The Future of AI in Higher Education: What to Watch at EDUCAUSE 2025

As we head to EDUCAUSE 2025 Nashville this week, here’s what we’re most excited to explore, and how LearnWise is helping institutions prepare for the next wave of AI-powered transformation at the leading AI in higher education conference.

Why you can’t miss EDUCAUSE this year

As one of the most influential events in the edtech calendar, the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference is where decision-makers across IT, academic leadership, and student experience converge. In 2025, the stakes are higher than ever. Institutions are navigating AI integration, evolving expectations around digital student support, and balancing innovation with trust and compliance.

At LearnWise, we believe that trust and transparency are the foundation of responsible AI in higher education. That’s why EDUCAUSE 2025’s theme, “Restoring Trust,” couldn’t be more relevant to our work with institutions worldwide. From AI LMS integration with native tutors to automated feedback and cross-campus student support, LearnWise is helping shape what AI in higher education really looks like, in a secure, ethical, and pedagogically sound way.

Institutional Innovation, Technological Advancements & Challenges

The official program tracks reflect the multifaceted nature of the challenge: from governance and infrastructure to AI governance in education, student success, and teaching innovation. Among them: “Enterprise, Strategy, Data, Infrastructure & Support” and “Leadership, Organizational Change & Adaptation.”

Major issues to watch:

• Data-empowered institutions: The latest EDUCAUSE Top 10 list identifies data, analytics, and AI as the leading areas of focus for 2025.
• Risk, compliance, and privacy: With “A Matter of Trust” flagged as a leading issue, EDUCAUSE sessions on AI will explore how institutions manage AI governance, algorithmic transparency, and vendor risk.
• Technology adoption at scale: The shift from pilots to enterprise adoption is underway. EDUCAUSE highlights how change management and alignment with institutional strategy are now critical.

If you’re evaluating AI tools or designing platforms for student engagement, this track provides a unique opportunity to benchmark practice, meet peers, and explore frameworks that work beyond the hype in higher ed technology trends.

Student Experience: Personalized, Proactive, and Always-On

According to the upcoming “Students & Technology” report, AI and learning modality shifts are having a major impact on student expectations. LearnWise’s Campus Support exemplifies this shift, providing multilingual, always-on student support integrated directly within campus systems like Brightspace, Moodle, and Canvas.

Key takeaways for student-centric services:

• 24/7 access, multilingual support, and proactive nudges are now baseline expectations in many institutions.
• The design of interfaces and workflows that enable students to engage without friction is becoming as important as the underlying technology.
• Data, AI, and experience design are converging: institutions must orchestrate systems across LMS, student portals, mobile apps, and support services.

Within the conference, expect EDUCAUSE sessions on AI exploring not just content and feedback, but AI for student success, student lifecycle management, retention analytics, and adaptive outreach.

Leadership, Organizational Change & Adaptation

Technology alone doesn’t deliver outcomes—the institutional culture, change readiness, and leadership vision do. EDUCAUSE emphasises “Cultivating Change Through Inspiration, Generosity, and Trust” as a core theme.

Institutions attending EDUCAUSE 2025 Nashville should prepare for questions like:

• Do we have a governance structure for AI in education that includes faculty, staff, students, and IT?
• How are we measuring success, and how will we scale work that starts with pilots?
• What is our vendor-management strategy, especially in respect of AI, data privacy, and interoperability?

These leadership-level issues are often under-appreciated in AI discussions yet are central to the EDUCAUSE agenda for 2025.

Enterprise, Strategy, Data, Infrastructure & Support

Behind every meaningful AI project lies the foundation: architecture, data governance, integration, and operational support. EDUCAUSE lists infrastructure and strategy among its top tracks for 2025.

Areas you should focus on:

• Pan-institutional data models: It’s no longer enough to have pilots; they must scale across units.
• Vendor ecosystems & integration: With multiple LMSs, portals, and services on campus, AI LMS integration must be seamless.
• Compliance frameworks: AI governance in education, HECVAT 4.0, data residency, and transparency are now front-line issues.

If your role touches on LMS strategy, data platforms, or institutional architecture, the conference offers deep dives into how other campuses are aligning legacy infrastructure with next-gen tools.

Teaching & Learning: LMS-Integrated, Feedback-Focused AI

The classroom has changed, and so has the role of teaching, feedback, and student interaction. EDUCAUSE’s 2025 Horizon Report highlights this evolution, pointing to generative AI, adaptive learning, and richer analytics as emerging influences on teaching and learning.

When exploring AI in the educational context, key questions remain:

• How does an institution embed AI tools into the LMS without disrupting faculty workflows?
• How are institutions maintaining academic integrity, fairness, and transparency when generating feedback at scale?
• How are hybrid and blended models evolving, and what role does AI play in supporting them?

Conference sessions will examine both the pedagogy and the platforms of future teaching, offering contexts for how AI tools should sit alongside human educators rather than replace them.

Through tools like AI Feedback & Grader and Student Tutor, LearnWise helps faculty generate personalized, transparent feedback directly within their LMS—balancing innovation with academic integrity and driving measurable AI for student success outcomes.

Cybersecurity, Privacy, Accessibility, Risk & Compliance

With “Restoring Trust” as the framing theme, institutions will pay close attention to the risk side of innovation. EDUCAUSE emphasises that trust, rather than technology, is the key currency.

Topics to watch at EDUCAUSE 2025:

• How AI systems are audited for bias, fairness, and accessibility.
• Approaches to algorithmic transparency: how institutions explain AI decision-making to learners and faculty.
• Vendor risk assessment frameworks (including AI-specific modules) and how campuses ensure operational resilience.

It’s a reminder that innovation without governance can undermine the very goals it seeks to achieve. LearnWise’s data governance model aligns with HECVAT 4.0 and major privacy frameworks, enabling institutions to adopt AI responsibly and at scale through transparent AI governance in education practices.

What to Expect at EDUCAUSE 2025

The AI in higher education conference takes place in Nashville, Tennessee, October 27–30, 2025, with an online follow-up November 12–13.

Here’s what to keep in mind:

• Download the 2025 EDUCAUSE Top 10 | “Restoring Trust” report ahead of the event to align your sessions with institutional priorities.
• Bookmark the 2025 Horizon Report, Teaching & Learning Edition, for insight into higher ed technology trends, generative AI implications, and student experience transformations.
• Prepare for networking and peer workshops focused on actionable strategies; this is less product showcase and more shared practice.
• Review your vendor, data, and privacy governance policies ahead of sessions on AI governance in education and risk management.
• If you’re evaluating AI tools for learning, feedback, or student support, use the conference as an audit point: which solutions align with trust, scalability, and AI LMS integration, not just hype?

LearnWise AI at EDUCAUSE 2025: Where Vision Meets Application

At LearnWise AI, we’re redefining how institutions use artificial intelligence to empower teaching, learning, and AI use for student success. At EDUCAUSE 2025 Nashville, we’re excited to showcase how higher education can move beyond pilots and proofs of concept, toward real, scalable transformation across many different use cases.

What You’ll Experience at Kiosk T14

Join us for live, hands-on demos of our platform in action. You’ll see how LearnWise integrates directly into your LMS and campus ecosystem to make AI:

• Embedded and frictionless: through our AI Tutor for personalized student support and AI Feedback for automated, transparent grading and feedback.
• Data-informed and compliant: built on secure, interoperable data architecture aligned with HECVAT 4.0 and global privacy frameworks.
• Human-centered: empowering educators and staff to use AI as a co-pilot, not a replacement.

Our team will be sharing how universities are already using LearnWise to:

• Streamline grading and feedback across thousands of assignments.
• Provide multilingual, 24/7 support to students through AI Campus Support.
• Consolidate insights across LMSs, student portals, and data systems for proactive engagement.

Meet LearnWise AI at EDUCAUSE 2025

This year’s EDUCAUSE theme, “Restoring Trust,” aligns deeply with our mission: building AI that institutions can trust pedagogically, operationally, and ethically. If you're attending EDUCAUSE 2025, drop by our kiosk T14 or schedule a 1:1 meeting to explore how LearnWise AI can support your institutional goals. Check out our strategic playbook for higher ed leaders to learn more about LearnWise, or watch our on-demand walkthroughs in Moodle, Brightspace and Canvas.

Couldn’t attend in person? We’ll share our key takeaways and institutional insights from EDUCAUSE 2025 on our blog in early November - subscribe below to stay updated.