Stephen Downes

This is a long and muddled article arguing, in essence, that the mechanisms supporting course or credit equivalency between institutions (aka 'The Transfer Industrial Complex') is not worth the cost. How such an article could be written without even a mention of the Bologna process is a mystery. But I digress. My main objection is Hollis Robbins's supposition (supported via a  paywalled Chronicle article) that no two disciplines (and, by extension, I guess, courses) are the same. "No one thinks there's such a thing as 'playing sports' generically. There's just playing football, gymnastics, golf, wrestling, and shotput, each with standards of excellence particular to it. This is why we don't establish generic-sports coaching centers staffed by noncoaching staff..." This is a ridiculous proposition. There is considerable cross-over between sports, especially in the areas of fitness and conditioning. There are courses devoted to teaching people how to be fitness coaches. When I was in high school, the very same guy taught me football, gymnastics, golf, wrestling, and shotput (I was bad at all of them, but it wasn't his fault). Denying that skills transfer - in any discipline - is folly, and so obviously so, that I suspect ulterior motives behind such arguments.