Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

Over the weekend, I watched no football games, but many matches.

In education, we do some things very well. Unfortunately, they are not necessarily the things we should be doing.

Classrooms with seats in rows.

This elicits vastly different responses from teachers.

When I was an undergraduate student doing botany research, we realized our measurements were proxies for something else. They were not reified in our minds. One thing that drive me out of k-12 teaching in the US, was the fact that test scores had become reified.

It never ceases to amaze me to observe two or more people discussing “learning” and seeing they each have vastly different concepts of it but no one realizes it, yet they argue on. #education #teaching

“Taking a class in it” and “knowing it” are not the same thing.

Learning. A human activity full of myth and mystery, and dedicated to creating fading and false memories.

Learning. Such a simple idea. We all have done it for our whole lives. As humans, we have done it since the inception of the species. It has been the subject of philosophical discourse for centuries. Yet we seem to act like we have no idea how it might work.

"We are taking accessibility seriously," but we excuse leaders whose presentations are not.

Despite interacting with students, colleagues, specialists, and principals all day, educators surprisingly work in isolation. When a challenging problem arises, educators are typically left to solve it on their own. Unless they are wise users of AI. #TeacherLife #EdChat

Averaging is about the worst way to report learning.

When the consequences or rewards don’t work, don’t look for effective ones, look for a different theory.

So many who argue “it will motivate them” do not understand motivation nor do they understand the individuals who are to be motivated.

One event isn’t a trend. Two aren’t either. Once you get to three, you can start being curious… but get some math to back up your argument if you start claiming a trend.

You say, “it’s this or that,” but in reality, there are far more options. Digital processing is the one obvious exception.

Objectively measuring the value of anything seems dubious… except maybe money and votes.

“As work turns into a contest, your livelihood becomes the prize.” -Madhumita Murgia

Those subject matters that are so important in school do not exist outside of it.

A blog post for my students studying for the AWS Cloud Practitioners exam focusing on economics and billing.
https://hackscience.education/2025/10/05/a-cloud-practitioners-guide-to-aws-economics-and-billing/

The best path forward rarely comes in survey results.