Stephen Downes

It's a good point. We believe that education is (at least in part) about agency, but "we associate it with free will, but what does free will mean when algorithms and complex systems increasingly dictate our lives?" These days, teaching and learning is so transactional education is "focused on releasing automations that easily allow both students and teachers to make learning as efficient and as frictionless as a mobile payment." Agency, then, needs to be something else, and Marc Watkins argues it should create a culture of awareness, focus on growth, and normalize struggle. "College isn't where you go to receive knowledge or a degree, but to actively engage in creating an experience unique and worthwhile to you." Actually - in my view - that's not just college, that's life, and what educators need to learn is how everyone can have that good life.