Delve into the FUTURE!

Learn how to teach about the future, teach for the future and teach in the future.

* Evaluate how your perspective about the future colors your teaching
* Deduce how the future becomes the future
* Perfect your trend watching skills
* Open the futurists’ toolbox and get some practice
* Retool your mind and expand the possibilities
* Assess your “Seventh Generation yet Unborn” responsibility
* Build basic futures exercises to implement in your course

Empower your students with the gift of foresight. As Edward Cornish, President of the World Future Society, says, “developing our futuring skills will sharpen our ability to assess the probabilities, anticipate consequences, and choose ever-wiser courses of action that can lead us to the best possible future.” *

IF members will (a) creatively explore the future together, (b) learn how to integrate futuring perspectives and futuring methodologies into teaching strategies, (c) develop and pool teaching materials for course adoption, and (d) prepare a poster documenting the accomplishments of the IF Learning Community at BGSU Firelands.

*Futuring: The Exploration of the Future by Edward Cornish (2004)

Reasons to Participate
* Be among the first members of the new BGSU Firelands “Initiatives for the Future” (IF) project.
* Enjoy the powerful benefits of foresight in your own life.
* Reinvigorate your teaching enthusiasm by exploring a NEW perspective.
* Retool your mind for the year 2050!
* The first 5 participants to commit to the IF Learning Community will receive a gift card toward an Educator’s bundle of World Future’s Society publications, including the core text, Futuring: Exploring the Future by Edward Cornish.

Member Commitment
As a member, you
* attend the 90 minute scheduled, community meetings (six per semester).
* NOTE: 1st Community session will be on 17 August 2006 (TH)
* participate in the IF community’s activities, topics, and projects.
* produce for electronic distribution materials you design for your course.
* share electronically a follow-up assessment on the success of your material(s).
* provide the Center (CTLT) end-of-semester and end-of-year assessment feedback.
* are invited to participate in an end-of-year learning community dinner.

Who Should Apply
BGSU faculty or graduate students who will benefit from the IF Learning Community at BGSU Firelands

Learning Community Facilitator
Dr. Kay E. Strong
Intiatives for the Future, Project Director
& Associate Professor of Economics
Applied Sciences Department, BGSU Firelands
kstrong@bgsu.edu