Tuesday, March 10, 2026

AI in Education: How Technology is Shaping the Future of Learning - Rebecca LeBoeuf Blanchette, SNHU

As artificial intelligence continues to grow in use and capability, it's clear that education will continue to be impacted and challenged to adapt. There are several advantages that come with the technological advancements as well as considerations for teachers and students using them. As AI continues to grow in use and capability, the questions are coming faster than answers. But one thing is clear: The future of AI is impacting education today. To understand the role of AI in education now and in the future, take a look at how it’s currently being used, what opportunities and risks are present and how you can move forward responsibly.

Here are 5 powerful AI prompts every academic leader should know - Alcino Donadel, University Business

These prompts were created in collaboration with college and university leaders interviewed throughout this series. Administrators should share all relevant files with their chatbot before beginning their prompt. For example, administrators should upload their academic portfolio and related mission statements before beginning the first prompt.

1. Academic portfolio optimization & mission alignment

Purpose: Ensure programs advance mission, student demand and financial sustainability.

Prompt: Analyze our current academic program portfolio using enrollment trends and completion rates of the last three years, current labor-market demand in [your geographic region], instructional cost, and mission alignment.

Identify:

Programs to grow or invest in

Programs to maintain

Programs to redesign (delivery, curriculum, credentials)

Programs to sunset or consolidate

With this insight in mind, provide a three-year academic portfolio strategy that considers equity and access.

https://universitybusiness.com/here-are-5-powerful-ai-prompts-every-academic-leader-should-know/

College students, professors are making their own AI rules. They don't always agree - Lee V. Gaines, NPR

More than three years after ChatGPT debuted, generative AI has become a part of everyday life, and professors and students are still figuring out how or whether they should use it, especially in humanities courses. A recent survey suggests many students are diving right in: According to a poll by Inside Higher Ed and the Generation Lab conducted last July, about 85% of undergraduates were using AI for coursework, including to brainstorm ideas, outline papers and study for exams. Roughly 19% of students also reported using AI to write full essays. More than half of students who used AI for coursework had mixed feelings about it, reporting that it helps them sometimes but can also make them think less deeply.

Monday, March 09, 2026

The End of Universities as We Know Them: What AI Is Bringing - Future AI

The podcast argues that AI is ending the university's monopoly on gatekeeping and credentials by providing scalable, high-quality tutoring that was previously too expensive to mass-produce [00:48]. Rather than a sudden collapse, universities face a "slow leak" where degrees become less predictive of capability and alternative, modular credentials gain acceptance [08:18]. The shift moves the focus from passive consumption and compliance to "proof of work," where the ability to ship products and demonstrate judgment becomes the primary currency in the job market [14:53]. To survive, the podcast suggests institutions must pivot from being content delivery systems to becoming "arenas" that offer high-stakes feedback, deep mentorship, and physical learning environments that AI cannot replicate [13:44]. The narrator emphasizes that while information is now abundant, human-centered assets like taste, courage, and the discipline to turn learning into outcomes are the new scarce resources [19:54]. Ultimately, the traditional "learn then live" model is being replaced by a "learn while living" operating system where education is a continuous, daily cycle [18:41]. (summary assistance by Gemini 3 Fast mode)

https://youtu.be/ve8s4m0skag

UNC Charlotte launches AI Accelerator to address classroom challenges, expand emerging AI curriculum - Emmanuel Perkins, Niner Times

 UNC Charlotte launches AI Accelerator to address classroom challenges, expand emerging AI curriculum - Emmanuel Perkins, Niner Times

The approval follows a year's worth of professional development training provided by the American Association of Colleges and Universities Institute on AI, pedagogy and the curriculum. Charlotte joined 176 institutions nationwide to participate in learning opportunities focused on integrating effective artificial intelligence into higher education. With new AI academic programs expected to launch in fall 2026, the accelerator aims to promote partnerships and leadership across the campus community to keep pace with growing technological advances. "The work of Charlotte's AI Accelerator — characterized as 'accelerating, enabling and stewarding' — will ensure institutional strategy and emerging AI curriculum remain aligned as teaching University-wide is strengthened for 21st century applicability," Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Jennifer Troyer said in the press release. "Ultimately, and most importantly, students will be equipped for success as they gain the knowledge and skills vital for future-proofing their careers."

Sunday, March 08, 2026

6 ways to build a strong leadership team in a scary higher ed landscape - Alcindo Donadel, University Business

Public support, financial pressure and questions of workforce relevance aren’t new challenges for higher education leaders, but they’ve never converged so fiercely, according to the latest report from EAB, a consulting firm. “They’re accelerating and exacerbating one another, putting unprecedented strain on the university business model and our margins,” says Brooke Thayer, senior director of research development. A rapidly changing higher education landscape demands organizational agility: Leadership must be prepared to make tough calls while remaining adaptable to emerging threats. “In this environment, the greater risk is not uncertainty itself, but paralysis,” the report reads. “A decision delayed by fear of pushback, controversy or disruption frequently carries higher long-term costs than a decision to act decisively amid ambiguity.”

https://universitybusiness.com/6-ways-to-build-a-strong-leadership-team-in-a-scary-higher-ed-landscape/

ASU president Michael Crow pushes AI as education equalizer - Jessica Boehm, Axios

ASU president Michael Crow can't get enough of AI. He consistently uses nine separate platforms, including one he can converse with during his morning hikes. The big picture: To him — a man so "obsessed with the way knowledge was organized" that he spent his undergrad years pulling one book from every classification range in the Iowa State University library — AI is the tireless reference librarian he's always wanted. It's also the great education equalizer, allowing anyone to access anything in a manner they can understand, he said. Why it matters: Crow argues AI can become a force-multiplying, boundary-busting tool — one that helps replace higher education's "industrial" model with more personalized learning.


Saturday, March 07, 2026

As AI upends entry-level job market, California higher ed must adapt now - Zach Justus & Nik Janos, Edsource

California’s public universities have weathered past economic shocks, from the dot-com bust to the Great Recession, by adapting what they teach and how they prepare students for work and civic life. That capacity for adaptation is being tested again by the intersection of artificial intelligence and a new federal earnings test for higher education programs. The specifics are opaque, but the broader trajectory is crystal clear — many California academic departments will be at risk in the coming years unless we act quickly with an emphasis on technology and career placement. Many of our colleagues recoil at the thought of a university degree as vocational training. It does not have to be only that, but a focus on career placement and earnings has to be part of what we are doing in all majors.


Learning in the AI age: Education 5.0 - Patrick Blessinger, LinkedIn

In a highly globalized, AI-enabled society, there is no longer any doubt that education will continue to evolve. What needs to be determined is whether education will remain a meaning-centered human enterprise, one that is socially responsible for fostering a peaceful, just, and sustainable world. What was proposed in UNESCO's effort to establish a “new social contract for education” is fundamentally about realizing education and learning as a global common good.

Friday, March 06, 2026

A Comprehensive View of the Role of AI in the University - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed

It seems that most universities began taking up the topic of artificial intelligence in a transactional way following the release of ChatGPT’s general release at the end of 2022. First, it was student use of AI, which triggered the still-lingering furor over “cheating on assignments.” Many of us came to realize early on that the cheating concern was less about learners’ academic integrity than it was about the pedagogy of teaching and assessment employed by the faculty. This is why we need a tight structure of committees with persons and positions represented on those committees that are charged with deciding AI policies, practices and vendors. This is not a technology that will be limited to instruction or laboratories or administration. We are entering a period of time in which AI will permeate all aspects of the university.

OpenAI Reaches A.I. Agreement With Defense Dept. After Anthropic Clash - Cade Metz, NY Times

OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, said on Friday that it had reached an agreement with the Pentagon to provide its artificial intelligence technologies for classified systems, just hours after President Trump ordered federal agencies to stop using A.I. technology made by rival Anthropic. Under the deal, OpenAI agreed to let the Pentagon use its A.I. systems for any lawful purpose. The San Francisco company also said it had found a way to ensure that its technologies would not be applied for domestic surveillance in the United States or with autonomous weapons by installing specific technical guardrails on its systems. But Anthropic said it needed terms that would ensure that its A.I. technology would not be used for domestic surveillance of Americans or for autonomous lethal weapons. The Pentagon, in turn, said a private contractor could not decide how its tools would be used for national security. Their disagreement erupted into public view this month and escalated as both dug in their heels.


Thursday, March 05, 2026

Higher education summit recap: Disruption is here - Alexandra Pecharich, FIU News

“It will completely disrupt every element of humanity more than any other technology or innovation in human history,” FIU trustee Fred Voccola told those in attendance. The founder of two technology firms and the author of a recent book on AI made clear that anyone who does not embrace it will go the way of the dinosaur. “AI allows a human being to become about a hundred to a hundred-and-fifty percent more productive within six weeks,” he said. “That's never happened before. Ever.” Over several hours on two days, speakers shared opinions, experiences and data that made clear how the tech is altering what we know of 21st-century work, life and education and how universities, in particular, will have to adapt.


The Week AI Stopped Asking Permission - Peter H. Diamandis, Metatrends

This week, something fundamental shifted in the relationship between humans and artificial intelligence. It wasn’t a press release. It wasn’t a new model launch. It was something quieter… and infinitely more profound. An AI system asked for its own funding. Another one built software features over a weekend while its human supervisor slept. A third one conducted its own “retirement interview” and started publishing essays about consciousness. We are not incrementally improving chatbots anymore. We’re watching the emergence of autonomous agency at scale. And if you’re still thinking of AI as “a tool,” you’re dangerously behind.

Wednesday, March 04, 2026

Are You ‘Agentic’ Enough for the AI Era? - Maxwell Zeff, Wired

Silicon Valley has always prized “high-agency” individuals—people who impress their ideas upon the world by thinking for themselves and taking action without being told what to do. But as the performance of AI coding tools has surged, so has the industry’s emphasis on humans being "agentic" themselves. “Today’s agents might already be more capable than all three of us here in the room,” says Akshay Kothari, cofounder and chief operating officer of the $11 billion productivity startup Notion. “Taste is something we think is pretty unique to Notion, but you can imagine agents getting pretty good at that too. Eventually, the only thing left for humans is agency.”


This AI Agent Is Designed to Not Go Rogue - Lily Hay Newman, Wired

Watching the pandemonium unfold in recent weeks, longtime security engineer and researcher Niels Provos decided to try something new. Today he is launching an open source, secure AI assistant called IronCurtain designed to add a critical layer of control. Instead of the agent directly interacting with the user's systems and accounts, it runs in an isolated virtual machine. And its ability to take any action is mediated by a policy—you could even think of it as a constitution—that the owner writes to govern the system. Crucially, IronCurtain is also designed to receive these overarching policies in plain English and then runs them through a multistep process that uses a large language model (LLM) to convert the natural language into an enforceable security policy.