Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

Paraphrasing Jean Lave: Commodities are created to provide value to others.

Once #education becomes a commodity, such as “to get a good job,” it is no longer about #learning.

I love in the USA. I listen to a radio show that hosts a lawyer to answer callers’ legal questions once per month. They are often asked silly questions based on wacky interpretations of our Constitution. They often respond with “stop with that nonsense.” They are much more diplomatic than I would have.

Does anyone else never answer surveys on YouTube?

I've always thought teachers who have experience working in the field are less likely to teach "about" it, while they share lots of stories about it.

When it finally can’t not be done, you will start. But you will be late to the movement.

Acronyms create barriers to meaning.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

If #students never decide their own curriculum and projects, they have had a deficient #education.

Rather than simplifying the problems in the curriculum (some say “sterilize” them), support the learner with tools, ideas, coaching.

I suggest students are much more competent applying academic skills outside of school than inside school.

“Working workshops” should be a thing.

Most important ideas, concepts, skills cannot be taught as “self-contained entities.”

For a long time, we thought learning was simply a matter of remembering information. We were wrong. #schools #teaching #learning #highered

Following the algorithm means we proceed through the intersection when the green light is displayed.

Understanding the system means we still look for oncoming traffic.

Doing math on paper with marks made in pencil by humans following algorithms was abandoned for important calculations in the middle of the 20th century largely because it was slow and error prone. I’m always curious about why math education has failed to realize this.

What should be the actions if a public employee parks their vehicle at work, and it displays messages some interpret as offensive or threatening on bumper stickers?

“Critical thinking” should be an outcome of every class for every student. Teachers who do it well will not be popular amongst leaders, however, as their students will ask uncomfortable questions.

Barbed wire fences were fashioned into workable telephone systems. Exaptations are more interesting than innovations.

In the days when telegraphs dominated communication over distances, codes like “shf” were used to shorten messages like “stocks have fallen.” This part of our "modern" communication is not new.

James Gleick (in The Information) tells of people who took hand written notes to be “sent” by telegraph. They objected when the note was still in their hands.

Behaviors are a convenient measure of learning... not necessarily accurate or meaningful... but that doesn’t stop educators.