Scaling AI in higher ed: What institutional leaders are doing differently in 2026
Institutional leaders do not have an AI problem. They have an adoption and scaling problem. When AI spreads through informal experimentation, it leads to uneven practice across departments, higher support costs, and faculty pushback. The institutions making real progress are not adding more tools. They are standardizing a small set of safe, high value workflows that protect academic standards and reduce workload.
This panel is a candid leader to leader conversation on what makes AI adoption stick. You will hear which guardrails build trust with faculty and governance stakeholders, including privacy, integrity, and transparency. You will learn how Teaching and Learning leaders support faculty without mandating tools, using templates, shared rubrics, and reusable workflows. You will also see how leaders measure efficiency gains that stand up in budget cycles and accountability conversations.
What you'll learn
- Practical ways to support faculty AI adoption without mandates, using templates and reusable workflows
- How FeedbackFruits can support and guide you through AI integration
- AI-supported workflows institutions are successfully scaling, and why they work
- How to build faculty trust with the right guardrails around privacy, integrity, and transparency
- How leaders measure and prove AI’s impact on efficiency, quality, and consistency
Meet our speakers
John Bellotti is an instructional designer with over two decades of experience creating interactive learning environments across eLearning, online, distance, hybrid, and in-person formats. He serves as the instructional designer for the School of Business at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, where he consults on curriculum development and best practices, with professional experience in non-profit, finance, tax preparation, insurance, and retail, including business ownership. He holds a Master of Science in Organizational Behavior with an emphasis in Training and Development, along with a certificate in Learning Differences and Neurodiversity with a specialization in autism. As a father of three, including two neurodivergent children, he is deeply committed to designing effective learning experiences that support all learners and help every student succeed.
Ewoud is the CEO and co-founder of FeedbackFruits, an ed-tech scale-up based in Amsterdam, whose purpose is to co-create pedagogical tools that drive student engagement while increasing teacher productivity. Ewoud's journey and the idea behind FeedbackFruits began at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. As a student member of the Dutch national accreditation committee, Ewoud’s vision was to change the way education is designed, by increasing interactivity and collaboration in course design. Ewoud co-founded FeedbackFruits in 2012, which grew to global success in the years after. Today, he continues to lead an international team of over 80 employees under the mission of transforming education by making every course engaging.
Bas Hintemann is the Chief Strategy Officer at FeedbackFruits, bringing over nine years of experience across Product and Operations. In his current role leading Product Strategy, he plays a key role in shaping the Learning Design System—focusing on delivering cost-effective solutions that enhance engagement in course activities and leverage AI to support student learning journeys.
Preview here
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