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A Catalyst for Impactful Innovation
Established in 2010, the Center for 21st Century Universities (C21U) is Georgia Tech’s living laboratory for fundamental change in education.
Serving as a research arm of the Office of the Provost, C21U’s team of technologists and researchers support Georgia Tech’s mission of innovation by pushing the boundaries of what is already done in higher education in order to bring the most impactful resources and technologies to learners.


We serve as a nexus of collaboration and communication, and a catalyst for innovation, bringing together a broad array of internal and external partners across a wide variety of disciplines.
Through a sustained and systemic program of research, experimentation, design, prototyping, and implementation, C21U serves the Institute in thought leadership, educational technology design, community building, and support of Georgia Tech stakeholders of all ages.
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Recent News
The Future of Digital Credentials: Employer Perspectives and Insights from C21U's Research
C21U researchers presented their findings to Digital Credentials Consortium (DCC), a collective of higher education institutions across North America and Europe working together on building the digital credentialing infrastructure for education systems of the future.
Working Groups Established to Explore Lifetime Learning Unit
The Georgia Institute of Technology is announcing its intention to launch a new academic unit dedicated to lifetime learning. The new unit will bring together three entities whose work underpins its mission and vision: Georgia Tech Professional Education (GTPE), the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC), and the Center for 21st Century Universities (C21U).
Effective assessment practices for a ChatGPT-enabled world
Assessment methods that require students to produce authentic, novel and personalised responses can help educators stay ahead of the uncertainty and workload that AI writers create.
C21U highlights AI research at Duke's Emerging Pedagogies Symposium
Duke Learning Innovation recently organized the “Emerging Pedagogies Symposium: Teaching and Learning in the Age of AI”, which featured a keynote address from C21U's Chief Scientist, Ashok Goel. Goel discussed the far-reaching implications of artificial intelligence for teaching, learning, and educational research.
ChatGPT vs. Higher Education: The Showdown! Highlights from C21U's Brownbag Seminar with Dr. Lane Lawley
Recaps the discussion on the Future of Higher Education in the Age of AI at Georgia Tech on April 7th 2023.
AI-ALOE Builds on ChatGPT for Innovations in Adult Learning and Online Education
Recent advances in Generative AI such as ChatGPT and GPT-4 offer new opportunities for learning and education. However, these systems also suffer from problems and pitfalls such as biases and hallucinations. Further, much of the inner functioning of GPT-4 remains opaque to the research community. We detailed four examples of AI-ALOE’s safe and responsible use of ChatGPT as a tool for natural language processing.
Assessing Student Learning in the Age of AI: White Paper Highlights the Need for Faculty Adaptation and Innovation
White paper highlights transformative assessment methods in response to ChatGPT's threat to traditional education, featuring insights from Center for 21st Century Universities thought leaders.
Upcoming Events
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Featured Research

This study aimed to understand the relationship between course activities and learning progress among students enrolled in the MicroMasters certificate program offered in an affordable MOOC-based learning platform. In order to capture the relationship, the differences between the engagement patterns of learners in the MicroMasters program compared to a non-degree MOOC were examined by utilizing machine-learning (ML) techniques in the clickstream database. The ML analyses revealed discrepancies in activity patterns and progress rates of students enrolled in MicroMaster and MOOC courses.
Research & Innovation
The mission of C21U research is to enhance the learner experience by using data to drive instructional action.
Publications
Presenting and publishing our research is crucial to advancing knowledge in our field and contributing to the global academic conversation.
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