In the 1970’s two professors of planning from California published ana important paper in which they defined “tame” and “wicked” problems. While each can be challenging, the two are differentiated by the how we approach problem and judge if they have been solved. Technology problems are typically tame problems, while teaching is a wicked one. Read More
Author: Gary Ackerman
#edtech for #edleaders: Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act
The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) has been law in the United States since 2000. The intent of the law is to protect the privacy and the personal information of children. In general, this is the law used by social media and other companies that restrict access to their platforms to individuals under 13 Read More
Elevator Pitch on IT in Curriculum Initiatives
Educators are constantly reviewing what they teach. Many regulatory agencies require curriculum documents to be updated, and professional organizations update curriculum suggestions as well. IT professionals are often expected to participate in some of these efforts. Although IT professionals will not make recommendations about what should be taught, they will be asked to participate to Read More
On Collaboration in Learning
For several decades, cognitive scientists and anthropologists have been studying two opposing hypotheses to explain of the anatomical and behavioral differences between the brains of humans and the brains of other primates. According the social brain hypothesis, social factors are the primary force driving the development of the human brain; according to the ecological brain Read More
On Cultural Influences on Learners
Normal brain development depends on social interaction, and the social nature of human learning continues throughout life, and deeper learning has social components. In recent decades, cognitive and learning scientists have converged on the conclusion that human cognitions is a strongly social phenomenon. Michael Gazzaniga (2008), a noted neuroscientist who has studied human brains for Read More
Learning Through Inference
Inferential learning requires three distinct, but connected, phases. First, learners build models of situations and systems. This model building brings foundational knowledge togethering a manner that allows learners to make predictions about what will happen in specific situations. This represents deeper learning as the learners must sufficiently understand and generalize what they have learned to Read More
On Design in Education
On occasion, one finds a piece of writing that brings captures and consolidates their thinking about important ideas. This post shares such a discovery for me. The concept of design has captured my attention in recent years. Specifically, I have come to understand that planning is an inadequate approach finding solutions—effective solutions—to most problem we Read More
On Educators’ Education
One of the difficult lessons that all teachers face when they first meet a group of students is that not all students arrive with the same motivation, goals, and experiences as the teacher. This is certainly true in liberal arts classrooms and mathematics classrooms, but it is even true in many programs that prepare students Read More
#edtech for #edleaders On Network Permissions
IT professionals know the danger of using computers when logged on with an account that has administrator permissions. When logged on with an administrator account, users have access to controls to change configurations, install software, and manage other users. All of these have potential to be set improperly. Most IT professionals have two accounts; they Read More
On Unions and School IT
Some folks asked me about unions and school IT jobs recently, I thought my response might be a good blog post: Schools tend to be highly unionized organizations. Often, the licensed educators in the school are members of one union (and covered by a different master contract) than non-licensed employees. Many factors affect whether an Read More