Conversation between James Gee and David Shaffer

Jim and David talk about games and the future of education.

Another fan?

In a recent op-ed in the Christian Science Monitor, Jonathan Zimmerman takes a line that will sound familiar to readers of the Epistemic Games blog. Writing about Harvard’s recent move to no longer require (or even encourage) final exams, Zimmerman points out:

Final examinations reflect an antiquated and largely discredited theory of learning, which equates knowledge with factual recall. By discouraging exams, then, Harvard is hardly forsaking academic rigor. Instead, it’s clearing the way for a more engaging, challenging, and truly educative college experience.

The recent Gee/Shaffer essay on Looking Where the Light is Bad make the same point–and even goes further…

The importance of IP

A recent report by the British Government argues that, as in the US:

Intellectual Property is a critical component of our present and future success in the global economy. The UK’s economic competitiveness is increasingly driven by knowledge-based industries, especially in manufacturing, science-based sectors and the creative industries.

According to some sources, nearly half of the GDP of the United States is based on intellectual property.

The report focuses on copyright issues, and clearly and appropriate policy for protection of intellectual proprety (that also doesn’t constrain the development of new intellectual property!) is critical in a knowledge economy. But so are the processes that lead to the generation of new ideas: innovation and creativity.