Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

The work of educating is tiring, but exhilarating. One ends the day ready for the next. The work of schooling, with its pointless mandates, drawing energy from what matters, listening to droning chatter about “what matters” when all now it doesn’t... that causes burnout.

Doubt is an uncomfortable condition, but certainty is a ridiculous one. -Voltaire

“Solve real-world problems in the video game!” OK... solve the problems the programmers put into the game... solve simulations of real-world... solve problems within the micro world of the platform... these complement, but are not Authentic Learning. #edtech #edchat #education

Without #students, #classrooms are empty-physically, culturally, contextually, pedagogically. The idea one can meaningfully plan a class before meeting the students seems disingenuous.

I added some cryptic items to my “to do” list last evening at about 6:30 PM yesterday. I have no idea what I’m supposed to do. How long do I wait until I just scratch it off?

A post on instruction rediscovered from a piece I wrote about 10 years age:
https://hackscience.education/2025/06/05/challenges-to-instructionism/

Human #learning is largely about making meaning, which is very difficult to capture and measure, so it is ignored in #data. Too bad our #schools are missing the point of their existence.

Coding teaches students to solve one kind of problem. It’s kind of like teaching them to use a hammer.

I am starting to get very interested in “cheapest places to retire” links that show up in my feed.

#students are constantly #learning in classrooms. Maybe not the intended lessons, but they are learning.

If your answer does not begin with “it depends,” then you probably don’t understand the question completely.

Pointing out biases of others has kind of got me in trouble last weekend... not going to stop, because I want others to repay the favor.

Writing forces one to clarify what they know so others can begin to know it too.

A blog post on Data Quality;
https://hackscience.education/2025/06/04/on-data-quality/

How can you assure yourself of failure? Focus exclusively on the parts and ignore the whole.

If you can script your lesson, you are part way to preparing it... as soon as you discard it, you will be most of the way there. Once your lesson responds to students, you will be there... until you do the same lesson with new students.

Thinking and learning is an emotion and cultural and cognitive endeavor... teachers who focus on one aspect to the exclusion of the others will fail. #education #teaching #teachertips

“An information bomb is exploding in our midst.” Toffler was right.

I’ve received a number of “we are updating our terms of service” notices from services that I have not the faintest recollection of ever hearing about.

Mean is such a silly measure for understanding human variation... except for some physical attributes.