Changing Higher Ed podcast 332 with Dr. Drumm McNaughton and Dean Scontras | AI Governance in Higher Education: Academic Integrity, Data Compliance, and Responsible AI Use

AI Governance in Higher Education: Academic Integrity, Data Compliance, and Responsible AI Use:

Changing Higher Ed podcast 332 with host Dr. Drumm McNaughton and guest Dean Scontras

One university that recently began working with Island told the company its test scores had risen by roughly 30%. Dean Scontras is careful not to call that a trend, and he cannot say whether the figure covers one classroom or an entire system. It is also the kind of number most institutions cannot yet explain, because they cannot see how AI is being used on their own systems. The exposure rarely starts with an attack. It starts with a student, faculty member, or researcher copying something out of the learning management system and pasting it into a personal AI account, where the protections negotiated into the institution’s enterprise license no longer apply. In a classroom that becomes an academic integrity problem. At a research university it can cost grant funding.

October 6, 2026 October 5, 2026

Motivated Students Still Drop Out: Using AI Behavioral Signals to Intervene Before Disengagement Becomes Attrition:

Changing Higher Ed podcast 319 with host Dr. Drumm McNaughton and guest Raz Dar

Eighty-six percent of college students report being highly motivated when they start. Yet, forty-two percent of surveyed students say they came close to dropping out at some point, and across the market roughly 32 percent eventually do. Those figures come from a survey of 1,050 U.S. college students conducted by Elvee, and they reframe student retention as a strategic risk presidents and boards must confront: attrition is not a motivation deficit. It is a detection failure. Institutions still identify struggling students through grades and attendance, and by the time a student has failed an exam or missed several classes, many are already halfway out the door. The scale is national. Forty-two million Americans now sit in the some-college, no-degree population, and the old saying still holds: the most expensive college

July 7, 2026 August 27, 2026

Changing Higher Ed podcast 316 with host Dr. Drumm McNaughton and guest Justin Beck - Administrative AI in Higher Ed- Finding the Friction Draining Enrollment, Retention, and Donor Revenue

Administrative AI in Higher Ed: Finding the Friction Draining Enrollment, Retention, and Donor Revenue:

Changing Higher Ed podcast 316 with host Dr. Drumm McNaughton and guest Justin Beck

A 4% year-over-year retention gain sounds like a service-desk metric until the dollars get attached to it. At a 5,000-student institution charging $25,000 a year, with roughly 1,500 students per class, that lift compounds across the years a student stays enrolled into real money. Empire State University reported exactly that gain after rolling out AI-based virtual assistants across roughly eight departments, alongside a 25% increase in student engagement on those web properties. The correlation is meaningful for leaders building a business case, though leaders should treat it as a correlation worth investigating rather than a clean causation claim. Administrative AI is producing measurable financial gains at institutions that have paired implementation with strong change management. Empire State, Florida Southwestern, and Boise State are not the largest or best-funded universities in

June 16, 2026 June 29, 2026

Changing Higher Ed Podcast 315-Dr. Drumm McNaughton and Dr. Leslie Kennedy- Inside CSU’s ChatGPT Edu Rollout Across 22 Universities

What Higher Ed Leaders Can Learn from CSU’s ChatGPT Edu Rollout:

Changing Higher Ed podcast 315 with host Dr. Drumm McNaughton and guest Dr. Leslie Kennedy

California State University expected about 50 faculty applications for its AI Educational Innovations Challenge last spring. It received 417. The system funded 63 projects with $3 million, and the projects will be showcased across disciplines this June. The ratio is what should matter most to other institutional leaders. Faculty appetite for AI is running roughly eight times ahead of what one of the nation’s largest university systems planned to fund. Boards should be asking a different question: whether their institutions have the governance, training, communication, and measurement systems to support responsible AI adoption. That data point sits alongside many more in Ahead of the Curve: What the Nation’s Largest University System Is Learning about AI, the largest AI perception survey ever conducted in higher education, with 94,060 responses from students, faculty,

June 9, 2026 June 29, 2026

Changing Higher Ed Podcast 314-Dr. Drumm McNaughton and Dr. Karen Panetta - AI Will Scale Your Institution's Existing Bias: A Procurement and Oversight Framework for Higher Ed

AI Will Scale Your Institution’s Existing Bias: A Procurement and Oversight Framework for Higher Ed:

Changing Higher Ed podcast 314 with host Dr. Drumm McNaughton and guest Dr. Karen Panetta

Most higher ed AI procurement skip the four questions that determine whether the tool will scale institutional bias. A framework for presidents and boards on what to ask before signing. As a high schooler with straight A’s in math and science, Dr. Karen Panetta was told by her school’s career assessment that she could sell makeup or be a cook. A male friend with lower scores got engineer or politician. Dr. Drumm McNaughton, host of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, was told by his post-Navy assessment to become a forest ranger. No AI was involved in either case. Just rules-based systems applying gender and biographical constraints. That same logic now sits inside AI tools landing in admissions offices and HR systems across higher ed, and McNaughton names the difference that

June 2, 2026 August 27, 2026

Changing Higher Ed Podcast 312-Dr. Drumm McNaughton and Nikki Barua-Human-First Transformation: Closing Higher Education’s AI Readiness Gap

Human-First Transformation: Closing Higher Education’s AI Readiness Gap:

Changing Higher Ed podcast 312 with host Dr. Drumm McNaughton and guest Nikki Barua

AI adoption among students is running at 80 to 90 percent. Only 9 percent of CIOs believe their institutions are ready. That gap is not closing on its own. Higher education has a well-practiced response to disruption: study it, pilot it, committee it, and implement it over several budget cycles. That approach worked for the internet. It worked for mobile. It will not work for AI. The difference is speed. The internet took roughly 30 years to reach mass adoption. Mobile took 10 to 15. AI has achieved massive adoption in under three years, and the technology is improving itself week by week without waiting for anyone’s strategic plan to clear shared governance. That timeline changes the nature of the problem. Incremental change, the model higher education knows best, assumes

May 19, 2026 June 27, 2026

Cover image - Changing Higher Ed podcast 277 with host Dr. Drumm McNaughton and guest Marc Huffman |How AI Dashboards Can Strengthen Higher Education Board Governance

How AI Dashboards Can Strengthen Higher Education Board Governance:

Changing Higher Ed podcast 277 with host Dr. Drumm McNaughton and guest Marc Huffman

Artificial intelligence is giving higher education new tools to support board governance. AI dashboards help trustees track performance trends as they develop and maintain focus on the priorities that matter most. They also reduce the time spent preparing for meetings by pulling materials into one place and highlighting key information. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® Podcast, Marc Huffman, CEO of OnBoard and eSCRIBE, joins Dr. Drumm McNaughton to discuss how board portals are evolving into intelligent systems that connect agendas, minutes, and performance data across years of board work. Their conversation explores how boards can use AI to be better prepared and keep strategy front and center during decision-making. Why Governance Needs More Than Board Books Higher education boards operate in one of the most demanding oversight

September 16, 2025 July 27, 2026

Using AI for Higher Ed Board Governance: Improving the Trustee Experience While Protecting Fiduciary Responsibilities:

Exploring practical applications, security concerns, and the fundamental role of human oversight

Is it possible for trustees to govern a billion-dollar institution while staying informed on every detail they’re responsible for? We like to think so, but the reality is, there are very few (= no) board members with these superpowers. One must look no further than the daily headlines to understand that higher education governance has never been more challenging—from Harvard’s governance challenges to Columbia’s board oversight issues—boards face a growing matrix of oversight responsibilities that require sophisticated tools and approaches to keep their heads above water. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence has emerged as a practical solution for many of the information management and strategic alignment challenges that plague modern board governance. Companies like Onboard and platforms such as Diligent’s Governance Cloud and BoardEffect are demonstrating how AI can address longstanding governance

July 10, 2025 September 6, 2026

Changing Higher Ed Podcast episode 167 featuring Drumm McNaughton and Ashish Fernando - Using AI in Higher Education Enrollment to Improve Fit, Speed, and Student Satisfaction

Using AI in Higher Education Enrollment to Improve Fit, Speed, and Student Satisfaction:

Changing Higher Ed podcast 267 with host Dr. Drumm McNaughton and guest Ashish Fernando

Rebuilding Enrollment Around Fit, Not Just Numbers Enrollment remains one of the most pressing strategic concerns for colleges and universities, especially as institutions face shrinking applicant pools, declining trust, and rising student expectations. Many respond by ramping up recruitment or marketing, but without a deeper realignment, these efforts only reinforce broken processes. In this episode of Changing Higher Ed, Ashish Fernando, founder and CEO of EDMO and iSchoolConnect, shares how institutions can use AI to rebuild enrollment systems around student fit, reduce operational friction, and improve outcomes across the student lifecycle. Drawing from his firm’s work with institutions like Western Governors University and National University, Fernando outlines a technology-supported approach that aligns enrollment with long-term student success. Why Institutions Must Rethink the Enrollment Funnel The traditional enrollment funnel focuses

July 8, 2025 June 27, 2026

Changing Higher Podcast 220 - AI Integration in Higher Ed Curriculums-How Kogod Did it in Six Months with host Drumm Mcnaughton and guests David Marchick and Angela Virtu

AI Integration in Higher Ed Curriculums: How Kogod Did it in Six Months:

Changing Higher Ed Podcast 220 with Host Dr. Drumm McNaughton and guests David Marchick and Angela Virtu

Actionable Insights from American University’s Kogod School of Business on Rapid AI Adoption Throughout Their Curriculum American University’s Kogod School of Business integrated artificial intelligence across its entire curriculum in just six months, revolutionizing its approach to business education. This rapid AI integration strategy offers valuable lessons for higher education institutions seeking to prepare students for an AI-driven future, thereby securing their institution’s relevance and sustainability. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed podcast, Dean David Marchick and Angela Virtu, Professorial Lecturer in IT & Analytics at Kogod, join Dr. Drumm McNaughton to discuss this ambitious initiative. They share Kogod’s strategy for swiftly developing and implementing AI-integrated courses across the curriculum, including faculty preparation and adaptation of existing programs. Their conversation explores the challenges and opportunities in expeditiously

August 13, 2024 June 27, 2026

Changing Higher Podcast 218 - Using Technology to Upgrade Higher Ed Branding and Marketing - with host Drumm McNaughton and guest Nuno Fernandes

Using Technology to Upgrade Higher Ed Branding and Marketing:

Changing Higher Ed podcast 218 with host Dr. Drumm McNaughton and guest Nuno Fernandes

Higher education hasn’t fundamentally changed in nearly a millennium. While the world has witnessed revolutions in technology, commerce, and communication, the core model of a professor lecturing to a classroom of students remains largely unchanged since the founding of the University of Bologna in 1088. This stagnation in the face of global digital transformation presents a critical challenge—and opportunity—for higher education institutions. In an era where students expect the same level of personalization and digital interface they experience with services like Uber or Netflix, colleges and universities must radically rethink their approach to branding, marketing, and the overall student experience. American Public University System (APUS) President Nuno Fernandes brings a wealth of experience from the business world to higher education. His insights offer valuable perspectives on how institutions can

July 30, 2024 June 27, 2026

Changing Higher Podcast 211 Embrace AI as a Performance Tool to Benefit Higher Ed | host Dr. Drumm McNaughton and guest Bruce Dahlgren

Embrace AI as a Performance Tool to Benefit Higher Ed:

Changing Higher Ed podcast 211 with host Dr. Drumm McNaughton and guest Bruce Dahlgren

Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a tool with immense potential to revolutionize various aspects of higher education. In a recent survey, 94% of professors reported significant time savings when using AI-powered tools like Anthology’s design assistant for course creation. As colleges and universities navigate this transformative technology, leadership must approach AI not with trepidation but as a performance tool that can yield immense benefits for all stakeholders. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton and Bruce Dahlgren, chief executive officer at Anthology and a trustee at Stetson University, discuss the benefits, address ethical concerns, and highlight how AI enhances institutional performance. They emphasize the importance of starting with a clear AI policy framework and building trust through pilots and communication to harness

June 11, 2024 December 11, 2025

Changing Higher Ed Podcast 189 The State of EdTech- OPMs - Risk Planning and Generative AI | with Drumm McNaughton and Phill Hill

The State of EdTech: OPMs, Risk Planning, and Generative AI:

Changing Higher Ed Podcast 189 with host Dr. Drumm McNaughton and guest Phill Hill

In this episode of Changing Higher Ed podcast, listeners will gain an overview of how technology is reshaping the EdTech arena and the potential risks of the current state of OPMs. Dr. Drumm McNaughton discusses contemporary EdTech trends and predictions with Phil Hill, publisher of Phil on EdTech Blog and partner at MindWires LLC. They explore topics ranging from the recent changes in the OPM market due to enrollment, regulations, and cost of money, the potential transformations brought about by generative AI in higher education, to how universities can navigate the existential changes impacting the industry, underscoring the importance for institutions to develop effective risk management strategies. Technology’s Role in Enabling Enrollment Growth Franklin University exemplifies how technology can be leveraged to enhance enrollment and streamline educational processes. The university

January 9, 2024 June 27, 2026

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Tag: AI in Higher Education