The Great Disjuncture in the Sky

What was and wasn't prominently discussed at ASU+GSV 2025

Author

Phil Hill
April 10, 2025

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Morgan and I just returned from the ASU+GSV Summit and its companion conference, the AI Show. There is a lot to unpack from this experience at what has become the most important EdTech show, but before we add our thoughts on specific topics, we decided that the best way to discuss the overall experience was by conversation through the Online Education Across the Atlantic podcast.

Since Neil Mosley was not able to attend (even though he was mentioned quite a few times), this format also gave us the chance to have him ask us questions from a non-attendee perspective and to relate some of the big themes to what he is seeing elsewhere.

Put another way, I’m submitting a group assignment in lieu of a lot of typing. You can watch the full episode below, or you can access the show and episode on your favorite podcast platform.

Summary

In this conversation, Phil Hill, Neil Mosley, and Morgan discuss the recent ASU GSV Summit, reflecting on the overall experience, the quality of sessions, and the themes that emerged. They explore the disjunctures in higher education conversations, particularly regarding current challenges and the role of AI. The discussion also touches on the impact of financial turmoil, cultural wars, and the influence of Big Tech on education. The conversation concludes with thoughts on innovative solutions and the future direction of educational practices.

The conference for me was a a story of disjunctures. Like there were things going on that people weren't talking about, and I think that contributed to some of the fact that the the sessions weren't quite what I wanted them to be. Things seem to be operating at a level of superficiality in a way without getting into some real nitty gritty, which is something that I've really enjoyed in the past at ASU+GSV. You really learn some good details and some you know some ugly details often, which is really useful. [snip]

So there were two disjuncts for me. One, nobody was talking about the current situation in the US in higher education [not to mention in the UK, Canada, and Australia] and how we were going to think about it. There were some sessions where that was discussed.

Phil had a session that I swear there were as many people outside the door trying to get in as people inside. People were sitting on the floor and hanging by the light fixtures and and everything. There was another one by the Chronicle where they just said, okay, we're going to talk about [the big context]. We're not going to talk about [our original topic]. We're going to talk about what's going on right now. And obviously, Linda McMahon was there and Glenn Youngkin, the governor of Virginia.

But in the main sessions, nobody talked about it. And I'm all for compartmentalization and denial. But at a certain point, we need to actually do it.

The other issue was AI. I mean, AI was all over the schedule, but [most of] the conversations about AI seemed to be superficial to me. Nobody was really getting into the nitty gritty of it. and You could find the nitty gritty of it along the sides, and I came across a couple of vendors or was reminded of a couple of vendors that are doing great things and had some great conversations. But the sessions themselves were about ‘we need to prepare our students, we need literacy, we need ethics,’ and never got much beyond that superficial level.

Sound Bites

"Did you get a seat at the bar?"

"We need to talk about the AI stuff."

"Big Tech is doing what they're doing regardless."

Chapters

00:00 Celebrating Milestones and Setting the Stage

01:41 Reflections on the ASU+GSV Summit and AI Show

04:05 Security and Protests: Navigating Challenges

06:56 Quality of Sessions: A Mixed Bag

07:45 Disjunctures in Higher Education Discussions

10:23 Insights from Linda McMahon's Session?

18:03 Navigating Financial Turmoil in Higher Education

22:01 World Ends Tomorrow, Elites Hit Hardest

27:41 Navigating Internal and External Conflicts in Universities

28:29 AI Superficiality on Display, but Real AI Possibilities Under the Radar

32:48 Innovations in AI and Education

41:05 The Clash of Big Tech and EdTech - Not Just Bigger

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