http://www.slideshare.net/andonisanz/moodle-gamification

Content from the nowcomms.com: the B2B marketing company for tech busineses in education, sports, security & ID. See the full story here Before Scrum: A Project Padawan’s story This isn’t my first rodeo. I’ve run things. I’ve produced media projects and websites, and I’ve led creative teams. I’ve managed actors and writers, cinematographers and editors, executive assistants and publicists. I’ve delivered big projects. And all of it flying by the seat of my pants. So now it’s time to get better at this. More precise. Someone mentioned Scrum to me about two years ago when I was investigating ‘proper’ project management training. I immediately got the inevitable image of rugby players doing their thing. My understanding of it now is that things are a lot less muddy. But also, if things become muddy, that’s okay too. What do I mean by muddy? Well, working within an Agile framework means being responsive. You don’t have one road map and stick to it, because your individuals and interactions must come first - over processes and tools. There are always going to be complications or changes where people are concerned, so we must respond to that change rather than sticking to a plan. So if things get muddy, convoluted, blocked… we work with it rather than against it and clear things up. Usually, we learn a lot in the process. And then our whites are cleaner than ever. The interesting thing about both Agile and Scrum, is that they were first mentioned to me as a software delivery tool. That’s all very well, I thought, but I want to be an all-powerful project manager, in the physical world as well as the virtual (this is where the cheesy Padawan/Master Jedi stuff comes in). Happily, since joining NowComms and observing how we operate, I realise that Agile and Scrum are not just for software delivery but can be applied as a model to just about any process and business. There is nothing more satisfying than watching a piece of work travel from the left-hand side of our kanban board from ‘current sprint’ to ‘in progress’, to ‘test’, to the promised land of ‘released’. Since joining this passionate, friendly bunch of skilled creatives at NowComms, I’ve been learning on the job what it means to be in an Agile company, employing working software over comprehensive documentation (holy Trello), and cutting my teeth on matrix management (I’m the boss, as so is my boss). But just because we are an Agile company does not mean we can be ‘purely’ Agile, as many of our clients have different ways of working. So we must be flexible in every way we can. Because they come first. Next week, I will undertake my Certified ScrumMaster training with Agil8 and report back on my transition from Padawan to Master. But best of all, I can’t wait to bring back what I learn to my tribe and get us quicker, sharper, and even more relevant than before. Watch this space.             See the full story Before Scrum: A Project Padawan’s story

Searching for a sturdy iPad case for the classroom or for personal use?I was sent a Brenthaven BX2™ Edge protective case to try out. I have an iPad Mini 4 and put the case on two weeks ago and have been using it ever since. The BX2™ Edge is available for the iPad Air, the iPad Air 2, and all versions of the iPad Mini (1-3 and 4). The case is a protective case, intended for schools, but having one on my personal device has been great! There was a lot of thought put into the the design of the case. The case is is a one-piece full case for the iPad. The case latches shut which both protects the iPad's screen as well as keeps the screen off. And the case comes in bright colors, including my favorite yellow!The case has a clear back which allows for an asset tag to show through and also includes bumpers to protect the device.A very useful feature, which is missing from many cases, is the ability, when the front cover is flapped around to the back of the device, to fold down the corner to allow access to the camera lens. Brilliant! There is a slot on the back of the case that allows the latch to slide in to hold the iPad sturdily in  both typing and viewing mode.Here is the most current information sheet on the Brenthaven BX2™ Edge iPad case. The Web site does not have the color options, yet, so, please ask your rep for more information!  Visit Kathy's Web pages: Kathy Schrock's Home Page Kathy Schrock's Guide to Everything

Google Classroom is just awesome! Managing the flow of Docs and assignments has never been easier, thanks to this fabulous tool. A vastly underused feature of Google Classroom, however, is the About section. When I first noticed the About section, my first thoughts were, "what is this?" and "what am I supposed to put here?" […] The post How to Use the "About" Section of Google Classroom appeared first on Teaching with Technology.

Welcome to part 2 of my "How I Set Up My Blog" series. Today, I’m sharing the tools, themes, and sites that I use to jazz up my blog. Enjoy! Framework: Genesis The Genesis framework is a purchase I finally made in January. When I first started blogging, I didn’t really know what I was doing […] The post How I Set Up My Blog : Part 2 appeared first on Teaching with Technology.

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When we consider the rapid growth of technology and how the technology might help support a needed transformation in the pedagogy of E-Learning, we are presented with a number of exciting options from  new and more adaptive LMS's to the use of AI and totally immersive E-Learning environments.We can't help but ask the question:"Are we finally starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to E-Learning?"What is implied by this question is the observation that we see existing options starting to be further developed and come into the mainstream of E-Learning instructional design and others that have not been able to withstand scrutiny, disappear. However, there is still a troubling question that we need to carefully consider: "Have we seriously considered all the ramifications of adapting new options, especially options that may have a dark side to them for learners?The use of "Big Data" in E-Learning is one of the exciting options that we need to carefully examine all perspectives on. Credit: www.examandinterviewtips.com  The Rise of Big Data One of the current rising stars in the business world is something called "Big Data". Three companies in particular that make use of Big Data are Google, Amazon and Apple. It should not be a surprise to consumers when these companies are able to determine your likes and dislikes in many aspects of your daily lives and then almost "magically" make personalized suggestions on what you should read, buy and think. From the perspective of these companies who have access to a myriad of personal "Big Data" that is mined from all the "digital bread crumbs" that you leave due to your online presence, they are merely looking after their customers as good corporate citizens should do. however, from the point of view of the individual, the troubling question faced is:"Who should have the key to your personal data and what degree of access should they have without  your permission?" You might ask what this has to do with E-Learning. In this age of information and knowledge, more than ever before, business and education are intricately linked and in fact it is a relationship that is taking on a digital symbiotic nature but not in the way that existed in the industrial economy. The term "Big Data" originally was coined by the "Open Source" community. The term refers to the large amount of information that flows through various online pathways each second. It is data that is far too large, complex and dynamic  for conventional tools to capture and manage. Many of today's business organizations are data driven and now thanks to technology advancements and predictive analytics, it can be interpreted and analyzed. The goal is to draw insights from large amounts of data that give direction. Its value to the education world is that data is collected across a huge variety of demographics, backgrounds, learning styles, thinking processes, IQ levels, academic intentions, environmental factors, skills and potentials. This data can be tracked through LMS's, social networks and other media. Even the young teen playing online video games with his or her X-Box One is contributing Big Data to the portfolio of individualized data. On the surface, the benefits to education are the insights that the data provides to help design instructional strategies, evaluate impact of strategies on both student and teacher emphasizing an evidenced based production of data. However, one question to consider is:"Where does "small data" that is gathered in the classroom daily fit into the big picture?"Next.........The Nature of Big Learning Data

Scheduling out your online course content or drip releasing it can be really useful in a number of ways. It allows you to control the rate at which students consume your videos, thus giving them more time to understand your content and engage more. In this video we explain more about drip content and scheduling. So, drip content, or scheduled content just means that you’re delaying the release of the content in your online course over time. And there are a few reasons why you might want to do this. One could be that you are not actually done creating the content. Instead, you’re doing a pre-launch or a pre-sell, or you’re getting people into your course when only the first part of it has been produced, and you’ve set some dates when the rest of it will be released. So you can actually set those dates in advance, even set up your placeholders for it, and then start to insert the content as you grow out your course or as you build out the rest of your course. This actually allows you to launch a lot sooner and you can even pull in feedback from people who are already in the first part of the course to find out what to put into it the later parts of the course. It’s something to be careful with though because you don’t want to get too far behind, you should have a really good idea and a plan and deadlines that you can meet if you’re promising people that you’re going to be delivering that content on particular dates. Another way you can use drip or scheduled content is on an evergreen course, where you want people to be delayed in the access to that content. So an evergreen course just means people can access, it’s up and it’s running all the time, it’s always green and people can access it and start at any time, but the drip schedule starts personally for them when they sign up for the course. So if I sign up on January 15, my schedule starts January 15. If you sign up a few weeks later, that’s when your schedule starts. So we each have our own schedules based on our sign up date. Now it’s really easy to set up with the Thinkific drip scheduler. Another way you can do it is with cohorts. So with cohort-based scheduling, or based on a start date for the entire course, you can have a whole bunch of people start the course together and work through it together on that timeline. And again, you can use this in the case of a pre-launches or early launches, but you can also use it periodically to do a series of cohorts throughout the year where everyone launches together. That can be really good if you want people to work through the course together, or you want them to be part of a community or maybe participate in your Facebook group, that kind of a thing where they are interacting and going through the course at the same pace. Drip or scheduled content can also be used if you want to slow down the learning process so you don’t overwhelm people. So if you’re giving them homework assignments that you know are going to take a little bit of time and you want them to go and work on a project and come back and learn the next big thing, drip content can be a great way of doing that. And finally, drip or scheduled content can be useful if you’re charging a monthly subscription. So in this case, you may not want to release everything you have to them as soon as they sign up with their first month’s subscription. So I have seen some people who have a full year’s worth of content laid out in a course and when someone new signs up on a monthly subscription plan, they just get the first month’s worth of content, and then each month new content is automatically released to them and it provides an incentive for them to stick around and keep paying those monthly fees. So there’s a lot of different ways that you can use drip and scheduled content in your online courses. These are just a few of them, I am sure you will find more but it’s definitely something worth considering. It doesn’t work in all scenarios, in a lot of scenarios you just want to give them everything that they paid for as soon as they sign up for your course. But it can be useful in a number of different circumstances. So if you haven’t already checked out Thinkific’s drip feature, I think you’ll find it very useful for all of those scenarios that we’ve painted today. The post Teach Online TV #20: Drip Scheduling Your Course Content appeared first on Thinkific.

Providing your employees with effective eLearning is a lot like shopping for clothing; a one-size-fits-all approach does not usually cut it. While pre-built, off-the-shelf products can be initially cheaper to purchase, they might not result in the greatest ROI or offer the best fit for the specific skills and knowledge required by your organization. Here […] The post 6 Major Advantages Of Custom eLearning For Corporate Training appeared first on PulseLearning.

I can’t wait to see all of these great presentations at the SITE conference next week! Society of Information Technology and Teacher Ed, Tuesday, March 22nd, 2016, Planner 8:30 AM-9:45 AM: Welcome, General Session & Keynote, Marc Prensky Global Future Education Foundation and Institute, USA "PLAN B": Education to Improve the World 10:15 AM-11:15 AM in Harborside … Continue reading "SITE Conference Day 1: My Itinerary for Professional Development"