Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

Note to faculty: Publicly criticizing IT (or any other department) is not going to convince them to listen to your needs.

Hey school IT folks… students and teachers have needs that you will find unfamiliar. Listen to them.

“I’m good at multitasking.”
No. No, you are not.

Sometimes I laugh when I read politicians “hot takes” on education issues… then I realize some of them are elected.

Test scores are fine. But no one cares about them in the real world… passing scores on licensing exams excepted.

So much disinformation can be explained as tribal conspiracies.

Those faculty who are the most vehement “read the syllabus” folks are also those least likely to follow procedures for requesting support from other departments.

“Data-driven” folks know that evidence comes from multiple sources, right?

Any other educators annoyed by those activities being called “PD?”

People who get “freaked out” by optical illusions should calm down and learn some biology and psychology… but they are fun.

As an adult nearing retirement, MOOCs are an important source of information that once came from courses.

Retiring faculty: They must replace us with full time faculty!
Also retiring faculty: Yes, I will teach as an adjunct faculty member… yes, I will take as many courses as you give me.

The genre of video in which folks explain things when driving is just plain silly.

Until folks at the top are inconvenienced, problems will not be solved.

I’m looking back at slides I created 15 years ago. I know now why bad presentation design bothers me. I used to be it’s king!

Faculty don’t need a textbook as much as they need the ancillary resources, esp. test questions for the publisher.

One thing I learned during 30 years in the classroom: Taking a break to tell a story, laugh, or have students look out the window at something interesting is a great way to get them to understand a complex idea.

Rules are set for well-known situations. We dealing with the unknown, you can design from principles, but rules are useless.

I read the advertisement for a tutor to work at a local high school. It referenced being able to work with students who have different “learning styles.” 🤦‍♂️

A certain department CCs requests for help all the way up the chain… deans, VPs, etc. all see of their requests. On occasion, I will “reply all” just to annoy ‘em.