In this episode, George and I sit down with Mark Brown and Kathrin Otrel-Cass to continue our conversations with experts on the future of education. This episode covers a lot of ground on the topic of education futures, with our Mark and Kathrin voicing similar hopes to other guests around a desire for slower, more ethical futures. We also get into the nitty gritty of what futures can and can’t do for us in the present. What are we actually doing when we imagine the future? What are the limits of this work? What are our responsibilities as publicly-funded scholars when we futures methodologies become part of how we do research? It’s a thoughtful conversation that will further the discussion on what education futures can be. 

Learn more about Mark’s at his blog: https://markbrown.blog 

and through his academic page: https://www.dcu.ie/nidl/people/mark-brown

Books mentioned by Mark: 

Weller, M. (2022). Metaphors of edtech. https://www.aupress.ca/books/120309-metaphors-of-ed-tech/

Postman, N. (1971). Teaching is a subversive activity. Penguin Random House. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/132782/teaching-as-a-subversive-activity-by-neil-postman/

Learn more about Kathrin’s work at her Google Scholar page: https://scholar.google.dk/citations?user=7-Eeh-YAAAAJ&hl=en

In this conversation with Amy Sojot, Shandell and Amy dive into science fiction as a tool for thinking about education futures. They get pretty nerdy on some of Amy’s research, drilling down into the details of her recent paper “Cronenberg pedagogies and fleshy possibilities for education futures,” which is a weird and as fun as it sounds. 

Learn more about Amy at her website: https://www.amysojot.com

Amy’s article “Cronenberg pedagogies and fleshy possibilities for education futures” which we discuss at length. 

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14782103211052153

What is the value of making art for doing scholarly research and creating knowledge? What can we learn about learning and education from appreciating what different education systems offer or constrain? In this conversation with Dr. Nilofar Shidmehr, an Iranian Canadian poet, we meander through these questions, exploring what creativity, imagination, and perhaps most importantly, connection mean to learning today.

Learn more about Nilofar at her blog: https://nilofarshidmehr.com