AI Starts with Your Data, Not Demos: The AI Mistake Higher Ed Keeps Making (and How to Fix It)
The rush to AI implementation in higher ed is all too common. But most institutions start in the wrong place, focusing on AI tools and point solutions that promise a silver bullet to fix all their challenges and capacity constraints. Clouded by this AI land-grab mentality, teams overlook the unsung hero of AI success: your own data. Failure to focus on this foundational aspect just gets you another expensive tool that doesn’t scale, AI outputs you can’t trust, and missed opportunities for genuine institutional transformation.
Before your institution invests further in AI, it’s worth asking a more important question: Is your data actually ready to support it?
AI Starts with Your Data, Not Demos:
The AI Mistake Higher Ed Keeps Making
(and How to Fix It)
Thursday, April 30
1:00 pm ET / 12:00 pm CT
What you’ll learn
In this webinar, Dan Antonson and Bryan Chitwood break down the mistakes many institutions are making as they rush toward AI adoption and what to do instead. Join us for a practical conversation on how higher ed leaders can move past surface-level demos and start building the data strategy, structure, and readiness needed to support AI that actually drives impact.
They’ll explore what AI readiness really means in higher education and why strong outcomes start with connected, usable, trustworthy data.
- Why starting with AI tools instead of a data strategy often leads to stalled initiatives and weak results
- What institutions need in place before AI can drive meaningful value
- How to identify the biggest data barriers standing in the way of AI readiness
- Where to focus first to create momentum without overcomplicating your approach
- How to connect AI efforts to measurable outcomes across enrollment, student experience, and operations
Who should attend
If you’re a leader responsible for strategy, transformation, and data-informed decision-making, and your institution is exploring AI but wants to make smarter decisions before moving too fast, this is one conversation you don’t want to miss.
- Presidents, provosts, and cabinet-level leaders
- CIOs, CTOs, and IT leaders
- Institutional research and data leaders
- Enrollment, marketing, and student success leaders
- Strategy, innovation, and operations teams evaluating AI use cases
Expert speakers
Dan Antonson
Associate VP – Analytics
Collegis Education
Bryan Chitwood, PhD
Senior Director – Data Enablement
Collegis Education
Complete the form on the top right to reserve your spot. We look forward to seeing you on Thursday, April 30.