Abstract

Through this in-person workshop, “Belonging and Beyond: Using Future Histories to Reimagine Teaching and Learning,” faculty organizers offer educators and students an opportunity to use “future imagining” methodologies to generate radically inclusive teaching and learning spaces in higher education. Building on a workshop funded by the Alliance to Advance Liberal Arts Colleges (AALAC) and co-organized by faculty from Vassar, Bryn Mawr, and Grinnell, participants of “Belonging and Beyond” will draw on their knowledge and experience of higher education to design speculative learning spaces and corresponding practices that are radically inclusive. From there, we design backwards, collectively developing pedagogical practices, written histories, and other artefacts and tools that will help us bring our desired futures closer to our present capabilities.

To help facilitate our collective imaginings, the practices that we develop, and the community that we are building, Dr. Antero Garcia and Dr. Nicole Mirra, editors of Speculative Pedagogies: Designing Equitable Educational Futures, will help launch the workshop. “Worldbuilding” guides will also help walk us through the use of “future history” and worldbuilding methodologies, guiding us through the use of generative AI to facilitate our collaborative work. An independent filmmaker will be present to provide expertise around storytelling using film as a medium for representing speculative worlds.

A participatory online learning platform will provide participants with a space where we can share ideas, document our worlds, share stories, make community around emerging pedagogical practices, and potentially house digital portfolios that articulate our imagined future-histories through mixed media, including audio, photo, and film. By the end of the program, we will have created a rich, dynamic multimedia archive that makes public our collective re-imaginings and invites diverse audiences to join us in this ongoing journey.