How Technology Is Changing the Future of Higher Education
This piece of knowledge can be found in our most recent special report on learning. We are concentrating on Generation Z since they are the ones dealing with issues like homelessness, gaps in financial aid, and curriculum changes.
NEW HAVEN, N.H. — A student drives her autonomous car to class, studying from notes that are projected onto the inside of the windscreen. She uses her hands to form a three-dimensional holographic model of her architecture project.
The fact that it is being demonstrated in virtual reality in an ultramodern setting with pillows for seats reinforces the notion that it looks like science fiction. However, the technology used in this scenario is already under development.
The Sandbox ColLABorative, Southern New Hampshire University’s innovation arm, is the venue. It is located on the fifth floor of a downtown skyscraper and offers expansive views of the expansive red brick mills that are remnants of this city’s industrial history from the 19th century.
College by Subscription
Any one of them would revolutionise how students pay for their postsecondary education. Rather of registering, for instance, individuals may subscribe to a college; for a set monthly cost, they could attend any courses at any time, along with ongoing access to career counselling and guidance.
One of the institutions considering a subscription model is the Georgia Institute of Technology, according to Richard DeMillo, head of its Centre for 21st Century Universities. In addition to “anything someone needs to do to improve their professional situation or acquire a new skill or get feedback on how things are going,” it would provide access to a global network of mentors and counsellors.
Robot is your Teacher
Jill Watson, a virtual teaching assistant developed on the IBM Watson supercomputer platform, which won Jeopardy, has been tested by Georgia Tech. Students frequently aren’t able to tell the difference between the A.I. and human teaching assistants answering queries in a discussion forum, according to their professor. There should be more Jill Watsons to assist students in overcoming obstacles in large or online courses. The university’s current project, which might be operational in two to five years, involves creating virtual tutors.
S.N.H.U. is testing artificial intelligence grading in partnership with Pearson, an educational organisation. Named after the clerk in the Herman Melville short novel, Barnes & Noble Education already offers an artificial intelligence writing tool called bartleby write, which checks for plagiarism and helps with citation creation in addition to correcting grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
A.I. is being employed at Arizona State University to notify academic counsellors of any indications that A.S.U. Online students may be having difficulties.
Donna Kidwell, chief technology officer of the university’s digital teaching and learning lab, EdPlus, stated, “If we could catch early signals, we could go to them much earlier and say, ‘Hey you’re still in the window,'” to pass.
A Transcript for Life
There will soon be changes to the documentation process for this type of learning. There’s a race on to make a transcript that lasts a lifetime.
The majority of academic records leave out employment, military service, internships, apprenticeships, and other pertinent experiences. Furthermore, course names like Business 102 or Biology 301 don’t really tell you much about what the students have actually studied.
According to Michelle Weise, chief innovation officer of the Strada Institute for the Future of Work, “the learner, the learning provider, and the employer all speak different languages that don’t interconnect.”