Universities Have 3 Years to Change Before AI Crushes Enrollments
AI is transforming education unlike any other previous technology.
But not how you think it is.
It's not because educators are using AI in ways to improve student learning (although some are).
It's not because school administrators are using AI to replace teachers (although some are).
The real reason AI is transforming education is because students are using AI to game the entire school system. Students are using AI to do their thinking and their assignments. It's cheating on a mass scale never before possible.
It's a nightmare scenario for educators. Accept the cheating and you become a diploma mill. Try to catch the cheating and you waste countless hours on policing that's never going to be foolproof. Report the cheating and you open a can of worms full of drama.
It's a nightmare scenario for educators and it's a nightmare scenario for university enrollments.
The Bad News
We are now into our third year of AI being widely accessible for daily life and work. Imagine students in middle school now going through high school using AI for much of their school work. After six years of living with AI, what will their attitudes be about enrolling in university in 2028?
University education has already been on the attack for being too long, too expensive, and generally uninspiring. Now add AI to the mix.
The Good News
Education has needed to change for decades now. The ingredients to do so have been available, but resistance has been strong. Old-school thinking and legacy systems maintain the status quo.
The AI tsunami is the catalyst that will force education to change. I think most people would agree that change is needed (although with much less agreement on how).
What do I mean by change?
I'm not talking about video meeting apps and learning management systems. That's just the plumbing. Sadly, we saw how education struggled with these basic concepts during Covid.
We have to reimagine how education is delivered, measured, assessed, and credentialed.
We have to change the curriculum/syllabus for every program and course. The more that AI influences the process and outcome, the more change that is needed to assure that AI can be used to enhance learning not bypass it.
Does this shift sound too huge to tackle?
The Even Gooder News
Do made up words make this article less likely, or more likely, to be written by AI? 🙂
The even better news is that this is all achievable by most instructors reading this article.
Education is widely distributed rather than centralized. This means most instructors have the ability to modify their own syllabus to match their personal preferences with how they achieve the required curriculum outcomes. You can make this change right now, today.
Educational systems that are more centralized may take longer to settle on a solution, but that solution can be pushed out faster if administrators are committed to making change.
Avoid the ongoing drama. Change an activity, flip the classroom, adopt experiential learning, use pen and paper — the solutions are out there and they are easier to implement than you may think.
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I'm Mathew Georghiou and I write about how games are transforming education and learning. I also share my experience as an entrepreneur inventing products and designing educational resources used by millions around the world. More about me at Georghiou.com