Addressing university and college Presidents and higher ed leaders at a private ASU+GSV reception in San Diego this April, Studiosity CEO Michael Larsen shares his perspective on AI, pedagogy, and the path forward for student success.
It is just wonderful to be here - and what a gorgeous evening we have here in San Diego!
Studiosity is a multinational education technology company. We've been around for 20 years, working closely with higher education through all of that time, building products based on rigorous academic evidence and research around student impact on learning and retention and confidence.
What does it mean to be an educated person?
I raise this because we're hearing so much this week around that concept. And I wondered, does it mean the person who can write the fastest prompt? Who can regurgitate general knowledge from an LLM, the fastest? I'd like to think, and I guess you would share this with me, that it's a lot more than that.
And the higher ed sector is under enormous pressure and going through some evolution. I think it's an incredible inflection point when the world needs higher education yourselves and your colleagues more than ever.
As an employer, I hire graduates who are wonderful communicators, who can communicate with nuance and sophistication, and are capable of independent and critical thinking. They're resilient, they're lifelong learners, and they can struggle and overcome.
And I wonder if one of the most existential threats the higher education sector faces now is potentially a generation of graduates that will struggle to find engagement with employers and find their own lifelong pursuits. And this is a time, as I said, when I think the world society needs objective thinking, critical analysis really more than ever.
Now I know this might sound alarmist but some of you may have already heard these thoughts from employers in your regions or even from your board of governors and no doubt many of you have realized that there's a major difference between AI for productivity... versus AI for learning.
And the good news, of course, is that AI for Learning has the potential to really transform higher ed and amplify the pedagogical constructs upon which the whole sector is based.
And with that, I'm really proud today to announce that Studiosity has entered into a strategic partnership with the American Council on Education to bring Studiosity's AI for Learning for the first time to the United States.
Studiosity is LLM Agnostic, it's based on dozens of rigorous academic research studies and we're also working right now with Georgia State University and their National Institute for Student Success to look to replicate and test the prior research with American students.
Human beings are the most social creatures that have ever walked the earth and a big part of that success is due to the increased and increasing sophistication of the language that we use to communicate with each other.
I'll leave you with one thought: if AI-written essays are the fast food for higher education, Studiosity builds healthy eating habits with benefits that last a lifetime.
Thank you again to the ASU-GSV organisers and to Mike for his time and address to the room last week - emphasising the critical role of fostering deep learning and critical thinking skills amidst the rise of AI, positioning thoughtful 'AI for Learning' solutions – underscored by Studiosity's new US partnership with the American Council on Education – as key enablers for the future.
Read next:
Later during the ASU+GSV Summit, an expert panel - including our own Mike Larsen - tackled how universities and colleges can build integrated, scalable systems to help students thrive. Guided by Tyton Partners' Catherine Shaw, the highly-anticipated panel, "The Cutting Edge of Student Success in Higher Ed," offered practical insights beyond AI hype.
Next: Read the summary of the panel session, "At the Cutting Edge of Student Success in Higher Ed."
