Life After COVID-19: Get Ready for our Post-Pandemic Future (Coursera)

By completing this course, you’ll be better understand the “future shock” we’ve all just lived through together. You'll be able to identify the 7 pre-existing conditions of society that made the pandemic more severe and harder to recover from -- from economic inequality and racial injustice to fragile public trust and the climate emergency. Looking ahead, you'll explore the most surprising and exciting solutions that are being proposed to help our communities heal from these pre-existing conditions.

COVID-19 is a roller-coaster ride we will all be on for years to come. With the skills you build in this class, such as learning to spot the four patterns of change that occur during any period of crisis or major disruption, you will be better able to see the ups and downs coming before you get there. And you'll feel more in control of what happens next, as you learn to use the Institute for the Future's post-pandemic Toolkit for Transformation.

By the end of this course, you'll be more knowledgeable and better qualified to help yourself, or your company or other organization, navigate the rest of the pandemic and find success on our long road to recovery and reinvention.

This courses is taught by Institute for the Future Research Director Jane McGonigal, PhD.

Syllabus

WEEK 1

Welcome to our Post-Pandemic Future

Are you ready to zoom out of the present and into the future? This week, you'll learn how to get into a "post-pandemic" mindset. You'll discover the four patterns of change to watch during any major disruption or crisis. You'll hear the Institute for the Future's forecast for what Life After Covid-19 will be like over the next 3-5 years, including the biggest risks, opportunities and dilemmas. And you'll find out how, exactly, the Institute forecasts pandemics and their surprising long-term consequences. You'll end the week by making your own first post-pandemic future forecast.

WEEK 2

Make a Plan for Resilience

Are you ready to "ride the rollercoaster" of post-pandemic recovery and reinvention? This week, you'll explore the 7 urgent challenges that will define the post-pandemic recovery. You'll learn how to use the World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report, to prioritize risks for your community or organization. You'll play "The First 5 Minutes of the Future", a game that can help you prepare for "unimaginable" future shocks. And you'll use everything you learn this week to make your own first plan for resilience.

WEEK 3

Learn the Habits of Professional Futurists

This week, you'll learn how to practice the 3 most important habits of professional futurists. You'll choose your own "driving forces" to track. You'll collect and analyze "signals of change." And you'll play the game, "100 Ways Anything Can Be Different in the Future", to unstick your mind and stretch your imagination about what might change after the pandemic. These habits will teach you how to keep anticipating what's next, long after the current pandemic is over.

WEEK 4

Final Project: Choose your Action for Post-Pandemic Transformation

What action can you take right now, to shape a better life after Covid-19? This week, you'll learn how to use the Institute for the Future's Toolkit for Transformation. Think of it as a cooperative card game, played with 3 decks. You can use the toolkit to inspire your own thinking about how to make a better world after the pandemic. You can also use the toolkit with groups to lead conversations about the future. After you learn how to use the Toolkit, you'll complete a final project: Choose Your Own Action for Post-Pandemic Transformation.