395: Lev Gonick, CIO at Arizona State University: Why Higher Education Must Disrupt Itself and the New Definition of AI Literacy

Send us Fan MailLev Gonick is the CIO at Arizona State University, one of the largest and fastest-growing universities in the United States, with over 200,000 students across campuses in Phoenix, Los Angeles, Washington, and 35 partner institutions around the world. He won an ORBIE Award in 2023 as a top large Enterprise CIO, was named a Top 50 Educational Technology Influencer by EdScoop in 2022, and holds a PhD in International Political Economy from York University.Before joining ASU, he was one of the rare CIOs who came from the classroom, having spent the first decade of his career as a teacher and researcher before pioneering online learning in the 1990s, long before it became an industry. In this episode, Lev draws on more than 40 years at the intersection of technology and education to make the case that AI is not the disruptor of higher education, it is the accelerant, and that the institutions treating it that way are already building what everyone else is still debating.In this conversation, we discuss:Why AI is not the disruptor of higher education, and what has actually been driving the disruption for decadesHow ASU went from survival mode during the 2009 financial crisis to building the largest online learning operation in the country, and why the same instinct is now driving its AI strategyWhat ASU's data from 200,000 students using AI daily actually reveals about which skills will endure and which ones will notHow the role of university faculty is fundamentally changing in the AI era, and why the hardest question has nothing to do with cheatingWhat the "Agentic self" means for creatives, and how a unique course taught by Will.i.am is helping students protect and amplify their creative futures.How the traditional responsibilities of the Chief Information Officer are expanding beyond basic operations to actively shaping institutional strategy and innovation. Explore this conversation:00:00 Intro and AI Fun Fact: Blue Books vs AI Rethinking Academic Integrity04:25 Introducing Lev Gonick, CIO at Arizona State University05:17 From Classroom Teacher to Academic Disruptor at ASU08:16 ASU Principled Innovation and the Design Build Approach to AI13:23 Co-Creating with Industry: AWS Zoom and the GSV Summit at ASU17:35 Soft Skills Are Smart Skills: Rethinking AI Literacy in Higher Ed23:25 Rethinking Assessment: What Faculty Must Adapt to in the AI Era27:01 Why a College Degree Still Matters in the Age of AI30:37 From YouTube to ASU: Meeting Learners Where They Are34:22 Disrupt or Be Disrupted: ASU Mission to Reach 300000 Students35:57 From Operator to Strategist: The New Playbook for the Modern CIO40:26 Connect with Lev Gonick and Arizona State University RESOURCESSubscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Lev on LinkedInAI fun fact article: Blue Books Are Making a Campus Comeback via Axios, by Josephine WalkerOn what most entrepreneurs get wrong when pitching to VCs.