Below are some possible answers for the upcoming assessment (Practical FWA).

On the assessment,
you will be applying your own Futures wheel and Backcasting tool related to your research topic.

Applying your research topic to the positive world.

TIP: Look at your Futures wheel and identify one branch (5 years, 10 years and 20 years from now) that
is very positive. Describe the positive world in a few sentences and then add the details from your
Futures wheel

Schools VR used for

Educational replaced by Students everything
technology VR multilingual by new
education generations

Possible answer:

It is the year 2040 and in the UAE, technology has overcome many of the annoying facts of the past such
as ill health, traffic jams and routine, boring jobs. People live long, healthy lives well beyond 150 and
have the free time and wealth to lead fulfilled lives. When it comes to education, many positive changes
have taken place. Educational technology has greatly improved the lives of young people, so that they
rely on technology for almost everything these days. By 2025, the schools were replaced by virtual
reality education. Students attended virtual schools with teachers from all over the world. By 2030, the
students were multilingual. Thanks to the advanced technology, only the most brilliant minds were
teaching mass virtual courses and their assistants aided the students to develop further. Seeing this
huge impact of the technology used in the classroom, these students grew into young adults that used
virtual reality for everything. They started their virtual travels that would take them back in time,
allowing them learn about history, but also be part of it through their avatars. In their private lives,
these adults relied on technology to their jobs, to serve as their doctors, and to help them around the
house. This allowed them to focus more on their hobbies and family members, making everyone very
happy.
Applying your topic to the routine world.

TIP: Look at your Futures wheel and identify one branch (5 years, 10 years and 20 years from now) that
is a combination of positive and negative impacts. Describe the routine world in a few sentences and
then add the details from your Futures wheel.

after school
sports obesity and
Educational No sports in
programs diabetes in
technology schools
offered but children
expensive

It is the year 2040, and the world, including the UAE, has developed slowly. Technology has meant that
we can easily get most entertainment and services we need. Although it’s expensive, so not everyone
can afford it and people still need long, full-time jobs. Due to the lack of jobs, many people focused on
opening their own businesses. Everything developed slowly, including these new business. They were
not very successful. In the meantime, schools switched to using technology and thus all sports activities
were reduced. It was only after 2025, when children no longer had the opportunity to play sports, due
to the educational technology taking over, that the entrepreneurs and small start-up gained
momentum. This was a chance for them to offer sports outside of school and they took the opportunity.
By 2030, many of the new businesses started offering after-school sports programs. These were quite
expensive, because the entrepreneurs had to make up for their losses. Unfortunately, not every family
had enough money to pay for all their children to play sports, so by 2040, the UEA faced a big problem –
obese children and young adults who are developing diabetes. Technology was used to develop
entertainment and some services, but not in the field of medicine. This lead to many complications and
the people struggled.

Applying your topic to the negative world.

TIP: Look at your Futures wheel and identify one branch (5 years, 10 years and 20 years from now) that
is very negative. Describe the negative world in a few sentences and then add the details from your
Futures wheel.
 students hack and
schools are robots in charge of
Educational cheat on exams -
shut/education in everything/people
technology everyone has
VR space struggle
higher degree

It is the year 2040 and the UAE, as well as the rest of the world, is seeing many dramatic negative
changes. The more challenging jobs are done by artificial intelligence, but the people are the ones doing
the boring jobs that the robots are too expensive for. 95% of the people live in overcrowded, unhealthy
and crime filled cities. Technology is used in the education field, but things are falling apart. In 2025, all
schools were shut and education was in virtual spaces. There was no control over what students could
access, so may learned how to hack into exams and cheated their way through. This meant that by 2030
everyone had a high degree, but these were worthless – on one had the knowledge or expertise to do
the jobs. Expensive robots took over these important jobs, leaving the average people the opportunity
to only serve to robots. By 2040, robots started supervising the people and demanding that they do the
boring jobs because it would be too expensive to assign these jobs to robot. The world is run by robots,
schools are no longer needed, because the degrees mean nothing, people have very little say in what
happens in the future, and they are struggling to make ends meet.

Applying your backcasting tool.

By the year 2040 and all UAE city centers are traffic free, which is resulting in unpolluted city centers. It
all starts in the year 2022, when the various electric cars are available on the market. They are
affordable and many people who want to protect the environment purchase them. To support the use
of electric cars, the government created a number of free charging stations. They can be found at the
shopping centers, giving the customers the opportunity to charge their car batteries for free while
shopping. By the year 2025, the government will pass the law that all inner cities are car-free. To
ensure that the rules are followed, the public transportation services in these areas will be electrified. In
2030 all the roads in inner cities will be closed. Huge events in all major cities with lots of concerts and
freebies will be held as part of the opening ceremony for the underground transport networks.
Celebrities will spread the word that we need to save our planet and one way to do it is to use the
underground transportation network that allow the people to move around the cities using electric
public transportation that does not pollute the inner cities.