Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

Are They Learning? How Do We Know? https://hackscience.net/2023/11/26/are-they-learning-how-do-we-know/

In 1989, Mark Davis, was motivated to study the decision to use technology or to avoid it because “that performance gains are often obstructed by users' unwillingness to accept and use available systems.”

In a school, different populations and even different individuals within a population may perceive the same technology differently, and those differences will affect individuals’ intentions to use the technology.

Germane cognitive load is available for the learner to think about, strategize about, and come to deeper understanding of the ideas and information in the task. Learning occurs only when germane cognitive load is available and the amount available limits what can be learned.

Consider the example of graphing calculators. Using this technology, one can minimize the extraneous cognitive load of drawing the graph of a sophisticated function, so more cognition can be dedicated to understanding the mathematics. When first encountering a graphing calculator (or when encountering an unfamiliar model), determining how to use the device increases extraneous cognitive load of graphing.

Fundamental to innovation is change. When new tools, strategies, or approaches are adopted by a community, they have innovated. Of course, innovation becomes cyclic. Once a practice has become widely used it is no longer an innovation.

IT professionals must train and support so users can log on and use hardware in classrooms, the student management and learning management systems teachers use, email, and other technology needed for teaching. #edtech

Reflecting on their learning by comparing it to other or to exemplary work is one way we can promotes learning by students.

Encouraging students to articulate their new learning helps ensure they know they know it.

The best teachers coach students as they demonstrate new learning;

What if teachers modeled how their lessons are applied to real life... not the real life of professionals, but the real life of educated and engaged citizens?

The technology in schools is truly frightening. The instructor who sits at an office computer may not realize the system connected through the dirty screen and the coffee-stained keyboard.

It is tempting to blame education for the changes in society that we observe, but that will gain us nothing and the blame is not deserved.

The turmoil in education driven by society and by technology shows no sign of abating.

Perhaps we organize curriculum and instruction to increase students' ability to learn to use new tools and understand new concepts.

Perhaps we organize curriculum and instruction to increase students' ability to use tools and apply concepts to unfamiliar problems.

"Cortisol is hormone associated with stress responses, but the effects of this hormone can be much different on the human body depending on exposure. Long-term exposure to elevated levels of cortisol can produce a permanent level of stress that can be unhealthy."

TO what degree does this reality affect decision making in schools.

On Rationales https://hackscience.net/2023/11/24/on-rationales/

At what point will "competence with technology, including the ability to adapt to new tools" be an expectation of white collar workers?

In 2017 Pew Research Center reported that 92% of adults in the United States own an Internet connected smartphone. It seems the few who still don't are in my extended family.