Online: Trending Now

The potential for Generative AI (GenAI) to further advance, enhance, and expand higher education in the future is enormous. Meanwhile, few realize how AI already is improving what we do today in a myriad of ways.

Let me begin by noting that I have used GenAI tools to assist in ideation and the search for the best examples in writing this edition of “Online: Trending Now.” As always, I strive to embed sources in all cases where readers may want to dig deeper into my assertions. GenAI has assisted me in identifying such resources.

In nearly all aspects of the operation of colleges and universities GenAI is playing an increasing role. From student learning to faculty efficiency to administrative insights, we see that role has become part of the standard operating practices. We are using the tools to advance our work in the most enlightened and efficient way. Here are some examples.

Faculty, staff and students are utilizing AI-powered Grammarly around the world. This popular, now AI-supported tool, is encouraged by many faculty and used by students worldwide. The company notes that among the AI supported features are compose, rewrite, personalize, reply, and ideate. Lindsay Babcock writes in a report earlier this year “Is Grammarly Worth It for College Students? (2024 Review)”:

Grammarly is worth it for college students because it helps them get better grades and enhances their writing skills. The free version improves one’s grammar and spelling and eliminates wordiness. The premium version makes writing clear, concise, consistent, and compelling. If you’re a student who’s on a shoestring budget, don’t worry! I’ll show you how much you can benefit from using the free version.

Babcock goes on to report that Grammarly says more than 250 universities, including, for example, Iowa State University, Chapman University and Indiana Wesleyan University, are providing the premium Grammarly version to all students and staff.

Many readers are familiar with Khanmigo, the AI tutoring tool that was developed by the Khan Academy with funding from OpenAI and is available to students for $4/month. While the tool is most often associated with elementary and secondary school use, the tutor supports learning in advanced math, computer science, the humanities and many other disciplines. This GenAI app is an ever-patient, personalized tutor that guides students through solving problems and achieving learning objectives. This approach to personalized learning goes beyond what a faculty member might be able to provide to personally support each and every student in a large class. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics reports that GenAI apps from a range of providers offer individualized assistance with explanations and tutoring that can personalize and promote effective learning under the appropriate guidance of faculty members.

A number of popular GenAI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Llama, Claude, and a host of others provide GenAI functions for project conception, graphics, general research, identification of source materials, citations and associated information for both faculty and students. These tools are used at all levels of the research and report-writing processes. Faculty and students can utilize these tools to coordinate their research activities, review literature, identify research gaps, uncover previously unidentified linkages and generate better research hypotheses.

The nature of searching the Web itself is changing. For decades, Google Search dominated the field with a number of other search engines such as Bing and DuckDuckGo. Sites customized their layout and design to optimize the positioning of their results in Google Search using Search Engine Optimization (SEO). With the advent of GenAI tools that search the Web, more users in higher education have begun using such tools as Perplexity iAsk.ai and CleeAI that tend to provide links first to more useful informational rather than product sales sites that have traditionally been given a paid priority in search engine rankings. As a result, university Web development offices, university relations offices and related units are increasingly utilizing Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) principles and practices to elevate their sites for those searching using GenAI tools. In addition, they can utilize graphics, short video and image generators from text prompts.

As reported last month in this column, “AI in a Lingering Age of Loneliness Among Students,” many colleges and universities are offering GenAI apps for students to utilize as a front-line response to students who are unable or unwilling to seek in-person help. These can provide support most particularly to distant online students who cannot easily access campus-based resources.

AI is playing an important role in student recruitment and admissions decisions at many universities. Brennan Bernard writes in Forbes that admissions and records offices have been using AI tools to perform their jobs more efficiently and accurately for several years:

This year, that mystery is more nuanced than ever—some are wondering if humans or machines are deciding their fate. Ultimately, it is not a question of if artificial intelligence will be used by admission offices. The truth is that enrollment managers were employing AI in their work long before the ChatGPT boom last fall. The question is rather one of how much and in what ways this technology will be used.

Of increasing importance are the predictive analytic tools that enable faculty and staff to identify students who may be struggling or are at high risk of dropping out of classes based on data generated by prior students. For example, “poison pair” designations of classes, when taken the same semester result in lower grades for students than when taken in different terms. These analytics can inform academic advising and alert faculty members to potential difficulties prior to their surfacing on grade sheets.

GenAI is facilitating, creating synergies, providing insights, and enhancing the quality of higher education across the curriculum, within the administration, and among faculty and students. Deeptanshu Tiwari, COO of MRCCedtech, describes ways in which AI is used to enhance the university experience:

…. administrators are increasingly turning to innovative solutions, and one such powerful tool is predictive analytics powered by artificial intelligence (AI). With machine learning algorithms, predictive analytics can identify early warning signs of academic struggles or disengagement by analyzing student data, behavior patterns, and historical trends, thus enabling educators to proactively intervene by providing students with targeted support that ultimately improves their outcomes.

How is your university planning and preparing for the advancement of these powerful tools? Are you prepared to take a leadership role in identifying and testing additional tools that may be beneficial as they emerge? How are you ensuring that timely, coordinated decisions are made based on sound knowledge and experience so that you can best serve the mission of your institution and remain competitive with your competition?

 

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