The 21st Century Learning Initiative in Canada

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The 21st Century Learning Initiative in Canada
I think other Canadians will be as surprised as I was to learn that we are getting a Canadian version of John Abbott's '21st Century learning Initiative'. But that's what's on the agenda as this British writer is being brought by the Canadian Council on Learning to, um, teach us all about it. The idea behind the 21st Century Initiative is that learning ought to be based on neurology; in his 1998 Policy Paper Abbott explains that human brains have a natural inclination toward language learning and social skills, but that contemporary education works directly against that. While there is much to like in the proposal, there is also much to criticize. More...