Key points:
- More than half of college instructors or their students are using generative AI in the classroom
- An AI primer for higher-ed leaders and educators
- OpenAI launches ChatGPT Edu for universities
- For more on AI in the classroom, visit eCN’s Teaching & Learning hub
Artificial intelligence (AI) represents a paradigm shift in the interconnectivity between humans and technology–a partnership that will enable us to perceive and process information at scale.
This technology has captured the attention of every organization, and colleges and universities are no exception. Nearly 60 percent of college instructors say they or their students are using generative AI in the classroom, according to a recent Wiley survey. A similar number expect AI and related tools to be important in delivering their courses within three years, the study indicates.
The use of AI will increasingly be necessary, as 74 percent of business professionals think students should have experience with the technology before entering the workforce, says a recent Washington State University survey. An even greater number, 88 percent, advise colleges and universities to give students opportunities to learn about AI.
Yet schools might be lagging in their uptake of AI. While 22 percent of postsecondary institutions are actively planning to use AI to support learning, nearly 60 percent say use of AI for instruction is still scattered, with no systematic action. That’s according to a recent survey by the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies.
The pace of AI adoption within higher education might be about to take off, however, thanks to “AI PCs”–a line of AI-optimized devices available through popular laptop brands.
AI acceleration in a chip
An AI PC is any device that has a central processing unit (CPU), graphics processing unit (GPU), and neural processing unit (NPU). The CPU delivers high speed, the GPU can handle large workloads, while the NPU runs AI-specific tasks with high-power efficiency.
AI PCs offload tasks to each unit as necessary, resulting in the efficient and powerful management of intense AI workloads. Because the AI PC provides better performance for these workloads, software makers can add new AI capabilities to their solutions. They can also re-code existing application features to take advantage of the chip’s AI accelerators. More than 100 vendors of popular software are already developing solutions for these new chips.
The AI PC gives users a dedicated AI engine on their personal computers. That means they can perform AI tasks directly on their devices, without the need to transmit large quantities of AI data back and forth from a data center or the cloud. The result is easier, faster access to the content creation, analytics, and other capabilities of AI.
AI for administrators, educators, and students
The AI PC can help equip administrators, educators, and students with tools that increase productivity, support decision-making, spark creativity, and support innovative ways of teaching and learning.
For administrators, AI capabilities can automate aspects of student application screening, document verification, and candidate selection, while increasing accuracy and fairness. AI tools can analyze data and make predictions and recommendations on student enrollment, course demand, and faculty availability. They can likewise assess student performance metrics to predict students at risk of dropping out.
AI functionality also holds promise for educators. For instance, AI models can analyze student data to personalize learning experiences–recommending resources, assignments, and study plans tailored to individual student learning styles.
Teachers can turn to AI to help create and curate educational content, generating lecture notes, presentations, and supplementary materials. They can also leverage AI to communicate better with international students by translating lectures and course materials into multiple languages.
For students, AI can adapt content and study materials to match individual learning styles. Functionality such as speech to text and text to speech can assist students of different abilities. Chatbots can provide support with assignments and exam prep, answering questions and explaining key concepts.
For research support, AI can summarize articles, recommend relevant sources, and generate citations. For career planning, the technology can assess student interests, skills, and goals to make personalized recommendations.
Getting ready for the AI PC Era
IT departments should prepare for the AI PC by gaining an understanding of emerging AI solutions, their computing requirements, and how they’ll integrate with their existing IT architecture from the edge to the cloud.
They can start by ensuring their infrastructures can accommodate the unique demands of AI, noting that in some instances workloads can be moved and processed on different compute engines. For instance, centralized AI processing can stress server capacity, but the AI PC can help distribute the computing burden across many machines. It will also provide performance headroom to handle AI workloads that will emerge in the next few years.
Of course, as AI becomes distributed across an institution’s laptops, the organization will need to ensure robust cybersecurity to protect sensitive data and prevent unauthorized access. Fortunately, AI is powering new security tools that automate the identification of anomalous activity and potential threats.
Strong security is a key aspect of AI governance, but it’s not the only aspect. Colleges and universities should establish a detailed policy framework, ensure transparency around the use of AI, and communicate clear ground rules for the ethical and equitable use of AI. The federal government has issued guidelines, such as the White House Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, that can be valuable resources in developing guardrails for responsible AI.
Institutions should also consider training programs for staff, researchers, instructors, and students to ensure that all stakeholders understand how to take advantage of AI capabilities. Training can help drive the cultural adjustment that might be necessary as AI affects more aspects of education. Most schools will want to encourage exploration and experimentation with AI–within the guardrails of institutional AI policy.
AI is advancing more rapidly than many experts expected. Similarly, the AI PC will likely proliferate faster than earlier microprocessor technology. The new chip is expected to be inside 100 million laptops by 2025.
That makes now an ideal time for higher education institutions to develop strategies to leverage the power of AI. AI is now imperative, and universities can lead the way with AI adoption. By evaluating IT infrastructures, enacting responsible AI policies and frameworks, and upgrading to AI PCs, they can lay the groundwork to use AI to reduce rote work, power research, improve student outcomes, and prepare the workforce of the future.
- Students are testing out the FAFSA before it goes live in an effort to avoid last year’s mess - November 1, 2024
- Bridging the financial literacy gap for Gen Z - October 28, 2024
- The horror: Top traits of a horrible leader - October 24, 2024