We provided a feedback opportunity for you to share how your institution is addressing key issues like media literacy and misinformation, screen time reduction, student mental health, and more. Participation was low, but the findings and insights thus far are worth deeper discussion.
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Why This Matters
As evolving technologies continue to change different aspects of education, our ability to adapt with these changes has become increasingly important. The wait-and-see approach to addressing edu-trends and issues is becoming less of an option, whereas sharing our expertise and lessons learned is increasingly critical. Whether it is through creating environments that prioritize students' mental health and well-being, advocating for the responsible and ethical integration of AI into learning, or improving methods to accurately assess and enhance student skill development, sharing what we know matters. This has the potential to better ensure that our efforts can keep pace with technological advancements and align with the overall needs of students in a changing world.
Top Three Concerns
We designed a survey to gather feedback on a small number of key topics that might matter most to you/your institution. Participants of this survey shared the challenges and opportunities they are seeing in education right now and covered topics such as AI literacy, social media’s impact, assessment of student skills, and more.
#1 Student Mental Health
Participants cited various reasons for their institution's pursuit of improving students' mental health, including addressing student stress and anxiety and enhancing their overall well-being and happiness. Among the challenges, educators are seeing students struggling with the following:
- Screen addiction
- Lack of motivation and engagement
- Apathy towards school
- Lack of respect for others
Most indicated that they are in the implementation phase, with just a couple assessing the impact of efforts. Among the positive steps institutions are taking to improve student mental health, participants reported the following:
- Increasing support services
- Resources through counselors
- Access to social workers
- Providing anonymous hotlines
- Reducing cell phone use
- Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS)
- Building trust among students
#2 Assessing Students' Skills
The second highest-ranked of the six was Assessing Students' Skills, with many selecting Evaluating students’ practical knowledge as a main reason their institution is investing in this issue. Additionally, preparing students for the future and ensuring their readiness for what’s next, improving curriculum based on assessment data, and identifying learning gaps, and targeting inventions for struggling students were also often selected reasons.
Everyone indicated that they have moved on from discussing the issue and are now taking action. Some are planning and implementing, but many have already implemented something and are assessing its impact. Among the positive steps taken, participants cited the following:
- “We’re working towards assessment-based practices”
- “We have ongoing staff training and development”
- “Increasingly, there are incentives and staff engagement promoting learning.”
- “Our gen-ed program has built an assessment program utilizing outcomes in Canvas, which is great. We are assessing if it's possible to expand that kind of assessment to individual academic programs.”
#3 AI Literacy
Participants selected multiple reasons for improving AI Literacy, but the top-rated reason was promoting ethical use and understanding of AI for both faculty and students. Other key reasons included integrating AI into various academic disciplines, responding to industry demands for AI skills, preparing students for technological advancements, and increasing/decreasing student engagement with AI technologies.
While some are discussing and planning, most indicated that they are implementing something this year, whereas no one indicated that they are assessing the impact of an initiative.
Some might feel like this is a passing trend, others might feel like they are already falling behind, and others might feel unsure of the most ethical way to use this evolving technology—all are justified. One participant provided the following context:
“Some faculty embrace AI and design courses and assignments around it. Others want nothing to do with it and think all students do with it is cheat. Academic Integrity is a huge issue, but we recognize it's almost impossible to prove if a student used GenAI. We'd rather more faculty be in the first group, where they embrace AI and design around it, but that takes a lot of time and effort, which is hard to ask when everyone is overloaded with other things to do.”
If you're looking to implement an AI Literacy program or professional development for educators around AI, you don't need to start from scratch. We recently compiled a list of resources from Instructure customers and AI innovators to help you get started.
Discussion
We didn’t set out to exhaustively capture everything; instead, we explored a handful of key issues. The preliminary findings on your top concerns suggest that Student Mental Health is a big one this academic year. Institutions actively implementing strategies to address stress, anxiety, and overall well-being are not alone.
Globally, news headlines suggest that the concern for students’ mental health is growing. From an initiative in Colorado to curb cellphone use and promote mental well-being to concerns raised by university leaders in the UK and a survey revealing a lack of mental health support for students in Hong Kong, it's unfortunately clear that this issue transcends boundaries. Student mental health challenges are not isolated incidents, as such, a comprehensive and collaborative solution is warranted. Helping students address their struggles is a global effort, encompassing educational institutions, governments, and industry partnerships working together to create a supportive and nurturing environment for students worldwide.
Additionally, we discussed the importance of assessing students' skills. As assessment methods evolve, incorporating AI and VR and measuring practical skills alongside traditional knowledge, there’s pressure to adapt to these new approaches and ensure that assessments remain fair, accurate, and aligned with students' future needs. There’s also a need for more equitable and comprehensive assessment practices. While not mentioned in the survey results, assessing social-emotional skills and career self-efficacy might prove particularly challenging for those more focused on holistic student development. There’s layer upon layer of complexity in assessment design, and navigating this rapidly changing landscape to find effective ways to measure and support student growth in the 21st century is no small feat.
Lastly, the challenges and opportunities presented by AI are decidedly complex. While concerns about cheating and misuse persist, there's a growing recognition of AI's potential to transform teaching and learning positively. News of a $120M fund provided by Google for global AI education and UNESCO's summit on AI's role in education suggests increasing investment and dialogue surrounding AI's integration. Articles discussing teachers cautiously embracing AI tools and exploring their benefits further emphasize that AI, when used responsibly and ethically, can be a valuable asset in education. It's not about fearing AI but understanding and harnessing its potential to enhance the educational experience for all.
Conclusion
These preliminary findings offer a glimpse into the current challenges in education this year. We acknowledge that there are many other pressing issues facing schools and institutions. Nonetheless, let's keep the conversation going. We're eager to hear your thoughts on these important issues. How is your institution tackling student mental health, AI literacy, and skills assessment? Do you share these same concerns? Your experiences, insights, and questions can contribute to a broader understanding—let's learn and grow together!
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