Welcome to SmartBrief Education’s original content series about the unique stories of teacherpreneurs. These are the innovative individuals confronting challenges, creating solutions and bringing them to market. A charming young man with a beard took my order at Starbucks the other day. Before I could offer my name, he wrote "Mrs. Hill" on my cup. Smiling, he reminded me that hadn’t done too well in my class. I conjured the memory of a scrawny kid who bounced instead of walked and liked to help me with technology, and I got a little teary. The kids are why we do this work. Over the years, I’ve taught over 3,000 young people, and they’ve grown up to be doctors, lawyers, soldiers and baristas. I’ve also received more than one collect call from jail and quite a few letters from rehab. Teachers take part in an intricate system we blithely call "community." Our experiences and sensibilities make us uniquely suited to fight for the health of that community, and we tell ourselves that we can conduct that fight one kid at a time. But what about our contributions to more systemic improvements? Or our own professional growth? This year, I’ve used what I’ve learned about improving teaching outside of my classroom to help other educators grow professionally and make their own communities stronger. As a teacherpreneur, I teach English classes in the morning and work in the afternoon with the Kentucky Network to Transform Teaching and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. It has been amazing. The opportunity to learn, create new programs and support exciting initiatives has enriched my career beyond measure. In fact, that afternoon at Starbucks, I was meeting with two former students, both elementary teachers, who I coached through the National Board certification process. I think I’ve made a difference for them and many other teachers who will work with thousands more of our kids. Yet working in a hybrid position is tough. I fight to balance one demand with another. Do I grade these tests or plan the next meeting of my teacher leadership cohort? There have been plenty of hybrid teachers who go back to teaching full time or leave the classroom entirely rather than fight to find this balance. Under current conditions, teaching is already impossible to do well. Since many teachers only have 50 minutes without the responsibility of directly supervising students, we scramble to plan, review assignments and meet myriad other professional obligations. Yet teaching fewer students does not mean less work for teachers in hybrid roles. Though I may only have 80 essays to read and analyze instead of 150, the time needed for planning lessons stays the same. Add to that the constant revision of my teaching strategies, integration of new technology and continued professional learning in my subject area, and the release time melts away. So let’s abolish a prevailing myth: Working in a hybrid position is not easier. It is by all accounts much, much harder. As with anything new and worthwhile, we have to keep building new models and experimenting with new organizational structures to find ways to make this role desirable and functional. We need teachers to expand their role without having to leave their students — keeping our best teachers with our kids and in leadership positions. We can start by crafting hybrid roles that meet a specific need in a fixed time frame with mutually agreed upon goals. For teachers in hybrid roles to thrive, we must make the work outside of the classroom realistic, focused and part of a larger system that will support them and serve as a bridge between the teacher, the classroom and the profession. If your school, district or organization is thinking about creating hybrid roles — or seeking ways to make the experience more productive and fulfilling for educators — here are a few suggestions to keep in mind: Create hybrid roles in collaboration with the teachers who will fill them: This year, I took advantage of my strength in professional collaboration and created CTEPS (Classroom Teachers Enacting Positive Solutions), a challenge-based cohort of 18 teachers across our state. This built on my experience in supporting virtual communities, my instructional expertise and my passion for the power of teacher leadership. Minimize new classes and the number of unique courses taught in a day: Because I teach one course three times a day, and it’s a course I’ve taught for many years, I’m not wrestling with the content. I can rely on proven techniques and lessons. This reduces planning time and helps me feel confident in the product I provide my students. But teachers in other hybrid roles do not have that luxury. In an elementary environment, consider job sharing and subject specialties. Make sure middle- and high-school teachers are not taking on courses or responsibilities that will make them feel overwhelmed. Work with teachers to ensure that the classroom-based part of their day is familiar to them and narrow in scope. This will help them maximize their teacherpreneur time, which often comes with challenges that demand enormous emotional capital. Collaboratively devise a plan for meeting school responsibilities: Though I attend every meeting of my PLC, I do not attend faculty meetings. My principal and I set this expectation at the start of the year. Homeroom meets sporadically in the afternoons, so we arranged for a colleague to meet with my students. Principals and hybrid teachers must know what to expect of one another when it comes to responsibilities like serving on the school’s council or on committees. Can one hybrid teacher’s numerous leadership responsibilities at school become new opportunities for other teachers? Clarify and celebrate how a teacherpreneur’s work outside of the classroom benefits students: Most of my colleagues at school have little idea what keeps me busy in the afternoon. If they knew the value of this work, it would likely quell any frustration they experience when they have duties I do not, or temper any jealousy they may feel about my class schedule and "free time." Teachers tend toward humility. We must support hybrid teachers by publicly celebrating their work. Offer hybrid teachers a chance to present their work to school and district leaders and include references in publications and regular communications, too. Find an advocate, mentor and network: Teachers often struggle to advocate for what they need, and expert classroom practitioners may be new to leadership. Designate someone to support teachers in hybrid roles — a person who can advocate for them, coordinate regularly with principals, provide coaching and even watch them teach. Encourage mentorship and participation in a network of other hybrid teachers who face similar challenges and can offer support and advice. In his book, The Great Influenza, John M. Barry reminds us that scientific discoveries happen on the frontier of our knowledge in a frightening yet necessary confluence of certainty and doubt. Just as scientists battled through urgency and uncertainty to invent the flu vaccine and halt a pandemic, we can only transform education to successfully meet the needs of our students by exhibiting this same kind of courage. Teacher leadership is our frontier, and teacherpreneurs are uniquely suited to discover its riches. Lauren Hill, a National Board certified teacher, teaches English at Western Hills High School in Frankfort, Ky., and serves as teacherpreneur for the Kentucky Network to Transform Teaching to help create teacher leadership opportunities for Kentucky teachers and support teachers as they pursue National Board certification. She also works as a virtual community organizer and blogger for the Center for Teaching Quality. Read more about teacherpreneurs. Related Posts: How to go from "teacher" to "teacherpreneur" From classroom to boardroom: How to combine your passion for education and innovation "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" Transforming the narrative about teaching Redefining smart Hybrid roles: Making a whole out of two halves originally published by SmartBlogs

(Photo: Flickr user Adrian Scottow) Memorial Day marked the unofficial start of summer, and warm, sunny days sent bars, restaurants and cocktail fans to Twitter and Instagram to share ideas for #summercocktails. Beer is by far the most popular alcoholic beverage for summer, followed by wine and then cocktails, according to NPD Group. Last summer, U.S. patrons downed 335 million beers, drank 179 million glasses of wine and sipped 158 million mixed drinks, according to NPD data. Those numbers cover May through July, and trends have held steady for the past several summers, said NPD Vice President Warren Solochek. Microbrews continue to grow in popularity, a trend likely to spike in the summer months as beer consumption increases, while those who prefer spirits will increasingly seek out fresh ingredients this summer, said Solochek, who presented at the Vibe Conference in March, an event that brings together beverage manufacturers with restaurant operators and others in the hospitality industry. "The perception of healthier sorts of spirits, fresh sorts of things, that’s what everyone was talking about. Fresh fruits, basil, cucumbers — a lot of interesting flavor stuff is done in spring and summer, because that’s when those become available," he said. Light, crisp and fresh are also key when wine fans switch from the reds of winter to the whites of summer, said Juan Muñoz-Oca, winemaker at Columbia Crest winery in Eastern Washington. "People are getting more and more educated and adventurous when it comes to wine, and that makes for a really exciting change of seasons," he said. Columbia Crest finds that its roses and sauvignon blancs do better and better each summer. "They’re more refreshing and they’re wines that go with the different diets we have in the summertime," he said. "We’re not having roast or ham anymore, and we want wines that pair nicely with salads and other refreshing foods. These whites have a lot of acidity, so they go will with diets that don’t have a lot of protein and carbs." Innovative bartenders in Kansas City are creating cocktails for sophisticated sippers, using tools like the porthole to infuse cocktails with cool summer herb and fruit flavors in real time, The Kansas City Star reported earlier this month. Bartenders in smaller markets are also seeing more sophisticated tastes and a willingness to try new cocktails, said Mike Nims, who has been mixing drinks for nearly a decade and managing Catch 22 in Tuscaloosa, Ala., for two years. Nims is in the process of finalizing the summer drink menu, and he’s going social with new concoctions like the gin, elderflower, St. Germain and grapefruit cocktail he posted on Twitter and Instagram this week. Summer means light, citrusy flavors and, this year, it also means gin. "Gin has been coming back, it’s really picking up," he said. "Everything I’ve read for several years has been calling for this resurgence of gin, and it hasn’t happened, but this time it seems like it is." The drinks menu will also likely include a new rum cocktail or two, as well as drinks made with cachaca, a Brazilian liquor that’s similar to rum. "I do a lot of reading on trends. I’m down here in Tuscaloosa, and we’re not on the cutting edge, so there has to be a balance of what is cutting edge versus what will actually work in our town," Nims said. That said, it’s getting easier for Nims to encourage his patrons to try new things, he said, a trend that’s likely driven at least in part by how easy social media makes it to discover the big-city trends. "A very real cocktail movement has finally started to take hold in even the smaller corners of the country. We’re in the deep south, and it’s starting to come here," he said. "I have a regular who was up in New York, and he was telling me about the drinks he had at Death & Co. He knew about it because we talked about it, and we’re able to follow bars on Twitter." What cool cocktails are on tap at your restaurant this summer? Tell us about it in the comments. __________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s email list for more stories about the food and beverage industry. We offer 14 newsletters covering the industry from restaurants to food manufacturing. Related Posts: Beverage trends: Consumers gulp down coffee, natural, seasonal and premium Prepared foods report: New consumer behaviors hone in on fresh, healthy and sustainable Brewing up new food and beer pairings WSWA’s first-ever philanthropy report spotlights wholesalers’ community involvement How Newk’s Eatery sees fast-casual 2.0 Cool beer, wine and cocktail trends to quench summer thirsts originally published by SmartBlogs

Until teleportation becomes the norm, frequent travel is simply a fact of life for leaders in the modern business world. As companies continue to grow more reliant on foreign markets, face-to-face meetings remain essential, especially when managing a global team. Tools like Skype have helped bridge global communication gaps, but no technology can supplant in-person interactions — with your team or with your family. In the meantime, you’ll have to find ways to maintain a healthy family-travel balance, which is no simple task. The hardships of the road Travel inflicts a number of stresses on family life. Missing out on the day-to-day bustle — from soccer games to keeping up on your kids’ schooling to basic conversations — can easily disrupt your family dynamic. It sometimes feels like reentering family life is the hardest part of being gone. You have to tread lightly and be careful not to upset decisions made in your absence. I know the struggle all too well. On average, I spend 50% of my time on the road, and it’s not uncommon for me to visit five offices spanning three countries in just four days. This isn’t easy on my family, but we’ve found ways to strike a balance and ensure that a busy itinerary doesn’t keep me from actively participating in my kids’ life. Here are five steps I take to minimize travel pains and maximize family time: Think in opportunity costs. There’s only so much time in a day, so you will inevitably have to make sacrifices. You’ll miss family events, so you need to determine which ones are acceptable and which ones are nonnegotiable. For instance, I have traveled on my own birthday four of the past five years, but I haven’t missed any of my three children’s birthdays. Prioritize quality over quantity. You have limited time at home, so you need to make the most of it. Although you might be exhausted after a trip, staying bedridden won’t make your absence any easier. Make your health a priority overseas, and you’ll be energized to spend quality time with your family when you return. Stay connected. Once your kids are old enough to have email, keep in constant contact with them while you’re on the road. A quick text or note shows that you care and are still engaged in their lives. I also make sure to check my kids’ grades online and even set up online quizzes on Quizlet to test their knowledge of European countries and capitals to keep them connected to my travels. Keep your bags packed. Having a travel bag ready to go will shave hours off the packing process and free up more time for family. This simple practice means I can catch my kids’ soccer games 30 minutes before I have to leave for the airport. Bring your family along. Obviously, your family can’t travel alongside you all the time, but you should occasionally invite them to join you. This opens their eyes to new experiences and gives them a taste of what your life is like on the road. In the end, preserving your family life while traveling the world is all about prioritizing. Leading a global team is a worthwhile endeavo, and so is making time for your family. You might have to skip watching sports or having a drink with the guys, but you’ll be happier for it. It won’t be easy, but with a bit of planning and dedication to your family, you can be a world-class parent and business leader at the same time. Jason Popp is the executive vice president of international at GES, an event marketing company that connects people through live events. With more than 20 years of experience, he combines operational and direct P&L management with rigorous strategic thinking. Follow him on Twitter at @jasonpopp. If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s e-mail list for our daily newsletter on being a better leader and communicator. Related Posts: Overworked and overwhelmed? Your answer starts with what you can control How the right routines (for you) help you show up at your best Feeling rushed? Break the habit of hurry and overwhelm Are you suffering from "rush" syndrome? Take this 7-point quiz The "rush syndrome": How it affects your health and your job 5 ways to balance family and leadership-fueled travel originally published by SmartBlogs

(Photo: Flickr user Katherine Lim) When you sit down at a restaurant, it’s one of the first questions your server asks: What would you like to drink? Likewise, when you’re welcomed into someone’s home, it’s usually one of the first things your host asks: Would you like anything to drink? There’s a reason why beverages are such an important aspect of the food industry and day-to-day life — in part due to the biological need for hydration, the topic of beverages is a menu category that touches every consumer, across all day parts and all segments. In Datassential’s newest MenuTrends Keynote report on non-alcoholic beverages, we combine powerful data from MenuTrends, our industry-leading menu database, with opinions and behaviors from consumers, and data from operators. The following is just a sip of the insights included in our newest report detailing today’s beverage landscape. After tap water, brewed coffee is the most consumed beverage If you’re one of the many people who start every day with a coffee in hand, you probably won’t be surprised at this survey takeaway: brewed coffee is the most consumed beverage after tap water. More than 40% of adult Americans report drinking coffee on any given day, resulting in a higher daily incidence rate than bottled water, juice, and carbonated soft drinks (CSD). Consumers’ top two perceptions of coffee include its great taste and the fact that it provides a wake-up jolt of caffeine. Coffee consumption is highest in the morning (with 54% of people reporting that they drank hot coffee during breakfast), and then tapers off until spiking again in the afternoon. Thus, coffee isn’t just a big player at coffeehouses and breakfast establishments - operators have around-the-clock opportunities to attract customers. Some operators have capitalized on this with post-lunch happy hour discounts to attract business from people needing an afternoon pick-me-up. Starbucks has offered the Frappuccino Happy Hour, where the blended beverages are half-off from 3 to 5 p.m., and similarly, Dunkin’ Donuts has offered 99-cent coffees and teas in the afternoon. Consumers want premium, natural ingredients Healthy eating continues to trend, and so does healthy drinking. Consumers are moving toward healthier beverage choices and are interested in beverages with premium ingredients and natural sweeteners. More than 40% of consumers are interested in beverages that use premium ingredients, such as locally-sourced coffee, heirloom and artisan teas, and cold-pressed juices. When it comes to that morning cup of joe, consumers are becoming increasingly aware of descriptors that indicate a premium offering: words like "local" and "certified" are among the fastest growing coffee terms on menus. Take Chick-fil-A, for instance, which created a website to promote its "coffee with a story" campaign highlighting its specialty-grade coffee and the actual farmers that grow it. Increasing health awareness has also affected other beverage categories, like soda. The greatest barrier to consumption for soda is the fact that people view it as an unhealthy choice with too much sugar. Operators are responding by offering healthier alternatives and a wider variety of beverage options. Earlier this year Burger King stopped marketing diet soda as a beverage choice for kids’ meals, instead showcasing better-for-you options such as fat-free milk, apple juice, or chocolate milk. The move toward fresh and healthy has spread throughout the industry as Burger King, Taco Bell, and Panera Bread have all recently announced plans to eliminate artificial flavors from their menus. With only 4% of consumers perceiving soda as a healthy choice, beverages such as green juices and teas have become popular choices on menus. Nutrition-rich greens, like kale and spinach, have also increased their presence on beverage menus, often used in green smoothies. On beverage menus, kale has grown more than 400% since 2010. Coconut water, a trendy beverage for hydration, has increased more than 200%. Matcha green tea, kombucha and alternative nut milks, such as almond and soy, are all trending. Experimenting with new flavors In lieu of mainstream soda, many operators are capitalizing on the craft/small-batch soda trend. Incorporating natural, seasonal flavors into house-made sodas can appeal to consumers who are looking for a more unique, healthy drinking experience similar to that of craft cocktails and mocktails. Using seasonal flavors and natural ingredients in house-made sodas appeal to more than a quarter of consumers. Nontraditional soda flavors, such as lavender and blood orange, are just some of the rapidly- growing trends operators and manufacturers can explore. Flavors are integral to beverages, and beverages are an integral part of any operators’ offerings, but even those who aren’t necessary looking to transform beverage options will find that many of our flavor insights can translate to innovation on food menus. That’s just a sampling of our MenuTrends Keynote report to wet your whistle on the wealth of insights we’ve gathered on non-alcoholic beverages, including details on consumer behavior and motivations for beverage categories ranging from shakes and smoothies to enhanced sports drinks. Maeve Webster is the senior director of Datassential, a supplier of trends, analysis and concept testing for the food industry. For more information about ordering the MenuTrends Keynote Non-Alcoholic Beverage Report, contact Brian Darr at brian@datassential.com. __________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s email list for more stories about the food and beverage industry. We offer 14 newsletters covering the industry from restaurants to food manufacturing. Related Posts: Cool beer, wine and cocktail trends to quench summer thirsts Prepared foods report: New consumer behaviors hone in on fresh, healthy and sustainable Sneak peek: Appetizer report featuring key consumer insights, trends How coffee can give your restaurant a jolt Report: What do food industry operators want and how do they buy? Beverage trends: Consumers gulp down coffee, natural, seasonal and premium originally published by SmartBlogs

My son is all grown up now and studying hard at university, but when he was a small boy and was naughty I remember the following dialogue. Me: "Reece, why did you do that?" Reece: "I don’t know." Me: "But Reece, you know better than that." Reece: "I know, Dad" Me: "Well, if you know, why did you do it?" Reece: "I don’t know." As adults, how many times do you find yourself or others doing what they know full well they shouldn’t do but doing it anyway? At Mindful Presenter, every week we go into businesses and see professionals: Reading slides Avoiding eye contact Delivering information as fast as a bullet train Speaking in a robotic "corporate" tone They know it’s not the best way to share and present their ideas, but they do it anyway. Highly intelligent, creative, responsible and talented professionals suddenly lose their personality and true sense of themselves as they turn into the corporate spokesperson. Why is that? There seems to be a fascinating phenomenon driving the issue. Often, we are called in by executives to help their people present "more effectively, with impact." We are asked to help teams to be more dynamic, engaging and to articulate their message with purpose and absolute clarity. For the most part, we are given a long list of concerns and weaknesses about the presentation styles and performance of key people. We don’t believe there is a cast iron template for great presenting, so we do whatever we can in advance to witness how these people present. We achieve that by sitting in on company presentations as observers and do nothing else but that — observe. Recite.com They are right Nine times out of 10, the initial brief was spot on as we witness presenters rambling, reading slides and being very obtuse. They are also wrong Then we get them into the training room as delegates and often something miraculous happens. Suddenly, they become engaging, entertaining and powerful speakers. Why is that? What we’ve found is that when you allow them to be themselves, and I mean their real selves, you see them shine as gifted orators who already have most of what it takes to present an idea with real impact. All they needed was encouragement, support and a safe environment to be themselves. What’s in the way? It’s not PowerPoint as many would have us try to believe; it’s a cultural thing. Every organization has its own unique culture, which, simply put, is a collection of values, attitudes and beliefs that are manifested in the way people think, speak and act. It starts at the top and rapidly becomes all pervasive and the lifeblood of a business. In many organizations today, people simply don’t "feel safe" presenting. It’s the way things are done. Many companies have hugely powerful visions and values in the written sense of the word, and we hold the view that every presentation should be aligned to those values. Are they? No. Many presenters think they are aligning to values and say they are, but when observed from the outside in, they are often delusional. In fact, in a typical workshop of eight delegates, when you ask them to remind you of their company values, we very rarely find more than half who can. That presents an interesting dilemma and challenge in its own right for most organizations, but when it comes to the way they communicate and present their ideas, it really is the heart of the problem. More often than we would care to hear, our brief is to help people to "just get straight to the point." I’ve lost count of the number of times I have heard executives say they are not interested in connecting, stories and engagement — they just want the facts. The brief they give us to help their teams present more effectively simply isn’t aligned to their own values. If all you really want is for people to get straight to the point, you should just ask for an e-mail, a one-to-one discussion or a document sent to you. You really don’t need 10 people in the room to hear the facts. The leader’s role Ditch the templates Templates are so 1990s. They stifle creativity and free thinking and only serve to ensure that every presentation is the same and boring. Allow your team to present their ideas in a way that works for them. By all means, give them an idea of your preferred approach and structure, but then just let them get on with it. Corporate templates achieve nothing but stroking the ego of the person who created them and making everyone the same. Your logo really doesn’t need to be on every slide either. Data is dull We see so many presentations where all the senior management team want is the data. Data is often quite easy to attain so if that’s all you really want, just ask for it privately. When you ask for a presentation, also ask for the highlights and the story behind the data. You really don’t need reams of numbers, and if you do, ask for it before or after the meeting. Be real A common listed value we see in many businesses today is "human," which always strikes me as a little odd because of course that’s what we all are. Yet it’s set in the context of encouraging employees to be real, authentic, to be open and to keep things as simple as possible Interestingly, people are human all day long until some stand up to present — then, they adopt a robotic and monotone personality as they read slides to the most important person in the room. Help people to be themselves, encourage and support them to lose the "corporate speak" and to enthuse, engage and educate you by simply being themselves. Perfection drives anxiety One of the most common requests we have on our workshops is people seeking to answer difficult questions more effectively when presenting. On further discussion, we find that a common trait in business today is that presenters believe that they are expected to be perfect and to know the answer to everything. The greatest cause of presentation anxiety we see today is the belief that it is unacceptable to not be able to instantly answer every question which is asked of them. It doesn’t matter how good you are at your job, you simply can’t know everything. We need to let our people know that it’s perfectly fine to say, "I don’t know but I’ll find out and come back to you." Involve everyone Have you ever noticed that when someone in the audience asks a question, the speaker tends to answer only the questioner? Well that’s great for the questioner, but what about the rest of the room? The best speakers will answer the question making eye contact with and engaging everyone in the room. Encourage your people to do the same. Lose the ego We all want to look good; it’s human nature. When we are presenting to colleagues and, especially, those more senior to us, we want to look and sound confident, clear, knowledgeable and inspirational. It’s completely normal, and it’s what fuels us to do the best job that we can. Where it becomes an issue is when it’s competitive. In other words, when someone in the room chooses to become the "sniper" and shoot the presenter down because they are more senior, want to look good themselves or simply like the attention. Encourage everyone to leave their egos and seniority at the door and just listen, support and engage with the presenter. Help them to be the very best they can be. Maurice De Castro is director at Mindful Presenter and a former executive at companies such as Interflora and Direct Line Insurance. If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s e-mail list for our daily newsletter on being a better leader and communicator. Related Posts: How not to present: Lessons learned from "The Big Bang Theory" Simple steps to successful presentations The 4 presentation attributes every leader needs Moving up the value chain of public speaking: Expert, interpreter or catalyst? 3 superpowers of public speaking Your culture drives your presentations every time originally published by SmartBlogs

The affordability of college education, conjoined with the discussion of the public and/or private value generated by that education, has never been a more important topic. If we believe that society must educate the global population in order to create a better world for present and future generations, then it is critical for those of us in higher education to understand the role that technology has to play in enabling post-secondary learning for all. A recent case study of Arizona State University’s online campus, ASU Online, conducted by the ASU Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives and its Global Sustainability Solutions Services, determined that online education not only provides greater access to higher education offerings but also has become a cornerstone element of the institution’s sustainability plan generating socio-economic value and benefits for the degree-earner, the institution and the greater economy. The case study began when Dell approached ASU in mid-2014 with a request to analyze the sustainability impacts of information and communication technology, or ICT, in online education as part of its Dell 2020 Legacy of Good Plan. Dell wanted to understand the role of ICT in generating net positive progress in a variety of industries, including higher education (work that is also currently underway in conjunction with Business for Social Responsibility [BSR] through its Center for Technology and Sustainability). Our study resulted in several significant conclusions: the online and "immersion" (traditional, campus-based, face-to-face) models are rapidly merging; most online and immersion courses will utilize the exact same technology base; the ICT intensity varies little between the two modes; and the socio-economic benefits of online education dwarf its environmental benefits, however important they are. We conducted this study from the perspective of a public research university, in our case the largest in the nation under a single administration, which comprises four campuses, 83,000 students (13,000 online) and more than 3,000 faculty. To determine the net positive value, our research team estimated the environmental costs and benefits of online education, with a primary focus on net carbon benefits as well as near and long-term socio-economic benefits, using the acquisition of an undergraduate degree as the baseline unit of analysis. From an environmental benefits point of view, a student choosing a fully online degree saves 30 to 70 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (the standard measure of greenhouse gas emissions and a primary concern of the ICT industry) over immersion students. These savings are largely driven by eliminating transportation to and from class and, most important, through a significant in classroom construction. It should be noted that classroom space represents less than three percent of total building space on ASU campuses. Unless the research university itself becomes virtual, most of the other 97 percent is still required. Accessibility and net worth On the socio-economic side of things, we found that benefits accrue from accessibility. Most students choosing the online route simply would not get a campus-based degree. Using existing research on the economic upside of a post-secondary degree, we estimated as much as $550,000 worth of lifetime benefits for each student that earns an online degree. That half million dollars covers increased life-time , greater net worth at retirement, avoidance of costly social services, and contribution of positive social services on the part of the better educated citizen. ASU Online was originally created six years ago to increase access while providing a new revenue stream, and with the reduction of state and federal funding, the importance of new revenue sources cannot be understated. There was some concern that ASU Online might "cannibalize" its typical 18 to 25-year old student base. Instead, ASU Online accessed a large, growing, global market, enrolling students who tend to be older, working, married parents who tried college before, stopped, want to start again, and must work asynchronously. Over six years, ASU Online has developed a profitable, new revenue stream that helps support the overall operations of the enterprise with an envisioned future student population of 200,000 students annually by 2030, 100,000 each through immersion and online modes. Accessibility also means equality. A key, driving principle of the ASU model is that an online degree should be indistinguishable from an immersion degree. Nowhere on the degree or transcript is it specified whether the degree was attained through immersion or online mode. The curricular content of immersion and online degrees are identical. The courses are designed, developed, and delivered by the same top-notch research faculty. The intent is to ensure that an online degree is of the same high quality and rigor as an immersion degree, anchored in advanced research and delivered by qualified expert faculty. Affordability and the impact on the institution and faculty The education system has many stakeholders: students, parents, faculty, university administration, technology providers, public and private employers, and the greater society in which the university is embedded, including the metro area, state, country, and planet. All of these stakeholders incur costs and accrue benefits from higher education. The prevalent concern about ICT, and the online learning modes enabled by ICT, has been on its impact on the affordability of higher education for the student and, often, the parent(s) of the student. But, the impact on affordability for the faculty, institution, employers, and greater society are also interesting questions. For example, at what point do the diminishing costs (to the student) of an online degree negatively impact faculty? At $480 per credit hour, a degree through ASU Online costs roughly the same price as in-state tuition, certainly making a degree more affordable for out-of-state students. While it is not necessarily more affordable to the in-state student, it is still a good value in today’s market. If the price were reduced due to market forces to $120 per credit hour, the education would be more affordable to students, wherever they might be. But, as one ASU executive noted recently, it is doubtful that ASU could afford such a change. It would be difficult to incent faculty to design and deliver courses, resulting in further degradation of quality of the education. The value of the degree earned would not likely bear up under the scrutiny of accrediting institutions, eroding ASU’s position as a provider of high-quality online degree education. Higher-ed’s ICT-enabled future Higher education is undergoing radical, disruptive innovation, due to a wide variety of factors: the scale of the global challenge; the cost of an education; its changing cost/benefit ratio; the silly assertion that education is strictly a private good; the corresponding abandonment by the public sector of its historic social contract to provide an affordable public education; and the emergence of new business and pedagogical models enabled by new ICT technologies. The future we see at 2030 or 2050 is a world that will continue to be characterized by increasing complexity and diversity. The higher education market will grow radically and expand globally. ICT-enabled models will make education available to all citizens of the world. The higher education market will segment into a wide variety of niches and business models differentiated along dimensions of discipline, competencies, degree focus, price, and quality. The higher end might continue to be the Ivy League and its imitators. The lower end might be rapid, MOOC-style courses available from not always trusted sources. Quality degrees from public research institutions such as ASU that are of high value are likely to occupy a significant niche, delivering the same quality education it does today in immersion, online, and hybrid modes. As this evolution takes place, it is incumbent on the leaders of our universities to experiment aggressively with online education in order to maintain our public institutions relevance in a new age. Quality higher education has long been recognized as a significant contributor to a life well lived. Broad, global access to it is necessary to enable nine billion people to live well on our planet, within its resources, by (a commonly cited benchmark year for global sustainability goals). ICT will play a critical role in making post-secondary learning affordable and accessible to all. Dan O’Neill is a senior sustainability scientist and general manager for the Global Sustainability Solutions Services at Arizona State University. In this role, he connects the sustainability needs of local and global stakeholders to the knowledge and delivery capabilities of ASU and its global network of partners through the delivery of real, practical, effective sustainability solutions. This article is a content collaboration with eCampus News. The article also appears on eCampus Symposium. If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s email list for more stories about education. We offer newsletters covering Higher Education, College and Career Readiness, Leadership and more. Related Posts: Higher Ed Conversations: Containing the costs of a degree The disruptive innovation that will skill up America Why college students need social media business courses and tools to succeed How well do you differentiate performance in performance reviews? Redefining smart Affordability and sustainability through ICT-enabled education originally published by SmartBlogs

Disruption is probably one of the most overused buzzwords in education, yet few seem to know what it means. In higher education especially, there’s a tendency to take an exciting technological advancement, call it a disruptive innovation, cram it into the classroom experience, and then hope that efficiencies will magically appear. But a disruptive innovation doesn’t necessarily entail a technological breakthrough. In fact, in our most recent work in higher education called Hire Education, Clayton Christensen and I underscore that there is true disruptive potential in online competency-based education (CBE) aligned to workforce needs even though the parts of this whole are not at all new. We’ve all heard of workforce training, competencies and online learning. They’re not new phenomena, but online competency-based education is revolutionary because it marks the critical convergence of multiple vectors: the right learning model, the right technologies, the right customers, and the right business model. The theory of disruptive innovation helps illustrate how the inertia of academia inevitably makes way for upstart disruptors, such as online, competency-based educational programs, to seize a market of untapped connections between learning and work. Most institutions get locked into the complex orchestration of resources, priorities and processes of not just one but three very different, costly and conflicting value propositions that center on teaching, research and facilitating a social community of students. In this complex orchestration, it becomes impossible to parse the exact costs of producing these interdependent lines of business. And there’s no way that technology will somehow magically disentangle these locked business models to create a newly efficient model of higher education. Meanwhile, there are a growing number of students who are finding themselves over-served by these augmented, bundled services. Nearly 71% of U.S. "college" students do not participate in the residential college experience that we tend to glorify; most of them commute, work part-time, have family commitments, or do not have the luxury of majoring in a field that has no direct relevance to their future employment goals. These students are often looking for flexible, cost-effective and streamlined programs that move them ahead in their working lives. Linking students to employers through online CBE Online CBE providers plant themselves squarely in the midst of these nontraditional students and center on a single, simpler value proposition: to serve as the critical missing link between higher education and the workforce. It turns out that employers cannot gauge what students can actually do from a list of courses and letter grades. Diplomas serve more as a sorting mechanism for general proxies for potential talent. Competencies, on the other hand, are clear about students’ precise skill sets, dispositions and capabilities. There are explicit learning objectives that, for instance, delineate that a student can evaluate the credibility of online resources, or apply financial principles to solve business problems, or create and explain big data results using data-mining skills and advanced modeling techniques. For students, competency-based education is hard. They’re not able to get away with a merely average understanding of the material; they must demonstrate mastery — and therefore apply dedicated work toward gaining mastery — in any competency. Online CBE providers take this rigorous learning experience and marry it with ever-improving online technologies. The resulting ability to scale and modularize learning enables online CBE to narrow the skills gap in ways that traditional forms of postsecondary education cannot duplicate. Why scale and modularization matter Scale is important for various reasons. There are already various offline CBE providers as well as community colleges that create on-demand learning pathways to mitigate workforce shortages, but they lack the ability to replicate those programs in a cost-effective manner. Online CBE, however, is already comparable to or lower than the cost of community colleges for students, in large part due to a new kind of architecture of learning. Technology in this case sets into motion modularization. When learning is broken down into competencies — rather than by courses or by subject matter — modules of learning can be easily arranged, combined and scaled online into different programs for very different industries. Although most of the current development of CBE programs is occurring in traditional degree programs, online CBE is almost more powerful in the way that it can be used to skill up students for new and emergent fields that don’t necessarily end in a specific credential or a degree. This will be vital for the millions of nontraditional students looking for more direct and cost-effective pathways to and within the workforce. Imagine a future in which students and working adults will be able to take a mere handful of modules — as opposed to a degree or certificate program — to skill up and move up the employment chain. Traditional institutions will have a tough time competing for student tuition dollars, not only because these modules will be tailor-made programs for positions that are in demand, but also because these will be engaging, mastery-based learning experiences at a fraction of the price. The idea of scaling a one-on-one in mastery learning experience had been unfathomable to Benjamin Bloom in 1984 when he introduced his work on the 2 Sigma Problem. It was clear to him that students tutored individually in a mastery-based format were able to perform at two standard deviations above the average of the control class, with obvious advantages in their abilities to problem-solve, apply principles, analyze and be creative; however, Bloom simply could not imagine a way of scaling such a tutorial. Only the wealthiest might be able to take advantage of this kind of learning. But now, technology in the form of smart learning platforms and data analytics equip instructors with clearer profiles of their students. It is as though each student has a personalized tutor, but in this case, one tutor can serve many more students at a time because she can efficiently gauge the students’ level of understanding and intervene only when necessary. These data-driven interactions between teachers and students actually become tailored, richer teaching moments and more cost-effective interventions. Critics nevertheless insist on denigrating such routes aligned to labor market needs as narrow, vocational training for single dead-end jobs — not careers. This is an oft-repeated and false dichotomy: job training in no way prevents students from learning how to learn for a lifetime. And in a knowledge economy, attaining a first job is a major inroad to other, life-changing opportunities as well as increased wage earnings premiums. It is unlikely that from here on out, four years of college will last anyone a lifetime. All of us will have to continually retool — some of us for jobs that don’t even exist yet. The number of alternative learning providers singularly focused on a simple value proposition such as creating pathways to jobs in demand will only grow. Agile and adaptable online CBE workforce solutions have the power to produce a separate and possibly even more powerful set of industry-validated learning experiences that could supersede the traditional degree. Now that would be truly disruptive. At the time of this writing, Michelle Weise was a senior research fellow with the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation. She is now executive director of the Innovation Lab at Southern New Hampshire University. This article is a content collaboration with eCampus News. The article also appears on eCampus Symposium. If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s email list for more stories about education. We offer newsletters covering Higher Education, College and Career Readiness, Leadership and more. Related Posts: Higher Ed Conversations: Containing the costs of a degree Affordability and sustainability through ICT-enabled education Why college students need social media business courses and tools to succeed How well do you differentiate performance in performance reviews? Redefining smart The disruptive innovation that will skill up America originally published by SmartBlogs

SmartBlog on Education in collaboration with eCampus News will bring you monthly point/counterpoint-style blog posts about top issues in higher education. This month, two experts’ weigh in on containing the costs of a higher-education degree. The disruptive innovation that will skill up America by Michelle Weise, executive director of the Innovation Lab at Southern New Hampshire University Affordability and sustainability through ICT-enabled education by Dan O’Neill, a senior sustainability scientist and general manager for the Global Sustainability Solutions Services at Arizona State University Join the conversation on eCampus Symposium. If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s email list for more stories about education. We offer newsletters covering Higher Education, College and Career Readiness, Leadership and more. Related Posts: The disruptive innovation that will skill up America Affordability and sustainability through ICT-enabled education Why college students need social media business courses and tools to succeed How well do you differentiate performance in performance reviews? Redefining smart Higher Ed Conversations: Containing the costs of a degree originally published by SmartBlogs

As a sports fan, I have often thought about how certain built-in realities of the professional game impact the likelihood of a particular player’s potential for success. For example, the height of a basket in basketball places a premium on tall players; even guards and wing men are typically well above six feet tall. Similarly, football offensive linemen who can block well but are nowhere near the standard 300+ lb. weight that has become commonplace in today’s NFL are almost assured that they will not find a job in the premier football league. This same reality applies to the classroom. Out of necessity, we have created a set of standards and parameters for schooling, and tend to define smartness and intelligence in those narrow terms. We focus on particular academic areas, such as language and mathematics, and account less for students’ abilities and interests in other disciplines. Moreover, we use testing measures that cater to visual, linguistic and logical learners over those who would benefit from a testing environment that allows for oral testing, dialogue, and/or movement, to choose a few. The kids who grow up thinking that they are smart are oftentimes the ones whose talents and gifts are rewarded by schools and teachers. By rewarded I mean that they are most capable of navigating effectively through the school system and demonstrating mastery of content in the way that it is presented to and then asked of them. In contrast, "weaker" students are often hampered by a lack of confluence between their abilities and the instruction that they receive, as well as what they are allowed to do in order to demonstrate their abilities and knowledge. For example, suppose I asked students to produce a product, such as a painting or a building model, or to develop a computer program or write a song instead of jot down information. How might that level the playing field? If you are not sure, think about the young men and women that were either your classmates or your students that were valedictorians and/or regularly awarded and recognized in school. These were the kids who were featured in your class yearbook that were "most likely to succeed." Now think about the "class dummies" that struggled mightily to perform to any meaningful standard. Once you have your list, consider where all of these people are in life today and what they have been able to achieve professionally and otherwise. You will likely find that the success-failure continuum has shifted somewhat over the past many years, perhaps even drastically. (The internet is replete with lists of school age "failures" that have taken the world by storm and achieved great success.) Life and the marketplace can be powerful equalizers. This is not to suggest that we have it all wrong or that academic achievement is a poor predictor of future success. I am saying, however, that we need to broaden our definition of intelligence and how to promote such intelligence so that we can produce "smarter" students with a greater collective sense of efficacy and confidence. There are many ways by which to do this. These include teaching to different modalities, differentiating and assigning creative projects that offer students various ways by which to shine. It also can include having open conversations with students about intelligence and smartness, so that they become better self-advocates while also not getting down on themselves to the point that they see themselves as failures before the game of life has truly begun. Naphtali Hoff (@impactfulcoach) served as an educator and school administrator for over 15 years before becoming an executive coach and consultant. Download his free leadership ebook at http://impactfulcoaching.com/freebook. Read his blog at impactfulcoaching.com/blog. If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s email list for more stories about education. We offer newsletters covering EdTech, Higher Education and more. Related Posts: Linking educational silos Maintaining balance 4 R’s of summer school: Keeping the momentum going Is delegation a nasty word? Hybrid roles: Making a whole out of two halves Redefining smart originally published by SmartBlogs

The volume of data associated with communications in the financial services sector has exploded in recent years. But as firms allow communication to take place across more channels, a recent survey from Smarsh finds compliance efforts are not keeping pace. Nearly one-third (32%) of firms that allow business communication through employees’ personal social media accounts do not have supervision or social media archiving solutions in place to monitor those messages. The compliance gap doubles to 64% when it comes to text messages - even as regulations call for the timely capture and production of e-communications upon request. "You’ve got advisors and brokers communicating with their customers and communicating with business partners in the office all over text messaging because it is easy and its everywhere. The problem is most organizations don’t have the means to capture, archive or reproduce those communications,’ explains Smarsh founder and CEO Stephen Marsh. "Out of all the questions the survey asks and all the different aspects of compliance gaps, text messaging is the biggest risk area for many firms." These compliance gaps and other industry trends are highlighted in the Smarsh 2015 Electronic Communications Compliance Survey. Why do these compliance gaps exist? Managing e-communications has become more complex and firms are utilizing tools and protocols to manage these growing pains in different ways. Nevertheless, firms are failing to delivery requested information to regulators in a timely manner. The three most commonly cited reasons were: Difficulty in searching across multiple applications and locations - 46% Lack of familiarity with the necessary technologies - 45% Inadequate staffing resources - 39% Cybersecurity ramifications FINRA and the SEC recently issued guidance related to cybersecurity risk and preparedness. Recent high-proile attacks also have made cybersecurity a hot topic at financial services firms. According to the survey, 83% of respondents participated in conversations about risks related to cybersecurity in the last year and 58% expect their role to change as a result of managing such risks. "The electronic communications archive is no longer simply a check-the-box technology used to fulfill regulatory requests for firm data. Instead, archiving is now playing an increasingly important role in overall cybersecurity strategy and efforts by reducing and consolidating data silos across a growing number of content channels, and identifying risky communications or activity proactively - before they become serious and potentially damaging issues," Marsh explained in a noted distributed with the survey results. Nearly 60% of respondents answered that they were mostly to completely confident in their ability to prevent and detect cyberthreats, yet Marsh cautions that the survey results over the last five years, coupled with events in the marketplace, indicate some of that confidence might be misplaced as many respondents simply don’t know what they don’t know when it comes to their cyber vulnerabilities. Additional survey insights In addition meeting regulatory requests, some 72% of respondents said that message supervision is a "critical tool to identify real risk in their organization." Eighty-one percent believe message supervision "delivers valuable and actionable insights to the business." Firms are also using e-communication monitoring data to aid in litigation or to meet e-discovery requests. To compile its results, Smarsh surveyed 274 compliance professionals in February and March, drawing respondents from both small and large firms with a broad range of compliance-related job titles, from the C-suite to staff level. Sixty-four percent of respondents were RIAs while another 38% were BDs. Related Posts: Smarsh CEO shares insights on social media compliance for advisers, broker-dealers Sneak Peek: OPS 2015 kicks off Monday in San Diego Advisers can make meaningful connections via social media, expert says How Vanguard mixes finance with social media When it comes to the Flash Crash trader, intent matters Survey finds firms need to ‘mind the gap’ in e-communications compliance originally published by SmartBlogs

Engaging students has a variety of topographical looks but one definition: active minds having to adapt, negotiate, problem solve and produce. Student engagement is essential to deeper more complex learning. As you consider curriculum, look for ways to deliver information without being the primary source of that information. One way to create a fully student-engaged learning environment is to allow students to explore content in four brain-based learning areas: Imagination: Students explore content by creating digital or non-digital products where the only expectation is that they create some imaginative resource or connection to the content. An example of a product in this area might be exploring geometric solids as both closed and netted figures and creating a digitally annotated representation of them. Apps like 3D Geometry and Skitch, or EduCreations, are excellent for this type of learning. Curiosity: Students discover and explore a variety of examples of the content and develop "wonder questions" which will guide their research about the content. An example of this learning might be a display of various tools used to measure. Students explore the tools and ask questions like, "Why is a ruler divided into 12 inches when our number system is primarily base ten?" Adaptation: Students create new content and collaborate with others (both inside and outside the classroom) using their research, exploration and discovery. Blogging, ePals, Skype, coding and gaming are all excellent choice for this area. An example might be that students co-create a Minecraft EDU world depicting and explaining the Civil War. Passion: Students become creative through their passions and use content to share their learning of the content. We define passion as, "that which we are willing to endure because it is important to us." An example of this area might be a student who is passionate about animal rights might create a PSA for their cause by connecting the important concepts they have learned to that cause. Joli Barker is an elementary educator at Press Elementary in McKinney, TX. Barker is best known for her innovative classroom model and her book, The Fearless Classroom: A Practical Guide to Experiential Learning Environments. She is an internationally recognized educator who has received several awards and recognitions including Microsoft Expert Educator, TCEA Classroom Teacher of the Year, and NSBA’s "20 to Watch". ***** Tech Tips is a content collaboration between SmartBrief Education and GreyED Solutions. Have a tech tip to share? Contact us at techtips@greyedsolutions.com Miss a Tech Tip? Visit our Tech Tip archive. *****   Related Posts: No Related Posts Tech Tip: Engage students in deeper learning originally published by SmartBlogs

SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Leadership — tracks feedback from more than 190,000 business leaders. We run the poll question each week in our e-newsletter. How well do you differentiate performance in performance reviews? Very well — I achieve a great distribution of performance: 32.2% Well — I could do a little better differentiating performance: 51.71% Not well — most people end up with the same rating: 12.2% Poorly — there’s little to no differentiation in reviews: 3.9% Differentiation Matters. Failure to invest in letting people know where they stand in a candid way causes all sorts of problems. High performers feel slighted. Their morale drops and they may search for other opportunities. Low performers get a false sense of security and don’t improve their work. You’re the leader because you have the ability and responsibility to deliver these messages and ensure the ratings match the performance. There are many proven techniques for tackling the difficult task of fighting grade inflation. Don’t get weak knees when it comes time to differentiate - you’ll pay for it in the long run. Mike Figliuolo is managing director of thoughtLEADERS, author of "Lead Inside the Box: How Smart Leaders Guide Their Teams to Exceptional Results" and "One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership." Related Posts: How well do you push your own thinking before involving others? How effectively do content marketing efforts (blogs, white papers, etc.) drive action by your customers? Where does the biggest threat to your organization come from? How important is a SWOT analysis in your strategic planning efforts? How well do you recognize when something will "trigger" you in a negative way? How well do you differentiate performance in performance reviews? originally published by SmartBlogs

Chef Stephen "Smokey" Schwartz took home his third grand prize from the 18th annual Championship BBQ held at Chicago’s Navy Pier on May 17. More than 1,000 chefs, restaurateurs and other foodservice professionals gathered to mingle and sample food and beverages at the event, which benefits Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign. Entries in the cooking competition ranged from cheeseburgers to pulled pork, but Schwartz chose to look beyond typical barbecue ingredients when constructing his winning dish. Chef Schwartz (left) accepts a prize from Edward Don & Company owner Steve Don (Photo: Laura Meyer Photography) "The judges at the 18th annual Championship BBQ and Cookout sure had a tough choice to make … all the food this year was incredible but in the end it was Stephen "Smokey" Schwartz from Burnt End BBQ who took home the prize, for his apple and pecan smoked rabbit rillettes, with rabbit bresaola, compressed watermelon and pickled watermelon rind, freekeh grains, micro greens, popped sorghum and citrus vinaigrette," said Championship BBQ creator and former publisher of Food Arts magazine Barbara Mathias. The Overland Park, Kan., chef has attended the Championship BBQ 17 times — taking home first place in 2006 and 2012 — and said he is inspired to think outside the box when cooking for the event, since "Chicago is the biggest foodie city in the world." When creating this year’s dish, Schwartz "started with the grains and from there I came into the rabbit … mainly I picked the rabbit because it’s hard to do right," said Schwartz, who was assisted by chef Aaron Whitcomb of Level 257 in Schaumburg, Ill. Barilla’s winning booth design (Photo:Laura Meyer photography) The runner-up in the cooking competition was chef Ryan McCaskey, from popular Chicago restaurant Acadia. Also awarded that night was a prize for best tabletop design, which went to Barilla for a flower-and-pasta tablescape inspired by the Labriola restaurant in Chicago. The three winners took home prizes provided by Edward Don & Company. SmartBrief is the official media sponsor of the Championship BBQ benefiting No Kid Hungry. __________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s email list for more stories about the food and beverage industry. We offer 14 newsletters covering the industry from restaurants to food manufacturing. Related Posts: Q&A: Championship BBQ in Chicago celebrates 18 years of fighting child hunger How to be a leader against childhood hunger Q&A: How the Food Business School is cooking up a new kind of culinary education Q-and-A: Sparkling ICE embraces the foodie movement with chef-created recipes Chef Michael Schwartz shares his Oscar-worthy recipes Chef’s risk with rabbit pays off at Championship BBQ originally published by SmartBlogs

SmartBlog on Education will highlight summer learning and enrichment for educators during June. ASCD Emerging Leader Barry Saide helps kick off coverage of the topic. Todd Whitaker states, "Professional development begins with induction." The crux of his statement is that when we hire someone for their first role in education, we should look at their character first, and their characteristics second. We should visualize where the person being hired adds value to our organization, how that person can support the initiatives we currently have in play, or how their skill set fits the direction we have for our organization. Now, Todd Whitaker is a very smart man. To draw an analogy, if Todd Whitaker is the golf pro, I’m the equivalent of the golf ball whacker guy. But, on this one point, I think I’m right, and you can tweet this: Professional development shouldn’t begin with induction, because if it does, we’ve skipped the first step. The first step in professional development should begin with the hiring process. And, the hiring process should begin with reflection by those involved in the interview process. When we hire on a district or building level, we ask questions about working with children, peers, and families. We draw from there whether this person is someone we trust, want to spend time with, and will represent us well. Depending on the role we’re hiring for, we may require additional interviews, writing samples or a demo lesson. One thing we do not require is for us as interviewers to reflect on ourselves prior to the interview even begins. We should begin by interviewing ourselves and asking: Are we holding ourselves accountable to the answers we’re expecting of candidates? Are we measuring up to the mission and vision of the district? Do we even understand and feel part of the mission and vision of our larger organization? It’s this time we take to critically reflect on ourselves and our purpose in the larger organization in which we serve, which will accurately anchor us when asking the right questions and seeking the best answers to add value to our organization. It’s only when we truly understand ourselves and the needs of our organization at its most basic level that we can provide for its needs. As such, our questions for the interview process should be ever-changing, modified to where we are as learners, teachers and leaders, and what the needs are of our constituencies. If we do not take the time to reflect and revise in order to advance, how can we expect the quality of our choices to improve? Hiring is an inexact science at best, but we can at least shave off the odds to ever be in our favor by expecting more of ourselves, prior to asking more of others. A second thing we do not consistently ask of candidates is to produce something tangible. We know from research that the highest level of learning is when students can teach skills, strategies and concepts to someone else. This demonstrates mastery. When we hire, we’re looking for master teachers and leaders. Shouldn’t our hiring process look for mastery, too? The closest thing we have to a performance task in the hiring process is a writing sample or demo lesson. Writing a response to a question or statement does not accurately measure true mastery of what’s being judged. It does measure the ability for someone to write on demand. A demo lesson provides a window into what may be seen when a candidate teaches a lesson in their own classroom, if given enough lead time to prepare something with bells and whistles. But, isn’t what we’re looking for from teachers long-term is what teaching looks like without the bells and whistles? What everyday best practice looks like? What will keep the students engaged, long after the bells have lost their chime, and the fireworks fizzle out? I wonder what it would look like if we ask a candidate to identify something they’re most passionate about that our organization would benefit from. What if a candidate has 30 minutes to develop a basic framework and outline to lead professional development on her passion-based project. The candidate pitches their idea, the validity for it, how to implement it on a small scale and the potential positive long-term effects. Wouldn’t a window into the soul of a potential new hire, how they view themselves adding to our organization, and having them create their own PD plan to accomplish that, be the best possible indicator of whether someone is a best fit? And, wouldn’t this PD plan guide us in creating future professional development opportunities for our current staff while building leadership capacity within our new hire? How good would a new hire feel if we made it clear that we have a plan in place to invest in them from the day she is hired, and that her passions and skill set play a primary role in the process? When we talk about professional and personal development from within, we highlight our best people doing their best work. As we move forward into the summer, where it is prime time for PD work and hiring new staff, it is so important that we revisit to our hiring processes and look for the following: When we hired current staff members and identified how they added value to us, what did they bring that we did not have? Did we hold them accountable for this? Does our professional and personal development opportunities reflect the current needs of our organization as we envisioned during our previous hiring process? Do we have the right staff to meet the needs of our organization at all levels, including in personal and professional development? The answer to these questions is less important than our willingness to ask them. If we are willing to ask the hard question and accept the hard truths that come with them, we will continue to point the needle upwards and move onwards in our never ending quest to be best for children. Barry Saide is an elementary-school teacher in Flemingon, N.J., and an ASCD emerging leader.  If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s email list for more stories about education. We offer newsletters covering educational leadership, math education and more. Related Posts: Channeling Goldilocks: Trying to get it "just right" Teaching with mobile tech 13 time-saving tips for continuous self-education 5 attitudes to accelerate leadership development in 2015 No follow up on the follow up? PD from within originally published by SmartBlogs

(Photo: Flickr user Yelp Inc.) Mobile technology is becoming increasingly prevalent in the lives of consumers, who are looking for more ways to interact with people and brands using their mobile devices. More and more, retailers and restaurants are making use of technology in their physical locations that allows them to enhance the experiences customers are having when they dine or shop. SmartBrief talked to Maya Mikhailov, chief marketing officer of GPShopper, an integrated mobile platform that helps businesses like food retailers and restaurants build mobile applications that enhance features like commerce and loyalty and creates a "remote control for the brand," and Ramsey Masri, CEO of OtherLevels, a digital marketing platform that helps mobile marketers engage mobile audiences effectifely. Mikhailov talked about the advantages of technology that uses mobile to interact with customers while they’re in stores, which is where most transactions take place, and three trends in particular that have emerged through the use of such technology. Shopper education Mikhailov said that technology like push notification and geotargeting has made engaging loyal customers outside of the store easier for retailers and restaurants. For restaurant chains in particular, interactions like push notifications can help drive repeat visits among customers at different locations. Mikhailov cited Ruth’s Chris Steak House as an example, pointing to the chain’s digital loyalty program, which engages diners like business travelers when they are near a restaurant location they might not regularly dine at. "It allows for more engagement inside the restaurant and it allows them to continue a conversation outside of it," she said. However, restaurants and retailers should not use technology for the sake of using technology when trying to engage their shoppers in stores, according to Mikhailov. "Think about your customers’ journey and think about how you’re providing them value," she said. For Masri, the key for retailers and restaurants is to engage with diners and shoppers based on data about their preferences, behavior and spending patterns. And focusing on the most loyal set of customers is most effective. "Focus the bulk of marketing assets on the opted-in, already-engaged customers, because they’re the most valuable to the franchise and a business’s success," Masri said. Enhancing that education through mobile Mikhailov said that technology allows restaurants and retailers to have more meaningful conversations with their customers. "Print is sort of a one-way conversation," she said. "But now thanks to the data and thanks to the fact that apps are so interactive, they’re able to have these two-way conversations where customers are able to set preferences on their mobile devices and retailers…are able to respond to those preferences." For retailers, in-store mobile applications that use technology like beacons help engage customers while they’re in the store, Mikhailov said. For Lunds & Byerlys, an upscale Twin Cities supermarket chain, she said such technology has helped incite more participation from shoppers in the retailer’s mobile features like shopping lists and targeted circulars and in in-store events. The result is a better shopping experience for Lunds & Byerlys customers. And according to Mikhailov, the best results are achieved when retailers make use of multiple channels to send different types of messages that help create a better in-store shopping experience. "Use multiple channels…because the consumers are touching multiple touch points," she said. Mobile technology gives retailers and restaurants a way to enhance consumers’ education, but it also gives brands a way to learn more about their customers, too, Masri said. Because today’s consumers almost always have their mobile devices in-hand, mobile interactions provide restaurants and retailers with an opportunity to collect data about where shoppers are, what their preferences are and what type of interactions they’re likely to engage with. "That data is a great source of information for marketers to craft campaigns, messaging strategies, promotions and other initiatives," Masri said. "The goal for marketers is to create seamless, satisfying experiences between offline, online and in-store marketing activations" Today’s on-demand economy Mikhailov called today’s economy an on-demand one in which shoppers want to do things how they want to do them and when they want to do them. Much like Uber, consumers expect that on-demand service when they go to restaurants and stores. For example, Mikhailov said restaurants are enhancing their apps with features that allow diners to get in live for a table before they even get to the restaurant. Mikhailov used Chili’s as another example of how in-store technology can enhance customers’ experiences with brands. Tablets at the tables allow diners to pull up their loyalty information, informing them about whether they qualify for any rewards or spurring additional purchases by offering points for trying items they’ve never had before. Such an interaction allows for extra digital authority in the restaurant space, Mikhailov said. It is important for restaurants and retailers to realize that consumers want these interactions when they are in the store, for the most part, Mikhailov said, especially in the food and beverage space as dietary preferences change and people want to know more about their food. But it is also important to realize that in-store technology is not a replacement for human beings, she said. "People still want to have interactions and good customer service experiences," Mikhailov said. "Don’t over-message mobile customers," Masri said. "Find the balance that keeps them engaged and satisfied without interrupting their busy lives or being perceived as intrusive." __________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s email list for more stories about the food and beverage industry. We offer 14 newsletters covering the industry from restaurants to food manufacturing. Related Posts: How the food industry is making sense of big data Price matching: Mobile apps make it easier to find food bargains Elevating loyalty programs in the digital age Report: What do food industry operators want and how do they buy? Prepared foods report: New consumer behaviors hone in on fresh, healthy and sustainable Experts: Using mobile technology to enhance the dining and shopping experience originally published by SmartBlogs

Taking a critical look at the success of others is a key way to gain insight into how you too can succeed at a task. If that task is being a successful branded Twitter account, you can’t look to anyone better than Samsung Mobile for inspiration. They have more followers than any other branded account, their shares are tremendous and their interaction is top-notch. How did they do this? They’re not as cool as Apple. They don’t have the far-reaching product line of Sony. They don’t have the brand power of Nike. Few would call them the best cell phone manufacturer in the world. This post is going to look at what they’re doing right, and will show you: @SamsungMobile’s dominance in the branded Twitter account game The tweets that succeeded at meeting various goals This will give you the best chance of learning from what they have done so that you can do it yourself! Samsung Mobile’s Popularity on Twitter I am going to be refer to information from Social Baker’s Twitter data to support this. The first thing to look at is how they compare to other branded Twitter accounts. Here are the top brands on Twitter by follower count: With over 2.3 million more followers, you can’t touch them. Starbucks are currently growing at a rapid pace, but this may be a gap they can’t close — no matter how many Pumpkin Spice lattes they sell. Samsung’s dominance of Twitter is clearly established. Tweets that help them reach their goals Of course, having a lot of Twitter followers never helped anyone on its own. What those followers do is what matters. Samsung has a great strategy for their Twitter account and you can plainly see it by the tweets they share. The basics for all of their tweets are: They are media saturated — Vine videos, YouTube videos, images and GIFs make their account look great. Every tweet has a relevant hashtag. Most are branded ones they create, but they have joined in on outside hashtags. Smart use of calls to action at the moments they’re needed. I’ll look at each of these three points in detail using Samsung’s own tweets. Media saturation Nearly every single tweet that Samsung sends out has some sort of image or video attached to it. They have one of the best looking Twitter timelines on the service. Here are three tweets, all released in a row, which show their commitment to using media heavily: The #GalaxyS6 has journeyed around the world and back. Experience the epic trip at http://t.co/hxPAJxQmlM #NextIsNow https://t.co/nTwhVRFYp1 — Samsung Mobile (@SamsungMobile) May 21, 2015 Only in #Tokyo can you see a neon robot battle. The future is here. Go to see what’s next on http://t.co/hxPAJxyLue. pic.twitter.com/kubupZuJor — Samsung Mobile (@SamsungMobile) May 20, 2015 Konnichiwa, Tokyo! The #GalaxyS6 Platinum Gold is here to capture what’s now. #NextIsNow #ShotFromTheGalaxy pic.twitter.com/x4kuxIixpY — Samsung Mobile (@SamsungMobile) May 20, 2015 That was a Twitter video and two images. You can pick out any three tweets in a row on their whole timeline and you’ll find three media heavy tweets. They also use Vine and YouTube video, embed other tweets, and have custom made infographics that expand on tweet content. Samsung Mobile know that 140 characters isn’t nearly enough to carry out a sustainable marketing message on Twitter. Their continued dedication to using multi-media helps build their engaged audience, is a key aspect of how they get Twitter followers for free via retweets, and the media-heavy content lets them tell their brand story in a very engaging way. Samsung Mobile’s use of hashtags We all know that hashtags are important, but many brands stumble with them. Samsung Mobile have hashtags down perfectly with their own hashtags, like #GalaxyS6 for their ongoing campaign for their newest smartphone, or their #AvengersSamsung hashtag which tied into their involvement with "Age of Ultron": Ever dreamed of being an Avenger? ‘Battle for Avengers Tower’ now available on #GearVR #AvengersSamsung https://t.co/Exna5RZ1Ak — Samsung Mobile (@SamsungMobile) May 1, 2015 OK, we can’t all afford to have close involvement with one of the biggest movie franchises of all time, but we can create hashtags that tie in with important media events. You’re free to start your own branded hashtag that ties in with a major award show, sporting event, a chat you host, or a special TV program. Samsung Mobile’s strategy for using hashtags that aren’t their own is inventive. They hashtag pictures of cities, a great idea for the sharp images and media heavy strategy: The Forbidden City meets the #GalaxyS6. Stay tuned to see what’s next in #Beijing. #NextIsNow #ShotFromTheGalaxy pic.twitter.com/aXSQKGuHwa — Samsung Mobile (@SamsungMobile) May 16, 2015 Photographers use this trick all the time to gain followers. Finding hashtags that you can join in on is a very important part of a branded Twitter hashtag strategy that you need to tap into to find people who may not have ever found you. Using call to action to direct behavior For the most part, Samsung Mobile lets their tweets exist without calls to action. They’re incredibly popular and getting what they want from their audience — retweets and interaction — through excellent content alone. When they do use calls to action it is for very directed behavior. This tweet has a call to action directing people to their website: #NextIsNow taking a new perspective on #Shanghai. #ShotFromTheGalaxy Go to see what’s next on http://t.co/Nb67PktSVg pic.twitter.com/Wg6srxzDau — Samsung Mobile (@SamsungMobile) May 13, 2015 Here they’re urging people to watch a video that using their technology: See how video installation artist Marco Brambilla created a work inspired by the shape of #GalaxyS6edge. https://t.co/hJMJzqdCw3 — Samsung Mobile (@SamsungMobile) May 8, 2015 In this last one they’re urging fans to join them at future events after the conclusion of one they had just covered on the Twitter account: This S Carpet launch is over, but find an event near you to keep the excitement going. http://t.co/neMVt3x6Pp pic.twitter.com/Ef1sTkdBWO — Samsung Mobile (@SamsungMobile) April 9, 2015 Their Twitter strategy doesn’t involve using endless calls to action on every tweet. They pick and choose their spots to get the most from the least effort. Think about how an actual person tweets. Is every tweet full of "Click here NOW to learn more" content, or is most of it simply them sharing their thoughts, images, video, and links? It’s definitely the latter, and you need to know this in your own Twitter marketing. Samsung Mobile’s example of a complete Twitter marketing strategy Samsung Mobile has shown you that they got to the top of the Twitter world with a complete marketing plan. The more time you spend analysing their strategy, and applying it to your own, the better your own Twitter marketing will be. While their budget may be much, much larger than yours, that doesn’t mean you can adapt. Twitter is as close to a level marketing field as you’ll get. IDeas and strategies can scale, you just need the imagination, planning, and to have put in the hours of study to make it happen. Matthew is a Twitter and social media marketing expert currently writing for Devumi’s Twitter and SMM blog. You can find him there every Friday with a new post for the latest in digital advertising, or you can stop by the Devumi Twitter account for tweets all day! Related Posts: Running scared when failure occurs Taming the Tweets of Corporate Execs: A look at Elon Musk and Tesla How to align your social strategy with the rise of private sharing Tracking the evolution of content publishing at #SXSW How social media fits into the content marketing workflow Why Samsung Mobile’s Twitter account is so popular originally published by SmartBlogs

SmartBlog on Education will highlight summer learning and enrichment for educators during June. In this blog post, advocate and author Ayanna Cooper explores professional development models for teachers of English learners. In an effort to improve outcomes for students identified as English learners (ELs) a number of initiatives, program models, standards and assessments, model curriculum units, etc., have been created, spearheaded, implemented and evaluated. Despite all of this, in some places, a complex step has been inadvertently missed: supporting teachers of ELs as leaders. One shot professional development sessions, although not supported by research as effective, still exist. Diverse and creative professional development offerings are imperative. When school leaders are autonomous and vested in improving outcomes for ELs, the focus shifts from isolated student achievement to investing in teachers as leaders. The following scenarios are examples of approaches to professional development for educators of ELs. The list is by no means exhaustive of what is available but it illustrates three distinct approaches to building teacher capacity to serve ELs. Scenario one: District provides on-going professional development for all educators of ELs. These professional development sessions include whole group, one-on-one, coaching, modeling strategies, working with content area teachers and team leaders, administrators and guidance counselors. EL staff members are coached to serve as leaders within their assigned schools. Schools, staff and students are arranged by priority with an emphasis on areas of need. Data is used to analyze student progress and instructional models implemented throughout the district (e.g., co-teaching, small group, block scheduling etc.). Parents of ELs are invited to district wide meetings that inform them of standards and assessments related to their child’s academic success. Teachers attend and participate in national, regional and local professional development offerings. Candid conversations are a regular part of the district’s capacity to serve ELs. Is what we are doing working? If not, what else do we need to do? Highlighted is the sense of responsibility for ELs by all educators and the need for more certified teachers who are prepared to teach and advocate for linguistically diverse learners. Scenario two: District provides professional development for selected educators. Professional development focuses on "the basics" of teaching ELs. Who students are, how they are identified, classes they take, how to communicate with parents, etc. Teachers are partly viewed as messengers who are to take information back to their schools and reiterate information. The focus is on assuring that everyone receives the same information and who to go to for help. Pressing needs regarding (a) administrators with a lack of depth of knowledge for serving ELs who look to teachers for guidance (b) teacher turnover (c) outdated program models, "we’ve always done it this way" and (d) a perception of ELs as "us" vs. "them" and staying compliant. Teachers do not attend professional development outside of the district and rely on what others can bring in or forward to them via email. Educators feel overwhelmed by the responsibility to effectively serve ELs. They mainly work in isolation or don’t feel autonomous as practitioners to do what’s best for students. For example, when the English language arts teacher wants the EL teacher to help a newcomer ELs prepare for a quiz when in fact the teachers didn’t work together to plan the curriculum. Highlighted here is the functioning in the default mode of doing enough to get by, stay out of trouble and not cause any waves. Representatives may serve as the go-to person for their schools but no real sense of shared responsibility is established. Scenario three: Leadership has changed a number of times and teachers are literally "doing their own thing." Smatterings of highlights are apparent here depending upon the teacher’s sense of efficacy. Some teachers have an extensive background in second language acquisition, are vocal about student and parent needs, want to hold the district accountable and be part of that process. Other teachers are new to the profession, career changers or counting down until retirement. They focus more on administrative side of teaching instead of the individual needs of their students, especially ELs. Student achievement is boiled down to who is passing, completing their home, is an overall good student and who is not. No discussion around teacher quality, EL program models or parent involvement is ever considered. Highlighted here is a lack of vision and leadership that leaves teachers feeling isolated and powerless. Which setting described above is most similar or different from your teaching context? How can we begin to implement and sustain professional development models that focus on developing teachers as leaders and advocates for ELs? How do ELs benefit or suffer based upon professional development initiatives adopted by their districts? Summer learning is great time to re-evaluate professional development plans and implement more activities that support teachers as leaders. Participating in Training-of-trainers, independent studying, taking online courses, professional reading with colleagues and engaging in conversations before the start of a new school year are just some ways to build teacher capacity to serve ELs. Ayanna Cooper is an advocate and author for culturally and linguistically diverse learners. She is a co-author of Evaluating ALL teachers of English learners and students with disabilities: Supporting great teaching and has contributed to WIDA publications such as the Essential Actions Handbook. She has held positions as an English as a second language teacher, ELL instructional coach, urban education teacher supervisor and ELL/Title III director. If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s email list for more stories about education. We offer newsletters covering educational leadership, math education and more. Related Posts: No Related Posts Teachers as leaders: Building capacity to serve ELs originally published by SmartBlogs

Accountability became a management fad in the early 2000s. Unfortunately, in most organizations, accountability has become a hollow and empty slogan that evokes cynicism and sarcasm. People often wave the "A" word around when they want others to get things done or, more commonly, when they are frustrated with others for not getting things done. The intention behind the concept of accountability has always been to create an environment that allows people to be clear and honest about what they will deliver, rise above challenging circumstances to overcome obstacles, and substitute excuses with relentless action that achieves great results. Unfortunately, in most organizations, people turned accountability into something unattractive and disempowering. In most companies, when people say: "They need to take accountability!" they often mean: "They need to deliver or bear the consequences." And, by "bear the consequences" they usually mean "be punished" or, more specifically, "be fired." In fact in many organizations, accountability is referred to as "single throat to choke." Would you be excited to volunteer to be that throat? Webster’s doesn’t help, either. Its definition of accountability is: "Liability to be called on to render an account; the obligation to bear the consequences for failure to perform as expected." Accountability was meant to represent a positive, empowering and productive space, encouraging people at all levels to believe in the cause, feel personally compelled to go out of their way to drive results and behave as if they are the owners of the business. Accountability comes from the phrase "You can count on me." That statement is a self-proclamation. It stems from and evokes the sentiments of privilege and opportunity, not obligation and/or liability. However, when people view accountability as a burden or a liability, it provokes fear. When fearful people play it safe, they don’t speak up, they don’t take risks and they protect themselves. When things go wrong they are quick to excuse themselves and blame others. So, how do you create an environment of authentic and effective accountability? Here are five practical things you can start doing tomorrow: Engage people early on in setting the goals. In a small team, it is easy to engage people in the strategy or goal-setting exercise. In a large organization, this principle has to be implemented in steps. First: get the senior team engaged and aligned. Second: bring the middle managers on board. And third: update and engage the rest of the team. Help people feel engaged in setting the goals and they will feel a sense of personal ownership and accountability toward them. Promote a culture of authentic and courageous communication. When people feel they can speak their mind, especially about what is not working, they naturally feel and behave like loyal owners of the business. People will only speak up if they believe their leaders genuinely want that. So, demonstrate that you are open to honest dialogue, including feedback and criticism about yourself. Instill the language of accountability. In an environment of compliance, people tend to indulge in excuses, complaints, blaming others and negative conversations. The language of accountability is all about clarity and action. Promote a culture where people make clear requests and promises and others respond with acceptances, declines or counter-offers. This will foster transparency and integrity versus lip service. Deal with failures in an empowering way. In most organizations, when there is failure, people tend to look for someone or something to blame. People react to that by hiding, protecting their behinds, even lying. As a result, teams often don’t get to the root cause of their failures, so they repeat them. Instead, ask your team questions like: "What was missing?" "What got in our way?" "What can we learn from this?" and "What can we change, correct and improve?" People will want to contribute in order to create breakthroughs. This will strengthen their sense of ownership and accountability. Highlight and recognize displays of accountability. People respond extremely well to genuine recognition. However, most leaders don’t do a great job — formally or spontaneously — recognizing their team members for a job well done. Recognition makes people feel noticed, appreciated and valued. This causes them to want to contribute even more. Go out of your way, as a daily practice, to recognize small, medium or large displays of ownership and accountability. Any strategy or plan is only as good as people’s relationship with it. When you create a genuine environment of accountability it compels people at all levels to establish a powerful relationship to their company or team’s strategy or plan. In the words of Margaret Mead: "Never underestimate the power of a few committed people to change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Gershon Mader is founder and president of Quantum Performance, a management consulting firm specializing in generating total alignment and engagement in organizations. He is an expert on transformational leadership, strategic commitment, mergers, acquisitions, getting employees aligned for change, as well as the co-author of "The Power of Strategic Commitment," a best-seller covering his work with over 60,000 people. If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s e-mail list for our daily newsletter on being a better, smarter leader. Related Posts: Leadership accountability — a positive, simple approach 10 ways to engage your best millennial talent Busting 3 employee-engagement myths Leaders shouldn’t ignore their employees’ dreams Should you be committed? Getting employees to take accountability originally published by SmartBlogs

This post is sponsored by Drexel University Corporate networks are under attack. Recent headlines indicate security thieves are stepping up their game and getting more sophisticated with their approaches. Is your IT desk ready? In this Q&A, Steven Weber, director of the Drexel University Cybersecurity Institute, details the threats challenging today’s networks and why organizations need to invest in IT professionals trained in cybersecurity. Can you give us a big-picture view of the state of cybersecurity in the world today? What are the biggest threats to us today? What new risks have emerged? Cybersecurity has emerged as a top priority for governments, industry, and individuals. We all live and work in an online world in which our privacy is vulnerable and the security of our data is uncertain. The stakes are higher than ever, with a significant portion of the world economy depending upon online services, and as a consequence the sophistication, dedication, and intensity of the attacks by bad agents (from lone individuals to coordinated efforts by nation states) has increased significantly. Unfortunately the odds are tilted in the attacker’s favor: There is a long-recognized asymmetry in the return on investment between the attacker and defender. That is, a small investment by an attacker may net an enormous gain — such as a successful data breach — while a significant investment by a defender will net (at best) no loss to the company. Many computer experts still identify people as the biggest security vulnerability, meaning an attacker seeking access to a corporation will first exploit an employee’s susceptibility to a spear-phishing attack before attempting more sophisticated attacks. Individuals in an online world must learn "cyberhygiene" for their own security, the security of the companies that employ them and the safety of their country. October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM), and the intent is for individuals to recognize the critical role we each play in cyberdefense. We’ve seen a number of large-scale, high-profile breaches in recent years, notably Sony, Target and Adobe. Are certain industries particularly vulnerable? The old chestnut goes that there are two types of companies: those that have been hacked and those that don’t know they have been hacked. Any company using a computer that is connected to a network is vulnerable to attack. How important is it for companies to invest in IT professionals with specific training in cybersecurity? What’s the job demand look like for cybersecurity specialists? Many companies I speak with have a longstanding recognition by now of the need to invest in cybersecurity professionals. The difficulty is that these individuals are in high demand and short supply. My hope is that this supply gap will be closed as high-school students and college students recognize security as an interesting, dynamic, and important career path, with job security and competitive compensation. At Drexel University, we offer a variety of on-campus and online educational programs, including certificates, undergraduate degree programs and master’s programs. For example, Drexel has an online master’s in Cybersecurity and National Security Management, bachelor’s in Computing and Security Technology, and graduate certificates in Homeland Security, Intelligence, and Cybersecurity, Law and Policy. Students should also be aware of the Cybercorps: Scholarships for Service (SFS) program, where the U.S. government will give scholarships to talented students earning cybersecurity-oriented degrees at qualified institutions. In exchange, the student will agree to work in the government for a certain number of years. What skills do these security experts need to have? The skillset for cybersecurity professionals has evolved from its roots where the hacker was someone with a deep knowledge of network protocols and cryptography. Today, cybersecurity as a field encompasses an incredibly diverse ecosystem of related fields and skills including signal processing, criminology, data science, psychology, hardware design, sociology, machine learning and many others. It is a very exciting field because it is intersects with so many disciplines. Cybersecurity today is a team sport. Related Posts: No Related Posts How strong is your IT security desk? originally published by SmartBlogs

(Photo: Public Domain Images) For many Americans, snacks are now the most important meal of the day, and busy lifestyles necessitate snacking options that can be consumed on-the-go with little to no preparation. Health is also a top priority, and more shoppers are looking for portion-controlled foods made without preservatives or artificial ingredients. To answer the call, food companies are turning their attention to a new kind of super-snack. All-natural, nutrient-dense, ready-to-eat and, in some cases, pre-wrapped in its own natural packaging, fruits and vegetables are the answer to Americans’ snack demands. The idea of fruits and vegetables as a convenient, healthy snack is obviously nothing new, but by looking at fruits and vegetables in fresh ways and approaching them with a marketer’s eye, major food companies are changing the way consumers approach healthy snacking. Fruits and vegetables were "relatively unbranded up to this point, but we’ve gotten to a place where having brands move into that category makes sense," said Laurie Demeritt, CEO of The Hartman Group. In some cases, branded fruit and vegetable products are nearly identical to unbranded versions, but being sold under a brand name is a symbol of quality, Demeritt said. Brand loyalty is still a driving force behind many purchases, and companies are finding way to transfer the idea to fresh produce. One of the first examples of branded produce was introduced by California citrus farmer Tom Mullholland, whose Mulholland Citrus company began marketing an extremely sweet variety of tangerines in the 1990’s under the brand name Delite. Imitators followed, including Sun Pacific, which sells the same variety of tangerines under the brand name Cuties. Children are an obvious target market for fruit and vegetable marketing, and Cuties have become a household name, known for the slogan "Kids love Cuties. Because Cuties are made for kids." Many of the other branded fruit and vegetable products on the market have a kid-friendly angle, such as Bolthouse Farms Kids Veggie Snackers — carrot sticks packaged with a shake-on seasoning — or Crunch Pak’s Dipperz line of apple slices and carrots with dips. Crunch Pak also offers a Snackers line geared toward more adult palates, with apple slices paired with salty items such as cheese and pretzels. Adult consumers "say they are consuming fresh fruits and veggies more often," Demeritt said, citing a Hartman Group survey in which consumers said 50% of their total eating occasions were snacks, and the number one snack consumed was fruit. Brands are finding innovative ways to make fruit and vegetable snacks even more convenient for consumers. In its November 2014 report "What America Eats: Paradigms Shaping Food Choices," Packaged Facts mentions advances in vending technology that allow for fresh foods. "Companies such as Cool Vending and Fresh Healthy Vending are opening up the vending machine concept beyond soda and junk food. Temperature-controlled units allow both prepared and perishable foods to be dispensed — which increases snack variety, including healthy options such as fruit, yogurt, low-fat cheese sticks, cut vegetables and hummus," the report states. These types of vending solutions and pre-cut formulations are making fruit and vegetable options every bit as convenient as traditional packaged snack foods. And companies are giving these options an advantage in another way — marketing. Traditional branded snack foods have a long history of marketing campaigns with bright colors, catchy slogans and alluring mascots and spokespeople that are extremely effective at drawing in consumers. Now fruits and vegetables are starting to get the same treatment. Avocados from Mexico made history during the most recent Super Bowl broadcast by being the first produce brand to run an ad during the big game. The company is a partner of the FNV marketing campaign, which launched during the Partnership for a Healthier America Summit in March. The project applies traditional marketing practices to products such as beets and carrots, matching them up with colorful illustrations and cheeky slogans. "FNV knows that marketing works and if it works for cars and laptops and Edison light bulbs, why can’t it work for fruits and veggies? But it’s our partners’ support that will allow us to put this strategy to work. Their resources are secondary to their insight of the market, their own marketing savvy and their leadership. FNV is nowhere without them," said PHA Chief Marketing Officer Drew Nannis. In addition to Avocados from Mexico, FNV partners with Bolthouse Farms, Sweetgreen and the Produce Marketing Association, among others. Its list of celebrity spokespeople includes a bevy of actors and athletes, from Jessica Alba to John Cena. "Our tactics aren’t new — it’s the goal of those tactics that’s new. Out-of-home, digital, sponsorships, community engagement … all of it. All driving toward one goal: increased consumption and sales of fruits and veggies. Fruits and Veggies is a brand now. Buckle up," Nannis said. __________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s email list for more stories about the food and beverage industry. We offer 14 newsletters covering the industry from restaurants to food manufacturing.   Related Posts: CPG companies, first lady agree healthy is the new norm Q&A with Jeff Dunn, CEO of Bolthouse Farms, on the Campbell acquisition, trends and what’s on the horizon Brands cater to healthier kids’ snacking trends How food companies are helping kids make healthier choices 3 ways you are being "fooled" into better health Food brands turn to fruits and vegetables to satisfy consumers’ snack cravings originally published by SmartBlogs

I define leadership presence as the "right stuff of leadership," and, by doing so, I embrace a holistic concept. By that definition, presence encompasses conviction, authority and power — and the application of them through a leader’s actions and words. You might consider presence as defined by three verbs: be, do, review. Leadership embraces activism; it is the outcome of a purposeful pursuit of goals. Presence gives the leader the wherewithal — authority and resilience — to battle the odds and endure through being, doing, and reflecting. Click here to view the embedded video.   John Baldoni is chair of leadership development at N2Growth, is an internationally recognized leadership educator and executive coach. In 2014, Trust Across America named him to its list of top 100 most trustworthy business experts. Also in 2014, Inc.com named Baldoni to its list of top 100 leadership experts, and Global Gurus ranked him No. 11 on its list of global leadership experts. Baldoni is the author of more than a dozen books, including his newest, "MOXIE: The Secret to Bold and Gutsy Leadership." If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s e-mail list for our daily newsletter on being a better, smarter leader. Related Posts: Good values spark good customer service The art of the sound bite A-C-T your way to receiving feedback Confident leaders invite dissent Resilience: Your tool for success 3 steps to executive presence originally published by SmartBlogs

SmartBlog on Education will highlight summer learning and enrichment for educators during June. In this blog post, educator Cheryl Mizerny shares insights from her quest to navigate all the professional development options available today. As a naturally reflective person and educator, I am on a never-ending quest to design the "just right" English class experience for my students. Unfortunately, I am becoming convinced that no such animal exists, as I realize that it is the end of the school year, and I haven’t accomplished everything I had planned. Worse, I am growing weary of striving for perfection. I’ve been trying for several years and have not yet found the magic formula that will allow me to address everything. I wish to teach it in a mere 45 minutes per day. I have tried every new idea that sounds exciting to me, but it is always at the expense of something else I’ve loved teaching in the past. Is the "just right" class a reality or a fairy tale? Here’s my problem: I am addicted to professional literature and development. I want my students to love literature like Penny Kittle’s do, to write as much as Kelly Gallagher’s, become life-long pleasure readers like Donalyn Miller’s, and to enjoy active engagement strategies from Dave Burgess and Jeff Wilhelm. I have read all of their work and had the pleasure of meeting most in person. I am simultaneously inspired by their ideas and insecure that I will never be able to measure up. I also attempt to go to at least one national literacy conference per year. I consider these endeavors successful if I can gather one new strategy, concept, or resource from each session. This doesn’t even include the fantastic ideas I get from weekly Twitter chats. Trouble is, these add up. Every single experience yields at least one great technique I want to implement the very next day. At this point, I have an extensive list of approaches I’ve tried — all of which produced great results. The problem is that I struggle to incorporate all of them in one school year, and have never once done so. Here are some of the things I learned from the greats and loved doing with my students: Genius Hour PBL Reading/writing workshop Book clubs Article of the Week Independent, choice reading Whole-class novel study Student blogging Book talks Read alouds Debates TED-style talks Author visits Community service and many more The difficulty is that I haven’t found a way to do everything in the short amount of time I am given, but I don’t know how to prioritize what to eliminate. I get frustrated because I know all of these add value, but whole-class novels (the foundation for my school’s curriculum), choice reading, and writing workshop are my non-negotiables, so I have to cut things that are not part of this trifecta such as read alouds. I know this is not good, especially when I hear experts I respect tell me how they could not imagine an English class without read alouds. I nod because I know the research backs up this practice, and I would love to share this experience with my students, so I try to find a way to put it back in the mix. Unfortunately, it means I must forgo something else. Thus begins the cycle of beating myself up for not being able to do everything I want and need to do in my class. Whenever I get down on myself, I pull one of my favorite books out of my professional library and sit down hoping for some sort of magical inspiration. This never works. I usually end up becoming more discouraged because I want my class to look like that in the text — every single day. Yet, it doesn’t, and probably never will. I, like all teachers, have to function under the parameters of my current teaching situation. For me, my limitation is that I have 45 minutes per day with my students to teach them reading, writing, speaking and listening. No small feat, indeed. In an effort to cheer myself up, I remind myself that we all have challenging teaching situations. Many middle-school teachers have much longer classes than mine — some are even double in length. True, they have their own constraints and obstacles, but I know that I could do so much more just going from 45 to just 60 minute class periods. I can’t foresee a time in the near future when I will miraculously have all the time in the world with my students, so I keep trying to get the porridge to just the right temperature. Logic then enters and also helps ease my mind. I tell myself that most of the authors I read focus primarily on the topic in their writing and often don’t wish to include every other great idea out there because they have been incredibly successful with their own methods. They have one passion and they are great at it. Sure, I would love to be Penny Kittle and do equal justice to both reading and writing in my classroom, but I am not her, nor do I have her situation. The best I can do is to incorporate the portions of her brilliance that I can, and forgive myself for what I cannot. I guess that is the key. I have to be okay with being the best teacher possible within the parameters I am given. And I have a pretty fabulous teaching situation right now. The only thing that would allow me to make it "just right" would be having more time. I eventually find solace in the fact that many of the other great teachers I know are in the same boat and also fret over not being able to squeeze in every great idea. Many of us communicate on Twitter and try to put our brains together and figure it out. We haven’t yet, but I am relieved that I am not the only teacher who loses sleep over trying to be better. So, while comforted, I remain frustrated searching for the perfect balance of activities. I may never achieve Goldilocks status in my classes, but I will continue to try. In the interim, I will keep utilizing the wisdom of others and refining my own practice. I may eventually get to the point where I have a structure with which I am completely satisfied — but I doubt it. It’s part of the quest for the classroom fairy tale. Cheryl Mizerny is an Editor’s Choice Content Award winner. She is a veteran educator with over 20 years experience. She began her career in special education, became a teacher consultant and adjunct professor of educational psychology, and currently teaches sixth-grade English in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. She writes a blog about student motivation and engagement at The Accidental English Teacher. If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s email list for more stories about education. We offer newsletters covering educational leadership, special education and more. Related Posts: Retreat to advance The serious business of classroom fun Is tech helping you work smarter? The world is my audience Evolution of the "good" teacher Channeling Goldilocks: Trying to get it "just right" originally published by SmartBlogs

(Photo: Newk’s Eatery) Women play integral roles in keeping U.S. restaurants rolling along, and the industry provides both sexes with the chance to learn vital skills, develop work habits and advance into higher-level careers, according to recent research from the National Restaurant Association. More than half of U.S. restaurants are either owned or co-owned by women, according to the NRA. Women were the sole owners of 24.7% of "accommodation and foodservice" businesses as of 2014, according to a separate report from American Express, but that study also found that, as women ownership grew in other business sectors, only 2.3% of the women-owned businesses in the U.S. were in the foodservice industry. The Amex report doesn’t break out how many of the restaurants are franchises, but earlier research by the International Franchise Association revealed that sole ownership by women dipped between 2002 and 2007, the most recent year measured. The report found that 12.5% of franchised restaurant were owned by women and 25.7% were equally owned by men and women in 2007, compared to 13.2% and 20.3% respectively in 2002. Cassandra Stokes became a franchisee in 2007 when she opened a Wingstop in her small Texas town of Nacodoches, the first step in moving into the restaurant business after 26 years in the Navy, including time in the reserves and time on active duty. Stokes has also spent much of her adult life raising a family — she and her husband have a total of nine children — and dreaming of creating her own restaurant concept someday. Now, she’s making the most of her franchise ownerships in Wingstop and Newk’s Eatery, a concept she bought into to open her second restaurant, to raise the funds and learn all aspects of the business. "For me this was planned many years ago, 20 years ago, that I would open up several franchises in order to gain the knowledge would need to do my own concept," she said. Stokes did her homework to find concepts that fit with her values and her desire to do fast casual, she said, and once she saw Wingstop and later Newk’s, the decisions were easy. "Wingstop was the right fit with my philosophy. Then, when I knew I needed to move up to another level, something more intense with a bigger menu, then Newk’s became that one," she said. Making it happen wasn’t quite as easy as choosing the concepts, though. Securing financing was a hurdle, despite her military record and thorough business plan, she said. None of the five male bankers who turned her down said it was because she was a woman, and they all said her plan was solid. "It didn’t matter that I had cash to put into it, they just didn’t want to take the chance," she said. It was a woman bank president who finally agreed to make that first loan, she said. "I have so many loans with her now, I do so much business with her. All my kids have accounts with her and I recommend that bank all the time." Getting franchise financing was tougher all around during the recession, but the recovery may have come with opportunities for franchisees of both genders. "In the past several years, I see more and more women getting loans, and more and more are pursuing being business owners," she said. Andrea Cheek, a Newk’s franchisee in the Dallas/Fort Worth market, opened her restaurant two years ago after assembling a team of investors and securing bank financing. The loan wasn’t immediate, but it didn’t take nearly as long as it did for Stokes. Both Stokes and Cheek say that franchising has proved as rewarding as they had hoped, but being the boss came with a learning curve. Stokes’ career included a stint in the aerospace industry before the Navy, and in both places she felt that as a woman she had to work harder to be taken seriously. As a franchisee she studied not only how to manage, but specifically how to manage people of other generations. As a result, she said, her turnover at Wingstop has been below the industry average for six years. "In military, you have a captive audience," she said. "After moving to the restaurant industry, it took some time for me to realize the generational differences. I read a lot of books on it, and it taught me a lot about what certain generations expect, how they work best with their teammates and such I really found it quite intriguing, and it was rewarding to get people to excel, to motivate them." Cheek’s age issues with her employees went in the other direction. She was 28 and a former marketing consultant when she opened her restaurant. "Now my hourly employees respect me, but in the beginning the staff was mostly older than me. For some of them it was hard — it’s mostly a male dominated industry. It ended up working out just fine eventually." It helped that Newk’s policy is to have new franchisees travel to the Jackson, Miss., headquarters and work as an hourly employee every day for a month. "I did all the job, that gave the managers and the hourly workers a level of respect for me. I know it’s hard work, but I don’t ask them to do anything I wouldn’t do myself. They’ve seen me cleaning bathrooms. " Both women say family support is key to their success and their ability to grow. Cheek’s lawyer husband has been known to buss tables in a business suit and Stokes hopes some of her children will want to take over management of her restaurants one day. Operating the franchise helped Stokes get the means to buy a historic building downtown that will someday house her new concept, she said. Before that, she’ll open a second Newk’s location. Since 2011, she has also been mentoring the next generation of Wingstop franchisees. "I think women are very well suited for the restaurant industry," she said. "You have to be a people person, you have to want to develop your staff and your crew members, there’s definitely a nurturing thing you need to have. Then obviously you have to have the good business sense as well. A a lot of times women are very organized they’ve learned to multitask really well." __________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s email list for more stories about the food and beverage industry. We offer 14 newsletters covering the industry from restaurants to food manufacturing. Related Posts: Bellacures: Taking a nail salon from startup to franchise How a grandmaster became a franchise master Q-and-A with Bill Swanson, global CFO and North America CEO, Cartridge World Q-and-A: Marco’s Pizza CEO Jack Butorac The story of Salata Women make their way in restaurant franchising originally published by SmartBlogs

This post is sponsored by Teaching Channel.  Video is redefining how teacher development happens for many education organizations, creating personalized, professional learning experiences and an evidence base of improving teacher practice. In this Expert Spotlight Q&A, Teaching Channel CEO Pat Wasley explains why the use of video is so powerful, and describes how it is being used effectively. Pat has been a public school administrator, a researcher, a university professor and a dean of both the Bank Street Graduate School of Education and the University of Washington College of Education. Along the way, she has worked in a variety of roles to understand how to prepare and support teachers as they develop an ever-growing and sophisticated repertoire of approaches for working with children.   What are some of the major barriers to teacher growth? Pat Wasley: There are a few identifiable conditions that have historically held teachers back from growing the way they would like to grow. For one thing, teachers work alone in their classrooms so they don’t get a chance to see other people teach. It’s really hard to improve your practice if you don’t see anybody else teach. And the result is that most teachers teach the way they were taught. Also, teachers often don’t receive much feedback on their instruction. They might get an evaluation from their principal twice a year, but most teachers report that this is not enough feedback to help them grow all year long. Teachers need a way to get more frequent input. Add to this the fact that many professional learning experiences are passive, ‘sit-n-get’ experiences, that is, an idea or strategy is presented without any opportunity for teachers to interact with it, or any structure put in place to promote the use and adaptation of the strategy, and what you end up with is little to no change in teaching practice. How does video unlock teacher potential? PW: Video addresses the challenges I mentioned in very powerful ways, and it’s having a profound impact on teachers’ professional learning. When teachers watch video of their colleagues, they develop a broader imagination for how teaching can be done. Watching videos of teaching collected from across the country, or across your district, helps people see all kinds of methods and approaches they might not have tried in their own teaching. Ellen Lugo, assistant superintendent for Upland Unified School District, which uses the Teaching Channel Teams video-based professional learning platform, shared a story with me about one of her teachers. In a district meeting with teachers, administrators and the teacher’s union, the teacher said that in her 30 years of teaching, she had only been able to visit about 10 classrooms to watch other models of teaching. After about five months of implementing the Teams platform, she had visited over 100 classrooms. This is huge, and demonstrates one way in which video helps to break down barriers to teacher growth. When teachers take the use of video to the next level and record and watch themselves trying new, or even existing, strategies, they are able to reflect — on their own or with colleagues or coaches — on their approaches to working with students in a much more concrete way. Cameras are always more reliable than memories! Additionally, recording their own practice provides an evidence-base of improving practice as teachers first try, and then refine, a wide range of strategies. As Jennifer Wolfe, a teacher at Oceanside School District and Teams enthusiast explains, "Our focus has always been about enhancing professional practice. Teaching Channel Teams was a great way for us to introduce examples of effective teaching, but also to support what we were doing with teachers with actual evidence of it being done. With the Teams platform, we can create these Groups, these really healthy spaces where we can continue to talk about teaching and the work we do together. That’s pretty great because it doesn’t become a one-hit wonder, something that you forget the second that you put your key in the door in the parking lot; it becomes a living thing." What does the research say about the use of video for professional learning? PW: There is a wealth of research on the use of video for professional learning. One important finding is related to the importance of a teacher’s ability to ‘notice’. Video allows teachers to go back and watch their interactions with students over and over again, enabling them to pick up on cues they might have missed in the moment. We also know from the research that sustained reflection on video helps teachers pay attention to classroom interactions in new ways, learn to more effectively diagnose student thinking, and interpret the impact of pedagogical techniques. In a recent webinar we did with our colleague, author and coaching expert Jim Knight, he summed this up by saying that the power of video is is in its ability to provide a clear picture of our practice, and that a clear picture of reality is the starting point for effective professional learning. What does it look like when video is used as a central component of a professional learning program? PW: Innovative districts across the country are using the Teams video-enabled professional learning platform to address a wide range of initiatives. A few of the most interesting programs focus on coaching, professional learning communities (PLCs), and new teacher mentor programs. Michelle Rooks, a fourth-year middle school instructional coach and member of a 10-person district-wide team, is leading the charge in Teton County School District to integrate video as a foundational practice of teacher learning, with the objective of ensuring that all students are taught by effective teachers. As Michelle explained in a webinar, in Teton County, video is used at every part of the coaching cycle, from planning conversations with teachers, to instruction, to student interactions and interviews. The time-stamped Notes feature in Teams is a key tool for Teton coaches and helps them identify specific moments of practice in exemplar videos as well as teacher-generated videos. The collaboration between coach and teacher has improved in many ways. Not only are coaches and teachers able to connect more often, even on a daily basis, via private Teams Groups but, as Michelle explains, the use of video has "opened bigger, more honest conversations about what we are actually seeing. The teachers have grown more comfortable with discussions about what occurred in the video after reading through my notes. Because you are pointing something out to them and they can see it, the discussions, and the learning, go so much faster. The evidence is right there in front of all of us." In another webinar, Brandon Dorman from Fresno Unified School District described the work they are doing with their Innovative Professional Learning Grant. The goal of this work is to provide effective professional learning experience to support comprehensive implementation of the Common Core State Standards. Video has a central role in their redesigned Professional Learning Updraft System (PLUS). Among other things, Fresno implemented quarterly cycles in which teachers and leaders work together to design modules, engage in lesson study, and engage in calibrated scoring and analysis of student work. This is supported through their Accountable Communities (a more structured form of PLCs), which now meets both in-person and online via the Teams platform. Video is used at each point in this process to connect leadership with what teachers are learning, and to make the learning more visible and participatory. Tulsa Public Schools has integrated video in a number of professional learning initiatives. Jamie Lomax, director of Title I for Tulsa, provided insight into this work in a webinar. The district is using video for its New Teacher Mentor program and its Critical Friends Groups (CFGs, another form of an effective PLC). The district has also created a set of their own videos aligned to their Teacher Effectiveness Model. The videos are stored and shared on their private Teams platform, allowing all teachers to access effective models of instruction demonstrated by their colleagues. Tulsa’s New Teacher Mentors are instructional coaches for first-year teachers. The program begins with a meeting between the teacher and mentor to discuss what the teacher wants to focus on. Then they capture video of the mentee’s instruction using the Tch recorder app, load it into their Teams group, and then each person views the video and uses the time-stamped Notes to annotate the video. After, they meet virtually or in person to discuss what they saw, and define areas where the teaching is going well, as well as areas that need further refinement. Videos from the Teams or Tulsa library that demonstrate effective practice in the areas that need work are posted to the Group to provide a model for the new teacher to observe and analyze. When asked about the effectiveness of using video with new teachers, the mentors agreed that video has been the difference-maker in helping new teachers grow quickly. These are just a few examples of the innovative, effective work that is being done with video-based professional learning across the country. There are so many more; so many educators are grasping the power of video. It is such an exciting time to be an educator.     Related Posts: No Related Posts How video is redefining teacher development originally published by SmartBlogs