AVT Question: Please share your insights into emerging trends and how AV/IT technologies are reshaping the higher education classroom and beyond.
Thought Leader: Micah Shippee, Director of Education Solutions and Channel Sales at Samsung Electronics America
Higher education institutions are increasingly prioritizing the integration of AI for various aspects of teaching, learning, and administration. AI’s projected impact is multifaceted, with the potential to transform both instruction and on-campus security.
From an instructional perspective, AI mirrors the adoption of the pencil in education. A century ago, teachers would say, “Today we’re going to learn math with our pencils.” Over time, the pencil became so ubiquitous in learning that its use as a tool no longer needed to be mentioned. If meaningfully adopted, each innovation is destined to have a Pencil Moment. We are seeing AI rapidly approach its own Pencil Moment.
AI tools can strengthen cyber defenses by monitoring network activity, analyzing logs, and detecting anomalies in real time." —Micah Shippee, Director of Education Solutions and Channel Sales at Samsung Electronics America
One clear area of opportunity is the interactive whiteboard, which has seen widespread use across campuses. When enhanced with AI, these displays can help educators scale their instructional strategies and create more engaging learning environments. Educators can automatically transcribe lectures, generate summaries, and create instant quizzes from those transcripts. Students can connect wirelessly and participate from their own devices, turning passive lectures into interactive learning moments. This shift enables more formative assessment, which serves as a better gauge of knowledge retention. In these cases, the introduction of AI transforms the whiteboard into a hub of smart solutions that simplify, enhance, and empower the learning experience.
While the benefits of AI are promising, its adoption also raises new challenges, particularly around information security. AI tools can strengthen cyber defenses by monitoring network activity, analyzing logs, and detecting anomalies in real time. Digital twin technologies can even enable predictive maintenance to prevent issues before they arise. However, malicious actors can also exploit AI to launch more advanced cyberattacks. These dualities make it critical for higher education institutions to adopt AI responsibly, ensuring data privacy and minimizing risk as they unlock the technology’s full potential.
