Starting my future of higher education seminar tonight: the syllabus
Tonight I’m starting my future of higher education seminar for Georgetown University’s . (I’m also teaching . If this sounds interesting to you, considering applying to the program!) Here I’d like to share my syllabus along with some notes on the class.
This class is about helping the students think more creatively, knowledgeably, and strategically on the potential futures of colleges and universities. To that end we explore a series of future-oriented materials, from a Stanford design document to several books imagining new post-secondary institutions. We also take time to explore the present, partly to expand and deepen their understanding of how colleges and universities work (or don’t), and also to teach them how to look for signals of the future in the current moment.
Speaking of which, the class also introduces students to several major futuring tools. We experiment with horizon scanning, the Delphi method, trend analysis, and scenario creation. In fact, every week I’ll ask students to share what they discovered in their horizon scanning. There’s a week on science fiction, because that’s a powerful way of getting to think about the future. There’s also a couple of weeks when we play a simulation game I’ve created, because gaming can be another vital tool for apprehending what might come next.
Man, I love this class.
SCHEDULE
August 26
Topic: introductions
Designing the class: technologies, community, practices, pathways
Forecasting methods: introduction
Exercise: introduction thread
September 2
Topic: higher education and the future
- Tressie McMillan Cottom, “The Education Gospel” (introduction to Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy)
- “Horizon Report: 2021”
- Gidley, The Future: A Very Short Introduction, chapters 1-4
Forecasting method: Delphi
September 9
Topic: signals on higher ed’s operating horizon
Readings:
- Brian C. Mitchell and W. Joseph King, How to Run a College A Practical Guide for Trustees, Faculty, Administrators, and Policymakers, chapters 1-6
- Gidley, The Future: A Very Short Introduction, chapters 5-6
- horizon scanning: the past week from Inside Higher Ed, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and selected blogs and Twitter feeds
Forecasting method: horizon scanning
September 16
Topic: trends in higher education
Readings:
- Alexander, chapters 1-6
- Brian C. Mitchell and W. Joseph King, How to Run a College A Practical Guide for Trustees, Faculty, Administrators, and Policymakers, chapters 7-9
Forecasting method: trends analysis
Exercise: trend identification
Horizon scanning
September 23
Topic: race, gender, and profit in higher education
Readings:
- Tressie McMillan Cottom, the rest of Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy
Horizon scanning
September 26: mid-term project 1 due
September 30
Topic: the uses of imagination
Readings:
- Hernan Ortiz, “The Punishment Room” (
- Padgett, “Mimsy Were The Borogoves.”
- Suzette Haden Elgin, “For The Sake Of Grace.”
- Saxey, “Not Smart, Not Clever” (
- Stanford 2025 (; scroll down)
Forecasting method: science fiction
Horizon scanning
October 7
topic: technology and education
Readings:
- Martin Weller, “25 Years of EdTech “(
- Staley, 120-158
Horizon scanning
October 14
Topic: the science of learning
Reading: Joshua R. Eyler, How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories behind Effective College Teaching (5-64; 113-148; 171-217)
- purely optional:
Horizon scanning
October 21
Topic: narrating the future
Readings:
- Staley, pp 160-217
- Alexander, chapters 7-14
Forecasting method: scenarios
Exercises: constructing scenarios
Horizon scanning
October 28
Topic: AI
Readings:
- Charles Fadel, Wayne Holmes, Maya Bialik, Artificial Intelligence In Education: Promises and Implications for Teaching and Learning (read backwards!)
- AI-related horizon scanning
October 29: Mid-term project 2 due
November 4
Topic: simulating the future
Readings:
- Alexander, “A Web Game for Predicting Some Futures: Exploring the Wisdom of Crowds”
- Game materials: The Future University Matrix game (download TBA)
Horizon scanning
Role assignments: TBA
November 11
Topic: decolonizing the university
Horizon scanning
Readings: la paperson, A Third University Is Possible
Exercises:
- one more turn of Future University Matrix game
- group prototyping of a University Model
November 18
Topic: determined by the class:
Readings: TBD
Horizon scanning
Exercise: group prototyping of a University Model
November 25 – no class; Thanksgiving holiday
December 2
Topic: the next universities
Readings:
- Stewart Brand, “Pace Layering: How Complex Systems Learn and Keep Learning”
- Gidley, The Future: A Very Short Introduction, conclusion
Presentations
December 17: FINAL PROJECT DUE
READINGS
Books
- Bryan Alexander, Academia Next.
- Tressie McMillan Cottom, Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy.
- Joshua R. Eyler, How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories behind Effective College Teaching.
- Charles Fadel, Wayne Holmes, Maya Bialik, Artificial Intelligence In Education: Promises and Implications for Teaching and Learning.
- Jennifer Gidley, The Future: A Very Short Introduction.
- Brian C. Mitchell and W. Joseph King, How to Run a College A Practical Guide for Trustees, Faculty, Administrators, and Policymakers.
- la paperson, A Third University Is Possible.
- David Staley, Alternative Universities: Speculative Design for Innovation in Higher Education.
Recommended readings
- Adrianna Kezar, How Colleges Change.
- David Edgerton, The Shock of the Old.
