| | SEPTEMBER 20259Curiosity is key -- learning, reading, testing and trying out new tools and remaining engaged in the fieldI believe AI Literacy is very important for everyone in higher education, but I also believe that a component of AI literacy can mean deciding not to use it. Academic freedom is tantamount; and Barnard faculty can decide to allow (or embrace) the use of AI in their courses, or they can decide that it is banned. This is their decision. I also think that AI detection software is not a reliable or effective way to police AI use, so this is not technology we deploy.Challenges Demand Quality with Fewer ResourcesHigher education is facing many headwinds at once - there are external political pressures and there are increasing costs Wfor so many things. I am fortunate to work at an excellent institution where there are many more applicants than there are admission slots available; but many colleges are facing enrollment declines and the demographic cliff. I think we are all strategizing around ways to maintain quality services and programs in an environment where there may be fewer resources. Leading EdTech through Disruption, Discovery and CuriosityI think there will be some innovative AI tools that will emerge in the next 5-10 years. For example, custom LLMs that are easy to build, created from specific data sets, like course materials, or a research corpus. This could create custom chatbots for instructors and students to engage with materials or assist with research, cutting down on hallucinations. I think AI-generated media - video in particular - will greatly improve and I imagine that will impact how we teach and think about media production. I think adaptability is so important (including flexibility and resilience), because especially in the technology sectors, it is always going to be changing. Software, tools, approaches--it is not static. There is also larger forces and events that happen that (at least I) could not have predicted, such as COVID-19 and the rise of AI. The changes in ed-tech make it exciting, but it does mean you have to always be learning. Curiosity is key - learning, reading, testing and trying out new tools and remaining engaged in the field.
< Page 8 | Page 10 >