How can edtech address some of the greatest challenges facing HE leaders?
From the AI explosion to the rise of chatbots and metaversities, rapid digital innovation is impacting university campuses, teaching and learning to an unprecedented extent. For HE leaders, it can be hard to keep track of the latest developments while also tackling the urgent challenges they face in the HE sector.
Aimed at these time-pressed HE leaders, Jisc and Emerge Education have produced a report that brings together an overview of the impact of the latest technology and responses to it in three key areas:
· AI and assessment
· Digital solutions for a smarter campus
· Student engagement
These are areas that senior leaders have told us are demanding their attention and the report is an easily digestible primer to edtech trends and opportunities.
AI and assessment
The generative AI ‘revolution’, with ChatGPT in its vanguard is disrupting assessment in unique ways. Our report examines the impact of generative AI, and the opportunities it presents. It reflects the shift in attitudes over the course of this year from initial calls for a ban to the launch of the Russell Group’s five guiding AI principles and a growing appreciation of the benefits.
We look at:
· Sector responses to AI and assessment, in guidance and policy
· Case studies from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the University of Manchester
· Leading AI-powered software and platform developments for the sector, from large providers and smaller startups
· A market map of startups in online assessments, proctoring, credentialing, and marking and feedback.
Digital solutions for a smarter campus
Higher education is currently reimagining what we mean by the “digital campus”: a physical place, rooted in a physical geographic location, or a space of expertise, skills and ideas that might be physical, digital or both.
All HE leaders face long-term investment decisions that are arguably less clear than in the era of the purely physical campus. To what extent should investment be centred on new buildings or enhanced digital and data infrastructures (including the digital competencies of students and digital-led research)? The answers can fundamentally shape their universities of the future.
It’s easy to look at investment from the top down: investment in a small city’s worth of buildings called a campus. But many students today are after a greater blend between place and space, with digital infrastructures enabling a fluid campus experience that can shift (possibly several times a day) from the physical to the virtual. It’s a fluidity that will define the way graduates work in the future and for which they need to be equipped as undergraduates today.
The truly digital campus is one in which both physical and virtual spaces are supported and seamlessly connected. It uses the connections provided by technologies — perhaps provided by the smart campus — to blur the distinctions of where a student or member of staff is, so that they can collaborate and engage with others and facilities seamlessly.
Then there’s the metaversity: immersive VR technology that allows remote students and academics to meet and learn on a virtual campus. Examples across the US are showing some success in increased grade averages, student satisfaction, engagement and achievement relative to traditional and online formats.
Our report includes:
· Case studies, including the University of Edinburgh, Keele University, Digital Nottingham and Arizona State University
· A market map of the still nascent digital campus market with huge growth potential
· A summary of where external providers can add greatest value.
Student engagement
There are now exciting opportunities for improved approaches to student engagement and mental wellbeing through the rise of personalisation, AI, learning analytics and changing student preferences. However, the challenge for many universities is to move from generic, piecemeal university systems to student-centric, personalised systems.
Our report includes:
· Case studies form the Open University and Arizona State University
· A more in-depth case study from Brighton and Sussex Medical School
· An extensive market map of technology for student engagement, covering a snapshot of providers in discovery and enrolment, non-academic support, academic support, and career development and employability.
Overcoming barriers
For years universities have underinvested in their digital infrastructure, resulting in struggles with outdated systems, inadequate skills and legacy architectures. Coupled with poor data management, a lack of strategic leadership and an unwillingness or lack of experience in working with edtech startups, digital transformation can become a complex, risky and expensive undertaking.
Particular issues lie with legacy technology, cybersecurity risks and data silos arising from piecemeal systems and decentralised institutional structures that make a lack of data integration the norm.
The benefits of investing in digital infrastructure are enormous, offering greater resilience and efficiency, new opportunities to bring in additional revenue, better learning outcomes and greater flexibility for students.
We look in the report at the barriers to be overcome and digital transformation strategies to tackle them, identifying six keys to success and the questions every HE leader should be asking when embarking on an institutional digital strategy, with a framework for structuring such a strategy.
Our report also includes:
· A case study from Durham University on tackling legacy architecture
· A case study from Tec de Monterrey, Mexico, on an innovative project-funding education model
To see in more detail how edtech can address some of the greatest challenges facing HE leaders and to read our case studies, analysis and recommendations, download the full report here.
With special thanks to all members of the Higher Education edtech advisory board, led by Mary Curnock Cook.
At Emerge, we are on the look-out for companies (existing and new) that will shape the future of learning in higher education over the coming decade.
If you are a founder building a business addressing any of these challenges in HE, we want to hear from you. Ultimately, we believe that these are the businesses that will play a critical role in solving the skills gap, and our mission is to invest in and support these entrepreneurs right from the early stage.
Emerge is a community-powered seed fund home to practical guidance for founders building the future of learning and work. Since 2014, we have invested in more than 80 companies in the space, including Unibuddy, Cadmus, Engageli and Mentor Collective.
Emerge Education welcomes inquiries from new investors and founders. For more information, visit emerge.education or email hello@emerge.education, and sign up for our newsletter here.
Thank you for reading… I would hugely appreciate some claps 👏 and shares 🙌 so that others can find it!
Nic
