Online, Bigger Classes May Be Better Classes
Mark Parry, Chronicle of Higher Education, August 31, 2010.

The Chronicle covers the open course phenomenon, talking eo myself, George Siemens, Alec Couros, David Wiley, Wendy Drexler and others. It's reasonable coverage, examining both the motivations and the outcomes. The headline is a bit odd, though. The courses aren't better because they're bigger, they're better because they're open. There is the requisite Chronicle contrarian, in this case Gary W. Matkin, dean of continuing education at UC Irvine, who comments despite not having any experience with the distributed delievry model we have been using. Instructors have to control the context of education, he says, and to keep the dummies from crowding out the paying customers. Of course, we've dealt with all that and more.

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Welcome to the home page of Stephen Downes. I work for the National Research Council, Institute for Information Technology, in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. I specialize in online learning, content syndication, and new media.

I want and visualize and aspire toward a system of society and learning where each person is able to rise to his or her fullest potential without social or financial encumberance, where they may express themselves fully and without reservation through art, writing, athletics, invention, or even through their avocations or lifestyle.

Where they are able to form networks of meaningful and rewarding relationships with their peers, with people who share the same interests or hobbies, the same political or religious affiliations - or different interests or affiliations, as the case may be.

This to me is a society where knowledge and learning are public goods, freely created and shared, not hoarded or withheld in order to extract wealth or influence. This is what I aspire toward, this is what I work toward.

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