Ask a Consultant About AI Adoption

By Tammy L. Aagard, Ed.D., Managing Consultant, AACRAO Consulting

Signed, 

Senior Enrollment Leader

Dear Senior Enrollment Leader,

The pressure to include AI technologies across all facets of higher education is mounting. Presidents and other executive leaders are being approached by education technology companies offering a variety of AI solutions and enhancements to administrative operations and the learning environment. Some college and university leaders seek to be seen as trailblazers and leaders in the AI space. There is a desire to be a progressive adopter rather than a laggard. 

Not all AI solutions are created equal, and institutions can spend a lot of money and cause immense administrative churn if they lack a strategic approach to AI acquisition and implementation. As an enrollment leader, you can help inform AI strategy in admissions and registrar areas, but also assist Presidents and cabinet-level executives to create a structure that signals progress in this space, provides safeguards, and lets these AI technologies mature. 

Start with governance: Appropriate and secure use of AI requires a series of decisions about acceptable use, type and security of data ingested into the AI model, and compliance with privacy laws. Accountability and evidence documentation are critical to satisfy compliance and accreditation requirements. Creating an AI governance body that includes enrollment leaders who serve as the stewards of the learner academic record is important. 

Prepare the data: AI tools make recommendations and assumptions based on data. Ensuring your data is clean and well-defined is a critical step. A clear understanding of data elements can inform decisions about which data is appropriate for inclusion in AI models.

Inventory current AI use and develop targeted use cases: Determine where AI is currently being leveraged across the campus. Include the problems being addressed and the data being used to train the AI model. Develop a targeted use case for AI implementation within enrollment. Look for solutions that meet that need, including negotiating with solution providers about a single issue rather than end-to-end solutions. Present those use cases to executive leadership as a demonstration of momentum in AI adoption.

Don’t forget the human impact: Initiative fatigue and changing priorities contribute to team burnout. AI is not well understood across all levels of the organization. Starting with AI literacy can help to allay fears about being replaced by the technology and empower staff to become the “human at the helm” for these solutions. Incorporating AI into solutioning during division team meetings is a way to increase familiarity with AI capabilities. Assisting staff in becoming fluent with creating AI prompts and using an iterative approach to curating results is key.

Remember that having a local strategy, governance structure, and targeted use cases within enrollment management can serve as a model for AI adoption across your campus. Use these approaches to foster confidence among executive leadership and to highlight a distinct AI vision when they are pressured to lead or go along with the crowd.

Signed,

Tammy, AACRAO Consultant

AACRAO members, do you have a question for our team of higher education consultants? Send your "Ask a Consultant" question to consulting@aacrao.org.

For more information on how AACRAO Consulting can assist your campus in developing a sound AI governance structure, preparing your data and structures for an AI world, and determining any underutilization of current technology, visit our website or contact us via email at consulting@aacrao.org.

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