I colleague asked for my take on the difference between the two. I figured it mught be an interest post for my blog too. Design Versus Planning When I was an undergraduate student studying to become an educator, my peers and I took great pride in our lesson planning. When I was a graduate student Read More
Author: Gary Ackerman
Team-Based Learning
a post created by NotebookLM based on my notes from Michaelsen, L. K., Knight, A. B., & Fink, L. D. (Eds.). (2004). Team-based learning: A transformative use of small groups in college teaching. Stylus Publishing. Mention the phrase “group project,” and you’re likely to get a groan. For many of us, the experience brings back Read More
On Becoming Educated
I’ve been rereading Steven Pinker’s Enlightenment Now. I am familiar with criticism of his work, but I am a fan nonetheless—maybe it comes from the fact that I believe we can read works even if we dispute some of the points and still find them worthy. In his chapter on “Knowledge” Pinker writes: “So much Read More
Teachers and AI, But Not with Students
Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming a quiet partner in the work teachers do every day. While much of the conversation focuses on collaborative, whole‑school adoption, the reality is that many educators are using AI individually—experimenting on their own, testing tools privately, and integrating them into their workflow long before formal policies or training appear. In Read More
AI and Authoritative Sources
In my work, I see lots of examples of people accepting what comes from AI as true; we accept whatever it gives us with little effort to confirm it. We should be concerned about this, except for the fact that humans have a very long history of accepting information as correct from sources without any Read More
ARP Spoofing
A post for students in network security class: ARP spoofing is a powerful technique used by hackers to intercept and view unencrypted web traffic on a local area network (LAN). This attack exploits a fundamental vulnerability in the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP), which the internet uses to map a device’s IP address (where it is Read More
Deep Fakes
A blog post for students network security class: Deepfakes represent a modern frontier of digital deception, consisting of counterfeit images, videos, or sounds generated through machine learning algorithms. While these tools can be used for entertainment, they are increasingly weaponized by hackers as social engineering techniques to psychologically influence human behavior. By using technology to Read More
Pre-Professional IT Courses
Many high schools, including vocational or trade high schools, offer a range of computer science, digital media, or business applications courses. The specifics of these offerings depend on the history and popularity of the department and the nature of the local business community. If an art teacher is hired who has special skill in digital photography, for example, the school may offer a Read More
Multimedia in Schools
159: Multimedia in Schools Generations of students have created presentations using a series of programs that combine text, images, audio, and video (thus the “multi” in multimedia). Many trace the beginnings of this type of educational software to HyperCard and HyperStudio, programs that available were for Apple computers marketed in schools in the early 1990’s. Interest in multimedia grew when video cards, color displays, audio Read More
On Multiple Working Hypotheses
When I was an undergraduate student studying biology, a botany professor shared with us an article from Science magazine published in 1890. The paper was presented to the Society of Western Naturalists by its president T. C. Chamberlin. It was very influential to me in 1985, but during a move some years later, I lost Read More