The new Higher Education Generative AI Readiness Assessment offers users a list of questions designed to paint a picture of their institution’s readiness for adopting generative AI tools across three key areas: strategy and governance, capacity and expertise, and infrastructure. A recent news release said the assessment looks at the types of AI skills institutions are focusing on, as well as institutions’ policies and best practices around the use of AI.
“Generative AI will transform how educators engage students inside and outside the classroom, with personalized education and accessible experiences that provide increased student support and drive better learning outcomes,” Kim Majerus, vice president of global education and U.S. state and local government at AWS, said in a public statement. “This assessment is a practical tool to help colleges and universities prepare their institutions to maximize this technology and support students throughout their higher-ed journey.”
Kathe Pelletier, director of teaching and learning for Educause, said the assessment aims to help institutions identify their strengths and weaknesses when it comes to adopting generative AI tools, as well as measure their progress in experimenting with them, their level of investments in AI infrastructure, and their level of AI fluency. She said higher-ed leaders can use this tool to better understand how to adopt AI tools safely and securely.
“This tool really is intended to provoke conversations on campuses among a number of stakeholders around the different capacity areas that are needed to effectively approach responsible use of AI in a strategic and an effective way,” she said.
The launch of the assessment comes as universities across the U.S. adopt a plethora of new AI tools designed to enhance instruction and streamline administrative tasks, as well as the development of in-house AI tools at universities such as University of California at San Diego, which recently launched its in-house TritonGPT, and the University of Michigan, which built its own suite of generative AI tools last year.
According to Pelletier, faculty at universities are growing more confident about using AI for both instruction and research. She noted that faculty at Georgia State University, for instance, have tried to address concerns about academic dishonesty by teaching students how to use generative AI ethically in the context of writing assignments.
“What they’ve done is create a writing class that is actually centered on AI, and it’s about building critical thinking through the use of AI,” she said. “They had to question a lot of their own assumptions about what it meant to be a good writer, what skills you needed and that kind of thing.”
The news release noted that as higher-ed leaders continue to grapple with the complexities of integrating generative AI into their work, many have grown more excited about what the emerging technology has to offer. Pelletier said the sentiment has “grown much more positive” in recent months compared to shortly after ChatGPT was released, when some universities were considering banning it outright.
“Successfully adopting AI across an institution requires shifts in our culture, workforce and technology, and having specific examples of what they are and where we’re at with each will help inform the conversations and planning needed,” David Weil, vice president of IT and analytics for Ithaca College, said in a public statement.
