When I first started writing blog posts, I became almost fanatically interested in what other bloggers had to say about writing.My enthusiasm for this hasn’t changed. But with the passing of a year, I’ve had time to reflect on the advice I’ve met and what it means to me.I’m a Science teacher. Right? Science teachers are expected to know things and be able to teach them to others. When it comes to writing, the dogma that is Science or perceived to be, simply doesn’t work, or so I’ve been told.Coming over authoritatively doesn’t necessarily hit the spot. It can give the impression that the writer is a know-it-all and turn the reader off.Asking the questionIn Virginia Yonkers’ recent post, Do You Hoard Knowledge?, she rightly identifies the wealth of ‘hoarded’ knowledge and opinion that people possess. She suggests that blogging is an avenue where this precious knowledge can be shared. But how does a blogger go about writing posts to pass on knowledge and opinion to others without emerging as a know-it-all? Michele Martin writes about avoiding the know-it-all image when encouraging participation:I've been running an informal experiment here for the past few months, trying to see which blog posts generate the most comments. Hands-down they are the posts where I ask a lot of questions and where I give incomplete answers on topics that interest me. I think this works for two reasons.First, no one is attracted to a know-it-all. Oh, we may want to bookmark their stuff, but that doesn't mean we want to talk to them.I also think it's because by asking questions and not having all the answers, we leave space for comments to happen. As a reader, it feels like there's more that could be said on the topic, so I'm more inclined to comment. Questions are the lifeblood of conversation. They need to be a regular part of posts.While I feel that there may be other factors that contribute to the popularity distribution of Michele’s posts, she has a point. Asking questions around and about the topic of a post is not what one expects from the know-it-all who wrote it. Instead of saying, "I’m a know-it-all," it says, "I’m not sure. I don’t know. Can you help?" What can be more engaging than that?How can a blogger tell what they know by asking questions? One way is by suggesting their current knowledge on a theme or topic, then seeking support for this in a question. But the vocabulary that writers use in stating what they think is also important to conveying to the reader that they are not know-it-alls.Getting the words rightIn matters of opinion, gambits like "I think that . . .", "I feel that . . . "or "I believe that . . . " are more likely to engage a reader than simply stating that it is so. Similarly, when it comes to inferences or conclusions, terms like ‘suggest’, ‘imply’ and ‘may be’ couch a willingness to admit that other deductions may be possible and valid. While many scientists don’t always practice this way of expression, they would be hard pushed these days to claim they were scientists by refuting the principle that alternatives are possible. Conveying this duality in what they write suggests to the reader that they’re admitting they don’t know it all.It also has the potential to imply that perhaps the reader may help with this if they know something the writer does not.Upholding the opinion of othersWhenever a writer feels strongly about a subject, it may be more persuasive to quote someone else who holds the same or similar opinion. The implication is that the view of the writer can be validated through the words and opinion of another. It may save the writer from coming over as a know-it-all.Giving the opinion of another as a suggested way of thinking also deflects the reader’s attention from an otherwise opinionated writer. Here, in a brief excerpt from A Short History of Nearly Everything,Bill Bryson puts this to use:Nearly everyone, including the authors of some popular books on oceanography, assumes that the human body could crumple under the immense pressures of the deep ocean. In fact, this appears not to be the case. Because we are made largely of water ourselves, and water is ‘virtually incompressible’, in the words of Francis Ashcroft of Oxford University, ‘the body remains at the same pressure as the surrounding water, and is not crushed at depth.’ It is the gasses inside your body, particularly in the lungs, that cause the trouble.Bryson deflects the decisiveness of his opening words, "Nearly everyone", by his careful use of the word ‘appears’ and cleverly adds persuasive confirmation by quoting a university authority. Indeed, a writer may not necessarily need to state his or her opinion when using this strategy - one that’s used by some of the best journalists.Writers can endorse their own opinion by quoting the opinion of others, providing appropriate references or links for follow-up by the reader.Why Science?The scientific method claims the practice of full disclosure. It suggests that it’s open for anyone to participate by attempting to repeat the observations or experiments made by whoever is doing the reporting. Through this undertaking, a scientist not only is fair to others but also acknowledges that there may be some possibility that what was found could be and should be challenged by others. Authoritative dogma that does not invite this overt process is well known to stymie opinion and has done for hundreds of years in some instances. The writer who fosters openness by adopting a voice that says ‘your opinion is respected - what do you think of mine?’ presents a win-win option to the reader and encourages engagement.Your opinion is your opinion, your perception is your perception - do not confuse them with "facts" or "truth". Wars have been fought and millions have been killed because of the inability of men to understand the idea that EVERYBODY has a different viewpoint.JOHN MOORE, Quotations for Martial ArtistsA Green Pen Society contribution( 3 ) << - related posts - >> ( 1 )

I'm really excited about the new Gmail feature - Gmail motion.  Now you can control Gmail with your body. Check it out at http://mail.google.com/mail/help/motion.html.

自从Eliademy六月推出简体中文版后，亚洲特别是中国成为了Eliademy在世界上访问量增长最快的地区之一。上星期，著名的CSDN对Eliademy CEO Sotiris Makrygiannis进行了在线专题采访，双方聊了关于Eliademy在亚洲地区的服务、B2B和B2C的策略、与区域内其他教育平台的合作关系等等重要话题。详情请阅读CSDN报道。再次感谢同学老师们的支持，我们会继续为为您提供最好的在线教育平台而努力。

At the ending of 2013, IBM revealed its predictions for five big innovations that will change our lives within five years. The number one on the list is "The classroom will learn you". Meyerson said that this year’s ideas are based on the fact that everything will learn. Machines will learn about us, reason, and... Read More ›

I recently experimented with various methods of getting aPPT course developed with Articulate Presenter to the iPAD.HTML Articulate player from eLearning Enhanced: Works great. Just wish they had a quiz component (it's in the works). http://elearningenhanced.com/products/html-articulate-playerFlash on iPAD from iSwifter- works ok.  It executes the Flash content in its own data center and then sends video down the pipe to the user’s iPAD, which has to be connected to a Wi-Fi connection.  http://iswifter.youwebinc.com/     PPT2Video from Wondershare - strip out all the Articulate elements and insert audio on the page.  Don’t try doing anything else while the program translates the file into video.  http://www.wondershare.com/pro/ppt-to-video.html     mLearning Studio from Rapid Intake - Can't wait for this to come out! Like the idea of create once - and let the program decide how to display.  http://www.rapidintake.com/products/mobile/mobile-learning-studio/

I discovered why I read blog posts this evening. I’d been sifting through several hundred posts that I’d managed to stack up on my RSS reader.I was aimlessly skimming, culling, skim-diving, reading, passing and bookmarking, when I found that the main reason I read posts is really nothing to do with networking, nothing about blog tagging and in no way connected with a desire to participate. In fact, for a nanosecond, I actually felt a teenzy-weenzy twinge of guilt that maybe, just maybe, I’d started lurking again - back to how I was when I wasn’t a blogger. Like I used to be when I read the web2.0 like it was web1.0.I thought, no, I’m not lurking if I’m not stimulated to post a comment.I thought, hey, does that mean that the post I’m reading isn’t engaging?Well, of course it’s engaging, for I was totally absorbed in its content and had been for several minutes!I proved I wasn’t lurking when I came to the next blog post in my RSS.I immediately dashed in a comment. And in an instant I felt this whelm of relief. No. I hadn’t lapsed into lurking after all.Not!Of course I’d been lurking! To lurk is to be a passive observer - inert - non-participatory - a legitimate peripheral participant. Ah! Legitimate!It doesn’t mean that I’m not thinking. It doesn’t mean that I don’t have an opinion. And it certainly doesn’t mean that my mind is so befuddled that I don’t want to participate.It just simply means that I found the information on the site so fascinating, so absorbingly interesting that I didn’t want to be interrupted by a selfish, opinionated, egotistical act of writing a comment!I wanted to think.As it happens, the particular site I'd been reading wasn’t a blog after all, at least, not the sort of site that I'd call a blog, for I couldn’t have left a comment even if I’d tried to.See if I care.Why do you read blog posts?

We at Eliademy are proud to present the collaboration we have with Eminus Academy. Cherie Enns, an associate professor at the University of Fraser Valley, and Eric Luguya, program officer for the Youth Unit at UN-Habitat are both part of … Continue reading →

This is one of those topics that never goes away. It reigns supreme in just about every needs study for workplace learning professionals. We say we want to do more and know more. We are eager to check out more tools, and get a better handle on the situation. The topic—evaluation. We speak fluent Kirkpatrick. When workplace learning and performance (WLP) professionals are asked about the four levels of evaluation, in the USA and beyond, they respond in unison: "Level 1 is reaction, 2 is knowledge; 3 is behavior in the workplace; and Level 4 is results." But knowing is not doing, not even close.An ASTD benchmarking study looked at course evaluations by Kirkpatrick level. It turns out that while almost every course is examined for Level 1 and a third (a third?!?) are checked for Level 2, only 13 percent of courses are examined for Level 3, transfer behavior. Only about 3 percent of courses are held to questions about influence in the field—Level 4. That data was collected five years ago.Is it different today? Technology has changed the shape of workplace learning and performance, shifting learning, information and support into the workplace, and enabling new ways of capturing and communicating data and meaning. ASTD’s own studies of practice, and others, show steady increases in the use of technology for learning and performance. Might this change the current landscape for metrics in learning and performance? Jim Marshall and I set out to find out. These findings are preliminary. They scratch the surface. Only 110 people responded to our request for participation. We are eager to capture more views from diverse settings. We are eager to find out what you are doing.Let me tease you with snippets our findings:When we asked WHY our respondents gather data, most often they do it to determine participants’ satisfaction with their offerings. Sixty percent reported that they do this habitually. No surprise here. We also measure to fulfill compliance obligations, reported as a habit by 48% of respondents. Only 25 percent of respondents habitually assess to find out if the learning transfers to performance, and 11% have a habit of seeking data about strategic results. Chew on that. No matter the keynotes or magazine covers devoted to integrating talent management with the learning enterprise, only 4% of respondents are investigating this matter. Our curiosity extended to barriers to metrics.Just over half of our respondents said they don’t because nobody asks for this data. Their customers are satisfied with participation numbers. Another constraint is the pushback that comes when line managers and executives are asked to play an active part in answering questions about the influence of performance on the field. These are interesting findings, I think. But we dare not consider them conclusive or actionable, not yet. The sample is too small. You don’t want to spend too long reflecting on findings generated from the practices and opinions of just over 100 colleagues. We need you to add heft to this work.Our study focuses on why workforce learning people gather data today, how they hope to change and improve those practices, and what gets in their way. Please go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/learningmetrics to participate. Your responses are anonymous and very much appreciated. Participation will take only 10 minutes. One other thing—the questions should be interesting to you and will provide you with options for ways to think and talk about our work.Again, thanks.Allison Rossett Website

iSpring Free lets you easily create web-ready Flash presentations preserving every aspect of your original PowerPoint content.        Check it out:  http://free.ispringsolutions.com/free_powerpoint_to_flash_converter.html

As we have talked here, for the ADL xAPI design cohort we create an experimental course "Learning Architect". Now it’s time to press "Play"! Because we hope to track learning in open setting. Here is how your learning journal will be crafted: On Proera MOOC platform, Your timestamped activities and the time spent in each... Read More ›