Dr. Gary Ackerman
@garyackermanphd.bsky.social
📤 1399
📥 2920
📝 5363
Teaching. Learning. Technology.
https://hackscience.education
“Educational determinism” (the idea that one can know with certainty how to teach anything and everything) eludes all who seek it... those who are the best teachers relish the fact such a thing does not exist.
about 13 hours ago
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People are clever, but almost no one ever devised an optimal quip precisely at the needed moment. -Stephen Jay Gould
about 15 hours ago
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Correlation and causation are not the same. Seriously folks, your “ed research” instructor taught you this.
about 15 hours ago
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reposted by
Dr. Gary Ackerman
Language Learning Matters
1 day ago
“I know what the kids like.” Dude. You have no idea & neither do I. We haven’t been young since the last millennium. That’s why we should ask when we want to know.
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reposted by
Dr. Gary Ackerman
Language Learning Matters
about 19 hours ago
Step 1: “measure whatever can be easily measured” Step 2: “disregard that which can't easily be measured or given a quantitative value” Step 3: “presume that what can't be measured easily really isn't important” Step 4: “say that what can't be easily measured really doesn't exist”
add a skeleton here at some point
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Here is your regular reminder... if your answer begins with “it is simple...” then you are wrong.
about 16 hours ago
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Here is your regular reminder to state the opinions upon which you base your facts.
about 18 hours ago
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Yeah... It your organization is partnering with one of the test proctoring platforms... I'm approaching it with the same incredulity as I do advocates for learning styles.
about 18 hours ago
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“Right sizing” is the most disingenuous phrase in existence. If you hear it... run. Not because of the fact programs etc. will be cut but the fact that leadership chooses to use it.
about 19 hours ago
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Yeah... IT... can be stop using colors to label acceptable and unacceptable domains? Like right now.
about 21 hours ago
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When you keep asking questions, you find out “facts” are usually interpretations of events and observations.
about 22 hours ago
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I have a weird sense of satisfaction when I watch narcissists turn on each other (which they almost always do).
about 22 hours ago
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When self-described "data-driven leaders" are called out on their weak use of data... I gotta say... I kinda enjoy watching them squirm.
1 day ago
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Great vision... glad you spent lots of time crafting it, but how are you going to get there?
1 day ago
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“But, how will they learn if I don’t?” is a sure sign that 1) the person misunderstands learning, 2) whatever they are try to teach is not worth knowing, 3) they really really like power.
#teaching
#edchat
#learning
#parenting
1 day ago
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Was your sample random? That question should not cause a "data-driven leader" to ask "what do you mean?"
2 days ago
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My father had only brothers (5 total). I had only a brother. My kids have only brothers. Today the fifth grandnephew arrive (all boys at birth in that generation). My two nieces ruin a perfectly anomalous family probability case.
2 days ago
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Please don’t be that person who starts the meeting with “we want to hear from you,” and proceeds to yammer on and on. Did you see how polite I was there? I wanted to use a word other than “yammer.”
2 days ago
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"Career and college ready" isn't a thing... never was... never will be.
2 days ago
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On
#edtech
Decision Making
www.hackscience.education/on-edtech-de...
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On #edtech Decison Making
Humans have a long history of using technology. It is reasonable to conclude that humans and their technologies cannot be separated. Without our tools, our species would not have become t…
https://www.hackscience.education/on-edtech-decison-making/
2 days ago
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A diversity of experiences is the foundation of all good teaching... at least that is the unmistakable conclusion after my 35+ years in the field. Now, if we can only convince others.
3 days ago
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Contingencies determine what you can do much more than leadership does.
3 days ago
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Unpopular opinion time: I don't think reducing students' performance to statements regarding their achievement of standards is any worse than letter grades.
3 days ago
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I really don't get all of the negativity about
#MOOC's
that seems to have been resurrected lately... sure they never replaced
#highered
, but were they ever going to really? They seem to have filled a niche market that was unserved, and isn't that what is most valuable?
3 days ago
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You know that finding that novices over estimate their skill while experts underestimate it? It is very true for “the quality of my lectures” too.
3 days ago
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I’ve always done work I valued and would do without pay, but never at a job I loved. In education, especially, the misguided initiatives, the toxic cultures, and the narcissistic leaders have driven me out of many jobs where I loved the work.
3 days ago
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The data is always strongest for those things one deeply believes.
3 days ago
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"Hire the talent, train the skill." Sounds great... what does it look like?
3 days ago
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Seriously people... stop reading the slides in your presentations.
3 days ago
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When I hear business people talking about what they need, I don't hear much about academic skills. I'm curious about the "grades need to reflect academic standards and that is all" attitude in schools.
3 days ago
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In education, discomfort arises when we are not replacing one thing for another. Imagine if we defined good teaching (we know what it is, but the answer isn ’t simple and it isn’t amenable to standard tests) and did that... and kept doing it.
4 days ago
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Stuff marketed to teachers with eclectic capitalization... you know to stress certain words... annoys me. No, the marketing doesn’t bother me, the fact they purchase and display it does.
4 days ago
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When IT systems become unmanageable (usually due to age and coincident incompatibility with others), they must be replaced... users have no say in this. Of course, they must be perceived usable and appropriate training provided... IT has no say in this.
4 days ago
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Oh, you’ve changed the name but not the practice. Cool. Um, no, that isn’t how innovation works.
4 days ago
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Please don’t confuse “retrieval practice” with teaching. I see a place for it... a complement to a rich and varied curriculum... reducing stress of “cramming, etc... but it’s role must be minor. Like the relief pitcher who comes in to get 2 outs in the 8th inning.
4 days ago
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Math should not be a “call and response” activity. Really? That wasn’t what my teachers thought or how they taught.
4 days ago
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I’m increasingly convinced learning objectives are useful to keep instructors on track, but just add to the extraneous cognitive load of a lesson for students.
4 days ago
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I never realized my life as an educational technology professional would be just sending email reminders of the email reminders of the email reminders I sent last month to announce the recommended method of how to get your PowerPoint presentations created in 2003 to "work."
4 days ago
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Our experiences as students inform our understanding of *how* to teach... and that is vastly more important than what we teach.
4 days ago
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The problem with getting educators to change is their admitting they have been less effective than they thought they were.
4 days ago
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The problem with giving your strategy a catchy name is that folks stop there and don’t get into what you really mean. The problem with not giving it a catchy name is no one will ever hear of it.
5 days ago
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“Time. Training. Incentives. There will never be enough to satisfy those resistant to change. It’s gotta be something else.” This is a suggestion worth exploring.
5 days ago
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Often “learning styles” does not mean Learning Styles... the term is used by lots of folks to mean “vary your instruction,” “unmotivated by irrelevant material,” “confused by my first explanation,” “distracted,” and the list could go on. I’ve started asking for clarification when folks use it,
5 days ago
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The people who claim to know the most about teaching are those who preface the statements with, “I used to be a substitute teacher.”
5 days ago
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An absolutely correct observation. Sensible. Supported by empirical evidence. Achieved by simple means using existing capacity. Cannot be captured in an acronym. No need for a consultant. For all of these reasons, it will never catch on.
5 days ago
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I’m convinced calling out leaders on inconsistencies between their words and deeds leads to less workplace stress... and it adds positions to the resume as well.
5 days ago
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False evidence based on misinterpreting dubious data is preferred to not “knowing” in the culture of many organizations.
5 days ago
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Saying, "I agree" in 15 sentences is still just saying, "I agree." Sage advice form an online teacher.
5 days ago
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Students Matter: At Least Decades Ago They Did
www.hackscience.education/students-mat...
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Students Matter: At Least Decades Ago They Did
I am cleaning out my files and discovered (rediscovered is more correct as I knew these pieces were there), writing from decades ago. I must say that teacher looking forward to a career in educatio…
https://www.hackscience.education/students-matter-at-least-decades-ago-they-did/
5 days ago
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Configuration Matter with School IT
www.hackscience.education/configuratio...
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Configuration Matters with School IT
All IT users know the systems work well sometimes and they don’t work well other times. Systems function well only when they are properly configured, and IT professionals (usually) complete formal …
https://www.hackscience.education/configuration-matters-with-school-it/
6 days ago
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