Stephen Downes (born April 6, 1959) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

philosopher and commentator in the fields of

online learning Educational technology (commonly abbreviated as edutech, or edtech) is the combined use of computer hardware, software, and educational theory and practice to facilitate learning. When referred to with its abbreviation, edtech, it often refer ...

and

new media New media describes communication technologies that enable or enhance interaction between users as well as interaction between users and content. In the middle of the 1990s, the phrase "new media" became widely used as part of a sales pitch for ...

. He has explored and promoted the educational use of computer and online technologies since 1995. He gave the 2004

Buntine Oration The Buntine Oration is a biennial invited presentation and speech made at the conference of the Australian College of Educators (ACE). It was established in 1960 by the four children of Dr Walter Murray Buntine who survived him – Dr R. M. Bu ...

and was a presenter at the February 2007 Online Connectivism Conference. In 2008, Downes and

George Siemens George Siemens is a Canadian expatriate professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Arlington and professor and director of the Centre for Change and Complexity in Learning at the University of South Australia. He is known for his the ...

designed and taught an online, open course reported as a "landmark in the small but growing push toward 'open teaching - widely considered the first

massive open online course A massive open online course (MOOC ) or an open online course is an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the Web. In addition to traditional course materials, such as filmed lectures, readings, and problem sets, man ...

(MOOC). Born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Downes lived and worked across Canada before joining the

National Research Council of Canada The National Research Council Canada (NRC; french: Conseil national de recherches Canada) is the primary national agency of the Government of Canada dedicated to science and technology research & development. It is the largest federal research ...

as a senior

researcher Research is "creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness t ...

in November 2001. Currently, he is a researcher at the NRC's Digital Technologies Research Centre in Ottawa. Downes was the winner of the Edublog Award for Best Individual Blog in 2005 for his blog OLDaily. He is Editor at Large of the ''International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning''. Downes ran for Mayor of

Brandon Brandon may refer to: Names and people *Brandon (given name), a male given name *Brandon (surname), a surname with several different origins Places Australia *Brandon, a farm and 19th century homestead in Seaham, New South Wales *Brandon, Q ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

, when he was working at the

Assiniboine Community College Assiniboine Community College (ACC) is a Canadian community college in the province of Manitoba. It is accredited by the Manitoba Council on Post-Secondary Education, which was created by the government of Manitoba. The Victoria Avenue East and ...

. A member of the New Democratic Party, he ran on a platform to the left of incumbent mayor

Rick Borotsik Rick Borotsik (born September 8, 1950) is a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served as Mayor of Brandon from 1989 to 1997, was a member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1997 to 2004, and was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Manito ...

.Bud Robertson, "Election-Profile-Brandon", ''Winnipeg Free Press'', 1 October 1995, A1.

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Downes, Stephen 1959 births Living people Canadian computer scientists Scientists from Montreal Academics from Montreal Scientists from Manitoba People from Brandon, Manitoba