The advent of Generative AI has hit higher education with the force of an earthquake, deeply shaking many faculty members who have serious concerns for their careers.

IBM reports that 40% of the workforce will require reskilling due to the advent of genAI. And, that is just in the next three years!

Imagine reading reports that after all of the years of preparation and professional practice, your career is threatened by newly-developed large language models (LLM) that can conduct research; write reports; create curricula and courses; teach and tutor students; and provide detailed reports on student progress with active, adaptive paths to ensure all students meet essential outcomes. All of these developments have come in the virtual blink of an eye. Last fall, very few faculty members had heard of the Large Language Model called Generative Pre-training Transformer (GPT). Now, LLMs are everywhere in the news and have proliferated into a number of models supporting many chatbots and other apps.

These concerns and the resulting anxiety have affected senior, mid-career, and new faculty members alike. The anxieties are shared by many staff and administrators. As we open the university doors this fall, we need to address the anxiety and help resolve the very real and the imagined fears.

First, we must begin with a realistic assessment of the current state of GenAI as well as the realistic expectation of continuing rapid development and expansion in the coming couple of years. We must not understate the importance, scope and relevance of the advent of GenAI. One can justifiably argue that this is bigger than anything those who are living today have ever seen. Bill Gates was quoted in Time magazine earlier this year:

The development of AI is as fundamental as the creation of the microprocessor, the personal computer, the Internet, and the mobile phone… It will change the way people work, learn, travel, get health care, and communicate with each other.

Generative AI will pervade societies across continents in the coming year. By 2025, some one and one-half billion jobs will have been significantly changed by this new tool. Just as the advent of the personal computer revolutionized education at all levels, workplaces around the globe and personal lives, so too will GenAI bring about such sea changes, but they will come much faster than they did with personal computers. This will not require new hardware to be produced, purchased and installed. Instead, it will require a spectrum of training and development for students, workers and casual users to achieve optimum utility. We cannot afford to let our valuable personnel become frozen in fear.

Leo S. Lo, Dean and Professor of the College of University Libraries and Learning Services at the University of New Mexico, examines the human feelings and associated anxiety that arises in workers who fear their careers will have to change in the article “Human Meets AI: Helping Educators Navigate Their Emotions About Technological Change.” He suggests that this is to be expected:

The thought of a classroom driven by an AI tutor, curriculum being curated by algorithms or administrative tasks being managed entirely by AI tools, while fascinating prospects, can incite anxiety and fear among educators. Yet, in the face of these psychological obstacles, it’s essential to remember that resistance is a natural human response to change and an inherent part of our human condition. It’s not indicative of weakness or failure. Recognizing and addressing these fears is crucial in smoothly navigating a major shift in education…. I knew that for a fundamental transformation like this to take root, leadership was critical, so I led by example, modeling the kind of change I hoped to see among staff.

Among the concerns today are:

• Will this be the end of my career?
• Will I be able to learn enough about this technology to use it effectively?
• Will my students know more about this than I do?
• Does this mean that I must now trash decades of developing syllabi and lesson plans?
• Where will I find the time to learn about GenAI?
• Who will help me?

One more response we have seen is to simply ignore the genAI with the hope that it will “go away” or it will not impact one’s career. That is the most serious of responses. As Darren Coxon writes in The EducAIte Newsletter:

If we do not do all we can to learn about this shift as quickly as possible. Then we should be scared. Because what we are standing on the edge of is an inevitable shift into a new way of living, learning and working. A new intelligence has been unleashed on us, and it is only going to become cleverer. We can either look the other way while our students lose all interest in us, or we can do something about it.

So, what should we do?

1. We should implement a university-wide study this semester to determine how genAI will impact faculty and staff positions in every college and department. Will fewer faculty and staff be needed? Will fewer or different staffing and curricula be required? This must be done in an open and transparent process.
2. We should provide training to deans, directors, chairs, and staff in our health services units to prepare them to discuss these issues with our employees. Services should be cultivated for a range of responses from panic and depression to even more serious reactions.
3. Our Human Resources department should prepare workshops and associated materials for examining career futures as well as opportunities for upskilling and reskilling for employees who will likely be impacted.

This is emerging at a time when our “market” of new high school graduates is predicted to fall by 15% as the 2025 enrollment cliff looms large, and in an environment of more and more businesses and governments dropping baccalaureate requirements for new employees. Budgets will shrink and the pressure will be on to become more efficient in operations.

The clock is ticking. What is your institution doing to prepare to address employee anxieties and impending shifts in staffing?

This article was originally published in InsideHigherEd’s Transforming Teaching and Learning Blog. 

One of the greatest leaders in the history of the United States commonly closed his correspondence with “Your obedient servant, A. Lincoln.”

There is much we in higher education can learn from Lincoln, not the least of which is his approach to leadership. He led with courage, conviction, and a vision of service that encompassed America. It is that vision of service that made his leadership stand out. The 16^th US President was not focused on his personal advancement, wealth and reputation, but rather on serving others.

There are other leaders who are often cited as servant leaders, among them Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Eleanor Roosevelt, Cesar Chavez, and host of religious figures who put others ahead of themselves. Even successful contemporary corporate leaders are heralded as service leaders, such as Herb Kelleher, former CEO of Southwest Airlines; Cheryl Bachelder, former CEO of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen; and Art Barter CEO of Datron World Communications, Inc. are among those cited for putting high priorities on the success of their employees. Jack Welch, the at times controversial former CEO of General Electric, wisely wrote, “before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.”

Although there were many great servant leaders in history, the leadership approach gained a name and some definition through Robert K. Greenleaf in his 1970 essay “The Servant as Leader.” Greenleaf was a career leader at AT&T; however, he was also known as an author, management consultant, and educator. He articulated the concept of a style of leadership that is based on the idea that leaders prioritize serving the greater good. Leaders with this style serve their team and organization first. They don’t prioritize their own objectives.

This approach is a great fit for higher education leaders. Our mission is in the service to our learners and broader society carried out by our employees. Writing in the BetterUp blog, Aída Lopez Gomez notes that if you have a desire to work toward the greater good or inspire your employees to make an impact, servant leadership might be right for you. She goes on to write “Servant leadership seeks to achieve a vision by providing strong support to employees. In turn, this allows employees to learn and grow while bringing their own expertise and vision to the table. This hinges on building influence and authority rather than using control and toxic leadership tactics. In servant leadership, employees are empowered. But the leader doesn’t just disappear.”

Servant leaders empower and serve their followers to achieve a shared vision for the future; effectively “leading from behind.” Leadx, the leadership development platform company, describes in Servant Leadership: Definition, Examples, Characteristics, that “the upside-down pyramid” is another way experts describe servant leadership. In a traditional hierarchy, the CEO and upper levels of management are at the top of the pyramid, and those underneath—including middle management and frontline employees, are responsible for catering to their needs. Servant leadership flips this model on its head, putting employees and customers at the top.

Aida Lopez Gomez notes “Servant first” leadership represents the opposite of the traditional leadership model. Traditional leadership is defined as a model of leadership where the leader is seen as the central point of the team. Employees are there to support the leader’s efforts to meet company goals. In contrast, servant leadership puts the needs of others at the forefront. Under this leadership philosophy, the more you invest in serving as a “scaffold” for your employees, the more productive your team becomes.

Gomez identifies seven characteristics of servant leadership:

• Teamwork: The team needs to come first.
• Employee satisfaction: Employee satisfaction and cooperation turn the wheel.
• Adaptability: Servant leadership varies from revenue-focused sales environments to non-profit organizations that set out to promote social good.
• Motivation: Servant leaders provide high levels of support to employees, fueling motivation and engagement.
• Transparent communication: The team trusts a leader who can provide clarity, even in complex, changing situations.
• Authenticity: Servant leaders need to genuinely care about individual and team development. Leadership must embrace authenticity.
• Accountability: Ownership activates commitment and purpose. Employees work toward goals they’ve set for themselves and take responsibility for the results.

In years as a department head and administrative leader in higher education, I came to understand that, in my case, it was the knowledge, skills, and strengths of the team that superseded my abilities alone. It was in cultivating, supporting, and sustaining the team that we were able to excel in our mission to serve the students through advancing effective distance learning practices and programs.

The success of the mission was not my success. It was the cumulative successes of the team that brought about our accomplishing the shared vision and mission. My role was to directly support the team. It was to create an environment and conditions that made their work and their collective vision possible.

In recent months, I have received high honors and awards in recognition of the successes I have seen. Thank you to UPCEA and the University of Illinois Springfield. In accepting those, however, I have tried to explain that the successes were not mine, but rather they were directly earned by the team. That is the truth. My success, came through selecting, encouraging and supporting team members who possessed the qualities of shared purpose, intelligence, communication and caring for the mission of serving the university and the students. I was part of the team, but not at the at the top of the pyramid.

Have you considered the role of the servant leader? In higher education we have such talented, highly educated, and socially committed people who have the ability to move mountains. Ours is a natural environment for servant leadership. Those in leadership positions now might find it worthwhile to read the few articles cited in this piece. I encourage those who aspire to leadership positions also to read about servant leadership. It is not in your vision and ability alone that leadership succeeds best, rather it is through supporting, encouraging and facilitating a team that many of the greatest accomplishments are achieved.

This article was originally published in Inside Higher Ed’s Transforming Teaching & Learning blog. 

Generative AI can be an important assistant in promoting excellence in the role of Dean, Associate Dean, Department Chair or Department Head.

In recent weeks, we have been identifying ways that we can use generative AI to help with engaging students in classes. In particular, we have been motivated by the urgent need to give learners relevant experience with AI that can be shared when applying for a job. Teaching is paramount in our AI priorities because employers are now seeking employees with experience and an understanding of how gen AI can best be used on the job.

However, there is much more to consider in integrating AI into your university operations. With the help of gen AI, your department can excel by growing enrollments; improving national exposure; doing more with lower budgets; improving policies and practices; and adjusting to shifting university emphases and initiatives.

The greatest challenge I face in encouraging higher education department, college and school leaders to begin using generative AI is the collective lack of knowledge of just what this form of AI can do. This is understandable because, in most cases, these leaders have not had any prior direct exposure to the power of the many apps that have been released. We must understand, first, that ChatGPT is not the only generative AI tool. There are a whole host of new apps that have been released, each one with somewhat different strengths and capabilities. As Bharat Sharma reports in India Times Technology, Apple is said to be building yet another competitor to ChatGPT, Google Bard, Claude 2, Perplexity, You.com and the rest.  

We must also understand that these tools are insightful, articulate, and very powerful. The abilities to research, analyze and organize are every bit as capable as what one would expect of a graduate assistant or postdoc who had already passed the interstate bar exam and posted near perfect scores on the SAT and GRE. 

In these early days of generative AI, we find that some institutions in higher education are effectively utilizing the capabilities of these tools, but many more are not. Those who are not optimally using these awesome tools are losing competitive advantage, creativity and efficiencies that others are realizing. 

In preparing the following examples of just what these tools can accomplish in mere seconds, I went directly to two of the sources, Google Bard and Perplexity on July 20, 2023.  The following results are stimulated by the modest prompt I wrote asking for help in administering departments, schools and colleges within universities. 

With the simple preparation of a three or four sentence inquiry, Google Bard reports on three different areas that gen AI could provide immediate assistance:

• Comparison to other programs: generative AI could be used to compare the department’s performance to other similar programs. For example, generative AI could be used to compare the department’s graduation rates, student satisfaction ratings, and research productivity to other departments in the same field.

• Adjusting policies to promote success: generative AI could be used to analyze data on student performance and identify policies that are not working as well as they could. For example, generative AI could be used to identify policies that are leading to high dropout rates or low graduation rates. This information could then be used to adjust the policies to promote student success.

• Recruitment: generative AI could be used to create personalized recruitment materials that are tailored to the interests of potential students. For example, if a department is recruiting students who are interested in environmental science, generative AI could be used to create a recruitment video that highlights the department’s environmental research and student opportunities.

• Budgeting: generative AI could be used to help department chairs create and manage budgets. For example, generative AI could be used to forecast student enrollment, identify cost-saving opportunities, and reallocate resources to areas where they are most needed.

Imagine getting those reports in mere seconds, then following-up with further inquiries (prompts) for more data and recommendations. Bard will give citations for information it shows if requested in the prompt. Google has just released new improvements to Bard including support of 42 languages, text and speech input and output, Google Lens support for images and more.   

Perplexity responded to the same prompt with its usual brevity, but automatically with citations for more information. Here are some examples:

• Data analysis: Generative AI can help analyze complex data sets, providing insights into student performance, course efficacy, and administrative efficiency 1. (https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/blogs/online-trending-now/2023/07/05/how-will-you-integrate-gen-ai-your-university-work)

• Personalized learning experiences: Generative AI can personalize learning experiences for students, supporting educators and expanding access to knowledge 2. (https://ehe.osu.edu/news/listing/use-generative-artificial-intelligence-higher-education)

• Improving academic integrity: Generative AI can be used to detect academic malfeasance and reduce the opportunity for cheating 3. (https://edscoop.com/generative-ai-chatgpt-university-florida/)

• Promoting creativity and engagement: Generative AI can be used to promote creativity and engagement from students, allowing them to generate unique and innovative solutions to complex problems 4. (https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2023/04/04/how-to-use-generative-ai-creatively-in-higher-education/)

• Enhancing student learning outcomes: The use of AI and generative AI in academic courses can significantly enhance student learning outcomes by improving the transfer of knowledge skills, critical thinking, and writing and presentation skills 4. (https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2023/04/04/how-to-use-generative-ai-creatively-in-higher-education/)

• Assisting with administrative tasks: Generative AI can be used to automate administrative tasks, freeing up time and resources for other areas 5. (https://cep.barnard.edu/generative-ai-college-classroom)

• Providing guidance for students: Generative AI can be used to provide guidance for students, helping them navigate complex academic requirements and policies 6. (https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/university-students-are-using-ai-but-not-how-you-think)

Now is the time to begin applying generative AI to the challenges you face in higher education administration. Begin with your most pressing problem and seek answers using at least two different apps.  In these early days, it is best to cross-reference responses to make sure the responses are reliable.  You can gain deep insight into your enrollment patterns and, equally important, into the enrollment patterns and practices of your competitors.  You can quickly clean up less-effective practices and identify new opportunities.  You can find a way to make your budget fit the reductions that many are facing.  With gen AI, you now have an able and ready assistant with new ideas and a huge volume of data to help you through the fall term.

This article was originally published in Inside Higher Ed’s Transforming Teaching & Learning blog.