Robots & Pencils Launches "Rewired," A Bold Blueprint for the Intelligent University
CLEVELAND - Oct. 21, 2025 - As education leaders gather for ASU's Agentic AI and the Student Experience Summit and the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference, Robots & Pencils introduced Rewired: The New AI Architecture of Higher Education.
This three-part series challenges universities to redefine what "student-centered" means in an era of agentic AI. The focus: move beyond digital transformation and build institutional intelligence-systems that learn, adapt, and scale with every student.
Why this matters for education leaders
AI is touching every function: admissions, advising, instruction, research, career services, and retention. The institutions that accelerate learning-at the organizational level-will set the pace for the next decade.
Rewired offers a practical path: unify data, modernize the cloud, and deploy AI agents that personalize experiences, validate skills, and connect learners to opportunity across a lifetime.
Inside the Rewired series
- The New AI Architecture of Higher Education: Enrollment decline becomes a chance to expand who you serve and build lifelong learning ecosystems that stretch beyond traditional programs.
- How Higher Education Proves Value in the Skills Economy: AI and verifiable credentials can rebuild trust among universities, learners, and employers by tying skills to outcomes that are visible and portable.
- The Invisible Infrastructure That Determines Higher Education Success: Data integration, operational intelligence, and cloud modernization separate the leaders from the laggards.
A shift from projects to intelligence
"The next era of higher education will be defined by who learns fastest," said Kristina Gralak of Robots & Pencils. "Agentic AI is transforming what it means to be student-centered. The universities that win will rewire their infrastructure for intelligence, creating systems that personalize experiences, validate skills, and connect learning to lifelong opportunity."
Jeff Kirk, Executive Vice President of Applied AI at Robots & Pencils, added: "Every institution seeks to enhance the student experience, yet few realize that progress begins with the invisible systems: the data, cloud, and AI engines that make intelligence possible. Rewired shows what it takes to connect strategy with reality."
What forward-thinking universities will build
- Intelligent tutoring and advising that adapt to each learner's goals, pace, and context.
- Credential networks that verify skills in real time and connect to employer demand.
- Unified data fabrics that bring SIS, LMS, CRM, and research systems into one intelligence layer.
- Operational AI that improves scheduling, forecasting, resource allocation, and student services.
Practical next steps for leaders
- Audit your data foundation: what's accurate, accessible, and actionable across departments?
- Prioritize cloud modernization to reduce complexity and make AI deployment feasible.
- Pilot high-impact use cases (advising, tutoring, financial aid triage) tied to measurable outcomes.
- Stand up verifiable credentials aligned to employer-validated skills and micro-pathways.
- Establish governance for AI ethics, model performance, and data privacy-then iterate fast.
- Upskill teams so faculty and staff can co-design with AI, not work around it.
Context: Where the conversation is happening
Rewired arrives as leaders align around practical AI adoption at ASU's Agentic AI and the Student Experience Summit and at EDUCAUSE. For background on these discussions, see ASU's Agentic AI initiatives and EDUCAUSE.
Where to learn more
Explore Robots & Pencils and the Rewired perspective at robotsandpencils.com. If you're building internal capacity for AI fluency and skills, browse role-based learning paths at Complete AI Training.
About Robots & Pencils
Robots & Pencils is an Applied AI Engineering Partner that helps universities and enterprises modernize applications and increase the speed of productivity. With delivery centers in Canada, the U.S., Eastern Europe, and Latin America-and partnerships with AWS, Salesforce, and Databricks-the team combines UX expertise with elite engineering.
Since 2009, Robots & Pencils has delivered solutions across Education, Financial Services, Health Tech, Consumer, Energy, Manufacturing, and Technology, serving as a nimble, high-value alternative to large systems integrators.
Contact
Scott Young - scott.young@robotsandpencils.com
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