At the start of each academic year, a thousand new Bryant University students come to campus brimming with questions about everything from class registration and building locations to dining hall hours and WiFi connectivity. And thanks to the power of generative AI, they can get their answers from Ask Tupper, a next-generation chatbot designed from the ground up at the university. We spoke with Chris Stephenson, managing director of intelligent automation, AI, and digital services at AI solution provider alliantDigital, and Chuck LoCurto, VP for information services and CIO at Bryant, about how Ask Tupper started, what's possible now with AI-powered chatbots, lessons learned from the project, and more.

Resource links:

• Bryant University
• alliantDigital

Music: Mixkit

Duration: 36 minutes

Transcript (coming soon)

What makes us human? That is the question that kicked off our 2024 Tech Tactics in Education conference this fall, posed by our keynote speaker Eric Rodriguez. As a technology leader and former education regional director at Intel, Eric explored the relationship between technology and empathy in his talk titled "Humanizing Technology: The Path to Future-Ready Education." For this episode of the podcast, we're presenting the recording of his keynote.

Resource links:

• Tech Tactics in Education

Music: Mixkit

Duration: 43 minutes

Transcript

As both instructional designers and adjunct faculty members at Northeast Iowa Community College, Shannon Brenner and Jordan O'Connell have a close-up view of generative AI from both perspectives. Gen AI tools have both transformed the course-building process and changed the game for interacting with students and assessing their coursework. For this episode of the podcast, we talked about generative AI's impact on instructional design and teaching, navigating acceptable use of AI, strategies for helping faculty make the most of AI, and more.

Resource links:

•  Quality Course Design at NICC

Music: Mixkit

Duration: 31 minutes

Transcript

The United States Department of Education recently released a new report called "Designing for Education with Artificial Intelligence: An Essential Guide for Developers." The guide seeks to inform ed tech developers as they create AI products and services for use in education — and help them work toward AI safety, security, and trust. We spoke with Kevin Johnstun, education program specialist in ED's Office of Educational Technology, about the ins and outs of the report and what it means for education institutions.

Resource links:

• Designing for Education with Artificial Intelligence: An Essential Guide for Developers
• Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Teaching and Learning: Insights and Recommendations

Music: Mixkit

Duration: 21 minutes

Transcript

Miami Dade College recently announced the launch of a new bachelor's degree in applied artificial intelligence — the first such degree in the state of Florida and one of the first in the country. At the heart of MDC's approach is the conviction that education in artificial intelligence is for everyone — people at all levels need understand how to apply AI in their lives and careers. We spoke with Antonio Delgado, vice president of innovation and technology partnerships at Miami Dade College, about how the degree program was developed, the foundational AI skills that students need to succeed, and creating spaces that bring people together around AI.

 Resource links:

• Miami Dade College

Music: Mixkit

Duration: 28 minutes

Transcript

Touro University has embarked on a system-wide initiative to incorporate artificial intelligence into all of its programs — not only in teaching and learning, but also across research, operations, and policy. The institution has also created a new academic AI position to serve as a dedicated AI leader, facilitate the use of AI across the university, and cultivate AI thinking in students, faculty, and staff. We spoke with Dr. Shlomo Argamon, Touro's recently appointed associate provost for AI, about his role, the importance of AI in higher education, how to prepare students for the new world of AI in the workforce, and whether or not AI opponents could be waiting for their time to attack.

Resource links:

• Touro University

Music: Mixkit

Duration: 26 minutes

Transcript

In January, Arizona State University announced a major partnership with OpenAI to explore the potential of ChatGPT in education. We caught up with ASU CIO Lev Gonick to find out more about that collaboration, how the university is approaching the use of generative AI across campus, and what the key takeaways have been so far.

Resource links:

• Arizona State University Partners with OpenAI to Explore Gen AI Potential in Education
• ASU Artificial Intelligence

Music: Mixkit

Duration: 35 minutes

Transcript

Recently Educause released its inaugural AI Landscape Study, which polled the higher education community about AI strategic planning and readiness, policies and procedures, impact on the workforce, and the future of AI in higher education. We spoke with report author and Educause Senior Researcher Jenay Robert for a deep dive into some of the thinking behind the study, what the survey findings tell us about institutions' AI journeys, and how "I don't know" might be the theme of the day when it comes to AI.

Resource links:

• Educause AI Landscape Study
• Educause Innovation Summit
• National Artificial Intelligence Act of 2020
• Educause Workforce Studies
• Educause Horizon Reports and Horizon Action Plans

Music: Mixkit

Duration: 29 minutes

Transcript

David Wiley is well known as the co-founder and chief academic officer of Lumen Learning and a long-time advocate of open educational resources and access to educational opportunity. But if you follow him on LinkedIn or on his Improving Learning blog, it's clear that he also does a lot of thinking and speaking and writing about generative AI. For this episode of the podcast, we spoke about why generative AI is the logical successor to OER, AI's impact on instructional design, exciting AI developments on the horizon, and why it's too early for universities to write policies for generative AI usage.

Resource links:

• Improving Learning Blog
• OpenAI Guide to Prompt Engineering
• How I Won Singapore's GPT-4 Prompt Engineering Competition
• Arizona State University Partnership with OpenAI
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Music: Mixkit

Duration: 35 minutes

Transcript

Last November, Campus Technology Editor in Chief Rhea Kelly moderated a panel on the state of AI in education at Tech Tactics in Education 2023, a new conference for education IT leaders produced by Campus Technology and its sister publication THE Journal. The conversation ranged from basic definitions, to concerns, limitations, and opportunities, as well as leadership and culture change. In this episode of the podcast, we’re sharing a recording of the discussion — it’s full of insights for anyone grappling with the impact of AI and generative AI on campus.

Resource links:

• Tech Tactics in Education

Music: Mixkit

Duration: 40 minutes

Transcript