Inside Higher Ed Releases 2024 Survey of College and University Presidents, Sponsored by VitalSource®

Survey shows high levels of optimism about the impact of artificial intelligence in higher education 

RALEIGH, NC – Inside Higher Ed has released its 14th annual Survey of College and University Presidents. Sponsored by VitalSource®, a leading higher education technology solutions provider, and conducted in partnership with Hanover Research, the survey includes insights from 2,693 presidents of public, private nonprofit, and for-profit colleges about institutional financial stability, federal higher ed policies, artificial intelligence’s (AI) growing impact, open inquiry and dialogue on campuses, mental health needs of undergraduate students, and other key topics related to college and university leadership.  

 The survey can be found on Inside Higher Ed’s website here, and registration for a free webinar on March 27 discussing the findings is available here. 

According to the survey, when asked about their feelings about artificial intelligence’s growing impact on higher education, only 6% of college and university presidents said they were very concerned, and 50% described themselves as somewhat or very optimistic. 

“It’s encouraging to see college and university leaders so optimistic about the use of artificial intelligence in higher education,” said Michael Hale, Ph.D., Chief Learning Officer for VitalSource. “With our award-winning, learning science-backed Bookshelf CoachMe® tool, we’ve been demonstrating how AI can be used to scale the development of assessment items that help students learn more effectively. While AI, particularly generative AI, will be a transformative technology, it is a tool and not an end in itself. We believe it can be deployed to scale what learning science has shown to be effective" 

VitalSource powers content delivery across today’s Higher Education ecosystem and is trusted by a global movement of content providers and institutions to fuel affordable access programs, delighting students and advancing their success from Day One. 

VitalSource’s Bookshelf CoachMe is an AI-powered study coach built within the company’s Bookshelf platform. It’s based on the proven learning science principle known as the “Doer Effect” and adds relevant practice questions aligned to learning objectives alongside thousands of eTexts within the Bookshelf platform -- at no additional cost to students or institutions. Bookshelf CoachMe’s industry-leading technology uses AI to identify important learning content, create relevant and academically rigorous practice questions directly from the text, and place those questions alongside eText. More than 500,000 students have answered over 9 million practice questions since its launch two years ago. 

In June 2023, The Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) awarded VitalSource® a 2023 CODiE Award for “Best Use of Artificial Intelligence in Ed Tech” for Bookshelf CoachMe. That same month, VitalSource was also recognized, along with Iowa State University (ISU) with 1EdTech’s Silver Learning Impact Award program for their innovative research partnership examining the effect of Bookshelf CoachMe on teaching and learning. 

The Inside Higher Ed 2024 Survey of College and University Presidents is available to read here. Register for a webcast presentation of the study’s key findings here.  

Learn more about Bookshelf CoachMe here. To find out about the science behind Bookshelf CoachMe, visit the VitalSource Learning Science Research Center.   

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About VitalSource 

VitalSource Technologies, LLC is a leading education technology solutions provider committed to helping partners create, deliver, and distribute affordable, accessible, and impactful learning experiences worldwide. As a recognized innovator in the digital course materials market, VitalSource delivers extraordinary learning experiences to millions of active users around the globe through its affiliations with thousands of publishers, educational institutions, and resellers. Learn more at https://get.vitalsource.com and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.