Anthropic launches AI courses and higher education advisory board chaired by former Yale President Rick Levin
Anthropic has appointed a higher education advisory board of academic leaders who will help guide how Claude serves teaching, learning, and research in this space.
The board will be chaired by Rick Levin, whose CV includes two decades leading Yale University (1993-2013) and ten years at Coursera - three as CEO (2014-2017) and seven as senior adviser to his successor (2017-2024). At Yale, he championed global engagement and expanded access through transformative financial aid and teaching programs. At Coursera, he built one of the world's largest platforms for online learning.
“Anthropic is deeply committed to AI safety and responsibility in its products and every aspect of its business,” says Levin. “With the help of its newly formed advisory board, it is striving to bring these values to higher education. Our role is to advise the company as it develops ethically sound policies and products that will enable learners, teachers, and administrators to benefit from AI’s transformative potential while upholding the highest standards of academic integrity and protecting student privacy.”
Those joining Levin are:
David Leebron, Former President of Rice University, brings decades of experience in university development and research expansion. He led Rice through significant growth in research funding, student success, and campus expansion.
James DeVaney, Special Advisor to the President, Associate Vice Provost for Academic Innovation, and Founding Executive Director of the Center for Academic Innovation at the University of Michigan, leading academic innovation strategy and lifelong learning and workforce development initiatives at scale.
Julie Schell, Assistant Vice Provost of Academic Technology at University of Texas, Austin, leads larg -scale educational technology transformation and modernization initiatives, specialist in learning science and evidence-based teaching practices.
Matthew Rascoff, Vice Provost for Digital Education at Stanford University, leading digital learning initiatives that expand access to advanced education for those who have been underserved.
Yolanda Watson Spiva, President of Complete College America, leads a national alliance of 53 states and systems mobilizing to increase college completion rates. With nearly three decades in postsecondary education policy, she leads CCA's work on AI adoption for student success and formed the CCA Council on AI.
AI fluency courses for educators and students
Working with the advisory board and educators, Anthropic has developed three new courses that build on its existing AI Fluency course, and are designed to give universities practical frameworks for thoughtful AI integration. Each course, co-developed with Professor Rick Dakan of Ringling College of Art and Design and Professor Joseph Feller of University College Cork, is available now under Creative Commons license, so any institution can adapt them:
AI Fluency for Educators helps faculty integrate AI into their teaching practice, from creating materials and assessments to enhancing classroom discussions. Built on experience from early adopters, it shows what works in real classrooms.
AI Fluency for Students teaches responsible AI collaboration for coursework and career planning. Students learn to work with AI while developing their own critical thinking skills, and write their own personal commitment to responsible AI use
Teaching AI Fluency supports educators who want to bring AI literacy to their campuses and classrooms. It includes frameworks for instruction and assessment, plus curriculum considerations for preparing students for a more AI enhanced world.
2025 RTIH INNOVATION AWARDS
AI will be a key focus area at our sister title RTIH’s 2025 Innovation Awards.
The awards, which are now open for entries, celebrate global tech innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.
Our 2024 hall of fame entrants were revealed during an event which took place at RIBA’s 66 Portland Place HQ in Central London on 21st November, and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by comedian Lucy Porter.
In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “The event is now into its sixth year and what a journey it has been. The awards started life as an online only affair during the Covid outbreak, before launching as a small scale in real life event and growing year on year to the point where we’re now selling out this fine, historic venue.”
He added: “Congratulations to all of our finalists. Many submissions did not make it through to the final stage, and getting to this point is no mean feat. Checkout-free stores, automated supply chains, immersive experiences, on-demand delivery, next generation loyalty offerings, inclusive retail, green technology. We’ve got all the cool stuff covered this evening.”
“But just importantly we’ve got lots of great examples of companies taking innovative tech and making it usable in everyday operations - resulting in more efficiency and profitability in all areas.”
Congratulations to our 2024 winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Lucy Porter, and all those who attended November's gathering.
For further information on the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards, please fill in the below form and we will get back to you asap.
