Recently Air University (AU) has experienced a shift in the thought applied and use of emerging technologies in our Educational programs. As an organization that is traditionally vertical in its method of thought applied to emerging technologies, we think about cost, value and application for a level of student.
In the past 12 months AU has begun to experience more and more ways that new and innovative technology can play a role in developing todays Air Force leaders.
While still somewhat novel and new, Artificial Intelligence has already changed our environment around us, and not only in education but in daily experiences. For example, voice assistant for searching the web has been used for some years now. We have also seen a rise in coupling GPS location with relevant content on our devices. If you buy something online, you get relevant information pushed in front of you based on the item or service you purchased. We have also seen that photography has experienced a bit of AI, as todays popular photo software does an incredible amount of heavy lifting for the photographer, automatically enhancing photos based on thousands of data points, learned inputs and camera settings. Johnny on the spot, we use mobile phones for many daily functions and these devices keep getting faster, bigger, and smarter as we use them.
But what about how we learn? As we develop leaders in today’s Air Force it goes without saying that it’s an increasingly difficult task to match person for person, need for need, what we deliver. Everyone is different, have different needs, different skills and even different mindsets. One of our most compelling challenges is just trying to keep up. It’s almost impossible to keep in the know about every update, upgrade or improvement in todays’ technology. So as we move to the future of education we continue to be strong in the fundamentals but we are just scratching the surface of delivering a more valuable experience. AU has created innovation labs and infused AR/VR into the curriculum to teach students in "close to real" scenarios, activities and decision making approaches. What about AI? How can we use it to enhance our delivery of leadership development.
Today’s leaders need educational development that not only teaches new ideas and approaches, but connects with them, so they can apply learned elements that will be useful in their careers, leading others, making decisions and a host of attributes necessary for command, supervision and excellence in service.
Brookings Institute has created a compendium of papers that you might find interesting, and maybe even useful. As their President states “The research community has a critical role to play in informing policymakers of the coming challenges associated with emerging technologies, and here, Brookings intends to be a leader.”
They address relevant areas of expertise and give a broad view of the possible changes to come in the future of AI. Although we are a military education institution, we are still charged with developing leaders, and that means we should engage in different perspectives along the way to enhance and enrich the development and experience.
Brooking Institutes’ A Blueprint for the future of AI
https://www.brookings.edu/series/a-blueprint-for-the-future-of-ai/