Professional futurists continue to make outstanding contributions toward the development of understandings of the future, but is futures thought limited to this select group? Definitely not! With a do-it-yourself attitude, and leverage of the right resources, anybody can become an effective futurist. Here’s why: Nobody knows the future – don’t trust anybody who says otherwise. [...]

[Photo by darkmatter] Keeping with Education Futures’ annual tradition, I released five predictions for global education in 2009 early last year. How did I do? Much better than my predictions for 2008! Let’s look: No Child Left Behind won’t get left behind. Contrary to all the data that shows that NCLB is a miserable failure, [...]

By John Moravec (Updated May 30, 2010) This timeline of the history of modern education provides not only a glimpse into the past and present, but plots out a plausible future history for human capital development. The future history presented is intended to be edgy, but also as a conversation starter on futures for education [...]

New York times columnist Tom Friedman speaks out: A Washington lawyer friend recently told me about layoffs at his firm. I asked him who was getting axed. He said it was interesting: lawyers who were used to just showing up and having work handed to them were the first to go because with the bursting [...]

Looking at demographic trends across the United States, Advertising Age came to a conclusion that will be stunning for most people: “The concept of an ‘average American’ is gone, probably forever,” demographics expert Peter Francese writes in 2010 America, a new Ad Age white paper. “The average American has been replaced by a complex, multidimensional [...]

Fox News recently delved into the realm of the bizarre and ultra-hysterical with their new program, Glenn Beck’s “War Room.” The program does a disservice to the futures field by focusing on wildly improbable scenarios that seem intended to drive viewers into a state of fear and paranoia (especially in regard to the current presidential [...]

Continuing a tradition that started last year, I am listing my predictions for the big stories that will impact the education world in 2009.  My predictions from last year were hit-and-miss, but I did well overall.  How will I fare this year? No Child Left Behind won’t get left behind.  Contrary to all the data [...]

Dan Sutch at Futurelab (UK) alerted me to their new project, Beyond Current Horizons: Beyond Current Horizons looks at the future of education, beyond 2025. The aim is to help our education system prepare for and respond to the challenges it faces as society and technology rapidly evolve. What skills will children need for work? [...]

This year’s EDUCAUSE report on IT trends (officially called the EDUCAUSE Core Data Service Fiscal Year 2007 Summary Report) is out! Some highlights from the report, which covers higher education activities and trends in FY 2007: IT funding per full-time equivalent student varies greatly among institutions, with a mean funding amount at $1,551 –although the [...]

Cedefop, the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training, supplied a comprehensive assessment of Europe’s skills requirements up to 2020 to the European Council.  In the study, they identified six employment trends leading to the year 2020 horizon: Services sector still expanding: Europe continues to shift away from manufacturing and agricultural industries Around 20 [...]