123. Urgency of Learning How to Learn in the Age of AI (Trini Balart)

There are significant challenges in education that have been ignored for too long, and AI is forcing us to confront them urgently; otherwise, AI will think for us, rather than with us. The need to learn how to learn has been increasingly important, but it has rarely been fully integrated into the education system. My guest in this episode is a doctoral student researching how to teach critical thinking with the aid of AI. She is sounding the alarm on the importance of teaching this skill with AI, otherwise, she thinks that AI will not only think for us, but it will not allow us to think at all. Trini Balart is a Ph.D. candidate in the Multidisciplinary Engineering Department at Texas A&M University, originally from Chile. She holds a background in Industrial Engineering, Computer Science, and a major in Engineering, Design, and Innovation from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. Her research focuses on engineering education and the impact of generative artificial intelligence on how we teach, learn, and think. She is especially interested in how these tools are shaping the development of critical thinking in engineering students and prompting us to rethink the true purpose of education and what we understand by learning itself. Passionate about human-centred development, innovation, and progress, Trini is committed to building a future where AI empowers, rather than replaces, our uniquely human capabilities. She envisions a future where these tools may even help us reach deeper levels of knowledge and societal development. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trinidad-balart-386213223/