Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

Facial recognition tech is quietly entering schools for campus security, automated attendance, and even student emotion detection. Seen as routine, but experts warn it could make schools more authoritarian & oppressive. #EdTech #SchoolSurveillance

Multiple-choice prequestions are often found to produce both specific and general benefits. This is because considering all answer options encourages a broader focus on related information during learning.

Measuring human intelligence is a complex endeavor, and the measurement of artificial intelligence is still in its nascent stages. Comparisons between human and AI intelligence often rely on evaluating AI's performance against a few human experts. #IntelligenceMeasurement #AIResearch

That which is most important in #education does not appear in your data.

Anyone noticing the “it’s in the syllabus” crowd are also the instructors who send an email asking for help in how to do what is in the “remote teaching toolkit” the dean told them to use? #education #teachers #highschool #highereducation

The "darker impacts" of LLMs: Half of users (50%) have felt lazy or taken a too-easy shortcut, and 35% have felt like they were cheating when using LLMs. #AIDilemmas #UserImpact

Half of American adults now use AI large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot. This marks one of the fastest tech adoption rates in history. #AI #LLMs #TechAdoption

A brief blog post on how technology affects organizations, especially schools now with audio:
https://hackscience.education/2018/07/31/technologies-and-structural-deepening/

A blog post with a rationale for technology integration specialists, written for school leaders:
https://hackscience.education/2018/08/01/edtech-for-edleaders-whom-to-hire-technology-integration-specialists/

A blog post on an article that has informed my thinking about graded for a long time:
https://hackscience.education/2025/07/06/the_deceptive_simplicity_of_percentages/

Social scaffolding involves dynamic interaction and dialogue between students and teachers, or between peers. This includes coaching, guidance, questions, clarifications, and answers, fostering a collaborative learning environment. #CollaborativeLearning #EdChat

"Big idea" leaders often find they can't get folks to follow along. That's because those of us who can implement ideas are too busy with our own ideas.

For scaffolding to be effective, learners need a sense of the entire task or solution they are working towards. Scaffolds have little impact when skills are taught in isolation. #TeachingTips #StudentSuccess

While flexible for small data, spreadsheets can be challenged by formal business needs. When data access grows or a centralized store is needed, organizations often transition from spreadsheets to relational databases. #DataManagement #BusinessAnalytics

“Anyone who believes in indefinite growth in anything physical, on a physically limited planet, is either mad or an economist.” -Kenneth Boulding

Facial data is inescapable; you're always connected to your face, making constant, permanent surveillance possible. This eliminates "practical obscurity," meaning students can't blend in or manage their presence, impacting their coping strategies.

Databases employ strong typing, strictly enforcing data types to prevent errors (e.g., a numeric column only accepting numbers). Spreadsheets, however, use weak typing, offering flexibility but potentially leading to inconsistent data.

The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), first elucidated by Davis in 1989, focuses on factors that increase the likelihood of users choosing to use technology. It posits that perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness are positively associated with the intention to use technology.

LibreOffice Base uses SQL (Structured Query Language), pronounced "sequel". You can enter queries in the GUI or directly as SQL code. SELECT, FROM, and WHERE are core commands! #SQLBasics #DatabaseQueries

I subscribe to you email newsletter (something I rarely do). I get the first edition and the links that look interesting all end up with 404 errors. Yes, I am unsubscribing.