Learning Futures

In this special FOLC Fest 2025 episode of the Learning Futures podcast, host Sean Leahy sits down with Michael J. Sorrell, president of Paul Quinn College, who delivered the conference’s opening keynote, “From Chaos to Clarity: Innovation Strategies for Leading Through Uncertainty.” Dr. Sorrell recounts his early challenges at Paul Quinn when the institution had only 30 days of cash on hand and highlights the pivotal mindset shifts and empathy-driven leadership decisions that helped transform the college into a model for academic excellence and innovation. He stresses the importance of listening, transparency, and authentic connection with those you serve, while noting that resilience is cultivated by recognizing adversity as an opportunity for growth and solidarity. Drawing from personal experiences—such as pursuing a doctoral degree while working full-time and raising a young family—Dr. Sorrell underscores the necessity of understanding the complex realities students face and shaping institutions to meet their needs. His reflections on humility, empathy, and the vital role of embracing community stories offer profound insights for current and future leaders seeking to navigate turbulent times in education.
FOLC Fest 2025 [Website]
Michael J Sorrell Profile [Paul Quinn College]

Original Show Notes from April 18, 2023
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In this episode - Sean and Punya are joined by guest co-host Iveta Silova to talk with prominent futures scholar Keri Facer to discuss Futures education, futures literacy vs futures literacies, futures thinking, and cultivating a 'temporal imagination'. 
In our conversation we learn about Keri's own academic and professional journey, and how studying the learning space of children became synonymous with studying the future. We discuss a recent publication from Arathi Sriprakash and Keri Facer on the pedagogic imperative to 'teach the future' in modern schools and the opportunities and challenges exist, and explore the importance of the differences between futures literacy and futures literacies.
Guest Information: 
Keri Facer – Professor of Educational and Social Futures at the University of Bristol, Visiting Professor in Education for Sustainable Development at the University of Gothenburg and August T Larsson Guest Professor at SLU, Sweden. Her work focuses specifically on cultivating the ‘temporal imagination’ – the capacity to work critically with ideas of time, rhythm, pasts and futures to open up possibilities for individual and collective agency - in conditions of environmental and technological change.
Iveta Silova – Professor and Associate Dean of Global Engagement at Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University. She teaches graduate courses in comparative and international education, education policy and evaluation, research design, and post/decolonial approaches to education research. 
 
Links & Resources: 
Learning Futures Collaborative: Education, sustainability, and global futures
Futurelab, former UK educational research organization
Futures journal [publisher link]
Jungk and Muellert’s future workshops [actioncatologue.eu link]
Futures Literacy [UNESCO link]
Coldwarchildhoods.org, Iveta’s work on childhood memories
Chen, K (2010). Asia As Method:Toward Deimperialization. Duke University Press. [publisher link]
Teach the Future
World Futures Study Federation
Sardar, Z. & Sweeney, J. (2015). The Three Tomorrows of Postnormal Times. Futures 75 (2016) 1–13. [article link]
Turn It Around!, socially engaged art
Ana Dinerstein’s ‘The Art of Organizing Hope’ [video link]
Tsing, A., Bubandt, N., Gan, E., & Swanson, H. (2017). Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet. U of Minnesota Press. [publisher link]
The Ecoversities Network
Facer, K & Sriprakash, A. (2021). Provincialising Futures Literacy: A caution against codification. Futures, Volume 133, October 2021. [pdf link]
Punya and Iveta’s past work together: https://punyamishra.com/2022/11/17/speculative-fiction-and-the-future-of-learning/
Keri Facer (2011) Learning Futures: Education, Technology and Social Change, London: Routledge
Facer, K (2022) The University and the Social Imagination, CGHE Working PaperIn this background paper for the UNESCO Futures of Education Commission,  I talk about five different ways of doing ‘futures’ in education – and the ethical choices these raise: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000375792.locale=en

Black Mountains College - https://blackmountainscollege.uk/
The Ecoversities Network - https://ecoversities.org/
Book Recommendations:Hospicing Modernity https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/675703/hospicing-modernity-by-vanessa-machado-de-oliveira/
At Work in the Ruins https://www.amazon.com/At-Work-Ruins-Pandemics-Emergencies/dp/164502184X
Bruce Sterling – (2002). Tomorrow Now, Envisioning the Next Fifty Years. Random House. [Google Books link]

Keri and Arathi’s article: Provincialising Futures Literacy: A caution against codification
How Are the Children? - Wake Up Arcade Fire Cover
Southeast Asia collection of the Turn it Around! Youth Visions of Climate Futures

Original Show Notes
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Sean and Punya welcome special guests Dr. Scotty Craig (ASU) and Dr. Ryan Baker (Penn) to discuss rapidly evolving field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, and what implications it may have for education
Guest Information
Dr. Scotty Craig
Is an associate professor of human systems engineering within The Polytechnic School of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University. Dr. Craig is a learning engineer and has investigated research areas of emotion and learning, multimedia learning, and intelligent tutoring systems (ITS)in both laboratory and applied classroom settings. Scotty is also a fellow member of our own AI in Education Learning Futures Collaborative here at ASU.
Dr. Ryan Baker
Is a professor of education and computer science at the University of Pennsylvania, and also directs the Penn Center for Learning Analytics.
Dr. Baker researches how students use and learn from educational games, intelligent tutors, and other kinds of educational software. Drawing on the fields of educational data mining, learning analytics, and human–computer interaction, he develops methods for mining the data that come out of the interactions between students and educational software. He then uses this information to improve our understanding of how students respond to educational software, and how these responses influence their learning.
Topics discussed:
UNESCO publications on Artificial Intelligence in education
Maturity of AI in Education from both a technical perspective and practical / pedagogical perspective
Parsing student behaviors in moocs and other environments, including one that caught our eye, what Dr. Baker called “wtf” behaviors
Calls for future developments of AI to be grounded in a human-centered approach
Algorithmic bias, challenges, pitfalls and opportunities
How does a system like ChatGPT from Open AI impact the possible future of online learning and behavior?
Big picture idea, What are we gaining and losing in seeing ourselves as essentially streams of data?
Resources and Links:
-Chiou, E. K., & Lee, J. D. (2021). Trusting automation: Designing for responsivity and resilience. Human factors, 0018720821100999
-Penn Center for Learning Analytics
-Algorithmic Bias in Education
-U Penn Learning Analytics (Online) Master of Science in Education Degree Program
 
MS in Human Systems Engineering with a Concentration in Intelligent Systems at ASU
The Intelligent Systems Concentration provides students with a Master of Science in Human Systems Engineering that prepares them with the skills needed to improve our world by creating innovative technology-based systems that integrate into human environments. Our faculty provide a guided experience with training in theory, development, and evaluation. For more information, check out our website or email  Dr. Craig
Link: https://poly.engineering.asu.edu/hse/ms/

In this special selects episode we re-listen to Sean and Punya talk about the journey and future developments of extended reality (XR) in education with Dan Beaupre and Tom Schmidt from One Giant Leap, LLC and ROAM respectively. We learn about the backstory and "origin story" from Dan and Tom and how they came together to join forces around their deep passion for education, storytelling, and emerging technologies. 
Extended Reality (XR) is a term that encompasses all immersive technologies that merge the physical and virtual worlds, including virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR). It offers a new way of experiencing digital content by combining the real world with digital elements, allowing users to interact with virtual objects in a natural and intuitive way.
 
Guest Information: 
Dan Beaupre  -
Dan is the founder and principal of One Giant Leap, LLC which is a production and consulting company that inspires and empowers children of all ages to be planetary stewards. [They] create transformational experiences, memorable events, and new media. We also provide strategic support to organizations who seek to add, refresh, or expand educational programming. / formerly, Vice President, Experiences, in the National Geographic Society's Education division
Tom Schmidt – 
Emmy winner for TV. Emmy nominated for VR. Producer for all those mediums / the CEO and Co-Founder of ROAM - ROAMcreates shared experiences for the emerging metaverse that provide understanding, empathy and awareness. And founder of Percolate Digital LLC
 
Episode Links
National Geographic GeoBee
Oculus Rift [video link]
Dan’s giant maps project
eCYBERMISSION educational competition
Grasp, Dan and Tom’s immersive training company
Powers of Ten film
The Gailer School [Wikipedia link]
Flatland book [Project Gutenberg link]
Midjourney, AI image generator
Hypercard, Mac software [Wikipedia link]
Jane Goodall Institute
Saul Perlmutter, 2011 Nobel Laureate
Reeducated: Inside Xinjiang’s Secret Detention Camps (360/VR). The New Yorker.
ASU’s BioSense Network
Jacob Bronowski’s The Ascent of Man, BBC documentary television series [IMDb link] [British Film Institute link]
John Dewey, “father of American progressive education” [Britannica link]
MIX Center at ASU
Guest Links
Punya’s blog: Aesthetics and science education: Beauty at Work podcast

The AI Revolution Is Already Losing SteamIn this final episode of Season 6, hosts Sean and Rachna discuss new advancements in generative AI, reflecting on its journey and the hype surrounding it. The episode begins with a light-hearted conversation about screen visibility issues and transitions into more serious topics, including the rapid adoption of AI technologies and the varied spectrum of understanding across different environments.
Rachna shares her experiences with AI guidelines developed in collaboration with Northern Arizona University, highlighting the importance of understanding and cautious adoption of AI in K-12 education. Sean emphasizes the concept of "arrival technology," where new innovations like ChatGPT appeared suddenly, challenging traditional adoption curves and readiness.
The hosts express their frustrations with the overhype of GenAI, discussing the unrealistic promises made by tech companies and the potential backlash this could create. They explore Amara's Law, which states that we tend to "overestimate the impact of technology in the short run and underestimate it in the long run", urging listeners to maintain a balanced perspective.
The conversation also covers the ethical implications of GenAI, the importance of maintaining human agency, and the role of leadership in guiding responsible AI adoption. They conclude with a forward-looking discussion about the next school year, expressing excitement for the potential of AI to enhance personal productivity and support educators.
Links:
AI Guidance for Arizona Schools
Roy Amara [Amara's Law]
The AI Revolution Is Already Losing Steam
Gartner Hype Cycle (general description of model)