PLEASE NOTE THIS SESSION WILL NOW TAKE PLACE IN ROOM 101, EDUCATION BUILDING

Post-pandemic work sustains the pressure for graduates to positively and collectively deal with difficult situations in real-time, ambiguous contexts. Drawing from a Swedish Research Council funded study to examine high impact teaching practices, this session illustrates a highly novel and innovative teaching model for ‘futuring’ in large-scale teaching (e.g. in classes of 140+ students) (Wall, 2023a). ‘Futuring’ is the act of understanding or influencing ‘the future’ and can involve predicting, scenario-exploring, and critical perspective-taking techniques (Minkkinen et al, 2019).

The session demonstrates key aspects of the teaching model which itself is informed by performance art (Wall, 2023b): (1) fast-paced cycles of emergent and ambiguous (fictional) events in a large lecture theatre followed by collective reflection and theorising, (2) the students’ existing (implicit and intuitive) knowledge of futuring techniques and building on them with facilitated group dialogue around the limitations and extensions of that knowledge, (3) the recording of student decisions practically in the form of a shared group diaries (emphasizing the practical nature of futuring), and (4) an environment framed with positive affect and humour to reinforce points (1), (2) and (3).

The emergent events reflect sustainability challenges (e.g. extreme weather events) and encourages the consideration of wider impacts of responding as a group of leaders with limited resource and within the context of ambiguity. Evaluation of the teaching model indicates that students reported positive changes in 7 of the 8 eight indicators of sustained behaviour change (van Valkengoed & Steg, 2019) and self-generated practical ways to take positive collective action. The session involves a collective interactive experience and invites colleagues to embrace an open mindset to explore, expand, or extract new lines of their own professional inquiry.

References

Minkkinen, Auffermann, B., & Ahokas, I. (2019) Six foresight frames: Classifying policy foresight processes in foresight systems according to perceived unpredictability and pursued change, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 149.

van Valkengoed, A. M., & Steg, L. (2019) Meta-analyses of factors motivating climate change adaptation behaviour. Nature Climate Change, 9(2), 158-163.

Wall, T. (2023a) Learning ‘Futuring under Ambiguity’ in Large-Scale Teaching Contexts, Academy of Management Annual Conference, August, Boston, MA.

Wall, T. (2023b) Performance art as expressive and integrative pedagogy for ambiguity and social issues in business, Researching Management Learning & Education Unconference, June, University of Calgary.

This event will be held in-person in the Mount Pleasant campus, location to be confirmed. 

Hosted by the Teaching and Learning Academy, this event is part of the Teaching Insight series and will be facilitated by Professor Tony Wall, National Teaching Fellow from Liverpool Business School.

Email: TLAcademy@ljmu.ac.uk

Please click on the below 'Begin Registration' button to register for this event.