Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

Is your “debrief” really a self-congratulations session or do you really want feedback?

If you are always complaining about the technology, but never take steps to resolve the issues, it is not a technology problem.

The situation defines what you know more than what’s stored in your synapses at the moment.

For devices whose hardware and software are designed to exacting standards, digital devices are surprisingly unreliable... until you consider them from a systems perspective... then you are amazed they ever work.

It’s interesting to watch how leaders (esp. in education) become very uncomfortable when change (even that which they they advocated) begins to take hold. Unless the change is going back to what they did in a previous position.

The curriculum you can deliver is a small part of the curriculum students need.

There has gotta be an AI tool that can predict when someone will tell bad joke on Zoom and will mute them.

What if your test isn’t predictive? (eg. the test of reading level doesn’t predict ability to interact with text or reading habits)

Maybe the most sensible advice I have read this year is “let’s all stop using the phrase ‘fake news’ as it just reinforces the false narrative that nurtured it.”

Here is your reminder: reality ruins so many good ideas.

Sometimes the least effective way to measure something is a “do a survey.”

Clippy was really prescient... it was asking us to do what we actively ask AI to do for us now.

Tame problems can be solved quickly. Seek advice of those who know what they are going and follow it. Wicked problems... that’s a different story.

I used to be a vexillologist as a hobby... now I really question flags.

Hypocrisy is the worst character one can display... especially in leaders.

Concepts that draw blank stares from “data-driven” folks... I’ll go first... sampling error.

I’ve honed the ability to identify those who ask questions, but don’t really want to hear the answers.

My evenings have been spent in front of screens this week... tonight, I’m reading a book... tomorrow, listening to the radio.

Wait... you can’t even tell me what’s wrong with your idea?

Several SPAM calls not being marked by the “ junk detecting algorithm” led me to avoid answering an “emergency” call from the sign interpreter who couldn’t get into the first Zoom session of the ASL course. Maybe the singularity is not closer than we think.