Balancing pragmatism and innovation: clear and defined guidelines to underpin HE’s AI revolution

AI presents universities with a unique opportunity for innovation, from increasing administrative efficiency to filling support gaps with institutionally backed study help and writing feedback for students. However, AI presents a number of challenges within the teaching and learning space that need to be considered and weighed against its benefits.

The emergence of generative AI, especially large language models such as ChatGPT and Gemini, presents fundamental issues for how universities teach and assess students. During a round-table discussion held in partnership with Studiosity, at the 2025 THE Digital Universities US event, higher education leaders from the US and Canada shared their experiences in navigating this new landscape and strategies for ensuring AI is taught and used responsibly.

Melody Buckner, associate vice-provost of digital learning and online initiatives at the University of Arizona, noted that AI skills are non-negotiable and every graduate must have them. “It’s not that you will lose your job to AI, it’s that you could lose your job to someone who knows how to use AI because they will know how to do things faster in a more efficient way,” she said. 

Trey Conatser, assistant provost for teaching and learning at the University of Kentucky, spoke about key factors to consider when designing assessments in the age of AI. “It’s an instructional, pedagogical design question of where the learning happens. As long as we’re designing assessments that are focusing on where the learning happens, that’s what matters,” said Conatser.

However, the messaging around AI in higher education is confusing for students, Buckner said. Some programmes allow students to use AI, while others ban it outright. The round-table participants discussed the need for robust guidelines and essential training to ensure the safe and responsible use of generative AI and any programme or product that uses the technology. 

Laurie Sharp, senior associate provost for academic programmes, assessment, and accreditation at Utah Valley University, said faculty support is fundamental. “We really want to be sensitive to concerns that faculty have raised,” Sharp explained. Conversations around what responsible AI use looks like and how to protect academic integrity and student learning are crucial. When faculty members are given training and support, they are empowered to use AI in their teaching. As the functionality of AI tools evolves, students and faculty need to be routinely upskilled. 

When Purdue University in Indiana launched its AI literacy course in 2023, students and faculty members were invited to enrol. Maricel Lawrence, innovation catalyst at Purdue Global, said that there needs to be constant dialogue with and between educators and students. The university provides clear guidelines for faculty on incorporating AI within course design. “We had upskilling with AI sessions where we would bring everybody into the conversation. We need that interaction to explain what it means to use AI in the context of the course that they are teaching,” said Lawrence. 

Clear and consistent messaging is crucial. “You want to get people more excited about discovery, exploration and excited about what they are learning,” said Buckner. Defining the rules of engagement, delivering support and providing training in AI can promote academic integrity and lay the foundations for the academic innovation long anticipated by AI advocates.

Concluding the discussion, Troy Burnett, senior vice-president and general manager for North America at Studiosity, said, “I’m really encouraged – I heard some really good defence that writing still matters. It’s on all of us to understand how we can leverage this incredibly powerful technology but do it in an ethical way that preserves the learning process.”

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