Abstract
The article draws on concepts from speculative design to explore an alternative educational group existing outside the boundaries of an accredited university. Inspired by the imaginative approach of speculative design, I propose a small-scale reading and discussion group as a pathway to explore possible futures open to aspects of humanities education. The concept aims to reposition elements of the humanities from within the degree-granting Canadian university space to engage the wider public through a network meant to ideally foster an interconnected community of learners. This rhizomatic network would provide avenues for those without the means, access, or desire to pursue post-secondary education in the humanities to engage in questions that are relevant to their lived experience. I use an inquiry-based model of learning to explore probable, plausible, and preferable futures for liberal arts education as a way to challenge some current modes of thinking and provoke further discussion and research.
Highlights
The world of post-secondary humanities education is changing, and in light of recent global developments, university education is undergoing a dramatic shift
I present an outline for a small-scale, community oriented reading and discussion group that would exist outside the boundaries of a post-secondary institution as a way to provoke discussion and reflection on the possible, plausible, and preferable futures available to the changing landscape of the humanities
I believe that new approaches can help address some of the issues facing post-secondary liberal arts education in Canada
Summary
The world of post-secondary humanities education is changing, and in light of recent global developments, university education is undergoing a dramatic shift. I present an outline for a small-scale, community oriented reading and discussion group that would exist outside the boundaries of a post-secondary institution as a way to provoke discussion and reflection on the possible, plausible, and preferable futures available to the changing landscape of the humanities. I believe that new approaches can help address some of the issues facing post-secondary liberal arts education in Canada These new approaches can look outside the boundaries of the current university system to explore and experiment with alternative models. Free of the rigors of an accredited course or program, these reading and discussion groups would be given ample room to devise questions and explore them by drawing on approaches from within the humanities In this sense, the proposed group is less a radical alternative and more a repositioning of aspects of university humanities education models to a more publicly engaged setting. This article is an attempt to explore one such pathway and (hopefully) stimulate further discussion
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