Generative AI in higher education: Insights from campus thought leaders

Generative AI in higher education: Insights from campus thought leaders

Image created with Adobe Firefly.

The Adobe for Education team has always been deeply committed to putting the customer voice first. In fact, many members of our team are current or former college instructors, faculty, or campus leaders, giving us a unique understanding of the challenges and opportunities in higher education. But we also spend much of our time listening to and learning from educators and students every day as the landscape of higher education evolves daily, not least with rapid changes driven by the introduction of generative AI.

As a part of this commitment to learning and listening, the higher education team at Adobe just finished hosting a 14-month series of campus thought-leader webinars and in-person roundtable events across Australia, Europe, and 12 cities in North America. At each event, our goal was to create spaces for campus thought leaders to share learnings, engage in dialogue, and compare perspectives on how generative AI is impacting higher education.

There's a lot left to learn, but there are some key insights that are deeply informing how our Adobe for Education team is supporting faculty and students this upcoming academic year with updated programs, curricula, and tools. Our ultimate goal is to help campuses innovate and improve student outcomes with generative AI.

Initial months of uncertainty

We began our journey in San Antonio, Chicago, and New York City in the spring of 2023. At that time, just months after ChatGPT became available to the public, any discussion of generative AI and campuses was underscored by a deep sense of uncertainty and complexity. When asked what faculty should do about student use of generative AI, Seton Hall University members responded in a way most universities did at that time, "We don't know what to say."

This insight itself was a lightbulb moment for the Adobe for Education team. We realized that one of the most impactful ways we could provide value and support to the academic community at that time was by quickly creating more roundtables and events to connect campus thought leaders. We wanted to allow them to carve out dedicated time to share insights and learn what their first steps might look like as they explored generative AI on their campuses.

Emerging consensus and practical integration

By the summer of 2023, many campuses had formed task forces and working groups to more deeply consider the impacts of generative AI across the curriculum. By fall, an early consensus emerged: Guidelines, not policies, were the appropriate approach for the academic use of these emerging technologies. This was a key theme of Adobe's August 2023 Digital Literacy Café episode "Back to School with Generative AI," featuring insights from Dr. Wanda White (Winston-Salem State University), Dr. Susan Miller-Cochran (University of Arizona), Dr. Daniel Anderson (UNC Chapel Hill), and Dr. Bill Hart-Davidson (Michigan State University).

Weeks later, Adobe fully released a reimagined Adobe Express, with generative AI creation tools, powered by Adobe Firefly. The new Adobe Express helps faculty and students at all skill levels grow more confident in communicating their ideas by removing barriers between creative vision and the blank page. Adobe Firefly is built responsibly and includes guardrails encouraging appropriate use as well as Content Credentials. It allows students to create images that are safe for commercial use, and Adobe guarantees that student projects are not used to train the Firefly models. With these features, Firefly and Adobe Express are powerful tools that campuses can feel confident introducing to their students and integrating into the curricula.

If the consensus in the fall term of 2023 was all about keeping heads above the early rising tide of generative AI, in the new year, campuses everywhere started discovering new tools and capabilities thoughtfully designed to help them navigate these new waters. Here are some of the key insights we saw during this past pivotal year of foundation-building:

Academic year insights from campus thought leaders

• Generative AI opportunities across the curricula. As departments began asking who should teach and learn AI literacy, it became quickly apparent the answer was not solely computer science faculty and students, but everyone. While CS courses may dive deep into studying and creating AI technology, every student needs to learn how AI can deepen their understanding of their discipline and prepare them for relevant careers. At the first roundtable event in Houston, Dr. Melissa Vito, Vice Provost of Academic Innovation at the University of Texas at San Antonio, shared the campus research from "Improving Student Outcomes: Quantifying the Impact of Creative Skills on College and Career" to showcase the potential impact of generative AI. Her team saw immediate opportunities for integrating AI to enhance student learning and outcomes across disciplines. However, they also recognized the need for ongoing development of faculty expertise and support systems to effectively integrate these tools.

Melissa Vito, vice provost for Academic Innovation at the University of Texas San Antonio, presenting at the Houston roundtable.

• Amplifying essential skills with generative AI. Dr. Jeffrey Morgan, Associate Provost for Education Innovation & Technology at the University of Houston, described how math instructors began leveraging generative AI to drive comprehension and critical evaluation. To develop visual literacy and communication skills, students were also tasked with using image- generating tools like Firefly to create visual representations of complex mathematical concepts and then critically analyzing the accuracy and creativity of the AI-generated content. This approach fostered both comprehension and critical evaluation skills, but it also exposed students to their personal responsibility of ensuring that generative AI tools provide accurate and unbiased information.

• Critical evaluation of AI-generated content. At the Boston roundtable event Dr. Sheneese Thompson, assistant professor in the Department of Languages, Literature, and Cultural Studies at Bowie State University, explained how she encouraged her students to use generative AI for creating visual analyses of literary themes. She then deepened the learning by having students critique the AI-generated content for strengths, weaknesses, biases, and inaccuracies, honing their analytical skills. While this exercise provided valuable insights, it also underscored a key component of AI literacy: developing students' ability to discern the quality of AI-generated content.

Dr. Sheneese Thompson, assistant professor in the Department of Languages, Literature, and Cultural Studies at Bowie State University (BSU), presenting at the Boston roundtable.

Generative AI usage and assessment is a continuum. Like any tool or learning support, faculty realized early on that "all or nothing" approaches to integrating generative AI were not going to set students up for success in classrooms. Dr. Matt Acevedo, executive director of Learning Innovation and Faculty Development at the University of Miami, presented the "Continuum of AI-informed Teaching," which ranges from restrictive to adaptive to integrated approaches. He emphasized the need for students to graduate as critical, ethical, and agile users of AI. Of course, this comprehensive perspective on AI literacy involves the inherent challenges of balancing these approaches to accommodate diverse educational contexts and levels of technological readiness.

Created by Matt Acevedo.

Creativity, generative AI, and career success. At the roundtable that took place in Adobe's New York City office, Scott Belsky, chief strategy officer at Adobe, outlined "Five Ways that AI Will Transform Creativity." Belsky foresees that the democratization of creative production tools will enable more individuals to share their stories. Platforms like Adobe Express that are powered by Firefly make it possible for even novices to realize creative visions in just a few clicks. As he shared, "Creativity is the new productivity." This democratization is incredibly promising when it comes to opening up new career pathways and opportunities for students as creators and creative thinkers. But it also highlights the importance of ensuring that pedagogical integration of generative AI doesn't unintentionally encourage students to over-rely on tools and lose their individual voices and creative skills.

Scott Belsky, Chief Strategy Officer at Adobe, presenting at the NYC roundtable.

Amplifying student success with generative AI

• A culture change of this magnitude in higher education will not come quickly. Educators will likely be settling into their most comfortable and effective spots on the continuum of AI-informed teaching strategies for years. But we got a glimpse of what generative AI can do for students from people like Keshawna Fields, a recent graduate of Winston-Salem State University.
• Fields shared that, while she has always had confidence in her writing, she had struggled with extending her voice to visual communication and illustration until she started using generative AI tools in Adobe Express. Like so many of her Gen Z peers, she is entrepreneurial and has big ideas for books, projects, and her own businesses. She proudly shared details about the book club she started and was thrilled with the website hero image that Firefly helped her bring to life.
• Because high schools are already beginning to integrate creative generative AI in their classrooms, incoming college students are also expecting that campuses will allow them to keep learning in more engaging, visual, and creative ways. In an EdSurge webinar in April, rising high school senior Ana Herrera shared how the opportunity to use generative AI in her creative writing and digital media classes has enlivened her to imagine new projects and career opportunities that she hopes to continue exploring in college.

At this time, a consensus has emerged among the higher education thought leaders we've been spending so much time with: An integrated approach to generative AI is essential for enabling students to become critical, responsible, and agile users of emerging technologies. This integration starts with equitable and intentional access to generative AI across the curriculum, allowing students like Keshawna Fields and Ana Herrera to learn by critically and creatively making, producing, and creating content, rather than merely consuming it.

There's still much ground to traverse as well as lessons to learn. Adobe's ongoing commitment to understanding and partnering with educational institutions like Adobe Creative Campuses will continue to shape our approach to these emerging technologies. Stay tuned for more roundtables and conversations with higher education peers worldwide. In the meantime, explore our archive of podcasts, webinars, and digital posts across our roundtables and product releases to stay ahead in the rapidly evolving digital landscape.

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