In order to become to truly low-impact to the environment, our independent attitude toward travel will have to change. What does that mean exactly? Well, on average, we all want to own our own car and go where we want to go when we want to go. Our current individualistic culture supports this desire, while a circular city’s collectivism would not.

Transportation would become less about individual ownership and more about accessibility for all. For the health of the environment, it’s not feasible for every individual of the populous to own a car. Fully accessible public transport, on the other hand, would lower environmental impact, unclog roads, and overall improve the efficiency of travel for all.

In our fictional circular city, Prefecture imagines autonomous public transport taking form as driverless, color-coded pods that are well-attuned to each individual of the populous’ travel needs. The color-coded pods would provide visually recognizable signals to the entire populous. Red pods could signal emergency travel to a medical center, green pods could signal the delivery or transport of goods, blue pods could signal the transport of people, etc.

The pods that travel on electric grids controlled by KAILE would know people’s basic schedules and when they need to travel to work, scheduled activities, and more. KAILE would collect this data on each individual and input it. Presumably, there would also be options to request travel for when transportation is required unexpectedly like for medical emergencies or for spontaneous activities.

These autonomous pods work well for inner-city travel, but what happens when you want to travel outside of your city. Prefecture suggests drones that magnetize to the pods and can simply carry the pods over large distances of rough terrain. While flying cars are often the first thing that comes to mind when we think of the future, are they really necessary or sustainable? The drones could also function as security, perform surveillance, deliver packages, drop off first aid kits, water crops, and more.

When self-driving, autonomous vehicles are mentioned, many people express trepidation at their own loss of control, but perhaps that is just what we need. Over 90% of collisions on the road are caused by human error alone. Once the technology is tested and perfected, autonomous vehicles would dramatically reduce accidents and allow people to get more things accomplished while traveling.

However, one thing some people can’t quite resolve with autonomous vehicles is the loss of the driving experience itself. Would you miss the feeling of driving? Some say this desire to drive could be satisfied with virtual reality games that simulate driving, racing, or mudding without the associated risk. What do you think about this?

What questions or ideas do you have about futuristic transport? Is the desire to drive something that can be mimicked and replaced in the form of a game?

We want to hear from you! Join the discussion and drop a comment below.

The textbook reading assignment, teacher-student lectures, and hand-written notes are quickly becoming a thing of the past in modern classrooms. These traditional teaching and learning methods are not working for a majority of students in the twenty-first century. What’s changed?

Rapid technological changes over generations have presented new challenges and demands in our society, workforce, and, consequently, our education system. Analytical thinking, innovation, creative problem-solving, and technological proficiency are now skills that are needed in our future workforce. Likewise, students who have grown up in a technological landscape now crave those visual, auditory, and sensory experiences in their learning styles.

It’s becoming increasingly apparent to many that our current “one shoe fits all” teaching styles are outdated. Teachers need to be able to adapt and accommodate diverse learning styles, and students too will need to have more control over their personal learning journey.

Are we setting our future workforce up for failure if teaching styles don’t change? What are skill sets our students need to learn in the classroom now to prepare to be productive members of society later?

One of the most difficult problems faced in today’s education system is teaching effectiveness. Students are absorbing large amounts of surface-level information—that is often quickly disposed of— without interacting with it in a useful way. Differentiated teaching styles as well as the flexibility to adapt are both needed in modern educators.

VARK is an acronym that stands for Visual, Aural, Read/Write, and Kinesthetic sensory modes of learning. The VARK model suggests these are the four main types of learners. Students may feel drawn to one particular learning style or enjoy a mix. Every student has a unique, personally-preferred learning style.

Individualizing learning plans for students allows each student to learn and engage with the content in a way that is most beneficial to them. Personalized learning in the classroom tailors itself to each student’s individual needs, strengths, and interests in order for that student to learn at a deeper level.

How can teachers adapt to these different learning styles in the classroom? How can VARK learning styles be incorporated to change different teaching styles? What challenges or obstacles do you foresee?

The goal of transmitting knowledge without rote memorization being the sole focus has started to become more accepted and common. In addition, experts in the education field are asking, “What are we testing for?” Students at all levels are still heavily focused on end results—their score on the test, their rank in the class, or their final grade in the class. As we have seen with many entrepreneurs and innovators, test results do not define you.

Are exams really doing anything beneficial in preparing future members of society? What are your thoughts on the future of student testing? Will it become obsolete or remain in curriculum?

Learning environments focused on experiential learning rather than final test scores encourage students to take that knowledge, interact with it, and think critically about it. Students are becoming partners or “co-creators” of their learning journey.

They are able to partake in experiences that allow collaboration, communication, and teamwork on projects that allow the application of knowledge to real-life scenarios. These learning environments encourage students to be innovative, take risks, and simulate real-life problem-solving. Those in the education field hope this type of learning will help students find their passions, find potential career paths, and learn the ability to persevere and find solutions.

Many experts are pushing for learning to be more focused on experience and collaboration.

What do you think of this new learning environment? What obstacles do you think need to be overcome in order to transition to this type of education system?

Join the conversation! Drop a comment below.

Storytelling has been an innate part of the human experience since the beginning of time. Stories have long captivated us and left long-lasting impressions. Communication and stories are a basic part of who we—humans are driven to tell stories and to listen to them. It makes all the more sense that storytelling has evolved tremendously over time and still persists today not only for entertainment purposes but also in business marketing and brand building.

At its core, a brand is essentially the story of a business. Storytelling is a timeless way to emotionally engage audiences, create personal connections, and to overall expand engagement. Unlike any other marketing technique, storytelling invokes the power of human emotion and connection, creating a deep sense of trust and shared experience.

While many businesses use storytelling to build their brands, the opposite can true as well: many stories have unintentionally become multi-million dollar brands with cult followings. Blockbuster movies, books, video games, and TV shows have essentially created entire cultures in which loyal fan bases allow the world of the story to live on.

How can simple stories become powerful platforms to launch mega-brands?

Authenticity and Emotional Connections

Nothing connects a business to their audience better than stories. Storytelling innately allows people to connect on a deeper level because it focuses on shared human experience. When people see authentic characters and real-life conflict—even in fantasy settings—it is difficult not to form a personal connection. Characters and conflict an audience can truly relate to create lasting emotional connections, sometimes as deep as real-life relationships. This type of storytelling allows brands to mean something more to the audience beyond what they are selling, essentially humanizing the brand.

Trust and Loyalty

Brands simply cannot grow without trust or loyalty. If an audience finds the characters, conflict, or resolutions to be disingenuous, chances are they will remember your brand but not for the right reasons. If the audience finds the people and struggles in your story to be authentic and perhaps even reflective of their own experience, they will immediately feel a deep personal connection to the brand. If an audience can rely on a brand for genuine portrayals of the human experience, they feel they can trust their entire brand. Building this trust and credibility through accurate storytelling is the beginning of building enduring loyalty and strong customer or fan bases that will last a lifetime.

Long-Lasting Relationships and Endless Engagement

Great stories create deep bonds between the characters and the audience, ones people often visit again and again. The audience’s feeling that they have been through the same struggles allows the story resonate deeply with them. Even when a story ends, it still lives on through the audience. Stories are a timeless medium that allow endless engagement and interaction. We see this continually in our current culture in cosplaying, conventions, fanfiction, and more. The ability for the audience to place themselves within the story is what truly can make a story and brand last forever.