The intent of the 2024 conference theme, “I Am A Scholar,” is to not only consider our own identities as scholars, but to consider who we are as a scholarly community. Higher education, and the communities in which we work and live, are faced with vexing, complex, and wicked problems. We need all of our scholarly selves to find solutions and actively work toward our purpose and the purpose of higher education.
This conference is a seven-star professional development experience that advances undergraduate STEM education reform by providing a national platform for the diverse perspectives and experiences of STEM faculty, particularly those from historically marginalized groups and institutions, to be inserted into national STEM reform discourse.
The EDUCAUSE Annual Conference connects the best thinkers in higher education technology.
Academic leaders have, for quite some time, explained the benefits a college education can have on lifetime earnings potential. But there are many other benefits that can be highlighted to promote the ROI of higher education, including civic engagement; healthy habits and longevity; and employment-related benefits such as health insurance and retirement plans.
The Supreme Court’s ruling last year on race-conscious admissions will definitely impact the diversity of higher education students across the country. There are, however, many ways that colleges will still be able to foster diverse student bodies, including an expansion of the applicant pool, exploring financial aid programs, and increasing yield rates of students enrolling once they have been admitted.
Collaborative Learning has been shown over the past several decades to be an effective way to help students become active participants in their own learning. Best practices, core principles, and some of the benefits and challenges of collaborative learning are examined.
Entrepreneurship studies can help students prepare for management careers within organizations, but can also appeal to non-business majors drawn to the idea of being their own boss. Steps are presented for defining the scope and design of entrepreneurship modules offered in university courses.
How Can Technology Convince Students of Higher Education’s Value? – EdTech Magazine
Personalized student lifecycle management platforms can help universities attract and enroll students through the use of technology that builds comprehensive student profiles and facilitates connected journeys through the entire college experience. These platforms offer features that track students and their behavior and can engage students who may be struggling.
Embodied AI – Inside Higher Education Embodied Artificial Intelligence (EAI) expands robot capabilities, allowing interaction with and an ability to learn from the physical environment. In the very near future, EAI might be used to help educators in teaching, research, administration, and library services.
The Bloomberg article highlights significant challenges surrounding the use of AI detectors in academic settings, specifically the impact of false cheating accusations on students. It details how these tools—intended to flag AI-generated work—often produce inaccurate results, leading to severe consequences for students, including damage to their reputation and academic standing.
The article explores how AI can support education by streamlining tasks such as rubric creation, case studies, and family communication, while emphasizing the importance of using it ethically to maintain academic integrity. It encourages educators to embrace AI tools thoughtfully to enhance teaching efficiency, foster student engagement, and uphold transparency in acknowledging AI’s contributions.
A survey of campus technology leaders reveals that higher education institutions are unprepared for the rise of AI, with only a small percentage having comprehensive policies in place. While many leaders are excited about AI’s potential, concerns about academic integrity and limited institutional investment remain barriers to widespread adoption.
Ellucian’s survey highlights a significant rise in AI adoption among higher education professionals, with 93% expecting further use in the next two years. However, concerns about data privacy, security, and bias have also grown, reflecting both excitement about AI’s potential and caution around its ethical challenges.
Make AI Part of the Assignment – The Chronicle of Higher Education
The article emphasizes integrating AI into academic assignments to foster critical thinking, encouraging students to disclose and reflect on how they use AI tools like ChatGPT. This approach promotes ethical usage, helps students better understand their learning processes, and prevents over-reliance on automated solutions while maintaining academic integrity.
The article argues that AI, like calculators in the past, should not be seen as a threat to higher education but as a tool to be managed. It highlights that using AI to cheat undermines students’ critical thinking development, urging educators to balance AI’s use by fostering ethical engagement while maintaining the importance of cognitive skills.
The article discusses how AI agents could help higher education institutions overcome financial challenges by improving operational efficiency, enhancing student retention, and uncovering new revenue streams. However, it also emphasizes the need for thoughtful implementation to address potential drawbacks such as job displacement and ethical concerns.
How Can Technology Convince Students of Higher Education’s Value? – Ed Tech Magazine
Ed Tech Magazine reports that higher education institutions can leverage technology to attract students in a competitive enrollment landscape. By utilizing personalized digital engagement strategies, such as AI-driven student lifecycle management, institutions aim to strengthen connections with prospective students and underscore the benefits of a college degree in meeting career goals.
EDUCAUSE: How One University Moved Research Computing to the Cloud – Ed Tech Magazine
Bentley University transitioned its research computing to the cloud to better handle large datasets, reduce costs, and offer faculty flexibility. The university leveraged Microsoft Azure, developing user personas to optimize resources and manage costs effectively, while also conducting regular usage reviews to maintain efficient operations.
According to Ed Surge, Michael Feldstein is leading an initiative to create an AI assistant that will aid educators course material development. Named the AI Learning Design Assistant (ALDA), the tool would streamline instructional design by guiding educators through structuring learning activities, potentially reducing course creation time. The project has gathered extensive educator feedback to refine its goals and capabilities.
Two Campaigns to Reduce Textbook Costs Are Often at Odds. Can They Co-Exist? – The Chronicle of Higher Education
Aiming to reduce textbook costs, two competing approaches—equitable-access programs and open educational resources (OER)—often clash. While equitable-access programs offer a flat fee for materials to increase affordability, OER advocates argue these programs devalue OER by eliminating incentives to create or use free resources. The Chronicle of Higher Eduction notes that many look to a collaborative approach which would direct equitable-access revenue toward supporting OER initiatives that increase affordability and accessibility for all students.
AI in Higher Education: Enhancing, Not Replacing, Human Decision Making – Ed Tech Digest
AI in higher education is a key tool to support—not replace—human decision-making, enhancing tasks like predictive analytics, personalized learning, and advising while respecting the importance of human judgment. This technology empowers faculty and administrators to make human-centric, data-informed choices on admissions and advising decisions that align with students’ needs and institutional goals.
Tech Tool to Try
Miro – Center for Teaching and Learning, Oxford University
Miro is a collaborative whiteboard tool that supports brainstorming, planning, and concept mapping, allowing users to add notes, images, and drawings in real time. It’s ideal for asynchronous courses, where students can prepare for presentations and collaborate on projects. For group work that takes place synchronously, students can participate in interactive sessions. The tool also offers templates and export options, but accessibility for screen readers is limited.
Fascinating discussion of the reasons why Gen Z students struggle with reading and how faculty can help reshape their thinking around the value of reading.
Joyful Connections Through Intentional Teaching Practices – Teaching in Higher Ed
Discussion about the importance of making positive connections with students and how that can be accomplished via intentional teaching.
Over the last few years faculty have reported a decline in student engagement. This episode discusses how the use of autonomy-supportive teaching can increase student motivation and engagement.
The hosts discuss how Labster is transforming STEM education by offering immersive, hands-on learning experiences that enhance accessibility, engagement, and student confidence, addressing modern educational challenges like declining enrollments and the need for updated, relevant curricula.
This episode explores how AI can support faculty in managing heavy workloads by improving teaching practices, creating course materials, and assessing student learning, with recommended resources to help educators begin using AI in higher education.
The hosts discuss summative and formative assessments and how to effectively check student understanding.
Risepoint shares their Return on Investment study, in which learners in their programs share experiences and highlights achievements including an average of 18 month payback, low levels of student loan debt and average salary increases of just under $20k.
Enrollment Readiness Whitepaper 2024 – StraighterLine and UPCEA
Reveals that SCNC learners are motivated by salary improvement but face significant financial barriers. Despite feeling academically prepared, respondents cite a need for better communication from institutions, with email being the preferred method, and key predictive factors for re-enrollment include mental resilience and institutional trust.
Some College, No Credential A 2024 Snapshot for the Nation and the States – National Student Clearinghouse Research Center
The SCNC population has grown to 41.9 million, with re-enrollment increasing by 9.1% in the 2022-23 academic year. The report highlights challenges in re-engaging SCNC students, with demographic disparities persisting, especially among Hispanic, Black, and Native American students, while primarily online institutions continue to attract re-enrollees but show the lowest credential-earning rates after two years.
The July 2024 research brief “Job Satisfaction and Retention Among High School Teachers” reports that only 39% of high school teachers are very satisfied with their jobs, while 20% are likely to leave within two years. Key detractors include low student motivation, public respect, and mental health challenges, with poor perceptions of colleagues’ mental health significantly lowering satisfaction. These findings may prompt post-secondary administrators to focus on similar trends in K-12 to understand teacher burnout and explore mental health strategies that could be applied to both sectors.
Examines data from 22 U.S. institutions, revealing that while high school GPAs have increased, SAT scores have declined since 2017. First-year GPAs rose significantly at more selective institutions, especially private ones, while remaining flat or declining at less selective colleges. A faculty survey also highlights concerns about student preparedness post-pandemic.
2025 Higher Education Landscape Report – EducationDynamics
Highlights a shift toward practical, career-focused programs, with increased demand for flexible learning pathways and alternative credentials like certificates and apprenticeships. The report underscores the importance of affordability, career outcomes, and strategies to re-engage the “Some College, No Credential” population to meet the needs of today’s modern learners.
2024 eLearning Index Report on National Student Demand for Degrees – EducationDynamics
Identifies key growth areas in higher education, highlighting strong demand for STEM and healthcare programs across degree levels. The report emphasizes the importance of career-focused education, with certificates and graduate programs showing the highest growth. It advises institutions to focus on high-completion, high-growth fields to align with workforce demands, especially as the 2025 enrollment cliff approaches.
In this webinar, you’ll learn how to use design strategies, techniques, and processes to align stakeholders and propel change efforts with significant impacts and concrete outcomes. Practical and easy-to-use frameworks will be shared.
One of the hottest topics in the industry today is the role of generative AI in enterprise reporting, data analytics and its application in higher education. New genAI tools hold tremendous opportunity to enable a new paradigm of reporting and analytics by making data more accessible to more stakeholders across the institution.
The advancement and potential of artificial intelligence in recent years cannot be understated. AI has the power to accelerate operations exponentially and enable teams to make faster, more informed decisions through better use of data and analytics. This presents lucrative opportunities for institutions with strapped budgets, overburdened staff, or those unequipped to holistically visualize and leverage diverse, complex data.
The Office of Learning Technologies team at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) implemented a recognition system for high-quality online courses. The team selected a collection of Quality Matters certified and other well-designed online courses for public display. In this session, the presenters will discuss the selection process, the development of the website, and marketing channels.
Moderated by Bret Ingerman, this panel will explore how institutions can leverage technology solution providers to meet their unique needs. The discussion will cover key differences between academic-focused and broader-market providers, the importance of implementation planning and onboarding services, and change management strategies for successful technology adoption.
