Dear Center for Academic Innovation Community,
For two days in mid-October, more than 250 people gathered at the Michigan League to hear from innovators across the University of Michigan, UM-Flint, and Michigan Medicine. Together, we explored the transformative potential of XR, Generative AI, and experiential technologies in education—how they are already enhancing classroom experiences, advancing online learning, and redefining student support services. The discussions also looked ahead to the future, envisioning how these tools might further empower students and reshape the educational landscape across our campuses and beyond.
I had the pleasure of reconnecting with many long-time collaborators who have partnered with CAI over the years and who consistently bring enthusiasm to discussions about the future of teaching and learning. It was equally exciting to meet new colleagues whose curiosity and creativity were evident as they explored the possibilities of these emerging technologies.
The Innovation Summit brought together a wide range of perspectives, from policy and legal considerations of generative AI to faculty expertise in developing AI-focused online courses, and multimedia producers who leverage virtual production and extended reality to create immersive online learning experiences.
The event was filled with inspiration. Kevyn Collins-Thompson of the School of Information discussed his work with Perry Sampson to create the startup Learning Clues. This AI-powered tool uses course content to create personalized adaptive virtual teaching assistants to help students better engage, contextualize, and understand material.
We heard from a team from UM-Flint discussing how AI tools are helping faculty save time and focus on their most important work, and a group from the School of Nursing and Michigan Medicine discussing how AI can address the nursing shortage, improve medical education, and eliminate medical errors in patient care.
Don Lambert, who is helping the university lead the way in generative AI with his team at Information Technology Services, highlighted the implementation and enthusiastic adoption of U-M-GPT and U-M-Maizey tools on campus.
The vision and impact of the work of our keynote speaker, Alton Glass, inspired us as he discussed his journey as a filmmaker, technologist, and educator. Glass works with major brands and news organizations to use the power of virtual reality to teach people about history and dream of a better future.
Our second keynote speaker, Mustafa Furniturewala, CTO of Coursera, discussed the practical application of generative AI and Coursera’s overarching GenAI strategy.
It was a comprehensive look at the many thoughtful, intentional ways Coursera uses AI to help lifelong learners. The future will require all those who work in the space to reimagine what it means to create impactful learning experiences. I outlined my own personal wishlist on Substack, and I’d love to hear what your wishlist might look like.
Most of all, my biggest takeaway from everyone I engaged with at the Innovation Summit was a sense of optimism. There is so much hope and inspiration for how these tools can unlock new ways of teaching and learning if we act responsibly. Beyond those hopes, people are doing the hard work to make it happen, and it’s impressive how much has been accomplished on this campus and beyond in a relatively short period of time.
For those of you who were unable to attend this year’s Innovation Summit, I have great news for you. First, there are just 11 months until our next Summit, which we’re planning to make even bigger and better. Second, you can join our email list to be notified as soon as select sessions from this year’s event become available to watch on our YouTube channel.
Does the potential for generative AI technologies inspire you, or are you thinking of ways immersive learning can help residential and global learners? I encourage you to explore our open calls for proposals, where we are looking to support future projects on generative AI, open online courses, and the use of the Apple Vision Pro in new educational contexts. If you’d like to engage the center further, we are hosting drop-in sessions through November, during which faculty connect with CAI staff to discuss project proposals and the design process.
I hope you found inspiration, and I look forward to working together to turn that inspiration into impactful action as we shape the future of education.
Go blue!
James DeVaney
Founding Executive Director of the Center for Academic Innovation
Special Advisor to the President
Associate Vice Provost for Academic Innovation