Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

Overfit and underfit are popular buzz words with AI today—models with “memorize” answers and spit them back or apply too broad generalizations.

Educators have much experience with this. We have seen our students do it for generations.

So much data is wrong at the schema level.

Every so often it strikes me that “high quality” in many contexts means “what the client wants.” It seems an easy to achieve, but potentially dangerous, benchmark.

Electronic portfolios can capture artifacts of student performances and products on authentic projects. This allows for a more complete picture of student learning than standardized tests alone.

Information technology has strong, active influences on society, so schools need to change. Just like Plato was skeptical of writing, some resist technology in education. However, we can't afford to ignore the impact of technology on our students.

The nature of work is changing rapidly, and schools need to adapt to prepare students.

Schools are slow to change compared to other organizations.

School leaders are expected to make technology decisions, but often find it challenging, so they defer to others.

Data analysts have a wide variety of tools at their disposal, from simple spreadsheets to powerful analytics suites. Choosing the right tool is crucial for success.

Online learners are no different from face-to-face learners. While individuals in each group do select their preferred classroom for recognized reasons (e.g. online learners’ preference for flexible attendance schedules), the best students in both settings are those who engage with the content, classmates, and the teacher.

Sites created by anonymous publishers or businesses or organizations are updated according to the whim of the author(s) and can be easily copied. Fact and opinion, fantasy and sarcasm are not clearly identifiable on these sites, so should be avoided except for entertainment.

Organizations often standardize on a subset of technology tools to manage costs and improve collaboration... and limit what can be done.

How do We Integrate “ChatGPT?”
https://hackscience.education/2024/11/18/how-do-we-integrate-chatgpt/

Many educational reforms focus solely on changing curriculum and instruction without challenging the underlying assumptions about teaching and learning. Those assumptions are not always valid.

Horizontal reform involves a cycle of introducing new initiatives with little support or rationale, encountering problems, and then abandoning or replacing them before they can have a lasting impact. This creates a constant churn of new practices without any real change in pedagogy or student experiences.

Successfully integrating technology in any classrooms requires a nuanced understanding of teacher needs and motivations.

"Snake oil" can be applied to anything that doesn't (and often can't) work as advertised. We need to use it more widely than we do.

The rapid evolution of technology and curriculum necessitates continuous adaptation and refinement of support systems.

Increases teacher buy-in by demonstrating the value of technology within their own curriculum.

After beginning to use technology acceptance to me decisions in his school, a principal observed: "If teachers or students tell me something is hard or complicated, we know what needs to be changed and we know things are not fixed until they are easy to use."