universities

New tests show that AI can design like an expert Instructional Designer: so what next? [Hardman]

On 10/16/2026, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, education, 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, IT in HE, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, Open AI, tools, United States, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Here is Phillipa’s posting on LinkedIn.

Light Bulb Moments from 100 Episodes — from intentionalteaching.buzzsprout.com by Derek Bruff

Per Derek:

Welcome to the 100th episode of Intentional Teaching! I am very excited to reach this milestone, and I am deeply grateful to all my guests and all my listeners for making this possible. I learn so much from my guests, and I’m thrilled to know that folks out there appreciate the interviews and the show.

In this 100th episode, I take a look back at some of the light bulb moments I’ve had interviewing guests over the last four years. What quotes and ideas and examples have really stuck with me and informed my work?

My hope is that you’ll find these moments interesting and perhaps useful to your work in higher education, and that this clip show might interest you in digging into the podcast archives and listening to some older episodes.

The Reinvention of Liberal Arts Colleges — from educationnext.org by Jon Marcus; via Ryan Craig
To remain relevant amid evolving attitudes toward higher education, Brandeis University and institutions like it are redefining their purpose

By the fall, the university will have reorganized itself into four new schools that bring together existing professional programs in areas such as business, technology, and public policy with liberal arts disciplines including history, biology, philosophy, and sociology. Before the first semester starts, each arriving student will be assigned not only an academic adviser, but also a career counselor. And in what has become the most prominent symbol of the strategy, graduates will leave with “career-competency” transcripts alongside their conventional ones, listing what skills they have learned that employers value, from communicating and writing to proficiency with AI. This second transcript also will include internships and jobs students have held as well as microcredentials, which the university now gives them a chance to earn, at no additional cost, in digital-knowledge-economy subjects such as data analytics and statistical analysis.

Let’s record the durable skills. Let’s record the life skills. Let’s record the career skills.” That way, employers will understand exactly what students have been taught to do—as will students themselves.

…
The liberal arts are in a quiet crisis of their own. The number of bachelor’s degrees awarded in the liberal arts—generally defined as a broad education offering majors in humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and math—fell to a 30-year low in 2024, the latest period for which data are available, according to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. That was 30 percent below the peak in 2012. Students have instead been choosing majors in subjects they consider tied directly to careers, including business, management, and health professions.

Online Course Video Statistics — from markstudios.com by Mark Santos

“Every figure on this page links to the organization that produced it, and each was re-checked against that source before publishing. How many people take online courses, how big the platforms are, how long course videos actually hold attention, how many learners finish, what the money looks like, and which popular online course statistics do not survive being traced to their origin.”
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How to spot bias in your own teaching – and what to do about it [Folayan]

On 10/08/2026, in adjunct faculty, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), faculty/staff, higher education, ideas, pedagogy, student-related, teaching & learning, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

How to spot bias in your own teaching – and what to do about it — from timeshighereducation.com by Dami Folayan
Bias can materialise as a set of habits no one thought to question. Here’s how to look at your own teaching with clear eyes

Bias in higher education rarely announces itself, but this hidden problem is within a lecturer’s power to put right.

Imagine a criminology lecture on violent offenders, where the slide shows a young Black man in a hoodie. There might not be intended harm or overt racism behind the choice, but that stock image has taught the class something the syllabus never intended: who to picture when we think of a criminal.

Bias takes many forms, and in my research on race, gender and inequality in higher education, it rarely shows up as overt hostility. Far more often, it’s a habit no one has stopped to question, in how we choose examples, award marks and decide who we expect to struggle, whether along lines of race, gender, class or disability.

This bias shapes outcomes because a student who feels out of place gets less from a course than one who thinks it was made for them. These habits sit within our own teaching, so they’re ours to correct.

[Gifted article] Most college students get grants. See how they cut the price at 2,100 schools. [Wallack, Moriarty & Douglas-Gabriel]

On 10/08/2026, in business side of he, change, changing business models, colleges, cost of getting a degree, credentialing, dangers of the status quo, funding / grants, higher education, parents/guardians, society, student-related, trends, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Most college students get grants. See how they cut the price at 2,100 schools. — from washingtonpost.com by Todd Wallack, Dylan Moriarty and Danielle Douglas-Gabriel (this is a gifted article)
The Post created a list that shows the average cost to attend over 2,100 U.S. colleges. This tool allows you to see a school’s sticker price compared with the average real price — factoring in the average amount students get in grants and scholarships.

You might have seen us report recently that students often don’t pay the full sticker price for tuition at expensive schools.

So how much does college actually cost where you live?

We put together a searchable list of more than 2,100 four-year colleges and universities across the country so you can see how much colleges cost on average after factoring in grants and scholarships, including money students receive from the government, private organizations or the schools themselves.

The Age of Perpetual Change — from educause.edu
Artificial intelligence (AI) has risen to the number one spot on the 2027 EDUCAUSE Top 10. But its rank signals urgency more than consensus, and higher education is still grappling with what AI-driven change could mean for institutions. In many ways, AI embodies a broader reality: We’re living in an age of perpetual change.

2027 Top 10 Overview
Technological innovation is outpacing our ability to manage and harness it. The political and economic winds around us are erratic. And higher education itself is undergoing profound shifts that will reshape how our institutions function.

While this atmosphere breeds uncertainty and anxiety, it can also inspire innovation and growth. The 2027 EDUCAUSE Top 10 highlights how the higher education technology community is responding to those opportunities.

Priority 1: Getting a View and Setting a Vision Across Systems — from michaelbhorn.substack.com by Michael B. Horn, Angela Jackson, Mallory Dwinal-Palisch, and Danny Curtis

The shift required to prepare learners for a labor market defined by rapid skill change and more complex transitions cannot be accomplished by any one system. Nor is it enough for K–12, higher education, and workforce development to improve independently. They must work together—aligning programs, sharing resources, creating smoother transitions, and building models that combine academic learning with real workplace experience. Career readiness is not simply a goal these systems share. It is a shared outcome that they produce together as parts of a single talent pipeline.

For that reason, the first priority for states is not a single programmatic reform. It is creating a coherent, cross-system strategy. K–12, higher education, and workforce agencies— and the providers they oversee—need a common understanding of the current system, the future state they are trying to build, the changes required to get there, and the progress they are making toward those changes.
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More people than ever are trying to get into college classes in Illinois prisons. Getting a seat hasn’t gotten any easier. [West]

On 09/22/2026, in colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, liberal arts, society, sociology, student-related, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

More people than ever are trying to get into college classes in Illinois prisons. Getting a seat hasn’t gotten any easier. — from college-inside.beehiiv.com by Charlotte West
The college waitlist in Illinois has grown 80% since last year, with 3,700 people waiting and 2,600 enrolled.

Excerpt from highlights:

Illinois waitlists are outpacing seats. The college waitlist has grown 80% since last year, with 3,700 people waiting and 2,600 enrolled. Read [the] full story, published with WBEZ Chicago’s Prisoncast!
Wisconsin’s prisons hit a record population, straining access to programs, reports our partner Wisconsin Watch.
Delaware Tech is ending its prison education program after graduating current students, reports the Delaware News Journal.

How to Reduce Cognitive Load in Digital Lessons — from educationtechnologysolutions.com by etsmagazine

A digital lesson can be beautifully designed and still make learning unnecessarily hard.

Students may be asked to watch a video, remember an instruction, find a link, switch tabs, interpret unfamiliar icons and submit a response—all before they have dealt with the idea the lesson was meant to teach.

That friction is often mistaken for rigour. It is not. Productive difficulty comes from thinking about the content. Avoidable difficulty comes from navigating the lesson.

The goal is not to make learning effortless. It is to spend students’ limited attention on the knowledge and skill that matter.

The above article links to:

Managing cognitive load optimises learning — from edresearch.edu.au
Implications for policymakers

Risks and Rewards of IoT in Higher Education [Dickson]

On 09/16/2026, in 24x7x365 access, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, computer science, higher education, internet, IT in HE, productivity / tips and tricks, student-related, the downsides of how people use tech, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Risks and Rewards of IoT in Higher Education — from edtechmagazine.com by Akeya Dickson
Shadow IT is flooding college and university networks as students move back to campus. Here’s how higher ed IT leaders can secure their networks without impacting the student experience.

Connected minifridges, smart speakers and internet-based gaming consoles are among the devices students are bringing to college that IT departments may not have accounted for — or even know are connected to the campus network. These devices may run on default passwords and have little to no security configuration, making them an attractive and vulnerable entry point for a cyberattack.

For higher ed IT, the stakes couldn’t be higher. According to the Zscaler ThreatLabz 2025 Mobile, IoT and OT Threat Report, the education sector saw an 861% rise in malware attacks from Internet of Things devices between 2024 and 2025.

Several items re: the changes needed within higher education

On 09/14/2026, in 21st century, adjunct faculty, business side of he, career development, change, changing business models, collaboration, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, corporate / business world, cost of getting a degree, culture, dangers of the status quo, entrepreneurship, expectations, experimentation, faculty/staff, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, higher education, ideas, innovation, instructional design, leadership, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, liberal arts, lifelong learning, new business models, reinvent, skills, society, staying relevant, strategy, student-related, surviving, teaching & learning, traditional / tradition, United States, universities, youth, by Daniel Christian

Below are several items that were either mentioned by Matt Tower or I came across them via offshoots of items that he linked to:

Future Universities Alliance Names Inaugural Innovation Sandbox Cohort — from provost.duke.edu
Program incubated by Duke brings together higher education innovators from 23 countries for year-long peer exchange

The Future Universities Alliance has selected 49 institutions from 23 countries for the inaugural cohort of its Innovation Sandbox, a 12-month peer learning program for higher education leaders advancing ambitious, institution-level innovation.The cohort brings together founders of new universities, administrators and faculty leading high-stakes changes within established institutions, and leaders of proven models exploring how their innovations can travel to new contexts. Participants were chosen through a competitive process that drew applicants from around the world in its inaugural year.

A makeover for college: No gym, no meal plan and two years of work — from npr.org by Jon Marcus

An entirely new college is being planned here to change not only how higher education is delivered, but at what price. It also proposes to highlight ways the current business model no longer works, as evidenced by the 152 colleges and universities that have closed or merged since 2016, and the 442 others that a new projection says are at risk.

So deeply entrenched are the problems confronting higher education that a growing chorus of innovators says the easiest way to fix them is to begin again from scratch.

All undergraduates should get work-based learning, v-cs say — from timeshighereducation.com by Jack Grove. NOTE: this item is behind a paywall.
Bold plan to support graduate employment would require placements for 1.4 million students annually

MIT’s Ad Hoc Committee on AI Use in Teaching, Learning, and Research Training — from aiandeducation.mit.edu

However, what we learned as a group quickly convinced us that the Institute community, particularly the faculty, must tackle a set of deeper questions about the structure, meaning, and value of an MIT education in an era in which AI is one of several factors complicating the Institute’s mission.
…

In this report, we:

Highlight key aspects of the current educational landscape at MIT.
Share eight principles we relied on and that we hope will guide the Institute in the work ahead.
Recommend immediate and long-term actions for both instructors and the administration.

On somewhat related notes:

Your AI Teaching Toolkit — from wondertools.substack.com by Jeremy Caplan
11 prompts to save time and spark ideas
AI Should Accelerate How We Learn About Learning (Rajen Sheth, Kyron Learning) — from humanistxyz.substack.com by Allison Dulin Salisbury
“We shouldn’t have to wait years to find out if an approach works. We can test and learn in weeks.”

How a studio-based format transforms online teaching [via multiple authors from Cranfield University]

On 09/10/2026, in adjunct faculty, collaboration, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, distance education, education technology, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, faculty/staff, higher education, ideas, instructional design, IT in HE, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, multimedia, online learning, online media, pedagogy, teaching & learning, tools, UK, universities, using teams, vendors, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

How a studio-based format transforms online teaching — from timeshighereducation.com by multiple authors from Cranfield University in England
Online teaching works best when teaching, facilitation and technical delivery are treated as complementary professional roles. Read guidance on studio-based delivery

Our experience of studio-based delivery suggests the need for a different approach. In this model, teaching is delivered as a live, facilitated learning experience in which academics focus on teaching and interaction, while facilitators and production staff manage interaction, session flow and technology.

Responsibilities are intentionally divided to enable more effective online pedagogy: academics concentrate on explaining concepts, facilitating discussion and responding to students while production staff manage the technical environment, transition between activities, recordings, multimedia integration, chat moderation, breakout rooms and troubleshooting, enabling a more engaging and authentic learning experience.

The most transferable lesson is that online teaching works best when teaching, facilitation and technical delivery are treated as complementary professional roles and when it is underpinned by pedagogical design.

‘You can’t just lecture students any more’ — from timeshighereducation.com by Debra Page
GenAI does not make lecturers redundant, but it does weaken one-way content delivery as a reason to bring students together, writes Debra Page. She shares four practical shifts to teaching in the age of AI

This does not make lecturers redundant; it makes one-way content delivery a weaker reason to bring students together. Expert explanation, intellectual storytelling and the modelling of disciplinary thinking still matter, but in-person teaching must also help students apply knowledge, question claims, build arguments and encounter perspectives beyond their own.

The problem is not lecturing; it is speaking for an hour and treating content coverage as evidence that learning has occurred.

These four practical shifts can make lectures more valuable in the age of AI.

Learning Ecosystems

How a studio-based format transforms online teaching [via multiple authors from Cranfield University]

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