Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

Stasis is the norm for complex systems; change, when provoked at all, is usually rapid and episodic. -Stephen Jay Gould

Yeah, so the Earth may (surely will) survive human hubris... humans, not so much.

My uncle who died from ALS would refuse rides saying, “I want to walk while I still can.” I forget his #wisdom some days.

https://buff.ly/JUbvEo8

A blog post of how we in IT can fix how we fix #edtech problems.
https://buff.ly/69yQV8a

If you must continue to post your meeting norms after a few meetings, then you can be confident either you do not model them, or your participants didn’t believe you.

“Scientific questions cannot be decided by majority vote.” #science

Can we stop worrying about defining and conducting formative and summative assessments? When #teachers and #students focus attention on ideas and understanding of ideas, it doesn't matter. Evaluations, student performance, outcomes, or whatever you choose to call it will improve.

“We must have have gadflies... to remind us constantly that our usual preferences, channels, and biases are not inevitable modes of thought.” -Stephen Jay Gould

Tolstoy suggested Malthus demonstrated “malicious mediocrity.” That is a wonderfully sharp criticism.

“I don’t have kids, so I shouldn’t pay for schools” is as sound as “my house isn’t on fire, so I should not have to pay for fire fighters.”

Life-long learning is no longer optional.

A blog post for network security students.
https://hackscience.education/2025/03/04/penetration-testing/

How do we support IT use among faculty?
https://hackscience.education/2025/03/06/on-professional-development-models-for-edtech/

T. H. Huxley wrote, “battles, like hypotheses, are not to be multiplied beyond necessity.”

“Nature does not exist for our delectation, our moral instruction, or our pleasure. Therefore, nature will not always(or even preferentially) match our hopes.” -Stephen Jay Gould

If you can explain everything, you can explain nothing.

Most impediments to scientific understanding are conceptual, not factual lacks. Most difficult to dislodge are those biases that escape our scrutiny because they seem so obviously, even ineluctably, just. - Stephen Jay Gould

Learners with a deeper understanding of themselves will be better equipped to deal with rapid change that we are experiencing.

We need teaching and allows learners to adapts. Teaching that delivers facts is no longer sufficient .