The Nature of the ProblemA couple of comments often heard from students and their parents in the past and even today are the following:Student: "I go to school all day and we do things that take up time in our day but in the end these things have nothing to do with the real world."Parent to Teacher:  " Its okay with me if you have my child do all these discovery activities and have him/her make decisions but in the end I want you to tell him/her what they need to know."If you examine these comments within the context of a society that is becoming more globally connected and precisely the world that young learners will take their place in as adult citizens, you can't help but ask the question:" Is there a disastrous disconnect here? Are education systems really preparing students for the "real world" that they will actually have to live, contribute and function in or are they being prepared for a world that no longer exists but is faithful to our own memories?" If students are still making such comments, then we are at risk of them completely disconnecting from valuing education and "life long learning".Credit: www.pinterest.comRecognizing and admitting that we have a problem are only the first steps. To reestablish the link between education as a relevant activity to preparation for living in a rapidly changing world means that we need to re-design the pedagogy that we use in such a way that the learner can see that what they are doing in their education is consistently connected to people, resources and needs that exist in the real world. We need to stop making excuses to learners that the regimented, conforming and controlling activities that are used in education but never go beyond the four walls of the brick and mortar classroom or even the virtual classroom, is somehow good for them.Credit: www.quotestank.blogspot.com So, if we are going to involve learners, whether in the learning cultures of business or formal education, in effective collaboration, it has to be personally meaningful and give the learner the opportunity to make valid contributions to real world problems. It is no secret to those who are involved in educating or training learners that learning that is deep and sustainable reaches it potential by having learners actually do tasks where they can collaborate with each other and receive feedback from the outside world. Feedback from the outside world from people who are on the cutting edge of their disciplines is more validating for the learner than feedback from their instructor. It validates that what they are doing is real and has importance in the real world.Lessons in Sustained Learner Engagement: "The NASA Martian Rover Design Project" If we want learners to achieve deeper and more sustainable levels of learning, it is not enough just to dazzle them with a uniquely designed learning experience, we need to have the learner remain engaged. This is where technology can serve our re-designed pedagogy.One project that demonstrated the importance of this type pedagogy for me was a project titled: "The NASA Martian Rover Design Project" which was an off shoot of a larger initiative called: "The Marsville Project". This was a project that was first started as a result of the terrible Challenger Spacecraft explosion on Jan. 28, 1986. The families wanted to leave a lasting memory of the dedication of seven astronauts to the ideal of exploring space for young people. As a result, the Marsville project was born. This project was geared to the idea of collaboration in the exploration and design of a human habitation on Mars. The exploration focused on all aspects of such an endeavor which included structural design, life support systems, renewable energy production, food, communication systems and of course, the design of a realistic design for a Martian terrain vehicle called a rover.  Unlike other school based projects, this one was a good example of blended E-Learning since it combined in class based project with making connections with NASA personnel who could act as mentors with suggestions about student ideas.Credit: www.itgsnews.comI worked with students on this project for approximately 11 years. At first we focused on all aspects of the project but quickly discovered that the timelines became tight and the logistics of bringing our innovations to Toronto where over 50 other schools would meet to demonstrate their scientific innovative thinking on the project became a real challenge. As a result the teams decided to specialize on two aspects: design of a Martian Rover and the generation of renewable Mars based energy.Credit: www.article.wn.comWhat I discovered about sustainable engagement and through talking with students amazed me. Here are some results:Students asked why this type of learning that connected them with real scientists who were actually working on such projects was rare and too often a one time event.After, our collaborative teams were formed, the students connected with scientists and included them in their collaborative teams. Although scientists are very busy with their research, many were willing to hear students innovative ideas and give them feedback and even references to easy to understand data and information.After, our teams were introduced to the task of building and programming robotic rovers, my role changed from being the "sage on the stage" to the "guide on the side". Amazingly, the students took over, working collaboratively, accessing information from the Internet, problem solving and communicating with specialists. Intrinsic motivation became the driver for what they were doing. I was the "encourager on the side". There was no need for me to offer external motivators to keep them going.Credit: www.resources21.orgOn thinking back on this experience, it was one of the most gratifying of my career because what I was observing was what I would term "pure, ongoing learning". Students who felt that school was not the real world changed their minds in our groups because now they were connected to an important task in the world that involved them collaborating with real scientists and receiving meaningful feedback about their ideas.For two of my students this experience encouraged them to come up with innovative ideas that found real application in the real world. One re-programmed the original program used to guide the robots so that they could navigate a maze of obstacles using different types of light and heat sensors where the other one went on and came up with a new and more cost effective treatment for Malaria.The question posed by the students is a valid one:Why is collaboration with the real world just a one time thing and not something that should be an important skillset designed as part of all their courses?Credit: www.sunnyskyz.comNext----Specific areas where effective collaboration should be part of the design in E-Learning. NASA's space shuttle Challenger accident was a devastating tragedy that killed seven astronauts and shocked the world on Jan. 28, 1986. Killed in the accident were Challenger commander Dick Scobee, pilot Michael Smith, mission specialists Judy Resnik, Ronald McNair and Ellison Onizuka, payload specialist Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe, who was set to become the first teacher in space. - See more at: http://www.space.com/31732-space-shuttle-challenger-disaster-explained-infographic.html#sthash.dZ0X39nF.dpufNASA's space shuttle Challenger accident was a devastating tragedy that killed seven astronauts and shocked the world on Jan. 28, 1986. Killed in the accident were Challenger commander Dick Scobee, pilot Michael Smith, mission specialists Judy Resnik, Ronald McNair and Ellison Onizuka, payload specialist Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe, who was set to become the first teacher in space. - See more at: http://www.space.com/31732-space-shuttle-challenger-disaster-explained-infographic.html#sthash.dZ0X39nF.dpuf

Written by Holly ClarkEducational Strategist - EdTechTeamIn late 2015, my best friend’s daughter was going through something really horrific at school. She would come home and cry about math tests and she was beginning to show signs of hating school.Tanya and I thought it was because her teacher was so caught up in making sure she delivered certain content in a timely matter, that she had failed to notice that some of her students were not understanding the information. The sad part is that Tanya's daughter was growing frustrated with what she thought was her inability to learn.One evening while saying her "good-nights," this sweet seven year old girl confided in her mom about a punishment she had received for talking during class…and as she told her story, her mom began to cry. She quickly called me and told me about what was happening at her daughters school. It is from this story of an unjust and misunderstood punishment that this TEDx talk was written…

Lisa ThumannDirector of Professional LearningEdTechTeamDespite it being the shortest month of the year, February was jam-packed with Googley-Goodness in all shapes and sizes over the globe. Last month, EdTechTeam hosted 25 events in 7 countries!The events ranged from our six Summits featuring Google in Education in places like India, Missouri and Argentina to our new Certification Bootcamps and in-district customized professional development in Oklahoma and Florida, and a student summit in Alberta. In February, we reported a combined 288 hours of professional development on behalf of 52 different Google Certified Trainers. As a Google PD Partner, we're responsible for reporting our events that feature Google for Education as well as the hours for all the Google Certified Trainers that work with us. We are honored to work with so many fabulous trainers and organizations. Thank you for allowing us to share our knowledge and expertise with so many educators and students. Look what's in store for March and contact us about coming to you for a Bootcamp or custom event for your staff!

We talk to customers every chance we get at LearnUpon. Sometimes that’s through the 24/7 free support we offer as standard. Our Customer Success team reaches out regularly so we aren’t just in contact when a customer has a query. And a few times a year we share three questions to help us understand what’s on our customers’ minds. The insights they offer make for great reading. They give the whole team a snapshot of what matters most to customers today, what they’re feeling, what they’re less crazy about, and what they need next. The results are in! Here’s a sneak peek at the feedback our customers shared this year.   Why customers choose an LMS Here’s a breakdown of the main reasons customers chose LearnUpon: With almost 700 eLearning platforms on the market, there are any number of benefits potential customers can choose from. We love that the richness of our feature selection came in as the #1 reason organizations signed with us. Not only are our existing LMS features a big draw, customers appreciate the effort we make to roll out new ones every month. Every request we receive is reviewed for inclusion in our product roadmap, so customers play a big role in helping to shape the future of their LMS. This nugget made us extra excited to share some big surprises coming later this year. And while customers appreciate our competitive pricing right from the start, they grow to love our fast and friendly customer support team more and more.   In our customers’ words These are the words customers used when describing their experience with LearnUpon. If you returned our survey, you’ll see your words here too.     Thanks for sharing the love We’re so grateful for the time customers took to share their feedback. It means a lot to us and we put it to good use. Here are just a few of the shout outs the team received. "Everything ranks highly across the board in my opinion. Customer service responsiveness and help, engagement, keeping customers in the loop, added features, etc. Keep doing what you’re doing!" Ryan, Cornerstone Learning "You are the best. Everyone we have dealt with has been wonderful, responsive, receptive, helpful. Change nothing." Christine, WideOrbit "I think you guys are amazing! Price is what brought me to you but your customer service has been incredible. I have been very impressed." Angela, Ascenta Health "Even though features and price were what initially made LearnUpon stand out, it is your people that truly set LearnUpon apart. Absolutely phenomenal team! Everyone I have been in contact with has been extremely pleasant and helpful. Thank you!" Jennifer, Premium Retail Services "LearnUpon has been one of the best vendor relationships I’ve had in my 20+ career in training and development. Keep doing what you are doing. I believe that is the key to your current and future success." Marvette, SNL Knowledge Center "LearnUpon is amazing, working with Carrie, Phily and the LearnUpon support team. I would recommend LearnUpon to anyone and everyone that needs an easy to use model. I can’t think of anything that could be done better when they have already gone above and beyond their scope of work." Mel, Newmont Mining "Just keep doing what you are doing! You continue to make improvements, you continue to show customer appreciation, and you continue to provide award-winning service. I love LearnUpon. It has literally made my job as a trainer so much easier! Thank you again for being so wonderful!" Lydia, Key Benefit Administrators "LearnUpon is a foundation that we are building upon. Your service is great and your sales team was awesome. There are few times in the software industry where selecting a solution is fun but as I look back at this project, I realize I actually enjoyed it." Matt, MyFarms LLC   And we say - right back at you! We would be nothing without our customers. Thank you all so much.   Want to read more? Sign up to get our latest posts! The post What customers love most about their LMS appeared first on LearnUpon.

We talked a little bit about risk in the last post.In highly risk and change averse cultures, you want to make sure you have a solid argument for why you want to make the changes you wish to make.For executive-types, they want to see numbers.Return on Investment.Whether what you are proposing and the resources it will require will be worth it.--------------------------------------Some basics on opportunity cost can be found in the movie and links below.Calculating Opportunity CostsStudy.com: How to Calculate Opportunity Costs ----------------------------In this example, I am going to calculate the Opportunity Cost for eliminating one of our LMSs.Note: This is NOT a reflection of my reality.  This is just an intellectual exercise.To do this, I need the following:Current contract for the LMS I wish to eliminateCurrent contract for the LMS I wish to merge into - I am looking for service gapsVendor information for the LMS I wish to merge intoProposed cost for filling in the service gapsGeneral average of the labor costs involved in maintaining the LMS I wish to eliminate General average of the labor costs that will be involved in the merger.  The general formula is(what you are sacrificing) / (what you are gaining) = opportunity cost What I am sacrificing includes:- The proposed cost for filling in the service gaps - as provided by the vendor (ex. $10,000 / yr to add the features and licenses currently missing)- The labor cost involved in the transition (ex. $50,000 - one time cost during length of time of transition)- How long I expect this transition to take (1 year)What I am gaining would include- The cost of the current contract for the LMS I wish to eliminate (ex. $50,000 / yr - off the books)- General average of the labor costs involved in maintaining the LMS (ex. $50,000 / yr - off the books)- Number of years I expect this solution to be in place (3 years)So for the first year - I am looking at an opportunity cost ratio ofImplementation year - (10,000 + 50,000) / (50,000 + 50,000) = 60,000 / 100,000  = 0.6.Subsequent years - (10,000) / (100,000) = 10,000 / 100,000 = 0.1From this, I see 2 things.1) I am gaining more than I am losing (Opportunity cost ratio is less than 1)2) After the implementation year, I stand to gain even moreI can also take a look at how much I stand to gain or lose.So....Implementation year - I am sacrificing $60,000 (the annual cost of the contract(10K) + labor cost for implementation(50K)) and stand to gain $100,000 in savings (the annual cost of the old contract (50K) + the FTE to maintain (50K).  So the total gain is $40,000Subsequent years, since I don't have the labor costs of implementation (50K), I'm gaining $90,000 per year!Notice that these are financial costs and not necessarily the emotional costs of change management.You may run the numbers and find that the aggravation still isn't worth it.

Recall a time in the last month that you, as leader or peer, needed to give someone feedback - positive or constructive. Did you give it? Why or why not?Consistently throughout my work week, there are at least three or four times that someone will describe a situation to me about someone else, inside or outside of work, and my response is the exact same: Did you give he or she that feedback? (And I often ask the same question while processing the situation myself.)Feedback should be given for both positive and constructive intent. If Katie impressed every single person in the room in her last client presentation, did you give her specific feedback about how great she was? And going further, the impact it has on you? Or on the flip side, if Dan was tentative and less poised in his last presentation, did you give him constructive feedback about using more definitive, confident language? And then explore how he can be supported?Now be honest: Does it make your skin crawl thinking about having these conversations? Feedback in theory should be easy, but it rarely is. Especially when giving constructive feedback. We want to be liked and fear that pointing out areas to work on can jeopardize that. On the receiving end, we want to appear as though we are competent in everything we do. When we learn we have behaviors that need to be course corrected, it can be difficult to hear. And when we need to have this conversation with others, especially giving feedback up (to our boss for example) it can feel dangerous.Focus on overcoming this fear. This week’s tip is to give more feedback to people on your team and in your life. Feedback really does feed others. According to a study from OfficeVibe, the impact of feedback is often underestimated. Chew on these thoughts:98% of employees will fail to be engaged when managers give little or no feedback65% of employees want more feedback43% of highly engaged employees receive feedback once a week  Those stats are enough to make me reconsider staying quiet, when minor discomfort temporarily overcomes me.So I ask: How will you "feed" others this week? The post Fierce Tip of the Week: "Feed" Others with Your Feedback appeared first on Fierce, Inc..

A Feedback Genius: Someone who is strong in both giving and receiving feedback. This person gives feedback frequently and chances are that has made them pretty good at it. This person welcomes feedback and receives it with interest and gratitude (most of the time). Would you consider yourself a feedback genius? Feedback is something that everyone craves, yet many people do not give enough of it. When we talk about Fierce Feedback, we define it as a conversation in which we have the opportunity to see what we may not see. And in order for people to feel engaged, they need to be learning about their discipline, their role, and most importantly, about themselves.According to a 2013 Zinger Folkman study of 22,719 leaders, leaders who ranked at the bottom 10% in their ability to give honest feedback to direct reports received engagement scores from their subordinates that averaged 25 percent. In contrast, those in the top 10% for giving honest feedback had subordinates who ranked at the 77th percentile in engagement.That’s a big deal for an individual leader…and an organization. So it is time for you to get some feedback on your own feedback skills. Use this survey to gauge your individual perspective on how you feel about giving and receiving both positive and constructive feedback, and you can also facilitate it with a team, if you wish.What did you score? Are you a feedback wanna-be?The post Are You a Feedback Genius? Test it. appeared first on Fierce, Inc..

This week’s Fierce resource was originally published on Ted.com and uncovers what really motivates employees to perform better.One of the biggest mistakes leaders make in their career, is assuming feedback conversations are a one-way street. Feedback shouldn’t just be about communication what went wrong or right. We also need to spend time understanding what inspires people to do their best, because that is where the answer to employee motivation really lies. In his 2009 TedTalk: The Puzzle of Motivation, Dan Pink explores the three elements required for intrinsic motivation.Do you know what matters to your team? Read the complete transcript here. The post Fierce Resource: Dan Pink - The Puzzle Of Motivation appeared first on Fierce, Inc..