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Dr. Gary Ackerman Locked account

garyackerman@bookwyrm.social

Joined 1 year, 3 months ago

educational technology professional interested in science, math, technology, education, online learning

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Howard Bloom: The Lucifer principle. (1995, Atlantic Monthly Press) 4 stars

In the course of his inquiry, Howard Bloom became convinced that evolution could explain the …

This book claims its will make wonderfully broad observations. The themese that are introduced early sound interesting, then we read broef chapters in what the author seems to describe interesting thing he read. The final observations seem completely disconnected from the promised themes.

Stephanie L. Moore: Ethics for Educational Technology and Instructional Design (2023, Taylor & Francis Group) 5 stars

Ethics are active

5 stars

Stephanie Moore and Heather Tillberg-Webb’s Ethics and Educational Technology: Reflection, Interrogation, and Design as a Framework for Practice by Stephanie L. Moore and Heather K. Tillberg-Webb (9780415895088) continues to deliver on the promise summarized on the cover. Ethics, we have seen, should be approached from a design perspective. As designers, we are encouraged to be certain of what we hope to achieve with our systems, but a traditional goal-oriented approach (set the conditions you hope to achieve, then measure your success) is not sufficient for those engaged in ethics as design.

Moore and Tillberg-Webb suggest ethical educational technology designers seek to understand both what they are designing for as well as why they designing for it. This a familiar idea for those designers who understand technology is not a neutral agent in our educational systems, the systems we design have different influences on different populations, and some may be harmed …

Nicholas Carr: The Shallows (2010, W. W. Norton & Company) 4 stars

"Is Google making us stupid?" When Nicholas Carr posed that question, in a celebrated Atlantic …

The Shallows

4 stars

Between 2008 and 2011, I wrote several brief reviews of books which appeared on the Education Review web site. Since then, the editors ceased publication of that type of review and removed the previously published brief reviews from the site. I am making the original drafts of my reviews available here.

Brief Review of Carr, N. (2010). The shallows: What the Internet is doing to our brains. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. By Dr. Gary L. Ackerman, January 2011

The Shallows book coverNicholas Carr is a well-known writer on science topics, in recent years, the focus of his books has been information technology and its influences on human organizations and society. In this book, Carr turns his attention to the Internet and the manner in which online information is presented, and the influences of that infosphere on human cognition. Although not intended specifically for educators, the book does …