Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

“What do you mean by ____?” Is asked too infrequently.

The context in which one learns matters.

“I wish there was someone who told me what to do.” I’m hopeful we want to counteract this belief in how we structure school.

“Great idea. There is no money. But it’s a great chance for you to be creative.”

This is a sign to stop whatever your plan was.

I learned this too late in my career.

There is no short cut to get to what matters.

Humans are wonderful at rationalizing dumb choices.

“Faculty development is ‘duck-duck-goose.’” I’ve been around a long time, but have never heard that one.

Theories don’t solve problems. but they sure make our solutions much better.

Some disciplines don’t value anything but answers.

“Design thinking isn’t just following a model that has ‘design’ in the title.”

Social presence isn’t community.

Some leaders’ concept of “collaboration” sure seems conflated with “do what I tell you.”

"Embrace chaos." I tweeted this years ago. I think we have taken my advice too far.

Have the courage to be unsure.

What is students’ role in deciding what information is collected, how and why it’s used? If none, then we need to fix that.

Does education theory really treat learning as remembering? Sure, that is an important first step, but there is much more to it.

How much if our work is perpetuating dysfunctional systems?

When I hear teacher educators let “learning styles” slip, I cringe.

I’m always skeptical of “employers say.” What if you paid better wages? Would you get the skills you want but can’t hire?

A blog post on metacognition, an important aspect of learning that is often overlooked.
https://hackscience.net/2025/08/30/metacognition-how-we-become-competent/