Stephen Downes is one of the leading lights of online education and learning. His blog, Half an Hour is a must read for anyone interested in education, learning and technology. He is always thought provoking and interesting.
This video "Reality" asks several questions about what is reality and what effect does reality have on learning and students. It's an interesting watch:
Learning is about creating reality. Stephen also defines what learning is not - it's not remembering, it's not content - it's about creating patterns in the mind - growing meaning - fascinating stuff that really makes you go Hmmm...
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4 comments:
Interesting post, although I think it's too hard on content. Before "patterns in the mind" can be created we need to share a mutiual language, a context from which meaning can grow. If you want to learn to play chess, first you learn what the peices are called, then you learn how they move, and only then can you focus on your strategy and tactics.
-Todd Verge
Great point Todd - you are so right - context is key. Is it possible to learn without context? Is it context that lets us take things on board? If I can't out a piece of information into context, does it have any use for me? Hmmm...
Good question, but how do you learn to play chess? I learned to play from my cousin. We played & talked about it. Where did the content come from?
Maybe the context came as your cousin explained the game to you and you related it to things that you understood? Once you learned the game, it came with the context of the rules and strategy.
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