Future Frictions / Education / For facilitators
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Currently showing: 90 minutes
Facilitator guide
A workshop on Design Thinking and the Future of Education for mixed groups of academic and professional staff. Teams investigate a future learning tension, examine evidence, generate ideas, prototype an experience and plan responsible implementation.
90 minutes · 1 hour 30 minutes
Introduction: 10 minutes · Five stages: 65 minutes · Showcase: 10 minutes · Reflection: 5 minutes.
Today’s challenge is not to predict the future. It is to imagine possibilities, explore opportunities and design educational experiences that could help learners thrive in a changing world.
You will work through the five stages of the 5E Design Thinking Framework and develop a future-focused educational concept. The goal is learning, collaboration, experimentation and insight.
Allow three minutes to identify a concrete moment of friction; park wider trend debates, explain the challenge and invite teams to choose one of the six sprint scenarios and one fictional learner card. Frame scenarios as starting points for inquiry, then ask teams to identify the evidence they will need.
Suggested materials: paper, pens, sticky notes, a shared workspace and access to relevant institutional or public evidence. Agree on a time horizon and work in small groups that mix academic and professional perspectives.
10 minutes
Begin with people and their experiences. Interview a colleague or draw on a real learner experience; distinguish what you know from what you imagine.
Facilitator emphasisEncourage specific observations. Ask participants to distinguish what they know from what they infer.
10 minutes
Examine the evidence behind your chosen tension. Record sources, distinguish trends from assumptions and make uncertainty visible.
Facilitator emphasisAsk teams to name their sources and distinguish evidence, assumptions and uncertainty before selecting an opportunity.
15 minutes
Generate as many ideas as possible. Avoid criticism, build on each other’s thinking and push beyond traditional assumptions. Begin with “How might we…”.
Facilitator emphasisProtect divergence. Invite difference before teams compare feasibility or select a direction.
15 minutes
Choose one promising concept. Sketch or role-play the learner experience and invite a quick response from another team.
Facilitator emphasisMake the learning question explicit. Invite another group to experience the prototype and capture their feedback before moving to implementation.
15 minutes
Use the six areas below to develop an implementation roadmap. Name a first pilot, an owner and a review date.
Facilitator emphasisAsk teams to identify a first implementation step, an owner, the support required, ethical and inclusion risks, and a measure of success.
Showcase · 10 minutes / Reflection · 5 minutes
Ready-to-use facilitation assets
Choose one scenario and one fictional learner. Spend three minutes identifying a concrete moment of friction, then begin the five stages. Scenarios are provocations, not forecasts; personas are starting points to challenge through real conversations.
Download the complete workshop pack (PDF) ↓Pick one card. Ask the three questions, then describe one difficult moment for your chosen learner. Avoid debating whether the whole scenario will come true.
Featured challenge 01 · Possible future
Imagine education ten years from today. Every student has access to a highly capable AI learning companion that provides tutoring, feedback, content generation, coaching and personalised support. Many educational tasks can now be completed with AI assistance.
Featured challenge 02 · Possible future
Imagine a future where traditional examinations no longer provide confidence that learning has occurred. Universities must develop new approaches to assessing knowledge, capability and human potential.
Featured challenge 03 · Possible future
Imagine a future where people expect to learn continuously throughout their careers and many workers retrain or reskill every five years.
Featured challenge 04 · Possible future
Students learn through universities, employers, industry providers, online platforms and professional communities. Traditional educational boundaries become increasingly blurred.
Featured challenge 05 · Possible future
Students face increasing uncertainty, information overload and competing personal, professional and academic commitments.
Featured challenge 06 · Possible future
Student populations become increasingly diverse in culture, age, ability, background and learning preference.
Extended deck 07 · Possible future
Imagine education ten years from today. Automation has reduced routine tasks but created new demands for checking outputs and supporting learners.
Extended deck 08 · Possible future
Imagine education ten years from today. Learners assemble portfolios of short credentials from multiple providers instead of one three-year qualification.
Extended deck 09 · Possible future
Imagine education ten years from today. Students work with international experts and peers across time zones, languages and local contexts.
Extended deck 10 · Possible future
Imagine education ten years from today. AI handles many technical and administrative tasks, while teams struggle with judgement, collaboration and difficult conversations.
Extended deck 11 · Possible future
Imagine education ten years from today. Extreme weather interrupts campus access and the institution must reduce the environmental impact of learning.
Extended deck 12 · Possible future
Imagine education ten years from today. A learner dashboard predicts disengagement, but a student says its picture of them is wrong.