94: Experts and “Expertiness” in Education In the middle of the first decade of the 21st century, an American comedian coined the term “truthiness” to capture an idea that individual or groups held as true although there was little evidence of the truth. That comedian applied this term to political situations and the satire was Read More
In recent decades, scholars have recognized that education is influenced by diverse factors and those factors exert complex and previously unknown influences. Shasha Barab, a scholar from Indiana University, Bloomington, and Kurt Squire, a scholar from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, reasoned that “learning, cognition, knowing, and context are irreducib[ly] co-constructed and cannot be treated Read More
86: Is #edtech Speeding Back to the 1960’s? By the early 1960s the price of mainframe computers had decreased to the point where sales to educational markets were possible. At about the same time the potential of using computers in schools was recognized, but some cynics have suggested that the educational applications of computing were Read More
As educators recognize they need to prepare students for a far different future than they ever imagined, they are beginning to recognize that the traditional models of “offering a course” or “teaching a lesson” to fill the gaps in students’ preparation is untenable. We cannot possibly provide all of the knowledge, skills, habits, and experiences Read More
Ronald Gallimore and Roland Tharp (1992) educational psychologists who studied conditions in classrooms that influence learning, referred to this type of teaching as a recitation script and observed, “the predominant experience of American school children. Sitting silently, students read assigned texts, complete ‘ditto’ sheets, and take tests. On those rare occasions when they are encouraged Read More
81: Why Theory Matters in Education In many educational communities, existing practice exerts strong influence on the practices deemed acceptable, so attempts to define new goals are met with strong resistance. In this situation, many educators adopt a stance that Paulo Friere, the Brazilian educational philosopher, suggested resembled Aristotle’s concept of doxa, which is practice Read More
83: Technology Acceptance and Educational Design In 2016, I delivered this paper at the Annual Conference of the New England Education Research Organization. Abstract Despite a long history of computers in schools, many educators continue to struggle with the problem of creating effective technology-rich learning environments. In this exploratory research, documents collected as several K-12 Read More
This article appeared in a magazine a few years ago… Author’s copy of Turning Flipped Classroom Upside-Down
One of the fundamental changes influencing the emergence of technology ecosystems has been the transition from ICT being used to access information to it being used for interaction. Discourse and interaction are fundamental components of learning environments, as well. When investigating the different venues in the classroom that are available for communication, and thus that Read More
This article appeared in the Journal of the New England League of Middle Schools in 2006. As that is no longer available, I am making it available here. Ackerman, G. (2006). Technology for Turning Points. Journal of the New England League of Middle Schools, 18(1), 22-6. Introduction Middle school practice is guided by Turning Points 2000 Read More