Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

A blog post on educators' responsibility to question school initiatives.
https://hackscience.education/2018/10/11/should-educators-judge-initiatives/

I’m only familiar with the this is #education... do opinions get cited as evidence in other fields as well?

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

Yes, I can tell you really want it to be true. No, I’m sorry that doesn’t make it true.

Data without documentation is useless.

A post of learning in a world dominated by AI
https://hackscience.education/2025/08/17/avoid-black-box-learning/

When quacks get a platform and dupe an audience... bad things happen.

If you are “BS-ing” your answer, we can tell... and we trust you and your decisions less than if you had just said, “I don’t know.” #leadership

Professional learning for educators encompasses: Training (procedures), Learning (understanding tech's role), and Design (creating new solutions). Each requires a different approach. #ProfessionalDevelopment #EdTechPD

You want students to be responsible and independent, but you dictate how they spend every moment, including when they can use the rest room.

And you don’t see an inconsistency here?

I don’t trust “leaders” who can’t bear silence in meetings.

Yes, your data seem valid and reliable... it is your interpretation that is dubious.

If your #students find no connection to what you teach, your standards, assessments, plans, data, etc... none of it matters... even if your have followed all the recommendations and even had workshops in how to teach.

If you are “BS-ing” your answer, we can tell... and we trust you and your decisions less than if you had just said, “I don’t know.” #leadership

“There is a difference between having a mind that is open to new ideas and one that is simply vacant.” - Michael W. Friedlander

I used to think we were becoming a more educated population. The last 5 or so years proved me wrong.

Training data differs vastly: Traditional AI uses smaller, labeled datasets. Generative AI models are trained on massive datasets (millions of images, vast amounts of text for LLMs) requiring significant resources.

“The danger to society is not merely that I should believe wrong things, though that is great enough; but that I should become credulous, and lose the habit of testing things and inquiring into them; for that it must sink back into savagery.” -W. K. Clifford in 1877

Rationality does not cater to our whims.

How should we respond when those in education, but not teaching, feel they don’t need courses in teaching in their studies?