From this academic year onwards, students from as many as 10 different educational programs have access to an elective course called “Futures Studies”. Given the contextual specifics (students from 5 campuses with each having specific schedules, interests and goals) and my conviction a future-oriented course can’t be but a reflection of how education in the future might look like, implies this course has turned out very different from a standard “I teach, you listen” approach.
The course is designed entirely around the principles of project-based learning, in which students are conducting a project called “futures of X”. Given the diversity of their backgrounds, X can be a number of topics, as diverse as healthcare, education or governance.
To support them in conducting their project, each chapter of the course syllabus is centered around an assignment. Together with a peer group, students are supposed to tackle those assignments, which all combined form a portfolio, which they can then use as input for their individual exam assignments. Rather than “lecturing” knowledge, my main role is that of a coach and architect.
Group sessions are organized along the lines of the flipped-classroom, whereby those sessions are entirely dedicated to the application of knowledge. The knowledge needed to execute the assignments has been processed individually before the group sessions, through means of knowledge clips and an e-syllabus. At all times students can (and are stimulated) to ask for feedback on the work they are doing - as to get the most out of this learning by doing process.
Furthermore, students are made aware of the value of feedback to both each other and me as quintessential elements of any learning and experimenting journey. Therefore all feedback on the set-up of the course is more than welcomed.