“Integration is key,” said Aung, author of “Robot-Proof: Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence,” which lays out a blueprint for universities to meet the challenges and opportunities related to AI.
Northeastern University President Joseph E. Aoun told private school leaders on Thursday that integrating classroom instruction with work experience is critical to preparing the next generation of college students, especially given the challenges of artificial intelligence, changing demographics and expectations for higher education.
“We don’t want to create a situation where we don’t connect classroom instruction with the experiential learning that’s happening in the real world,” Aoun said during a keynote address to a crowd of more than 1,500 people at the Enrollment Management Association’s annual conference at the Sheraton Boston Hotel.
Aung explained that experiential learning reinforces and questions classroom learning, while also enabling students to understand their own strengths and weaknesses, the skills of their peers and the opportunities available to them.
“Integration is key,” said Aung, who has served as Northeastern University’s president since 2006 and is author of “Robot-Proof: Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence,” a book that lays out a blueprint for how universities can meet the challenges and opportunities related to AI.
In his book and in his speech on Thursday, Aoun discussed an emerging field he calls “humanics,” which brings together technology literacy, data literacy and human literacy in which human experts work side by side with smart machines.
The Admissions Management Association partners with private schools around the world to help meet the admissions and enrollment needs of schools, students and families.
Aoun was joined by education consultant and EMA board chair Claire Goldsmith for a roundtable discussion on topics ranging from how to prepare students for college and lifelong learning in the age of machine learning to how schools can address future enrolment demographic declines.
They also discussed the unique learning model that differentiates Northeastern University, a global university with 13 campuses in three countries, from other universities.
Throughout the discussion, Aoun stressed that AI is “very powerful” but also has “significant limitations.”
For example, Aung said human literacy – the ability to understand culture, context and non-verbal cues such as body language and knowledge transfer – is just as essential to education as understanding machines and data.
“Human literacy is something that humans do and machines can’t replicate in the near future,” he said.
“How do you teach human literacy?” Aung asked.
“Experiential education is key in this regard because it allows you to practice all of these methods,” he said.
Aoun said Northeastern, which has 4,700 industry partners in nearly 150 countries across all seven continents, differentiates itself as a leader in experiential education.
He said all educators must embrace lifelong learning – the idea that people of all ages need new skills and competencies throughout their working lives to evolve with the times.
“We’re global, we’re experience-driven, and we’re people-driven. That’s what you get at Northeastern,” Aoun said. “That’s what differentiates us from other universities.”
This differentiation has served Northeastern well, as the university received a record 98,373 undergraduate applications this year, spent a record $470 million on financial aid, and welcomed a diverse class of students that includes students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries.
It also differentiates future Northeastern students, which is of interest to private school educators who care about enrollment numbers.
“You all know that the value of going to school is not just to gain knowledge, but to demonstrate this human literacy,” Aung told the audience. “So do whatever you can to show that your students can do more than just know math, physics, writing, and so on.”
Again, integrating experiential learning is key.
“What you do outside the classroom is going to matter,” Aoun said.