Strengthening How We Learn with AI

What happens when we move beyond asking AI to explain something and begin creating and testing our own connections? In this episode of AI for Academic Success, Dr. Renée Jordan introduces the revised Module 2, Help Me Learn Through My Interests, which now emphasizes analogies instead of metaphors. We explore how learners can connect new academic concepts to their interests and prior knowledge, map relationships between ideas, identify where comparisons break down, and test their understanding without relying on AI-generated explanations. Through the Try It Like Dr. Ellen Ochoa activity, learners practice a five-step process: Choose → Build → Map → Test → Explain. The goal is not simply to make difficult concepts easier. It's to help learners become more confident, independent thinkers who can explain what they've learned in their own words.