Paul Hudson Presents at Google

Paul Hudson, author of Prelude to Tomorrow, was kind enough to speak to me and my summer reading workshop about his book at the beginning of the year. Two weeks ago he did a similar talk at Google.

It is a great book, if you have the time, I highly recommend reading it. Watch the video and judge for yourself.

Ancient Rome and Google Earth

If you teach World History, you need to check out the new Google Earth 3D layer of Ancient Rome. It presents Rome as it would have looked in 320 AD.

The layer was created by Google and The Rome Reborn project at The University of Virginia.

In addition, Google for Educators have created a competition that is connected to the release of the new Ancient Rome layer. Create interesting lessons based upon the new Rome layer and win some great prizes.

New Media Literacies

As of late, new media and social media have been the focus in education. Applications Facebook, Twitter, and You Tube have become an integral part of our teaching practices. Project New Media Literacies, created by MIT, has been examining where New Media is going and how it can apply in education. Check out their new video.

The New Globalization

This is the post for my election day workshop that addresses how the environment, the economy, and technology will fuel the new direction in our global society.

We will examine the arguments in Tom Friedman's book, Hot, Flat, and Crowded.

What are the Problems?

His book focuses on the convergence of three major problems:

Global Warming

Global Flattening

Global Crowding

Developing Trends

How have these 5 trends led to those major problems?

Energy and Resources


Petro Dictatorship

Biodiversity Loss


Climate Change


Energy Poverty


Each problem has been driven past the tipping point.

What Can We Do?

Our governments must embrace the environmental challenges we face and turn it into economic success.

Green Is The Next Red, White And Blue

Green is Capitialist, Geo-Strategic, Future Oriented


What is the scale at which we need to produce energy and what is the economic impact?

How Can We Make Green More Capitalistic in a Flat World?

Environmental Technology jobs will improve the economy and our environment?

If green is the future, what do you envision the future to look like?

This is what Friedman envisions.

What Needs To Change?

Green Party vs. Green Revolution

If we must create a Green Revolution, it will take a rethinking of how we operate.

What do you think will start a real Green Revolution?

IT and ET

What would happen if Information Technology merged with Environmental Technology?

What we need are 100,000 Garages... trying 100,000 different solutions


Here is another perspective on the issue from Clay Shirky.

Letter to the Next President

The final part of the workshop is to create a video "letter" to the next president.

After listening to Friedman's arguments:

What would you propose the next president must do to ensure that we are able to tackle the environmental and economic problems that challenges our globe?

You may use your mobile phone camera and Qik or Photo Booth to record your video. You must post the video on our YouTube Group page.

Voting, Creativity, and Students

As I have mentioned in the last few posts, creativity and student engagement are at the core of true learning. This video captures those ideas. If we are to get our students to really learn, they must take on the learning themselves and not be passive participants. If creativity and thinking are the skills companies are looking for in their future employees, this video about the election is a prime example of what kids need to be doing in school.



Head nod to C. Del Tatto.