This document discusses forecasts and drivers of change for the future of learning and partnerships between people and technology. It explores how economies and work have changed over time, and identifies five main drivers of change: optimized selves, labor relations 2.0, splintering economies, shifting landscapes, and smart transactional models. Participants discuss what these drivers may mean for education and work. They are tasked with designing future learning scenarios by 2025 based on provocations related to these drivers and the people, structures, and cultures they may impact. Leadership strategies for initiating, accelerating, and supporting the changes needed for this future are also discussed.

1. Forecast 4.0
Partners in Code:
Leading in a New
Era of Learning
Katherine Prince
Jason Swanson

2. The future is not a fixed point.
It is ours to create.

3. Looking Back at 2005

4. A Decade of Foresight

5. Economies
and Eras
• At your table, you will find 2 postcards with images of different economies and eras.
• Split into 2 groups, with each group taking 1 of the postcards.
• Discuss what life was like during that particular time. As you do so, consider the following:
• What was work like?
• What was education like?
• What skills did someone need to know?
• What innovation(s) created that economy?
• What innovation(s) ended that economy or at least made it less dominant?

6. Manufacturing
Economy
Knowledge-Based Economy
Agrarian Economy

7. Exponential
Change

8. Partners in Code

9. • Optimized Selves – discovering new human horizons
• Labor Relations 2.0 – negotiating new machine partnerships
• Splintering Economies – pursuing meaningful engagement amid
debt and new and uncertain economies
• Shifting Landscapes – innovating in volatile conditions
• Smart Transactional Models – creating societal infrastructure
with networked transparency
Drivers of
Change

10. Optimized
Selves

11. Labor
Relations
2.0

12. Splintering
Economies

13. Shifting
Landscapes

14. Smart
Transactional
Models

15. Drivers of
Change
With those at your table, discuss what thoughts came to mind as you
heard about the big story of the forecast and the drivers of change.
Some questions to consider:
• What signals have seen for some of the drivers of change?
• How might these drivers will affect education and learning?
• How might they affect your work as a whole?

16. • Optimized Selves – discovering new human horizons
• Labor Relations 2.0 – negotiating new machine partnerships
• Splintering Economies – pursuing meaningful engagement amid
debt and new and uncertain economies
• Shifting Landscapes – innovating in volatile conditions
• Smart Transactional Models – creating societal infrastructure
with networked transparency
Drivers of
Change

17. Provocations
People
Structures
Culture
People Structures Culture
Optimized Selves
Labor Relations
2.0
Splintering
Economies
Shifting
Landscapes
Smart
Transactional
Models

18. Fostering
Flow
From educating the mind to
educating the whole self
OptimizedSelves
People

19. Educating for
Value Add
From workforce training to
the redesign of work
LaborRelations2.0
Culture

20. Resilient Learning
Ecosystems
From standalone structures to
intersecting value webs
ShiftingLandscapes
Structures

21. Designing the Future
• At your table, you will find an envelope containing three provocations, or
images of the future, reflecting the drivers of change we outlined.
• You will have one provocation for each impact layer: people, structures, and
culture.
• Your task is to combine your provocations to create an image of learning in
2025, or education for an era of partners in code.
• Your image might be aspirational or inspirational; it might be
cautionary.
• It might present opportunities for some and challenges for others.
• It might or might not resemble education as it typically looks today.
• After discussing what your provocations might mean for learning, draw or
describe your image on a flip chart sheet using markers.
Some possible questions to explore:
• What might personalized learning look like in 2025?
• How might education stakeholders ensure equity for all learners?
• What skills might a learner need in 2025?
Some possible ideas for what you might illustrate or describe:
• A learning ecosystem design
• An artifact from the future
• An opportunity or quandary affecting a cohort of learners

22. Leading in the Future
• Take a few minutes on your own to consider what you would need to do to
move from today’s reality to the future reality that we have been exploring.
Take into account what you might start, stop, and continue doing –
immediately, in the next two years, and in the next five years.
• Share some highlights from your individual reflections within your group
and discuss what themes you see emerging across your individual ideas.
• Looking across everyone’s ideas and reflecting on the kinds of innovation
that we’ve been exploring, discuss what leadership strategies seem most
useful for:
a. Initiating change
b. Accelerating change
c. Supporting change.
• As you discuss those strategies, make sure to capture your big ideas on a
flip chart sheet.
• Looking at the list that you generated, explore which leadership strategies
seem most exciting and which ones feel most challenging.
• Conclude by taking a few moments to reflect individually on what leadership
commitments you feel able to make moving forward from today.

23. Thank you!
Contribute to the conversation at #FutureEd
with @katprince and @JasonSwanson.