Futurology in Education and Learning

The following sections are included:

• Preface
• About the Editors
• Contents

The society is rapidly changing requiring different skills, knowledge, and attitudes from our students, which results in a need for innovation in our approach to learning and education. Especially during the COVID-19 outbreak, higher educational institutes faced major challenges, such as teaching in an online classroom. This disruption due to the COVID-19 regulations caused a renewed interest in alternative methods of education. The differences and similarities between distance, blended, and face-to-face education methods have been placed under a magnifying glass. Educational institutions were forced to implement different methods with little previous experience in the respective methods. They seemed ill-prepared for major shocks to their traditional way of doing things. How can education be transformed/innovated to make us all more sustainable and resilient? This crisis shows that we are not on top of things; we are ambushed and reactive. So how can we (in the present) determine what we should learn to be prepared for the future and how can education be changed so that we learn these things more quickly? This is not only about new methods/technologies but also about innovation of the learning process. The question is how to use these experiences to create future proof education and how certain innovations in education play a role in this transition. Innovation in all its forms (digital innovation, business model innovation, product/process innovation, etc.) is thus positioned as a facilitator…

Professional futurologists have turned their speculative ideas and theories into concepts that are well worth considering by educational planners and professionals in the fields of education to create a new field of professional concern — educational futurism. We must become more receptive to it, while also considering the futuristic thought that indicates an increasing awareness among the general public of the need for serious thinking about the future. The necessity of preparing people for the future requires that we exercise considerable imagination and insight in speculating as to what the future will bring, what skills will be necessary, what jobs and occupations will be in demand, and what sort of lives the majority of people will lead in the following years.

Simultaneous learning is a method that complements the traditional place base learning with new ways of teaching–learning process while potentially impacting higher education at almost every level, ranging from state-level policy to classroom management. The very concept has been traditionally considered a precarious idea for the integrity of physical learning institutions as it encourages the adoption of alternate mechanisms in the shape of remote learning, synchronous and asynchronous online platforms, and mobile technologies. Different models of open universities have been introduced to accomplish the job with different contextual objectives, ranging from access to students from remote areas to the inculcation of technology in the teaching–learning process. Although simultaneous learning methods are being adopted vehemently in the developed world, up until now, these have not been considered vital in the developing world. This lag is partly due to the mindset of the educational managers who consider these methods as a threat to the place base learning institutions or as a deficient method in addressing the holistic development of learners. Policymakers also believe in and rely on the traditional approaches amid their “Red-Tapism” and “Status-quo”. The outbreak of COVID-19 has proved to be icebreaking in this regard as different forms of simultaneous learning in the form of blended and hybrid learning have been overwhelmingly used during the pandemic. It seems to be the future of higher education and instructors are making efforts to learn, develop, and manage this form of learning during the pandemic and beyond. However, as with the nature of revolutionary changes, the pitfalls are also concatenated with this adaptation which if not addressed timely and properly may prove counterproductive.

This chapter contributes to our understanding of how professionals from beginner to expert levels can be prepared for future change. To this aim, we draw upon insights from decades-long research about the development of professional expertise. We discuss the development of a sound knowledge base and situational awareness, and how deliberate practice significantly contributes to this. Also, we pay attention to the professionals in changing times by analyzing which forces come into play and the role education and organizations can play to prepare for and/or support change. In conclusion, we distinguish the expert in terms of excellence and the expert in terms of professionalism. We argue that more attention should be given to the preparedness for change on different levels to help professional domains to cope with continuous changes in the future.

Design thinking combines contextualized knowledge and empirical evidence through reflection and experimentation to generate feasible solutions to the so-called “wicked problems”. Therefore, design thinking has been repeatedly called to inform the development of educational programs in higher education and organizations. This chapter describes the experiences related to the development of an online MBA program that has implemented design thinking as a teaching method. We review the literature on design thinking in management, particularly how scholars have advocated the use of design thinking in higher education. We derive three principles that guided the selection of courses and the organization of curricular activities in the online MBA. These principles provide directions for future educators and practitioners that aim to educate their staff and students on design thinking. We use insights from interviews with lecturers and students to reflect on the experiences with design thinking in the development of the online MBA and we report these findings in a case study format. We conclude by summarizing several suggestions derived from the case analysis that can guide future educational programs to integrate design thinking as a teaching method.

A worldwide constraint — an epidemiological one — put pressure on the organizational model of national education across all countries, starting with the year 2020. Each national education system began to look for suitable solutions to ensure continuity of the educational training process under conditions of distancing students and teachers. The solutions found at national levels were largely similar: the organization of remote training using digital technologies and broadcasting on TV channels, and planning emergency training for teachers in developing communication skills in digital media or equipment features. Thereby, the present study gives an overview on online teaching, and the specific ways used by teachers of the Romanian education system.

Universities across the world are adopting entrepreneurial programs to meet the needs and challenges of the global economy. However, by accident or design, the entrepreneurial programs tend to focus almost exclusively on start-ups and do not necessarily encourage or enable corporate entrepreneurship (CE). Therefore, much of the content is not applicable in a corporate scenario, yet business students typically start working for established companies for initial positions or as continuation of graduate training. With the lack of corporate entrepreneurship modules in the entrepreneurial curriculum, business students are less prepared to enter the job market and incumbent organizations and miss out on opportunities to recruits with corporate entrepreneurship knowledge, skills, and abilities. This is unfortunate, as companies are also affected by the absence of next-generation leaders oriented to CE, which may contribute to the vulnerability of existing organizations facing increasingly dynamic environments. To address this knowledge deficiency and encourage future research on this important topic, we conducted 20 in-depth interviews with CE scholars, educators, and administrators. In this chapter, we synthesize a Corporate Entrepreneurship Education Framework and propose high-potential directions for future research.