colleges

Students Shadow Alumni at Work and at Home [Mowreader]

On 03/28/2025, in apprenticeships, business, career development, colleges, community colleges, higher education, ideas, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning spaces, student-related, United States, universities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Students Shadow Alumni at Work and at Home — from insidehighered.com by Ashley Mowreader
Learners at Grinnell College can experience a week in the life of a career professional through a homestay job shadow offering.

Job shadows provide students with a low-stakes opportunity to engage in a workplace to gain deeper insight into company culture and daily habits of working individuals.

An externship experience at Grinnell College in Iowa goes one step further and places students in homestays with alumni over spring break, giving them a peek behind the curtain to the work-life balance and habits of alumni in their intended industry.

What trauma-informed practice is not — from timeshighereducation.com by Kate Cantrell, India Bryce, and Jessica Gildersleeve from The University of Southern Queensland
Before trauma-informed care can be the norm across all areas of the university, academic and professional staff need to understand what it is. Here, three academics debunk myths and demystify best practice

Recently, we conducted focus groups at our university to better ascertain how academics, administrators and student support staff perceive the purpose and value of trauma-informed practice, and how they perceive their capacity to contribute to organisational change.

We discovered that while most staff were united on the importance of trauma-informed care, several myths persist about what trauma-informed practice is (and is not). Some academic staff, for example, conflated teaching about trauma with trauma-informed teaching, confused trigger warnings with trigger points and, perhaps most alarmingly – given the prevalence of trauma exposure and risk among university students – misjudged trauma-informed practice as “the business of psychologists” rather than educators.

OpenAI opens OpenAI Academy — A free, online platform to help people gain AI literacy

On 03/28/2025, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, career development, change, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, curriculum, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, economics, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, game-changing environment, global, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), informal learning, intelligent systems, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning ecosystem, multimedia, new media literacies, online learning, online media, online tutoring, Open AI, open courseware and systems, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, skills, social learning / networks, society, staying relevant, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, tools, trends, United States, universities, vendors, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

Students and folks looking for work may want to check out:

AI Career Prep: Resumes and Interviews

Also relevant/see:

OpenAI Launches OpenAI Academy: Free Guide To Understanding AI — from voi.id
OpenAI Launches OpenAI Academy to Drive AI Innovation in Low- and Middle-Income Countries — from startupsvibes.com by Emmaunel Daniji

Online higher education is projected to pass an impressive if little-noticed milestone this year [The Hechinger Report]

On 03/21/2025, in business side of he, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, funding / grants, higher education, leadership, new business models, online learning, parents/guardians, strategy, student-related, teaching online, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Online higher education is projected to pass an impressive if little-noticed milestone this year: For the first time, more American college students will be learning entirely online than will be learning 100 percent in person.

Most college students are taking online classes, but they’re paying just as much as in-person students — from hechingerreport.org by Jon Marcus
Rather than lowering the price, some universities use online courses to subsidize everything else

Online higher education is projected to pass an impressive if little-noticed milestone this year: For the first time, more American college students will be learning entirely online than will be learning 100 percent in person.

Bittner’s confusion about the price is widespread. Eighty percent of Americans think online learning after high school should cost less than in-person programs, according to a 2024 survey of 1,705 adults by New America.

“8 Weeks Left to Prepare Students for the AI-Enhanced Workplace” [Schroeder] + other items re: AI in our LEs

On 03/21/2025, in adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assessment, career development, change, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, curriculum, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, expectations, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, game-changing environment, Google, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, instructional design, intelligent systems, learning, Learning Experience Design, liberal arts, new business models, online learning, pedagogy, personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, research, staying relevant, student-related, surviving, teaching & learning, teaching online, trends, United States, universities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

8 Weeks Left to Prepare Students for the AI-Enhanced Workplace — from insidehighered.com by Ray Schroeder
We are down to the final weeks left to fully prepare students for entry into the AI-enhanced workplace. Are your students ready?

The urgent task facing those of us who teach and advise students, whether they be degree program or certificate seeking, is to ensure that they are prepared to enter (or re-enter) the workplace with skills and knowledge that are relevant to 2025 and beyond. One of the first skills to cultivate is an understanding of what kinds of services this emerging technology can provide to enhance the worker’s productivity and value to the institution or corporation.
…
Given that short period of time, coupled with the need to cover the scheduled information in the syllabus, I recommend that we consider merging AI use into authentic assignments and assessments, supplementary modules, and other resources to prepare for AI.

Learning Design in the Era of Agentic AI — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr Philippa Hardman
Aka, how to design online async learning experiences that learners can’t afford to delegate to AI agents

The point I put forward was that the problem is not AI’s ability to complete online async courses, but that online async courses courses deliver so little value to our learners that they delegate their completion to AI.

The harsh reality is that this is not an AI problem — it is a learning design problem.

However, this realisation presents us with an opportunity which we overall seem keen to embrace. Rather than seeking out ways to block AI agents, we seem largely to agree that we should use this as a moment to reimagine online async learning itself.

8 Schools Innovating With Google AI — Here’s What They’re Doing — from forbes.com by Dan Fitzpatrick

While fears of AI replacing educators swirl in the public consciousness, a cohort of pioneering institutions is demonstrating a far more nuanced reality. These eight universities and schools aren’t just experimenting with AI, they’re fundamentally reshaping their educational ecosystems. From personalized learning in K-12 to advanced research in higher education, these institutions are leveraging Google’s AI to empower students, enhance teaching, and streamline operations.

Essential AI tools for better work — from wondertools.substack.com by Jeremy Caplan
My favorite tactics for making the most of AI — a podcast conversation

AI tools I consistently rely on (areas covered mentioned below)

Research and analysis
Communication efficiency
Multimedia creation

AI tactics that work surprisingly well

1. Reverse interviews
Instead of just querying AI, have it interview you. Get the AI to interview you, rather than interviewing it. Give it a little context and what you’re focusing on and what you’re interested in, and then you ask it to interview you to elicit your own insights.”

This approach helps extract knowledge from yourself, not just from the AI. Sometimes we need that guide to pull ideas out of ourselves.

Who does need college anymore? About that book title … — from Education Design Lab

As you may know, Lab founder Kathleen deLaski just published a book with a provocative title: Who Needs College Anymore? Imagining a Future Where Degrees Won’t Matter.

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 [princetonreview.com]

On 03/12/2025, in assessment, colleges, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, credentialing, Emotion, funding / grants, higher education, learning ecosystem, parents/guardians, participation, society, student-related, United States, universities, user experience (UX), by Daniel Christian

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.
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Introducing NextGenAI: A consortium to advance research and education with AI — from openai.com; via Claire Zau
OpenAI commits $50M in funding and tools to leading institutions.

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.

‘I want him to be prepared’: why parents are teaching their gen Alpha kids to use AI — from theguardian.com by Aaron Mok; via Claire Zau
As AI grows increasingly prevalent, some are showing their children tools from ChatGPT to Dall-E to learn and bond

“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.

Office tasks are being automated now, but nobody has answers on how education and worker upskilling should change. [Fain]

On 03/08/2025, in adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, business, career development, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, disruption, economics, emerging technologies, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, intelligent systems, leadership, learning ecosystem, legislatures / government / legal, lifelong learning, new business models, organizational change, pace of change, policy, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, reinvent, research, skills, society, staying relevant, strategy, student-related, surviving, United States, universities, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

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.
…
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.”

Drive Continuous Learning: AI Integrates Work & Training — from learningguild.com by George Hanshaw

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).

These Schools Are Banding Together to Make Better Use of AI in Education — from edsurge.com by Emily Tate Sullivan

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.’”

Transactional vs. Conversational Visions of Generative AI in Teaching — from elmartinsen.substack.com by Eric Lars Martinsen
AI as a Printer, or AI as a Thought Partner

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

2025 Survey of College and University Presidents
Learn about presidents’ takes on topics such as financial confidence, the 2024 election’s impact on higher ed & more.

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

At least 4 items re: higher education including “How can college leaders navigate mergers and closures in 2025?”

On 02/25/2025, in apprenticeships, business side of he, career development, change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, faculty/staff, higher education, traditional / tradition, United States, universities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

How can college leaders navigate mergers and closures in 2025? — from highereddive.com by Ricardo Azziz
A consolidation expert urges officials to face the facts, explore their strategic options and be willing to accept external help.

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.

12 Trump moves in 4 weeks: What college leaders need to know— from highereddive.com by Natalie Schwartz
The new administration has implemented several policies that have sparked outcry from university researchers and student advcocates.

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Building an AI-Ready Workforce: A look at College Student ChatGPT Adoption in the US — from cdn.openai.com

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.

Leah Belsky | Vice President, Education | OpenAI

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, 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.

Learning Ecosystems

At least 4 items re: higher education including “How can college leaders navigate mergers and closures in 2025?”

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