Some schools lack the structures necessary to change what happens in classrooms; schedules, departments, prescribed curriculum, and other systems are obstacles that are too great. Schools are social organizations, thus inherently political; changes in how teachers interact with students can be affected by the demands or threats of those who are more powerful. Some teachers Read More
Author: Gary Ackerman
Elevator Pitch: Hackers and Phishers
Hackers (those who try to break into our computers) and phishers (those who try to trick users into letting them into the system) are generally after computing capacity or data. In some cases, they want to use our computers for nefarious purposes. For example, they may want to use our computers to spread viruses or Read More
Elevator Pitch on Expertise in Education
Expertise arises from both knowing about the field and experience solving real-world problems in the field. In traditional classrooms, the teacher is the individual who has the greatest expertise in the field, and hence is the community’s expert. Increasingly, educators are sharing the role of the foremost expert in the classroom community.
Yes Technology Improves Our Lives
I recently helped my son move about 1000 miles away. He was driving a truck full of stuff and I was driving one of their cars. This is a task parents and their children have been doing for decades. The details of doing it sure have changed. Our phones were connected to our vehicles, so Read More
Some Observations of Generative AI
Generative AI has been a “thing” for more than a year. My colleagues in education seem to be surviving despite the warnings that “the sky is falling.” Some are working to integrate it into their instruction; some are avoiding it. I was a student when handheld calculators became ubiquitous, I was a teacher when computers Read More
Elevator Pitch: School IT Decisions
It is important for all IT professionals who work in school to understand the nature of the users and their specific needs. Every decision made and every action taken by IT professionals (regardless of their role) affects end users either directly (by providing troubleshooting, training, and other support) or indirectly (by installing and configuring systems Read More
Tacit Knoweldge
Philosopher and scientist Michael Polanyi used the term tacit knowledge to describe understanding that is implicit and difficult to state with precision. For this reason, tacit knowledge cannot be stated as an algorithm, so it cannot be downloaded to digital devices. According to Polanyi, tacit knowledge is necessary to frame a problem, to develop a Read More
Is It an Innovation?
Consider the overhead projector as an educational innovation. Prior to the overhead projector, a teacher wrote notes and drew pictures on slate boards with chalk. When writing or drawing, a teacher’s back was to the students and the contents were bounded by the edges of the slate. With the overhead projector, teachers faced the students Read More
On Computer Memory
The keyboard strokes that become digital displays that humans recognize as words and sentences are actually a series of digital signals. Those signals are stored as magnetic signals or optical signals on disks or electrically in memory. As long as the physical media are safe and the file is not otherwise compromised, the messages can Read More
Types of Professional Development: Awareness Presentation
Because information technology (hardware and software as well as network resources) changes so quickly and new tools are developed and refined so quickly, it is likely that options exist that even connected educators are not aware exist. The purpose of an awareness presentation is simply to introduce a technology or strategy to an educator (or Read More