AI in Teaching: What the Science of Learning Already Tells Us - Beth Schwartz and Chris Hakala, Faculty Focus

Rather than asking whether AI is “good” or “bad” for learning, faculty and institutions would be better served by asking a different set of questions grounded in psychological science:

Does this use of AI increase or decrease students’ cognitive engagement with course material?

Does it support formative feedback and revision, or does it short-circuit those processes?

Does it promote metacognitive awareness, helping students understand what they know and do not know?

When AI is used to scaffold learning by prompting students to explain their reasoning, offering feedback on drafts that students must then revise, or modeling problem-solving strategies, it can align well with what we know about effective learning. When it is used to generate final answers, bypass practice or obscure students’ own thinking, it violates those same principles.

https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/philosophy-of-teaching/ai-in-teaching-what-the-science-of-learning-already-tells-us/

The Future of Online Education: How AI Tutoring Is Replacing Traditional Learning - Daniel Hall, BBNTimes

Something significant has shifted in how people learn. Not gradually, and not quietly. Over the past five years, the assumptions that held classroom-based education in place for over a century have been challenged at every level, from primary school homework help to postgraduate exam preparation. The demand for flexible, personalised, accessible learning is not a pandemic-era blip. It is a permanent change in expectations, and the education industry is scrambling to catch up with it. This article looks at what is actually driving that shift, where the technology is heading, and why online tutoring has moved from a niche supplement to a serious competitor to traditional classroom learning.

https://www.bbntimes.com/society/the-future-of-online-education-how-ai-tutoring-is-replacing-traditional-learning

University of Michigan Outlines 6 Guidelines for Using AI - MLive Express Desk, GovTech

The University of Michigan has finalized six guiding principles for artificial intelligence use in education after a campus engagement process. The principles establish a shared foundation for considering AI use in teaching, learning, research and operations rather than creating new policy, according to an Oct. 21 University Record story. The principles outline values and considerations that should inform whether and how AI should be used across various disciplines. “A human-centered approach to AI means respecting people’s agency and providing access to information that supports thoughtful choices about AI in their work,” said Ravi Pendse, vice president for information technology and chief information officer. “These principles help us support learning and discovery while keeping the needs and values of our community at the center.” The development process began with the AI in Education Working Group, which produced a report based on extensive research about AI use and pedagogy, peer benchmarking and a survey of faculty. Campus leaders used that report to draft initial principles, then invited faculty, staff and students to comment through a form published Sept. 3 in The University Record.

https://www.govtech.com/education/higher-ed/university-of-michigan-outlines-6-guidelines-for-using-ai

Small AI, Big Learning Possibilities - WorldBank

Small AI is helping teachers strengthen learning and students make more informed choices about education and work. The World Bank Group is working with countries to pilot small AI tools that support teachers, personalize learning, and guide students’ career choices. AI-Coach is an example of small AI: practical, affordable technology designed to address a specific local challenge where infrastructure and technical capacity may be limited. Using inputs such as classroom observations, teacher reflections, and teaching evaluations, it delivers coaching through a simple app on phones teachers already have and can accommodate intermittent internet connectivity Helping teachers strengthen classroom learning is one part of a larger challenge: preparing the 1.2 billion young people projected to enter the workforce in developing countries in the next decade.

https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2026/10/02/small-ai-big-learning-possibilities

Building the future of online graduate studies at the U of A - Tracy Raivio, Trish Manns and Jessica Butts Scott, University of Alberta

Today’s graduate students are balancing ambitious career goals with the pursuit of advanced education. Their learning extends beyond the traditional classroom, taking place in home offices, on morning commutes or in quiet corners of coffee shops, with coursework woven into busy workdays. Working professionals want an education that fits their lives and connects learning to practice, allowing them to explore new theories in the morning and apply fresh insights on the job by afternoon. To meet evolving learner needs, the University of Alberta is expanding its footprint to reach 13,000 total graduate students, including 3,000 additional course-based master’s (CBM) enrolments by 2033.  “Academic excellence and professional flexibility are not mutually exclusive,” says Tracy Raivio, vice-provost and dean of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies. “We are reimagining the graduate learning experience to ensure the U of A remains a lifelong partner in our students' intellectual and professional journeys.”

https://www.ualberta.ca/en/the-quad/2026/10/building-the-future-of-online-graduate-studies-at-the-u-of-a.html

What is a forward-deployed engineer? - McKinsey

Interest in forward-deployed engineers, or FDEs, has surged in recent months as companies try to get real value from AI. The term may be a buzzword for a service that consulting firms and technology providers have offered for years: embedding engineers at a client’s company, inside its systems and data, to build software alongside the people who will use it. As the AI era gets underway, companies are finding that off-the-shelf AI tools often don’t fit their specific needs. Getting real value from them means adapting tools to a specific business problem and helping teams change how they work. An FDE does both, which is why this form of collaboration seems particularly well suited for business today. In this video Explainer, McKinsey’s Holger Hürtgen, Martin Harrysson, and Nick Robson set out what an FDE does and how AI has changed the job. 

https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-is-a-forward-deployed-engineer

The power of feedback to build belonging in online learning - María de Lourdes Gómez Calvo & Estefannía Garza Tamez, Times Higher Education

As online educators, we have realised that developing belonging is not optional. If we want students to truly engage in the learning process, it is our duty to develop it. We need to communicate the following: “You matter here. I see you.” In online courses, feedback is one of the clearest ways to send this message. When thoughtfully designed, it becomes a bridge between participation and genuine connection. In this article, we share practical ways to cultivate belonging via feedback even in written form. Check your tone: in online environments, written words can easily be misinterpreted. Avoid shame-based language and instead let students know mistakes are a natural and necessary part of growth. This helps students see errors as opportunities rather than failures and feel safe to explore and learn. Shift from commands to questions.

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/power-feedback-build-belonging-online-learning

CMU Introduces 4 New Online Graduate Certificates for Professionals - Alexander Johnson, Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon University is introducing four online graduate certificates designed to help working professionals build graduate-level expertise in artificial intelligence, robotics, software engineering and product management. Built to fit the busy schedules of working professionals, the certificates offer flexible online learning and opportunities to apply new knowledge and skills immediately in the workplace. The programs also help learners stay current as emerging technologies reshape their industries.

https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2026/october/cmu-introduces-4-new-online-graduate-certificates-for-professionals

A New Home for Nontraditional Students - Joshua Bay, Inside Higher Ed

More than housing: Eaton is among more than 300 students who can live at 99 Claremont, designed specifically for undergraduates at Columbia’s School of General Studies whose paths to college have included military service, professional careers or time away from school. The facility represents the university’s latest effort to strengthen community among students whose needs may differ from those of traditional undergraduates. Curtis Rodgers, vice dean of the School of General Studies, said fostering a stronger sense of belonging among nontraditional students was central to the university’s investment in the residence. One misconception about these students, he said, is that because they tend to be older and often have responsibilities outside the classroom, they have little interest in participating in campus life.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/student-success/college-experience/2026/10/21/new-home-nontraditional-students

Survey: 48% of Employers Say AI Will Make College Degrees More Important - Kathryn Palmer, Inside Higher Ed

Despite fears that AI will replace many entry-level white collar jobs, new data shows that many employers still want workers with a college degree. According to a survey of 2,500 employers that the Lumina Foundation and Gallup published Tuesday, 48 percent of employers believe artificial intelligence will make college degrees more important over the next five years, compared to just 26 percent who believe they will become less important. “There is a surprising disconnect between the public perception and employer behavior, and what AI might mean for the future value of a college degree,” Courtney Brown, Lumina’s vice president of impact and planning, told Inside Higher Ed. “Employers are hiring for the things that AI can’t do. They’re putting a premium on judgment, critical thinking, communication and adaptability. They value those skills you gain by getting degrees.”

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/students/careers/2026/10/20/employers-say-ai-will-make-college-degrees-more-important

The AI value curve: The economics of applying AI to existing work - McKinsey

AI is being deployed widely across enterprises, but adoption is being measured far more than value. The AI value curve compares the cost of a task as performed today with the full cost of doing it with AI, revealing a roughly $2.5 trillion annual global opportunity in deploying the technology across certain sectors, regions, and occupations. Three patterns stand out: The strongest economics come from augmenting high-skilled, higher-wage work rather than large volumes of lower-wage work; there is substantial potential value in numerous sectors beyond technology and financial services, including healthcare and education; and the same use case can pay off in one market but not another. Capturing the opportunity requires leaders to focus AI investments where the economics are strongest, manage costs alongside adoption, and plan how to redeploy the people AI frees up.

https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/quantumblack/our-insights/the-ai-value-curve-the-economics-of-applying-ai-to-existing-work

US university offers cut-price UK degree for international students - Andrew Jack, Financial Times

Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University, said he aimed to expand to an annual intake of up to 4,000 students in the UK in the coming years. A small cohort has begun pilot business, engineering and computer science degrees this autumn on ASU’s new London campus. “We are making this as affordable as possible,” said Crow, a pioneer of lower-cost and online learning in the US, including with the widespread use of AI. “We are looking at how we can eliminate excessive fees and grow more efficiently by using technology in ways to enhance learning.” The move will allow ASU to expand its offerings to British students and provide a base outside the US for American students who prefer to study elsewhere, as well as students from other countries seeking alternatives to the US following President Donald Trump’s hostility to immigration and attacks on universities.

https://www.ft.com/content/690d164b-58d4-4edc-951d-1cd35bc13bd0?syn-25a6b1a6=1

Assessments in Teaching and Learning in the Age of AI - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed

Some faculty members fail to recognize that the world has changed and we must respond to those changes in how and what we do to prepare learners for their careers and personal aspirations. It is frustrating for many to be required to redesign their teaching content and methods in response to the larger worldwide technological changes. Yet, here we are—the world in fact has changed. We are confronted with exciting and sometimes frightening new capabilities in this, the fourth industrial revolution.  AI offers us very powerful and efficient tools with which we can enhance and assess teaching and learning in higher education. As evidenced in this study, AI is being implemented effectively by college and university educators worldwide in assessment redesign, which is converging around process, authenticity and dialogue. It is incumbent upon us to introduce these tools and approaches to our learners, who are entering a worldwide workplace that increasingly depends upon AI.

https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/columns/online-trending-now/2026/10/28/assessments-teaching-and-learning-age-ai

Why Hands-On Training Still Matters in a Digital Age - Michael Burke, Occupational Health and Safety

Over the last quarter century, computer-based and online learning have become basic components of many emergency and disaster response training programs. But in recent years, more advanced forms of technology such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), serious games and now artificial intelligence (AI) are increasingly being explored as immersive tools to integrate into training as well. When applied with care and rigor, these technologies can helpfully supplement learning. But decades of workplace safety research suggest that live, in-person training remains critical for many reasons. Understanding these reasons will help organizations strike a balance between delegating the right amount of training to VR/AR or AI as appropriate and, for other forms of training that will be discussed here, sticking to the tried and true method of hands-on approaches.

https://ohsonline.com/articles/2026/10/print/why-hands-on-training-still-matters-in-a-digital-age.aspx

Indiana Tech gets national recognition for online learning improvements - Ashley Sloboda, The Journal Gazette

Mary Beth Graham, online learning director, underscored the importance of the initiative, which supports the university’s goal of providing academic programs that prepare students for workforce success. “It is our responsibility to provide our learners with opportunities for success and the support needed to help them succeed,” Graham said in a statement. “This initiative has improved student success and helped more learners achieve their educational and career goals. Simply stated: their success is our success.” The Quality Matters award program also recognizes individuals, non-U.S. based institutions or groups and K-12 organizations or individuals. Eligibility criteria indicated award nominees must have been employed by a Quality Matters-subscribing institution.

https://www.journalgazette.net/local/schools/indiana-tech-gets-national-recognition-for-online-learning-improvements/article_9c1f8dc7-1993-4a69-95c3-1347334c268f.html

AI in the Business Classroom: Building Better Thinkers in Macroeconomics - University of Dayton

Artificial intelligence is changing how students access information. For Marlon Williams, associate professor of economics, that isn't a challenge. It's an opportunity to help students think more deeply. In ECO 204: Principles of Macroeconomics, Williams uses AI to reinforce learning rather than replace it, reflecting the University of Dayton School of Business Administration's approach to integrating AI as a tool that strengthens the human side of education."Information is ubiquitous," Williams says. "Students can access answers instantly. So the goal isn't just delivering information—it's helping them understand it, evaluate it critically, and use it wisely." That philosophy led Williams to create a customized AI tutor built around his lectures, course materials and teaching style. Rather than discouraging AI use, he teaches students how to use it intentionally.

https://udayton.edu/blogs/business/2026/26-ai-eco-williams.php

AI Isn’t the Problem. We Are. - Louis-Francois P. Belanger and Zakiriya H. Gladney, Harvard Crimson

As students, part of our engagement with our education is externally motivated — and reasonably so. Competitive admissions select for students who treat knowledge as capital, something to acquire and exchange for other goods: we pursue grades, summer programs, and extracurriculars to get into selective universities. Once we get to Harvard, these pressures return as the pressures to compete for post-grad opportunities. Many of us are also motivated, at least in part, by curiosity; the burning drive for understanding. Even among the more extrinsically motivated, cultivating curiosity is well worth the while. Curiosity has been shown to increase creativity, enhance memory, foster a sense of meaning in life, and promote engagement with one’s work. When coupled with effort, it even matches intelligence as a predictor of academic performance. Teach a man, and he learns for a day. Teach a man to love learning, and he learns for a lifetime. Suppose we make cultivating curiosity a primary goal of higher education. Then, even in fields one chooses primarily for employment — say, perhaps no longer, computer science — the task of the university is to bestow the love of learning computer science on the student. The development of specific skills and knowledge employed in computer science follows incidentally.

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/10/14/gladney-belanger-harvard-ai-curiosity/

AI is changing work. Now it has to change the organization - Alexis Krivkovich, Brooke Weddle, Holly Price, and Vik Sohoni, McKinsey

Agentic AI changes three fundamental constraints that have shaped the modern organization: human capacity, expertise, and coordination. For more than a century, the familiar building blocks of organizational design, from tasks and jobs to teams, management layers, and hierarchies, have reflected those constraints. AI doesn’t remove them entirely, but it alters them enough that leaders can ask a more consequential question: What can this company do that wasn’t possible before? Most organizations are not yet asking, let alone answering, that question. AI adoption is scaling rapidly, and individuals are already seeing meaningful productivity gains, but enterprise value has not kept pace. 

https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organization/our-insights/ai-is-changing-work-now-it-has-to-change-the-organization

Before HR Automates a Task With AI, Ask What It Used to Teach - Dmitry Zaytsev, SHRM

That question matters because some work that looks inefficient on a process map is also where employees learn judgment, context, and quality. Early drafts, basic analysis, research summaries, first customer responses, and routine problem solving may be slow. They may need manager review. They may not look strategic. But for many employees, especially early career employees, this is how work becomes understandable. AI can now produce many of these first versions in seconds. That can create real value. It can reduce administrative pressure, help employees move faster, and free time for higher value work. But if HR and business leaders remove too much early practice without replacing it with better development, they may solve one productivity problem while creating a future talent problem.

https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/before-hr-automates-task-with-ai-ask-what-used-to-teach

A university-branded boot camp promised tech jobs. It delivered only debt - Sarah Butrymowicz, Hechinger Report

To its critics, including many former students who feel misled by the company, the sudden closure of IronCircle may seem a fitting culmination to its eight years of operation. The company, which had gone through two name changes in that time, regularly charged students as much as $18,900 for classes and then failed to help them get cybersecurity jobs, according to a Hechinger Report investigation that included interviews with more than 35 former students and employees, as well as a review of university records. Students were sold on the hopes of finding a lucrative job — reviewing security alerts, responding to breaches, testing company systems — at a time of economic uncertainty and rapidly rising costs. In the end, though, they reported the company often gave improbable, deceptive or false information about job prospects and oversold its own support services. Still, more than 20 universities, including prestigious public institutions, partnered with IronCircle, offering a de facto seal of approval.

https://hechingerreport.org/a-university-branded-boot-camp-promised-tech-jobs-it-delivered-only-debt/

Six HBCUs Join Forces To Expand Access To Online Education - RTM Newsroom, Michigan Chronicle

Six historically Black colleges and universities are working together to make earning a degree or professional credential more accessible through a shared online education platform. The initiative, called eHBCU, allows prospective students to explore and apply for online degree programs, certificates and career preparation opportunities offered by six participating institutions through one centralized application. Launched in summer 2025, the platform is designed for working adults, parents, career changers and students who want to continue their education without relocating. The participating institutions are Delaware State University, Alabama State University, Pensole Lewis College of Business & Design, Southern University and A&M College, Southern University at New Orleans, and Southern University at Shreveport.

https://michiganchronicle.com/six-hbcus-join-forces-to-expand-access-to-online-education/