Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

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Vision Statement

Stephen Downes works with the Digital Technologies Research Centre at the National Research Council of Canada specializing in new instructional media and personal learning technology. His degrees are in Philosophy, specializing in epistemology, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of science. He has taught for the University of Alberta, Athabasca University, Grand Prairie Regional College and Assiniboine Community College. His background includes expertise in journalism and media, both as a prominent blogger and as founder of the Moncton Free Press online news cooperative. He is one of the originators of the first Massive Open Online Course, has published frequently about online and networked learning, has authored learning management and content syndication software, and is the author of the widely read e-learning newsletter OLDaily. Downes is a member of NRC's Research Ethics Board. He is a popular keynote speaker and has spoken at conferences around the world.

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Stephen Downes, stephen@downes.ca, Casselman Canada

It's February, And Now You Understand Why Individualized Learning Hasn't Worked
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"Some of the most popular individualized learning software has failed to demonstrate significant results with the majority of students in their efficacy studies," writes Dan Meyer. Why? "If any of those commentators have ever canceled their gym membership or abandoned their fitness plans, they should know better: it is people who help us do the difficult things we need to do." This isn't an argument based on the capacity of AI (though there are elements of it), it's more of an argument along the lines of, "why would we bother trying to impress an AI?" As Meyer writes, "Maybe one day students will be as interested in disclosing their thinking to artificial intelligence as they are to even the most curmudgeonly teacher. But today is not that day."

Today: Total: Dan Meyer, Mathworlds, 2025/02/07 [Direct Link]
AI Literacy Whitepaper
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Literacy is more than just knowing a bunch of stuff, and according to this (version 0.1) white paper, "AI literacy is more than just knowing how to use AI-powered tools. It encompasses understanding how AI systems work, recognising their limitations, and ensuring they are used ethically and responsibly." What follows is a first draft of the concept reasonably well put together. It's a bit hard to get - this link points to LinkedIn, and there's also a version available at the CFTE website behind a spamwall. You can download it directly from my site here.

Today: Total: Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship, 2025/02/07 [Direct Link]
State of Higher Ed LMS Market for US and Canada: Year-End 2024 Edition
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Here we have another LMS market report from Phil Hill, and as before we caution that this is a very narrow slice, looking only at LMS use by institution in the U.S. and Canada (I think it would be interesting to look at the same data split between Canada and the U.S., since I'm not so sure we're a single market any more). Worthy of note, aside from the long and continued decline of Blackboard, is the rise of Populi over the last few years. Populi's pitch is integration: "Software from another era can't handle today's challenges. You need an SIS and an LMS, billing software and financial aid, a CRM for admissions, some way to run reports, and so much more."

Today: Total: Phil Hill, On EdTech Newsletter, 2025/02/10 [Direct Link]
The End of Programming as We Know It
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"It is not the end of programming," writes Tim O'Reilly. "It is the end of programming as we know it today." It's not the first time. When I worked with Texas Instruments in 1980 we had desk-sized computers, called TIMAP, that were programmed by setting switches on the front console. Machine language. O'Reilly traces the increasing abstraction of programming languages, from machine-level instructions to BASIC to cloud computing and internet operating systems. Will it be different with AI? he asks. No. "AI will not replace programmers, but it will transform their jobs. Eventually much of what programmers do today may be as obsolete." As Chip Huyan says, "I don't think AI introduces a new kind of thinking. It reveals what actually requires thinking." Image: Computing History.

Today: Total: Tim O'Reilly, O'Reilly Media, 2025/02/07 [Direct Link]
CUS System Makes AI History For Distributing ChatGPT Access to Nearly 500,000 Students
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California State University is really leaning on the "making history" angle as the press release churnalism outlets this week have almost all incorporated that into their headline. In fact, it's not so historical, as this survey of similar initiatives from Reuters shows. Where I work, ChatGPT access has been in place for more than a year. But whatever, it's better than banning ChatGPT for students, which is the reflexive reaction I've seen across the edusphere.

Today: Total: Jose Enrico, Tech Times, 2025/02/07 [Direct Link]
Abolish privacy
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How often have you heard, "this must be confidential, so people can speak freely?" When I served on boards, my response would be, "this is just so you can lie in public." The case for privacy and confidentiality isn't so clear as it's made out to be (and for those of you who think we all share 'common ethical values', read this). "Privacy is an inherently exclusionary liberal entitlement inextricably linked to property, racial oppression, sexual control and class segregation," the authors write. "Privacy is anathema to social justice because it reinforces marginalization and skews protection towards property-holding insiders." Moreover, "there is no actual possibility of privacy, nor any real corporate incentive to privacy, except as an optic tactic to avoid accountability." 22 page PDF. Image: Reddit.

Today: Total: Elisha Lim, Mareike Lisker, Lukas Hess, Malte Engeler, Leah M. Friedman, Jessa Lingel, Muna-Udbi Ali, First Monday, 2025/02/07 [Direct Link]

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

Copyright 2025
Last Updated: Feb 09, 2025 5:37 p.m.

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