For Courtney Pham, a senior instructor of Marketing Principles at Missouri State University, keeping track of student performance across four sections, two in-person and two online, was a routine challenge.
Pham often spent hours reviewing her gradebooks around exam periods to identify students who might be falling behind. But with up to 70 students in some sections, it was extremely time consuming and difficult to sustain at scale.
With Instructor Assistant, Pham could view a snapshot of class performance and identify which students need support in minutes, allowing her to intervene earlier and more frequently throughout the semester. “Now I’m doing it weekly,” Pham said.
Instructor Assistant also generated tailored recommendations Pham could seamlessly share with students based on their performance and engagement patterns. She said the recommendations closely matched the tone and guidance she would normally provide herself, making it easy to personalize outreach.
At the same time, students in the course were using Student Assistant to work through homework, ask follow-up questions, and better understand course concepts rather than simply receiving answers outright.
“One of the things students realized is that they needed to ask the right questions,” Pham said. “The Student Assistant is there to help them learn, not give them the easy way out.”
A growing shift in how higher education uses AI
Pham’s experience reflects a broader shift happening across higher education as instructors look for practical ways to use AI to support learning outcomes while helping students engage more actively in the learning process. Cengage’s recent Higher Ed Voices Research shows just how rapidly this shift is happening. Nearly all faculty (97%), leaders (98%), and students (96%) report being at least somewhat familiar with generative AI. Additionally, 62% of students say they use AI for academics and most (59%) use it weekly or more.
As adoption accelerates, the challenge is no longer whether AI belongs in education, but how to apply it in ways that strengthen engagement, persistence, and learning outcomes.
This spring, we’re continuing to expand both Instructor Assistant and Student Assistant across Cengage’s Learning Platforms, bringing AI-powered instructor insights and embedded student support to hundreds more products and courses.
Helping instructors see where students need support — and act on it
As institutions continue exploring how AI can support teaching and learning, instructors are increasingly looking for tools that help them quickly identify where students are struggling and take meaningful action.
Instructor Assistant, previously introduced as Faculty Insights, builds on that foundation, bringing AI-powered analysis into the instructor workflow and helping faculty understand why students are struggling. Now expanding across more than 250 of Cengage’s Learning Platform Courses, Instructor Assistant provides actionable insights based on student performance and interactions.
While many AI-powered education tools focus on generating assignments or summarizing performance dashboards, Instructor Assistant is designed to go deeper. By analyzing both assessment results and the content instructors assign, the tool can surface more contextual, actionable insights about where students are struggling and where targeted support may help improve outcomes.
Early feedback from faculty using Instructor Assistant highlights the value of having faster access to actionable student insights within existing teaching workflows.
“If I’ve only got a few minutes, I can go to the Instructor Assistant and look at the struggling students,” said Christy Young, Associate Professor of Business at Jackson State Community College. “Instead of having to drill down and spend all that time searching, that information is right there in front of me.”
As generative AI adoption accelerates across higher education, instructors are increasingly looking for tools designed to support teaching and learning in practical, responsible ways.
“We’re all trying to learn how to navigate the AI world,” Young said. “I think it’s great that Cengage is ahead of some of the other publishers.”
AI support designed to reinforce learning, not shortcut it
Building on the expansion of Instructor Assistant, Cengage is also continuing to scale AI-powered support for students.
The Student Assistant, which delivers real-time, AI-powered tutoring embedded directly into coursework, expanded to more than 250 Cengage products this Spring, with further expansion planned for the Fall 2026 semester.
Unlike general-purpose AI tools that can generate instant answers, Student Assistant is intentionally designed to support learning, not bypass it. The tool responds using trusted Cengage course content to coach students through problems, helping them build understanding and confidence without giving away answers.
Early data shows this approach is having a meaningful impact. Students who begin using Student Assistant after struggling early in a course are 90% more likely to continue submitting assignments through the end of the term.
What faculty are saying
“I was extremely impressed with the training and evaluation process. The efforts to ensure parity in evaluation were a strong signal of quality and accuracy.” — Dr. Loretta S. Smith, Professor of Management, Arkansas Tech University
“The Student Assistant is user friendly and prompts students to deepen their understanding without giving away the answer.” — Lois McWhorter, Department Chair, University of the Cumberlands
“Often students are confused but don’t know where they’re struggling. The Student Assistant helps guide them to that understanding.” — Noreen Templin, Department Chair and Professor of Economics, Butler Community College
Discover the next evolution of AI-powered learning support
As we continue to expand and evolve our product offerings, the focus remains on outcomes: driving student success through improved persistence and engagement, while equipping instructors with trusted, actionable insights that help them support learning more effectively and with greater confidence.
