Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

“Leaving a deeply engraved comfort zone typically requires us to vehemently fight against ourselves, but it is freedom always worth fighting for.” -Ron Folman

Mimicking the masters is useful in education… but for only a (small) fraction of the curriculum.

We were sitting around griping about school one day, when an older colleague said, "some day we will look back on these as the good old days." He was wrong... I've worked in better and worse situations since, but never wanted to return to those days

Similar outcomes does not mean similar meaning for students.

"Qualitative measures." Are these possible?

Reading more slowly does not help comprehension.

"You can't improve it if you can't measure it." I hear this a lot, but I don't think it is true.

Identifying causal relationships is a worthy skill to develop… as long as yours reflect reality.

IT in education cannot depend on users knowing what they need ahead of time. That is the nature of the work.

When environments change, humans can adapt their behaviors relatively quickly. We can, but that doesn’t mean we do.

Those who resist suggestions to change often do so because they conflate it with “you are not good at what you do.”

Don't be content teaching when no learning occurs.

Using “customers” in education seems wrong in so many ways. The one exception is in the sense of “customer service.” Faculty and students must see the school as responsive and working to improve their experience and its own performance.

The future of education is grounded in adaptation, adoption, and exaptation. Adapt to new understandings of learning and teaching and how the two are associated. Adopt new technologies and new strategies. Exapt new methods and new approaches that make use of technology.

The problem with audio books is that you can’t write in the margins.

“There is a rule against that,” is not a reason.

I’ve noticed some misspellings recent social media posts… role, not roll… then, not than… etc. I’m way to old to care… hey, there’s another one!

Listening to Jared Diamond’s Collapse on walks has me thinking about how data is context-dependent. Horizontal ditches to hold rain water is great for garden on hillsides… unless they hold enough water in unstable soils and cause landslides.

“Authentic problems that are relevant to the students.” Learning starts here.

I've always been intrigued by the things leaders do when things are not going well for them. I have seen so many examples over 38 years in education.