Stephen Downes

It's interesting how often metaphors from the world of performance and theatre creep into our dialogue about learning. The IMS Learning Design specification, for example, explicitly draws on the metaphor, invoking roles and direction. We often read about the 'orchestration' of learning activities. In this post from Harold Jarche we read (and can view a video) about improvisation as an ensemble in order to adapt to complexity and change. It's a useful metaphor in that it speaks a lot about developing team skills and dynamics through a process of deliberate rehearsal along with processes that appear drawn from an agile methodology. As for myself, always the outlier in the group, I have turned repeatedly in the past to the metaphor of the stand-up comedian, easily my favourite form of theatre.