Speculative Fictions and Educational Futures

"Futures studies is the systematic study of possible, probable and preferable futures."

"It can be used to help leaders and communities manage uncertainties and increase their resilience and innovation."

Introduction

The last few weeks we have worked with storytelling tools like ComicLife and video production media, coordinated with inquiry. This week we shift to a collaborative storytelling project using MediaWiki (the same basic coding platform as Wikipedia). There are a lots of wikis out there, and your school board tech should be able to set you up (or even install) one of these free systems on the server.

Our collective goal is to create a kind of storytelling ecology and to create, in groups, possible future worlds of education. In thinking about the future of education and learning, we also need to consider transformations in technology, culture, and (bio)physical environments.

These are the major questions at hand:

• As things are now, what might the future of education look like? (If we 'extrapolate' - or say 'what if?')
• Why is the work of looking forward and imagining possibility important for us, both in and beyond school contexts?
• Does considering possible futures help us think critically about the present, past and future?

Collaborative World Building

Using the hand-outs as blueprints: you will (in groups of 3 to 4) be imaging the future of education via science fictional storytelling. Your task is to come up with and agree upon some central facets of this new world like: year, state of society/politics, role of schooling (or if there are no more schools, how do we learn?), impacts of technology (e.g., extrapolate on social media, virtual reality ['meta'], environmental issues, surveillance, social justice, politics etc.) and related aspect of human life like identity, social roles, class structures, EDI, and so on. You will need to get together and do some brainstorming to piece this world together.

Once you have 'sketched out' a common world, you will collaboratively write about what this world looks like, and how education/learning fits in, along with the rest.

Science Fiction and Elements of World Building

Content (80%): Use science fictional world building techniques and processes of extrapolation (covered in class) to imagine the future of education in the form of a wiki page. To begin, you need to identify the larger, overarching problems facing education, schools, and youth today - and then consider a future condition or "state of affairs" in relation to these challenges or current problems - be them social/cultural, ecological, institutional (schools), pedagogical, and or technological. Consider questions related to equity, access, inclusion, and social justice.

Consider the conditional term: "What if?" And consider both dystopian and utopian modes of storytelling to make a critical point about schools today, through looking (speculating) towards the future. Go back and think about our course articles and consider extrapolating those ideas...

Each project should: include both Wikipedia style entries as well as a first-or third-person account of this ‘future’ (through the eyes of someone living in this imagined world) – What do you imagine it will feel like to learn in the future? How will it look (if current challenges and problems are not dealt with; if new "innovations" are invented or applied)? For example, will we learn alone, or in community? What will be the role of technology in learning, in relation to pedagogy? How will we learn? Include any research you did to inform your perspective, and be sure to give the general outline of the future you are imagining (Where is this imagined future taking place? When (how far into the future)? Whose learning are you focusing on?) (Ensure that this is a critical vision of the future that connects to current problems or opportunities today).

Technical Expectations

Create (as a group) a collaborative future world 'home page' using the Wikimedia encylopedia format/style of description. Think 1500 words range as a group.

Create Your Individual Pages that link from your home page: Each individual page should be in story form: a first-or third-person account of living in this world that reflects on the educational/learning aspects (e.g., using memoirs, diary, or a story about someone living in this world). Think 500-1000 words for a story unless you really want to write more.

Add images sourced from creative commons or the web [put the link at the bottom of the page as a reference].

Use the gallery tool somewhere on your future world home page.

While story is important, the goal is to create a coherent world that extrapolates on current conditions and imagines future conditions. Each member of the group should read the others' story page. Each member should offer feedback and suggestions - and make sure that the world is consistent.

Use the following image from Brittany Tomin's dissertation work (2021) to help guide your brainstorming process. These are ideation helpers, not expectations.

Remember Dr. Tomin's Handouts (2021)

Estrangement

Building

Novums

Reflection/Process (20%)

How was this future of education inspired by your observations in the present? What process did you go through to construct your future narrative? What challenges did you face in imagining the ‘future’ of education? Why is this kind of storytelling important? How does this connect to ideas we have been exploring in the course? Course ideas should be used to guide your thinking in some way. What sources did you go to as research to inform your perspective/future story? (Be sure to include a section in your wiki where you discuss what research you did/what informed your imagined future in education).

References