By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Are the Basics of Instructional Design Changing? Following what I thought was an interesting turn of discussion on ITForum (aggregated here) I wrote this item, first, to underscore the role of philosophy as informing educational theory, and second, to highlight the difference between online learning and 'traditional' distance education. I argue that the theory of distributed representation has a profound implication for pedagogy, as it suggests that learning (and teaching, such as it is) is not a process of communication, but rather, a process of immersion. More...
