Evolving Education in the Age of Technology: Unforgetting histories, imagining futures

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 7:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Leading in a Rapidly Advancing Digital Landscape: Technology, Crisis, and the Future of Educational Leadership (Table 3)

Abstract

As generative AI reshapes work, this qualitative study (25 faculty interviews, 12 classroom observations) is guided by a conceptual framework of Critical Evaluation and Strategic Foresight to examine how business school educators anticipate the future of work and embed these insights into pedagogy. Findings reveal faculty acknowledge AI’s automation of routine tasks yet remain confident that higher education fosters uniquely human skills. However, use of formal futures-thinking tools is rare and faculty development opportunities are limited, even as courses integrating foresight boost student engagement and metacognitive skills. Results underscore the urgency of reorienting education from industrial-era knowledge transmission toward future-capable learning that pairs AI literacy with ethical reasoning and strategic imagination.

Author

• Bryan Southworth, University of Connecticut