Across higher education, AI is no longer a hypothetical. It’s in classrooms, on laptops, and shaping how students learn every day. Institutions are trying to keep up by buying licenses and drafting plagiarism policies. But this kind of approach doesn’t actually prepare campuses, students, or faculty for the reality AI is already defining. 

The real question isn’t “How do we contain AI?” but “How do we make it work for us?” 

When used responsibly, AI can strengthen student and faculty outcomes by:

  • Helping faculty personalize support without increasing workload. 
  • Enabling tutoring and advising centers to efficiently scale personalized student support across an institution. 
  • Identifying students who need help before they fall behind. 

AI and academia don’t have to be at odds. They can, and should, coexist when guided by purpose and aligned with mission.

And that’s where McGraw Hill’s Sharpen™ Advantage comes in. The responsible AI study app is built for higher ed and designed to empower both faculty and students alike. It’s not about replacing the human element of teaching; it’s about amplifying it.

The Challenge: How Higher Ed Can Innovate with Integrity

AI is reshaping higher ed faster than institutions can keep up. What began as a curiosity has become a classroom constant—used daily by students, often without oversight or institutional guardrails. The challenge for higher ed isn’t whether AI belongs on campus, but how to integrate it without eroding trust, rigor, or the human heart of learning. 

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, student use of AI has tripled since 2023, as learners turn to chatbots for explanations, feedback, and writing support across nearly every discipline1. For many, AI has become a default study partner, one that’s always available, quick to respond, and free from judgment. 

But this rapid adoption is creating new fault lines across campuses.

  1. Integrity and trust are under strain. Faculty face a blurred line between legitimate use and academic dishonesty, while students admit that even well-intentioned AI use can lead to “the illusion of competence,” where the feeling of learning replaces true understanding1.
  2. The learning opportunity is shifting. As one Kansas State student told The Chronicle, “ChatGPT has leveled the playing field for those who have to work for a living,” yet that same access widens gaps between students using vetted educational tools and those relying on unverified, data-mining platforms2.
  3. Faculty are left without visibility. Most institutions still lack the infrastructure to track AI’s impact, even as it becomes central to academic behavior.

Today, data shows nearly 80% of higher ed professionals and students use generative AI tools3. Instructors face mounting pressure to maintain trust in academic courses, while institutions struggle to strike a balance between innovation and accountability. 

That leaves institutions vulnerable. 69% of colleges and universities lack real-time insight into student performance4, and 90% of students rely on unvetted AI-generated content in their studies5. The gap between what students’ need and what institutions can support has never been wider.

Beyond the classroom, this transformation challenges the very culture of higher ed. Students are turning to AI instead of office hours, swapping group study sessions for chat windows, and outsourcing core academic habits to tools designed for speed, not depth. Professors describe a growing disconnect between instruction and engagement, while administrators scramble to balance innovation with integrity. 

This is the integrity crossroads of higher ed. 

AI has introduced extraordinary potential, but also unprecedented risk. Institutions that treat AI merely as a policy problem risk falling behind; those that approach it as a strategic, pedagogical opportunity have the chance to redefine learning for the better.

A Responsible Solution: Sharpen Advantage

To meet this moment, McGraw Hill introduced Sharpen Advantage, an AI academic success and study app, one of several AI-powered solutions designed to responsibly advance learning outcomes in higher ed. Alongside other innovations like ALEKS, AI Reader, and emerging adaptive learning tools, Sharpen Advantage represents a focused response to a growing institutional need: a responsible, campuswide study and success solution that integrates oversight, analytics, and AI at scale.

Expanding on the success of Sharpen, which already serves over 1 million student users, McGraw Hill developed Sharpen Advantage as an enterprise solution that addresses institutional needs for oversight, analytics, and responsible AI integration at scale. 

Built on a foundation of trusted McGraw Hill content and vetted AI guardrails, Sharpen Advantage gives students personalized, guided support while giving administrators and educators visibility, analytics, and control. 

At its core, Sharpen Advantage turns AI from a threat to a teaching partner. Students access Ask Sharpen, an interactive AI study buddy that generates answers, activities, and quizzes based on vetted materials and clearly identifies content that is unverified. Instructors and admins use Creator to share course- and institution-specific resources, while Radar provides real-time analytics that identify struggling students before it's too late. And with Playlist, faculty can curate personalized study content and share them directly to students’ phones, bridging classroom instruction with independent learning.

But Sharpen Advantage goes beyond the classroom: Radar delivers institution-wide analytics that give administrators visibility across courses, departments, and programs, transforming Sharpen from a study tool into a strategic asset that drives measurable institutional outcomes. 

The result? A measurable boost in engagement and performance. Institutions using Sharpen report up to a 3% performance increase after one semester of use, which can result in reductions in DFW rates across courses. 

The Responsible AI Strategy

McGraw Hill’s responsible AI strategy didn’t begin with the rise of generative AI—it’s the result of decades of digital innovation and evidence-based research focused on improving student outcomes. As a leading provider of education solutions, McGraw Hill has long leveraged advanced technologies to enhance teaching and learning in meaningful, measurable ways.

A cornerstone of this legacy is ALEKS®, McGraw Hill’s adaptive learning platform powered by machine learning for over 25 years. Long before GenAI entered classrooms, ALEKS demonstrated how AI could identify student knowledge gaps, predict mastery, and personalize learning paths—helping millions of learners achieve greater confidence and success. 

Today, McGraw Hill is building on that foundation with a new generation of AI tools, including Sharpen Advantage, AI Reader, and other emerging innovations designed to responsibly support institutions, educators, and students. Together, these solutions advance a single mission: to use AI to strengthen human connection and academic integrity, not replace them.

The strategy spans three core pillars: 

  1. Delivering personalized learning experiences to engage students more fully in their studies. By tailoring content and guidance to each learner’s pace and needs, McGraw Hill’s AI tools help students stay motivated, improve comprehension, and achieve measurable progress in less time.
  2. Handling administrative tasks for instructors so they can spend more time teaching. Automating routine grading, analytics, and content management allows educators to focus on what matters most—direct student engagement and high-impact learning moments. 
  3. Providing insights to improve student performance. Real-time data and predictive analytics empower faculty and administrators to identify struggling students early, intervene effectively, and strengthen outcomes across courses and cohorts. 

A critical component of this transformation is Sharpen Advantage, powered by machine learning engines that analyze student mastery, predict performance trends, and generate insights that faculty and administrators can act on.

This evolution is about more than technology; it’s redefining the role of content and technology providers in education. By creating AI tools that are transparent, pedagogically sound, and aligned with institutional goals, McGraw Hill is positioning itself as a strategic partner in student success.

Making AI Work for Everyone on Campus

Sharpen Advantage isn’t limited to courses built on McGraw Hill’s renowned digital platforms like McGraw Hill Connect®, it’s designed to scale academic success across the entire institution.

Because administrators, faculty, and staff can add their own content, Sharpen Advantage becomes a flexible ecosystem that adapts to local needs. Tutoring centers can upload their materials directly into it. Advising teams can share key dates, orientation content, and first-year experience tools so that when students use Ask Sharpen, they receive institution-specific answers that reflect their own campus resources.

For the first time, institutions can leverage an AI-powered study app that optimizes, not replaces, their existing systems and Open Educational Resources (OER). Whether supporting retention initiatives, centralizing academic support, or amplifying student services, Sharpen Advantage helps institutions bring all parts of the learning experience into one responsible, intelligent environment. 

The Path Forward

What sets McGraw Hill apart in the crowded AI space isn’t the scale of its data, it’s the ethics and ecosystem behind it.

From its AI Nutrition Facts framework, which explains how AI outputs are generated, to its partnerships with OpenAI and Anthropic to develop safe, scalable models, McGraw Hill’s approach to AI is guided by transparency and trust that has been built with colleges and universities for more than 137 years. 

McGraw Hill also holds the highest Net Promoter Score (NPS) among major ed tech courseware providers, a reflection of the company’s deep commitment to its partners across higher ed. McGraw Hill sees itself not merely as a learning solutions’ provider, but as an extension of the university and college ecosystem, a collaborator in advancing responsible innovation, student success, and institutional impact.

In 2023, McGraw Hill added over 100 new Customer Success team members positioned across the country, many embedded directly within or near the colleges and universities they support. This network ensures that McGraw Hill’s staff are close to the institutions they serve, helping campuses integrate AI solutions with agility, insight, and shared purpose.

Sharpen Advantage delivers exactly that: a solution where academic integrity, innovation, and impact coexist.

From Classroom to Campus Impact

The story is already unfolding. Faculty see fewer disengaged students. Administrators have clearer data to make proactive interventions—across course areas, specific sections, or even defined cohorts such as student-athletes, first-year learners, and gateway courses where early support matters most. 

For example, when performance dips in an introductory math section or among first-year students adjusting to college study habits, Sharpen Advantage helps instructors and advisors step in early with personalized feedback, tutoring resources, or study prompts. When a team of student-athletes faces travel-heavy schedules, the tool helps keep them on track through adaptive playlists and AI-driven reminders tailored to their coursework.

Faculty are noticing the difference, too. “Sharpen helps students meet their learning goals and gives me a trusted tool to recommend—without restructuring my course,” says Dr. Daniel Summers, Professor of Business at Rowan College at Burlington County, where students using Sharpen scored nearly 50% higher on their final exams compared to non-users. 

Students, like Emily, a sophomore who says she “flew through five chapters without noticing”, are finding joy in learning again. What began as a technological challenge is becoming an educational shift, one that connects every learner, instructor, and support service in a shared effort to strengthen student success. 

Responsible AI isn’t about replacing teaching; it’s about elevating it and empowering faculty and administrators to make personal and personalized interventions directly with students. And in McGraw Hill’s case, it’s also about rewriting the narrative: from fear of change to confidence in what comes next. 

As AI continues to reshape education, McGraw Hill’s mission remains grounded in its legacy, helping students succeed through trusted, evidence-based learning tools.

Sharpen Advantage represents the bridge between yesterday’s textbook and tomorrow’s intelligent learning system. A solution that empowers every student to study smarter, every instructor to teach more effectively, and every institution to build a future of integrity in the age of AI.

Are you ready to bring Sharpen Advantage to your institution? Learn more and get in touch today!