Conceptual artifacts are ideas that we use in planning, but these are ideas whose definitions never change. We are all familiar with the compromises that we make when planning and decision-making, but when planning is organized around conceptual artifacts, we do not compromise on what we mean. When planning with conceptual artifacts we cannot even Read More
Author: Gary Ackerman
Why Educational Design Research
A previous post described educational design research, a method for designing and understanding interventions: Educational Design Research: An Emerging Planning Tool In this post, I continue developing the rationale for using this method. Compared to other planning methods and other methods of gathering data and evidence, educational design research may be perceived as necessitating greater Read More
Barriers to #edtech Efficacy
If information technology is to be used to realize the strategic goal of allowing students to fully participate in the digital world, then it must be appropriately used, properly configured, and reasonably supported. Deficiencies in any of these aspects of technology management are a serious threat to the overall efficacy of the IT managers. To Read More
Classrooms Moving Online
In the 20th century, life revolved around places; we went to a place called school for education, a place called a store to buy groceries, and a place called a library to borrow books, a place called a theatre to watch movie, and so on. In the 21st century, many of the social and economic Read More
Because Education is Wicked
This brief post continues the theme of: Wicked Problems Transparent Taming of Wicked Problems Solving Wicked Problems Wicked Solutions Matter Because education is a wicked technology, it is anticipated that curriculum and instruction designed for 21st century classrooms will be assessed and evaluated using terms such as good or bad, working or dysfunctional, acceptable or Read More
IT and Control
Early in the history of electronic digital computing, computers were large devices that filled rooms. During this phase of their evolution, the calculation to be performed by the computer was hard-wired into the circuits. Changing the calculation required technicians to physically reconfigure the circuits following the direction of the computer engineers. Lohr (2001) observed the Read More
Technology and Society
In his 1996 book The Rise of the Network Society, Manuel Castells, a sociology professor at the University of California Berkeley who has held positions around the world, observed the late 20th century was marked by drastic changes in patterns of commerce and government that challenged long-established social norms around the world. Because of these Read More
Decreasing Distractions
I wrote this piece for another audience a couple of years back… it still seems quite relevant given the observation I made this year in middle schools. It was with horror that I walked up and down the boardwalk of the mid-Atlantic beach I visited for the first time with my family this summer. Every Read More
Thinking About Identity in the Digital World
Early in human history, an individual’s identity was created by and for the people with whom the individual lived, and this number was small. Anthologist Robin Dunbar (1992) concluded that the size of the human neocortex limits the size of humans groups that can be maintained to about 150 individuals. Creating a new identity was Read More
A Rationale for Interaction in Online Courses
Human brains are “wired” to learn in social situations. While the word “wired” may seem inappropriate when describing human physiology, it is illustrative. Human brains comprise long and thin neurons; electrical and chemical activity in those cells cretes cognition. The survival of the human species has been attributed to the cooperation among members of a Read More