How 4 Technologies Are Reshaping the Future of Higher Education

The introduction of widely-accessible generative AI has opened the floodgates to new and creative ways of employing technology in higher education institutions. Students have taken seemingly no time to find innovative uses for this new wave of technologies, employing AI and other tools to generate data visualizations, summarize learning materials, conduct research, and make their daily lives easier.

Academic institutions can also reap the benefits of AI-powered tools to save instructors time and give learners tailored academic experiences. Read on to learn how four major technologies of the moment are impacting higher education and how your institution can benefit from leveraging these new tools.

The Needs of Today’s Learners

In the U.S., 91% of full-time undergraduate students at public four-year institutions are under 25 years old. Most students attending your higher learning institution today have grown up with access to smartphones, tablets, and other devices that offer personalized, on-demand experiences for everything from movie recommendations to potential romantic partners. Your learners have lives that are deeply entwined with this technology, and they expect to receive the same level of adaptability throughout their educational journeys.

If you want to ensure your students receive high-quality, engaging educational experiences, your institution must adapt its traditional models and embrace advancing technologies. This doesn’t mean tried-and-true tools like learning management systems (LMSs) are obsolete, but it’s important to use a platform that incorporates current technologies that reflect the advances made across many aspects of our lives. Ideally, your LMS should be capable of:

• Facilitating interactive learning experiences
• Streamlining faculty workflows
• Providing analytics and actionable insights
• Recommending performance-based courses and learning content

LEARN HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT LMS | ‘8 Must-Ask Questions Before Investing in Your Next LMS Platform’

4 Technology Tools Changing Higher Education

Although it’s typically better to adapt learning experiences to meet each person’s needs, doing so for thousands of learners would be impossible without today’s technology. The following four tools are making it easier for higher learning institutions to ensure their students receive the personalized attention they need to succeed.

1) AI-Powered Learning Tools

An LMS with AI-powered tools can streamline your instructors’ administrative processes and give your learners experiences that are truly tailored to their academic needs. Some of the ways AI is being used by higher learning institutions include:

• Creating lesson plans
• Customizing learning content
• Adjusting the tone of learning materials for various audiences
• Translating materials and overcoming language barriers
• Producing customized learning assessments
• Detecting plagiarism and academic dishonesty

Some LMS platforms also include integrated chatbots that help both instructors and learners, depending on your institution’s settings. For example, an instructor might use a chatbot to summarize content into more digestible “chunks” of information for students. A student, on the other hand, might use a chatbot to ask for further information on a topic to deepen their understanding. In either case, the AI-powered feature provides personalized responses that meet each user’s needs, enhancing the learning experience for every student.

READ MORE ABOUT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | ‘AI in Action at Open LMS: Saving Time and Supporting Your Own Creativity’

2) Adaptive Learning Pathways

Adaptive learning pathways ensure that your students take courses and complete educational activities relevant to their interests and skills while helping them complete their degree requirements. Tools like Open LMS’s Personalized Learning Designer (PLD) tailor educational paths to each student’s unique needs. As learners progress through a course, adaptive learning pathways can recommend additional reading materials, assignments, quizzes, and more based on your students’ performance. This helps students deepen their understanding of the material and encourages them to stay engaged with their learning programs.

Some adaptive learning pathways, like PLD from Open LMS, keep students engaged with automatic communications that are triggered by specific events or timeframes. For example, you can set PLD to email any student who hasn’t logged on to their courses within a set number of days. Simple reminders can help your learners stay on track and be successful at your institution.

There’s also the added bonus of freeing up instructors' time. When instructors use adaptive learning pathways to send automatic communications, they can devote more time to other essential tasks, such as creating or modifying learning materials or reading students’ reports.

3) Advanced Analytics

Real-time analytics in your LMS give your instructors and administrators deep, actionable insights into your student body. Whether you’re looking at course-level or institutional trends, learning analytics ensure you have accurate data to help you be proactive rather than reactive. Your LMS should include reporting features that help you:

• Monitor student engagement
• Identify at-risk learners
• Determine which courses and programs are the most (and least!) popular
• Make informed decisions to drive institutional success

4) Automated Grading and Administrative Tasks

Grading assignments, providing feedback, and managing coursework are all essential administrative tasks in the learning experience. They also take up a lot of valuable time for your instructors. An LMS with accurate automated grading and feedback tools can significantly reduce the time it takes to complete these tasks, giving your instructors more time for meaningful interactions with students.

Automated grading also helps make the assessment process more valuable for your learners. Delayed feedback is typically less effective and can be challenging for students to implement. When your instructors use automation tools to provide feedback, your students will likely receive their assessment results more quickly compared to when their teachers grade each person’s work by hand. Faster turnaround times on assessment results make it easier for students to action any feedback on their future assignments and deepen their understanding of essential course concepts.

READ A CASE STUDY | ‘How San Beda College Alabang Saved Educators Time and Improved the User Experience With Open LMS’

How Technology Impacts Your Institution

Learning technologies offer your instructors new ways to connect with students and provide effective feedback. Automation tools free up instructors’ time while providing your students with personalized, actionable feedback in a timely manner. Learning analytics give you deep insights into your students’ enrollment and progress metrics so your institution can develop programs and courses that learners actually want to study.

New learning technologies can be intimidating, but adopting updated tools can help your institution stay relevant and capable of meeting learners’ expectations. When you embrace advancing technologies like an LMS with AI-powered tools or automated administrative tasks, you can offer more personalized learning experiences to support your students’ success.