Recent incidents affecting institutions nationwide, including the widely used Canvas learning management system, have reinforced the importance of cybersecurity not only as a technical priority, but as a shared community responsibility. For Jeremy Pelegrin, Chief Information Security Officer at UMass Amherst, the conversation around cybersecurity today extends far beyond firewalls and software updates. It’s about protecting teaching and research, strengthening digital trust, and helping the university community develop habits that support a safer digital environment for everyone. “We have reached a point as a society where cybersecurity must be a responsibility for every person on the UMass campus,” Pelegrin said. “As we navigate through a changing landscape of threats and compliance requirements, it’s really about developing good cyber habits that can be applicable regardless of where the world is going to lead us.” As technology, artificial intelligence, and online threats continue to evolve, UMass Amherst is approaching digital safety as an ongoing partnership across campus. Here are five things the community should know about how the landscape is changing and how the university is adapting alongside it.
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Thursday, May 21, 2026
Assessing students when artificial intelligence is ubiquitous - Michelle Seref, Times Higher Education
If we continue to prioritise memorisation in an age of wall-to-wall information, we send the wrong message to our students and employers. Michelle Seref offers advice on assessment that builds critical thinking skills. For much of higher education’s modern history, assessment has followed a familiar formula: a midterm and a final exam, with a heavy emphasis on whether students can retain and reproduce information. That model made sense in a world where knowledge was scarce and expertise lived primarily in textbooks and lectures. That world no longer exists. With students’ early access to technology, they can find most information from Google, YouTube and, now, AI chatbots. The rapid rise of generative AI hasn’t made assessment obsolete, but it has made its misalignment impossible to ignore. The real question is no longer what students know, but how they think, decide, adapt and apply judgement. Yet many assessments still measure recall rather than application.
AI and the Employment Outlook for College Grads - Jim A. Jorstad, GovTech
It’s that time of the year when graduation ceremonies take place at colleges and universities throughout the country. Students will fill auditoriums, gymnasiums and stadiums, each with their own dreams and hopes of landing that ideal job they’ve been working toward. Some will have taken certification courses, served as researchers or graduate assistants, or participated in internships. Hopefully, they received the necessary education and training to be successful in their careers of choice. But they're among the first graduating classes to have had most of their college experience upended by artificial intelligence. What will be the impact of AI? Are students graduating with the necessary AI skills, and what kind of employment environment are they entering? I want to focus specifically on IT-related jobs, although many of the same hiring trends can be applied to other disciplines. Let’s consider what factors are affecting the job market, and what graduates may experience during their job and career search.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
The Case for Data Centers in Space- McKinsey
Starcloud CEO Philip Johnston on the potential role orbital data centers could play in meeting growing AI compute demand—and the technical and economic uncertainties that remain. Philip Johnston, a McKinsey alumnus and cofounder of orbital compute infrastructure provider Starcloud, believes that space-based systems could become a meaningful part of the future compute landscape. He recently spoke to McKinsey Partner Luca Bennici about how the space-based data center technology is evolving, the challenges involved, and what needs to happen for orbital data centers to become a viable complement to terrestrial infrastructure. The interview transcript has been edited for clarity and style.
‘Student Guide to AI’ returns for third year with a new focus: Human capabilities - Elon University News Bureau
“Human Wisdom for the Age of AI: A Field Guide to Cultivating Essential Skills”, a publication by Elon University, the American Association of Colleges and Universities and The Princeton Review, is provided to students and institutions free of charge. The new publication, “Human Wisdom for the Age of AI: A Field Guide to Cultivating Essential Skills,” helps students cultivate the human skills they need to thrive in a digital world, whether working with AI technologies or learning independently of those tools. The guide includes engaging and fun exercises on curiosity, critical and deep thinking, creativity, ethical perspectives, communication and relational skills, among others. Like the 2024 and 2025 editions, this year’s guide is provided to students and institutions free of charge and is available for download at: www.studentguidetoai.org. The guide draws on 10 voices across centuries and cultures — from Aristotle, Cicero and Descartes to Mencius and Ptahhotep — whose enduring insights into human judgment, creativity, ethics and wisdom take on new urgency as AI reshapes how we learn and work.
AI risk to university jobs despite staff believing roles are safe - Juliette Rowsell, Times Higher Ed
University workers generally do not believe that their jobs will be taken by artificial intelligence in the short term but experts have warned against complacency, saying that automation may still be used as “justification” to cut roles anyway. While respondents to Times Higher Education’s UK University Redundancy Survey expressed widespread concern about the impact of the tens of thousands of job losses across the UK sector, concerns over the effect of AI remain low. Asked: “Do you fear you will be made redundant within the next three years due to the rise of AI?” more than half (55 per cent) disagreed, with 17 per cent of these strongly disagreeing. Just under 5 per cent strongly agreed and 14 per cent said they agree, while a fifth (21 per cent) neither agreed or disagreed.
Tuesday, May 19, 2026
In an AI-driven world, the most important skills are still human - Eric Townsend, Inside Higher Ed
Across higher education, artificial intelligence is now embedded in everyday academic work, from early research to final drafts. For many students, it has become a default starting point. The urgent question is not whether students use AI, but how they use it—specifically, whether these tools are reinforcing learning or bypassing the cognitive work that leads to it. As AI accelerates core academic tasks, educators are confronting a central challenge: how to preserve depth, judgment and intellectual engagement in an environment optimized for speed.
Gaining real-world experience through internships - Massey University News
Within the Massey Business School, internship opportunities are available at 300 level, allowing students to work with organisations in areas aligned to their major. These placements give students the opportunity to take on real projects, contribute to teams and experience the pace and expectations of their chosen industry. Internships coordinator Professor Sarah Leberman says internships play an important role in helping students make the transition from study to work. “These opportunities give students the chance to apply their learning in real-world settings, build professional confidence and develop skills that employers are looking for,” Professor Leberman says. For Bachelor of Communication graduate Lara Watson, her internship offered exactly that. Lara majored in marketing, completed a 12-week internship with Tracta, an agri-marketing agency in Napier. During her internship, Lara worked on a client prospecting project, developing ideal customer profiles, learning how to use Customer Relationship Management tools and researching content topics for marketing campaigns. She also supported the team with research for upcoming work, gaining valuable insight into how an agency operates.
Micro-credentials gain ground as focus shifts from degrees to skills - Enterprise AM
A university degree is no longer the only ticket to a career. Employers across the globe — and increasingly in Egypt — are placing more emphasis on practical skills and targeted expertise, fueling demand for short courses, professional certifications, and micro-credentials that offer faster and cheaper avenues into the labor market. Short courses, big gains: Micro-credentials — short, skills-focused programs granting a verified certificate or digital badge — are gaining ground in fast-changing sectors like tech, digital marketing, AI, cybersecurity, and data analytics. Programs span local training from the Information Technology Institute and the Digital Egypt Pioneers Initiative (DEPI) to global options like Google Career Certificates on Coursera and Udacity Nanodegrees, iCareer founder and CEO Akram Marwan tells EnterpriseAM. The shift reflects a broader rethink of education — less a one-time university experience, more a continuous process of reskilling. As technologies evolve faster than universities can adapt, workers and employers want cheaper, targeted ways to build job-ready skills, Marwan says. Lower-cost online programs and funded initiatives like DEPI are also widening access beyond Cairo and Alexandria, potentially expanding the pool for remote and digital jobs.
Monday, May 18, 2026
Artificial intelligence assisted design of a novel cooperative learning technique for higher education - Özgür Tutal, Nature
Cooperative learning has long been recognized as an effective pedagogical strategy, yet the development of innovative techniques tailored to modern educational demands remains a challenge. This study introduces the Curriculum Concept Constellation Technique (CCCT), a novel cooperative learning technique developed with the support of artificial intelligence (AI). The CCCT employs a metaphorical and visual approach, wherein students collaboratively map key curriculum concepts into visual ‘constellations,’ (Throughout this manuscript, references to ‘constellations’ should be understood as a pedagogical metaphor for conceptual relationships, not as an astronomical or literal representation)—a metaphor representing how individual ideas (like stars) interconnect to form meaningful patterns. This approach fosters deeper conceptual understanding through creativity, role-based collaboration, and peer interaction.
University of Chicago eyes further deficit cuts, staff raises - Max Blaisdell, Hyde Park Herald
University of Chicago leaders said Tuesday a yearslong effort to close a $288 million structural deficit is on track, with the gap expected to shrink to about $140 million by June. U. of C. President Paul Alivisatos, Provost Katherine Baicker and chief financial officer Ivan Samstein addressed faculty and staff at Ida Noyes Hall, 1212 E. 59th St., offering updates on the university’s financial health amid uncertainty over federal research grants, a potential economic downturn and a unionization drive announced the previous day by workers at the University of Chicago Press. Campus leaders also outlined plans to use artificial intelligence to trim administrative costs and said staff would see their first meaningful pay raises in years.
University of Michigan’s $20M OpenAI bet aims for $2B return, legal report shows - Jackie Smith, MLive
The University of Michigan could profit big from a years-old $20 million investment into ChatGPT creator OpenAI, according to an exhibit in Elon Musk’s federal lawsuit against Sam Altman. Business Insider reported on Friday, May 8, that the Ann Arbor institution made the early bet before Microsoft invested billions into OpenAI ― its first billion in 2019 ― and before ChatGPT debuted in November 2022, setting the pace for the industry’s meteoric growth and commercialization of artificial intelligence. Some details remain unclear. According to the report, UM and other first-in-line investors would be prioritized over Microsoft in OpenAI’s payout ― the $20 million contribution marking a recoup goal of $2 billion for the university’s endowment.
Friday, May 15, 2026
UNESCO and Tec Launch Regional Observatory on the Benefits and Risks of AI in Education - Ricardo Treviño, TecScience
Artificial intelligence is already being used as a tool in classrooms, but it can be a double-edged sword: either accelerating learning or exposing deep inequalities. Through the observatory, the goal is to promote evidence-based public policies that support the responsible and effective use of AI in the region’s educational systems. The observatory will conduct an assessment of AI use in education to generate evidence that can help shape public policy design. One of the observatory’s first ambitions is to reach more than 250,000 teachers across the region. During its first year of operation, the observatory will organize working groups to define impact measurement models.
One New Thing: Campus Libraries Become AI Hubs - B. Navarre, US News
Alina Tugend is an award-winning education reporter. Here is her latest rave on an EdTech innovation: Campus libraries are becoming the go-to place for helping students, faculty and researchers learn about artificial intelligence and how to best integrate it into their work. For example, the libraries at Bryn Mawr College and the University of Oklahoma both provide AI “sandboxes” – shared virtual spaces for experimentation and education about various AI tools with ongoing support. This year, the University of Virginia launched its AI Literacy and Action Lab, developed in partnership with the university’s library. The lab is based on a framework created by Leo S. Lo, UVA’s new university librarian and dean of libraries, that integrates technical knowledge, ethical awareness, critical thinking, practical use and societal impact.
Chico State’s 2026-27 Book in Common to Tackle Artificial Intelligence - Chico State
The AI Con is a thought-provoking work examining the rise of artificial intelligence and its far-reaching impacts on society, education and the economy. The selection comes amid heightened interest and debate surrounding AI technologies, including within higher education. Co-authored by a University of Washington linguistics professor and a former Google employee, the book takes a critical look at artificial intelligence, exploring how it functions, the realities behind its rapid expansion, and the social, ethical and environmental implications of its use. Topics include the influence of AI on jobs and creative industries, concerns about academic integrity, and the environmental costs associated with large-scale data centers. “AI is now part of nearly every aspect of our lives,” Mahlis said. “This book helps readers understand not just what AI does, but how it works, and encourages us to question both the hype and the real consequences.”
https://today.csuchico.edu/chico-states-2026-27-book-in-common-to-tackle-artificial-intelligence/
Thursday, May 14, 2026
Jeff Rubin ’95 on AI, Digital Transformation, and Syracuse’s Connected Future - Syracuse University
Jeff Rubin ’95 has spent decades building technology systems designed to scale. From founding SIDEARM Sports into one of the most widely used digital platforms in college athletics to now serving as Syracuse University’s first Senior Vice President for Digital Transformation and Chief Digital Officer, his career has centered on one question: how can technology fundamentally improve the way organizations operate? Rubin joined the Infoversity podcast to discuss Syracuse University’s digital future, the evolving role of AI in higher education, and why connectivity, data, and artificial intelligence are increasingly inseparable. A two-time iSchool alumnus, Rubin reflected on how the School of Information Studies prepared him not just to work in technology, but to adapt alongside it. “One thing the iSchool gave me was the ability to transition with technology and not be afraid of change,” he said. That mindset has shaped his approach to digital transformation at Syracuse. For Rubin, digital transformation is not simply about adopting new tools. It is about rethinking how students, faculty, staff, and alumni interact with the university at every level, from campus tours and financial aid to data strategy and classroom experiences. “Digitally, we have a chance to be a leader in this space,” he explained.
From Restriction to Integration: Practical Strategies for Embracing AI in Online Courses - Taoufik Ennoure, Faculty Focus
Instead of prohibiting the use of AI, it is more effective to assign tasks that require students to use AI tools and then have them critically assess the outputs. In asynchronous online courses with less frequent instructor interaction, I have adopted a new approach to enhance engagement in weekly discussions. I ask students to use AI tools to generate practice questions and sample answers, allowing them to self-assess their understanding. Students then post their AI-generated questions and answers as original discussion posts, reflecting on which questions were most helpful and identifying any gaps in the tool’s knowledge. Additionally, they evaluate at least two other question/answer sets created by their peers. This method fosters a peer dialogue focused on critical assessment, reducing the instructor’s workload in creating every quiz while encouraging collaborative learning.
Micro Credentials Reshaping Learning While Degrees Remain Relevant - Asia News Network
As global education systems evolve to meet rapidly changing workforce demands, micro credentials are gaining traction as a flexible complement to traditional degrees rather than a replacement, according to international policy bodies and education experts. Micro credentials, defined by the European Union as certifications of “learning outcomes of short-term learning experiences,” are designed to provide targeted, skills-based learning in a shorter timeframe. Meanwhile, UNESCO notes that micro credentials typically focus on “a specific set of learning outcomes in a narrow field” and are achieved over a shorter period compared to traditional qualifications such as degrees. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development OECD further highlight their growing role in supporting lifelong learning and employability, particularly as individuals seek to upskill and reskill in response to labour market changes.
https://asianews.network/micro-credentials-reshaping-learning-while-degrees-remain-relevant/
Wednesday, May 13, 2026
Leadership Vision of the COLO to Shape Higher Ed Future? - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed
The chief online learning officers at colleges and universities are increasingly charting the future of teaching and learning. We are now on the cusp of a significant adjustment in the model of higher education. Who else within the institution’s administration has the combination of technological, pedagogical and innovative knowledge and experience to lead us into the future? The COLO’s knowledge of advanced technologies coupled with the experience of overseeing the application of the vast array of online technologies as they have evolved over the past 30 years is the combination we need to succeed. Our chief online learning officers bring credibility and sagacity to the table in leading us while making this critically important next step in enhancing online learning in higher education.
Instructure Pays Ransom to Canvas Hackers - Kathryn Palmer, Inside Higher Ed
Although the monetary value of the deal is unknown, Instructure says the cybercriminals have returned the hacked personal data and offered assurance “that no Instructure customers will be extorted as a result of this incident.” Instructure has paid a ransom to a gang of cybercriminals that have twice hacked the company’s learning management system, Canvas, over the past week and a half. According to an update published by the education-technology company Monday night, the deal means that the hackers have returned the compromised data of some 275 million users across more than 8,800 institutions.
UW System Will Give Raises to Faculty in High-Demand Fields - Inside Higher Ed
The University of Wisconsin system will give more than 2,300 faculty in high-demand fields a pay raise this summer, The Cap Times reported. The State Legislature appropriated $27 million annually for the increases, which will be doled out with the “goal of focusing on market competitiveness of those faculty in high demand fields of study,” which include biomedical sciences, education, graphic design and veterinary medicine, the distribution plan states. To determine which fields are included, the system used Department of Workforce Development data on high-demand jobs that require a bachelor’s degree. Nearly 16 percent fewer adults started college for the first time this fall compared to the previous year.
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