| | SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 202519APACAPACThe thing with the wizard, though, even though he was a conman and a fraud, people still actually ended up getting what they wished for, in a roundabout way. Maybe we will too. Maybe the stats are like this because it's a slow burner? The internet, arguably the last general purpose technological breakthrough, was actually invented in the 60s, evolved into the public domain in the late 80s, and companies only achieved large-scale commercial success with it in the 2000s. Maybe at some point in 2047, we'll realize we are actually over the rainbow.But somewhere between the cataclysmic and the slow burn is the realm of the superhero.Metaphor 3 - The Superhero UniverseYou know the drill. A distinctly average human discovers a new ability. Sometimes they pay for the privileges, sometimes they earn them and sometimes they are gifted them by the powers that be. Either way, they are suddenly capable of things that they weren't capable of before and this opens up a whole new world for them. Unfortunately, that world is often fraught with new and unprecedented challenges, dangers and the possibility of losing themselves in the ensuing chaos. Along the way, they encounter other people who have been augmented in similar, but different, ways. Not a week goes by without a new tool which will instantly plan lessons, mark papers, give feedback, create engaging hooks and pretend to be Marie Curie or differentiate a worksheet by translating it into 172 languages and responsively leveling it for every student. Some of these are, or at least could be, legitimately useful superpowers for teachers and students. In the mix somewhere is the radioactive spider bite that will actually, meaningfully change education and hence billions of lives. The WEF reports that the majority of teachers are using AI, and many sources claim that this will result in a reduced teacher workload. But a superhero never emerges without a supervillain; in this case, the evil Dr. Cognitive Outsourcing, the nefarious Professor Deepfake and their weird army of minions are characters in the first season, with likely many more seasons to come. Usually, superheroes triumph. It's not easy and it's not a straight road, but they make a better world for everyone.What I find fascinating is that I see all three of these scenarios being played out in the media simultaneously. Maybe that's because they can all happen simultaneously. Maybe superheroes will save us from the science-gone-wrong apocalypse, but slowly and over decades. Or maybe it's just simply because nobody has the faintest idea what is going to happen. I certainly don't. Regardless, the characteristics that all our protagonists have above? Resilience, adaptability, resourcefulness, determination and above all, relationships with others. So whether we're facing a zombie apocalypse, a supervillain rampage, or a mysterious propaganda driven dictator, we can all be the hero and our students can too. Still, protagonists share common traits: resilience, adaptability, resourcefulness, determination and, most of all, relationships with others
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