Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

You are a much more credible “data driven” leader if you can recognize regression to the mean.

Can we filter out applicants who are “not technology people” for positions whose work is dependent on the ability to use technology?

“This will fix it” rarely does. Well in IT it often does… in education it never does.

Some of the longest explanations lead listeners to ask “so what?”

The nature of our work changes when the tools change.

“Human cognition is not just influenced by culture and society, but it is in a very fundamental sense a cultural and social process.” -Edwin Hutchins

In education, tests are the culmination. In the real world, tests are gateways.

It seems that “using data” should be interpreted as “these are the few numbers that support our plans all others were disregarded.”

Folks seem to forget the technologies they see as “essential for students to master” were once vilified.

Content creation is to writing as delivery is to teaching.

“We’ve got to get through the curriculum.” 🤦‍♂️

Sometimes I make up acronyms and use them in meetings. Try it sometimes, it’s fun.

“Brainstorming sessions” often stop when the leader hears the answer they want.

“Teach students to think critically” is often espoused by those who hold some pretty wacky ideas.

Conspiracies exist. That is not proof every conspiracy theory is true.

Heck, we couldn’t even get folks to create Boolean searches, what makes you think we can get them to be prompt engineers?

“Don’t believe everything you are told.”

The problem is we’ve generally lost our individual and collective capacity to judge the quality of information.

I work in #edtech. I spend half of my time answering requests to change default settings from x to y and the other half asking me to change them from y to x.

"So the universe is not quite as you thought it was. You'd better rearrange your beliefs, then. Because you certainly can't rearrange the universe." - Isaac Asimov

"If I don't see it, then it isn't true" doesn't make you an empiricist.