CritiCAL

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionising the future. As we delegate more and more decision-making powers, it becomes essential to ensure the future continues to support human needs and values. Surveys reveal that 50% of students aged 18–24 are concerned about how AI might affect their future careers. Both educators and employers are shifting their focus toward cultivating “future-proof” human skills that cannot be easily automated by AI. These include adaptability, creativity, collaboration, and, most notably, critical thinking — the skill most valued by employers in the World Economic Forum’s 2023 Future of Jobs Report.

This project represents a new approach to critical thinking training. An AI assistant will guide teams through logic-based challenges in an imaginary future world. Their mission is to identify and resolve problems using essential critical thinking skills like questioning assumptions, applying reasoning, communicating clearly, and considering diverse perspectives.

Learners will access the virtual world via two different platforms: a multi-user Virtual Reality (VR) experience and an Immersive Room (IR) that projects the environment around the users— no headset required. By comparing these formats, the study will assess the relative merits of each platform for supporting effective immersive collaborative learning experiences.