During the pandemic, assessment of student learning became even more important than usual as instructors sought tools to gauge student success in a remote, unexpected (and, for many instructors, new) educational environment. Prompted by Georgia Tech’s emergency shift to remote instruction, our team at the Center for 21st Century Universities (C21U) piloted a key performance indicator (KPI) tool designed to provide instructors with expanded insight into student learning and success in remote courses.

Steve McLaughlin, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs at Georgia Tech, has announced that initial planning is underway to explore the creation of a new academic unit around lifetime learning.

The C21U research team presented ongoing work, Relating Neural Mechanisms for Learning to Instructional Events in Online Learning Environments, at the 2022 International Mind, Brain and Education Society (IMBES) Conference, in Montreal, Canada on July 21st - 23rd, 2022.

A team of researchers composed of members from Georgia Tech’s School of Public Policy, College of Computing, and the Center for 21st Century Universities took home multiple awards from the American Society for Engineering Education’s (ASEE) 2022 Annual Conference and Exposition for their paper.

The members of the Digital Credentials Consortium (DCC) — comprising 12 international universities — are working together to develop new digital systems for academic credentials. The DCC approach focuses on open standards, as well as developing software, systems and approaches to ensure learner control of their digital credentials.

Georgia Tech's Center for 21st Century Universities (C21U) invites you to attend a half-day event, "The Civic Role of Universities in a Changing Educational Landscape."

Exhibit curator Birney Robert (College of Computing) has issued a call for artists and researchers working at the intersection of science and technology and addressing topics surrounding accessibility. Accepted work will be displayed in an exhibit titled, Extension of Self: what it means to be human in a digital world.

Where will it take us in 2022? This trends story highlights C21U's work with the NSF-funded Competency Catalyst project as well as our Microsoft Accessibility Grants and includes quotes from Ashok Goel and Matt Lisle. 

In an op-ed for Inside Higher Ed, Ray Schroeder explores uses of AI in higher ed, including Ashok Goel's AI teaching assistant, Jill Watson.

At this point it goes without saying that 2020 - 2021 was an academic year unlike any other. As a living laboratory dedicated to fundamental change in education, the Center for 21st Century Universities was perhaps better prepared than most when such change is thrust upon us. Change is a big part of what we do.

In August 2020, C21U announced the release of the newest version of the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) tool in Canvas. The KPI tool was originally designed to help instructors monitor students’ learning and gain insight into how to enhance learning in future hybrid or remote courses. Student users were asked to complete a brief anonymous online survey on a weekly basis in which they self-rate their learning experiences in different areas. The initial group of testers echoed that this tool will continue to remain useful in a fully residential mode.

Georgia Tech’s Center for 21st Century Universities (C21U) announced four winning proposals for a new accessibility-focused seed grant research program funded by Microsoft.

Georgia Tech’s Center for 21st Century Universities (C21U) announced four winning proposals for a new accessibility-focused seed grant research program funded by Microsoft.  

Georgia Tech is a major partner in a new National Science Foundation (NSF) Artificial Intelligence Research Institute focused on adult learning in online education, it was announced today. Led by the Georgia Research Alliance, the National AI Institute for Adult Learning in Online Education (ALOE) is one of 11 new NSF institutes created as part of an investment totaling $220 million.

Over the next five years, Georgia Tech will make a substantial investment in AI that includes hiring an additional 100 researchers in the field, further solidifying its standing as a leader in the teaching and discovery of machine learning.

The Digital Credentials Consortium (DCC) is a collaboration between twelve institutions across the world with the goal of creating a centralized platform or standard for academic credentials across universities and other education providers so that students can easily receive, store, and share their credential records. In Georgia Tech’s case, we've integrated an issuing tool in our learning management system (LMS), Canvas. In addition, we are collaborating with the DCC to create a tool for claiming credentials, called a “wallet.”

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in March of last year, Georgia Tech (and most universities), pivoted to emergency remote teaching over the span of about two weeks. C21U was at the forefront of this pivot and has continued to help lead the Institute as we define the most optimal paths going forward.

Georgia Tech has a new strategic plan for the years 2020 to 2030. However, many of the themes highlighted in the 2018 CNE report -- themes like Lifetime Education, Distributed Worldwide Presence, AI, Whole Person Development, and more -- continue to be both critical to the future of Georgia Tech and relevant within the new Strategic Plan.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has named Competency Catalyst, an initiative focused on innovative tools for workforce reskilling and led by partners including Eduworks Corporation (Eduworks), Georgia Tech, and the University System of Georgia (USG), as one of nine teams selected to receive Phase II Convergence Accelerator funding. Over two years, Competency Catalyst will receive $5 million in funding from the NSF Convergence Accelerator.

With more instructors than ever before teaching remote and hybrid courses this Fall semester, insights into course experience are critical for the continued success of both instructors and students at Georgia Tech. With that in mind, the Center for 21st Century Universities (C21U) has developed a new tool that provides instructors with course-specific weekly snapshots of how students are performing. Designed to work seamlessly with Canvas, Georgia Tech’s Learning Management System, the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Tool gives instructors a new, near real-time measure of student progress.