Campus Technology Insider Podcast November 2025
Listen: Gen AI in Action: How to Build AI Skills and Literacy in Higher Ed
Rhea Kelly 00:07
Hello and welcome to the Campus Technology Insider podcast. I'm Rhea Kelly, editor in chief of Campus Technology, and your host. And I'm here with Jenay Robert, senior researcher at Educause, to talk about the latest 2025 Horizon Action Plan: Building Skills and Literacy for Teaching with GenAI. Jenay, welcome to the podcast!
Jenay Robert 00:31
Thank you, and you're one of my favorites too. Always such a joy to have a chat with you. Thank you for having me back.
Rhea Kelly 00:38
Love it. It's a love fest today.
Jenay Robert 00:39
It is.
Rhea Kelly 00:42
So for anyone who's kind of not familiar, walk me through what the Educause Action Plans are and kind of the methodology behind them.
Jenay Robert 00:51
Yeah. So for people who aren't familiar, Educause publishes two Horizon Reports. So this is not the Action Plan yet. I'm just giving a bit of the background here. We publish two Horizon Reports every year, and in that report, we talk about trends. We source these trends from the community, an expert panel of usually somewhere between 40 and 60 experts, and we talk about trends that the community expects to have an impact on higher education within the next 10 years. And then, as part of that report, we also talk about the technologies and practices that our panelists feel are likely to either mitigate trends that we don't want to see continue or accelerate trends that we do want to see continue. And from there, this is where the Action Plan comes in. Once that report is published, we take a look, our team of researchers and other colleagues at Educause, we take a look at the report, and we pick out either one of the key technologies and practices or a cross-cutting theme that goes across all of the key technologies and practices, to then bring together another panel of experts. This one's a bit smaller, usually around eight people, to give the community really actionable advice about, how do we think about potential futures, but then be intentional, intentional about crafting the future we want to see, and then the actions we need to take to get there. So that is kind of the background in a nutshell. The thing that makes it really special is the intentionality behind that preferred future. So instead of reacting to whatever comes our way, we're really thinking about, as a community, where do we want to go and how do we get there?
Rhea Kelly 02:37
So for this report, it's kind of a chicken and egg question. Did you set out to focus on building generative AI skills and literacy, or was that something that, that the need for skills and literacy came out in more general discussions of gen AI?
Jenay Robert 02:53
In the 2025 Teaching and Learning Horizon Report, which is the sort of parent report to this action plan, what we noticed was that in every single one of those key technologies in practice, generative AI was either explicitly called out as something important for the future, or it was implicitly included in the discussion of that key technology or practice. So we list these in the beginning of the report, but, and again, these are sourced from the 2025 Teaching and Learning Horizon Report. But those key technologies and practices were: AI tools for teaching and learning; faculty development for generative AI; AI governance; shoring up cyber security; evolving teaching practices; and critical digital literacy, which significant portion of that discussion really revolved around AI tools. So when we sat down to discuss the direction we might want to go in for the Action Plan, that really stood out to us, this through thread of generative AI. And as a team, when we talked about what, what we're hearing from the community in terms of things they most need — those actionable, really meaty kind of like, tell me the good stuff, like, I don't need the theoretical point of view anymore, I need to know how to do this — it really comes down to that need for all of us in higher education to make sure we're working on those skills and literacies that are necessary for us to do our job on a day-to-day basis now.
Rhea Kelly 04:25
I really think that there's been kind of a shift from where the conversations were all about sort of AI policy-making and strategy, and it's, I feel like there's a shift to training and, you know, building those skills.
Jenay Robert 04:42
I 100% agree. And actually, I don't want to scoop myself too much, but you'll see that shift a little bit in my research line at Educause. So all of us at Educause are thinking along those lines. And you know, you and I think have talked in the past about our AI Landscape research that we've done. It gives that bird's-eye view where we really think about what's going on across every area of higher ed. And it did really mostly sit at that policy/strategy positioning. Well, for 2026 we're not going to do another report at that level. We're digging down deeper into some of those topics. And so, you know, again, I don't want to scoop myself, but January, you can see our first one coming out, which is related to how AI is impacting work on a day-to-day basis in higher ed.
Rhea Kelly 05:31
That sounds fascinating. I can't wait.
Jenay Robert 05:35
I'm excited about it. Like the data, our analyst is cleaning the data today. I actually get to get my hands on the toolkit this week, so I'm super excited about it. I'll try to stay focused on the Action Plan, though. I know, I know that's what I need to be talking about right now.
Rhea Kelly 05:52
So tell me about that preferred future that panelists came up with. What were like some of the key goals that they thought like higher education needed in the next 10 years?
Jenay Robert 06:04
Yeah, they painted a really nice picture of, and again, this is, this is the preferred future, right? And so I really try to emphasize, when I talk about this research, that we're not trying to predict the future. None of the Horizon Reports try to predict the future. We try to think about potential futures so that we can be ready and that we can create action to get to where we want to go. And I think I mentioned this earlier, that the exciting thing about the Horizon Action Plan is that we get to be aspirational. We get to think about, what do we really want to see happen in higher education? And so these are not necessarily predictions or where we think things will go, but where we'd like to drive our energy, put our energy into driving towards these futures. And so the panelists called out things like our local communities having renewed trust in higher ed. That's definitely a popular topic right now, thinking about people trusting the value of higher education, or trusting expertise in higher education. And so that goal of kind of renewing that trust and belief. Strengthening cross institutional collaboration — I don't, I think every time I give a talk or an interview, I always make some sort of joke about how, oh, higher ed is not siloed at all, right? And so I think this is a continued theme that comes up for us, that we really want to break down those walls and work together. We want to close institutional digital divides. And this is something that's come, when we think about AI specifically, this is coming out of some of the research we've done in our AI Landscape research, where we're seeing some institutions better positioned, whether it's through financial resources or expertise or time, whatever it is, some institutions are better positioned to tackle these AI-related challenges than others. And so what, what we try to do at Educause is help our members and help the higher ed community connect with each other so that we're, we're not being inhibited by those divides, and we're not widening digital divides, which ultimately just trickles down to students. Three more things that the panel identified: One is that they would love to see the higher education workforce embracing digital transformation. This has been part of the conversation since this AI explosion. A lot of people have identified this is not particularly new; this is really just sort of an extension or a continuation of digital transformation in higher education. And the panel was really smart, I think, about calling that out as a larger issue. They'd like to see generative AI tools meaningfully integrated into learning experiences. And so this comes down to not seeing people using generative AI tools in place of meaningful learning, in place of instruction, in place of human connection. We want to see this as a tool that's leveraged in really smart ways to augment the things that are so important to us in higher ed. And finally, they would like to see that students, faculty and staff are able to critically evaluate generative AI tools, you know, and this, this speaks to every area of what we're trying to get at here. It's about learning experiences. It's about work experiences. It's about just being a human in a digital society. So that that is the long answer to what should have been probably a short, a short question.
Rhea Kelly 09:37
Well, the future is complicated, right?
Jenay Robert 09:40
It is.
Rhea Kelly 09:40
So you need to be long.
Jenay Robert 09:41
Yeah
Rhea Kelly 09:42
Do you feel like those goals reflect things that panelists feel are lacking in the current state of higher education? Or is that a little too pessimistic?
Jenay Robert 09:50
No, I think, you know, I usually joke, for me anyway, it depends on the day you catch me, if I'm feeling more pessimistic or optimistic. And I think that that's true of our panelists as well, and, and that's why it's nice that we have this methodology where we're really working together with groups of experts, and we can kind of balance that out. So we definitely do see some elements of things that are concerns that we're trying to move away from. But this does get back to the spirit of the Action Plan in general, which is that we want to be working towards something rather than trying to move away from something. So when we craft this preferred future, we're thinking about these really aspirational goals that we can work towards, as opposed to trying to eliminate things or trying to run from certain issues that we're having now.
Rhea Kelly 10:40
So the report provides a long list of actions, and it's grouped by individuals, I think units and departments, sort of cross institutional collaboration. So a lot of different levels, these actions that we can all take to achieve the desired future. But it's kind of a long list. So where would be the best place to start? What are the first steps?
Jenay Robert 11:02
I think first is to take stock of what those levels are in the report. So there's four different levels that we've broken out our actions into. There's the individual level, so if you are frontline faculty, staff, individual contributor, basically. I think sometimes in very aspirational action plans, you start to feel a sense of overwhelm, I don't have agency over many things at my institution. And so that's why this section, I think, is so nice for people who are sitting at that level of the institution who want to be able to move this mission forward, but don't quite know where. Now this section is really good for anybody at the institution, because at the end of the day, we're all individuals. So I would say definitely start in that section, just taking a look and getting familiar with those actions. Not all actions there will be suitable for everybody. Everyone's got a different path, but that, that, that is definitely a good place to start. And from there, just getting a sense of what the other three areas are. So we have, after individual we have unit- or department-level actions. This is great for people who are department chairs, deans, if you sit at a level of at your institution where you're able to make an impact, maybe you're on a committee, something like that. So if you're able to make an impact at that unit or department level, you'll find some great actions in there. Beyond that, we look at multi-unit collaboration, and really, you can just think of this as things that can be done across the whole institution. So this is great for anybody who, let's say you're participating in your faculty senate and you want to think about what you can do across the institution. You're a provost, you're a CIO who is thinking about policy across the institution. And then finally, we have multi-institution collaboration. And this is, this is an area where you start thinking about consortia, or, for example, at Educause, we have community groups where people get together across our entire membership. And this is where some of that really meaty breaking down of those big silos across institutions can take place, things like sharing resources across institutions. So again, I think it's start at that individual level, see what matches for you. We all need to be shoring up our individual-level generative AI literacy, and from there, kind of thinking about where you sit at the institution and where you can make the most impact.
Rhea Kelly 13:44
Yeah, so it sounds like the first step really is to take a look at those actions and see really what the lowest hanging fruit is, specifically for you,
Jenay Robert 13:54
Definitely, and what is, you know, what is your level of interest? What is your appetite for this? I'm never going to be one to argue that anybody needs to fully embrace generative AI as this is the key to the future. You know, I, I'm not, I'm not a, I'm not a techno-positive kind of researcher in that way. I, I think it's, it's really about evaluating for yourself what makes sense for you, professionally, personally and so forth. That's why, you know, you may be someone who's saying, I'm not, I'm just trying to kind of get started figure it out. I don't want this to be all-encompassing in my curriculum, or maybe it doesn't make sense, you know, for it to be all-encompassing in my curriculum. I need to kind of figure out small steps here, then pick out one or two things that makes sense. But then for the people who are going all-in, we have the actions that make sense for that too.
Rhea Kelly 14:50
So at the institutional level, what should universities do to interpret and utilize the Action Plan, sort of in the context of their own needs?
Jenay Robert 15:00
I love this question because this is exactly what we want people to do with this Action Plan. Yes, we provide these actions that anyone can take, but at the end of the day, we all know that being thoughtful about the future and creating actions to get to where we want to go will look different in different contexts. So in the report, we do outline steps that you can take. It starts towards the end of the report, there's a section called Planning for the Road Ahead, and we walk you through specific activities. We talk about getting a team together, making a list of key stakeholders across different areas of the institution, what are some actual questions. We have a list of questions you can ask the stakeholders, very tangible steps for you to work through this process. There's a little graphic for building an action roadmap, which we have used from our friends at the Institute for the Future, just a quick plug for them, because we do all of our training for Strategic Foresight with the Institute for the Future. So for anyone who wants to really nerd out and do a super deep dive on Strategic Foresight thinking, I recommend taking a look at what they do and taking some training from them. And then we also have linked in the report some more resources for taking action. So there's always trainings at Educause, our professional learning team does a phenomenal job of listening to what the community needs and crafting experiences to really meet those needs. So we have things like a Teaching with AI online program for higher education faculty that you can tap into. So the sky's the limit, but it really comes down to taking a look at that methodology and rolling up your sleeves and doing that at your own institution.
Rhea Kelly 16:59
Without too many spoilers, can you tell me a little bit more about your next AI research project and what you're looking to find out?
Jenay Robert 17:07
This is why you're one of my favorite people. You let me, you let me babble about my passion projects. So we, as I said, we kind of paused in planning for 2026 AI research and thought exactly what you called out at the beginning of this talk, that people are not necessarily, we're kind of moving past this, okay, strategic level, the, we all know that there are many risks, we all know that there are many opportunities, and those are still important things to keep in mind. But we're definitely at the stage where it's the rubber meets the road. I come to work every day, and I need to know what, what am I doing when it comes to AI? And so ideally, we'll have several of these smaller reports throughout the year, but the first one, we partnered with our friends at AIR, NACUBO, and CUPA HR actually, so other higher ed associations who really focus a lot more on some of these business areas of the institution, and we did that to broaden our understanding of the needs of faculty and staff In higher education, and really think about what does day-to-day work look like, not just in teaching and learning, not just in higher ed technology, not just in cybersecurity and privacy, but in the registrar's office, in the HR office, you know, across these different units. And so what this study looks at is things like, is your institution providing you with, with licenses for various software? Is your institution providing you with clear guidance on how you can or can't use AI for work? Do you want to be using AI for work? And if so, what are the specific ways that you want to be using AI for work? And if you don't want to, why not? What's the, what's the thinking behind that? So definitely, already, with just early data collection, I'm seeing some very interesting insights around perhaps more people using AI than have actual guidance around that. That's something that may not be very surprising to hear, definitely hearing large proportions of respondents using AI tools. And then I hope to come out of this too with some specific answers around the types of software packages that people really want to be able to have access to for work. So that is a little bit of a taste, but I'm very excited about it, and that'll come out, I think, January 12. But if, if I'm off by a day or two, please don't @ me on social media.
Rhea Kelly 19:56
I love it. It sounds like you might be uncovering some shadow AI in, in that, that survey.
Jenay Robert 20:05
Could be.
Rhea Kelly 20:08
We'll have to wait till January to find out. All right. Well, thank you. Thanks so much for coming on.
Jenay Robert 20:14
Thank you so much for having me. I can't wait to be back.
Rhea Kelly 20:21
Thank you for joining us. I'm Rhea Kelly, and this was the Campus Technology Insider podcast. You can find us on the major podcast platforms or visit us online at campustechnology.com/podcast. Let us know what you think of this episode and what you'd like to hear in the future. Until next time.