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Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

If it were indeed true that students are not learning analytical skills, then this would indeed be a problem. But I would need more evidence than the 2019 study of employer opinions cited by the author. I'd want a more comprehensive account of analytical skills than the list provided here (consider context, consider alternative explanations, weigh evidence, examine implications). And I'd want evidence that explicit instruction is the only way to generate analytical skills: proof, in other words, that "if faculty aren't highlighting these habits of mind, students are unlikely to acquire them independently." Analytical skills are important, but it's not clear to me that the mechanisms of traditional education are the best or only way to teach these. I learned mine practicing as a student journalist and by teaching philosophy. How about you?

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

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Last Updated: Nov 21, 2024 3:37 p.m.

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