The Education Preview

Striving for and obtaining a higher education degree is rewarding and surely worth the effort – but can also be expensive and overwhelming. Luckily, leadership at area colleges and universities are determined to help students succeed, no matter their academic goals. We talk with experts across the state about the pros and cons of standardized testing scores for admissions, alongside budding AI integration technology, how quantum computing is evolving and becoming more accessible for education, ways colleges are ensuring their educators are staying sharp, and strategic majors for the best possible employment outcomes.

Education is, of course, about the students, but it is also about the educators themselves. And in a very drastically changing educational landscape, it’s imperative that educators have the tools they need to succeed. Teachers in 2025 are focusing on professional development to hone new skills, remain sharp and deepen their understanding of effective instruction. 

The University of Oklahoma Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education watches the trends in the industry and, at times, sets those trends with cutting-edge research, says Stacy Reeder, Ph.D., the college’s dean.  

“We’re always holding or attending conferences and staying in conversation with our faculty and leadership, who are also part of boards and journals and myriad other ways of professional development,” she says. “We have incredibly strong partnerships with the communities and advisory boards we serve.”

OU’s college of education houses about a dozen centers – and all of them have an outreach mission as well as research components.

“One example is the Gear Up Projects in partnership with OKC Public Schools, as well as a $80 million dollar grant with rural middle schools,” says Reeder. “Our centers are bringing in funds our state wouldn’t normally have, and we’re pushing to invest in our public school system for our students, teachers and leaders across the board.”

At Northeastern State University, a new development is centered solely on staff and faculty success.

“NSU has onboarded a new Center for Faculty Support and Advancement to help faculty achieve their teaching and scholarly goals,” says Carla Swearingen, Ph.D., the university’s provost and vice president for academic affairs. “The university also coordinates professional development through NSU Online, which provides training and mentoring in all things related to teaching technology. Each year, NSU provides funding for faculty to attend professional development events off campus as well.”

And at Oklahoma City Community College, the Center for Learning and Teaching (CLT) is “dedicated to investing and enhancing faculty professional development,” says Liz Largent, Ph.D., vice president for academic affairs. “The CLT team, comprised of instructional designers and educational technology specialists, collaborate to create high-quality training opportunities. To stay at the forefront of educational innovation, the CLT invests in its own staff development, including attendance at global ed-tech conferences. This ensures that the latest trends in technology and pedagogy are integrated into the training offerings.”

Artificial intelligence (AI) applications in higher education evolve daily. 

AI offers tools to streamline operations, enhance learning and improve accessibility, says R. Curtis Sparling, Ed.D., department head and assistant professor at Rogers State University. School officials “are fully aware that its implementation requires careful balance to preserve the human touch that defines impactful university learning experiences,” he says. “AI-powered tools can automate routine tasks such as student enrollment, timetable scheduling and resource allocation, reducing administrative burdens while improving efficiency.”

Learning management systems (LMS) play a large role as well, “providing features that help organize classes, track assignments and monitor student progress,” says Sparling. “Our LMS integrates many AI-driven capabilities, allowing faculty to allocate more time toward fostering critical thinking and facilitating applied learning experiences.”

AI integrations can also help play a role in student success.

“The predictive analytics embedded in our LMS further enhance student support by analyzing attendance patterns, grades and behavior to identify at-risk students, allowing for timely interventions,” says Sparling. “These tools allow professors to take a proactive approach while maintaining a personal connection with our learners.”

At the University of Tulsa, provost George Justice, Ph.D., says they are “just scratching the surface of the potential for artificial intelligence. Some of our university leaders are using a secure AI tool to experiment with these opportunities,” he says.

But, Justice advises, “the human touch is necessary for all aspects of education – even online courses, which use adaptive tools powered by AI. Some disciplines – particularly engineering and business – use AI directly and make it an object of study. For others, including health sciences, it’s an amazing tool. But for some disciplines, which focus on helping students to learn to think in complex ways, artificial intelligence is challenging faculty to create ‘AI-proof’ assignments that focus more closely on critical thinking as opposed to producing facts.”

Sparling agrees, and says AI has its limitations. 

“Overreliance on AI can result in decisions driven solely by data, potentially overlooking personal or contextual factors such as socioeconomic challenges,” he says. “Similarly, excessive classroom use of AI tools can diminish opportunities for collaboration, creativity and applied learning. When implemented thoughtfully, however, AI can transform school operations, student support, and class organization while preserving the empathy and creativity that are central to university education.”

It doesn’t get more cutting edge than considering the applications of quantum computing – and area universities are taking on that mission full-force.

“Quantum computing is a novel way of doing computing, or ‘processing information.’ It replaces the binary bit with the qubit – based on subatomic particles – as the fundamental processing element,” says John Hale, Ph.D., chair of the TU’s Tandy School of Computer Science. “Bits can take on values of 1 or 0, while qubits offer a much more rich and complex state representation. Programming with qubits yields algorithms of a fundamentally different nature that, in many cases, can operate much more efficiently and quickly than their classical counterparts.”

These advancements are shifting the quantum computing landscape in a variety of ways, Hale shares. 

“This new potential may be a game changer for what is possible in cyber security – more powerful code making and breaking – artificial intelligence – faster machine-learning processing – and bioinformatics – drug discovery,” he says. “However, the science and engineering is still in its infancy, and the equipment is fragile and expensive. Still, computer science programs must adapt their curricula to prepare graduates for the day when ‘quantum computing’ will just be called ‘computing.’”

TU is on the forefront of that mission, Hale says.

“UTulsa is in the process of acquiring a quantum computer for educational purposes, and will develop specialty courses for those students interested in the topic,” he says. “These courses will expose our students to the underlying theory, give them an opportunity to program a quantum computer, and explore and imagine applications in their fields of interest.”

Rad Alrifai, Ph.D., is a professor of computer science at NSU. He agrees that quantum computing is still in its early days, with current models being limited due to high costs. However, he still works to integrate educational components of the computing process into his lesson plans. 

“In preparing for my classes, I encountered quantum computing concepts in courses related to machine learning, cybersecurity and other computer science courses, such as data structures and algorithms analysis, computer architecture and parallel computing,” he says. “For example, quantum computing has the potential for creating advanced encryption algorithms and optimizing AI models. Some universities are actively researching quantum computing, while a few also include it into teaching.”  

In a world with ever-evolving avenues for information and self-development, more and more colleges are starting to recognize that standardized test scores are not always indicative of someone’s true intelligence and potential. Tulsa Community College is one such institution. 

“As an open-access institution, TCC does not require students who have graduated from an accredited high school to have a standardized test score for admission,” says Eileen Kenney, the school’s associate vice president of enrollment and retention. “ACT and SAT scores can be used to ensure we’re placing students in the right level of courses, but again, they are not required.  If a student does not have ACT or SAT scores, we can also look at a combination of GPA and/or an internal placement test known as the Accuplacer to guide us in advising our students on what courses to take.”

Oklahoma Panhandle State University takes on similar guidelines for admissions, says Charla Lewis, Ed.D., OPSU’s vice president of academic affairs. 

“OPSU is an open admission school,” she says. “Standardized test scores are not required for admittance, but they can be used to place students in the correct general education courses. We use essays in our application to apply for academic scholarships along with GPA.”

At TU, the value of the standardized test is still kept in mind alongside myriad other admission guidelines.

“The University of Tulsa is still test-optional for many programs, but our university leadership believes that standardized tests can help us level the playing field in terms of admission to the institution – the original purpose for which those tests were created,” says Justice. 

From major universities to small colleges, curriculum management keeps educators continually striving to give their students the best instruction possible. But how much work goes into creating and approving these lesson plans?

“University faculty rightly have strong autonomy in the classroom, with their courses and their evaluation of students,” says TU’s Justice. “The University of Tulsa is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, the premier accreditation agency in the country, and many disciplines are accredited by the national organizations dedicated to their subject matter. Administration at the university does look at grade ranges across the university to make sure things are fair across departments, and we talk to professors whose grades seem outside the norm for the high quality of our students.”

At OPSU, Lewis says, “the curriculum approval process is involved. Department chairs take the lead on curriculum management. When they want to make a change, they take the changes to the curriculum committee (made up of deans and department chairs across the university) along with justifications for the changes. The committee will vote to approve or deny the proposed changes. If the changes are approved by the committee, they are presented to our A&M board of regents for their consideration. If the A&M board approves, then the changes are presented to the OSRHE for their consideration. Any substantive changes are then presented to our accrediting body. Once approved, the new curriculum is noted in the catalog.”

At NSU, the curriculum approval process is equally rigorous, says Swearingen. 

“Programs are only approved if they meet a student need, show positive market potential and fit within our mission,” she says. 

OCCC’s academic programs have a mapped curriculum in which courses are aligned with introduction, application and mastery of skills. Examples of program outcome data include graduation rates, exams, pass rate  and employment rates, says Largent.

Professors are ensuring they’re hitting all benchmarks while still providing a varied, dynamic education at TCC.

“Faculty survey their courses each semester to gain student feedback on their experience in the class,” says Angela Sivadon, Ph.D., senior vice president and chief academic officer. “Many faculty also conduct ongoing assessments throughout the semester to determine if students are successfully meeting the established learning outcomes.”

Majors matter, and schools track trends and feedback to deliver what the market demands.

“The hottest fields are often believed to be in engineering, technology and health science,” says TU’s Justice. “However, everything from business to the liberal arts can be ‘lucrative’ when students are put in the best position to succeed.”

NSU, a regional institution, is “focused on meeting the workforce needs of our area and the state of Oklahoma,” says Swearingen. “Of the 100 critical occupations elucidated by the state, NSU has degrees for over 60 of these, ranging all the way from certificates to bachelors and masters’ degrees.” 

At OCCC, president Mautra Staley Jones, Ed.D., says many of the school’s majors lead to jobs in fields identified on the Oklahoma Critical Occupations list, “contributing to the workforce in strategic areas of need across the state and the nation,” she says. “Additionally, students have opportunities to obtain a micro-credential qualification, focused on specific professional or career disciplines. Micro-credentials consist of up to nine hours of credit courses that provide specific career critical knowledge, skills and abilities that can be easily transferred to the workforce.”

Some majors are more popular and in demand by employers than others, and “some of TCC’s most popular majors are in healthcare, early childhood development, engineering and engineering technology,” says Sivadon. “All these career fields are in need of employees.” 

Apprenticeships can offer hands-on learning and networking opportunities – and Oklahoma colleges and ensuring their students are getting their foot in the door.  

Lindsey Mastin, M.Ed., career advisor and assistant director of the OU Career Center, says colleges can connect students with apprenticeships and internships through several effective strategies including career center offices; career management platforms like Handshake; on-campus career fairs, employer networking events; and via integration with academic programs in which “colleges can embed experiential learning into their curriculum by offering internship or service-learning opportunities for academic credit,” she says. “This approach ensures students gain practical experience as part of their degree requirements. These strategies not only connect students with opportunities, but also help them gain practical experience that bridges the gap between academics and the workplace.”

Mark Hays, director of career retention and programs at TCC, says “the biggest advantage of an internship is the opportunity for students to gain work experience that can really stand out on a resume. For employers, they can use the internship as a tool to build their future workforce. Approximately 60% of community college students who work in an internship end up going to work full-time for that company. The internship helps the employer cut down on recruiting costs and offers a try-out period to see if the student and employer are a good fit for each other.”

Main image cutline: Cutting-edge research, conferences and community partnerships ensure faculty and staff at the University of Oklahoma remain on top of their professional development goals. Photo courtesy OU