ECN: And surprise, surprise, AI seems to be the elephant in the edtech room this year.
KP: Actually, we finished the whole manuscript of the Horizon Report before the ChatGPT explosion happened. And so it was really interesting to actually look at the expert panelists’ contributions to identify AI as both a trend and key technology and practice.
And it’s also interesting to note that, right now, we’re so focused on generative AI with ChatGPT and other generative AI mechanisms that are coming to the market. And we seem to see an acceleration of these various tools happening just before our very eyes. One of the other flavors that we saw on the report is predictive AI, which is a different approach to artificial intelligence that uses the data to inform really personalized and proactive interventions for students so that they can get the right information, whether it’s learning information, or whether it’s support information, right when they need it. So it’s interesting that generative AI has really pushed beyond the predictive AI models in at least capturing the attention of the higher ed field.
ECN: So should we believe the AI hype?
KP: Well, again, the report was published before ChatGPT hit the fan, so to speak, so you wouldn’t have seen that I’m in the report itself, but I will share that EDUCAUSE is really invested in making sure that we have a balanced and appropriate level of innovation as well as caution when it comes to generative AI. I’m actually heading up a different panel, an expert panel, just to look at AI as a topic for EDUCAUSE and make sure that we really hit the highest priority dimensions of AI for our members so that they can be prepared to use it effectively.
ECN: There’s much more than just AI to digest in the higher ed space, right?
Yes—high flex and more over all the attention that our panelists are placing on hybrid learning modalities and digital learning modalities—I think that’s really been something that has been taking shape really, since even before 2020. There’s this kind of shake-up when you’re combining digital tools and in-person experiences. What do we even call that? Because there are so many different ways that institutions are doing this, within one campus, much less, you know, across campuses.
ECN: So what can readers expect to take away from this year’s report?
KP: The Horizon Report is not intended to be a prediction of the future. And institutions really need to consider their own mission and culture and, then model their operations both now and as they see that in the future.
Try to contextualize using the inputs from the report. You might be a residential campus and you actually have decided after the pandemic has slowed down that you really want to return to that residential experience, and you may not want to invest in hybrid or digital modalities. That’s okay because that’s the mission and the culture of your institution. So you might elect to pay attention less to some of the trends or technologies and practices that relate to that. But with that example in mind, I think that as an institutional leader, you need to be aware that there are trends where students are expecting more flexibility. We haven’t even talked about the political or environmental trends that may not be directly related to higher education but might inform how a campus operates or invests, that being aware that those trends are out there might allow you to take a measured approach, or at least an informed approach to, to making decisions.
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