AI in Academia: Navigating the Future

Episode 23: When AI Removes the Struggle, Where Does Learning Go? - with Brian Fox

In this episode of AI in Academia, we talk with Brian Fox, Associate Professor of Management and Strategy at Bentley University, about AI's real impact on research and teaching. Brian shares a striking metaphor: a sealed biodome where the trees collapsed because there was no wind to push against. Without struggle, nothing grew strong. It's a fitting image for a moment when AI is engineered to "chew our food" for us. We get into where AI actually helps research (and where it can't), hallucinated citations, the rise of "AI slop," and why the journey now matters more than the final deliverable.

Episode 22: Is Higher Ed Finally Catching Up to AI? Perspectives from the Digital Education Council

Alessandro Di Lullo (CEO) and Danny Bielik (President) of the Digital Education Council (DEC) share fresh data from DEC's ongoing global surveys, including why the student-faculty AI gap is finally starting to close — and why "usage" is no longer the right question to ask. The conversation digs into how assessment is being redesigned from the ground up, why critical thinking isn't enough without judgment (knowing when to stop, when something is "good enough"), and why higher ed's biggest challenge may be its own speed relative to industry. Show Guests Alessandro Di Lullo  is the Chief Executive Officer of the Digital Education Council (DEC), a global community of practice driving AI adoption, governance, and sustainable innovation in higher education and workforce development. Academically, Adjunct Faculty Member at Singapore Management University and Academic Fellow at the University of Hong Kong, specialising in AI governance. Also Co-Founder of SuperCharger Ventures, a world leading edtech accelerator that helped hundreds of startups and scale-ups accelerate innovation in education.  Daniel A. Bielik is the President of the Digital Education Council (DEC). As President of DEC, his work involves assisting universities and governments to increase access to high quality education, to reform education systems and providers to become more adaptable and take advantage of a changing technological landscape. Daniels extensive experience includes strategy development, governance and partnerships in higher education and serving as Ministerial Adviser in Education to the NSW Government in Australia.

Episode 21: Joe Dery & Jane Griffin

In this special live episode, recorded in front of a student audience, Joe Dery, Chief Customer Officer at Aera Technology, and Jane Griffin, Associate Provost for Student Success at Bentley University, join us to explore: "How do colleges use analytics and AI to make decisions?" Together, we unpack how universities are leveraging analytics and AI behind the scenes to drive more informed decisions around student success. The conversation highlights the shift from “dashboard palooza” to “AI agent palooza,” and why decision intelligence is emerging as the next evolution of business intelligence. Our guests also emphasize the critical balance between technology and human judgment, underscoring the importance of transparency, strong data governance, and the ethical use of student data.

Episode 20: Dr. Jennifer Brown

Dr. Jennifer Brown is the Dean of Arts and Sciences at Bentley University and a scholar of English, Medieval Studies, and Women's Studies---as well as a novelist! She joins us to discuss how AI is impacting writing and creativity, how to teach writing in the age of AI, and what we can learn about all this by looking back to the biggest disruption in the long history of writing technology: the invention of the printing press.

Episode 19: Dr. David Rivera Jr.

Dr. Dave Rivera Jr., professor of applied management at Flagler College, shares his experiences exploring generative AI with his students in business classes. He discusses ways of getting honest feedback on when AI helps students learn and when it doesn't, how he uses AI to reinforce but not replace creative and critical thinking, and how he keeps up with the fast, evolving pace of AI. You might walk away from this episode feeling a little more optimistic about the future---we did!