Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

Teaching how to think includes practicing empathy. The conclusions we draw when empathetic are often conflated with conclusions drawn from "teaching what to think."

I started my undergraduate preparation in education in 1983. The same year A Nation at Risk was published. The rants against school are not new.

In my experience, when students are taught to think critically (how to think), they reason and reach a set of conclusions based on reason. Those whose opinions are contrary to reason maintain those students were taught what to think.

Students who leave without knowing how to define good questions, then the lessons were incomplete.

When you find yourself responding, "that's what I said, but its not what I meant" it may be time to think before you speak.

Use AI, they say... it gives me bad answers slower than good answers from other sources, but OK.

I'm at that age where I pay attention to the stock market as much as the sports scores.

Someone needs to hear this right now: If you are muted in a Zoom meeting, it's because *you did not unmute yourself.* There is nothing else that i s wrong.

Users: "We want a system that does x."
IT: "Here you go."
Users: "Why doesn't it do y?"
IT: 🤦

Hey IT users: if you refuse to follow IT's recommendations, you cant complain technology doesn't work.

One thing I learned during 35+ yeas in education: What students think they can do is more predictive than what their tests scores are.

“Students should learn to thrive in curiosity.”

I can’t argue against that.

Go ahead and share your opinions. But don’t complain when you are criticized for espousing them.

There’s fiction and non-fiction, then there are those books written by experts who provide no examples or supporting references... those books are more like fiction.

Simple models are great, but don’t depend on them to be accurate.

AI beats humans at algorithm-based tasks, but then we would expect that.

The task is clarified until we know the tools, but sometimes the tools change the task we decide to do.

“It was better when x was true.” (x can be anything you decide)

These proclamations are wrong… they are all the result of euphoric recall.

For most people, the computational tasks they can do depend on the technology they have... and know how they use it.

Humans who are thinking in groups do it differently than when they do it individually.