WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.339 Imagine you're an IT professional. Just picture 00:00:03.339 --> 00:00:07.400 it. A massive critical server goes down right 00:00:07.400 --> 00:00:09.699 in the middle of the workday. Oh, absolute nightmare 00:00:09.699 --> 00:00:12.519 scenario. Panic everywhere. Right. Total panic. 00:00:12.599 --> 00:00:14.580 So what do you do? You do the logical thing. 00:00:14.660 --> 00:00:16.460 You ignore it completely. You go home, get a 00:00:16.460 --> 00:00:20.280 good night's sleep. And by Thursday morning, 00:00:20.660 --> 00:00:23.879 the server has just spontaneously rewired its 00:00:23.879 --> 00:00:27.280 own circuitry. Just fixed itself. Magic. Exactly, 00:00:27.519 --> 00:00:29.760 functioning perfectly without you ever touching 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:31.839 a single cable. I mean, it sounds completely 00:00:31.839 --> 00:00:34.119 absurd, right? Something out of a really bad, 00:00:34.119 --> 00:00:36.579 low -budget science fiction movie. Yeah, if an 00:00:36.579 --> 00:00:38.799 IT guy pitched that to his boss, he'd be fired 00:00:38.799 --> 00:00:41.600 on the spot. Oh, 100%. But here's the crazy part. 00:00:41.659 --> 00:00:43.899 If you are a teacher, that kind of, you know, 00:00:44.439 --> 00:00:46.460 spontaneous resolution, it isn't magic. It is 00:00:46.460 --> 00:00:49.659 just a regular Tuesday in a classroom. Yeah. 00:00:50.079 --> 00:00:53.420 And that contrast, that exact contrast, really 00:00:53.420 --> 00:00:55.719 is the heart of the disconnect we see every single 00:00:55.719 --> 00:00:57.579 day. Because we expect things to act like the 00:00:57.579 --> 00:01:01.840 server, right? Exactly. We carry this deep -seated 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:05.400 societal belief that technology fundamentally 00:01:05.400 --> 00:01:08.640 equals solutions. Like, we expect a straight 00:01:08.640 --> 00:01:11.340 unbroken line from implementing a tool to seeing 00:01:11.340 --> 00:01:14.319 an immediate improvement. But then reality hits. 00:01:14.579 --> 00:01:17.280 Right. When you drop that exact same technology 00:01:17.280 --> 00:01:20.060 into a highly complex, deeply human environment, 00:01:20.140 --> 00:01:23.000 like a school, for instance, that straight line 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:25.579 instantly tangles into just an unrecognizable 00:01:25.579 --> 00:01:28.209 knot. It just completely breaks down. does, instead 00:01:28.209 --> 00:01:31.049 of this frictionless efficiency we were promised, 00:01:31.390 --> 00:01:33.790 you often trigger a whole new web of entirely 00:01:33.790 --> 00:01:36.969 unanticipated systemic issues. And that is exactly 00:01:36.969 --> 00:01:39.969 our mission for you today. We are going to untangle 00:01:39.969 --> 00:01:42.209 why technology, which is engineered from the 00:01:42.209 --> 00:01:44.629 ground up to make life easier, so consistently 00:01:44.629 --> 00:01:47.290 creates absolute chaos when it collides with 00:01:47.290 --> 00:01:49.230 the classroom. The fascinating collision, really. 00:01:49.450 --> 00:01:52.530 It is. And to do that, we're grounding our discussion 00:01:52.530 --> 00:01:55.090 in this really insightful piece by Dr. Gary L. 00:01:55.209 --> 00:01:58.290 Ackerman. It was published on his site, hackscience 00:01:58.290 --> 00:02:01.189 .education, and it's titled, Comparing IT and 00:02:01.189 --> 00:02:04.810 Education. So, okay, let's untack this. Because 00:02:04.810 --> 00:02:07.290 our goal for this deep dive is to explore the 00:02:07.290 --> 00:02:10.129 fundamental clash between how IT professionals 00:02:10.129 --> 00:02:12.800 view the world and how educators view the world. 00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:15.960 And it's a massive gap. Huge. And understanding 00:02:15.960 --> 00:02:18.719 this gap is essentially the ultimate shortcut 00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:21.979 to making sense of, well, basically any tech 00:02:21.979 --> 00:02:23.620 rollout you will ever experience in your life. 00:02:23.759 --> 00:02:25.919 Yeah, and to set the baseline here, Ackerman 00:02:25.919 --> 00:02:28.400 is pushing far past the basic observation that, 00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:30.719 like, fixing a network and teaching a room full 00:02:30.719 --> 00:02:33.060 of teenagers are simply different jobs. Right, 00:02:33.080 --> 00:02:34.939 it's not just one works with computers, one works 00:02:34.939 --> 00:02:37.919 with kids. Exactly. He is arguing something deeply 00:02:37.919 --> 00:02:40.719 philosophical. He proposes that IT professionals 00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:42.960 and educators are actually operating in entirely 00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:45.599 different paradigms of reality. Wow, different 00:02:45.599 --> 00:02:47.620 realities. Yeah, they require vastly different 00:02:47.620 --> 00:02:50.080 knowledge bases, different skill sets, and fun 00:02:50.030 --> 00:02:52.370 mentally different daily habits just to survive 00:02:52.370 --> 00:02:54.569 the underlying physics of their respective domains. 00:02:55.150 --> 00:02:57.849 I love that phrase, the underlying physics of 00:02:57.849 --> 00:03:02.530 their domains. So to truly grasp the mechanics 00:03:02.530 --> 00:03:05.389 of why these two worlds collide with such force, 00:03:06.009 --> 00:03:08.310 we first need to define a phrase we all throw 00:03:08.310 --> 00:03:10.610 around constantly, which is what it actually 00:03:10.610 --> 00:03:13.949 means to solve a problem. Oh, right. We say that 00:03:13.949 --> 00:03:16.830 all the time. I solve the problem. Exactly. But 00:03:16.830 --> 00:03:19.310 Ackerman refuses to let us use that phrase loosely. 00:03:19.479 --> 00:03:22.500 He provides a really precise two -part framework. 00:03:22.840 --> 00:03:25.039 First, there's the framing of the problem. Which 00:03:25.039 --> 00:03:27.039 is usually the hardest part, honestly. Right, 00:03:27.319 --> 00:03:29.520 because this requires defining what we believe 00:03:29.520 --> 00:03:32.800 the root cause to be, while simultaneously establishing 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:34.740 the specific conditions that will prove the problem 00:03:34.740 --> 00:03:37.300 has been solved. You have to explicitly define 00:03:37.300 --> 00:03:39.280 the finish line before you take a single step. 00:03:39.439 --> 00:03:41.340 Yes. And then comes the second phase, which is 00:03:41.340 --> 00:03:44.000 the actual resolution. Right. So Ackerman defines 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:46.620 solving a problem as taking direct action to 00:03:46.620 --> 00:03:48.919 reduce its immediate effects and subsequently 00:03:48.919 --> 00:03:51.539 taking structural action to prevent that specific 00:03:51.539 --> 00:03:54.219 problem from ever returning. Prevent it from 00:03:54.219 --> 00:03:56.919 ever coming back. Let me ground this in a tangible 00:03:56.919 --> 00:03:59.800 analogy. Consider fixing a leaky copper pike 00:03:59.800 --> 00:04:02.319 under your kitchen sink. Classic homeownership 00:04:02.319 --> 00:04:05.020 nightmare. Oh, the worst. But framing the problem 00:04:05.020 --> 00:04:08.659 is entirely objective, right? The root cause 00:04:08.659 --> 00:04:11.800 is a physical hole in the metal. The condition 00:04:11.800 --> 00:04:15.400 that proves it is solved is a dry floor. Right. 00:04:15.400 --> 00:04:17.500 You can see it. You can touch it. You can measure 00:04:17.500 --> 00:04:20.399 it. It's either wet or it's dry. Exactly. So 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:22.839 to actually solve it, you patch the pipe or you 00:04:22.839 --> 00:04:25.639 replace the section entirely. That action stops 00:04:25.639 --> 00:04:28.220 the immediate effect, the water pooling on your 00:04:28.220 --> 00:04:31.019 new hardwood floor, and it prevents the structural 00:04:31.019 --> 00:04:33.350 leak from returning tomorrow. Right. And that 00:04:33.350 --> 00:04:36.089 leaky pipe represents the classic industrial 00:04:36.089 --> 00:04:38.850 model of problem solving. It is linear. It is 00:04:38.850 --> 00:04:42.129 physical. And above all, it is highly deterministic. 00:04:42.490 --> 00:04:45.810 Deterministic, meaning A always leads to B. Exactly. 00:04:45.910 --> 00:04:48.350 If you apply intervention A, the patch, you will 00:04:48.350 --> 00:04:51.329 definitively get outcome B, the dry floor. OK. 00:04:51.370 --> 00:04:53.009 But I have to push back a little on the idea 00:04:53.009 --> 00:04:55.910 that IT is this perfectly solvable utopia, though. 00:04:56.009 --> 00:04:57.810 Fair enough. Fair enough. Because anyone who 00:04:57.810 --> 00:05:00.379 has dealt with I don't know, phantom network 00:05:00.379 --> 00:05:04.339 drops or modern cloud -based AI systems that 00:05:04.339 --> 00:05:07.439 suddenly hallucinate data. Oh, the AI hallucinations 00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:10.060 are wild right now. They're crazy. So we all 00:05:10.060 --> 00:05:12.319 know that technology can be incredibly unpredictable. 00:05:12.540 --> 00:05:16.579 Is IT really as deterministic as that leaky pipe 00:05:16.579 --> 00:05:19.439 analogy suggests? Well, this raises an important 00:05:19.439 --> 00:05:22.279 question. How do different professional domains 00:05:22.279 --> 00:05:25.819 handle this exact definition of a problem? Because 00:05:25.819 --> 00:05:28.560 that is a crucial distinction to make. Modern 00:05:28.560 --> 00:05:31.579 technology is absolutely creeping toward complexity. 00:05:31.779 --> 00:05:34.699 We see that with AI. But Ackerman's argument 00:05:34.699 --> 00:05:37.480 centers on the foundational paradigm of the field. 00:05:37.579 --> 00:05:40.180 The core philosophy of IT. Exactly. At the end 00:05:40.180 --> 00:05:43.300 of the day, someone Somewhere wrote the code. 00:05:43.420 --> 00:05:46.199 The servers, the routers, the software architecture. 00:05:46.519 --> 00:05:49.420 These are fundamentally human -made, logically 00:05:49.420 --> 00:05:52.759 designed entities. Even the AI. Even an AI hallucination. 00:05:52.800 --> 00:05:54.839 It's just the result of mathematical weights 00:05:54.839 --> 00:05:57.920 and biases in a neural network. It lacks organic 00:05:57.920 --> 00:05:59.959 consciousness. So it's not a living thing, no 00:05:59.959 --> 00:06:01.779 matter how much it acts like one. Right. Because 00:06:01.779 --> 00:06:04.040 IT professionals know how the architecture is 00:06:04.040 --> 00:06:06.300 supposed to function, troubleshooting remains 00:06:06.300 --> 00:06:09.139 a systematic process of variable isolation. Which 00:06:09.139 --> 00:06:11.620 means the IT domain essentially operates on the 00:06:11.620 --> 00:06:13.519 assumption that all problems are fundamentally 00:06:13.519 --> 00:06:15.899 solvable. They operate on that assumption because 00:06:15.899 --> 00:06:18.079 their entire professional psychology is built 00:06:18.079 --> 00:06:20.779 on the foundation of absolute control. Absolute 00:06:20.779 --> 00:06:23.139 control. That's a strong way to put it. But think 00:06:23.139 --> 00:06:25.360 about it. When an IT professional encounters 00:06:25.360 --> 00:06:28.100 an error, they know it has a logical source. 00:06:28.620 --> 00:06:30.740 If they don't know the answer immediately, they 00:06:30.740 --> 00:06:33.199 have an abundance of deterministic resources. 00:06:33.360 --> 00:06:35.680 Like manuals and stuff? Yeah. They consult user 00:06:35.680 --> 00:06:39.870 manuals, hardware vendors. vast online repositories 00:06:39.870 --> 00:06:42.930 of documentation, forums like Stack Overflow. 00:06:43.110 --> 00:06:45.750 So they always have a roadmap. Right. They are 00:06:45.750 --> 00:06:48.829 never truly flying blind in the way a teacher 00:06:48.829 --> 00:06:51.370 often is. And the text points out that because 00:06:51.370 --> 00:06:54.529 of this infrastructure, IT problems rarely resolve 00:06:54.529 --> 00:06:57.569 without some kind of explicit intervention. Like 00:06:57.569 --> 00:06:59.949 we said at the start, a system does not heal 00:06:59.949 --> 00:07:02.750 itself. Never. It might be a distant, unknown 00:07:02.750 --> 00:07:05.009 automated protocol restarting a virtual server 00:07:05.009 --> 00:07:07.740 in a data center a thousand miles away. but a 00:07:07.740 --> 00:07:10.000 defined intervention always takes place. Which 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:13.339 leads to highly visible universally agreed upon 00:07:13.339 --> 00:07:16.069 markers of success. The dry floor. Essentially. 00:07:16.889 --> 00:07:19.850 Exactly. When an IT problem is solved, the victory 00:07:19.850 --> 00:07:22.490 is undeniable. You see green lights blinking 00:07:22.490 --> 00:07:25.410 on the server rack signaling restored packet 00:07:25.410 --> 00:07:27.870 flow. You see operational computers booting up. 00:07:28.009 --> 00:07:30.610 Right. You see smiling users who can suddenly 00:07:30.610 --> 00:07:33.089 access their email again after an hour of panicking. 00:07:33.629 --> 00:07:36.290 The metric for success is objective and shared 00:07:36.290 --> 00:07:38.649 by everyone in the room. And that psychology 00:07:38.649 --> 00:07:41.410 of control shapes how they view the entire world. 00:07:41.490 --> 00:07:44.329 It has to. When you operate in a paradigm where 00:07:44.859 --> 00:07:47.319 Isolating a variable permanently eliminates a 00:07:47.319 --> 00:07:49.860 problem. You are trained to view the universe 00:07:49.860 --> 00:07:53.459 as a series of distinct isolated puzzles. You 00:07:53.459 --> 00:07:55.560 fix the router, the network is whole, and you 00:07:55.560 --> 00:07:57.620 move on to the next puzzle. But now we have to 00:07:57.620 --> 00:07:59.879 cross the border into the territory Dr. Ackerman 00:07:59.879 --> 00:08:03.500 contrasts this with. The classroom. Yes. We must 00:08:03.500 --> 00:08:05.819 examine what happens when the components of your 00:08:05.819 --> 00:08:08.660 system are not logically designed routers, but 00:08:08.660 --> 00:08:10.879 human beings. Right. And this is where we need 00:08:10.879 --> 00:08:13.079 to elevate the conversation to systems theory. 00:08:13.300 --> 00:08:17.420 Oh, I love this part. So helpful. So in IT, we 00:08:17.420 --> 00:08:20.459 are dealing with what engineers call a complicated 00:08:20.459 --> 00:08:24.089 system. Complicated, not complex. Exactly. A 00:08:24.089 --> 00:08:26.310 jet engine is complicated. It has millions of 00:08:26.310 --> 00:08:28.389 parts, right? Yeah. But if you know what every 00:08:28.389 --> 00:08:31.829 single part does, you can predict exactly how 00:08:31.829 --> 00:08:33.750 the engine will behave. Because it's ultimately 00:08:33.750 --> 00:08:36.549 deterministic. Right. Education, on the other 00:08:36.549 --> 00:08:39.570 hand, is a complex system. It is much more like 00:08:39.570 --> 00:08:42.169 a rainforest ecosystem. Which is a brilliant 00:08:42.169 --> 00:08:44.409 way to frame it. Yeah, the individual parts. 00:08:44.779 --> 00:08:47.720 The students, the teachers, the curriculum, the 00:08:47.720 --> 00:08:50.039 emotional states of everyone in the room, they 00:08:50.039 --> 00:08:54.120 interact in continuous dynamic ways that create 00:08:54.120 --> 00:08:56.940 emergent behaviors. You cannot possibly predict 00:08:56.940 --> 00:08:59.279 what will happen just by looking at the individual 00:08:59.279 --> 00:09:01.700 component. And that shift from complicated to 00:09:01.700 --> 00:09:04.320 complex shatters the linear problem -solving 00:09:04.320 --> 00:09:06.279 framework we just talked about. It throws the 00:09:06.279 --> 00:09:08.240 leaky pipe right out the window. Completely. 00:09:08.570 --> 00:09:11.250 Ackerman points out that in education, problems 00:09:11.250 --> 00:09:14.009 often cannot even be clearly stated, let alone 00:09:14.009 --> 00:09:17.029 traced back to a single isolated cause. Because 00:09:17.029 --> 00:09:19.330 you cannot isolate the variables in a 15 -year 00:09:19.330 --> 00:09:21.629 -old's life. You really can. Like, if a student 00:09:21.629 --> 00:09:23.830 is failing algebra, what is the root cause? Good 00:09:23.830 --> 00:09:27.230 luck figuring that out. Seriously. Did they miss 00:09:27.230 --> 00:09:30.399 a foundational concept in fourth grade? Are they 00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:32.620 experiencing a spike in social anxiety because 00:09:32.620 --> 00:09:34.460 of something that just happened in the cafeteria 00:09:34.460 --> 00:09:36.879 10 minutes ago? Or did they simply not sleep? 00:09:37.019 --> 00:09:39.460 Right. And you cannot just pull out the sleep 00:09:39.460 --> 00:09:41.860 component, patch it, and see if the algebra grade 00:09:41.860 --> 00:09:44.360 goes up. It doesn't work like a server rack. 00:09:44.700 --> 00:09:47.559 And because of this density of variables, treating 00:09:47.559 --> 00:09:50.379 a classroom like a server rack leads to disastrous 00:09:50.379 --> 00:09:53.360 results. Oh, absolutely. You use the ecosystem 00:09:53.360 --> 00:09:56.200 analogy, which perfectly captures Ackerman's 00:09:56.200 --> 00:09:59.460 point about interventions. In IT, you deploy 00:09:59.460 --> 00:10:02.159 a software patch to kill a bug, and the bug is 00:10:02.159 --> 00:10:04.539 gone. Whack -a -mole. Yeah, whack -a -mole. But 00:10:04.539 --> 00:10:07.600 in education, attempting a rigid solution is 00:10:07.600 --> 00:10:10.480 like introducing a new species of bird into a 00:10:10.480 --> 00:10:13.200 forest to control an insect population. Oh, this 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:15.700 happens in ecology all the time. You spend a 00:10:15.700 --> 00:10:17.679 massive amount of time and budget bringing in 00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:19.899 these birds, just like a school district spends 00:10:19.899 --> 00:10:23.100 millions implementing a new standardized testing 00:10:23.100 --> 00:10:25.700 software. Right, the new fix -it -all tool. Exactly. 00:10:26.500 --> 00:10:28.779 But instead of just eating the insects, the birds 00:10:28.779 --> 00:10:31.840 also eat the seeds of a vital native tree, and 00:10:31.840 --> 00:10:33.820 then they drive away a native pollinator. The 00:10:33.820 --> 00:10:36.700 whole ecosystem reacts. It defends itself almost. 00:10:37.460 --> 00:10:39.759 Yeah. Ackerman notes that after considerable 00:10:39.759 --> 00:10:42.870 effort and expense, The original educational 00:10:42.870 --> 00:10:46.250 problem might remain completely untouched. Or 00:10:46.250 --> 00:10:48.210 the problem might simply shift to a different 00:10:48.210 --> 00:10:50.509 part of the system. Right. Or your so -called 00:10:50.509 --> 00:10:53.350 solution might trigger totally unanticipated 00:10:53.350 --> 00:10:55.820 secondary crises. And to understand the mechanics 00:10:55.820 --> 00:10:58.299 of this, we really have to look closely at the 00:10:58.299 --> 00:11:00.779 anomalies Ackerman highlights in the educational 00:11:00.779 --> 00:11:03.320 domain. The things that make IT professionals 00:11:03.320 --> 00:11:05.779 pull their hair out. Exactly. You mentioned the 00:11:05.779 --> 00:11:08.059 concept of spontaneous resolution in our opening. 00:11:08.200 --> 00:11:10.759 The magically fixing server. Right. To an IT 00:11:10.759 --> 00:11:14.279 professional, a problem fixing itself is an impossibility. 00:11:14.759 --> 00:11:17.960 But in a complex human system, it happens constantly. 00:11:18.340 --> 00:11:21.179 And it isn't magic. There are profound biological 00:11:21.179 --> 00:11:23.759 and sociological mechanisms driving it. Oh, totally. 00:11:24.009 --> 00:11:26.730 Like, a student struggling with a reading comprehension 00:11:26.730 --> 00:11:29.590 concept on Tuesday might perfectly grasp it by 00:11:29.590 --> 00:11:32.769 Thursday. Why? Because of neuroplasticity. Their 00:11:32.769 --> 00:11:36.830 brain was literally rewiring itself. Yes, subconsciously 00:11:36.830 --> 00:11:39.049 processing the mental model during REM sleep. 00:11:39.769 --> 00:11:43.049 Or, perhaps they had an entirely unrelated conversation 00:11:43.049 --> 00:11:45.389 with a peer in the hallway that provided a new 00:11:45.389 --> 00:11:48.730 analogy and it just unlocks a concept. The system 00:11:48.730 --> 00:11:52.460 self -corrected through emergent? unmapped interactions, 00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:56.100 interactions that no teacher or IT professional 00:11:56.100 --> 00:11:58.779 could ever track on a spreadsheet. Never. And 00:11:58.779 --> 00:12:01.919 this inherent subjectivity leads to another massive 00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:04.440 anomaly, Ackerman points out. What's that? In 00:12:04.440 --> 00:12:06.879 education, there is often profound disagreement 00:12:06.879 --> 00:12:09.519 among stakeholders that a problem even existed 00:12:09.519 --> 00:12:11.539 in the first place. You know, this blew my mind 00:12:11.539 --> 00:12:13.919 when I first read it. How can a system function 00:12:13.919 --> 00:12:16.259 if people cannot even agree on what is broken? 00:12:16.429 --> 00:12:18.330 Well, it comes down to a concept called proximity 00:12:18.330 --> 00:12:20.889 to the node. Proximity to the node. Explain that. 00:12:21.169 --> 00:12:23.490 Your definition of success depends entirely on 00:12:23.490 --> 00:12:26.669 where you sit within the ecosystem. Ah, perspective. 00:12:26.889 --> 00:12:29.110 Right. An administrator looking at a macro level 00:12:29.110 --> 00:12:31.629 spreadsheet might see a dip in standardized test 00:12:31.629 --> 00:12:33.889 scores and declare a systemic crisis. Sell me 00:12:33.889 --> 00:12:36.750 alarms. Exactly. And the proposed solution is 00:12:36.750 --> 00:12:40.029 usually a rigid, newly mandated curriculum software. 00:12:40.149 --> 00:12:43.169 Of course it is. But the teacher, who is operating 00:12:43.169 --> 00:12:45.769 at the micro level, looking at the actual human 00:12:45.769 --> 00:12:48.909 beings in the room, might see a cohort of students 00:12:48.909 --> 00:12:51.190 who are currently dealing with a community tragedy. 00:12:51.850 --> 00:12:54.750 To that teacher, the problem isn't the test scores 00:12:54.750 --> 00:12:57.830 at all, it's emotional regulation and trauma 00:12:57.830 --> 00:13:00.450 support. So if the stakeholders cannot agree 00:13:00.450 --> 00:13:03.370 on the root cause, they certainly cannot agree 00:13:03.370 --> 00:13:06.649 on the condition of success. Exactly. The administrator's 00:13:06.649 --> 00:13:09.029 green light is just a higher average test score 00:13:09.029 --> 00:13:11.169 next quarter. But the teacher's green light is 00:13:11.169 --> 00:13:13.649 a student making it through second period without 00:13:13.649 --> 00:13:16.529 having a panic attack. Right. The visual markers 00:13:16.529 --> 00:13:19.429 of victory that IT relies on, the blinking lights, 00:13:19.610 --> 00:13:23.090 the uptime, they simply do not exist in an objective, 00:13:23.110 --> 00:13:25.590 universal way in education. Here's where it gets 00:13:25.590 --> 00:13:28.649 really interesting. Because Ackerman argues that 00:13:28.649 --> 00:13:31.289 these wildly different paradigms are not flaws. 00:13:31.789 --> 00:13:33.730 They are necessary survival mechanisms. They 00:13:33.730 --> 00:13:36.250 have to be. Yeah. If an educator attempted to 00:13:36.250 --> 00:13:38.429 navigate the emotional volatility of a classroom 00:13:38.429 --> 00:13:41.649 using the rigid deterministic isolation of an 00:13:41.649 --> 00:13:44.090 IT professional, they would burn out in a week. 00:13:44.190 --> 00:13:46.169 Oh, they wouldn't last three days. Right. They 00:13:46.169 --> 00:13:48.730 would constantly feel like failures because human 00:13:48.730 --> 00:13:51.269 beings do not stay patched. They come unpatched 00:13:51.269 --> 00:13:54.720 every morning. And conversely, if an IT director 00:13:54.720 --> 00:13:58.080 accepted the educational mindset, that network's 00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:00.580 naturally experienced spontaneous resolution, 00:14:01.019 --> 00:14:03.519 and that network uptime is merely a subjective 00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:05.720 metric, depending on how the user feels. Oh my 00:14:05.720 --> 00:14:07.639 gosh, the school's infrastructure would collapse 00:14:07.639 --> 00:14:10.159 in a day. Total collapse. They have to inhabit 00:14:10.159 --> 00:14:14.080 these distinct realities to do their jobs effectively. 00:14:14.259 --> 00:14:16.240 Which brings up the central conflict of the modern 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:18.799 era. These two groups are no longer permitted 00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:20.759 to stay safely inside their native environments. 00:14:20.799 --> 00:14:23.519 No, the borders are gone. Exactly. Technology 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:25.740 is no longer an optional supplement in the school. 00:14:26.279 --> 00:14:28.580 It is the load -bearing infrastructure of modern 00:14:28.580 --> 00:14:31.759 teaching. They are forced to collaborate intimately 00:14:31.759 --> 00:14:34.259 every single day. Which brings us to the most 00:14:34.259 --> 00:14:37.419 critical part of Ackerman's thesis, the bridge. 00:14:37.919 --> 00:14:41.299 He states that this gap in worldviews absolutely 00:14:41.299 --> 00:14:45.059 must be bridged if IT systems are to be appropriately 00:14:45.059 --> 00:14:47.480 designed, properly configured, and reasonably 00:14:47.480 --> 00:14:50.200 supported. And we know this is a deep obsession 00:14:50.200 --> 00:14:53.100 for him. On the hackscience .education network, 00:14:53.299 --> 00:14:55.539 he even hosts a podcast called Greetrol Plus 00:14:55.539 --> 00:14:58.500 Classroom, and the episode titles reflect exactly 00:14:58.500 --> 00:15:01.320 this friction. Like what? Well, he has episodes 00:15:01.320 --> 00:15:03.679 titled, Configuration Matters with School IT 00:15:03.679 --> 00:15:07.100 and the Paradox of Moving Goals, examining how 00:15:07.100 --> 00:15:09.840 educational objectives constantly shift in ways 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:12.519 that just completely frustrates static tech design. 00:15:12.679 --> 00:15:15.679 The paradox of moving goals. That is so accurate. 00:15:15.740 --> 00:15:17.600 We really need to dive deep into the mechanics 00:15:17.600 --> 00:15:20.279 of that configuration. How do you actually bridge 00:15:20.279 --> 00:15:22.860 a complicated system with a complex one? It's 00:15:22.860 --> 00:15:24.860 the million dollar question. We must pay close 00:15:24.860 --> 00:15:27.279 attention to Ackerman's specific phrasing here. 00:15:27.379 --> 00:15:29.440 He writes, many problems are not really solved 00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:31.940 for all. stakeholders and in many cases one solution 00:15:31.940 --> 00:15:34.460 creates new problems. That concept of creating 00:15:34.460 --> 00:15:36.639 new problems is essentially the offloading of 00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:39.059 friction. Yes, exactly. Let's look at a concrete 00:15:39.059 --> 00:15:42.000 example of how this plays out in real time because 00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:44.960 it happens constantly. Imagine an IT director 00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:47.460 who needs to protect the school's network bandwidth 00:15:47.460 --> 00:15:50.940 and ensure cybersecurity compliance. Which is 00:15:50.940 --> 00:15:54.100 a very real, very important job. Highly important. 00:15:54.220 --> 00:15:58.379 So the deterministic IT brain solution is simple. 00:15:59.129 --> 00:16:02.169 Implement a strict, unyielding firewall that 00:16:02.169 --> 00:16:05.169 blocks all video streaming sites, including YouTube. 00:16:05.490 --> 00:16:09.250 Boom. Done. Cause identified. Condition of success 00:16:09.250 --> 00:16:12.070 met. Green lights across the board. The IT problem 00:16:12.070 --> 00:16:14.769 is solved. But that solution completely ignores 00:16:14.769 --> 00:16:16.950 the reality of the complex ecosystem. Right. 00:16:17.009 --> 00:16:18.870 Because what happens in the classroom? Well, 00:16:18.990 --> 00:16:21.210 a history teacher in third period is fielding 00:16:21.210 --> 00:16:23.649 an unprompted, highly engaging question from 00:16:23.649 --> 00:16:25.750 a student about the fall of the Berlin Wall. 00:16:25.840 --> 00:16:28.480 A totally emergent learning moment. Exactly. 00:16:28.820 --> 00:16:30.860 And the teacher realizes a quick two -minute 00:16:30.860 --> 00:16:33.259 historical clip on YouTube would perfectly crystallize 00:16:33.259 --> 00:16:35.440 this spontaneous moment. But they go to pull 00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:37.460 it up, and they hit the firewall block screen. 00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:40.440 Ugh, the dreaded block screen. So the IT department 00:16:40.440 --> 00:16:43.220 solution has effectively crushed the dynamic 00:16:43.220 --> 00:16:45.740 behavior of the classroom. The friction hasn't 00:16:45.740 --> 00:16:48.580 been eliminated at all. It has simply been offloaded 00:16:48.580 --> 00:16:51.059 from the IT department onto the teacher. The 00:16:51.059 --> 00:16:53.080 teacher is now dealing with the problem of a 00:16:53.080 --> 00:16:55.340 stalled lesson and frustrated students. Right. 00:16:55.600 --> 00:16:58.779 And conversely, if the teacher demands zero firewalls 00:16:58.779 --> 00:17:00.940 and total hyper -flexibility so they can teach 00:17:00.940 --> 00:17:03.879 dynamically, the network becomes vulnerable to 00:17:03.879 --> 00:17:06.259 malware. Which offloads the friction right back 00:17:06.259 --> 00:17:08.980 onto the IT department, creating a configuration 00:17:08.980 --> 00:17:12.039 nightmare for them. It's just a game of hot potato 00:17:12.039 --> 00:17:15.799 with friction. So, bridging the gap means rethinking 00:17:15.799 --> 00:17:18.960 configurations so it honors both paradigms. In 00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:21.839 your firewall example, the bridge isn't choosing 00:17:21.839 --> 00:17:24.579 between total lockdown or total chaos. Right, 00:17:24.579 --> 00:17:26.740 it has to be a compromise. It is configuring 00:17:26.740 --> 00:17:30.079 an automated temporary whitelist protocol. Like, 00:17:30.140 --> 00:17:32.559 the IT department builds a system where a teacher 00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:35.319 can click a button to bypass the firewall for 00:17:35.319 --> 00:17:38.539 exactly 15 minutes, specifically for educational 00:17:38.539 --> 00:17:40.660 domains. Without needing to submit a help desk 00:17:40.660 --> 00:17:43.109 ticket and wait three days. Exactly. That is 00:17:43.109 --> 00:17:44.930 brilliant because it requires concessions from 00:17:44.930 --> 00:17:47.369 both sides. Right, the IT professional has to 00:17:47.369 --> 00:17:50.230 relinquish a small degree of their absolute control. 00:17:51.049 --> 00:17:53.650 They accept a tiny bit of calculated risk to 00:17:53.650 --> 00:17:55.970 serve the ecosystem. And the educator has to 00:17:55.970 --> 00:17:58.950 accept a boundary, that 15 -minute limit, understanding 00:17:58.950 --> 00:18:01.049 that digital tools require certain structural 00:18:01.049 --> 00:18:03.829 rules to function safely for everyone. It really 00:18:03.829 --> 00:18:06.329 demands that both sides stop looking at the school 00:18:06.329 --> 00:18:09.710 exclusively through their native lens. The IT 00:18:09.710 --> 00:18:12.130 professional must internalize that a green light 00:18:12.130 --> 00:18:14.730 on a server rack means absolutely nothing if 00:18:14.730 --> 00:18:16.809 the pedagogical ecosystem of the classroom is 00:18:16.809 --> 00:18:19.470 fundamentally disrupted. The technology serves 00:18:19.470 --> 00:18:22.609 the learning, not the other way around. Exactly. 00:18:23.009 --> 00:18:25.680 So what does this all mean? For you listening, 00:18:26.059 --> 00:18:28.559 the core takeaway completely shifts how you should 00:18:28.559 --> 00:18:31.099 view organizational friction. It changes everything. 00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:33.380 The next time you're sitting in a staff meeting 00:18:33.380 --> 00:18:35.940 or you are trying to navigate a deeply frustrating 00:18:35.940 --> 00:18:38.619 new tech rollout, whether you are in a school 00:18:38.619 --> 00:18:41.079 district, a corporate office, a hospital, or 00:18:41.079 --> 00:18:43.500 literally any environment where complex human 00:18:43.500 --> 00:18:46.759 beings operate, you need to reframe what you 00:18:46.759 --> 00:18:49.420 are observing. You're not simply dealing with 00:18:49.420 --> 00:18:52.220 a clunky piece of software or an obstinate co 00:18:52.220 --> 00:18:55.559 -worker who refuses to adapt. No. You are witnessing 00:18:55.559 --> 00:18:58.299 a collision of physics. You are watching the 00:18:58.299 --> 00:19:00.799 deterministic world of the leaky pipe crash into 00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:03.539 the emergent, unpredictable world of the forest 00:19:03.539 --> 00:19:06.259 ecosystem. And just recognizing that dynamic, 00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:08.440 just realizing that the IT deployment team and 00:19:08.440 --> 00:19:10.759 the frontline workers are operating with totally 00:19:10.759 --> 00:19:13.619 irreconcilable definitions of what a solution 00:19:13.619 --> 00:19:16.740 even is, that is the first necessary step to 00:19:16.740 --> 00:19:18.920 surviving the rollout. You can stop arguing about 00:19:18.920 --> 00:19:21.079 the software itself and start translating between 00:19:21.079 --> 00:19:23.900 the two paradigms. Yes, translation is key. And 00:19:23.900 --> 00:19:27.200 if we connect this to the bigger picture, there 00:19:27.200 --> 00:19:29.440 is a philosophical implication to Ackerman's 00:19:29.440 --> 00:19:30.920 work that we really need to sit with. Oh, I'm 00:19:30.920 --> 00:19:33.720 ready. Lay it on me. He noted that in the messy, 00:19:34.119 --> 00:19:36.359 variable -heavy world of education, problems 00:19:36.359 --> 00:19:39.099 often possess the capacity to resolve spontaneously. 00:19:39.319 --> 00:19:41.279 Right. The neuroplasticity, the kids talking 00:19:41.279 --> 00:19:44.109 in the hall. It is a defining feature of complex 00:19:44.109 --> 00:19:47.190 human systems. They have an innate evolutionary 00:19:47.190 --> 00:19:49.869 capacity to self -correct naturally over time 00:19:49.869 --> 00:19:52.809 as people adapt, communicate, and grow. Which 00:19:52.809 --> 00:19:55.089 really makes you wonder about the unintended 00:19:55.089 --> 00:19:58.190 consequences of our total obsession with efficiency. 00:19:58.509 --> 00:20:00.450 We are so quick to buy the latest app, aren't 00:20:00.450 --> 00:20:03.089 we? No, immediately. We roll out a new digital 00:20:03.089 --> 00:20:05.569 platform the very second we sense any operational 00:20:05.569 --> 00:20:09.299 friction. But we must ask ourselves. If human 00:20:09.299 --> 00:20:12.200 systems can naturally self -correct through emergent 00:20:12.200 --> 00:20:16.059 behaviors, does forcefully imposing a rapid -fire 00:20:16.059 --> 00:20:19.500 IT -style intervention actually disrupt that 00:20:19.500 --> 00:20:22.539 natural evolution? By treating every single human 00:20:22.539 --> 00:20:25.000 challenge like a broken server that demands an 00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:27.940 immediate deterministic patch, are we systematically 00:20:27.940 --> 00:20:30.480 stripping our communities of their ability to 00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:32.900 organically resolve their own friction? Are we 00:20:32.900 --> 00:20:35.440 constantly trying to patch a pipe when we really 00:20:35.440 --> 00:20:37.519 should be giving the ecosystem the time and space 00:20:37.519 --> 00:20:39.269 it needs? needs to find its own balance. It's 00:20:39.269 --> 00:20:41.769 a huge question. It is. And we will leave you 00:20:41.769 --> 00:20:44.890 to ponder that one. Until next time, keep diving 00:20:44.890 --> 00:20:45.170 deep.