We all should be open-minded. When we allow the possibility that we don’t have the answers, that better answers exist, that our information may be incomplete or incorrect, or that others bring new and valuable perspectives, then we can change our minds and make better decisions. When I was a younger man (like from the Read More
Category: Using Data
On Myths in Curriculum
Increasingly, we recognize many of the things that are “true” in society are myths. In education, we hear lots of folks promote “learning styles,” but that idea is a debunked myth. In education, we also hold that curriculum and teaching should not be political. It is reasoned teachers’ job is to teach the facts and Read More
On Using Data
We hear lots of folks talking about how data-driven they are today, but it seems these folks are often woefully unaware of the fundamental principles of data collection, analysis and presentation. Specific principles I see missing in “data-driven” folks are: If we are to claim to be data-driven in our decisions, then we are responsible Read More
On Data
For more than 30 years, knowledge management has been organized around a hierarchy. According to the data-information-knowledge-wisdom (DIKW) model traced to Russell Ackoff in 1989, data comprises symbols representing the facts. Data becomes useful information as it answers questions. Information becomes knowledge as it is organized into generalizations and can be used to explain answers. Read More
On Zeros in Grading
Grades. Formative assessments. Summative assessments. Whatever we call these things, teachers have the responsibility to report the degree to which students have learned what they were supposed to learn. While this seems a straight-forward aspect of the work, it is highly contentious, and different educators have very different perspectives on it. I have addressed this Read More
When Darwin First Presented
Historians of science speculate widely on the reasons why Charles Darwin waited so long to publish On the Origins of Species. (For those not familiar with the story, Darwin had conceived the theory of natural selection in the years after his voyage on the HMS Beagle ended in 1836, but he did not publish until Read More
Why We Compute on the Cloud
Vendors such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) provide highly configurable systems that can be used to replicate many of the same functions that used to be configured on physical servers. Those vendors also provide many related services they can be enabled and configured on an “as needed” basis. The benefits of such systems are: Security Read More
Knowing Your Data
For the last 20 years or more, we have expected every leader to be “data-driven.” If they don’t claim to ground decisions in data, then it is assumed they are just making up what they want to do. Despite the chatter about data, I have found those who make the strongest claims to be data-driven Read More
Elevator Pitch on Error
In science, we make our living as it were by measuring. As a human activity, measurement involvessome errors. When a making measurements, there are (usually) three potential sources of error: The person who is making the measurement could make a mistake. The same person who measures the same thing more than once is likely to Read More
On Resources
As researchers and seekers of information, we depend on words, images, and other media created by others. Not all resources we encounter in the 21st century can be considered of equal worth. While differentiating “fact” and “opinion” cannot be done with reliability, researchers select information from some sources rather than others. This page identifies resources Read More