Every October, the EDUCAUSE Top 10 offers a snapshot of where higher education technology is headed. This year’s report begins with an acknowledgment of the challenges facing institutions, including political turmoil, financial pressures, and uncertainty about the future.
Despite these pressures, the 2026 EDUCAUSE Top 10 tells a human story, one centered on connection, collaboration, and supporting individual capabilities.
“Alongside their ongoing nurturing of institutions’ technologies and data, technology leaders will also be nurturing connections among and between the people at their institutions—their senior leaders, staff, faculty, and students,” the report states.
Here are three connections to the work happening across ed-tech platforms.
The Human Edge of AI (#2)
“Empowering students, faculty, and staff to engage with artificial intelligence tools critically, creatively, and safely” takes the number two spot this year.
AI is already changing how institutions approach everything from video accessibility to assessment security to content creation. The question has become how to responsibly adopt AI tools.
The report emphasizes that institutions need to provide training and create “safe spaces for experimentation” with AI. This means moving beyond simply deploying tools and instead helping people understand how to use them effectively.
For video platforms, this might mean AI-powered captioning and transcription that faculty can review and refine. For accessibility, it means combining automated detection with clear guidance so instructors learn principles while AI handles technical scanning. For proctoring, it means using AI to flag potential issues while keeping human judgment central to academic integrity decisions.
The balance is adopting AI that handles the technical work, like scanning, flagging, and generating, while giving people guidance on what to do next.
From Reactive to Proactive (#8)
“Using data for scenario modeling, forecasting, and prediction to strengthen institutional agility and planning” addresses a shift institutions need to make.
Most campuses operate reactively, the report notes, addressing problems as they arise rather than anticipating them. With compliance deadlines approaching, budget constraints tightening, and enrollment patterns shifting, this reactive approach creates risk.
Institutions that will thrive are those using data to ask questions around key areas like accessibility gaps, engagement, assessment patterns, and how to prioritize limited resources.
AI-Enabled Efficiencies (#9)
“Using artificial intelligence, robotic process automation, and other analytics capabilities to reduce operational costs, streamline processes, and improve services” rounds out the list.
This trend isn’t about replacing people with automation. It’s about freeing people from repetitive work so they can focus on what matters. Auto-generating captions for lecture videos. Scanning documents for accessibility issues. Flagging unusual assessment patterns for review.
The report notes that these efficiencies “allow staff to focus on higher-value activities that drive growth and improve student and faculty experiences.” The goal becomes to use technology that handles routine tasks while people focus on teaching, learning, and supporting students.
The Bigger Picture
The 2026 EDUCAUSE Top 10 emphasizes that technology leaders must help institutions become “nimbler and less siloed” through coordination across departments. No single tool or platform solves every challenge, but integrated systems that share data and maintain consistent standards help create institutional agility.
“Perhaps the greatest resource we have is one another. The higher education technology community is a deep and vibrant wellspring of wisdom, the report concludes. “The lessons and challenges we share with one another and the personal connections we make will serve as our greatest sources of strength on the journey ahead.”
Read the full report to see other trends, campus spotlights, and actionable ways to get started with each priority.
