Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ "if boredom should prevail": A Few Thoughts on Student Engagement

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

This is an article that resonates in light of the remarks from Tony Bates on motivation last week, but at the same time it feels like the author is struggling to find a point in the light of a dilemma that can't really be solved. It's a dilemma between, on the one hand, the idea that the teacher is responsible for making sure that students learn a certain body of content, however unwillingly, and on the other hand, the idea that education should be about helping student resist precisely that sort of coercion, to think for themselves, and to follow their own interests. I tend toward the latter school of thought, which is why in my career I have tended away from a path where other people tell me what my students are required to learn. But to move the entire educational system away from that path - well, that's a little more daunting.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
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Last Updated: Apr 28, 2024 7:21 p.m.

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