[Post by Karla Willems, Account Manager at GeoMetrix Data Systems Inc.] This month at ASTD Techknowledge, we introduced our newest product: GeoTalent Flex. Flex is a completely customizable interface for our GeoTalent Learning and Talent Management System. Our TrainingPartner product line provided customers with a completely customizable learning management system. Now, that same customizability is available in a responsive LMS: GeoTalent Flex. Released at the start of 2016, this system allows current users of TrainingPartner to move to a responsive, 508-compliant system under the GeoTalent umbrella. GeoTalent Flex provides new customers with the most customizable LMS on the market without sacrificing responsiveness to mobile devices. Flex provides simplicity with the flexibility to mold to your unique business rules, internal branding, workflows and processes. Developed to manage all forms of learning, GeoTalent Flex supports mobile learning securely with full compliance. The features and functionality you’ve come to expect from TrainingPartner, including its customizability, are now available in a responsive and compliant LMS. Pages in GeoTalent Flex dynamically adapt for all devices, and the system lets you turn off unused functionality with a click of a button. Unlike simple SaaS applications or custom-developed platforms, GeoTalent provides true enterprise-class architecture that can be tailored to meet your diverse requirements. Thought you couldn’t optimize workflows or add unique processes because of compliance issues. Now you can! Flex gives you control over your learning environment by letting you design your web pages for a truly customized learning experience. For more information about GeoTalent or to schedule a demo, please call 1-800-616-5409, email sales@geotalent.com or use the Request a Demo form at the bottom of the page.

Guess what... A member from the LearningSpaces team was cordially invited for the HUB Conference on December 10th last year. This was of course an awesome opportunity to meet fellow startups and innovators! I was excited in particular, since I was the one who got to go to this great event. Me arriving the night before! Left Groningen, one of the most beautiful towns around 5pm and arrived to Berlin around 11pm the night before. In Germany most things are done well and in organised manner. Grundlich Punktlich. Train rides on time, beer and cool people in the streets. I decided to take it easy, have a small beer and go to bed early that day to be fresh for the HUB Conference. The HUB 08.11 arriving at the HUB. Breakfast was awesome. I had a nice chat with a manager from Ricoh! Nice guy, and apparently it's a thing to wear a black suit in the startup playground in Germany! 09.00 Opening of the day by Thorsten Dirks president of the founders of HUB, Bitkom. The rest of the day Then the day started. Kind of speed rush crashcourse of everything that's going on that day. A confirmation of everything that you've read before the conference, with a little more in-depth info from the experts on the subject. It was like a live-reading of summaries on innovative studies. To be honest, it was nice. But if you're on top of your reading, you won't hear anything new or groundbreaking. Though I would still recommend to visit HUB industry, since it can be a nice experience. The thing that surprised me was Kodak's innovative spirit. In many presentations the digital world has been praised and called innovative compared to the analog world. The later has been portraited as a slow, nonconfirming world, which is unwilling to change and in the end is going to lose to digital world. But hey guys, Kodak is making 1.2 Billion revenue in 2015, and it will be even more this year. Not all old companies die in the end!

"The difference between a community and a network is that you belong to a community, but a network belongs to you. You feel in control. You can add friends if you wish, you can delete them if you wish. You are in control of the important people to whom you relate. People feel a little better as a result, because loneliness, abandonment, is the great fear in our individualist age. But it’s so easy to add or remove friends on the internet that people fail to learn the real social skills, which you need when you go to the street, when you go to your workplace, where you find lots of people who you need to enter into sensible interaction with. Pope Francis, who is a great man, gave his first interview after being elected to Eugenio Scalfari, an Italian journalist who is also a self-proclaimed atheist. It was a sign: real dialogue isn’t about talking to people who believe the same things as you. Social media don’t teach us to dialogue because it is so easy to avoid controversy… But most people use social media not to unite, not to open their horizons wider, but on the contrary, to cut themselves a comfort zone where the only sounds they hear are the echoes of their own voice, where the only things they see are the reflections of their own face. Social media are very useful, they provide pleasure, but they are a trap." - Zygmunt Bauman I would rather say that social media can be a trap, but are not by their nature an inevitable one. Social media don’t teach us anything. We have to teach ourselves how to use social media. For the first time in history, 3 billion people are connected to each other. Is this a trap or an unrealized opportunity? The gap between social media and our real work can be a deep moat. We entertain ourselves with social media during our free time while many of our workplaces block access to consumer social media sites. Connecting social media to our daily lives can be enriching, if we have the skills and tools to filter, create and discern how to share what is appropriate. Using social media to open our horizons takes effort and practice. In order to help us make sense and use our networks to our fullest we need to engage in communities of practice, online and offline. This third-space, between loose social networks and focused work groups, is an essential place in which to test new ideas and learn with peers. Real communities of practice are difficult to find but they give us the feedback we would not get in a social network and they don’t bring the hierarchy of the workplace to bear. In communities we can be open to feedback and criticism, not face outrage from a stranger on social media, nor be forced to hold our tongue in the workplace. For both individuals and organizations, communities of practice can connect work and learning. Communities of practice can bridge the gap between innovation and getting work done. People can seek new contacts in their social networks, and over time (filtering), some of these can become co-members in communities of practice. Communities of practice help to inform our work and life, with some of our learning and observations creating new ideas or practices. We can then share these new ideas with our communities, discerning who and how to share with, at the appropriate times. For instance, we may share a new practice first with a professional community of practice before publishing it to our general social networks. A key part of the practice of PKM is connecting our networks, our communities, our work, and our lives together in order to make sense, be more productive, and open ourselves to serendipity. It’s a holistic approach, not one that compartmentalizes work and life, or social media and communities, but something that helps us to make sense of the whole messy, complex world we live in. Communities can connect work and learning and ensure that social media are not a trap but an opportunity for humanity.  

The Spiritcare program at Indiana Wesleyan University is especially designed to help care for the faith and life needs of our adult students by introducing them to the person and community of Jesus Christ.  Join...Continue Reading »

Some of the most enjoyable - and challenging - parts of IWU’s curriculum require students to integrate the Bible with their subject.  Many times, this requires digging a little deeper into the Word than the...Continue Reading »

What characteristics do top achievers share? What separates successful learners from those who are unsuccessful? These are the types of questions psychologist Angela Duckworth has spent over a decade asking and answering. Grit, Self-Control, and Learning According to Duckworth, people who have grit and self-control are more likely to succeed. Grit is the tendency to sustain interest in and effort toward very long-term goals…Self-control is the voluntary regulation of behavioral, emotional, and attentional impulses in the presence of momentarily gratifying temptations or diversions… For college students, a "long-term goal" may mean succeeding in classes in one semester, achieving honors in one year, or getting into graduate school. Self-control means the "pain" of hard work doesn’t stop you from moving forward. In many studies, Duckworth and her colleagues found that self-control or grit or a combination of both, are more highly correlated to success in school and life than IQ and talent.  But, what if you don’t have these traits? Can they be taught? Teaching Grit and Self-Control Duckworth thinks acquiring growth mindset, a concept developed by Carol Dweck, may be one way to learn grit and self-control. Dweck has shown strong, positive academic results with children in failing schools by changing their attitudes to a growth mindset, a belief that abilities are not fixed, they can be developed through investing time and energy.  How do you accomplish that? Begin by making the process of learning transparent. Giving students information on how the brain works and that "intelligence" can grow—"you’re not stupid; you just haven’t learned that yet"- helps them feel more confident about learning and working harder.  If they understand, as Michael Jordan  says, there must be "work before glory," they can get grittier and push through failure. Courseware Supports Grit and Self-Control Will just changing attitudes towards learning make students succeed? Critics like Alfie Kohn say no.  Changing attitudes without changing traditional education practices such as lectures and passive learning is not enough. In other words, if instructors ask students to work hard, then they have to provide learning pathways where students can actually succeed. Acrobatiq courseware does just that by offering students multiple opportunities to learn through varied exercises with access to hints and personalized practice. According to Duckworth, people who are gritty don’t just keep working no matter what. They have to believe that they can achieve their goals. Experiencing success after working hard at learning in one situation can instill optimism in another. By organizing the learning of complex concepts around simpler skills, Acrobatiq  paves the way for students by allowing them to "rack up" simpler success experiences that lead to achieving a greater goal. If students using this process falter, their experience has taught them: "I can do this; didn’t I ace the last exercise/unit/chapter?"  Each "win" confirms that they can learn by persevering—a strategy they can use throughout their lives.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/29205886@N08/Lately, I have been on a podcast binge. Since being adopted by our dog Yuki, I suddenly have to listen while we go on our early morning and night walks. I thought this would be  a good time to share some of my current favorites.1. Teachers Talking Tech- Eric and Mike are two elementary teachers that produce a delightful podcast that is focused on classroom use. I love the free flowing approach and the useful information that only two practicing teachers can give you. It is also a great example of what teachers can do with technology to support others while still staying in the classroom.2. Education Next- Paul Peterson gives voice to relevant ed reform ideas. While I seldom agree with his stance, he does present an informed and often challenging views.3. TED Radio Hour- Originally TED was consumable, you could watch everything. Now with time and many local TED conferences I need someone to help me get inspired. TED radio hour does just that by organizing multiple speakers around a topic. The hour does not include full talks, instead, there is just enough to whet my appetite, inspire and send me looking for the full talks.4. History of English podcast is my guilty pleasure. I will readily admit that I am a history Nerd and the podcast combines history and language. Kevin Stroud is very thorough (although I have to admit that I listen at 1.5 speed). If you are interested in English and have some commute/ walk time this is a great way to learn something about the most commonly spoken language on the planet.What are the podcasts you listen to?

This is my third full year in business, and my second year filing taxes for my small business. I’ve learned a few things since last year, and I thought I’d share some of that with you! This year has been a breeze doing my taxes, and hopefully these simple tips can help you hate tax season just a little bit less. 1. Allot Administrative Time This sounds incredibly boring, but I promise - you will save time in the long run. If you allot a certain number of hours per week or per month to completing administrative tasks, you will have a much smaller headache come tax time when you’re trying to track down invoices, calculate sales tax, itemize expenses, etc. I try to give myself 3 hours per month to tackle anything and everything administrative. Most times I need fewer than 3 hours, so overshooting the allotment makes me feel better about myself when I finish in less time. 2. Maintain a Spreadsheet Some folks I know use bookkeeping software to track all of their expenses and income; I have gone back to the stone age a bit and maintain an excel spreadsheet. This spreadsheet has been pre-programmed with calculations to account for sales tax (a necessary evil here in Canada), and it pulls information from my various income and expense books into one main book that balances all of it out. It’s glorious! My spreadsheet goes hand-in-hand with point #1; when I work through my administrative tasks, I populate this spreadsheet as I go. Doing this throughout the year saves a TON of time in the long run. Instead of spending days labouring over my tax forms, I simply pull data from my spreadsheet and toss it into the tax software. 3. Invest in Software I know I just mentioned going back to the stone age with my spreadsheet, but hey! Excel is software, right? It might not be bookkeeping software, but it does the trick. When it comes to investing in software, I am specifically talking about tax software. I use H&R Block’s tax software because 1) I don’t have time to manually calculate all of my taxes, 2) it’s free up to so many returns, 3) my refund comes expediently, and 4) they have built in information related to my provincial tax requirements and rebates. Last year I used their software and it was easy peasy!

    Develop elearning that encourages your audience to explore, try, and learn instead of forcing facts into their brains. Here is a great article by Nogginlabs Custom e-Learning about some of the mistakes designers make and how to improve the audience’s experience. via Your learners are not stupid. They are bored.

  With technology storming the learning sector like never before, concerns over the privacy of classroom are on the rise. The educational software and applications industry has been growing at a staggering rate and is today valued at around 8 billion dollars. Educational institutes are constantly experimenting with new technological tools that are supposedly designed to improve the learning experience for children and more importantly, make the job of the educator easier. Unfortunately, there is no structured regulation regarding the use of these software applications in schools and a lot of questions are being raised about the security issues that these programs pose in ensuring the privacy of the classroom. In most case scenarios, parents or students are not required to provide their consent for creating, storing, or distributing the huge volume of records that are currently being generated in schools. This could dramatically affect preserving the privacy of classroom.   Sea of Content   When it comes to privacy of classroom, another significant aspect worth noting is the volume of content in the form of apps being used by parents and children. If a recent research is to be taken into consideration, more than 10% of all app downloads in the Apple App Store is comprised of learning applications. This would point towards a surge in interest to explore and try out the latest learning applications within a growing demographic that is becoming tech savvy. What is deeply concerning here is the lack of regulation of data sharing guidelines for these various software platforms. Most people just skip the "Permissions Screen" and just download the app without asking any questions. Very few people actually ask why, how, and when student information is being shared. The tremendous amount of data being collected from students and the end to which this data is being used is definitely something we need to be cautious about. Parents and students alike need to understand why privacy of classroom is a crucial issue.   Potential Downsides of Software   Today, there are a multitude of classroom management software that is supposedly aimed to provide an effective monitoring system for the behavior and implementation of discipline among students. Many of these applications do not address need to ensure privacy of classroom. Although on the surface, this would definitely be a positive tool for educators reaching out to a high number of students, there are negative impacts that such a system can have on students and their learning experience. Any software works on the basis of observed trends and algorithms. It’s basically about recording information, identifying a trend, and working it through an algorithm to arrive at certain conclusions. This could result in the pigeonholing of students and risk them being "typecast" in a certain "category." They could be put on a certain pattern of learning, which is specifically designed for a "category" and will stay on that track long after he or she has undergone a significant change in his/her behavioral and disciplinary patterns. This is another reason why preserving privacy of classroom is important.   Outside the Classroom   Apart from obvious concerns of the privacy of classroom, there are privacy issues that spill out of the classroom. A lot of school buses have video cameras installed in them that monitor students from the time they get on until they get down at their designated stop. Are children comfortable being monitored? Who handles the video clips and how securely are they being stored?   It is the collective responsibility of educators, software providers, and parents to ensure that the privacy of classroom is maintained and that any data that needs to be collected go through a transparent and secure system that does not affect the overall quality of learning.   The post The Importance of Privacy of Classroom appeared first on Fedena Blog.