Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Exorcising us of the Primer

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

This is a really good article discussing where Neal Stephenson's concept of The Young Lady's Illustrated Primer works and, more importantly, where it fails. "It works its magic through manipulation," writes Andy Matuschuk, "through isolation from people or projects with real meaning, and through a misguided reliance on aesthetic pleasures. I see no way to incrementally rescue its structure from these flaws." To a large degree, I agree with his argument. A personal learning environment should be engaged with reality, should offer control to the learner, and should serve as a multi-purpose thinking and learning tool, "an ever-present conduit, providing the support, structure, and representations we need to do things we care about."

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Oct 06, 2024 01:06 a.m.

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