AI in higher education: 5 examples of how technology is personalizing learning.

Updated April 2026

Every day, higher education institutions are finding new ways to use AI. From chatbots to virtual tutors, institutions must learn to adapt and leverage technology to transform the student experience. In this blog, we’ll highlight five real-world examples of how AI is personalizing learning for college and university students.    

Responding to course-specific questions in real time.

Today’s busy students have their hands full, juggling academic, work, and family obligations. Many study at off hours, late at night, or on the weekend, and are unable to attend office hours during the week. So they end up messaging their professors at odd hours when they have questions about course content, homework assignments, or an upcoming test, hoping to receive a timely answer.

That scenario was true for University of Southern Mississippi Professor Fan Zhang. Zhang received endless emails at all hours from students in her 100-person online class. So she worked with her research assistant to develop an AI chatbot trained exclusively on her course materials to answer questions about the syllabus, course content, or assignments in real time. Preliminary feedback has been positive—students really appreciate getting answers on their timeline.  Zhang founded a startup, MagnoliaEd, to build a minimum viable product based on her prototype that benefits students in other courses and schools.    

Providing individualized tutoring and study assistance.

Faced with textbooks, assigned articles, lecture notes, and other course materials, students can easily become overwhelmed when an assignment or an upcoming test is due. Some turn to the internet for assistance, but some third-party resources oversimplify concepts or exclude information that professors deem critical. .

To address this issue, Ben Griffy, an assistant professor of economics at Albany University, created MyQL. The AI program uses documents uploaded by the professor to help students study. It can create quizzes or respond to individual questions, directing students to the appropriate document. The program has been successful and is being rolled out to 70 courses at three State University of New York colleges.

Developing analytical thinking skills.

According to the World Economic Forum, “Analytical thinking remains the most sought-after core skill among employers,” (Source: Future of Jobs 2025). Yet it is one of the most challenging skills to teach in the classroom.

The University of California, Riverside is using NotebookLM to help students develop their analytical thinking skills. Students upload their papers, and the AI program plays devil's advocate, questioning their positions to surface potential flaws in their logic. Taking a different perspective enables them to improve their critical thinking. .

Reviewing cover letters and resumes.

One of the primary reasons students enroll in college is to prepare themselves for a successful career. But with tight budgets, higher education institutions can’t provide the high-quality, personalized career services that they would like to offer their students.

That’s why the Indiana Kelly School of Business partnered with Microsoft 365 Copilot. The school is using the AI program to review student cover letters and resumes. Not only can it perform these tasks in real time, but it frees up career counselors to spend more 1:1 time advising students.

Facilitating experiential learning experiences.

For many students, college is a time of career exploration. They may know what they like and are good at, but not how to translate that into a meaningful and successful career. More and more higher education institutions are offering experiential learning programs, such as internships, co-ops, and real-world projects, to help their students explore career options, but launching and managing these programs can be time-consuming.

To provide students with a high-quality, experiential learning program, Georgetown University leveraged Riipen. A platform that uses AI to connect educators, employers, and students and manage internships and real-world projects, Riipen streamlines processes to enhance stakeholder experiences. The program has personalized learning for students in Karthikeya Easwa’s  Consumer Behavior course. “The breadth of projects has enabled students to engage in projects that pique their specific interests or are in industries or domains in which they want to develop expertise,” he shared. “From an instructor's perspective, the platform has given me confidence that I can successfully source and run upwards of a dozen projects per semester.  

Riipen and AI for institutions.

AI is also helping institutions streamline the management of experiential learning on Riipen’s platform. Institutions can define how students, employers, and faculty communicate within projects by selecting the types of conversations enabled for each experience. When AI-generated summaries are activated, the platform automatically synthesizes key messages from project conversations and provides an overall sentiment analysis. This allows educators to understand how collaborations are progressing quickly and, if needed, enable automated flags when conversations signal potential issues.

AI also supports employers in the project creation process. Using Riipen’s AI generator, employers can quickly produce draft project descriptions, giving students a clearer understanding of the work involved while reducing the administrative burden on educators who coordinate experiential learning opportunities.

With this in mind, it's clear how AI in higher education is beginning to reshape the world. These examples highlight how innovative educators are using AI in higher education to personalize learning. From accommodating individual schedules to tailoring study support and empowering students to explore career interests, AI has become a game-changer.

If your institution is looking to leverage emerging technologies to improve your students’ experiences, trusted partners like Riipen are available to help.    

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About the author:

Carol Chin is a communications consultant specializing in content creation, storytelling, and thought leadership in the education and workforce development sectors. A passionate advocate for lifelong learning, she held senior leadership roles at global education and talent development companies including Pearson, Ellucian, and Stride before starting her own company to partner with mission-driven organizations. Her work informs, inspires, and empowers learners and professionals about key issues and trends in education, career readiness, and jobs of the future.