by Stephen Downes Responding to Alex Reid http://www.alex-reid.net/2012/08/critical-thinking-is-bogus.html (posting here in case he doesn’t approve the post in moderation): It would be helpful if we understood what you mean by…
Hiya Peter, Answers to questions follow. 1. What do you think will be the long-term effects of tools like Cousera and Udacity, as well as the online material posted by…
“Can you recommend a good doctor?” This is the final question in an article by Tony Bates about teaching, and it frames the debate nicely. We would be very disinclined…
Responding to Alfred Thompson’s Ten Commandments of Computer Ethics: Leaving aside the questionable wisdom of framing generic advice within a construct specific to a certain religion… The commandments say, essentially,…
Once again, as we do at the start of every school year, we are hearing about the rampant cheating that goes on, especially online, but in fact, everywhere, and without…
Following up on this post from Blue Skunk blog, here’s a list of the jobs that I’ve had over the years: – 1970-74 – Newspaper carrier – I started with…
Responding to Doug Johnson, who in turn is responding to Miguel Guhlin, who has made his RSS work again. 🙂 My managers and co-workers read my blog (though not as…
Responding to a post from Beth Kanter My giving is focused and specific. In particular, I avoid charities performing functions that ought to be performed by the public domain. Specifically,…
Responding to questions from Vance McPherson 1) What is your response to Rita Kop’s suggestion that connectivism is a new epistemology but not a new learning theory? As I understand…
David Hume’s philosophy of morality is distinct from most approaches in that it does not postulate some set of principles or criteria for moral behaviour. Rather, he argues that we…
We all, as David Wiley writes, want to empower learners. While we read a great deal these days about education as job training and workforce readiness, what we really want…
Responding to comments on the Globe and Mail article, Moncton on top after surviving recession, government austerity. Also posted to Moncton Free Press. Bilingualism is an asset. Yes, it means…
Responses to interview questions posed by Kevin Charles Redmon, Independent Journalist and Middlebury Fellow in Environmental Journalism 1. Are MOOCs an idea that were floating around the halls of universities…
I have a quick Twitter poll – I’m considering offering a MOOC in logic and critical thinking starting in September… informal yet rigorous First question – would you be interested…
Notes from the April 11 talks at the Learning in a Digital Age Conference in Tallinn, Estonia. My presentation at the conference draws largely from these notes. Steve Wheeler –…
Responding to Harvard Business Review blogs, wherein it is stated, “Doctors in India and Rwanda do not know anything more about the science of eye care or cardiac surgery or…
I saw this thing from John T. Spencer consisting of the first two columns below, ‘Management’ and ‘Leadership’ respectively, and while I get that ‘Leadership’ is supposed to be something…
Responding to James Morton: You say “Judges shouldn’t be making social policy.” I respond that the policy was already made by legislators, and that judges are merely enforcing it. The…
Presented to EdgeX2012, Delhi, India, March 12, 2012. My name is Stephen Downes, I’m from Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. New Brunswick is a small province on the eastern side of…
The whole argument that the NDP should move to the centre ignores the fact that the centre moves. Responding to David W. Campbell I hear this ‘pragmatist centrist’ argument a…
