Katelyn returns to talk about the importance of functionality when designing an education space and respond to feedback from episode 52.   Follow Kate Nesi http://www.twitter.com/katenesi   This episode of House of #EdTech is sponsored by:   Audible.com   Domain.com   Listeners Like You! Become a Patron...   Complete shownotes at: http://chrisnesi.com/54   FEEDBACK Call: (732) 903-4869 Voxer: mrnesi Email: feedback@chrisnesi.com Twitter: @mrnesi Send a voice message from http://www.chrisnesi.com

My very first guest, Alex Rosenwald, has returned to the classroom and the podcast to talk about how his students are taking education technology to the next level.   Follow Alex Rosenwald http://www.twitter.com/arosey   This episode of House of #EdTech is sponsored by:   Audible.com   Domain.com   Listeners Like You! Become a Patron...   Complete shownotes at: http://chrisnesi.com/55   **Segments**   (2:05) - Opening   (7:05) - EdTech Thought   (9:19) - EdTech Recommendation - Stories Teachers Share   (11:20) - Featured Content   (44:00) - House of #EdTech VIP - Rachel Murat http://www.twitter.com/MrsMurat   FEEDBACK Call: (732) 903-4869 Voxer: mrnesi Email: feedback@chrisnesi.com Twitter: @mrnesi Send a voice message from http://www.chrisnesi.com

Teachers should be offered choices around topics, presenters, and how their PD is structured. Teachers are told time and time again to differentiate, personalize, and meet their students where they are. Why doesn’t the same ring true for professional development?   This episode of House of #EdTech is sponsored by:   Audible.com   Domain.com   Listeners Like You! Become a Patron...   ***** (1:20) Introduction   (11:50) Main Content: Teacher Choice   (22:23) House of #EdTech Recommendation: TelePromptor   (24:53) House of #EdTech VIP: Brent Warner   Complete show notes at: http://chrisnesi.com/56   *****   FEEDBACK Call: (732) 903-4869 Voxer: mrnesi Email: feedback@chrisnesi.com Twitter: @mrnesi Send a voice message from http://www.chrisnesi.com

Get FOUR awesome #edtech recommendations in this 2016 edition of the #EdTech Final Four. This episode of House of #EdTech is sponsored by:   Grammarly   Audible.com   Domain.com   Listeners Like You! Become a Patron...   ** Segments **   (1:29) Introduction   (8:10) EdTech Thought - Live streaming from conferences   (11:20) EdTech Final Four - Blab.im   (14:52) EdTech Final Four - Anchor.fm   (17:50) EdTech Final Four - WallaMe   (20:40) EdTech Final Four - Versal   (25:50) House of #EdTech VIP - Jami Joshua   Complete show notes: chrisnesi.com/57   FEEDBACK Call: (732) 903-4869 Voxer: mrnesi Email: feedback@chrisnesi.com Twitter: @mrnesi Send a voice message from http://www.chrisnesi.com

AJ Bianco and Adam Schoenbart guest co-host this episode and we discuss great approaches to what you can do after attending an EdCamp. We share tips and recommendations to get the most out of your unconference experience.   Follow AJ Bianco and Adam Schoenbart   Support for this episode of House of #EdTech comes from:   Grammarly   Audible.com   Domain.com   Listeners Like You! Become a Patron...   **SEGMENTS**   (1:36) Intro   SPECIAL LINK - Adam Schoenbart on CNN   (7:40) EdTech Recommendation - NEW Google Forms   (9:40) Featured Content: Life After EdCamp   (34:40) The Education Calendar   (37:10) House of #EdTech VIP - Bruce Reicher   Complete shownotes at http://chrisnesi.com/58   FEEDBACK Call: (732) 903-4869 Voxer: mrnesi Email: feedback@chrisnesi.com Twitter: @mrnesi Send a voice message from http://www.chrisnesi.com

AJ Bianco and Stacey Lindes have broken into the House of #EdTech and taken over the show. What have they done with this opportunity? The best guest they could get? Me.   Support for this episode of House of #EdTech comes from:   Grammarly   Audible.com   Domain.com   Listeners Like You! Become a Patron...   ** SEGMENTS **   (1:18) Intro   (2:10) #EdTech Thought   (4:27) House of #EdTech Recommendation   (5:45) Christopher J. Nesi - unplugged!   (34:15) House of #EdTech VIP - Jamie Bianco   Complete show notes at: chrisnesi.com/59   ** SHARE FEEDBACK **   Call: (732) 903-4869   Voxer: mrnesi   Email: feedback@chrisnesi.com   Twitter: @mrnesi   Send a voice message from http://www.chrisnesi.com

Jennifer Gonzalez, a fellow podcaster who hosts the Cult of Pedagogy Podcast shares a variety of #edtech tools and resources that every teacher needs to be aware of.   Follow Jennifer Gonzalez   ** SUPPORTERS **   Grammarly   Audible.com   Domain.com   Listeners Like You! Become a Patron...   Complete show notes at: chrisnesi.com/60   ** SEGMENTS **   (1:24) Intro   (10:45) Jennifer Gonzalez    (53:55) House of EdTech VIP - Alyssa Miller   ** SHARE FEEDBACK **   Call: (732) 903-4869 Voxer: mrnesi Email: feedback@chrisnesi.com Twitter: @mrnesi Send a voice message from http://www.chrisnesi.com

Stephany Hesslein is a first-grade teacher for Middletown Public Schools here in New Jersey.    Follow Stephanie Hesslein   Support for this episode of House of #EdTech comes from:   Grammarly   Audible.com   Domain.com   Listeners Like You! Become a Patron...   Complete show notes http://chrisnesi.com/61   **SEGMENTS**   (1:29) Intro   (8:57 ) House of #EdTech Thought - Get it right the first time   (12:34) House of #EdTech Recommendation - MediaCore Capture    (15:20) Featured Content - Stephany Hesslein   (43:11) House of #EdTech VIP - Monica Burns   FEEDBACK Call: (732) 903-4869 Voxer: mrnesi Email: feedback@chrisnesi.com Twitter: @mrnesi Send a voice message from http://www.chrisnesi.com

Meghan Davis from GoEnnounce stops by the podcast to update us on some new developments to their platform and I record LIVE from EdTechNJ 2016 in Edison, NJ.   Support for this episode of House of #EdTech comes from:   Grammarly   Audible.com   Domain.com   Listeners Like You! Become a Patron...   Complete show notes http://chrisnesi.com/62   **SEGMENTS**   (1:10) Intro   (8:57) House of #EdTech Thought - Summer Learning   (11:25) House of #EdTech Recommendation - #EdTechNJ Mini App Smackdown   (17:55) Featured Content - Meghan Davis from GoEnnounce.com   (42:00) House of #EdTech VIP - Dr. Greg Goins   **FEEDBACK**   Call: (732) 903-4869 Voxer: mrnesi Email: feedback@chrisnesi.com Twitter: @mrnesi Send a voice message from http://www.chrisnesi.com

The NMC’s ‘On the Horizon’ Report is one I  look forward to reading at the start of each year.  It’s clearly written, it’s honest and, for me, it’s a pretty good gauge of how successfully and creatively  learning technology is being used in HE. This year’s report starts big - page one proclaims that there are two long-term trends: advancing cultures of innovation and a fundamental rethink of how universities and colleges work. Those are two pretty big areas, so rather than looking at all of the trends and challenges highlighted in the report I want to concentrate on the first of these two overarching trends. ‘Innovation’ is a word that has been used repeatedly since the effects of the 2008 recession started to be felt in education. It usually boils down to ‘doing more with less’ - though if you need to produce twice the amount of ‘stuff’ with half the amount of resources / staff / money, you’re pretty much forced into being ‘innovative’ in order to survive. As a result of attending many, many faculty meetings with various employers over the past 8 years and hearing the word ‘innovation’ used in the same sentence as ‘budget cuts’ over and over again, I now wince whenever I hear it. It’s just a pretty way of saying ‘We have had our budget cut in half again, so things are going to get even harder this year.  Deal with it!’ Here’s more from the report: The Innovation Policy Platform…asserts that universities should bolster entrepreneurship courses to attract and accommodate more students, while nurturing faculty that can meet high-quality teaching standards…universities should even encourage faculty and staff to hone their own entrepreneurial skills through professional development and opportunities to participate in start-ups. The IPP recommends that training policies move beyond business development and management to emphasize the challenges of enterprise growth, risk-taking, and building strategic alliances. Let’s try to unpick what this means. If we read between the lines, is the NMC recommending that we all need to learn how to start up our own businesses so we have something to fall back on should the worst happen; or are they talking solely in the context of business-related courses? Let’s see what the report goes on to say: There is a growing consensus among many higher education thought leaders that institutional leadership and curricula could benefit from adopting agile startup models. This is a rather broad statement.  And once I’d finished dry-heaving over the term ‘thought leader’ (which scores double points in Bullshit Bingo, and sounds like something from a George Orwell novel) I found it to be a little sinister too. Business has now, apparently, subsumed education completely. Students are often referred to as clients and curricula are business models.  (Apropos of nothing, I don’t have staff any more either - I have direct reports.) I get it;  in this endless recession no job is secure (thanks George Osborne). But the students I deal with are training to be healthcare professionals - nurses, midwives, radiographers, and physiotherapists - they have neither the time nor the inclination to start learning about entrepreneurship - it’s not what they signed up for, and there isn’t much space in their timetables (because lectures form only half of their study - their medical placements form the other half).  And let’s face it - it’s hard enough to get staff to engage with embedding technology effectively into their curricula, so asking them to start teaching another subject, or find the time to participate in a startup…it’s too much, and, to be honest, it just all feels a bit sinister. Maybe I’ve missed the point entirely here.  Maybe this is a positive move, and something that I should be engaging with myself. Maybe the skills learned in ‘How to be an Entrepreneur 101’ are wholly transferable to all educational (and medical) settings - though the healthcare sector is steadily become ‘businessfied’ itself, with patients now also called service users, clients or customers.  All of this seems a little clinical (excuse the pun) and dehumanising. So what do you think?  I’d appreciate some comments about this one, as I’m not sure what this all means and may well be worrying about nothing!

By Parry https://www.flickr.com/photos/21585925@N07/My colleague Al asked me to think about trends in educational technology in the next 5-7 years. It is both a lovely and futile to try and predict where things are going. As I thought about it I found myself thinking of changes that are already in mid stride. To make it clear I am interested in technology and technology induced trends only as they impact education. Other trends (e.g. self driving cars) are exciting but have little relevance to the thing I know much about.In the next few weeks I will blog about each group of predictions independently but here are the main topics I will try and tackle.Already here:1. Mobile2. Flipped3. SocialIn the works:4. OERI5. Augmented reality6. Individualization7. GamingSocial Engineering:8. Citizenship9. LeisureFashionable but educationally negligible:10. Wearables11. VR12. User Interface beyond touch and voice.

Last week I read a #Rant through Ian O'Byrne's excellent feed on Google Plus. In the rant the author complained about teachers on social media and their oversharing of proud moments, highlighting their books and other common social media brags. The author starts with "...NI am talking about teachers on Facebook and Twitter and how much they piss me off." The author talks about negativity and frustration teachers express on social media as well as the over positive. Personally, I rarely see the negativity the author mentions, for me that means that I found my tribe, positive people who are looking to grow. The author also rejects positive hoorah moments- telling teachers to keep it to themselves.I completely disagree.  First, participating in social media is a choice, if you don't want to, then just don't. I know plenty of teachers who do not participate. My point is always the same, try it, find your tribe, if you still do not like it stop. You do not have to read what others say- unfriend or hide on facebook or just plain ignore it on twitter.The benefits of social media done right, outweigh the negative in my mind:1. I believe that teachers can use social media well to get professional development or more likely the beginning of professional development. Twitter is a great place to get leads and re-orient yourself. I love twitter chats they are supportive and positive but in 140 characters you can just get a taste for ideas that you can then find more about.2. Teachers need to connect, some have great people around them, others not. Social media creates vast teacher groups that can support teachers who are isolated because they are in a negative building or simply because they are the only German/art/take your pick teacher in the building.3. We are often derided and attacked so sharing great student work, results or moments is a great way to make our work a bit more visible. Sharing our accomplishments is a powerful motivator. I do not read it as "look how much better than you I am" I read this as "I am teacher hear me roar..."In short, I believe that social media can be a great tool for teachers to break isolation, keep learning, and stay motivated.I think every teacher should try it. If it doesn't work for you, drop it. But please, do not rant, making those who do choose to engage feel small.So brag away Teachers brag away!

Photo by mpclemens CCThe 2012 NAEP look at student achievement composing on computers were published recently (December, 2015). The results are not surprising but crucial for our next step.The key finding is straightforward:" While fourth-graders had similar overall average scores on the 2012 NAEP computer-based writing assessment and on a paper-based pilot writing assessment administered in 2010, an analysis of 15 writing tasks common to both assessments revealed a different story.  The average score of high-performing fourth-graders was higher on the computer than on paper, whereas low- performing students did not appear to benefit from using the computer.  This finding suggests that low-performing fourth-graders did not fully demonstrate their writing ability on the computer in the 2012 NAEP computer-based pilot writing assessment, and that the use of the computer may have widened the writing achievement gap."The growing gap is scary stuff. The results mirror the work by Don Leu that found similar effects with reading digitally. One response can be, so let's just assess kids without technology. The logic is that is technology in assessment widens the achievement gap then we should just go back to pencil and reduce the gap. Switching to pencil, however, is a short-sighted response. Assessment strived to approximate real world knowledge and skill. Writing in our world is done on devices more than any other way. One might argue about the value of note taking by hand, but the composition of personal, public, and professional communication is done electronically. Keeping the assessment to pen and paper would hide the much bigger gap that exists and divert us away from the main challenge- early access to digital technology for all children.My claim here is that the language of the report makes it seem like the method is the culprit- "the use of the computer may have widened the achievement gap" I would argue it just exposed it.I hear teachers and administrators worry that the tools embedded in the software/ internet provide "cheats". Children will use editing, dictionary, and spelling tools in a way that would reduce their learning.This, however, is what the study found:"In the computer-based pilot assessment, students’ actions on the computer were captured and analyzed for the lowest performing 20 percent of students, the highest performing 20 percent of students, and the middle-performing 60 percent of students. Compared to the middle- and high-performing students, a higher percentage of low-performing students: used key presses less frequently;did not use the spellcheck function;did not accept any automated spelling corrections; andused the backspace key less frequently to edit their work.Overall, students who accepted spelling corrections and used the backspace key more often were also likely to write longer responses. "Less capable students seem to be using tools less, partially explaining their lower achievement. Our problem is not that the tools are a crutch for low achievers, it is that they do not use them enough.It is about access:"The 2012 fourth-grade writing data indicate that students with access to the Internet at home were more likely than those without access to: write longer responses;use the spellcheck tool more often;use the thesaurus tool more often; anduse bold and italics for emphasis more often. "And who doesn't have access?"The percentage of fourth-graders without access to the Internet at home was higher for Black students, Hispanic students, students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, English language learners, and students with a disability."To solve this problem of wider gaps in the information age, we must first provide constant access to tools- not an occasional one but habit forming access. Then we must teach digital strategies for using these tools for all students NOT just those who we deem ready.

Binge had a negative connotation for a long time. We discussed binge drinking and worried about the impact on our systems.We have this sense that high-intensity short duration behaviors can lead to negative outcomes. The advent of Netflix has transformed the notion of binging into a less destructive more socially acceptable behavior.In fact, we have been advocating this behavior for years, calling on students to get a lost in a book. We discuss books we cannot put down, or have to read in one sitting. It speaks to a motivation that leads to a very focused behavior.Right now I am binging on history podcasts. It started with History of the English Language then transferred to History of Byzantium. Yes, I know I am a history geek. But listening to 3-5 podcasts daily (when I walk my dog or drive on my own, I do listen at 1.5 speed) I have started to have questions about learning. I caught my first serial history podcast about 3 months ago. History of the English language has been a deep and joyful experience because by the time I found it it had over 60 episodes. As I listened I enjoyed the level of detail and the build up of facts and ways of thinking. Once I caught up with the podcaster, however, I find it much harder to engage with episodes released once a week or less. I thought I just got tired of the subject so I switched to History of Byzantium, the effect is identical. Once I caught up with the podcasts and have to wait, I find myself a lot less engaged and need a lot more scaffolding to remember where I am in the story.I argue that binging on content can be a powerful way to experience learning. Intensely sinking into a topic can be powerful and motivating which is exactly the opposite of the way we engage kids in schooling shifting our focus every 20-48 minutes in most cases. Binging on content is of course not enough but it can provide an exceptional starting point for deep understanding. If we follow binge consumption with an attempt to organize the information and then to creating an original product we might have a much better chance of learning. I think this notion fits well into the ideas of project-based learning (PBL) but not limited to it.As for me, I will keep binging and enjoy learning intensely.

Laurie Friedrich and I have been doing Tech EDGE for 6 years. We have just finished our 16th! conference. Each conference has served on average between 100-150 participants. Our channel on youtube has about 40,000 views and over 600 subscribers we are also watched on iTunesU as a podcast on iTunes, on YouKu (in China) and on UNL's media hub. On all channels, we are approaching 200,000 views.What have I learned? I learned that it is hard work. As soon as we finish one event we start nailing down details for another. We are constantly looking for great presenters who live meaningful technology integration not just talk about it. I learned that there are many dedicated educators who are looking to do well by their students and are craving support, ideas, and recognition. This is a simple process in a way. Simple does not mean easy, though. The trick is to keep on going, to find ways to motivate yourself and others as you keep going.This week Laurie asked me if I was sad. Sad?I asked. Not really. Just tired. Many things piled up, and for a moment, I thought: Maybe, we're done? Perhaps, I've ran out of gas? It's hard to let go of a project you've poured your mind and soul into for 6 years, but I need to know to walk away. Participating yesterday, hearing classroom teachers sharing their moments of triumph, learning and sometimes failure gave me energy. The interaction with practicing educators working hard reminded me that I am not doing this alone, nor am I doing it to satisfy my need to be famous. I am doing it because this way I am helping shape the way we educate. Hopefully coming a bit closer to the vision of a creative, caring and competent citizenry.That said, I am happy next week is spring break!

It is the last day of spring break, and I hobble around on crutches. Our family travelled to our favorite spring skiing spot in Park City Utah where we had a fantastic time, and where I had a skiing accident.I was skiing down the slope on the last run of the day. My skis got caught, and suddenly I found myself on the ground facing the wrong way with one string of thought flooding my brain: "pain, knee, stupid." Someone came to my aid (thank you whoever you are) undid my skis and called for help. Ski patrol took me down the mountain, and an enthusiastic intern at the clinic informed me that I had an MCL injury.Having gone through this delightful experience has been an opportunity to think about what I can learn from the accident beyond being more careful when I ski. So, here are some of the lessons I came up with that are relevant to my daily life.1. The affordances of technology. The first two items I got from the clinic were crutches and a knee brace. The crutches are ancient technology, effective and crude. The knee brace, though, is fantastic. The treatment for my torn MCL in the past would have been a cast for an extended amount of time. It being my right knee it would have prevented driving and exercising for a prolonged period. Instead, this knee brace is hinged, flexible and removable, allowing me to function more normally and start walking within days instead of weeks. We sometimes focus on the downsides of technology and the burdens it adds that we forget the joyful affordances it introduces into our lives.2. The power of partnership. I was on the slope on my own. There were other skiers around but none that were with me. My dad (78 and till skis better than me) lamented that had he been there this would not have happened. After joking about the way we parent at any age, I started thinking that he was right. Having a partner that helps you have a perspective on the path if he is in front of you, on speed if he is by you, or the responsibility of leading, if he is behind, would have probably caused me to slow down and be more aware of my environment. The parallel to innovating with technology is evident. When we innovate with colleagues, we can prevent burnout (or ski accidents) by working with others. That someone else has to be on the slope with us to help us pace, consider our surroundings, signal when to slow down and rest and help us when we fall. Without this kind of collaboration may be doomed to refuse to put on skis ever again.3A. Fear is good. A healthy amount of apprehension is good. It keeps us from making catastrophic mistakes. Yes, I fell and got hurt, but I up and about and will be able to do most things within a few weeks. Fear kept me from going much faster and kept me focused on the path.3B. Fear is bad. I cannot let my recent experience dictate that I will never ski again. I will do so cautiously, but I will certainly try. It is common to fail the first few times we use new technology in teaching. These failures increase apprehension in many practitioners; we must make sure that it does not paralyze us from trying again. As teachers, if we model giving up, how can we foster a "try, try again" attitude in our students.

World War I TrenchesI often see and hear about lessons from the trenches. This metaphor is used in education as much as any other field. And the concern I start with was raised a few years ago in this blog post. The insinuation is that  classrooms, the frontlines of education are very different from the theoretical discussions we have in conferences, academic papers, and administration halls. I agree that the lived experience in education is different, more visceral than an academic debate. What I am calling to change is the language of war (and football) when referring to education.The war metaphor reminds me of the standup routine by George Carlin- about the way we use language to describe football and baseball. What I would like to suggest is that using war or combat metaphors sets a false sense of our daily lives. Yes, as educators we sometimes struggle, yes we have some difficult days. But, for most educators, life is not threatened, and the sum is more positive than negative. I think that the combat laden language sets up conflict lines. Conflict with whom? Who are we shooting at as we emerge from our trenches? Students? Administrators? Families? The Community? Politicians?I think that the language of war emphasizes zero sum game thinking and increases teacher loneliness. It sets up a feeling of us vs. them. The war metaphor leads to negativity. This sense of war may very well contribute to teachers dropping out. If you define education as combat eventually the soldiers get tired they want to go home. We might lead a brilliant charge and Teach Like their Hair's on Fire, but that cannot last for a full career.We need better metaphors. Ones that admit the challenges and obstacles but also admits the positive, the possibility of collaboration. Metaphors are powerful in orienting our dispositions and choosing the right ones can change the way we see the world.

"Maison tournante aérienne" by Albert RobidaI spent some time at the Early Childhood Summit this week. It was an excellent opportunity to hear some innovative research. Quite a bit of the research presented was incremental, based on past assumptions and deeply linked to education as it used to be. In a sense, I find that the incremental advances in much of the work are too tied to 20th-century conceptions of education. The problem is, as Berliner noted that much of educational research is related to context and time. Once the context has shifted significantly, it becomes irrelevant.This led me to think about the now and next in education. The NOW includes two changes:The shift towards individualized or differentiated instruction. Technology is poised to make fully differentiated instruction possible since it decouples curriculum delivery from its dependence on the teachers thus freeing teachers to focus on guiding students and managing complex information systems needed to support students moving from different starting points. This process is far from over. In fact, I would say that we have only begun. There is, however, an emerging consensus that this is the right direction. This consensus allows teacher education, curriculum providers, and professional development efforts to focus on the task.The second shift is towards Open Educational Resources (OER). I have spent the better part of the last decade trying to promote these practices from the bottom up. Now with federal support and some states buying in it feels like this tide has turned as well. We can produce quality curricular materials that will be accessible to any teacher and student making the proposition of differentiation affordable for any school. The shift in costs can help education agencies focus on the development of teachers and their ability to deliver differentiated instruction.The NEXT is linked to assessment. Our current assessment systems are slaves to pre-information-age technologies. In the past snapshot in time assessment technology was the only one available. We simply did not have the technology to capture student performance in-vivo. We had to resort to a weekly spelling test and annual achievement tests. We have perfected these snapshots and now use technology to better and more efficiently capture them. In essence, we are still captive to this thinking- there has to be an assessment event that counts, that we prepare for and then celebrate. Technology and big data have opened the door on a completely different assessment technology. One that captures everything our students do and can measure it in real time. The need for snapshots has passed. If my students writing is captured electronically, then every teacher can get a report of their students spelling without a need for a special event. Instead, they can know how their students are spelling when they are writing authentic texts. Real performance for the real world.I know that charting potential does not guarantee it will happen. I just hope that researchers and funders and eventually schools can move beyond the practices of the past to recognize the shifts in technology go beyond a more efficient snapshot to describing authentic performance across academic tasks.

If there’s one thing that’s certain about the future of learning, it’s that it will continue to play a large role in organizational success. But the shape of learning is changing. Based on conversations with top learning analysts, leading organizations and industry experts, here’s what we believe are the most credible and crucial learning trends for organizations in 2016. Trend #1:  Big Data and Learner Analytics With respect to eLearning, big data is everything that’s gathered when a learner takes an eLearning course or training module.  This not only includes large volumes of data for organization-level analysis, but also discrete pieces of data that offer insight into how each individual learner is acquiring and digesting knowledge.  We expect big data to allow both learners and learning professionals to take a more personalized, targeted approach that is more impactful for the organization.  It will also open up the discussion around predictive analytics , allowing organizations to identify which behaviors employees need to exhibit to achieve desired business outcomes. Trend #2: Gamification Gamification will remain a top learning trend in 2016. Two years ago, the industry was just getting their heads around what gamification meant. In 2015,  organizations became interested in how it could be incorporated into their learning environments. And in 2016, we forecast that organizations will take more definitive action.  While gamification in learning hasn’t met analyst projections yet, we think proof that it’s not just hype will lead to even greater adoption. Trend #3: Personalized Learning We expect to see a stronger shift towards adaptive learning and personalized learning paths this year.  This is largely driven by the availability of comprehensive data to help personalize learning to each learner’s needs and the availability and adoption of mobile learning, which will help deliver knowledge to employees when and where it’s most appropriate. The industry has long been aware of the fact that learning adjusted to the individual is far more effective and valuable. However, traditional methods haven’t been able to support this requirement. But technologies, like the Axonify Employee Knowledge Platform, now allow granular learning personalization based on a range of criteria, allowing learning content to be modified literally on the fly: based on how employees interact with learning content or how their needs change. Trend #4:  Mobile Learning We anticipate that mobile learning via a native app will more popular than learning through a standard mobile web browser. This comes as no surprise, since apps dominate everywhere else. Instead of being required to access learning from a corporate computer, mobile learning will allow employees to obtain learning content anytime and anywhere they have access to their mobile device. This provides an even bigger benefit to employees, such as retail associates and warehouse workers, who may not have access to a corporate computer or company email system, but can use an app to get the learning they need to perform at their best. Trend #5: Performance Support Although the term Performance Support has been used for a number of years now, the majority of organizations are yet to introduce a "learning at the point-of-need" strategy. We expect more businesses will start to move away from the traditional firehose method of delivering learning and, instead, separate training content into two groups: Information that employees need to know in their heads versus information they simply need at their fingertips to do their jobs better. This will change the way businesses deliver learning and pave the way for performance support methods to become mainstream. Trend #6: Microlearning We’ve seen the microlearning trend absolutely take off in the latter half of 2015 and it’s expected to continue to gain momentum throughout 2016. Organizations are looking to get a better sense for what microlearning is, whether it makes sense for them and if so, how they can to incorporate it into their business. However, we believe organizations will turn away from the narrow definition of microlearning as simply a short video or piece of learning content, and adopt a more holistic view that incorporates short learning bursts with gamification, retention techniques, personalization and ongoing measurement and analytics. Trend #7: Video Video is starting to emerge as a dominant approach to delivering learning. More profound than just watching a video, we expect businesses to use videos for all kinds of instructional uses:  onboarding new hires, supporting product launches, improving customer support and more. Video is being seen by many as driving a learning revolution. And it’s easy:  anyone with a mobile device can create and share a short instruction video. What are your big areas of focus for 2016? Share your ideas with us on our upcoming webinar with Donald Taylor and Carol Leaman, which is taking place on January 20th. You have the unique opportunity to contribute to the content of the webinar by participating in this survey on Don Taylor’s blog. We look forward to hearing what your big areas of focus for this year will be. Written by Laura Martin

In our line of business, we interact with L&D leaders every day. They’re smart; they’re passionate; and they’re committed to creating a knowledgeable workforce. But they often come up against the same roadblock—getting a seat at the executive table. And they’re frustrated, to say the least. While shareholders and senior executives totally get that knowledgeable employees are critical to organizational success, they don’t always see how employee knowledge directly correlates to business impact. So, they simply don’t see why L&D needs to be part of boardroom discussions. But, there is a way for L&D leaders to make their voices heard. When we’ve seen L&D leaders change the way they approach the learning conversation and take advantage of advances in technology to prove the value of learning, they start to get C-level attention. Specifically, those L&D leaders who take a business-first approach to learning and can showcase the tangible, measurable results of their efforts, get invited to sit at the executive table. That means they: Work closely with business leaders to understand strategic objectives and how those objectives translate into job performance objectives for each employee. Identify employee job behaviors, that when done consistently, allow employees to achieve their objectives. Observe and document job behaviors, so that exceptional or substandard behaviors can be identified. Develop training programs that directly address the substandard knowledge and behaviors that drive poor performance. Constantly analyze behaviors and provide corrective learning to ensure that performance objectives are continuously being achieved Connect their efforts directly to business results that show increased revenue or decreased expenses In other words, successful L&D leaders understand that L&D must position itself to use business results to drive learning programs. (Stay tuned: we’ll cover this process in detail in a follow-up post). When that happens, learning can be clearly aligned with business objectives, and tangible results can be measured, proving the value of learning and its contribution to the success of the organization. L&D: it’s time to claim your seat at the boardroom table! Written by Carol Leaman

Earlier this week, we had the pleasure of hosting our first webinar of 2016 with special guests: Don Taylor (Long-time veteran of the learning space and currently the Chairman of the Learning and Performance Institute) and Carol Leaman (CEO of Axonify). The webinar focused on the results of a survey, which asked participants to identify the trends that are going to be ‘hot’ in workplace learning this year. Having moderated many of our webinars before, I can easily attest to the fact that this one was highly engaging. The chat window was very active. We had a total of 362 unique comments in a 60 minute session (which averaged out to a comment every 10 seconds!). Clearly, a lot of folks are excited for what 2016 will bring to the world of corporate learning. We are too! Here are three interesting takeaways from the webinar: 1. Personalization and Collaboration have consistently been important. For the last three years in a row, these two trends have consistently been in the top three results and don’t forget, this is a global survey. What we’re hoping to see this year is a better distinction of the difference between personalized and adaptive learning. If you’ve already started personalizing learning in your organization, you’re certainly on the right track; however, to make learning even more relevant therefore, engaging it has to also be adaptive. From a social/collaborative learning perspective, a real challenge that organizations will face this year (and in the coming years) is knowledge transfer from the baby boomers to the millennials. Does your organization have a way of identifying experts on certain topics? Have you also created a system that allows employees to have easy access to learn from these identified experts? 2. Microlearning is on its way up the hype curve. There was a lot of discussion on the webinar about the topic of Microlearning (In fact, we did a whole separate webinar on Microlearning in December of 2015). We anticipate that this year, Microlearning will begin to take center stage as a strategy to deal with knowledge decay and to help with increasing speed to competency. To really get the full value out of Microlearning, you need to combine it with elements of brain science, personalization and proven methods of engagement, like gamification. Toward the end of the webinar, Carol shared stories of organizations that have been successful at driving bottom-line results with this approach to learning. 3. The formula doesn’t need to be complicated. It needs to be focused. How to make 2016 a great year in L&D? share-play-find-try, or as Robert Mapstead put it in today’s @Axonify webinar: 分享游戏找到试试 — Donald H Taylor (@DonaldHTaylor) January 20, 2016 Toward the end of the webinar, an attendee asked a very good question: "How can we embrace, internalize and make happen some of these ‘hot trends’ in our organization - if we haven’t already started?" To this question, Don had a simple formula: Share, play, find and try. Firstly, share and learn from others, ask questions and network with others instead of spending hours researching something. Secondly, play around and try out what you’re going to do in order to get a feel for what it might be like in your environment. Thirdly, find a manager who gets it and is willing to try it out, no need to go big here, you’re just looking to build a case. Trying it out is actually the final step in the process. What we would add at the end here is to center your efforts around a business problem. This way when you’re building a case and presenting it to your stakeholders, you can demonstrate the potential impact on the business. Which trends are you most excited to see come to life in your organization this year? Which trends are you most afraid of? Tell us below and in case you missed the webinar, you can catch the on-demand version at any time. Written by Shum Attygalle

An Interview with Learning & Performance Consultant JD Dillon on metrics L&D should value to prove learning success in business I recently had the pleasure of speaking with JD Dillon (pictured right), an experienced, active and well-respected proponent for improving corporate learning and development. JD authors his own Just Curious Learning Blog and speaks regularly at the industry’s top learning conferences. Most recently, he served on the ATD 2016 TechKnowledge Conference Program Advisory Committee where he led a session entitled: Reworking the Puzzle: How to Build a Smarter Learning Ecosystem. Here’s what JD had to say about learning metrics and how to tie learning to bottom-line business results. Axonify: Most large organizations have an LMS in place. What are the top ten learning metrics you can pull from a typical LMS? JD Dillon: I’d really have to stretch to find ten useful pieces of data that I can pull from a traditional LMS. This data is typically limited to logistical details about specific training events and includes items like: Completions Level 1 survey feedback Level 2 assessment scores Training session dates/times Training hours associated to specific objects Assignment/registration info Organizational hierarchy info pulled from HRIS Axonify: How does this data help you understand and measure learning? JD Dillon: It doesn’t. While you can tell who attended and completed training and what they scored on any assessment, that doesn’t necessarily indicate learning, or more importantly, performance improvement. A traditional LMS doesn’t offer effective ways of tracking knowledge growth over time, or correlating training activity to real-world performance. Unfortunately, the limited data collection and reporting capabilities in an LMS prompt L&D organizations along with stakeholders to value the wrong data simply because it’s available. While I do care about resource utilization and formal training attendance, I really care about the connection between those data points and business KPIs, a connection that LMSs do not make easy to establish. Axonify: How do you or other professionals in your industry use this data (or is it just data that’s collected but not used)? JD Dillon: Based on my experience and ongoing conversations with peers across industries, I’d say that we don’t leverage data very effectively as an industry. This starts with a lack of effort in designing learning towards the collection of meaningful data. Then, because our systems do not support effective data collection/analysis, we are left with limited options. We also do not stress data analysis as a core L&D competency, which limits our ability to improve the situation in terms of selecting better systems and designing to ensure measurable outcomes. The order-taking nature of L&D also disrupts our ability to meaningfully use data, as it requires focus on long-term objectives rather than short-term deliverables and check-in-the-box completion. Finally, we limit ourselves by separating "training data" from "business data." It can be extremely challenging or impossible to locate and correlate information from various business units, including sales, customer service, quality, HR, L&D, etc., and therefore people often don’t make the effort. This means we fail to gain valuable insights into performance. Axonify: What data would be meaningful for measuring learning and tying it to business results? JD Dillon: Trends. An effective measurement strategy must take long-term changes in performance into account and connect them to learning opportunities. This starts with subjective and objective performance measures. In addition to hard metrics like sales, customer satisfaction, and quality feedback, we must collaborate with managers to capture behavioral insights into performance that don’t specifically appear in reports. At the same time, we must select and effectively integrate systems and processes that help us collect data on how employees are using support resources, including learning content. This includes everything from employee traffic flow through content repositories to knowledge assessment scores and practice session observations. We can then identify trends over time from this "learning data" and connect these patterns to changes in performance. This will help us ask more informed, meaningful questions when performance gaps are identified as we look for the best ways to support the organization. Axonify: How would you recommend L&D professionals get started on identifying and measuring the most important learning data? JD Dillon: Get more comfortable with data, especially information outside the traditional realm of L&D. Do your research. Take advantage of shared resources. Enroll in online classes to enhance your measurement, reporting, and analysis skills. Then, focus on performance. Find partners who have access to and experience with high-value performance data within your organization. Work to become experts with this reporting so you can, not only speak the language of the business, but also design learning and support strategies that target the right data for the purpose of finding meaningful connections. Continue to use learning data to inform your questions and decision-making, but focus on the measurements that are most valued by your partners across the business. Is this your challenge? Next week, we’ll feature a post about how to turn learning measurement on its head. We’ll take you through a business-first approach that focuses on key business objectives and then uses those objectives to drive your learning programs. Written by Richele Black

For L&D to prove real business value, it’s more important than ever to couple employee learning more tightly to business results. What we’ve discovered—and companies including Walmart and Bloomingdale’s, have proven—is that when you focus on business objectives first and then create a corporate training program that aligns with those objectives, you can achieve the goals of the business and, ultimately, prove impact. Sounds simple enough, right? Not so fast. Unfortunately, the reality is that many organizations we speak with have this process backwards. They create corporate training programs that may provide all kinds of interesting information, but this information doesn’t line up with key business objectives that help individuals, teams, departments and divisions achieve specific goals that really have a measurable impact on the business as a whole. To achieve any business outcome, employee knowledge and behaviors must be aligned with this outcome. Think of it this way, what your employees do each day directly impacts their ability to achieve performance objectives. And what they know directly impacts what they do. So, here’s our 4-step approach for applying a business-first approach to learning in a real work environment: Begin with the end in mind: Focus on business objectives first. Then, define departmental and individual objectives. Ultimately, you need to understand the specific business outcome(s) you want to achieve. If you don’t know what the corporate goals are, you can’t create a training program to support these goals. So, the first thing you need to do is to work with the business to obtain these objectives. An example of an overall corporate business objective might be to reduce work-related injuries by 10%. To meet this objective, the warehousing operation determines it needs to reduce forklift accidents by 50%. For each individual forklift operator, this might mean s/he must meet an objective of no more than one forklift safety incident per year. Define the job actions (behaviors) employees need to take to achieve those objectives The second part of the process involves digging deep into the ideal behaviors (job actions) that workers will need to perform consistently to achieve those outcomes. One fairly common source of forklift accidents is tipovers caused by improperly loaded items. If we break this down further into specific behaviors that are required to prevent tipovers, these might include: Keeping each load within load limit recommendations. Positioning the load according to the recommended load center. Not adding extra weight to counterbalance an overload. Keeping loads close to the front wheels to keep the lift truck stable. Identify the learning content employees need in order to be able to perform key job actions (behaviors) Once specific behaviors are defined, the next step involves building knowledge so employees have the information they need to perform these behaviors correctly. We recommend using microlearning content delivered in short bursts (as frequently as daily) to build knowledge and keep it top of mind. For our forklift example, microlearning content around keeping each load within load limit recommendations could include information about: Acceptable load weights Acceptable container sizes How to lift a load properly Continually monitor job actions (behaviors), measure results and adjust to optimize impact By defining granular behaviors, like those above, as well as the specific content that helps employees understand and apply these behaviors, you have a consistent way to observe these behaviors and measure each operator’s results. For example, a manager could regularly document the desired operator behaviors, such as: # of loads kept within recommendations. How frequently the operator positions the load properly. If the operator ever adds extra weight as a counterbalance. Average distance loads are held from the front wheels. By continually measuring knowledge growth against the application of defined behaviors on the job, you can easily identify where employees are having success and where they are having difficultly. Similarly, by measuring behaviors according to defined objectives, you can determine if these behaviors are actually having a positive impact. If you notice any issues, this allows you to adjust defined behaviors and associated learning content proactively to help identify the right knowledge and the right job actions to achieve the business objectives you set out to accomplish. For example, if the operator is still experiencing tipovers, documenting the behaviors will help identify where operation can be improved, which will also identify where the operator needs either additional learning or mentoring to achieve the defined objectives. This becomes an iterative process: evaluating job behaviors and comparing them against performance, identifying deficits, and delivering learning to eliminate the deficits. From here, L&D tracks learning success on each of the learning topics, correlates that with data regarding improvements in observed behaviors, and works with managers to relate behavior improvements to performance improvements. It’s an easy step, then, to link performance improvements to achievement of departmental objectives. We hope you’ll give this approach a try and look forward to hearing your results. Written by Carol Leaman

Post game celebration, confetti flying. Tons of fun even though our Steelers didn’t make it Garret Grahonya is still feeling the effects of Super Bowl fever. The L&S Toyota sales consultant beat out thousands of his peers from every district across the United States in an Axonify-inspired competition Toyota ran to increase product knowledge. The top prize was an all-expenses-paid trip to Super Bowl 50 in Santa Clara, California—only awarded to 3 employees (one from each division). We wanted to hear more about the Grahonya’s Super Bowl experience, get the deats on the competition and find out about how he uses Axonify at the dealership he works at in Beckley, West Virginia. Here’s what he had to say: Axonify: When were you introduced to Axonify? Garrett Grahonya: Axonify was introduced as an additional learning tool for us about a year and a half ago. Most of us utilize the app through our mobile phones and tablets. I use it primarily on my phone. We get little alerts and it will let us know when we have available questions to answer. Axonify: What do you think about the knowledge platform? Garrett Grahonya: I like the format. The way Toyota has set up its training with Axonify is through microlearning sessions. You have a lot of things going on throughout the day and you don’t want to be immersed for long periods of time doing training. But with those quick everyday reminders on certain facts and certain tools they want you to know, once those become a little repetitive, it becomes ingrained in your daily activities when you’re with the guest. So, I really do like the format in that it’s kind of short, quick learning and you can take that and go without feeling like it’s a chore. Axonify: Has Axonify ever helped you in a sales situation? Garrett Grahonya: It definitely helps to differentiate. We have so many different makes and models of cars and it helps give you the specifications to talk about. You’ll have some people come in and they’ll want to know differences, like why is this car five thousand dollars more. And you need to be able to answer that pretty quickly or you kind of lose your legitimacy as a salesperson. So, all of the specifics that are given to you in Axonify—each and every answer—if you can hold on to that information, it’s definitely going to help you sell a few more cars in our case. Axonify: Do you think it’s helped you sell more cars? Garrett Grahonya: Absolutely! It’s tough to put a number on it, and there are so many things, like the market criteria that make it hard to pinpoint the numbers, but last year, I had my best sales year ever. And, of course, being goal-oriented, you always want to improve upon that, but I definitely felt Axonify helped to contribute toward that. Axonify: You definitely have a lot of product knowledge to emerge as the winner (in your division) of Toyota’s nationwide competition that’s based on knowing information about its vehicles. Garrett Grahonya: It’s kind of instilled in our dealership to be on top of the product knowledge. If you’re going to be there, you’re asked to be a professional and to really know your skill and know your product and the whole customer service side as well. So, they’re very big on making sure that this knowledge is instilled in their sales associates. After 10 years, it’s kind of become ingrained in me. You see people come and go and the success that follows for those that embrace that versus those that don’t. So, you have to stay on top of your game and you’ve got a lot of competition too. We’re in an area with a lot of dealerships. So, you have to set yourself apart a little bit. Axonify: Can you tell me more about the product knowledge competition you participated in through Toyota? Garrett Grahonya: It was primarily Axonify based. The Axonify application was the starting process for the whole competition, which started in October or November last year. Every day, we’d each have three questions. (It was only a micro session, so you were only taking it for a couple of minutes). So, out of the week, you could total 21 possible answers. First, it started out that had to participate every day. The current totals weren’t that important. Then, as time went on you had to get 80% correct or do training at least 3 days minimum. So there were different criteria. Every now and then they would throw in an activity on one of Toyota’s websites where you had to go in and participate or make a comment on a certain topic or things like that, but the majority of it was based on the questions through Axonify. If you got all the points for that week, say week 1 was a 50-point week and you had to do 4 different tasks, including answering a certain number of questions for that week, you would be rewarded 50 points. The next week, the criteria would be a little tougher and there would be more possible points. So, it was more and more important as the competition went on to make sure you met all the criteria because if you missed out on those points, it would be really tough to compete with the folks who were getting those points. Once that first 11 or 12 weeks went by, then the qualifiers were announced and we went on to a jeopardy-type competition. I think there were 5 topics with 4 questions, each with numeric values, just like in jeopardy. So, you went online to the jeopardy game Toyota created to answer as many questions correctly as you could in a set timeframe. And if you got the answer wrong, you lost the points. Once the time was out, you risked points, based on the topic given for the final question round. They would give you a topic and let you know what the question was going to be related to and, based on your confidence level, you would risk the number of points you felt comfortable with to go into that final question. So, after all of that was said and done, the tallies were taken and, then, they weeded that down into one person in each category in each of the competing regions. And then all of that took place a second time in the exact same format, except in the finals format there were two rounds of questions, instead of just the one. And again, the same final jeopardy format in which you would total your answer or tally your points and risk the appropriate amount that you felt comfortable with going into that final answer. So, after all that was said and done, there was a period of waiting before they announced the winners. Axonify: How did Toyota notify you that you had won for your division and that you would be sent on an all expenses paid trip to the Super Bowl? Garrett Grahonya: Well, they sent me an email. It was kind of funny. My wife was already in bed and just before midnight (I kind of stay up a little later than I should sometimes), I decided I would just check my email for work purposes. I had received the email a couple hours prior that I was the winner. And so, here I am, almost asleep and I need to get up early for work the next morning. I have no one to talk to this about because my wife’s in bed and I’m the only one up, so it was a couple of hours before I was able to calm down a little bit. It was very exciting. But, it was kind of strange. Normally, you want to celebrate or call someone, but at that time of the night, that really wasn’t appropriate. So I had to sit there all by myself with all that nervous tension and excitement and wait until the following morning. I woke up my wife a little early that morning to make sure she knew what was going on. Axonify: Tell me about your experience at the 2016 Super Bowl. Garrett Grahonya: Toyota really did a great job. Knowing other people who have won trips through the company, I’ve always heard how well you’re treated and pampered and that definitely held true. We were picked up at the airport in a fancy car and they had reservations at one of the nicest hotels. We had a large bus that could have probably seated 50 people for only a dozen of us. We had a tour guide, a representative from Toyota that handled all the planning of where we needed be and when and they made sure we were just really taken care of. At the game, we had access to a really nice restaurant that was in the stadium from a prominent chef, Michael Mina. Really top end. We were in the lower level, right below the CBS broadcast booth, pretty close to the end zone where most of the score was taking place at the the beginning of the game. So, we got to see quite a bit. We were very close to all of the announcers and we saw several famous people too on the trip. So, it was really exciting for us, being from a small town here in West Virginia. They just really pampered you and made sure everything was very seamless. So the representatives from Toyota were great. All the people from San Francisco were great. It was a very friendly city and they were really on their game in terms of making sure the people coming in for the Super Bowl left with a positive experience, which we all did. Axonify: Are you planning to try and win next year? Garrett Grahonya: Well, sure, Yeah. Now that I know it can happen it’s even more of a boost of confidence. Axonify: What’s your strategy? Garrett Grahonya: Just to try to be diligent. You know, do the training every day. With new products coming out every day, just try to stay on top of the changes and vehicles. It’s an ongoing evolution with all of our products, so we have to really try and stay on top of that and just study and take advantage of all the resources that are available to us through the dealership and from Toyota. Axonify: Now that you’ve had this experience, what would you say is the main benefit of Axonify? Garrett Grahonya: The ultimate benefit is the regularity of having the information in front of you for the benefit of your job. You know, we all want to do great at our job. If you have all the proper tools, all the answers, all the information your customers are requesting as well as some of the information, maybe they don’t know they’re requesting, if that helps you sell even one more car, then it’s been a big benefit. And we all feel like that’s what Axonify has done. Axonify: How would you describe Axonify in one word? Garrett Grahonya: I’ll do two words: Moving Forward. That’s Toyota’s slogan and I think that it helps us move forward.