Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity SettingsHello APE Podcast Listeners! Sorry we haven't aired any episodes for a few weeks but that is all about to change now! This will be the first episode of a three part episode with a panelist of behavior management experts. Our panelist included Dr. Lavay, the co-author of the new textbook Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, the additional authors include Dr. Ron French but also Dr. Hester Henderson; we also had on Celine Viajar, a ASD consultant for the Portland public schools; and last but not least we had our very first reoccurring guest, Brad Weiner, Brad is a former APE National Teacher of the year and works at a Maryland Public School as a APE teacher. In this episode we discuss the topics of how philosophy plays a role in behavior management, setting expectations for students and sensory integration needs. We hope you enjoy the episode!As for the history portion, well we had such a great conversation, we decided to make our own episode for this one. So there will be an upcoming episode on the history and implications of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).On another note, we are now trying to get sponsors for the podcast. Please see the flyer to inform potential sponsors about the benefits of sponsoring our show. Don't worry listeners, we would only let sponsors to advertise on the show that would be beneficial for our listeners. So if you know anyone who may be a good sponsor, please share this with them!easel.ly

As an instructor, it can be challenging to keep course resources fresh and engaging; however, help is available and is as near as your computer keyboard!  A growing movement has emerged that provides opportunities for...Continue Reading »

The connection between our Christian faith and the secular world of ideas occurs in one of three primary modes: Where Christian beliefs enhance secular ideas, Where secular ideas enrich our understanding of the Christian faith,...Continue Reading »

When starting a PhD, there is often a great mystique surrounding the selection (and writing-up) of the proposed methodology. It is important to remember that the term "methodology" means more than simply describing the methods that are intended to be used for the collection of research data, it is the constructed system of methods proposed, and how they interact. Importantly, in order to understand the data which might be generated by the research, it is critical to first understand the rules which govern the various research methods selected, their strengths and their limitations. The selection of a variety of methods will enable the researcher to gather different types of data, and to look at the research area from complementary angles. As always, it is the role of the supervisor to help the research student put together the best methodology for the research project, that is to say, the best combination of methods through which the student proposes to gather new data on the topic. In most circumstances the supervisor will already have an established preference for one or more methods. It might be necessary to include a second, or third, supervisor who has expertise in a complementary a different set of methods, particularly for multi-disciplinary research. There are many ways of gathering research data, but broadly they can be divided into three major methodological approaches; these are quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods. I do not propose to go into much more detail here - there are whole volumes written on even the specific sub-categories of these approaches - but briefly, quantitative research explores through the measurement of phenomena, while a qualitative researcher looks for the emergence of themes or patterns in the evidence provided. A "mixed-methods" approach is not simply a randomly constructed "a-bit-of-one-and-a-bit-of-the-other" style, but it does use both qualitative and quantitative analysis to provide complementary perspectives on the same research topic. The reason that so much early attention is given to establishing the methodology of the proposed research project is partly because the confirmation of the methodology will determine how the researcher looks at the world emerging through the data; partly, also it will condition the forms of analysis, the reliability, and the compatibility of the research data produced. Any fool can go out and collect data, but getting hold of the type of data which will allow reasonably reliable conclusions to be established is a different matter. In some cases, the choice will be easy. There may be a very limited number of tried-and-tested ways in which an experiment can be constructed, or there might be a very similar study already published, the replication of which to the new subject area might facilitated a useful extension and comparison of knowledge. The supervisor may even have pioneered a particular combination of methods over a long research career and therefore be in a position to give the research student advice on very practical issues, as well as the theory. The literature review is, of course, one element of the methods of research, and the published academic records will likely reveal a quite precise range of options to follow. In any event, it is worth thinking hard right at this stage, in order to avoid false starts and perhaps false data later on.

When I asked leaders and instructional designers why their courses and eLearning are long, extensive and take hours to complete, they decry, "the SMEs say all content are important."There are a number of reasons why we, as designers and leaders, seem unable to reshape the conversation with SMEs. Although our businesses demand that learning must be shorter, more useful, easier and affordable, we consider ourselves helpless. We succumb to producing long courses (sometimes never deviating) from the SMEs’ PowerPoint slide decks. Far Removed from the Realities of ContentWhen a designer receives a PowerPoint from an SME, he/she usually has no experience relevant to the content. The designer immediately faces a wall. This makes him/her feel incapacitated if the goal is to rewrite the materials into instructional courses. On the other hand, if there is an immediate recognition that the subject is "foreign" to us and our goal is to use a process to make the content useful, shorter, relevant and easy to deliver, our focus shifts from merely converting content to making it immediately useful. When thinking of converting content, we often fall back upon our traditional role and knowledge.  We tend to  organize content into a linear presentation with learning objectives, expounding points and testing learners for retention. The need for immediate content accessibility and usefulness oftentimes, runs counter to the linear teaching mode.Designers’ Thinking and Questioning MindsBy reshaping the conversations with SMEs, we have an opportunity to extract the value from the content into a useful lesson or course. Admittedly, some SMEs are inaccessible and rigid, but many are earnest in making their expert content add value to the learners. I often use the following set of questions.  Let’s review the PowerPoint deck and review the modules and lessons. What is the lesson trying to solve or improve? Where and how are the impacts in the business? (Ask for specific records from company data and also for anecdotal information, e.g. high rejects, high risk in lawsuits, high injuries, high customer complaints, etc.)If you were to rank the most important to the least important content in terms of impact on solving and improving the item, how would you rank them? (This is finding the must-learn)What are the key or essential knowledge and skills that the learners must learn to avoid this problem or improve this item? (Cite the specific problem or concern. Drill down to the details.) What example, story or real-life event may help the learner understand this content faster? (This is adding stories.)What parts of the content will learners likely learn or refer to while on the job? This will be provided as reference and nice-to-learn later on the job. (This is finding the learn-on-need)Reshaping the Conversations with SMEs Means Refocusing Your PurposeIt is my contention that in certain instances, we missed making our content useful, short and easy to use because we provide SMEs with no alternatives away from or to improve linear content presentation. When we shift the conversation to the business impacts, the discussion changes from the courses per se to helping learners do their jobs faster and better. This goal, SMEs and all of us can agree on. Our purpose should change and so should our mindset and questions too. References Tip 61: Case Study- Reducing eLearning Cost to 50% by Using Must-Learn Lessons and Micro-LearningTip 82: Role of Stories in Learning - A MapTip 52: Are Your Learners as Intelligent as They Can Be?Ray Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

When I asked leaders and instructional designers why their courses and eLearning are long, extensive and take hours to complete, they decry, "the SMEs say all content are important."There are a number of reasons why we, as designers and leaders, seem unable to reshape the conversation with SMEs. Although our businesses demand that learning must be shorter, more useful, easier and affordable, we consider ourselves helpless. We succumb to producing long courses (sometimes never deviating) from the SMEs’ PowerPoint slide decks. Far Removed from the Realities of ContentWhen a designer receives a PowerPoint from an SME, he/she usually has no experience relevant to the content. The designer immediately faces a wall. This makes him/her feel incapacitated if the goal is to rewrite the materials into instructional courses. On the other hand, if there is an immediate recognition that the subject is "foreign" to us and our goal is to use a process to make the content useful, shorter, relevant and easy to deliver, our focus shifts from merely converting content to making it immediately useful. When thinking of converting content, we often fall back upon our traditional role and knowledge.  We tend to  organize content into a linear presentation with learning objectives, expounding points and testing learners for retention. The need for immediate content accessibility and usefulness oftentimes, runs counter to the linear teaching mode.Designers’ Thinking and Questioning MindsBy reshaping the conversations with SMEs, we have an opportunity to extract the value from the content into a useful lesson or course. Admittedly, some SMEs are inaccessible and rigid, but many are earnest in making their expert content add value to the learners. I often use the following set of questions.  Let’s review the PowerPoint deck and review the modules and lessons. What is the lesson trying to solve or improve? Where and how are the impacts in the business? (Ask for specific records from company data and also for anecdotal information, e.g. high rejects, high risk in lawsuits, high injuries, high customer complaints, etc.)If you were to rank the most important to the least important content in terms of impact on solving and improving the item, how would you rank them? (This is finding the must-learn)What are the key or essential knowledge and skills that the learners must learn to avoid this problem or improve this item? (Cite the specific problem or concern. Drill down to the details.) What example, story or real-life event may help the learner understand this content faster? (This is adding stories.)What parts of the content will learners likely learn or refer to while on the job? This will be provided as reference and nice-to-learn later on the job. (This is finding the learn-on-need)Reshaping the Conversations with SMEs Means Refocusing Your PurposeIt is my contention that in certain instances, we missed making our content useful, short and easy to use because we provide SMEs with no alternatives away from or to improve linear content presentation. When we shift the conversation to the business impacts, the discussion changes from the courses per se to helping learners do their jobs faster and better. This goal, SMEs and all of us can agree on. Our purpose should change and so should our mindset and questions too. References Tip 61: Case Study- Reducing eLearning Cost to 50% by Using Must-Learn Lessons and Micro-LearningTip 82: Role of Stories in Learning - A MapTip 52: Are Your Learners as Intelligent as They Can Be?Ray Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

The short story: Here you can download ZR3 Organ VST &DFX Transverb VST for Mac OS X 64 bit : ZR3 organ VST 64 bit for Mac OS X direct download  : AZr3 organ VST for Mac OS X 64 bit source code : src + XCode project author website : Rupelrausch   DestroyFX Transverb VST effect 64 bit for Mac OS X direct download : Transverb VST 64 bit for Mac source code : src + xcode project + visual studio project for windows author website : DestroyFX Longer story : Some month ago, a funky guy on KVR forum asked if it was possible to compile the ultra-old-but-still-good Transverb VST plugin from DestroyFX for Mac OS X in 64 bit. The plugin is open source, so it MUST be possible. For Windows, it’s a matter of minutes, to compile a 64 bit version for a VST : just keep the antediluvian VSTGUI version and don’t care about. But on Mac OS X, the 32 to 64 bit upgrade means : change from Carbon to Cocoa ! Heureusement, The VSTGUI is Cocoa-compatible since 3.6 or something like that. So you have to upgrade from incredibly-old-version-of VSTGUI to the latest. here’s the thread at KVR : https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=454064 If you know some old plugin that NEED to be ported to 64 bit on Mac don’t hesitate to name.

Sometime you just need a plain good old sampler VST plugin for your tracks : just load a .wav sample, tweak some envelope, maybe adjust pitch, and add some loop points. No more no less. You don’t need the bells & whistles of Kontakt, nor gigabytes of library => just load some samples and come on ! So here’s a selection of 6 FREEWARE sampler in VST format: 1. TX16Wx VST TX16Wx sampler VST download 100% free : http://www.tx16wx.com/ Available for Windows (32 & 64 bit) & Mac (VST & AU 64 bit) This one is more than a simple sampler for loading & playing audio files! It’s the more complete & full featured free sampler. Tons of modulations & envelope, powerful keyboard mapping… You can choose between 4 sizes for the UI (from 800X600 to 1280X768) and the plugin can record from its own inputs (DAW inputs). This is also the more "up to date" plugin. It can load wav, aiff ogg, flac + sf2 soundfonts and sfz.   2. Grace : Sampler Grace Sampler download : http://www.onesmallclue.com/plugin/grace/ Available for Windows in 32 & 64 bit VST format. I find it more good looking than the TX16Wx! It’s also very powerful; with keyboard mapping, envelope & modulation. like the precedent, it can preview sounds, the browser is very nice. can load wav, aif & snd + sfz bank sounds. On the website you can also download library with good sounds.   3. ShortCircuit 2 shortcircuit VST download 4 free ! http://vemberaudio.se/shortcircuit.php Availbable for Windows , 32 bit VST. Sadly, Shortcircuit is discontinued. But if you’re still using 32 bit VST, it’s one the best VST sampler around. The Keyboard mapping (on a vertical view ! unlike the others), the modulation & evelope options, it’s very complete, and should work without any problems (you can also download older version if you experience some bugs) can load wav files + AKAI sample file (AKAI S5000/S6000/ Z4 Z8) + sf2 files + Recycle REX files.   4. Paax 2 sampler Paax 2 VST direct download : http://www.behringerdownload.de/UCONTROL/p2_app.zip Available for Windows 32 bit only VST. Unfortunaly, the paax sampler has vanished from the internet, and is no longer developed. The paax 3 was free for some time, and the paax 2 was always freeware. The UI is small, but all the features are here. Not the fastest workflow, but some like it like that.   5. EZ-Sampler EZ-Sampler download : http://sbaudio.org/ez-sampler Available for Windows, 32 bit VST only. This one is simple, you can load only one sample, so no keyboard mapping. Sometimes it’s just what you need ! and with EZ-Sampler, it’s fast and without troubles. can load wav, aiff, ogg, flac, snd, wma & mp3 (need Lame Encoder).   6. Helios VST ! Tobybear Helios VST dowload : http://www.tobybear.de/files.html Available for Windows, 32 bit VST only. From the Tobybear "insbag" VST collection. This one is old school ! ADSR on volume + filter + delay + LFO + loop. Just load a wav file and let’s go! drop some LFO on the loop start : instant funkyness!

There were some issues processing payments for several hours during March 8th (possibly extending into March 9th for some parts of the world). I don't know precisely how these errors would have manifested to users (some of them would have no consequence). If you were trying to pay for Ardour on March 8th/9th and ran into problems, please email me (paul@linuxaudiosystems.com) and I'll fix things up. For the curious, PayPal is starting to require the use of HTTPS when verifying IPN (Instant Payment Notification) messages, and I made a mistake when altering the code that is responsible for doing this. Apologies to all for any inconvenience. read more

There continue to be issues with our interactions with PayPal over the last several days. PayPal required some small changes to the way things work (good changes, that help with security), but they also changed some minor details that broke our payment processing system in subtle ways. If you made a payment or tried to set up a subscription in the period March 8th - March 11th at about 15:30h UTC, and things did not work as you expected, please email me at paul@linuxaudiosystems.com and we'll make it right. The problems are believed to be fixed now. Apologies for the errors and inconvenience. read more