Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ 2017 Top Ten Books on Online Learning

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

I'm thinking that the definition of 'book' ought to be changed for the purpose of such lists, because it seems to me highly unlikelt that the ten most important long-form reads of 2017 were published only by the likes of Routledge and Springer. I think that publishers have masterfully created this exclusive category of 'book' as something only they produce, and elicit free publicity for their product through member-only lists such as this (we see the same effect on radio shows such as CBC's 'The Next Chapter'). I listed dozens of book-length publications through the year that belong on any list of 'Top Ten Books on Online Learning. To recognize a category whose defining feature is that it is not accessible online seems to me to be so last century. I think that if people have something to say about learning today, they should be doing so openly, and online, where they can face the full glare of criticism.

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

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Last Updated: Nov 21, 2024 2:14 p.m.

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