Podcast Summary: Embracing Digital Transformation

Episode: AI Education Revolution: Why Professors Must Evolve Now | EDUCAUSE LIVE

Host: Dr. Darren Pulsipher
Guests: Anshul Sonak (Intel), Hernan Londono (Lenovo)
Date: November 11, 2025

Episode Overview

This special live episode from EDUCAUSE 2025 explores the imperative for higher education to adapt rapidly to the AI revolution. Dr. Darren Pulsipher speaks with Anshul Sonak of Intel and Hernan Londono of Lenovo about the profound, multifaceted impact of artificial intelligence on teaching, learning, and the role of the professor. The discussion centers on how academic institutions and educators can shift from static knowledge delivery to fostering competencies, adaptability, and lifelong learning in an AI-augmented world.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The New Paradigm: AI as Partner, Not Just Tool

• Anshul Sonak emphasizes that AI is more than a technology to adopt; it’s a new “intelligence” requiring educators and organizations to foster new mindsets, not just skills.
• Quote [00:00]:

  "AI is not just about learning and teaching AI or learning and teaching with AI, it's all about thinking within AI in a whole new way. So that people are not just becoming a consumer of AI, but they can build something, they can solve something..."
  – Anshul Sonak

• AI brings about a shift to "human-machine partnership," compelling education to prepare students for collaboration with intelligent systems, not just for tool usage.

2. Dual Mandate for Education: Teaching AI & Teaching With AI

• Hernan Londono [03:33]:

  "In education, we have to worry about how do we teach with AI and also how do we teach AI."

• Colleges must simultaneously use AI to enhance teaching and help students and staff understand, create, and critically assess AI technology.

3. Critical Skills Beyond the Technical

• AI-driven disruption increases the need for soft skills: critical thinking, ethics, explainability, and social awareness.
• Dr. Darren [03:05]:

  "Some of my computer science guys... really need to go take some philosophy classes or critical thinking classes, because they're not great at critical thinking."

• Anshul Sonak [07:00]:

  "The tool steps are becoming easier... But what's very important... is new type of skill set, technical skill set, non technical skill sets... and more importantly the mindset."

• Education must nurture “metacognitive abilities, learnability, sociability, variability”—not just immediate technical skills.

4. The Accelerated Impact of AI vs. Past Tech Revolutions

• The pace of AI adoption surpasses past shifts (like the internet in the '90s); adaptation windows have shrunk:
• Hernan Londono [08:24]:

  "In the 90s, we were afraid that if people had access to the browser, they were going to be distracted... AI's transformation is happening at a very accelerated rate... we had a few years to figure it [the internet] out. With AI... people are outside the organizations already adopting... at a really, really rapid pace."

5. The “Higher Ed Crossroads” & Faculty Role Evolution

• Higher ed faces existential questions post-pandemic and amid AI acceleration—especially regarding the value of degrees.
• Faculty must evolve into mentors/coaches guiding students in competency and application, not just content delivery.
• Anshul Sonak [13:04]:

  "Higher education as an institution is probably best poised to become that lifelong learning place... both learning and working are social experiences... not just technical skill but technical skill coupled with all the social skills, career growth skills..."

• The move from the "learn, work, retire" model to "learn, work, learn, work" cycles makes continuous, interactive, high-touch education essential.

6. Shifting from “Learning” to “Doing”

• Hernan Londono [15:52]:

  "There is this transformation that happened in education... this movement towards experiential learning. Because at the end when you teach, you don't want to teach, you want to create competency..."

• AI’s complexity and intimidating nature reinforce the need for close, hands-on support and practical experience.
• Anshul Sonak [17:31]:

  "The premium is... from the future proofing standpoint, what can I do, how can I apply, how can I build?"

7. Faculty and Industry Collaboration for Real-World Competencies

• The need for a new breed of faculty: mentors with practical experience who build trust and foster safe AI experimentation.
• Industry pressures institutions to deliver graduates with actual competency, especially in AI-augmented scenarios.
• Apprenticeship and mentorship traditions are returning; capstones and internships gain renewed relevance in digital skills.

8. Lifelong Learning & Flexible Credentials

• The rise of non-traditional learning: certifications, micro-credentials, ongoing skill-building throughout life.
• Community colleges and universities are both moving from rigid degree boundaries toward modular, stackable, just-in-time learning.
• Hernan Londono [27:47]:

  "Everybody kind of leveling and recreating this kind of place in the middle where all of that education... non traditional education is taking place."

9. The Economic Imperative

• AI is projected to create a $15 trillion new economy by 2030, changing workforce demands in every sector.

Notable Quotes & Moments with Timestamps

• AI as a Superpower, Not Just a Tool
  [00:00] – Anshul Sonak:
  “AI is not just about learning and teaching AI or learning and teaching with AI, it's all about thinking within AI in a whole new way…”

• Dual Mission for Educators
  [04:47] – Hernan Londono:
  “In education, we have to prepare those that are going to be using it, but also we have to prepare those that are going to be teaching those that are going to be learning how to use it.”

• The Shift in Skill Needs
  [07:00] – Anshul Sonak:
  “...what's very important... is new type of skill set, technical skill set, non technical skill sets, the non technical skill set, like ethics, explainability, understanding, biases, social, all that and more importantly the mindset.”

• Experiential, Competency-Based Learning
  [15:52] – Hernan Londono:
  “...this movement towards experiential learning... you want to create competency because that's what you need.”

• Metacognitive Skills for Future Proofing
  [13:04] – Anshul Sonak:
  “...meta cognitive abilities, learnability, sociability, variability. There’s three abilities which will hold you for the future.”

• Industry as Change Driver and Collaborator
  [22:44] – Hernan Londono:
  “Industry... is saying we need professionals with a high degree of AI skills. We don't need computer scientists, but we need people with the right level of AI skills... So we're seeing industry and higher ed partnering very closely...”

• The Return to Mentorship and Apprenticeship
  [22:04] – Dr. Darren:
  “...mentor apprenticeships and things like that... That has been the, the way that they did things. Do you see that, that moving forward and how does higher education have a role in that now...?”

• Lifelong Learning and Flexible Education Models
  [27:41] – Dr. Darren Pulsipher:
  “Why can't higher education have additional certifications? Right. Instead of being so rigid in I'm getting a bachelor's degree, I'm getting a master's, I'm getting a PhD. ... Why not have certifications or continuing education type of...”

• Big-Picture Takeaway on Human–Machine Partnership
  [30:30] – Anshul Sonak:
  “Let's not think about AI only as a technology. AI is much more than a technology toolset. It's a whole new intelligence... more importantly, there is a whole repercussion on mindset... that's exactly why a good faculty, a good institution and a good student partnership comes in to really create a lifelong learning pathways.”

Important Timestamps

• 00:00–02:30 – Introductions and backgrounds of guests
• 03:05 – How AI is changing the purpose and approach of education
• 07:00 – The shift in required skills and mindsets for students and organizations
• 08:24 – Comparison with previous tech revolutions; “faster and more profound”
• 10:19–12:46 – Threats and opportunities for higher ed in an AI era; soft vs. technical skills
• 13:04 – Higher ed’s opportunity as the locus for lifelong learning and soft skills
• 15:52–16:31 – The rise of experiential, competency-based learning
• 17:31 – The difference between knowing and doing; the value of application
• 20:51–23:52 – Faculty transformation, emergence of mentorship/apprenticeship models
• 26:48 – Expanding higher ed’s social/societal role: supporting continual upskilling
• 27:41–28:49 – The blurring line between traditional and nontraditional higher education
• 29:31 – AI’s projected economic impact; education’s opportunity
• 30:30 – Final thoughts: AI as intelligence, not just tech toolset

Conclusion

The episode presents a compelling case for higher education to embrace a transformative role amid the AI revolution. The core message: Developing AI literacy is as much about nurturing human adaptability, ethics, and complex problem-solving as about technical proficiency. Professors must shift towards mentorship, focusing on competencies and lifelong learning, helping students—and themselves—continually adapt in an unpredictable, AI-driven future. Partnerships between academia and industry, flexible credentials, and experiential learning will define the next phase of education as AI's influence surges.