Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

"Learning doesn't consist in being an empty receptacle." - Mortimer Alder

No matter how much you like a particular teaching strategy, it isn't always appropriate and some students will stop engaging if you always use it.

Just because you have a strong opinion, I’m not obligated to take it seriously.

Did teachers react to the introduction of slide rules in the same way they reacted to calculators?

"Power knows the truth already, and is busy concealing it" -Noam Chomsky

When chalkboards were introduced at Yale in 1837, students objected as they thought if they didn't memorize it, then they weren't really learning.

“Throwing money” at a problem and “fully funding” systems are not the same.

Whenever I interview for a job, I make a joke in the first minute. The response of the group tells me to either “answer quickly and get out of here" or “give honest and complete answers.”

If you are a teacher who can be replaced by a video, you should be." Yeah, I can't argue against that one. #teaching #highschool #highered

The best #STEM #education is grounded in "curiosity, experimenting, iterative synthesizing, analyzing problem solutions, inventing." I think this list is incomplete (critical thinking belongs there), but the list is certainly different from the skills that I see focusing much of it.

So much #learning is lost in the quest for grades. #teaching #education #educhat #edchat #highered #highschool

Do you want your course to expand access to your field of study or do you want to pose a barrier?

There are reasons for framing and teaching courses as each, but don't confuse the two and don't mislead your students. Also, realize very few courses as barriers can be justified.

Grading on a bell curve? There are several reasons to do so, but none are grounded in learning. #eduction #highschool #highereducation #Assessment

Francis Galton, one of the first "data scientists" was an ardent eugenicist. Some groups were genetically superior, he claimed, and he found the data to prove it. Politics and bias have always been deeply embedded in the questions that motivate data, its collection, and interpretation.

Your test... it isn't as valid and reliable and objective as you think, no matter how carefully it was crafted.

Anyone who identifies as a bricoleur is someone I want to follow.

“Fragile and shallow.” Words used to describe much of the #learning that happens in classrooms. I think that is an accurate characterization. #education #teaching #schools #edchat

"Our work is really hard right now" message from leaders who are deciding which jobs to retrench after the chaos they caused are only going to alienates those whose colleagues are forced out.

The time your students spend figuring out what to do, what you expect, and how to “game” your grading scheme is not available for learning.

“What do you want to be true when you finish?” A colleague uses that question to start planning courses. It is far more effective than “What are your objectives?” if you want students to do more than answer test questions.