Stephen Downes

This feels like an introduction to the blog as its first and only post. It states its position clearly in its coverage of the new researchED and AEI partnership. It reveals how they "see the American education system: as a growth market for technocratic solutions that seek to reduce the cost and complexity of teaching by removing human beings, a decades-long political aim of AEI, now given the imprimatur of science. While American schools face decades of compounding crises and inequities, 'The Practice Project' offers privatized solutions to systemic problems that any school leader can 'add to cart' and solve with a subscription." This approach favours direct instruction and opposes hallmarks of modern pedagogy such as inquiry-based learning and transferable skills (such as critical thinking). Via Alfie Kohn.