Evolving from researching artificial intelligence tools to substantive applications of AI, colleges are both boosting student engagement and supporting modern teaching in college classrooms.
Across the higher education landscape, “we’re moving past AI readiness and starting to talk about how we can activate learning environments with AI,” says Micah Shippee, director of education at Samsung.
Samsung’s AI-powered interactive display, for example, can give learners a shared point of focus and empower teachers with a range of capabilities to ensure student engagement.
DISCOVER: Samsung's hardware solutions can support your university's AI journey.
From AI Classroom Theory to Practical Application
In today’s classroom, the professor’s role is evolving from lecturer to learning guide, facilitator and interpreter of information, equipped with AI-enabled large-format displays and tools that can serve as the “anchor of attention” to structure the learning experience, Shippee says.
In an environment where personal devices such as smartphones and one-to-one computing can fragment attention, “the front-of-room display acts as a collaborative campfire,” he says. And AI enablement gives teachers immediate access to needed resources.
Features such as real-time auto-subtitling in displays like the Samsung WAFX-P, for example, turn AI into a powerful instructional tool that help students to follow along in the moment, supporting accessibility and comprehension while not disrupting the professor’s flow of instruction. When the recording is stopped, it automatically generates a transcript that can be shared with students.
“That same transcription tool is able to generate live, in-the-moment quizzes,” Shippee says, that can make real-time feedback available and “frees the instructor from creating a quiz ahead of time that may or may not reflect what was actually done in class. The learner and the instructor are together in the learning journey like never before.”
The key to success here lies in implementing AI-powered tools intentionally and thoughtfully. “Innovation without intent means that the latest and greatest technology is just thrown into an instructional setting,” Shippee says. “Intentionality involves a real understanding how this is going to be implemented.”
In this case, that means “intentionally designing classrooms to have a focal point in the front of the room — like we have for the past 500 years — and amplifying that with a large digital display,” he says.
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Forget Friction: AI-Powered Tech Sharpens Student Focus
In higher education, innovation needs to be seamless; it can’t distract from the mission of learning. As AI-powered applications come to the fore, “they have to be designed with high-level ease of use,” Shippee says. “It has to fit into what you normally do.”
To that end, the WAFX-P display epitomizes Samsung’s approach to integrating AI into existing hardware workflows, embedding AI into things teachers already know how to use. The display is powered by a familiar Android interface. “The pull-down, the flick-up, the access to apps — all that is really familiar, and that will help increase the adoption curve,” he says.
“This, in turn, supports ‘sustainable innovation,’ when technology becomes part of the backstory,” he says. With the right tool, “you get to the point where you stop saying, ‘I’m teaching with AI,’ and it just becomes, ‘Here is today’s lecture.’”
Building an Intentional Digital Presence With AI
The Samsung WAFX-P features 4K resolution, Android 15, Google EDLA certification and a 48-megapixel camera, culminating in a collaborative, all-in-one digital whiteboard. It offers a powerful, AI-enabled means to bring students together, rather than students remaining isolated behind their individual screens.
This is more important than ever. “We have a smaller population of students entering the freshman class next year, and the pressure to engage students has never been as high as it is now,” Shippee says.
Higher education is at a critical juncture as it looks to adopt new technology to meet this need. “It’s time to move beyond being AI-ready to become AI-active,” he says. To thrive with AI, “you need to build an intentional digital presence.”
EXPLORE: What an AI-ready classroom really looks like.
Professors can meet that need by leveraging Samsung’s Android-based approach at the front of the room, which comes with a number of key benefits, such as creating a more engaged learning atmosphere. For example, students have a shared focal point as the AI comes to life in a familiar way, including having the ability to capture class notes through a QR code.
The ready availability of AI-powered capabilities in turn serves a greater purpose, demonstrating what’s possible at a time when many students are struggling to understand where and how AI can and should be used.
That visibility matters.
“When the instructor is modeling the use of AI in the classroom, it helps to bring this new instructional world to life,” Shippee says.
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