Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

If you are convinced you understand it, you are wrong.

A blog post based on a syllabus I uploaded to NotebookLM (and also an audio file of the same syllabus) in which AI interprets what I would have taught if the course was offered.
https://hackscience.education/2025/11/18/your-online-course-is-draining-student-brainpower-four-simple-fixes-from-learning-science/ .

A single case does not prove a large data set is wrong.

used to use Voki to create and post sub plans when I taught more than 14 years ago. Maybe I was on the cutting edge of synthetic media creation in education?

If you are convinced you understand it, you are wrong.

One thing I learned during 30+ years teaching: many behaviors are conflated with learning.

When see teachers whose profiles claim “ambassador for x” and “y certified” where x and y are edtech companies, I'm saddened. We gave education over to companies long ago.

“We value our staff” is a red flag for me.

The sadness one feels when they find out someone died whom they thought had died long ago is strange.

I’m confused about why folks continue to lie about things that are tracked digitally even after they have been shown the digital tracks they leave.

"The problem with ChatGPT is it has biased information."
I hate to tell you, but all sources are biased.

“Unsciency” is my new favorite word.

I’ve seen lots of suggestions from generative AI on what educators should do (education is my field). It promotes lots of red herrings.

That paper your students handed in… they own the copyright even if it isn’t registered.

Remember emerging technologies rarely live up to their hype, and become adapted for much different uses once users get their hands on them. Keep this in mind as you listen to chatter about AI.

Don’t be one of those leaders who assumes folks “understand” when they stop criticizing and questioning.

ChatGPT is not really different from any other source of informtion. We access it. We query it. We assess the quality of what we get... well... we should assess its quality before we use it.

“Research article” and “white paper” are not the same. If you are going to claim to be “research-driven,” then please know the difference.

“Unsciency” is my new favorite word.

One thing I learned during 30+ years in the classroom: What one “knows” is contingent on past experiences.