Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community
More commentary on the free curriculum idea. James Farmer weighs in: "in 95% of cases curriculum is artificial, unhelpful and obstructive. Learning has in many contexts become what it is not about, content." A K M Adam offers the suggestion that organizations "such as the AMA, the ABA, AARP, ACLU" should spend their money creating learning content rather than expensive television ads. "If a professional association really wants its members to gain mindshare, to raise the level of public discourse over the topics it addresses, that organization ought to commission educational materials from its leading exponents and distribute them online." I would add that the George Lucas Educational Foundation is a good example of this. Rob Reynolds meanwhile offers this manifesto for a free curriculum. The manifesto says more than it needs to, I think - do we need to declare that learning is social and that learning is needed to address "problems such as world hunger, violence, injustice , and racial prejudice"? Back in 2003 I made my own contribution to the declaration of such principles with my essay The Regina Declaration. What we need now, though, is something more concrete.

Today: 1055 Total: 1060 [Direct link] [Share]

Image from the website


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

Copyright 2024
Last Updated: Mar 29, 2024 07:06 a.m.

Canadian Flag Creative Commons License.

Force:yes