Learning should be fun, right? And how can one resist the “gamification” trend? Indeed, we have been incorporating more experience/fun/gaming into the curriculum. We had a great time with the Innovate 2038 MOOG last semester. So, we kicked off our Professional Seminar class with a game I created over the break: Foresight Jeopardy. It kicked off our six-week deep dive into the foresight field. We want students to know the basics about the field they are about to enter — it’s a capstone class. We have created lists over the years of practitioners, books, organizations, movies and the like, and we usually start with that material. I put the material in the format of a Jeopardy game as a way for students to assess how much they could readily recall (sans Google). It was challenging. Of course, we do have Google, and rote memorization is certainly less needed. But, to network effectively with other professionals, I do think the basics need to be accessible. I cringe at the possibility that a prospective employer would say, “that person graduated from Houston and didn’t know who ____ was.” The game was great fun. We will play another round at the end of the module, and I suspect the students will be much better prepared this time. Let’s acknowledge the reigning Foresight Jeopardy champion, Karl Irish — way to go Karl! Andy Hines
