How Recent Technology Developments and Transformations in AI in the Education Industry have been Impacting UC Berkeley

Robert David, Managing Director of Corporate Education, University of California - Berkeley

Robert David, Managing Director of Corporate Education, University of California - Berkeley

From a student perspective, AI has dramatically affected what we teach but has yet to impact how we teach. At UC Berkeley, we have introduced classes on data science, machine learning, and AI for all levels of students, from undergraduates to MBAs to PhDs, with varying levels of sophistication. From fully automated "AI in a box" all the way to a wide array of technical courses in data architecture, data engineering, and data science.

According to Professor Greg LaBlanc Lecturer in Finance, Strategy, and Law at the Haas School of Business, "we still teach primarily through traditional methods, from the podium, even if online, and provide the same training to every student, without much in the way of customization, personalization or optimization. We still don't really know what works and what doesn't work. There is a huge opportunity in education for anyone who can gather the appropriate AI-enhanced training data and run the right experiments."

"We see AI's potential to impact every aspect of learning and development, from social learning strategies to the formal classroom"

We're also extremely interested in how we can use technology to enhance and compliment the learning and development opportunities we provide to our staff here at UC Berkeley.

"Regarding AI, we have only just started to think about how it might impact our campus Learning and Development strategy. We can envision a world where we embed AI chatbots or other AI tools into the flow of work, enabling true informal learning for our staff. We're not there yet, but we see it on the horizon, and it's very exciting", said Angela L.M. Stopper, Chief Learning Officer & Director of Learning and Development at UC Berkeley.

"The main impact at this time has been a surge in student interest in courses on Machine Learning and AI. In the short term time frame, AI is going to have a major impact on automating administrative tasks and in obtaining better insights from data. In the medium term time frame, AI will impact both how we teach and the skills that students will need to learn," commented Sean Butcher, Program Director for Engineering and Technology at UC Berkeley Extension.

"As educational technologies continue to improve and organizations become increasingly globalized, the future of executive education (and possibly all education) is virtual and will use AI to deliver better learning outcomes through enhanced pre-and-post course analytics. At Berkeley Law, we are enthusiastically pursuing both internal projects and external collaborations to leverage AI platforms," said Adam Sterling, Executive Director of the Berkeley Center for Law and Business.

When we look at the Learning & Development ecosystem landscape, we see technology that is being used to make the world more connected every day. With those advancements, we see AI's potential to impact every aspect of learning and development, from social learning strategies to the formal classroom. Chasing the newest, shiniest object isn't our goal. Instead, we select technological enhancements that provide true value to our end users. 

AI

Machine Learning