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Dr. Moira McDermott

@mmcdermo.bsky.social
638 followers 136 following 25 posts

Mathematician, educator, recovering procrastinator, she/her, posts and opinions are my own, follow \neq endorse

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Reposted by Dr. Moira McDermott
Anil Dash @anildash.com · 05/08/2026
Well, not quite — venture involves risk. It’s just corruption!
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Nils Gilman @nilsgilman.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Excellent essay by Clay Shirky: "The very idea of a coherent university is an oxymoron. We are incoherent because knowledge is incoherent.... This is not a failure of leadership or will. The management and maintenance of incoherence is a service we offer society." www.chronicle.com/article/ai-i...
chronicle.com
Opinion | The University Was Made for the Age of AI
Colleges have never been coherent. Their strength lies in managing disagreement and uncertainty.
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Dr. Moira McDermott @mmcdermo.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
leonfurze.com/2026/03/22/r... "There is a paradox at the heart of AI use in education: in order to use it well, you need expertise in the area that you are using it. And by definition, learners don’t have that expertise yet."
leonfurze.com
Resistance as a Framework for Combating Cognitive Offload
Discover how to combat cognitive decline in the era of AI. Explore effective resistance strategies for better learning outcomes.
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Dr. Moira McDermott @mmcdermo.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
While this may seem easy and settled, the group wasn’t sure whether this actually deepens learning or just increases the signal of assessment (e.g., if it’s all in-class assessment, how do we know that a student has learned to an in-depth analysis)."
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Dr. Moira McDermott @mmcdermo.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
"There was broad agreement that we should move assessment into the physical room — oral exams, every-class quizzes, in-class replication — and stop policing take-home work, which several had given up monitoring entirely.
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Dr. Moira McDermott @mmcdermo.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
"The deepest tension never resolved: can you build judgment without doing the mechanics?"
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Dr. Moira McDermott @mmcdermo.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Although this was more about higher level statistics, most of the issues that were surfaced are relevant for discussions about intro stats, calculus, other math courses that I teach. "we believe strongly that friction is a necessary condition of learning"
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Dr. Moira McDermott @mmcdermo.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Notes from a Convening on Teaching Statistics in the Age of Agentic AI open.substack.com/pub/tedsvo/p...
open.substack.com
Notes from a Convening on Teaching Statistics in the Age of Agentic AI
Note: You can read this post on my website, where you can also read my other thoughts and subscribe via RSS. You can also talk to my chatbot about my posts.
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Tim Hsu @timhsu.net · 16/06/2026
I was just thinking the other day that LLMs are like oxycontin: in principle, there are safeguards so you can relieve your pain without getting addicted, but in practice, human nature leads to you grinding up the pills or selling them to the neighborhood teens for a little extra cash
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Jeff Sharlet @jeffsharlet.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
I wish I could tell you the responses thrummed with defiance. Instead, some read like substance abuse testimonies. A student whose use of AI grew until AI "wrote" all assignments sophomore fall. Got caught. Crushed by shame. Swore it off. But it's creeping back, & they don't know how to stop. 3/
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Matt Macauley @visualalgebra.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
My 7-year-old made her first Cayley graph and Cayley table today! And she LOVED it! At 9pm, she was too excited to go to sleep…”but I just want to do more algebra!” 🥰 #MathSky #VisualAlgebra
Bird’s eye view of my 7-year-old daughter drawing a Cayley graph of the Klein 4-group on an iPad.Cayley graph and Cayley table of the Klein 4-group on an iPad, with some of it in a 7-year-old’s handwriting
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Dr. Moira McDermott @mmcdermo.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Looks like Carnegie 122
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Syracuse University College of Arts & Sciences @suartsciences.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
He retired this spring, having served under more than half of all chancellors in @syracuseu.bsky.social's history. Read the full story of the "lazy" student who became a mathematician of international stature ➡️ bit.ly/JackGraver
Jack Graver with former chancellor Kent Syverud.
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Syracuse University College of Arts & Sciences @suartsciences.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
60 years as an @sumathematics professor later, he's written five books and dozens of papers across multiple fields. One 1975 paper of his was dismissed by its referee as "of no practical value." A decade later, it became foundational to algorithm design 📐
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Dr. Moira McDermott @mmcdermo.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Jack Graver just retired after 60 years on the faculty in @SUmathematics. One of my favorite memories was getting to tell him about the importance of the Graver basis in computational commutative algebra.
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Drew Lewis @drew-lewis.com · 18/04/2026
Indeed, the Strait of Hormuz contains some, but not all, of its boundary points.
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Matt Macauley @visualalgebra.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Hey #MathSky! Now that we have a direct contact with the NYT Games Team, this is our chance to tell them about all of the legitimate math words that Spelling Bee won’t accept. If you remember any specific ones, reply with them here. Let’s make a list!
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Dr. Moira McDermott @mmcdermo.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
lol, most of videos when I started following him were him doing backflips in bathrooms and hallways, often shirtless, not sure where the wife part came from
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Dr. Moira McDermott @mmcdermo.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
I followed him on TikTok a couple of years ago. Just saw him posting about the Olympics recently.
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Dr. Moira McDermott @mmcdermo.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
Nick?
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Dr. Moira McDermott @mmcdermo.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
I can do “only show applied rubric items” with positive scoring which I prefer.
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Mar Hicks @histoftech.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition. Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Gladys Mae West obituary: mathematician who pioneered GPS technology
She made key contributions to US cold-war science despite facing huge barriers as a Black woman.
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Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.org · 29/01/2026
The “MaxCut” problem is a fundamental question about graphs with real-world applications, like efficient circuit design. Recently, work on MaxCut helped mathematicians solve a major problem in number theory. www.quantamagazine.org/networks-hol...
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Jon Collins @jcollins.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
"MPR News has learned that the police chief in the small southern Minnesota city of St. Peter intervened Thursday afternoon to prevent federal immigration agents from arresting a local resident" who had been observing federal agents. www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
mprnews.org
St. Peter police chief intervenes, prevents federal agents from arresting resident
The police chief of St. Peter intervened to prevent federal agents from taking a local resident who was observing ICE enforcement actions into custody. It is believed to the first time local police in...
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Dr. Moira McDermott @mmcdermo.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
www.mankatofreepress.com/news/local_n...
mankatofreepress.com
St. Peter mobile home park residents living in fear
Editor’s note: Longtime journalist Dana Melius is a freelance reporter for The Free Press. He also participated in constitutional observer training and has documented ICE activity in St. Peter the
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Dr. Moira McDermott @mmcdermo.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
Great article by Chad Topaz. Clearly explains a misunderstanding of statistics in nontechnical terms.
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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 26/12/2025
Funny Numbers xkcd.com/3184/
Comic. [Banner: Mathematical Society: 2025 Meeting.] PERSON 1 with bun: Any other new developments from the year to cover before we wrap? PERSON 2: Oh, the teens picked a new funny number. PERSON 3 with short hair: Aww, I’m glad to hear they’re still doing that. PERSON 4 with ponytail: I’ll add it to the list. [List: 23 (skidoo!; 42; 69; 420; 1,337; 58,008; [circled]: 67]
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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 26/12/2025
Flashback post and yep, still our favorite.
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kottke.org @kottke.org · 25/09/2025
Fantastic essay by Roxane Gay: Civility Is a Fantasy. “Calling for civility is about exerting power. It is a way of reminding the powerless that they exist at the will of those in power and should act accordingly. It is a demand for control.” [nytimes.com]
nytimes.com
Opinion | Civility Is a Fantasy
Calling for civility is a way of reminding the powerless that they exist at the will of those in power and should act accordingly.
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Lauren McKenzie @themckenziest.gay · 28/09/2025
And now it’s been hijacked by Oracle where every single American is separated from the rest of the world, with our own special algorithm. Wonder what they’ll do with it now! I bet it’s all for the greater good.
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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 28/09/2025
I know a lot of people won’t click through to read about “med beds” so here’s the crucial quote to explain how fucking crazy this is. Trump just posted an AI video of himself promising every American access to this.
An increasingly popular conspiracy theory falsely centers around the existence of "med beds" a fabled medical instrument that does everything from reversing aging to regrowing missing limbs.
The theory has grown in popularity among followers of far-right movements like QAnon, some of whom claim to be urgently awaiting a med bed to treat severe health conditions.
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Jane O'Boyle @janeoboyle.bsky.social · 28/09/2025
@nhannahjones.bsky.social: Through gossamer tributes, Kirk’s cruel condemnation of transgender people & racist throwback views about Black Americans were no longer anathema but instead treated as just another political view to be respectfully debated. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/28/m...
nytimes.com
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jenn m. jackson @jennmjacksonphd.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
"What are we to make of a man who called for the execution of the American president, and then was executed himself? What are we to make of an NFL that, on one hand, encourages us to “End Racism,” and, on the other, urges us to commemorate an unreconstructed white supremacist?'
vanityfair.com
Charlie Kirk, Redeemed: A Political Class Finds Its Lost Cause
By ignoring the rhetoric and actions of the Turning Point USA founder, pundits and politicians are sanitizing his legacy.
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Grant Sanderson @3blue1brown.com · 07/09/2025
New video about a piece by the modern artist Sol LeWitt, and the group theory behind it. youtu.be/_BrFKp-U8GI
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
The only thing I can say about this paragraph is read it. Sit with it. Read it again. @michaelharriot.bsky.social
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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
Even accepting the premise that AI produces useful writing (which no one should), using AI in education is like using a forklift at the gym. The weights do not actually need to be moved from place to place. That is not the work. The work is what happens within you.
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Anil Dash @anildash.com · 18/08/2025
Really liked this @monicalewinsky.bsky.social interview with John Oliver, gets at some of the actual human tone that a real conversation about these topics would hit. And I’m always here for telling Jay Leno to go fuck himself. youtu.be/yR-KTECQGxQ
youtu.be
John Oliver on The Ethics of Comedy, The Dalai Lama & Impacting Monica
YouTube video by Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky
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Cate Denial @cjdenial.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
New blog post: "On Grief" in higher ed. catherinedenial.org/blog/uncateg...
An overhead photograph of a road passing through snowy fields. The road forks toward the left of the picture.
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Cate Denial @cjdenial.bsky.social · 06/08/2025
This is a fabulous piece of writing about the mythology of generative AI. www.techpolicy.press/challenging-...
techpolicy.press
Challenging The Myths of Generative AI | TechPolicy.Press
Eryk Salvaggio says we must dispense with myths if we are to think more clearly about what AI actually is and does.
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Steven Strogatz @stevenstrogatz.com · 03/08/2025
What a fantastic accomplishment -- and what a fantastic story! www.quantamagazine.org/at-17-hannah...
quantamagazine.org
At 17, Hannah Cairo Solved a Major Math Mystery | Quanta Magazine
After finding the homeschooling life confining, the teen petitioned her way into a graduate class at Berkeley, where she ended up disproving a 40-year-old conjecture.
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Josh Johnson @joshjohnsoncomedy.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
When you strip away humanity
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John Kane @johnkane.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
In today's Tea for Teaching podcast, @geekypedagogy.bsky.social joins us to discuss her new book, Snafu Edu, which explores ways of addressing classroom issues and offers recommendations for proactive approaches to these issues. teaforteaching.podbean.com/e/snafu-edu/ @cyberthread.bsky.social
teaforteaching.podbean.com
Snafu Edu | Tea for Teaching
Most books and resources devoted to professional development focus on strategies that faculty can use to create a positive learning environment for our students, but generally assume that everything w...
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Dr. Moira McDermott @mmcdermo.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
"But faculty need to create experiences worthy of that struggle, designing challenges that feel meaningful rather than arbitrary, and showing students why the journey matters as much as the destination."
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Dr. Moira McDermott @mmcdermo.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
"Students need to understand that learning requires friction—that intellectual struggle isn't a bug in the system, it's a feature."
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Dr. Moira McDermott @mmcdermo.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
maa.org/math-values/...
maa.org
There and Back Again: A Tale Of Chatbots and Climate – Mathematical Association of America
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Sebastian Stockman @substockman.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
As Clay Shirky put it in a recent essay for the Chronicle of Higher Ed: “While the output of any given course is student assignments - papers, exams, research projects, and so on - the product of that course is student experience.” www.chronicle.com/article/is-a...
chronicle.com
Opinion | Is AI Enhancing Education or Replacing It?
Technology should facilitate learning, not substitute for it.
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Christopher Chabris @cfchabris.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
Clay Shirky on the impact of generative AI on learning: "As with calculators, there will be many tasks where automation is more important than user comprehension, but for student work, a tool that improves the output but degrades the experience is a bad tradeoff." www.chronicle.com/article/is-a...
chronicle.com
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Dr. Moira McDermott @mmcdermo.bsky.social · 23/02/2025
I have probably only met Adriana in webinars and zoom meetings, but I feel like I know her. She is a force for good in the MAA and the wider math community.
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Dr. Moira McDermott @mmcdermo.bsky.social · 23/02/2025
buttondown.com/yarntheory/a... Horrified by what is happening all over, especially at NSF. I know at least one friend who got out in time. Knowing people affected in this way just makes it all the more heartbreaking.
buttondown.com
on approaching hard problems
Friends, colleagues, and lovers of words, I usually use this space to talk about books, but today I want to tell you about my friend Adriana Salerno. Like...
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