The Future of Online Learning: Ten Years On

Stephen Downes has posted a brilliant, encyclopedic paper on The Future of Online Learning: Ten Years On. It’s follow-up to one of my favorite Stephen essays, The Future of Online Learning (1998).

I have but two quibbles, mere grains of sand on Stephen’s immense beach. The title doesn’t tip the reader off that Stephen’s essay is really about education, or learning in educational contexts, not online learning overall.

Also, Stephen writes, “Just as people no longer need publishers to create content for them, they no longer need organizers to create community. Rather, just as, with access to powerful content-creation tools, they can create their own content, in the same way, with powerful community-building tools, they can create their own communities.” True, true, but in the corporate sector organizations need a hand in creating their communities because it entails breaking through bureaucratic barriers, unfounded fears, and resistance to giving up control. It’s the old issue of the installed base.

On my wiki, I maintain a list of two dozen seminal documents in learning.

Ivan Illich, Doug Engelbart, Kevin Kelly, John Bransford, John Seely Brown, Tim O’Reilly, and Roger Schank are there. With this essay, Stephen becomes the only person to be listed there twice. Read this essay. You won’t find a better comprehensive description of the state of the art of education and where it’s headed.

Bravo, Stephen!