Overview

Generative AI is rapidly reshaping industries and the skills that students are going to be expected to have to be employable. As the pace of technological change accelerates, universities must innovate to stay competitive and ensure that they are giving students the skills that they need to be competitive. At the same time, generative AI offers the potential to transform university operations, from automating course scheduling and content creation to streamlining expense reporting and administrative functions. This course provides university leaders with a foundation to understand enough of the key fundamentals of how generative AI works and what it can do to make effective strategic decisions. The course provides a primer on the innovative potential of generative AI across all disciplines and the opportunity for higher education to lead the way in reshaping how students learn and how we work in the future. It shows what is happening in industry and the strategic opportunities for institutions to focus on to help their students excel in the future of work. The course also provides the foundation that an institution needs to get started innovating with generative AI, ranging from policy to platform. The course covers the essential platforms and infrastructure for effective generative AI integration in university settings, offering advice on investment priorities, efficient resource distribution, and pinpointing key advocates to create an interdisciplinary culture of innovation across campus.

Syllabus

Generative AI is Already Here

Module 1 introduces the transformative impact of Generative AI (GenAI) on universities and motivations for its implementation. It highlights the groundbreaking ways that GenAI is already impacting the education space today. Key focuses of this module include exploration of concrete use cases of GenAI in higher education, as well as explanations of how GenAI works and its limitations.

Meeting the Needs of Students and Employers

Module 2 explores the impact of Generative AI on industries and jobs, guiding university leaders on aligning curricula with employer and student needs. It places significant emphasis on understanding GenAI's effects on businesses and the emerging skills required. Additionally, the module offers instruction on how to use GenAI as a thought partner in your work. Finally, it provides insights into popular courses on Coursera, assisting leaders in identifying high-demand curricula.

A Generative AI Guide for University Leaders

Module 3 dives into practical strategies for leading your institution through the rapidly changing landscape of generative AI. This module provides a starting blueprint for leveraging AI's potential while addressing its challenges, based on sucesses from Vanderbilt's Initiative on the Future of Learning and Generative AI. This module explores the most common starting needs for institutions: creating policy, thinking through curriculum needs, sparking community innovation, and setting up a private enterprise chat platform. This module will equip you with the initial knowledge and tools to start engaging with Gen AI confidently and ethically, ultimately driving meaningful progress in learning, operations, and research. If you already have all of these items in place, this module will provide a data point on how another institution approached these key elements.