About Us
futures learning and foresight
Futures learning acknowledges our relationship with the future. To nurture creative response to dynamic change, we need to develop perspectives and understandings that engage possible futures in socially conscious, hopeful and transformative ways with social justice and democratic principles in mind.
PERTURBATION is needed for change to occur
Chaos and complexity theories as well as many learning theories describe the need for perturbation for fundamental change to occur. Whether we are talking about turning up the heat on the stove or adapting to the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, perturbation needs to be sought out and recognized for revealing contexts where fundamental change can occur.
learning and leading the future
We need to understand what knowledge is needed in the 21st century. Computers are much better at storing information so memorizing facts is not the learning we need. Our futures learning needs to focus on adaptive learning approaches that support deep and as-needed learning, especially for adults who need to continually reinvent and revision their futures.
biography
Additional Information
EDUCATION
Ph.D. Curriculum and Instruction, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, December, 1988
Dissertation: Using the computer as an instructional tool to aid in mathematical problem solving
M.A.T. Mathematics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, August, 1983
M.A. Philosophy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, August, 1980
B.A. Philosophy, Indiana University at Bloomington, May, 1978
FACULTY AND ADMINISTRATIVE APPOINTMENTS
2016-present Professor, Department of ELPHD, College of Education, NC State University, Raleigh, NC
2015-2016 Professor, Friday Institute for Educational Research, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
2010-2015 Dean, College of Education, NC State University, Raleigh, NC
2004-2010 Dean & E.B. "Ted" Robert Endowed Professor, College of Education, LSU
1999-2004 Associate Dean for Research and Grants, College of Education, University of Oklahoma
1989-2004 Faculty, College of Education, University of Oklahoma
1983-1989 Teacher, Computer Science & Mathematics, Durham, NC
BOOKS
Doll, W., Fleener, M.J., Trueit, D., St. Julien, J. (Eds.) (2005). Chaos, complexity, curriculum and culture: A conversation. New York: Peter Lang (Translated into Chinese, 2007, released in China, 2015).
Fleener, M.J. (2002). Curriculum dynamics: Recreating heart. New York: Peter Lang (Translated into Chinese, 2007, released in China 2015).
SELECT ARTICLES RELATED TO FUTURES
o Chaos & Complexity Paradigm Shifts
§ Co-Editor: Focus Issue: Paradigms in Chaos and Complexity. (2007). Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology and the Life Sciences. Volume 11, Number 1.
§ Fleener, M.J. & Merritt, M. (2007). Paradigms Lost? Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology and the Life Sciences. Volume 11, Number 1, p. 1-18.
o Futures Research Articles
§ Fleener, M.J. & Coble, C. (under review). Queer futuring: An approach to critical futuring strategies for adult learners On the Horizon.
§ Fleener, M.J. (under review). Postnormal education: A social inquiry analysis.
§ Fleener, M.J. (in press). Futures Literacy for Adult Learning: Hopeful Futures in Complex Worlds. For Petra A. Robinson, Kamala V. Williams, Maja Stojanovic (Eds.), Global Citizenship for Adult Education: Advancing Critical Literacies for Equity and Social Justice.
§ Fleener, M.J. & Barcinas, S.J. (In Press). Toward a futures adult learning model: Preparing for a world that doesn’t exist. Adult Education in Global Times Proceedings.
§ Fleener, M.J. & Barcinas, S. (2020). Futurists’ Relationships with the Future: A Study of Anticipatory Meaning-making. Foresight (Special Issue on North American Futures). Vol 22 (5/6), pp. 633-642. ISSN: 1463-6689. DOI 10.1108/FS-04-2020-0039
§ Fleener, M.J. & Prefontaine, I. (in progress). A Futures Perspective for an Andragogy of Hope. In R. Lake, E. Stein & T. Kressand (Eds.) Radically Dreaming: Illuminating Freirean Praxis and Emerging from Dark Times. DIO Press.
o Time – Relational time
§ Fleener, M.J. (Summer, 2004). Curriculum dynamics and soul of teaching complexly: Horizons of expectation as educative improvisation. Journal of Thought, pp. 35-42.
o Process philosophy
§ Fleener, M.J. (2008). Re-Romancing Education: The Bricoleur. Process Papers Eleven: Concerning A Different Three Rs for Education, pp. 54-58.
§ Fleener, M.J. (2002). Logical Foundations for an Organocentric Curriculum: Dewey’s Logic and Complexity Sciences. In W. Doll & N. Gough, (Eds.), Curriculum Visions, New York: Peter Lang Publishers, 152-162.
SELECT PRESENTATIONS RELATED TO FUTURES
o Series of lectures in China – “Seeing-As Differently” and “Curriculum Futures”
§ Fleener, M.J., (May-June, 2007). China Lectures: Curriculum Dynamics: Seeing with Soft Eyes. Five city tour: Shanghai, Guilin, Xi’An, Harbin, Beijing
§ Doll, W., Fleener, M., Trueit, D., (May – June, 2007). China Lectures: Looking to the Future. Five city tour: Shanghai, Guilin, Xi’An, Harbin, Beijing
o Futures Research
§ Fleener, M.J. & Barcinas, S. (2019). A study of adult learning perceptions of their futures and roles within rapidly changing communities. 68th Annual Conference of the American Association for Adult and Community College Education, October 8-11, 2019, St. Louis, MO.
§ Fleener, M.J. (2019). Feats of futures framing: Using Q-method to explore curriculum dynamics. American Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies (AAACS), April 3-5, 2019, Toronto, Ontraio, Canada.
§ Barcinas, S, & Fleener, M.J. (2018). The future of adult learning communities: How exponential change and technology are reimagining our world. Annual Meeting of the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE), Ocober 2-5, 2018, Myrtle Beach, SC.
§ Fleener, M.J. & Smyre, R. (2017). Educating for Communities of the Future. Poster presentation for the inaugural meeting of the ESHIP Summit on Ecosystem Building sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation, Kansas City, MO.
§ Fleener, M.J., Reeder, S. (April, 2004). Teaching etcetera: Beyond the limits of curriculum presents as explored through postmodern and poststructural perspectives. Paper presentation to the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting, Division B, San Diego (April 12-16).
o Organizational Theory Research
§ Fleener, M.J. & Irvine, C.B. (2019). Three-brains learning in organizations: A complex adaptive systems understanding of organizational change. Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), April 5-9, 2019, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
o Time
§ Fleener, M. J. (2000, April). From clocks to chaos: Changing perceptions of nature. Paper presentation to the 78th Annual Meeting of the NCTM, Chicago, IL, April 13-15.
§ Fleener, M. J. (1998, February). Time travel: Modern day paradox of the infinite. Regional Meeting of the NCTM, Dallas, TX, Feb. 12-14.
§ Fleener, M. J. (1997, November). History of mathematics past and future: Mathematical paradox from Zeno’s infinite to Einstein’s relativity. Eastern Regional of the NCTM, Cleveland, OH, Nov. 6-8.
CLASSES TAUGHT RELATED TO FUTURES
o Futures
§ NC State - Collective Impact and Anticipatory Futures (Fall 2020)
§ NC State – Organizational Change
§ OU – Educational Futures (several times on and off campus in Europe)
o Chaos & complexity
§ LSU – Chaos, Complexity, Curriculum & Culture
§ LSU – Chaos and Complexity in Education
§ OU – Systems Theories and Learning Organizations (several semesters)
o Time & Relational Logics
§ LSU – Educational Understandings: Peirce & Poincare
§ LSU – Education and the Concept of Time
§ OU – Paradoxes of Time Travel and Other Mathematical Oddities
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
American Educational Research Association (AERA)
American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE)
Association of Professional Futurists (APF)
Communities in Schools - Wake County (Executive Board and VP)
Communities of the Future 2.0
Kauffman Foundation Ecosystem Building ESHIP project
World Futures Society
Women's Forum of North Carolina (President)
SOCIAL/VOLUNTEER ACTIVITIES
Therapy Dog International
Dogs with a Purpose
Heartland Hospice
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