Scholars and practitioners in many fields have developed use-inspired research methods specific to the problems they solve and the interventions they design. Educational design research (McKenny & Reeves, 2012). McKenny & Reeves (2014) captured the dual nature of educational design as a method for designing interventions and a method for generating theory, as they noted Read More
Author: Gary Ackerman
Let’s Understand Tests
In the “data-driven” world today, school leaders are always in search of data that will support their decisions. In many cases… no… in all cases (at least I have yet to find any instances in which it isn’t), the “data” comes from a test. I’m not going to consider the potential problems with tests (including Read More
Using the LMS
Every instructor can expect their college will provide a course shell on the learning management system they support. The shell may be largely empty, or it may be completely filled with the materials for the course, or it may be partially filled. Student are likely to be enrolled in your course shell without the instructor’s Read More
Another View of Appropriate, Proper, and Reasonable
In this blog, I have reasoned educational technology must be appropriate, proper, and reasonable. As I think about this more, it seems there are three separate and related, but largely independent groups that must give input into the management of information technology in school organizations. Steering Committees are diverse groups comprising representatives from across the Read More
On Continuous Variation
My afternoon walks have been spent listening to some audio books… Richard Dawkins’ The Ancestor’s Tale has been my most recent selection. Listening to Dawkins describe the confusion that can happen when we expect continuous variation to be discontinuous, I heard much that was familiar and much that explains some of our difficulties in education Read More
What Tenner Wrote About Technology
Edward Tenner (1996), who served as the editor for physics and science at Princeton University Press, suggested in many instances, the actual outcomes of technologies are contrary to the intended outcome and even make the original problem worse. Tenner used the term revenge effects to describe the outcomes of technology that are opposite the intended Read More
Wickedness and Planning
I found this conclusion to a piece I wrote about 2 years ago… seems timely now: School leaders are encouraged to develop plans for continuous improvement (Cohen-Vogel, Cannata, Rutledge, & Socol, 2016) and they are also encouraged to use data to inform their decisions (Saltman & Means, 2017). Many of the problems school leaders seek Read More
What’s Wrong with Learning Outcomes
A generation of educators has been taught the value of “defining outcomes.” Taken to the extreme, I heard a principal remind his teachers they we “expected to have ‘I can’ statement written on the board” for every lesson. I’m old enough to have been teaching before such practiced were common, and I even have the Read More
“Why are we doing this?”
Educators are very familiar with the question that gives the title of the post. We hear students ask it… frequently. We speculate at their motivation: “Are they trying to distract me?” “Are they trying to get out of doing work?” “Are they challenging my authority?” are all reasonable interpretations of the question. Leaders are familiar Read More
Thoughts on “Education for Misinformation”
I’ve been kicking around the concept of “red herrings” for a few years, at least since I started to recognize them. I attribute this skill to the habits I developed while a doctoral student, but we all know how “reliable” such stories are about ourselves. For me, red herrings always appeared in our school structures, Read More