The EDUCAUSE 2025 Students and Technology Report: A Brief Breakdown
I've dived into the latest EDUCAUSE Students and Technology Report, which was very insightful BTW, and I have a quick breakdown and some reflective musings on what these numbers might mean for those of us navigating the intersection of higher education and generative AI.
First, some highlights from the students themselves:
Overall, 69% of students are satisfied with their institution’s tech services, but there's nuance here. Students who perceive their institution as technologically "cutting-edge" report satisfaction rates as high as 85%. On the flip side, only 34% of students at institutions perceived as lagging feel satisfied. Perception, it seems, truly shapes reality in the digital learning space.
Students are showing a marked return to on-site modalities, especially for collaborative and interactive activities—student presentations (+12 percentage points), labs (+9), and exams (+8). Younger students particularly crave the campus experience, underscoring perhaps a deeper cultural shift post-pandemic. I must say I am also seeing this at my own institution, Kennesaw State.
Hybrid courses continue to grow modestly (+7 percentage points since 2023). While students generally feel their hybrid courses set clear expectations (70% agree), fewer (59%) feel instructors are effectively adapting to hybrid formats, and even fewer (48%) perceive consistency across courses. Clearly, faculty adaptation remains a work in progress. Faculty I work with in general education have also experienced mixed reactions from students, mostly noted on course evaluations, that indicate displeasure with content deliverables. This issue remains a conundrum.
Turning to my favorite topic, generative AI, the insights get particularly interesting:
Students overwhelmingly see generative AI as critical, with 55% recognizing its importance for their future careers. But there's a stark reality check: only 20% have received meaningful training from their institutions. That's a significant gap. At KSU, we started with graduate courses (to launch fall 2025), but I am hopeful we will also begin thinking about upper-division and general education more deeply as an institution. Many faculty members are already teaching with generative AI with career readiness in mind, but we are still working on how these practices can scale.
Despite recognizing AI's relevance, only about a third feel confidently prepared to use AI and related tech tools professionally. Given the speed of AI’s integration into workplaces, this is more than a gap—it’s a chasm.
Encouragingly, students generally view generative AI not as a threat but as an assistive tool—something to boost productivity, streamline research, enhance content creation, and facilitate complex data analysis. In other words, they see AI much like many educators (myself included!) advocate for: as an empowering, human-led collaborator, not a replacement.
Lastly, workforce preparation paints a complicated picture:
Students prioritize “soft skills” — communication, collaboration, interpersonal skills—far above technical abilities, with AI-specific skills near the bottom (just 3%). Perhaps ironically, while they understand the relevance of generative AI, they underestimate the critical value of direct AI literacy and prompt engineering skills in future careers.
Yet, there's an upside: over 70% feel well-prepared in general career competencies, suggesting confidence in their education. But again, that confidence plunges when asked about specific AI skills, echoing a call to action for educators: we must better integrate intentional AI literacy into our curricula.
In sum, students see the future clearly. They value human connection and collaborative learning deeply, while recognizing the transformative power of generative AI. However, educational institutions have significant catching-up to do—both in practice and perception—to meet these expectations.
As always, I'd love your thoughts: How is your institution addressing this generative AI gap? And how are you preparing your students (and yourselves) for the very human future of AI-infused workplaces?
To read the full report: https://www.educause.edu/content/2025/students-and-technology-report