Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

A blog post differentiating school IT from business IT. Generate by AI from a chapter form a book I published a few years ago:
https://www.hackscience.education/not-your-average-user-why-school-it-is-different-from-business-it/

I’m at that age when my wife (we were in high school together) talk about people, places, and events; and no one knows what we are laughing about.

Yes, you have freedom of speech, but do do those who are shouting you down.

Yes, I know your position. No, that does not mean I have to agree with your ideas.

I taught for decades. I now have a “real job,” but still in education. I always work through my lunch. Colleagues find this very unusual.

The most rigorous self-proclaimed “data-driven” leaders tend to be troubled the most by the question “how do you know?”

When you start believing your own “data” you are doomed.

“If we do this, that will happen.”
Nature often disagrees.

The dysfunction in an organization is proportional to the number of members who “pass the buck.”

You can tell much about leaders by watching their actions at “mission critical” events. In education, watch them interact with students.

If one can only use math to answer questions on a test, does one really know math?

There is nothing that makes a teacher smile more than seeing a former student (who was a pain) dealing with their misbehaving children in public.

Mutation is random. There long-term effects are not. It produces the appearance of design, but appearances can be deceiving.

“It’s human nature” is using followed by an opinion given by someone completely unfamiliar with what we actually know about human nature.

If your organization insists on silos (e.g. this department must fix those problems). But departments are unresponsive, then folks will find workarounds, many of which degrade the systems.

I see lots of commercials for prescription drugs. They say to ask your doctor about it. It’s a six month wait to see a doctor in my area. I couldn’t get those products even if I needed them, yet the commercials continue.

What is the proper reaction when the speaker on DEI has slides with inaccessible text and graphics?

"Objective assessment" is impossible.

One thing I learned during 30 years as a teacher: 8th grade math (substitute the grade and subject of choice) isn’t really a thing.

“Skepticism” and “rejecting evidence” are not the same.