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Coursera

Futures Thinking

Institute for the Future via Coursera Specialization

Overview

Do you want to think about the future with more creativity and optimism? Do you want to see what’s coming faster, so you can be better prepared for disruptions and more in control of your future? Do you want to get better at changing what’s possible today – in your company, your industry, your community, and in your own life? This Specialization will introduce you to the practice of futures thinking, as developed and applied for the past 50 years by the Institute for the Future, a Silicon-Valley-based research and learning group founded in 1968. You’ll master essential foresight techniques. You’ll meet leading professional futurists. And you’ll choose one or more future topics you want to investigate with your new foresight skills. The Futures Thinking specialization is for anyone who wants to spot opportunities for innovation and invention faster. You can gain the skills and confidence to help YOU become someone who makes the future, instead of letting the future happen to you. You'll develop a more future-oriented mindset to make positive changes in your own life, as you start to see new possibilities more clearly and craft the personal future you want. This specialization is based on the “How to Think Like a Futurist” workshops taught by Jane McGonigal, PhD for Stanford University Continuing Studies. By taking this specialization, you'll have access to key lessons and tools from the Institute for the Future’s professional “Foresight Training” certification program.

Syllabus

Course 1: Ready, Set, Future! Introduction to Futures Thinking
- Offered by Institute for the Future. Do you want to think about the future with more creativity and optimism? Do you want to see what’s ... Enroll for free.

Course 2: Forecasting Skills: See the Future Before it Happens
- Offered by Institute for the Future. For many people, the future comes as a surprise – or even a shock. But with strong forecasting skills, ... Enroll for free.

Course 3: Simulation Skills: This is Your Brain on the Future
- Offered by Institute for the Future. Do you want to learn how to simulate the future more creatively and more effectively? This course is ... Enroll for free.

Course 4: Collaborative Foresight: How to Game the Future
- Offered by Institute for the Future. You’ll never have a complete picture of what's possible in the future if you look at it from just one ... Enroll for free.

Course 5: Urgent Optimism: How to Turn Foresight into Action
- Offered by Institute for the Future. When you get better at thinking about the future, you get better at changing the future. This course ... Enroll for free.

Courses

Taught by

Jane McGonigal

Reviews

5.0 rating, based on 1 Class Central review

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  • REY DEVELOS EGOS
    In this we learn why we might want to do Futures Thinking, what professional futurists do and we are introduced to the ‘raw materials’ of Futures Thinking – Signals. Signals are all around us. They are real things happening now, which suggest a pot…

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