingly high number fail to make it past their third episode before being scrapped, and the vast majority put out fewer than 20 episodes.
Despite these challenges, podcasts can be an astonishingly effective tool to promote research or academic knowledge. If you avoid the many pitfalls, you have a communication tool with full control of the message; a tool that exists in perpetuity, drawing attention to the work that you do.
Here, a highly experienced podcast producer and associate lecturer at the University of the West of Scotland and an award-winning former broadcast journalist draw on their experiences to share advice on how to successfully launch a research podcast.
Also from timeshighereducation.com:
An introvert’s guide to networking — from by Yalinu Poya For academics, networking can greatly enhance your career. But if the very idea fills you with dread, Yalinu Poya offers her advice for putting yourself out there
In academia, meeting the right person can lead to a research collaboration, or it could lead to your work being shared with someone who can use it to make a difference. It could lead to public speaking opportunities or even mentorship. It all goes towards your long-term success.
For some of us, the idea of putting yourself out there in that way – of making an active effort to meet new people – is terrifying.
While 86% of faculty see themselves using AI in their future teaching [p. 21], only 6% strongly agree that their institutions have provided sufficient resources to develop their AI literacy [p. 35].
This is a concerning gap between the recognized power of AI and institutional support, and it’s a clear signal about where higher education needs to focus in 2025.
Speaking with faculty about AI around the world, I’ve seen this firsthand. But let’s dig into the survey’s findings. .
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Why the gap? Well, one explanation is that faculty lack institutional support.
The survey reveals that…
80% of faculty don’t find their institutional AI guidelines comprehensive [p. 32]
80% say their institutions haven’t made clear how AI can be used in teaching [p. 33]
The top barrier to AI adoption, at 40%? “I don’t have time or resources to explore AI” [p. 9]
The second-highest barrier, at 38%? “I am not sure how to use AI in my teaching” [p. 9]
From DSC:
I was in a teaching and learning group for 10+ years (and in several edtech-related positions before that). We had a senior staff established there but we were mainly called upon for edtech, instructional technology, learning spaces, or LMS types of tasks and questions. Though we could have brought a lot of value to the pedagogical table, the vast majority of the faculty wanted to talk to other faculty members. Our group’s hard-earned — and expensive — expertise didn’t count. We ourselves were teaching classes..but not enough to be on par with the faculty members (at least in their minds). They didn’t seek us out. Perhaps we should have gone door to door, but we didn’t have the resources to do that.
Book groups were effective when the T&L group met with faculty members to discuss things. The discussions were productive. And in those groups, we DID have a seat at the pedagogical table.
But I’m not going to jump on the “we don’t have enough support” bandwagon. Faculty members seek out other faculty members. In many cases, if you aren’t faculty, you don’t count.
So if I were still working and I was in a leadership position, I would sponsor some book study groups with faculty and personnel from teaching and learning centers. Topics for those books could be:
