Pre-Conference Workshop A2
Exploring Futures Methods and Practices
Date Wednesday, Nov 27 Time – RoomCharlottenburg I Price: 90.00 € Status: places available
Bryan Alexander
Founder and Principal, Futurist, researcher, writer and teacher at Georgetown University / Bryan Alexander Consulting, USA
Bryan Alexander is an internationally known futurist, researcher, writer, speaker, consultant, and teacher, working in the field of how technology transforms education.
He completed his English language and literature PhD at the University of Michigan in 1997, with a dissertation on doppelgangers in Romantic-era fiction and poetry.
Then Bryan taught literature, writing, multimedia, and information technology studies at Centenary College of Louisiana. There he also pioneered multi-campus interdisciplinary classes, while organizing an information literacy initiative.
From 2002 to 2014 Bryan worked with the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education (NITLE), a non-profit working to help small colleges and universities best integrate digital technologies. With NITLE he held several roles, including co-director of a regional education and technology center, director of emerging technologies, and senior fellow. Over those years Bryan helped develop and support the nonprofit, grew peer networks, consulted, and conducted a sustained research agenda.
In 2013 Bryan launched a business, Bryan Alexander Consulting, LLC. Through BAC he consults throughout higher education in the United States and abroad. Bryan also speaks widely and publishes frequently, with articles appearing in venues including The Atlantic Monthly, Inside Higher Ed. He has been interviewed by and featured in the Washington Post, MSNBC, US News and World Report, National Public Radio, the Chronicle of Higher Education, the National Association of College and University Business Officers, Pew Research, Campus Technology, and the Connected Learning Alliance.
He recently finished Academia Next: The Futures of Higher Education for Johns Hopkins University Press (forthcoming fall 2019). His two most recent books are Gearing Up For Learning Beyond K-12 and The New Digital Storytelling (second edition) .
Links
https://bryanalexanderconsulting.com/
Discover
This Workshop introduces participants to several leading forecasting methods. They include horizon scanning, trends analysis, and scenario creation. The facilitator will demonstrate each method with examples from within academia as well as from the larger world.
The session is very interactive, combining presentation, discussion, and hands-on work.
Participants will conclude the Workshop with greater understanding of futures thinking. They will be able to develop forecasting capacity within their organizations.
Agenda
- Introductions
- Futures and forecasting - a presentation on the field, focused on the present state of the art.
- Method - Environmental scanning is examined through examples, followed by an exercise using it.
- Method - Trends analysis is examined through examples, followed by an exercise using it that builds on findings from the environmental scanning section.
- Method - Scenario creation. Role-playing several scenarios for the future of education are followed by the creation of scenarios based on the trends previously identified.
- Implementation - How can these methods be applied in our respective organisations?
Outcomes
Participants will learn about cutting-edge forecasting methods. They will understand the limits and affordances of each. They will also be able to apply these methods with their organizations, developing futures capacity.
Who will benefit most?
Anyone interested in the topic.