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Mike Hetherington's Library tagged philosophy →  View Popular

15 Apr 08

What makes Mathematics hard to learn? - OLPC

  • In particular, it seems to me, that we should try to get children to learn
    use the “T-test” method, which is a simple statistical test, yet which handles
    huge ranges of situations. Also they should understand using square roots to
    assess variations. Example: Basketball scores are frequently not statistically
    significant!

15 May 07

Mobiles, Micro Content and Personal Learning Environment ~ Stephen's Web ~ by Stephen Downes

  • I personally think that community as such is vastly overrated - community (group) implies a sort of conformity with which I am not comfortable. But content is also vastly overrated, so Leinonen. What do I think should be emphasized? Choice. Control. Autonomy.
16 Apr 07

Moving at the Speed of Creativity » Blog Archive » Rethinking WalMart Patronage

  • Learning isn’t about being productive or being able to compete in today’s world or even being entrepreneurial. It is about making choices for yourself, being in control of your own destiny, about leading a good life, being the best you can be, however you define ‘good’ and ‘best’ to be.
02 Apr 07

Could Do Better: A Checklist for Participatory Communication for Development. ~ Stephen's Web ~ by Stephen Downes

  • By definition, you cannot help being ultimately vacationing salesmen for the middle-class 'American Way of Life,' since that is really the only life you know." Well, yeah, and I can't help being anything other than an opinionated Canadian with a healthy disrespect for power and control. And the Finns I've seen carry their Finnishness with them, and the Brits their Britishness, and so on. So what do we do when we reach out to another culture? I had to find my own way teaching in First Nations communities. And the main thing I decided was to not try to be something other than what I am. The place where I draw the line is in trying to make other people into images of me (though I have to say, it's really tempting). They have to find their own way - and me, well I'll just be maximally me and they can take whatever they want from that, or nothing, if that's what they want. But I'm not going to pull back, to be less of who I am. I don't see any kind of empowerment in that.
13 Feb 07

Toward a Theory of Discontent: What Can Learning Theory Contribute to Education? ~ Stephen's Web ~ by Stephen Downes

  • But this tactic of reducing all theory to the level of assumption, opinion and belief is misleading and, frankly, wrong. It's the tactic creationists use to make their fancies the scientific equivalent of the years of study and research that inform evolution.
03 Feb 07

The Wizard of SOA ~ Stephen's Web ~ by Stephen Downes

  • But think about it - when was the last time something developed for the enterprise had any great influence? The things that make real change - and therefore are really the Next Big Thing - are always (always) small, simple and personal. And they tend to be empowering (freeing you from a company rather than locking you to it) and less expensive (free or nearly free, not something you actually have to pay for (hardware excepted)).
24 Jan 07

No More New Speak, Back to Old Speak ~ Stephen's Web ~ by Stephen Downes

  • if somebody is only willing to listen for four seconds, then I'm not going to have much to say to them. But then again, since I don't view reality as socially defined, I don't feel as much pressure to 'sell' or 'convince' people of something. And as in the next item, I don't view "pragmatism" as a good reason for doing something that's incorrect.
12 Jan 07

University of Manitoba: Learning Technologies Centre

  • Connective knowledge is based on pattern recognition of emergent phenomena in networks. In order for a pattern to have any meaning, therefore, it must be recognized. This means that knowledge formation in a connective environment is a combination of two elements: the perception, which is the pattern to be recognized, and the perceiver, who does the recognizing. Knowledge, therefore, is not uniquely inherent in a network, but exists only insofar as it is recognized to exist. This talk will explore this argument and its implications on a theory of connective knowledge.
19 Dec 06

Stephen's Web ~ by Stephen Downes ~

  • it remains puzzling that so much of the instructional design community remains rooted in behaviorism - this more than 30 years after the theory was abandoned everywhere else.
17 Dec 06

Stephen's Web ~ by Stephen Downes ~

  • people need to think internationally, they need to learn to recognize patterns and perceive more intuitively, they need to acquire new information from new sources, and they need to interact and communicate.
  • learning - and learners - are grown, not built.
14 Nov 06

CogDogBlog » Blog Archive » Throwing Stones at the Wiki Glass House

  • Quite a conversation here... What is more valuable, the concensus of many or the consensus of experts? - mikeheth on 2006-11-14

CogDogBlog » Blog Archive » Throwing Stones at the Wiki Glass House

  • Stephen Downes comment on the Wikipedia controversy is so full of wisdom that it deserves a seperate post here. Just a few of his gems include: "My very point is, the masses are no more likely to have a blind spot than the experts, and indeed, are rathe - mikeheth on 2006-11-14

elearnspace. everything elearning: Blogs

  • Read this one at your own risk. Your brain may hurt before you get half-way through the transcript of this fascinating philosophical discussion between George Siemens and Stephen Downes - mikeheth on 2006-11-14
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