Combined Reflection & Scenario
Reworking the original Thing From the Future prompt- shifting from a dystopian, climate-fractured festival to a cheerful, entertainment-enhanced curriculum set in a supposedly progressive future- pushed me to examine how text technologies shape not only imagined worlds but also real educational practices. This reframing highlighted the ideological tension between alienation and optimism, and it made visible how narratives of “progress” can subtly reinforce uncritical assumptions about technological advancement. Exploring this contrast helped me connect more deeply with course themes such as multiliteracies, multimodal communication, and the normalized ideologies embedded in educational technologies (Candy & Dunagan, 2017).
SkySchool 2040: The Aerotainment Era of Flight Training
When responding to the revised prompt, I envisioned a flight-training curriculum from the year 2040- an Aerotainment model blending aviation theory, immersive gameplay, and emotionally intelligent AI copilots. In this scenario, SkySchool, a global virtual flight academy, trains students inside SkySphere pods equipped with holographic simulators. Each module unfolds like a mini-adventure: animated meteorological systems transform weather reading into a chase sequence, while emergency procedures become neon obstacle courses requiring precision and calm. A cheerful AI companion named Aero narrates lessons like an upbeat documentary host, ensuring learners remain emotionally supported while engaging with complex aeronautical concepts.
Although this scenario met the prompt’s requirement to evoke cheer and continuous progress, it also reflected real trends in aviation education where digital platforms increasingly promise engagement through polished interfaces and gamified learning. This realization made me more aware of how easily entertainment logics seep into professional learning spaces- even those as high-stakes as flight training. The “fun” elements I incorporated echoed contemporary educational-technology narratives, prompting me to consider how such design choices shape learners’ perceptions and emotional responses.
Course readings caution against technological solutionism, and reflecting on my scenario helped me understand that warning more clearly. While the cheerful curriculum seemed harmless, it also masked potential risks, similar to how real-world aviation technologies can glamorize efficiency while obscuring issues such as over-automation or declining manual proficiency. The Aerotainment model might reduce learners’ ability to experience productive stress- an essential emotional component of aviation safety. This connects to multiliteracies theory, which emphasizes how modes of representation shape interpretation, agency, and the learner’s embodied experience.
Engaging with an AI-generated future also revealed metatextual layers: the narrative I produced was not simply a fictional account but a reflection of cultural assumptions about progress and the role of technology in education. This reflection becomes a critique of those assumptions, highlighting how generative AI mediates imagination itself. The cheerful tone I was asked to produce demonstrated how affect can be used to soften, and sometimes obscure, the complexities of professional training.
Professionally, this task made me more aware of how digital tools operate in flight-training environments today. Many programs rely on intuitive apps, interactive dashboards, or AI-based quizzes designed for engagement and simplicity. While valuable, these tools must not overshadow deeper pedagogical goals such as critical decision-making, situational awareness, and environmental responsibility in aviation. Reworking the prompt ultimately helped me see how future-oriented narratives- whether dystopian or optimistic- reveal assumptions about technology, learning, and the values embedded in educational design.
References and Disclaimer:
Candy, S., & Dunagan, J. (2017). The Thing from the Future. Situation Lab. https://situationlab.org/the-thing-from-the-future/