The first thing we have to settle about futures thinking are the basic observable trends that is around us. And this will involve concrete technological discoveries, phenomenon or concepts that eventually get translated into products and methods. So we had to start somewhere.

Having settled that issue, or at least, taken a first stab at it, we can then proceed to consider the macro view, and try to piece some of the technologies within the context of specific environments, for example, social interaction, education, business, etc. This is something that Mark, Nancy and George correctly points out as aspects that are missing in the discussion thus far. One of the problems is that we forget that there is this process that has to be taken, of settling the ground, to get everybody ‘on the same page’ before we move on.

And when we do move on, we then consider macro issues, or tie the technological trends to issues of life and experience, and the trends that are taking place there (e.g. evaluation models, government funding, structure (Nancy)). This is more complex as the issues necessarily differ due to the contexts, environment and assumptions. Point in case, in Singapore, we do not face issues of funding cuts in education. Rather, in Singapore, the government is pumping substantial resources into growing the education sector, with specialised schools, another government-funded University, etc. Singapore has embraced globalisation in the manner that it wants to attract the best educational institutions to Singapore’s shores and people from around the region to ‘buy into’ its educational system. Obviously this will differ among countries and societies. Singapore is not a very large place, geographically. And education requires space. But can the issue of space be resolved somewhat or totally using the appropriate technologies (e.g. eLearning, telecommuting, etc.). So we will need to bring contexts into our discussion on technology in education and any future technology that might come on-stream.

When we reach this point, we can then look forward and consider, within the contexts of educational trends, societal trends, issues, problems etc. what probably will happen and how new technology might feed into education and vice versa.