Abstract
Our present is marked by painful contradictions disrupting the bonds between individuals, communities, and society, such as political polarization and racial divisions in the US. In response, Nicolaides and her PhD students propose world building as a pedagogical approach to adult education. This method encourages students to recognize the complex interconnections between self, society, and nature while sparking their imagination to envision and construct a more desirable future world.
After introducing world building as a methodology rooted in Deweyan pragmatism and new materialism in Chapter 2, the volume demonstrates its practical application in the subsequent chapters. Chapter 3 examines how non-binary thinking can help address polarized online dialogues. Chapter 4 redefines the learning process, emphasizing its inherent roughness in contrast to the traditional notion of a smooth learning curve. Chapter 5 tackles vaccine hesitancy, showing how to craft narratives that bridge scientific advancements with human behavior. Chapter 6 explores the colonized nature of Western higher education through the lens of personal narratives.
The key value of this edited volume is its compelling illustration of how world building, or creating an imagined world, can be applied to address complicated, real-world challenges. Each chapter presents a practical case study, demonstrating how the world building approach contributes to the advancement of adult education. As a result, this book is an invaluable resource for educators aiming to foster an environment for transformative thinking, where students can collectively use world building techniques to develop innovative solutions to contemporary problems.
Several key themes emerge from the examples of world building in action. First, although world building is a future-oriented process, it is rooted in established knowledge and current events. For instance, Chapters 3 and 5 focus on timely issues: online polarization and the COVID-19 pandemic. Chapter 3 examines how binary thinking can be dismantled by critically reflecting on existing assumptions, emphasizing that nothing, especially people, is one-dimensional or static. It highlights the importance of considering others’ aspirations, interests, and fears. Chapter 5 focuses on identifying polarizing factors, such as distrust, that hinder vaccine uptake. It demonstrates a systemic approach to counter misinformation about vaccines on social media and rebuild trust in public health systems.
Second, storytelling effectively facilitates world building. In Chapter 6, the authors share their personal stories about the systemic challenges within adult education. They aim to decolonize this field by envisioning a world that dismantles colonial power structures and embraces diverse epistemic and ontological perspectives. Their proposed approach seeks to eliminate the traditional hierarchy between educators and learners and move away from rigid structures such as imposed curricula and letter grades. Instead, it promotes an educational environment where adult learners can select their own learning pathways.
Third, feedback from both students and facilitators underscores the feasibility of world building. Chapter 7 presents interviews with students who participated in the world building course, revealing that while they strongly supported the course, they felt they required additional support and structure to fully engage. For instance, they suggested the need for more opportunities to self-select into groups and discuss work styles and timelines before beginning collaborative efforts. Chapter 8, through critical collaborative autoethnography, shows that facilitators viewed world building as a challenge to conventional pedagogy, which often emphasizes fixed knowledge and predetermined solutions. Instead, world building encourages students to embrace the world's complexity and generate innovative, unexpected outcomes rather than merely replicating existing ideas.
Fourth, faith, trust, and respect are essential components for successful world building in adult education. Facilitating world building is like navigating an uncharted forest—there is no well-trodden path or clear destination. Therefore, all participants must have faith that their efforts will yield meaningful results. This faith in the process must be complemented by trust in the team, as participants engage in extensive weekly meetings to discuss progress and adjust the course plan in real time. Additionally, respect for the diverse knowledge and experiences each participant contributes is crucial, as world building thrives on the integration of various disciplines.
These common themes offer valuable insights. However, because world building involves challenging students’ deeply held assumptions, readers might question the ethics of pushing individuals with conflicting commitments to undergo such disruptions in their epistemological and ontological frameworks. Including a discussion on the ethics of fostering balanced transformation—where students are both challenged and supported—would be a beneficial addition. Despite this, the volume remains a valuable resource for scholars and educators who are interested in using world building tools to invigorate doctoral education and create diverse, imaginative learning environments.
Footnotes
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