Saturday, March 14, 2015

ChangSchoolTalks 2015: Stephen Downes



A very condensed overview of the thoughts of Stephen Downes on future learning. In New Zealand/Aotearoa we still seem to be in some sort of design mode; we talk about iteration, enquiry, and we amplify structural problems by throwing computer power or better WiFi at schools. The challenge is deeper; it's actually a societal question that must in some part transcend the politics of the day, but politicians are too embedded in our secondary education system, they're implicit in it, and their neo-liberal logic means schools are the babysitters of capitalism, not cauldrons of intellect or innovation. I believe we can change this, but we need to think on it more like Downes and less like Hekia Parata.