Supporting AI readiness in higher education

As higher education leaders gather at the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference, artificial intelligence (AI) is a focal point of discussion. While AI presents opportunities to support students, faculty, and staff, many institutions, particularly community colleges and public university systems, confront resource limitations. Recent research shows that 41% of higher-education educators have not received formal training on using AI tools in learning environments.

To bridge this gap, Google.org is backing two higher education projects centered on prioritizing educators in AI implementation.

Firstly, the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities (USU) and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) are refining the Urban Adult Learner Institute (UALI). With Google.org's backing, USU integrates Grow with Google resources and AI-integrated lessons into its professional development certification. By providing higher education practitioners, including faculty and advisors, with practical, hands-on tasks, schools can deliver better career guidance and assist students in achieving success.

The initiative involves educators across 30 universities who will evaluate these new strategies to enable other institutions to replicate successful practices for adult learner success.

Secondly, the Reimagining Community Colleges (RCC) initiative by the Education Design Lab aims to reimagine strategic planning at community colleges and prepare students for the future of work. Through support from Google.org, the initiative is helping two-year institutions transform this dynamic and create flexible work-based learning pathways across diverse academic disciplines.

This will expand workforce readiness for a wide range of students. Furthermore, a national competition will launch in early 2027, allowing a state-level community college system to undergo a two-year initiative using technology-enabled solutions to better serve their students. The Future of Learning framework will be applied to build scalable, enduring solutions that enhance continuous innovation across campuses.

For those interested in free training resources and learning more about these education initiatives, the Google for Education Learning Center is a valuable resource. Additionally, educators and administrators can connect with Google's teams during the EDUCAUSE conference.