Andrew Drinkwater

Governments also aren’t exactly known for their quick decision making so the irony they want universities to decide faster is noticeable.

I think there’s also an element in both MOOCs and AI where they have largely been designed by (and arguably for) CS oriented people or concepts and consequently work well given assumptions, bias, design choices made.

Great thread

Sure feels like a narrative approach is going to lead to being evaluated by AI instead of rigid machine rules.

For me, co-founder has been excellent as it has been a big benefit for visioning and creating products our customers love. Biggest trick is making sure you're clear on who makes what kind of decision and when decisions should be joint so you don't get stuck in a bad loop.

Oh now that’s an interesting idea. I’m skeptical too but what a time for them to try

Ok, below is data for 2023-24 (the last year for which I have data). ON handed out $1.3B in grants, $239M in loans. But the cost of a loan is about 25 cents on dollar. So actual cost to government of student loan is $1.3B = ($239M * 0.25) or $1.36B in total.

This explains so many things. Great analysis.

Absolutely fair. Had a feeling it was too good to be true I found it quickly!

"Costly and unsustainable:" After spending $75 million, a troubled UT System technology institute shuts its doors - The Texas Tribune The University of Texas System has closed its Institute for Transformational Learning, a startup-like technology initiative. The system spent tens of millions of dollars on the project, but struggled ...

Was it this? www.texastribune.org/2018/02/07/u...

I clearly should spend more time in NS. We could help this for a fraction of what Huron would charge and deeply know Canadian context.

Cockroach Labs 2026 AI Report Finds AI Scale Is Pushing Enterprise Infrastructure Toward Failure /PRNewswire/ -- Cockroach Labs, the pioneer in cloud-agnostic distributed SQL databases with CockroachDB, today announced findings from its second...

Saw this article today where 1/3 of survey respondents felt the database layer as the first point of failure in AI overload scenario. www.prnewswire.com/news-release...

Fewer hallucinations I suspect! And less job security for data governance and data engineering professionals.

@alexusherhesa.bsky.social mentioned in this week's Re:University conference that one thing institutions should consider right now is how they can support Canada's military, and Canada itself. This is a good example, in my view.

North Island College is partnering with the Canadian Forces to provide accommodation for members of the military, who will also become NIC students and complete "Journeying to Reconciliation", a digital course co-developed by the K’ómoks First Nation.
www.nic.bc.ca/about/news/s...

Oh that’s fascinating.

Looking Back at AI-Cademy and Looking Ahead to Re-University Institutions, faculty members, and students have learned where AI can assist and where it isn't ideal. This technology is advancing so fast that what we knew yesterday could change tomorrow. But it's ...

Last year at AI-Cademy, we saw lots of AI hype. Now, the conversation feels more grounded - fewer demos, more questions about trade-offs, accountability, and how decisions actually get made.

If universities had better data, what problems would they finally solve?

www.plaid.is/blog/looking...

Canada to stabilize growth and decrease number of new international student permits issued to approximately 360,000 for 2024 International students enrich our communities and are a critical part of Canada’s social, cultural and economic fabric. In recent years, the integrity of the international student system has been thre...

Happy anniversary, Marc Miller. Two years ago, a minister few in PSE knew well, made sector altering changes.

Since: 100s of programs shut, 1000s of jobs lost, billions in budget cuts.

But new innovations abound, which will help. Orig announcement:
www.canada.ca/en/immigrati...

President of Conestoga College unexpectedly retires — CityNews Kitchener The president of Conestoga College is leaving his role prior to the end of his recently-extended contract.

Conestoga’s president has retired immediately. Few in the sector were more polarizing than John Tibbits, and many say he shares some of the blame for the large increase in international students at Conestoga and overall in Canada. apple.news/AZyUT774-Sc2...

Bravo

Quebec Premier François Legault to resign ahead of fall election — The Globe and Mail He will remain in his post until the Coalition Avenir Québec has chosen a leader

Quebec premier resigns. apple.news/Ak8W1YkuPQza...

Statistics Canada to cut 850 jobs over next 2 years, 100 this week: memo — CTV News Statistics Canada says it plans to cut hundreds of positions over the next two years, including 100 immediate cuts this week.

Layoffs and reductions coming to Statistics Canada, which could make getting data to support decisions harder. apple.news/Ac1CL0ccYTry...

💯 I saw slush at the side of the road and knew Vancouver winter had arrived

I think you have a point, but also note the lines are blurring quickly. Just about impossible to do a Google search now without being greeted with AI as the first thing (which fortunately is a lot better than it was at launch)

ACTS Survey Launch: Key Deadlines and Impacts on Higher Ed The ACTS survey is now live, requiring extensive data reporting for higher education admissions. Discover its implications and deadlines here!

I wrote a quick update on the launch of the massive new admissions (and outcomes!) survey that the Department of Education has launched and expects colleges to complete in the next 10 weeks. jamessmurphy.com/2026/01/05/a...

The Small-Tent Path to Disaster | HESA Morning all. Back to the grind. One of the surprising things I discovered over the break was that the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) seems to think that the sector is in good enoug...

The Blog is back. Today: Saving Canadian post-secondary higher education is going to take some big tent politics. Imposing purity tests on people who support the sector is a sure path to irrelevance.

wonder If our online streaming tax evens it out.

Pretty amusing that the chopped part of the episode went to air in Canada. I would have figured CBS had tighter controls on that but I guess this is up there with younger me being surprised so many organizations run on spreadsheets.

I guess this gets at the cranial part but you’d think they could leverage data from OCAS and OUAC to make credible predictions early enough that permits could be reallocated earlier in the process than it seems they are now. There are good forecasters out there too.

Oh this is cool! When I did design school in Italy this always felt like it was real but I’d never seen any research on the effects.

Blizzard cripples Winnipeg Transit operations; more than 200 buses stuck in the snow, 71 had to be towed — Winnipeg Free Press As many as half of all buses that hit the road during the blizzard that pummelled Winnipeg Thursday got stuck in the snow.

Judging by the photos, this is more snow than we see getting that many buses stuck in Vancouver. Stay warm, Winnipeg. apple.news/Ap4tnJS2-Qp6...