ASU+GSV Summit Tackles Big Questions on AI, Technology and Education

Editor's note: This story will be updated daily during the Summit.

The annual ASU+GSV Summit opened Sunday in San Diego, bringing together thousands of leaders for a four-day event focused on delivering education and workforce skills at scale.

This year's theme is 'Here Comes the Sun' and the 2024 Summit will also feature a special 'AIR Show' on the AI ​​revolution in education. The new event, which is free for attendees, will be held April 13-15 at the San Diego Convention Center and will feature talks, performances and more celebrating how artificial intelligence is being used from preschool to higher education.

On Monday morning, Arizona State University announced two new innovative partnerships during a panel discussion with ASU President Michael Crow.

Mr. Crow discussed collaborations with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and the Endless Network. Both make digital education more accessible.

Here are some highlights from the panel.

Monday, April 15th

Infinitely scalable learning: Are games the new frontier?

Crow, along with Endless Network founder Matt Dalio, announced the creation of the Endless Games and Learning Lab at ASU. This was made possible by his $5 million donation from Endless.

Endless Lab will advance what ASU calls “Realm 5 learning” – the pursuit of high-intensity, personalized learning solutions that are massively distributed, universally accessible, and for everyone. Endless Lab is now part of the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts and is physically located within the Media and Immersive eXperience (MIX) Center in Mesa.

Dalio, who met Crowe at the ASU+GSV summit two years ago, said during Monday's panel discussion that one of his “aha” moments was when he asked a computer engineer how he learned to code, and his answer was “When I was a child, I loved games.”

“We believe that if we can rely on the instincts that already exist in children who play Minecraft, we can teach young people en masse in ways that have not been possible before,” Dalio said. Ta.

Crowe said games like The Sims and Minecraft teach complex sociology, politics and management skills, and Realm 5 allows for learning by creating individualized pathways for each learner. He said that's because the tools already exist. .

“Games are one way to enhance these learning outcomes,” he said. “You can learn by playing games.”

The new center will bridge the quality gap between popular games and games developed specifically for educational purposes.

“The first pillar is looking at how to bridge the gap from a game production technology perspective. Making games is an art,” Dalio said.

“Next, there is the perspective of an entrepreneur: How do we build a business model that takes the world by storm?

“And there's also an academic perspective. What's the research and science behind it?”

Crowe said new technology could better teach subjects such as the “hard sciences” that were previously thought to be difficult to learn and teach.

“How do we enhance learning so that no one is left behind because of the human construct?” he said.

“How can we harness the supercomputer that is the human mind and enhance it in all sorts of ways? We now have the ability to build those things.”

The future of education at scale

Crowe said there is resistance to large-scale technological change going forward because people cannot believe that the new process is better.

“For someone like me, my tools were pencils, paper, slide rules, and books. Those are incredible ways to learn. But if you're educated in that one area, you're not going to be able to move on to the next. “It's hard to imagine an area where,” he said.

He also said that new AI technologies need to view students as co-creators of the learning experience.

“I talk to the AI ​​tool, and the AI ​​tool speaks to me and draws pictures of things. No one is involved except me and the tool. should have different status.”

Cengage Group CEO Michael Hansen said that while games are a way to teach and engage the human mind, the relationship between teacher and student remains central.

“We need to understand how these platforms can strengthen that relationship, and frankly, more than half of the students in our education system don't have access to those relationships,” he said. Told.

He said teachers need training on new technology tools.

“But 70% of faculty in the United States are part-time,” he said.

“They are very pressed for time and don't want to spend hours learning new things. I need to be able to focus on teaching my students.”

Doug Becker, founder and CEO of Cintana, said AI can both widen and close the equity gap in education.

“AI tutors give the lie to the idea that students go online as a shortcut or a cheat. Quite the opposite,” he said.

Breaking down barriers and empowering students

ASU and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville announced a partnership to make it easier for more adults to earn a high-quality college degree. The two universities will collaborate to design new educational opportunities and develop solutions that support the workforce needs of their respective states and surrounding regions.

Starting in fall 2024, students studying fully online at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville will have access to select general education courses through a previously unavailable ASU partnership and direct access to nine fully online degree programs. You will be able to do it.

This course exchange will allow the University of Tennessee to develop online degree programs more quickly and will give academic departments at both universities the opportunity to collaborate with the other in designing and launching new programs at each school or jointly. You can.

At Monday's ASU+GSV Summit, University of Tennessee President Donde Plowman said the university has been slow to roll out its online learning efforts. She was intrigued by Crowe's offer as a partner and his advice to focus on an undergraduate degree program.

“Michael said if we want to help the social and economic situation in Tennessee, we have to start there,” she said.

“There are 100,000 people in Tennessee who have credit for a degree but don't have a degree. Last year alone, we were attracting businesses like crazy, with 77,000 new businesses in one year. And the segment with the greatest need for employment is the one that offers a four-year college degree.”

She said her university will learn from ASU's experience in developing EdPlus as it nears the 100,000 graduate milestone.

Crowe said big societal issues are bigger than individual higher education institutions.

“We are not profit seekers. We seek social outcomes. We have commercial partners that we work with and commercial vendors that we buy from,” he said.

“But we can work together to focus solely on students and not worry about whether shareholders are happy with the profits of the venture.”

Crowe said ASU will learn from the University of Tennessee.

“Each university has many advantages over others, such as a better faculty group and unique individualized programs,” he said.

“We want to find ways to leverage the expertise and faculty know-how of the University of Tennessee to solve problems. We want to see more alliances, more partnerships, more joint degrees. I think it should.”

Making an impact in California: Higher education leaders in the learning and edtech revolution

Sonya Christian, chancellor of California Community Colleges, explained her system's “Vision 2030” and what true open access means.

“With 2 million students, we are the largest higher education system in the United States. Yes, we accept everyone who comes to us. But we accept everyone who comes to us with a high school diploma but no college credits. What about the 6.8 million Californians who work in low-income jobs? Will they have no hope for economic mobility?

“Vision 2030 is not about building it and they will come. But if we are going to have open access with equity, we need to find the people who wouldn't have found a path to college and they will come. We must provide universities to

That will require technology, she says.

“There is hope and hope that AI tools can increase the visibility of large numbers of individuals, rather than elites and stratification,” she said.

California community colleges have entered into data-sharing agreements with large employers to facilitate the process of awarding work experience credits to large numbers of workers.

“If you have a medical assistant, you have to recognize what she's learned in her 10 years of work,” she says.

Crowe said it was only within the last 100 years that society decided high schools were necessary.

“What Sonya is talking about is hard for people to accept,” he says. “California Community Colleges has taken the lead in finding ways for everyone to be everywhere.

“We have to find ways to look at the learner as a unit of analysis, rather than a college or university or state.

“We made a grave social error because we did not continue the learning process. Whether we want to grow the American economy, raise wages, raise living standards, increase incomes, and increase America's competitiveness, We have to find ways to engage everyone at scale.”