Online: Trending Now

Unique biweekly insights and news review from Ray Schroeder, Senior Fellow at UPCEA.

Preparing for Our New AI Workforce in Higher Education

April 11, 2024

The recent rapid development of Generative AI (GenAI) has opened the possibility of far more efficient and cost-effective use of technology to assume the roles that are currently performed by humans. The World Economic Forum has estimated that artificial intelligence will replace some 85 million jobs by 2025. That’s only eight months away! A study…

AI Digital Agents: Sending Advanced Computer Agents on Personal Tasks

March 27, 2024

This is not science fiction, rather it is science fact that we increasingly are sending Artificial Intelligent (AI) agents on our personal and professional tasks. We have discussed much about the development of AI capabilities in this column. We have reached the point of near-vertical expansion of AI speed, capacity and scope of knowledge. Elon…

Uncharted Territory: Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and Higher Education

March 14, 2024

Imagine, if you will, a time in the not-too-distant future in which AGI is firmly established in society and higher education faces the pressing need to re-configure and reinvent itself. It is becoming increasingly clear that the advent of AGI is upon us. OpenAI includes in its mission that it “aims to maximize the positive…

Like a Good Student, AI Is Getting Smarter

February 29, 2024

The Generative AI (GenAI) tools we know as ChatGPT-4, Gemini-Advanced and their competition in 2024 are all getting many more features than the versions we used just a year ago. Speaking at the World Government Summit earlier this month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said GPT-5 will be ‘smarter’ and perhaps faster and more multimodal than…

Prompting Progress: Advancing Your AI Skills

February 15, 2024

Generative artificial intelligence has the potential to greatly enhance your creativity, efficiency, productivity and relevance in nearly every role in higher education. The pathway to success in using generative AI is to become proficient in composing the initial prompts and follow-ups that fully, precisely and unambiguously communicate your needs to the tool. It is a…

Lifelong Learning with Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)

February 1, 2024

What will it mean to higher education when AI systems carry out tasks at an intelligence level that matches or exceeds humans? Recently, both OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg made somewhat surprising announcements regarding Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). In an interview with Bill Gates, Altman said AGI could come in the…

A man (Ray Schroeder) is dressed in a suit with a blue tie and wearing glasses.

Ray Schroeder is Professor Emeritus, Associate Vice Chancellor for Online Learning at the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) and Senior Fellow at UPCEA. Each year, Ray publishes and presents nationally on emerging topics in online and technology-enhanced learning. Ray’s social media publications daily reach more than 12,000 professionals. He is the inaugural recipient of the A. Frank Mayadas Online Leadership Award, recipient of the University of Illinois Distinguished Service Award, the United States Distance Learning Association Hall of Fame Award, and the American Journal of Distance Education/University of Wisconsin Wedemeyer Excellence in Distance Education Award 2016.