Abstract: Causal Layered Analysis is a critical part of futures education because it helps students deepen their understanding of controversial issues. However, critical thinking about the future is new and challenging to most students. This study will examine how the analytical framework of intersectionality can provide a structure to help students use Causal Layered Analysis. "Intersectionality" interprets how different social identities and/or social problems are interrelated; as such, it encourages students to consider more evidence about issues, make connections between different pieces of information, and envision solutions to complex problems.
Abstract: "Futurology" is the process of forecasting or designing the future, whether that be the near future or far future. College courses rarely explicitly include futurology, even though the content of many courses has implications for the future. To build knowledge on how future-oriented content can be included into educational curriculum, I studied a college course in which students used futurology activities as part of an active learning setup. My study suggests that future-oriented content is appealing to students and helps students develop a sense of control over the future. In order to better introduce students to futurology, instructors must attend carefully to students' unfamiliarity with structured future-oriented thinking, as well as to fatalistic attitudes about the future.
Abstract: Research suggests that incorporating diverse active learning approaches, including creative and entertaining activities, into a class helps sustain students' attention and improve their ability to engage with the complex problems of the modern world. This study investigates how two different artistic classroom activities, one based in performing art and one based in visual art, compare to conventional classroom activities with the same broad educational goals. This study finds that artistic classroom activities and conventional activities generally encourage similar understanding of course content, attention, and interest in students. A performing art activity (in the form of a roleplay) encourages more improvement in communication skills than a similar conventional activity. Some students view a disconnect between learning content and learning communication skills, however, so instructors must ensure that students recognize the value of artistic teaching techniques. Suggestions for helping students adapt to new artistic activities are presented.
Abstract: There is little research on teaching futurology, which is surprising, given that instructors with a future-oriented perspective can encourage students to express constructive hope about controversial problems (e.g., climate change) rather than denying problems. This study evaluates what learning outcomes can be accomplished through three different future-oriented in-class group activities: a future-oriented discussion, a future-oriented roleplay activity, and a backcasting activity. Analysis of student feedback suggests that these three activities encourage similar levels of student interest, understanding, and productive discussion while helping students practice both general college skills and skills specifically related to futurology. The main strength of future-oriented discussion is general understanding of both a topic and one's own perspective on it; of future-oriented roleplay, debate and emotional engagement; and of backcasting, evaluation of different potential futures and a sense of ownership over the future.
Abstract: Much research on roleplays has focused on the way in which they can be used in in-person teaching and learning settings. In this article, I explain how I have adapted the roleplay tool to asynchronous online courses, via having my students write scripts. In these scripts, individual students decide upon relevant stakeholders in an issue and consider ways in which these stakeholders may address a problem, much as they would while working with their peers in an in-person class via a roleplay.
Abstract: Many faculty and students are concerned about critical global issues such as climate change, racism, and war—and both benefit from coming together to think proactively about the range of possibilities that exist for the future and how many stakeholders, including themselves personally, can build solutions to overwhelming problems (Hicks, 2012). All academic disciplines have a stake in the future somehow, but college courses often do not entail an explicit focus on how course content is relevant to future planning (Hicks, 2012). This article will provide 5 reasons why faculty who make a future-oriented mindset explicit in their courses benefit students—both students' discipline-specific knowledge and students' general academic and life skills.
I am analyzing survey data comparing the viewpoints of college students and faculty on active learning and on planning for the future.
I am writing a conceptual article about the role of open source technologies in shaping automation usage in work settings.
I am writing a conceptual article about supporting college students and faculty in becoming more aware of digital privacy issues.