Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

Education and the Study of Education
https://hackscience.education/2018/08/02/education-and-the-study-of-education/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

I work in #edtech. There used to be nothing more entertaining than watching folks argue over which is better… Blackboard, Canvas, or Moodle.

I earned a D in math in 4th grade. I used to bring my report card to school so my math students could see it.

The End of Average: How We Succeed in a World that Values Sameness
https://hackscience.education/2018/08/01/the-end-of-average-how-we-succeed-in-a-world-that-values-sameness/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

In 1890, William James wrote: “Millions of items are present to my senses which never properly entered into my experience Why? Because they have no interest to me.”

Educators read that over and over until you get it.

One thing I learned during 35 years in education: “the obvious” thing to do is often the least effective.

“The sensory systems are hypothesis generators.” This is not how we assume brains work, but it is what the evidence tells us.

#Edtech for #Edleaders: Whom to Hire: Technology Integration Specialists
https://hackscience.education/2018/08/01/edtech-for-edleaders-whom-to-hire-technology-integration-specialists/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

Brains don’t just perceive and respond, they actively interpret the world, and that affects perceptions and responses.

Yochai Benkler observed, “the change brought about by the networked information environment is deep. It is structural. It goes to the very foundations of how liberal markets and liberal democracies have coevolved for almost two centuries.”

What if we focused more on the predictive validity of our data. If we knew what it signaled for our students' futures and we could explain the mechanism.

Psychologists used to perceive the mind to be a container, and knowledge to be a cognitive phenomenon arising within an individual’s brain. Notice this is in the past tense.

"The success of instruction can be measured with a test." Can it?

Technologies and Structural Deepening
https://hackscience.education/2018/07/31/technologies-and-structural-deepening/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

"Educators know how to deliver instruction so the curriculum is transferred into students’ brains." Do they? With certainty? In every situation? For every student? For every group of students?

#Edtech for #Edleaders: Network Planning and Installation
https://hackscience.education/2018/07/30/edtech-for-edleaders-network-planning-and-installation/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

"Curriculum comprises well-defined information and skills that represent necessary human knowledge" is a misconception.

"The purpose of schools is to ensure students get the information and skills into their brains, thus become educated." Ostensibly. sure, but there are many other purposes, many of which have nothing to do with learning.

Like all human creations, education has a history, and the future of education is contingent on that history. It is the source of institutional inertia, and it limits (albeit temporarily) the potential futures of education.

In describing education as a social invention, Jerome Bruner observed, “each generation must define afresh the nature, direction, and aims of education to assure [that] freedom and rationality can be attained for a future generation."