In my experience, that last point is where school IT decision-making breaks down. Organizations have different strategic goals, and they accomplish those goals by setting different priorities and adopting different strategies. IT professionals who have learned their craft in organizations other than schools are often unfamiliar with the urgency of malfunctioning academic systems. During my Read More
Author: Gary Ackerman
Are They Learning? How Do We Know?
I posted a tweet recently that seemed to motivate folks to engage. I posted: What if students learn, but can't perform on assessments? — Dr. Gary Ackerman (@GaryAckermanPhD) November 23, 2023 The responses to my tweet suggest there are some educators have not yet abandoned the platform, and those who remain are thoughtful about the Read More
On Rationales
Educational leaders are recognizing that some populations have been dissuaded from perusing higher education because of attitudes, practices, and structures that prevented them from enrolling and studying. I hesitate to make a list of these populations as it will exclude some who have experiences of exclusion. For many educational leaders, the effort to increase the Read More
Special Use IT in Schools
In addition to the fleets of computers maintained for populations such as students and teachers, schools are places where special purpose computers and peripherals are found. In makerspaces, science laboratories, studios, workshops, and other special teaching spaces, there are computing devices necessary for specialized educational activities. Examples include:
On Micromanaging
Micromanaging is not unique to educational settings, but I have worked primarily in schools, so that is where I have experienced it. It is a familiar phenomenon: leaders give excessive direction to workers. They specify details of how direct reports are to complete their work and they pay excessive attention to the processes workers follow. Read More
On Identifying Plants & Technology
My undergraduate preparation was to be a science teacher. Like most with that career goal, I expected to spend my life teaching high school biology. At the university I attended, there was a small and active botany department (I studied with experts in acid rain) and there was an active pre-med curriculum. Again, like other Read More
Leaderspeak: “Tell Me What I Can Do to Help”
“Tell me what I can do to help”
Formal Education and School Aren’t the Same (Anymore)
On the future of education. The rhetoric of “education is changing” has been white noise since I started in the field. (This year marks 40 years since I started my undergraduate studies. I started in the same year A Nation at Risk was published.) My career has also coincided with the arrival of desktop computers, Read More
How Malware Protection Works
Because it is installed through stealth methods, one usually does not know their computer is infected, or even that a file which appears benign is in fact malware. Both IT professionals who manage enterprise networks and the individuals who manage desktop and laptop computers for their own use have options for installing and configuring software Read More
IT Tradeoffs in Schools
School users are also well-known for trading reliability for functionality and ease. IT professionals know that systems can be configured to perform many more functions than are typically used. Further, many users will use only a fraction of the tools and features available in the applications they use. Of course, using these tools and features Read More