From Stress to Success: How AI Is Transforming the College Learning Experience

Burlingame, Calif. - As universities return to full capacity after the pandemic, a new challenge has surfaced: students are overwhelmed, tutoring centers are swamped, especially during mid-terms and finals, and many students and faculty are pointing to artificial intelligence for quick on-demand help. Cutting-edge platforms, from Google’s latest educational tools to purpose-built apps like QuickTakes, are helping students reduce stress, stay engaged, and access academic support when they need it most.

AI Becomes a Campus Learning Companion

Recent announcements from major technology companies underscore AI’s expanding role in education for educators and learners.

Google’s Gemini for Education, unveiled at ISTE 2025, introduces more than 30 tools, including interactive diagrams, automated overviews, and quiz generators, directly into Google Classroom, Forms, and other education apps. NotebookLM, Google’s AI

note-taking platform, is now accessible to students under 18 and includes features such as audio overviews and dynamic study guides.

Microsoft is also integrating AI through its Copilot tools within Microsoft 365 for Education, giving faculty and students access to real-time assistance embedded in daily workflows.

Codio Coach, an AI tutor built on Anthropic’s Claude, has shown promising results in early trials, improving student grades by up to 15 percent and doubling course completion rates in computer science programs, showing that AI can enable better leaner comprehension in STEM courses.

AI Improves Focus and Reduces Test Stress

For many students, AI is not a novelty, it is a necessity.

“AI doesn’t replace learning in college, it enhances it,” said George Chen, President of QuickTakes. “We’re seeing students feel less overwhelmed and more confident because they can finally focus in class, knowing that AI support is always available.”

QuickTakes, an AI-powered study tool, helps students record, transcribe, and summarize lectures into clear, personalized learning materials. The result is better comprehension, less anxiety, and more presence in the classroom.

“When students aren’t scrambling to take notes, they slow down to listen, ask more questions, and retain more information,” Chen said.

AI Fills the Tutoring Gap

Traditional tutoring remains a key part of academic success, but many campuses are facing shortfalls in staffing, availability, or specialization. Recent interviews with QuickTakes users reflect this challenge.

“I couldn’t find a tutor for anatomy anywhere on campus,” said a pre-nursing student at Shasta College. “But QuickTakes gave me summaries, YouTube video suggestions and study guides based on my professor’s lectures. It filled in the gaps the professor/school couldn’t.”

AI tools offer reliable, 24/7 academic support for students in STEM courses and beyond. Rather than replacing human tutors, these platforms provide complementary assistance, especially for first-generation students, working students, and those in underserved programs.

Heading Back to School with AI

With the fall 2025 semester approaching, AI adoption in higher education is poised to accelerate. Institutions are exploring AI integration in advising, tutoring, and learning centers. Educators are beginning to see AI as a scalable, inclusive solution, particularly for neurodiverse and ESL learners and letting go of the stereotype that students only use AI to cheat. Students, in turn, are using these tools not just to keep up, but to stay ahead, improve grades and to save time studying.

About Edkey, Inc / QuickTakes

Founded in 2022 in California’s San Francisco Bay Area, Edkey, Inc. is an education technology company dedicated to making learning tools more accessible, inclusive, and effective. The company’s founding team includes former executives from Edmodo, a platform that served over 140 million students and educators globally.

Edkey’s leadership brings over 50 years of experience from institutions like Stanford University, McGraw Hill, Redbird Advanced Learning, LinkedIn, Alexa, and DoubleClick/Google. The company builds technology for both K–12 and Higher Ed learners.

Its flagship product, QuickTakes, is available on iOS, Android, and web browsers, and empowers college students to transform lectures, YouTube videos, PDFs, and other content into study materials like summaries, flashcards, and guides, helping them save time, stay organized, and succeed in school. www.quicktakes.io