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Apprehending the Future: Emerging Technologies, from Science Fiction to Campus Reality
Bryan Alexander, Director of Research at the National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education (NITLE), writes for the May/June issue of Educause Review. In Apprehending the Future: Emerging Technologies, from Science Fiction to Campus Reality, Alexander discusses strategies to identify future trends in technology including the environmental scan, Delphi Method, prediction markets, scenerios, and crowdsourcing.
“This article will introduce and explore methods for apprehending the future as it applies to the world of higher education and information technology.2 These are not hypothetical approaches; they are realized, documented, and applied methods. There is no perfect method; nor has any one approach emerged to overshadow the others. This article will thus explore each for its specific affordances, structures, and practical usage. Together, they represent an aggregate, sector-wide movement that tries to help academics understand the future as it hits the present. Put another way, these future-scanners seek to follow the translation of digital ideas from science fiction to campus reality.”
