Blog archive
Intermission
Well there we are. The programme of work outlined last year for Beyond Current Horizons is complete...
Tasty paradox
We’re still editing the draft scenarios, which is stimulating and tricky, like all the best tasks. We’ll be talking about them here very soon: in the meantime, here’s a tiny injection of the sort of thing we won’t be talking about (at least, not right now)...
Drowned World on BBC 7
While we’re putting together the scenarios from the last meeting of the BCH Advisory Group, here’s a more involved future world: JG Ballard’s Drowned World on BBC7
Thinking differently without waiting for disaster
Well. That was pretty exhilarating. We’ve just had the privilege of spending three days in the Cotswolds with our Expert Advisory Group, laying out the structure of the three worlds that form the basis of our BCH scenarios.
Citizens Panel reponses
As part of the Public and Stakeholder Engagement of beyond Current Horizons a Citizens Panel was established to ask members of the public questions about the future of education. The Citizen’s Panel was sent a ten question survey that included both ordering questions and free text entry.
Vocational futures
Education is a future-building enterprise. One of the education system’s key roles is in preparing young people for the future world that they will inhabit and help shape when they leave formal education, whilst ensuring they are supported in making sense of the world in which they live now.
Preparing for the future
As we prepare to usher in the New Year, we’re putting together a few presentations to provide a little more insight into the early findings of BCH, as well as some of the resources that will be available to be used towards the end of April ‘09.
Voices of Education: Merlin John
A fascinating conversation where the tables were turned on the great Merlin John. A wonderful journalist and passionate educationalist who writes regularly for many audiences and publications - most recently Merlin’s blog as well as the NCSL’s new Future site.
A glance at a public view
What do 500 members of the public think about the future of education? What do they hope for and what are they concerned about? A first (small) insight to all you avid BCH Blog readers of some of the comments that have come back as part of a 500 strong demographically sampled ‘Citizens Panel’ - when they were asked to comment on a range of issues about educational futures.
Getting out
Rory Carroll is wearing the robes this week, exhorting us to look to the Mayans for an awful reminder that nothing lasts for ever and that we ignore the signs of imminent doom at our peril: much of the article is a recapitulation of Jared Diamond’s argument in Collapse.
What do paper planes say about the future?
Am sure you’ve all seen Million Futures – you remember, virtual paper planes, your wishes for the future… Very pretty, if you haven’t seen it take a look. Anyway, in addition to being inspirational and fun there is a purpose.
Continuity for the sake of continuity
‘Change for the sake of change’ is something often denied by progressive educationalists, innovators and enthusiasts for educational development. However, continuing practices without challenging their benefits, aims or value within new demands of education, not only hampers the development of new practices, but can actively negate the benefits of education.
Voices of Education: Richard Millwood
As part of the Public and Stakeholder Engagement activities within BCH, we’re talking to a number of people who are important in developing others’ ideas of (and in) education. We call them ‘Voices of Education’ as they are important writers, thinkers and speakers who are listened to, and who’s views are often magnified by conferences, blogs and as the sparks of many new ideas within education. This post is around Richard Millwood’s ideas.
What do you need to do long term planning?
A few weeks ago we did some user testing for the Beyond Current Horizons translating research into action toolkit (it will have a better name when released - promise). The primary goal of this toolkit is to broaden people’s thinking when doing planning or making long-term choices in education.
Cloudy skies ahead
Cloud computing is forecasted to be one technological development that has major implications for education. A recent post by Tim O’Reilly gives some background to its potential.
Painting the past and the future
Twine has become open to the public - the feed tool has been in beta for a year in the past has pointed me to a number of sites and images that have caused me to want to post some reflection. Today is no different.
The aims of education
Within the BCH programme, the investigations of possible, probable and preferable futures are made so to understand the implications for education: how it’s organised, who will be involved, the aims, processes etc, and how these may be challenged in the light of socio and technological change. But how can we be sure of the what ‘education’ is for now, let alone think about how it will change in the future?
Brain Botox
The TES on Friday published a story that builds on the work being done as part of BCH. It’s title - a mildly scribed “Future Pupils may use ‘brain Botox’”.
Machine elves and a changing economy
Not the McKenna version, more a shorthand to describe a new sector of industry. I was reading earlier about Dizzywood, a virtual world for children in which avatars work to repair a damaged landscape through planting trees, cleaning things up etc.
Fairytales
Living in the present doesn’t make us exceptional. Sometimes history is a better source of clarity than present-day claims that this time is different.
Why long term futures thinking is important
My role involves me speaking with some incredible people: finding out what they’re up to; how they are helping to create and shape the future; what they are concerned about and what implications they see for education - for the people they work with and employ, the skills and competencies they see as important, and how possible futures challenge current ideas of education. But why does investigating 15+ years into the future help with this?
Cones of uncertainty around BSF
Having permission to tell stories about possible futures - especially stories created around shared prompts - enables the sharing of ideals, aims and aspirations that can lead to better understanding of nearer term actions. But there is particular value in longer term futures work in helping to create richer short term strategies for change.
Scenarios, toolkits and what happens next?
When you start looking there are a lot of scenarios on the web, including a large number with an educational slant, for example scenarios developed by JISC, the Learning and Skills Research Centre and OECD. Even Futurelab has created them to help inspire. Yet how many have been used to support planning?
Who needs to create scenarios?
I have spent the last few months considering long term planning. Not what I’m going to have for breakfast next week rather than just tomorrow but what could the world be like in 2020 and am I ready for it (the answer to which is probably not).
Collective thinking and acting
My homepage is a dynamic collection of the activity on some of the most popular websites. This morning it brought my attention to a blog post about a presentation given by Wisdom of the Crowds author James Surowiecki. The presentation was about how to harness collective intelligence to create informed consensus - something that relates to many elements of BCH.
From computer to computer, pursued by the entire world
As a society, perhaps as a culture, it seems equally hard to find a time when we weren’t looking towards some kind of end-point, whether Rapture or Enlightenment, through religion or a committment to secular, rational progress. But perhaps pretending to be a pandemic or a rogue A.I. will help us understand how true that might be.
The pace of continuity
A fascinating part of futures work is looking, not at the developments and new advances that may take place, but at the things that remain constant and the current activities, trends and objects that may end.
Stimulating (different) thinking about the future
I stumbled across an article that recalls an approach used by Kevin Kelly and Brian Eno to “loosen up our expectations of what might happen in the near future” - in a similar way that Edward de Bono uses random words and techniques to encourage creative thinking, this approach is about stimulating other ways of viewing possible future. Their approach presents a list of ‘unthinkable futures’ - possibilities that challenge the norm.
Acting out stories of the future
"…in the year 2025, things have calmed down a lot. There are still some people living the cities, but on the whole they aren’t nice places to be. The only way to make a reasonable living there now is by prostitution, drug-dealing, or protection rackets. Those who aren’t involved in these lucrative trades struggle to make ends meet. They pull the copper out of the walls and rip out sinks and pipework to swap for food on street corners."
History and the future
The new National Archive of Education Computing offers us a valuable opportunity to avoid being too much in the present.
