Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

Education is about changing humans. When our students leave our classrooms, we expect they can do things, see things, and think things they could not before the class. If our students leave with their abilities unchanged, then they (and we) have wasted their time and energy and money while there.
#edutooter #education #teaching

John Dewey wrote education is not preparation for life, it is life itself. While this may be true, many students enroll in higher education to be better prepared for the profession they will enter after they graduate. It seems reasonable, then, that educators should take steps to ensure their students can use what they learn in the classroom in other settings as well. #edutooter #education #highered

I work in IT. I spend all day trying to figure out what people mean in their incomplete and typo-ridden emails.

I work in IT.
I will edit the announcement in which “board of trustees” is abbreviated “BOT” as in “click here to join the BOT meeting.”
We don’t want anyone associating bots with something safe to click.

Abandon topics and outcomes for questions. It will improve your teaching and students’ learning.

Increasingly I understand learning as a network process. We add nodes, create new connections, and strengthen or weaken others.

One of my former colleagues and students wrote this. If you are interested in guys playing guitars and singing catchy tunes, give it a listen.

https://youtu.be/G0aFyWNp3qI

Pitch invader. They showed the flag they were presumably carrying. Point made.

One of the most surprising realizations for adults who begin working in schools is that what is taught is not what they were taught or what they think should be taught. Curriculum is a part of school that is affected by many factors; some are very local (individual teachers are ultimately responsible for what it taught in their classrooms), others are school-wide or district-wide, yet others are state-wide or national. In the United States, there is no nationally mandated curriculum, and concepts like “fourth grade mathematics” are variable and open to interpretation.

Educational reform tends to follow a cycle that is familiar to many:

First, an initiative (supported with little or dubious evidence from the learning sciences) is introduced and implemented (with little or dubious support and rationale).

Second, problems with the initiative appear. These can originate from poor or incomplete implementation or support, discrepancies between the practices and human nature, or other difficulties.

Third, the initiative is recognized as failing, but remains in place (or is replaced with previously used methods under the vocabulary of the initiative).

Fourth, a new initiative replaced the old and the cycle repeats. Frequently the choice of next initiative and the time devoted to any initiative depends on the availability of grants to support the work.

Following this model of reform, educators can appear to be working to improve curriculum and instruction while avoiding implementing any new practices. This also allows educators to abandon any initiatives that force them to resolve any challenges to their existing practice.

Teachers, faculties, schools, and the entire education system will be prepared for digital generations only when educators accept the challenge of reinventing (and continuing to reinvent) their practice. The reinvention also requires that political leaders recognize the nature of learning. Educational paradigms that focus on instruction and measure achievement with standardized tests are naïve and ignore the facts of human nature and the skills necessary for full participation in the emerging culture.

I work in IT. I spend all days watching spinning icons.

“I work in IT” usually is equal to “I reset passwords” all day.