All of us have customers. If you are a freelance writer or instructional design consultant, you know how important it is to keep the customers you have happy. If you are an in-house instructional designer or writer, you have customers too. Even though your customers are internal, it is just as important to keep them happy. If you deliver poorly written manuals or ineffective training, they will not want to spend their budget with you. They may complain to your boss or go outside of the company to hire someone. Regardless if you have your own business or work for a company, it is easier to keep the customers you have instead of finding new customers. MHI Global wrote an article with a few tips on keeping your customers happy: What Do Customers Want? 4 Basic Things.

In the previous post, I mentioned that the way we do collaboration needs to change and become more dynamic and global in its outlook. In the past, collaborative groups were organized "in-house" and involved employee groups tasked with a particular problem. Access to a SME was an important element of the plan and the ID's had the responsibility of establishing a rapport with the SME's so that the designed collaborative plan would have a good chance of producing positive results. At that time, the outreach beyond the walls of the organization might be by teleconference and satellite linkups to branch offices. This was useful for delivering training or sharing important data on which an organization could make sound business decisions.As mentioned in the previous post, the world indeed changed and this change was manifested in two ways:With the growth of technology, especially as it related to doing business using the Internet as a medium, the "in-house walls" came down. The boundaries that previously defined the area of pursuing business were not only removed but the access to important markets and strategic data needed in order to compete in such a medium, accelerated. The natural consequence was an organizational rush to position their organizations to compete in a globally connected collaborative digital economy. The great challenge facing organizations was to overcome organizational inertia and the changing of an entrenched mindset that said:"We have always done things this way" to a mindset that now said: "How can we engage our employees to be effective learners of new online skillsets and thus establish our organization as one that is dynamically focused on innovative thinking?"The second shift or change was the realization that real world problems have become more complex and that we have more immediate access to ongoing information about them in real time than what we were able to accomplish in the past. This means that maintaining a strong relationship with our SME may not be enough for us to be successful. The reason is that working in an online environment highlights the importance of critical thinking skills both in the navigation on the web but also the search, analysis and interpretation of accessed data. Also, the need for more than one skillset derived from a multitude of other disciplines to focus on a tasked problem can not be derived from the skillsets of one individual, especially if you require high quality interpretation of a tasked problem and innovative solutions.Out of necessity in operating in such an environment, the way we collaborate has to change to utilize the great potential that the environment offers. The use of social media as a tool for establishing effective online branding for an organization should not be underestimated. Tools such as Twitter and LinkedIn are global in out reach and can raise the visibility of an organization and establish its brand much more quickly than even many well planned out advertising campaigns that ignore such a tool. Crowd sourcing has also been a useful tool for moving "start-ups" forward on a solid financial footing.How Should Collaboration Change? The following are merely suggestions to promote thoughtful engagement:Importance of an Effective Dynamic Learning Culture: We live and work in an information and learning age that puts a high value on the creation of new knowledge and skillsets. Unlike the past when content was king, something of greater value is learning how to think and use the resources and information that resides on the web. This means that it is better to nurture and reward the learning skills of employees than to expose them to countless hours of PowerPoint content and demand them to memorize it or else. If our goal is to have employees who naturally want to learn more, seek to collaborate with others to solve problems and be innovative to the benefit of the organization, then engagement needs to be fueled by the intrinsic motivation of the individual and not by extrinsic motivators that use the "carrot or the stick" mentality.Hiring Practices: HR departments have followed a tried and true method for new hiring since business organizations have been in existence and had started to grow. However, with the opening up of the World Wide Web to business, competition for talent increased exponentially. This means that the search for talent just took on a new level. It is not enough to post employment opportunities, collect resumes, go through a selection process, conduct preliminary interviews and at some point in time arrive at a decision. CV's and resumes can easily be artificially enhanced. It is important to pay attention to skillsets as they present themselves in the activities of potential candidates in the online environment. It is important for HR departments to be aggressively proactive in searching out talent but in searching out such talent it needs to be remembered that these skillsets will complement the skillsets of others tasked with a given real world problem. The "branding of the individual" is just as important as the branding of an organization when it comes to hiring practices.Ad Hoc Collaborative Groups: The idea of "outsourcing" has enjoyed a great deal of notoriety in the past due to how it can depress the economy of a city, a state and even a country. However, searching and bringing together talent in online collaborative groups tasked in solving real world problems has the potential to enlist not just the talent in "our own back yards" but to use effective global talent seeking to bring together the necessary skillsets required for understanding and solving the problem. On an ad hoc basis such groups could disband after a solution is produced. Unlike outsourcing, protocols should be established to share the benefits with the organizations represented by the collaborators. It does not require the closing down of a business that would result in unemployment and a depressed economy and the ROI for the collaborating organizations could be quite intriguing.Establishment of Collaborative Global Learning Networks: This is a concept that I have mentioned before in previous posts. Essentially it involves setting up 6 collaborative global learning networks that act as forums for organizations to send employees with promising new and innovative ideas to. It is here, in what we might term an "innovation sandbox" that employees may collaborate, receive mentoring, and be able to develop their ideas and present them to a council made up of cross disciplinary specialists. The employees then return to their respective organizations with a report on the potential benefit of the ideas as well as the necessary caveats to be aware of. The concept of proprietary and intellectual ownership should be worked in such a way that it doesn't promote or lead to a "paralyzing protectionism" which defeats the purpose of collaborating in the first place.  There is still a fundamental question that has an impact on such ideas which is: "Will the vision and purpose of education change in order to produce learners who are creators of new knowledge and skillsets or will education continue to be resistant to the necessary changes that prepare the learners to be effective organizational leaders and employees in the real digital world?"Next...Learning Cultures in Education--Breaking Down Barriers

"2016 is the year when we stop talking about what needs to be done. Instead it is the year when we need to make it happen," writes Laura Overton, Founder and CEO of Towards Maturity—and keynote speaker for the 2016 Lectora® User conference. Laura’s expertise on modern learning comes from 30 years of practical experience looking at learning innovation for business advantages. It’s also backed by her independent research since 2003 when she authored "Linking Learning To Business" —one of the first industry benchmark studies with both organizations and learners investigating good practices of successful implementations. She’ll be sharing her expertise at the LUC 2016 using research with over 4,400 L&D leaders and 20,000 learners around the globe, along with practical insights gleaned from the world’s top-performing organizations. A recent Towards Maturity report, The Consumer Learner at Work, showed that: 80% of employees who have invested their own time and resources in learning can see how online learning helps further their career 70% think online learning has had a positive impact on job performance Laura calls this data "a wake-up call for L&D teams." Modern learners want easy access to relevant and practical learning that adds value to their lives. Laura says, "When learners say they are keen, curious and want to easily access relevant content, then organisations [sic] must listen. Clearly, corporate L&D is not providing what motivated learners want. Think about the impact this will be having on those who are less motivated." When business is changing rapidly and learners are under more pressure than ever before, L&D has a unique opportunity to make a real difference to both performance and employee engagement. The future is bright, but L&D needs to adapt—fast. Ready to start building better modern learning cultures in 2016? Register now to reserve your spot at Laura Overton’s keynote presentation at the 2016 Lectora User Conference. Don’t wait—the early bird registration rate expires February 15, 2016. References: http://www.towardsmaturity.org/article/2015/12/09/make-2016-year-of-LD-action/ http://www.towardsmaturity.org/article/2016/02/02/corporate-learning-wildly-out-sync-how-individuals/ The post Insights on Modern Learning by Laura Overton: LUC 2016 Keynote Speaker appeared first on .

Kate PettyDirector of Certification ProgramsEdTechTeam Read her blog at thetechclassroom.comImagine being able to tell the parents at your school that your teachers are digitally certified. Not only digitally certified... but certified by Google. We think they'd be impressed!Google’s new certification program helps teachers at all levels get officially certified in a very unique way. Teachers can take the free online curriculum and then register to take the Google Certified Educator Level 1 and/or Level 2 exam for a small fee. Once the exam is passed, Google will email the educator a printable certificate and electronic badge to add to his/her electronic signature. The best part of Google’s new certification program is that it isn’t all about "Google". The new program helps educators understand modern pedagogy, offers digital citizenship resources, provides ideas for coaching models, and helps teachers establish Personal Learning Networks - so important in this world of connectivity.EdTechTeam is proud to announce that we now offer a unique set of Google Certified Educator Bootcamps designed to prepare teachers to start studying for their certifications. Very much in-line with our Google Summits, EdTechTeam Bootcamps are ticketed events. Different from Summits, our Bootcamps are intimate affairs with only 25-30 people in attendance. A school or district can sign up to host one with no risk and market the event to the schools around them. Once the event has reached 20 paid tickets, the host of the event gets three free tickets for the event.EdTechTeam Bootcamps for Google Certified Educator Level 1 and Level 2 offer their participants catered lunch and a voucher to take the respective exam. And the learning doesn’t stop when the teachers walk out of the door of an EdTechTeam Bootcamp. Teachers are invited to our closed Bootcamp community of educators who help each other night and day while providing encouragement as they are preparing to take the exam.   Principals and administrators are finding that teachers walk away from our Bootcamp events energized to become certified and empowered to try new things in their classrooms. We look forward to empowering educators by preparing them for these digital certifications. Bring a Bootcamp to your school by filling out a short request form and email Kate with any questions!

Library of Congress 2016 Summer Teacher Institutes -Teaching with Primary Sources The Library of Congress is now accepting applications for its week-long summer institutes for K-12 educators. Held at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., this professional development opportunity provides educators with tools and resources to effectively integrate primary sources into K-12 classroom teaching, with an emphasis on student engagement, critical thinking, and construction of knowledge. The Library is offering five programs this summer.  Four of the programs are open to teachers and librarians across all content areas.  One focuses on primary sources in science, technology and engineering. During each five-day institute, participants work with Library education specialists and subject-matter experts to learn effective practices for using primary sources in the classroom, while exploring some of the millions of digitized historical artifacts and documents available on the Library’s website. General Institutes - open to K-12 educators across all content areas: June 27-July 1 July 11-15 July 18-22 July 25-29 Science, Technology, and Engineering Institute - recommended for K-12 educators who teach science, technology, or engineering, or collaborate with those who do:  June 20-24 Tuition and materials are provided at no cost. Participants will be responsible for transportation to and from Washington, D.C., and any required overnight accommodations. Applications are due February 29 and require a letter of recommendation. Read more and apply now ! The post Library of Congress 2016 Summer Teacher Institutes appeared first on NCCE's Tech-Savvy Teacher Blog.

[Post by Justin Hearn, President of GeoMetrix Data Systems Inc.] Most of our customers have customized our GeoTalent and TrainingPartner learning management systems in one way or another—not because there’s anything wrong with our products, but because the organizations had unique requirements that no commercial LMS could meet. It may come as a surprise to some software developers, but not all businesses are the same. Even organizations in the same industry operate differently, sometimes only slightly but occasionally massively. And while we’ve tried to cover every possible requirement of every potential process in every prospective organization, the reality is that we can’t—no one can. We learned this early on (and when I say early, I mean back in the 1990s.) Instead, we built our software with tailoring in mind. We made it easy to modify the system to meet unique processes. We include a range of built-in tools for creating custom reports and designing new web functionality. And we designed it so that most changes are held outside the core and won’t affect upgrades. We also sell a suite of APIs, and, of course, we offer customization services for all our products. But you might be asking, if you need to make changes to a commercial LMS, why wouldn’t you have a custom system designed to your exact specifications? There are several critical reasons why developing complex software, such as a learning management system, from the ground up is impractical. The first is that while many organizations require some modifications, the majority of the features and functionality involved in managing learning are similar from organization to organization. Wouldn’t it be easier to tweak an existing system than to re-invent the wheel? The second is that in our experience, custom-developed software fails, miserably, more often than not. We’ve had years and years (more than two decades, in fact) to perfect our products. Our LMS works and we can prove it because it exists now. Custom software might look good on paper, but making it work might be more difficult than first imagined. Do the programmers really understand how learning management works? The third is time. Our software is ready to go right now. It might take a few weeks to complete any changes required to meet your needs, but a custom-developed system can take years to build and test. How long are you willing to wait for your new LMS? The final reason is cost. Even a custom system that appears reasonably priced at the start can become prohibitively expensive over time. Has the development team missed specifications that will need to be added later outside the original quote? Will it work with other applications or require custom integration not included in the price? Can it comply with regulatory standards or will further development be needed at additional cost? Were security and privacy taken into account or will there be costly consequences down the road? The list could go on and on. We’ve already dealt with those issues for you, and because we sell our system over and over, the cost of developing (and testing) it is shared by all our customers. Those accumulated purchases also support us while we enhance, improve and update to meet industry changes. This also means you won’t be left out in the cold as you might be when your custom developers move on to a new project.

Up to this day many industries don't understand or misinterpret social learning, even though the theory of social learning was introduced in 1960's. Want to hear something funny? The first iPhone was introduced in 2007, what means that the social learning theory is almost 7 times older than an iPhone. And believe me, I haven't met a person, who wouldn't know how to use an iPhone. So what is stopping everyone from applying social learning in their industries? Why do corporations provide people with smartphones, iPhones, iPads etc. and forget to provide the aspects of social learning in their organisation? To answer these questions I would like to define the social learning theory. As A. Bandura laid down in his research: "Learning is a cognitive process that takes place in social context and can occur purely from observation or direct instruction even without direct reinforcement". Sounds easy, doesn't it? You observe, learn and apply. But there is something more, something that might scare your manager: no direct reinforcement. Social learning becomes an observable but not easily enforceable cycle. Though I want to put your mind to rest and explain on how social learning process can enhance your team's performance and advance your organisation. Step 1: Ask - social learning? Whenever I Google social learning platforms, I immediately get directed to heavy learning management system (LMS) pages. Either social learning platforms label themselves as LMS's, or we just really don't have that many social learning tools. I think that it's rather first option than the later. Everyone is just so scared of the aspect 'social' that we rather hide this word from our glossaries. For most of the big organisations 'social' might entail slacking, something unknown, non fitting into the current (outdated) organisational structure and loss of control. But as I said this thinking is outdated. Social learnings is not the future, it's the present, and if you will fail to innovate from your Google Docs system you might miss out on a lot of potential success. Let's ask why social learning is so important? The biggest potential hides within your employees and teammates. To empower your team and your company you must tap into the human knowledge and resources. It is the easies, result breeding and the most cost efficient way to focus your teamwork and learning efforts. Learning and locking in (expanding) your internal knowledge will pave the path for further goal creation, connectedness and creation of all round experts. How awesome would it be to have a team of developers, who know how to pitch or sell and have the sales people, who can explain most of the technical aspects of the product? This leads us to the 2nd step: Observing the success Step 2: Observe success Don't know whether social aspect of learning is your cup of tea? Research 10 most innovational companies and reach out: do your tweeting and 'facebooking'. Contact the managers and ask for their opinions and experiences with social learning. You would be surprised by the variety of success stories. Check out some products and read the testimonies. Most of the products provide you with explanations and ways of usage within their webpage. Observation, mutual brainstorm sessions and asking might lead you to the feeling of comfort with the idea of social learning within your company. Step 3: Getting it You might ask: what's next? A training and education 'smartcut'. Allow your team to teach each other and materialise their knowledge transfer. The social learning cycle might not be easily 'top-down' controllable, but it's well observable. What is more, the cycle isn't too difficult to point to a certain direction. There is nothing to fear when we are talking about the social learning. What we all have to understand is that, if you have a great and professional team, there is no need to reenforce a heavy LMS. Human beings are always striving to expand their knowledge and create pleasurable working environments. Decision to implement social learning into your daily organisational life has to be built on the trust in your teams capabilities and eagerness to learn. Keep in mind that Today and Social are to inseparable subjects. You already opened the floodgate by providing your employees and teammates with the means to pursue social in the organisation. Now lead them to social ways of knowledge sharing! Have any questions? Drop me a tweet @learningspaces. Tell me about your fears and expectations towards social learning? What are you using for internal knowledge sharing?

The key to developing expertise is deliberate practice. While some of this can happen during formal instruction, expertise has to be developed outside the classroom, as that is where most of us spend our time. Expertise takes time to develop, but how can organizations support novices as they go through their journeys to expertise? Tom Gram has three posts that cover the research and application of deliberate practice based on the work of Dr. Anders Ericsson. Practice & Development of Expertise: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 Tom Gram has synthesized some of this research with an image that shows how low-performing novices and high-performing experts differ. To focus on deliberate practice, we need to put it into all aspects of workplace learning. This means instruction based on action, not content, such as Cathy Moore’s action mapping approach. It also requires cognitive apprenticeship, especially within communities of practice. Using the 70:20:10 principle, a good practice would be to include deliberate practice into all aspects of workplace learning, whether in education programs, coaching and exposure, or through everyday experience. In this way, new patterns can be sensed, especially through exposure to external social networks. New mental models can be developed through the practice of PK Mastery. To promote deliberate practice, the organization has to reduce barriers to sharing tacit (implicit) knowledge and encourage informal learning while working. Deliberate practice is a key part of social learning.

I recently presented at a local conference called iTeach808 and my plan was to introduce teachers to Google tools that expose students to the world beyond their physical reach: Cultural Institute, My Maps, and Google Cardboard. Let's just say I never got around to Cultural Institute and My Maps. Teachers were just blown away by the potential of Google Cardboard! Here's what I shared with them!I'm going to share a few of my favorite Google Cardboard resources below. But for a more comprehensive guide visit my resource page! Favorite Cardboard OptionsAlthough these are the most expensive Cardboard options ($19.95+), what I love about unofficialcardboard.com is that you can customize with your own logos and images. This might be a great option for schools looking to brand their sets of Cardboard.The coolest option I found is to laser cut your own out of wood, cardboard, or other materials.Find the files on Thingiverse.Want to know what the cheapest Cardboard option is? Check out the Google Cardboard in Education resource page!Favorite Apps for CardboardDiscover VRfor Android & iOSThis app doesn't just have amazing 360° and Google Cardboard content, but it can be extremely useful in the classroom as well! Take students on a safari as elephants swim and play or learn about how we're protecting Costa Rica's rainforests, all in an amazing VR experience!Vrsefor Android & iOSVrse is another great app that provides cinematic virtual reality content. Think of a news story you may watch on TV, and then imagine immersing yourself right in the middle of that story! Vrse does that! For example, check out "Clouds Over Sidra", a story about 12-year old Sidra who has spent 18 months in Zaatari, a Syrian refugee camp. This will definitely change your students perspective on the Syrian civil war.Favorite 360° ContentIf you can't get your hands on enough Google Cardboard and devices for your class, you could always check out the 360° content that doesn't require Cardboard. My favorite place to visit is the #360video YouTube channel. This is an extensive collection of 360° video content that you can play on a mobile device or tablet.Take your students on a deep dive into a shark infested shipwreck!For even more great Google Cardboard content and a constantly updated list of resources, visit my Google Cardboard in Education resource page!