IT Trends

New Weekly Chat Series Explores Ed Tech Issues

Consultant and Futurist Bryan Alexander is launching a weekly interactive Future Trends Forum Feb. 11.

• By Michael Hart
• 02/09/16

Bryan Alexander, founder of the monthly Future Trends in Technology and Education report, is launching a weekly interactive Future Trends Forum.

The first forum begins at 2 p.m. ET on Thursday, Feb. 11. Kicking off the series will be a live chat with Audrey Watters, educational technology journalist and analyst. In this and upcoming forums, Alexander and his guests will talk about the pressing issues at the intersection of education and technology.

"I want to do more work in Web video, taking advantage of that medium's enormous expansion to enhance conversations worldwide," Alexander said. "I also want video to be more interactive, less talking-head style."

Audience members will be able to participate via Shindig, the video chat event platform powering the forum, or via Twitter. Participants can RSVP for the forum at Shindig.com/event/FTF. Recordings of the live sessions will be available later at bryanalexander.org.

Examples of issues Alexander hopes to cover in the coming weeks include the rise of automation (both hardware and software) and its impact on education, from a changing labor market to new approaches to teaching and learning, and changes in computer-mediated pedagogy. Future guests will include experts like Casey Green, Anya Kamentz, Richard Demilo, Will Richardson and Phil Long.

The forums are free to anybody with an Internet connection, but Alexander said he particularly hopes anyone involved with education — either higher education or K-12 — will participate, as well as policymakers and technology vendors.

Alexander is a frequent speaker and blogger, as well as author of "The New Digital Storytelling" and "Gearing Up for Learning Beyond K-12."

"Blogs are great," Alexander said. "But the issue of our time is how we speed up the sharing of information so that change can occur more rapidly and so that each of us is better equipped to manage that change."