I really like what Donald Clark is doing. On his blog he is making huge lists on educational thinkers, educational tools, etc. Each item on the list he describes the origins, the possibilities of the tool or the concept posed by the thinker, but also the possible flaws. You can spent some days consuming all this information.

One of the most recent posts is on Csikszentmihalyi, famous for the popular concept of ‘flow’! But is it good for education, there are 2 conclusions that Clark pulls from the list of features:

“First is that his first four main, practical recommendations (challenge, attention, feedback & goals) are really only bits of existing theory from the psychology of learning, useful but not novel. So the idea of ‘flow’ seems like an unnecessary abstraction, especially if some types of feedback are more episodic and break the spell. Second, his last four criteria are really just symptoms of attentive states.”

Furthermore he notices that “flow’ as concept doesn’t support group learning:

“…he also notes that a major constraint on people enjoying what they are doing is being conscious of a fear of how they appear to others and what these others might think. This mitigates against theory which pushes group learning or contexts in which the learner may be exposed to the judgements of others, an interesting, important but rarely aired argument.”

Do read the whole post and stay on the site of Donald a bit longer.