Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

Sometimes work seems like 40 hours of working and 40 hours of responding to emails seeking status reports on projects they cannot complete because we are answering emails about them.

"When people learn no tools of judgment and merely follow their hopes, the seeds of political manipulation are sown." -Stephen Jay Gould

Note to self: Don’t demonstrate how to sign out of Google accounts during a Google Meet.

Learning how to operate a new bit of technology is the easy part. Learning how it can fail is harder part of supporting new technology.

“Your video will be posted once the closed captions are edited.”

“Can’t you post it now? I don’t need the captions.”

“No.”

My former colleague (a vehement and frequent climate change denier on social media) continues to complain he can’t find a job... in a field that requires significant capacity to interpret data. Should I tell him?

How you react when your virtual meetings go “off the rails” says much about your leadership.

Humans "are always seeking improvements in technology (e.g. to meet emerging needs or to improve efficiency, safety, or reliability)." The problem is the "improvements" are not always and not for everyone.

Technologies are dynamic and continually evolving due to new discoveries and the human drive for improvement.

A blog post on the recursive nature of technology, now with audio. https://hackscience.education/2018/08/29/technology-is-recursive/
#technology #edtech

I’m not sure who hasn’t heard this, but it is *not* acceptable to compose an email in all caps. If you send one to an IT person, assume you have just yelled at them in an unprofessional manner. If they respond politely, you are lucky.

“Learning [may] not happen by accident,” but it is often spontaneous, serendipitous, and contrary to the intended lessons. #education #teaching #school

“For every complex problem, there is a simple answer and it is wrong.” -H. L. Mencken

A post for network security students
https://hackscience.education/2025/08/10/cryptographic-protocols/

A post for students in my network security course
https://hackscience.education/2025/08/10/threat-actors/

I’m not sure who hasn’t heard this, but it is *not* acceptable to compose an email in all caps. If you send one to an IT person, assume you have just yelled at them in an unprofessional manner. If they respond politely, you are lucky.

When I see “unbiased” in your tag line, I just smile and shake my head.

Anyone else noticing the educator who is reluctant to record, caption, and publish their sessions is the same one who insists all training sessions be recorded?

Someone familiar with my background asked me recently, “don’t you think schools should just teach the facts, and leave politics out of it.” “No,” I responded before going on a several minute rant. I don’t think they were very happy with me.

Seriously faculty... grumble to yourself about your responsibility to make materials accessible, but don’t complain out loud... or in writing.