What is Design Fiction?
Design fiction is the practice of creating speculative stories, products or services that explore how we might live and interact in future. As my interest is futures thinking about education, I use it as a way of imagining and speculating how things could be if certain technologies, pedagogies, and curricula were to be used within education in new ways. It helps us to consider social norms, ethics, economics, and other aspects of our contemporary education systems. Design fictions often use mediums such as films, books, audio dramas and interactive experiences to bring stories to life.
By using these methods, we can identify opportunities and challenges in order to have meaningful discussions about what we want educational futures to look like. In short, design fictions allow us to craft thought-provoking stories about what could be and consider collaboratively whether the scenarios are desirable and what we might do about them.
In my MSc work I am beginning to look at how we might use design fiction pedagogically – as a tool to help pupils reflect on the futures they want. This could be quite specific; for example, questions of the purposes and methodologies of education, or more generally to reflect on the societies(s) they inhabit.