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AI Can Fill The Vessel. Can Colleges Still Light The Fire?

Changing Higher Ed

Release Date: 03/17/2026

Building Fairleigh Dickinson’s Lifelong Learning Ecosystem Across Five Generations show art Building Fairleigh Dickinson’s Lifelong Learning Ecosystem Across Five Generations

Changing Higher Ed

Program discontinuation is usually the fight presidents avoid. Fairleigh Dickinson University put a significant slate of program discontinuations and consolidations to a faculty referendum, and roughly 88 percent of the faculty endorsed it. The vote reflects a larger redefinition underway at FDU: a shift from the four-year degree to a university built around lifelong learning. In this episode of the , Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with and the first FDU graduate to hold the office, about the four-P framework guiding that redefinition: programs, people, partnerships, and place. Avaltroni...

info_outline Pairing Liberal Arts with Tech Readiness: Five Institutional Decisions from Manhattan University show art Pairing Liberal Arts with Tech Readiness: Five Institutional Decisions from Manhattan University

Changing Higher Ed

At Manhattan University, the case for the liberal arts is being made with outcomes, not nostalgia. Its graduates rank in the top 2% nationally for mid-career salaries, and The Wall Street Journal ranked the university 73rd in the country for graduate salaries, social mobility, and cost-effectiveness. The more useful story for institutional leaders sits underneath those numbers: a set of deliberate decisions about , technology preparation, faculty adoption, hiring, and alumni engagement. In this episode of the , speaks with , President of , about how the institution pairs a liberal arts...

info_outline Student Retention: Using AI to Spot Disengagement Before Dropout show art Student Retention: Using AI to Spot Disengagement Before Dropout

Changing Higher Ed

Most retention systems flag struggling students through grades and attendance. By the time those indicators fire, many students are already halfway out the door. Elvee's survey of 1,050 U.S. college students shows why: 86% start college highly motivated, 42% come close to dropping out at some point, and only 17% of those who struggle ever request help. In this episode of the , speaks with , CEO of , whose work with U.S. colleges centers on reading behavioral data for early signals of student disengagement. Drawing on his background in commercial technology, Dar explains how patterns in...

info_outline Higher Ed's Trust Problem Isn't a PR Problem: AAC&U's Trust Agenda show art Higher Ed's Trust Problem Isn't a PR Problem: AAC&U's Trust Agenda

Changing Higher Ed

Half of college presidents worried about public trust are answering with a public relations campaign. According to the AAC&U report at the center of this episode, that is a reasonable instinct but the wrong one. Public confidence in colleges and universities has slid for more than a decade, and messaging alone will not turn it around. In this episode of the , speaks with , lead author of and he co-directs AAC&U’s Advancing Public Trust in Higher Education initiative, about why trust has eroded and what campus leaders can actually do about it. Their conversation moves past naming...

info_outline Why Research Funding Cuts Are a Strategic Risk, Not a Budget Problem show art Why Research Funding Cuts Are a Strategic Risk, Not a Budget Problem

Changing Higher Ed

When the federal government freezes research funding, leaders tend to treat it as a budget problem: a number that was cut and might later be restored. The harder truth in this conversation is that much of the damage cannot be undone. Halted studies, shuttered labs, and departed early-career researchers do not simply resume when the money comes back. Research funding cuts are a strategic risk, not a line item. In this episode of the , speaks with , President and CEO of the and former chancellor of UC Berkeley. Dirks , reflecting on the protests that had put Berkeley at the center of national...

info_outline When AI Finds the Administrative Friction Higher Ed Leaders Miss show art When AI Finds the Administrative Friction Higher Ed Leaders Miss

Changing Higher Ed

Most AI conversations in higher education focus on the academic side. The administrative side gets less attention and is producing the bigger near-term financial wins for institutions willing to govern the rollout. In this episode of the , speaks with , about how AI is being applied across enrollment and advancement at institutions including Empire State University, Florida Southwestern State College, and Boise State University. Drawing on his career across Blackboard, Instructure, Kaltura, and now Gravyty, Beck walks through the specific case studies behind administrative AI adoption: a...

info_outline Inside CSU’s ChatGPT Edu Rollout Across 22 Universities show art Inside CSU’s ChatGPT Edu Rollout Across 22 Universities

Changing Higher Ed

AI implementation in higher education is often framed as a technology question. California State University treated it as with technology as the catalyst, rolling out ChatGPT Edu to 22 universities in 18 months while running the largest AI survey ever conducted at a single university system. In this episode of the , speaks with , about how the system designed and executed its generative AI implementation and what the of 94,060 respondents reveals about AI adoption, faculty engagement, and student behavior. Drawing on her work co-leading the academic side of CSU's GenAI initiative,...

info_outline AI in Higher Education: Bias, Procurement, and Human Oversight show art AI in Higher Education: Bias, Procurement, and Human Oversight

Changing Higher Ed

At sixteen, with straight A's in math and science, Dr. Karen Panetta's school career assessment told her to sell makeup or be a cook. A male friend with lower scores got engineer or politician. No AI was involved. Just a rules-based system applying gender and biographical filters to two teenagers. That same logic now sits inside AI tools landing in admissions offices and HR systems across higher ed, with one critical difference: AI does not eliminate human bias, it removes the human accountability that used to make bias correctable. In this episode of the , speaks with , Dean of Graduate...

info_outline AI-First Business Education: How Kogod Transformed Culture, Curriculum, and Faculty Adoption show art AI-First Business Education: How Kogod Transformed Culture, Curriculum, and Faculty Adoption

Changing Higher Ed

Most business schools are still forming committees to figure out what to do about AI. Kogod School of Business at American University formed a committee, but far from the typical higher ed standards. Leadership gave it six weeks and a five-page limit, and used the recommendation to integrate AI into every department, major, and minor. Three years later, undergraduate enrollment is up 40%, applications are up 50%, and more than 90% of faculty are using AI in the classroom. In this episode of the , speaks with returning guests , Dean of the Kogod School of Business at American University, and ,...

info_outline Closing Higher Education’s AI Readiness Gap with Human-First Transformation show art Closing Higher Education’s AI Readiness Gap with Human-First Transformation

Changing Higher Ed

AI adoption in higher education is moving faster than institutional change models were built to handle. Students are already using AI at high rates, while many institutions are still trying to decide where AI belongs, who should lead it, and how much change is required. In this episode of the , speaks with , serial entrepreneur and founder of , about why higher education’s traditional playbook will not work in the AI age. Drawing on her work with Fortune 500 companies and AI implementation, Barua explains why AI should be treated as institutional infrastructure, not an IT project. She...

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AI in higher education is no longer just a technology issue. The larger question is whether colleges and universities will redesign learning so students develop judgment, critical thinking, and decision-making skills in a world where AI can already generate summaries, essays, and plausible answers on demand.

In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with France Hoang, Founder and CEO of BoodleBox, about how higher education leaders can think more clearly and more strategically about AI. Hoang explains why AI should be used to augment human capability rather than replace it, and why educators matter even more in a world where AI can get students only part of the way.

Drawing on examples from the classroom and across campus operations, Hoang outlines how colleges can move from AI independent to AI enabled and eventually toward AI native models of learning and work. He also explains why colleges need to redesign assignments, rethink pedagogy, and focus more intentionally on the development of domain expertise, reflection, and higher-order thinking.

This episode is especially relevant for presidents, provosts, boards, CIOs, and academic leaders who need to make decisions about teaching, student support, workforce preparation, and institutional implementation in an AI-enabled environment.

Topics Covered

  • Why AI is forcing higher education to rethink what students should learn when AI can already do much of the visible academic work
  • Why AI often produces a B-minus answer and why domain expertise still matters
  • How the loss of routine entry-level work may weaken the apprenticeship path for graduates
  • Why colleges need to redesign assignments around judgment, application, and reflection
  • How faculty can use simulations, case studies, and human-AI collaboration in the classroom
  • What AI independent, AI enabled, and AI native mean for institutional strategy
  • How AI can support advising, counseling, and career services without replacing human connection
  • Why AI adoption is as much a training, culture, and change-management issue as it is a technology issue

Real-World Examples Discussed

  • A marketing course at Point Loma where students build an AI assistant from their own class notes and use it in case studies and simulations
  • A writing program at Pikes Peak State College where students compare their own writing with AI-generated writing and reflect on the differences
  • A reimagined history assignment that uses role-based simulation instead of a traditional reading-and-essay model
  • Institutional examples that show how colleges can move toward more applied, AI-enabled, and AI-native learning environments

Three Key Takeaways for Higher Education Leaders

  1. Leaders need to know where their institution currently sits on the AI continuum, from AI independent to AI enabled to AI native.
  2. AI adoption is as much a training and human resource issue as it is a technology issue, so institutions need to invest in people as much as platforms.
  3. A culture of innovation, experimentation, and collaborative implementation will outperform a purely top-down rollout.

This episode offers a practical framework for higher education leaders who want to move beyond AI policy and think more seriously about how learning, assessment, student support, and institutional strategy need to change when AI can already do much of the lower-level work.

Read the transcript: https://changinghighered.com/ai-in-higher-education-teaching-human-judgement/

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