Thanks to Jackie for this compelling quote shared at the Michael Horn conversation:


Jackie: It is based on the old paradigm of needing to count and measure everything - From the Little Prince "Grown-ups like numbers. When you tell them about a new friend, they never ask questions about what really matters. They never ask: "What does his voice sound like?" "What games does he like best?" "Does he collect butterflies?". They ask: "How old is he?" "How many brothers does he have?" "How much does he weigh?" "How much money does his father make?" Only then do they think they know him.

I'll offer a few questions for reflection that relate to my main area of interest - what will online learning look like and what pedagogical theories will undergird it?:

1) Many of the examples described in description of "The Future Classroom" (p. 105) sound like independent learning experiences. Is there research that online learning works best when completed independently with a tutor's guidance rather than in a social constructivist model with the creation of a learning community? Isn't there a benefit in a model that combines a learning community and independent, tutor-guided learning? Didn't the one-room school house have both?

2) Christensen, Horn & Johnson (2008) describe a disruptive tool for student-centric learning as "user-developed online tools for learning" (p. 136). It sounds like these tools will offer tremendous opportunities for customization to fit each individual learner's needs by students, their peers, teachers, and parents. Can we harvest this user-generated content so that producing real content for self and others become authentic purposes for learning? Could these become part of a learning objects repository?

3) Does the authors' explanation of why disruptive innovation should first compete against nonconsumption ("Following a Disruptive Pattern," pp. 96-100) explain in part the difficulty we've experienced in trying to encourage teachers to integrate Web 2.0 and 3D Web tools? Will online learning in nonconsumption areas lead the way for the change in culture that we need for the face-to-face learning environment?

Start your reading of this hugely important book and set a goal of finishing up by Thursday, Sept. 25, 8 pm ET, when we will meet in the 3D online, virtual world of Second Life with virtual school leader, Bryan Setser, CEO of the North Carolina Virtual Public School.

Official announcement will be made at the first Star Teacher event on USDLC Star Island on Second Life, Thursday, August 28, at 8 pm ET. Award-winning Flat Classroom Wiki Project Co-Author and Cool Cat Teacher Vicki Davis will share her new cool tools for the new school year.

Here are some resources to explore prior to reading or as you read to extend your thinking and reflection about what you read. Please post questions/ideas/issues that you'd like to discuss so we can create a kind of interactive discussion guide.

Prepare to have your thinking disrupted!