Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

Note to educators: if you have a “thing” you do that you love (critical inquiry, exit tickets, think-pair-share, etc.) there are some students who react “not this again.” They may not express it, but they feel it, and they don’t (cognitively) engage with it.

When news of Abraham Lincoln’s death arrived in some areas by telegraph, it was thought a hoax because of how the news arrived. Have things changed?

I’m often asked by faculty who are leaving to “nuke” their online classrooms to prevent others from using their materials.

“Get rich quick with AI” seems today’s snake oil.

When I taught computer courses, I’d have students start with a word processing file and write their names on the first line, then explore changing fonts, colors, etc. while I walked around learning their names.

We have need of history in its entirety, not to fall back into it, but to escape from it. -Ortega y Gasset

Knowledge is fallible and improvable; this is much better than truth.

“Electronic media is incompatible with rational discourse” may be correct.

I’ve been closely tracking my income and assets for over 15 years. When politicians ask "how am I doing?" I have the data.

Sometimes I envy those who do not feel compelled to be reasonable and logical.

I live and work on digital platforms. But if I am serious about doing it, I write it on the index card that contains my to do list.

If your response to a question is just “sharing resources” (you know the same ones you have been sharing for 5 years… that list with the dead links), then you are not really doing your job.

I work in school IT. I spend my time giving individual instructions to faculty who don’t attend the workshops. Those are the same faculty who complain students don’t attend class.

Facts change. Some things we once thought were wrong. That’s the way knowledge works. Deal with it.

Having an opinion is fine, but if you don’t change it when evidence changes, then you are wasting it.

“There is nothing more common than a fool with a good memory.”

There is a difference between “listening to those with opposite views” and “wasting time listening to quacks with tired arguments.” One is worth the time, the other is not.

I’ve had reason to chat with folks about my childhood lately. Back when my father who was a high school graduate and drove a truck for a living could afford to raise a family.

Incremental change in organizations takes so long that it is abandoned before any effects are observed.

If you allow folks (students included) to set their own goals, you must accept them