My Interview with Michael Horn

I had the pleasure of meeting Michael Horn when his book, Disrupting Class How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns (co-authored with Clayton M. Christensen and Curtis W. Johnson), first came out. He works down the street from my house. Back in June, 2008 we sat down for coffee to talk about his book. Since then, Michael has appeared at conferences all over the country and has been interviewed many time. His book has also been the subject of discussion all around the web. Laurie Bartels collected many of the interviews and discussions on the book here.

This was my first podcast interview. I was nervous about it, but it was a lot of fun. I had some trouble figuring out where to post it and how to embed it on blogger. I ended up posting it on Classroom 2.0 and embedding the player. It seemed to work. I would love to get your feedback on the interview and/or the book!

Here is another link to the interview, if the player doesn't work.



Links to some of the sites mentioned in the interview:
K12 Inc.
Reboot Learning Retreat Paper (pdf)
The Innovator's Prescription

21st Century Technology Tools, 2nd Edition

I have finally completed a revised edition of my book of technology tutorials for teachers. This new edition includes updated screenshots for Delicious, Ning and Google Docs. I have also added tutorials for Google Reader, Twitter and Flickr. I published the book using lulu.com, you can purchase a copy for $9.94 or download the PDF for free.

I am thrilled that my school has purchased copies of the book for the entire faculty and staff. It is wonderful to work in a place that is so supportive of my efforts to help teachers to start using Web 2.0 tools.

Two For Tuesday 12/9/08

Thanks to my Twitter and Plurk networks for all of their suggestions today (see below)!

1. Do Something: Empowering Teenagers to Make a Difference in the World (from @JazzyJsMom)
"Do Something believes you have the power to make a difference." They provide the ideas, resources and connections to help you bring your great ideas to life. Do something lives by five guidelines, they believe, trust, celebrate, respect and value the ability of young people to change the world for the better.

2. WorldMapper: The World As You've Never Seen It Before (from @plennig)
WorldMapper contains 366 maps, all available as PDF posters, which provide a visual representation of global data. Categories include movement, transportation, poverty, housing, education, pollution and religion, among others. For example, you can view a map of worldwide secondary education spending, passenger car distribution and the increase of carbon emmisions between 1980 and 2000 (see below).


Again, thanks to everyone in my Twitter and Plurk networks who gave me suggestions. (I've saved a bunch for future posts.)

Twitter:

	JazzyJsMom @lizbdavis http://www.dosomething.org/ 5 things they believe in: Believe in teens Trust teens Celebrate Respect & Value teens scholarships 2 about 2 hours ago from web in reply to lizbdavis
	ehaygood @lizbdavis my students love this site: http://fantasticcontraption... about 3 hours ago from BeTwittered in reply to lizbdavis
	hlvanrip @lizbdavis if you haven't used www.capzles.com it is a really great tool! about 3 hours ago from TweetDeck in reply to lizbdavis
	arvind @lizbdavis http://quizlet.com would be perfect for 2 for Tuesdays. 8th graders using it to create study sets and then share with each other about 3 hours ago from TweetDeck in reply to lizbdavis
	rseneta @lizbdavis http://www.pizap.com has caused me much distraction today. about 3 hours ago from TwitterFox in reply to lizbdavis
	monarchlibrary @lizbdavis How about the Free Rice website http://www.freerice.com/ind... in the spirit of giving. about 4 hours ago from TwitterFox in reply to lizbdavis
	plennig @lizbdavis have you done worldmapper? http://tinyurl.com/yoo6hw about 4 hours ago from twhirl in reply to lizbdavis
	Durff @lizbdavis oldies but goodies? RSS Readers like pageflakes and google reader; Voicethread about 4 hours ago from web in reply to lizbdavis

Plurk:

• December 09, 2008 at 17:38 clifmims Our fam had fun calling ChaCha and asking questions as we traveled over Thanksgiving. Sparked some teachable moments and brought lots of laughs. www.chacha.com
• 
  
• December 09, 2008 at 17:45 GingerTPLC Colonial House from PBS. Kids LOVED the Interactive History page. Even my kids!
• December 09, 2008 at 17:47 kimcaise says someone plurked this yesterday or the day before - www.ala.org/gwstemplate.cfm?section...
• December 09, 2008 at 19:07 tbell says these 2 are cool tools. www.geocommons.com/ and manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeye... for visual analytics thru maps

Thanks for the Nomination

A super big thanks to Lisa Thumann (who is also nominated for best new blog and for best resource sharing blog) for nominating my post: Ten Tips for Growing Your Learning Network for an Eddie award in the "Most Influential Post" category. This is my first nomination and I appreciate the recognition. I encourage you to check out the other nominees and cast your vote for your favorites. This is a great way to discover new bloggers and add to your learning network.

Here is the list of all the nominated blogs:

1. Best individual blog

2. Best group blog

3. Best new blog

4. Best resource sharing blog

5. Most influential blog post

6. Best teacher blog

7. Best librarian / library blog

8. Best educational tech support blog

9. Best elearning / corporate education blog

10. Best educational use of audio

11. Best educational use of video / visual

12. Best educational wiki

Two For Tuesday 12-2-08

1. Weebly: Web creation made easy
Thanks to Steve Hargadon for pointing me to this great website building tool. Weebly is an easy and free way to create a website. They have easy to use templates, a blogging tool, content editing tools and the ability to embed video and other widgets. The site is free to use, but also offers the ability to purchase a domain or point an existing domain to their site. This is the perfect tool for building your digital footprint. I created this site to collect all of my online resources in one place.

2. Soshiku: The smart way to keep track of your homework
Soshiku is a free online tool that will help students keep track of all of their assignments. Students can add notes and information about each assignment that is due. Soshiku will even send text messages as reminders of important due dates. It also allows for file uploading and working collaboratively with a partner. Upgrade your assignment book into the 21st century and never loose track of a deadline again.

Edublog Award Nominations

I've been meaning to nominate people for these awards and the clock is ticking down. The problem is that I have so many blogs to choose from. I have more that 1000 unread items in my Edtech folder alone. Here are a few of my favorites.

Best individual blog: Pair-a-dimes for Your Thoughts

Best group blog: Leader Talk

Best new blog: Thumann Resources

Best resource sharing blog: Read Write Web

Most influential blog post: Practical Theory: Why Educational Change is Hard

Best teacher blog: ICT In My Classroom

Best librarian / library blog: Cathy Nelson's Professional Thoughts

Best educational tech support blog: Tech Thoughts by Jen

Best elearning / corporate education blog: Brandon Hall Research

Best educational use of audio: Bit by Bit

Best educational wiki: http://wiki.classroom20.com/

Best educational use of a social networking service: http://delicious.com/cogdog

Lifetime achievemnet: 2 cents worth

Two For Tuesday 11/25/08

1. Poll Everywhere: Live Audience Polling via Text Messaging
Put those cell phones to good use! Poll Everywhere allows students to answer a question using SMS text messages or the web. The results of the poll are shown in real time online in a browser or in a PowerPoint. Try this poll: What is your favorite Thanksgiving Food? Text Cast 27516 and your message to 41411 (for example I would send this text message "Cast 27516 Mashed Potatoes" to the number 41411. Free accounts are limited to 30 responses so get your anwer in quick. You can see the results here.

2. DoInk: Create and share custom animations
Use this free tool to create your own animations. You can draw your own pictures, or animate pictures shared by others. I had a lot of fun with this tool and made a series of (very simple) animations. You can see one of them below. Give it a try and share a link to your animations, so we can check them out.