Speculative Futures for Higher Education
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| Title: | Speculative Futures for Higher Education |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Sian Bayne (ORCID |
| Source: | International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education. 2024 21. |
| Availability: | BioMed Central, Ltd. Available from: Springer Nature. 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-348-4505; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://www.springer.com/gp/biomedical-sciences |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 19 |
| Publication Date: | 2024 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Descriptive |
| Education Level: | Higher Education Postsecondary Education |
| Descriptors: | Futures (of Society), Higher Education, Psychological Patterns, Vignettes, Technological Advancement, Climate, Social Differences, Pharmacology, Cooperation, Social Change, Place Based Education |
| DOI: | 10.1186/s41239-024-00469-y |
| ISSN: | 2365-9440 |
| Abstract: | This paper uses speculative methods as a way of imagining futures for higher education in open, non-predictive ways. The complexity and 'unknowability' of the highly technologised, environmentally damaged and politically degraded futures we seem to be facing can mean that our conversations about the future of higher education have a tendency to spiral too quickly into dystopianism and hopelessness. Speculative methods can help open up new kinds of conversation capable of supporting active and fundamental hope. Working within a postqualitative framework, we argue that such approaches support the collaborative imagining of multiple alternatives, and represent a way of advocating for those that are preferable. The paper presents a series of speculative scenarios and microfictions focusing on worlds ruptured by climate change, artificial intelligence, revolution and the technological enhancement of humans, connecting each of these to current critical research focused on climate crisis, 'big tech', rising global injustice and 'big pharma'. It emphasises the vital contribution and place of higher education within such futures, and advocates for speculative methods as an approach to maintaining hope. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2024 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1428243 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | This paper uses speculative methods as a way of imagining futures for higher education in open, non-predictive ways. The complexity and 'unknowability' of the highly technologised, environmentally damaged and politically degraded futures we seem to be facing can mean that our conversations about the future of higher education have a tendency to spiral too quickly into dystopianism and hopelessness. Speculative methods can help open up new kinds of conversation capable of supporting active and fundamental hope. Working within a postqualitative framework, we argue that such approaches support the collaborative imagining of multiple alternatives, and represent a way of advocating for those that are preferable. The paper presents a series of speculative scenarios and microfictions focusing on worlds ruptured by climate change, artificial intelligence, revolution and the technological enhancement of humans, connecting each of these to current critical research focused on climate crisis, 'big tech', rising global injustice and 'big pharma'. It emphasises the vital contribution and place of higher education within such futures, and advocates for speculative methods as an approach to maintaining hope. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2365-9440 |
| DOI: | 10.1186/s41239-024-00469-y |
