We discuss the trends and issues we observed during the weeks of March 25-April 17 as we flipped resources into our Flipboard magazine (http://bit.ly/trendsandissues). We discuss two major trends and two minor trends. We also provide a report from the American Educational Research Association Conference held in Washington DC in early April. The two major […] Tags:   Del.icio.us Facebook TweetThis Digg StumbleUpon Comments:  0 (Zero), Be the first to leave a reply!Copyright © Trends & Issues [Episode 61 Trends for March 24-April 17], All Right Reserved. 2016.

Basic writing skills are not something that should be taken for granted. Time and time again, I read poorly written manuals, instructions, and articles. Whether you write for a living or it is simply an annoying add-on to your real job, it is your responsibility to effectively communicate through the written word. If you do not understand basic writing best practices, you will fail. Here’s an infographic with 7 tips for better documentation:  

With competency-based education making national headlines, many educators are eager to implement this new learning style. Early adopters have already demonstrated that CBE has extraordinary potential for all types of learners, from those in trade school to business programs to the fine arts. But CBE programs are not simple to design and establish, and many universities that consider it are facing years of planning. The good news is that it is possible to move in that direction now with a walk-before-you-run mindset. And the first steps toward implementing CBE may be using a skills graph in individual courses and programs. That’s because a skills graph shares with CBE a focus on defined objectives. A quick refresher: CBE is an evidence-based method of learning that requires proficiency in particular abilities instead of satisfaction of a number of course hours. It often involves sophisticated software with courses that focus on "mastery of specific knowledge and skills . . . via exams, portfolios, and projects." CBE is self-paced, allowing highly motivated students to advance quickly while allowing students who move slower to practice certain skills repeatedly before they move onto more complex modules. The financial model may be subscription-based instead of using a fixed fee based on course hours. Many acknowledge that CBE is great for vocational training or technical learning (for example, practicing working with mathematical formulas or memorizing facts), but CBE has plenty of dissidents. Some worry about the shift from lecture hall-style teaching to individualized coaching and the scalability problems that come with this. Others muse that CBE widens the gap between "those who need a thorough, content-centered liberal education and those who only need a light, fast and vocation-friendly version." In other words, the assumption remains that CBE is too complicated for liberal arts. However, evidence shows that CBE may, in time, enhance liberal arts programs as long as higher ed implements CBE strategically. Northern Arizona University has already successfully implemented a CBE liberal arts program, paving the way for other institutions to create personalized programs in a variety of fields. Moving the conversation forward The question for institutions who are interested but hesitant to give CBE a try is this: how can you move past the uncertainty of implementing a new technology, in order to improve learning outcomes and gain a competitive edge in the market? "The key is to commit to the rigor of defining clearly the competencies," writes Michael Horn, co-founder of the Clayton Christenson Institute, in a 2015 Competency Works article. He argues that identifying learning objectives and building CBE assessments and curricula would make learning more meaningful in just about every learning context. A skills graph is a planning tool Acrobatiq’s analytics engine relies on that and that builds from clear learning objectives to measure mastery of skills. It creates a very close alignment between the goals of the course and the content, activities, and assessment. After each learning objective for a course has been defined on a skills graph, the next step is to connect tasks from these objectives. Each task is labeled with corresponding skills, which enables the software to "map out" a student’s progress on a particular objective. For instance, an objective might be "students will be able to find the cosine of a triangle," or "learners will be able to define the four core values of XYZ corporation." Then each activity the student completes is labeled with one or more skills, so as the student works, the software collects and analyzes data that tailors the learning process to their own strengths and weaknesses. A skills graph is simple to build in a well-designed course authoring tool. Meanwhile, under the hood, Acrobatiq’s sophisticated predictive analytics software is using the skills graph and observations of student practice to understand where and how progress is being made. Each learning objective has its own learning curve, tailored to adhere to the power law of learning. This is a proven concept that students make rapid gains when first learning a new concept, and additional gains taper off over time, requiring more repetition of a skill to gain additional mastery. The skills graph integrates this concept of change in learning over time, giving students adaptive practice sessions that grow at their own pace. For example, if a learning objective is to know and understand each of the ten amendments within the United States Bill of Rights, one task might be to identify an example of the first amendment in action from a multiple choice list. Within the software, this task might be labeled "first amendment," and if a student completes it correctly, the software is signaled that the student has made progress on this particular part of an objective. Competency-based learning is full of possibilities for institutions ready to put it in place for learners. Getting there is a long road, but in the meantime, innovative faculty and institutions can start the first steps by integrating an objectives-based skills graph in their courses.     Amanda Marie is Colorado Springs-based writer specializing in education, parenting, and health.

Many vendors - old and new, traditional and disruptive - offer their platforms and tools to the HR software market.  Conventional wisdom is that companies need to know what’s in it for them in order to buy into the vision HR software vendors are offering. Conventional wisdom is that companies - such as GamEffective - would need to show how the companies would benefit from using software for better employee performance and learning. They should show a positive ROI in terms of employee productivity and engagement. The problem is that this conventional wisdom is often wrong since it misses one important point: what’s in it for the employees themselves. Today’s HR and business leaders are coming to an understanding that for anything to happen, employees need to engage, and do so willingly. Otherwise, companies risk deploying yet another tool that won’t be used. Here are some practical implications of this understanding: 1. Worklives Matter Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer, in their book The Progress Principle, coined the term "Inner Work Life". What is it? They define it as "the constant flow of perceptions, emotions, and motivations that people experience as they go through their work days. In essence, inner work life is day-by-day engagement at work". Correlation of employment factors with Glassdoor recommendations as place to work show that culture and leadership are three times more important than salary. This isn’t because employees are dazzled by perks or stories about corporate culture - it’s because they figure their worklives will be better in these environments. This very same logic drove Citi to define its "Smarter Worklife Challenge", to discover up-and-coming trends and ideas for HR (check it out, GamEffective is one of the winners). This also means that tools that are used to measure employees and drive performance should instill a sense of fairness, transparency and an opportunity to improve oneself. They should not use overly threatening competition. As the performance review is dying companies should think of a way to discuss performance that is transparent, real time and that measures things that matter to employees and their success at work. 2. HR and line of business managers aren’t looking for better command and control The naïve perception of management - one that is very focused on micro-management - is that managers need to see everything employees do and control their every action. But the fact that the internet of things can track everything employees do - check out Volometrix for instance - doesn’t mean that this it the best way to engage employees. As a matter of fact, companies are increasingly trying for other sources of motivation and better self-directedness. Gaining employee trust is paramount to the adoption of any tool. Managers get that. They don’t want tools that will make them better at controlling employees - they want employees to opt-in to these tools and believe they are going to be better off for doing so. 3. Don’t worry about attrition or lack of engagement; worry about the employee experience I recently spoke with the management of one of the world’s largest business process outsourcers.  They conduct regular research into finding out what tools are likely to change the lives of their employees. "The point isn’t attrition," they told me. "It’s true we have high rates of attrition, like many other business process outsourcers, but we don’t focus on the short chapter we play in employees’ lives. We want to understand what would make them make this chapter a longer one, what they want to take away from it". And what they discovered was that two things matter: one was the employee experience. The other was that employees care about learning. 4. Employees know that more learning is more earning Corporate learning is big and growing. Again, I can explain what’s in it from the company’s point of view. But the real point is that for millennials, learning and development are the most coveted job benefit.  Employees know why: education is strongly tied to earnings. For them, one of the greater benefits is learning something at work that would help them in their future employment. For software vendors, this means that better educated and trained employees are a core goal since this is what both employees and companies want and need. That’s why micro-learning is becoming a core component of many systems. 5. Employees care about recognition and teamwork, not competition Another trend is that although a certain type of employee may be competitive, most employees are better motivated intrinsically, and want teamwork - and that their goals, recognition, and kudos reflect this, They aren’t asking themselves how to become a top tenth percentile performer, or checking their leaderboard rankings, they want to know how to become better at what they do, work with teams and have the sense of a job well done. 6. Working in silos, employees crave connectedness Many employees work in vast cubicle farms - and in sub-units of the organization. For them, according to many of our customers, part of the creation of meaning and a sense of value at work, is social connectedness at work. Employees are increasingly feeling isolation and that they are working in a silo. HR software should open that. Knowing what other teams are doing, how they deal with challenges and what makes them tick is important to employees - this is what they’d like to do in their downtime, connect with peers near and far. Social features enable this, from team challenges to kudos. *** In short, HR software cannot afford Taylorism; without providing a clear benefit to the employment experience of employees, they won’t stay around long enough to make an impact. The flip-side is significant: changing the work experience changes work culture and work lives. This is a huge opportunity for everyone - vendors, employees, and employers. Grab it.

Here are some articles that really caught our eye this month: As Gamers Age, the Appeal of Competition Drops the Most. Strategy is a Stable Motivator. This article comes from Quantic Foundry, a game analytics consulting company. Based on data collected from 140,000 gamers, Quantic Foundry researchers find that competition as a motivator in gaming is related to age. As gamers age, they are less motivated by competition, even eclipsing gender differences between men and women (men are more likely to be motivated by competition). However, strategy is age-stable as a motivator: "We then looked for the motivation that changed the least with age. In our model, Strategy is the enjoyment of gameplay that requires careful decision-making and planning. You might think that strategic gameplay appeals more to older gamers than young gamers, but we found that the appeal of Strategy is the most stable motivation overall." Read this article to see how player profiling matters - and to think how to tie it into gamification. Activity Measurement is a Double-Edged Sword This article in the Atlantic discusses new research from Duke University. The researchers were interested in seeing what the effects of measuring an activity had on the person doing the activity. In the experiment, participants were asked to color in shapes and then rate how much they enjoyed the experience. Those who were given feedback on how much they had colored, did in fact color in more shapes, but also mentioned enjoying the experience less. This doesn’t mean however that tracking is a bad idea - for instance when you want to improve physical exercise or lose weight - but that its effects need to be considered at times. When Sticker Charts do more Harm than Good This article touches on what seems to be one of the most commonplace practices in households with young children - the "sticker chart". I’m guessing you know what I’m talking about - clean your room, you get a good sticker; Forget to mow the lawn - no stickers for you. As the article states, the problem with these systems is that they create a reward economy, where children are only interested in doing an act of good or kindness if they think that they are going to be rewarded. The article touches on the issue of intrinsic VS extrinsic motivation, and how undermining children’s intrinsic motivation can lead to a need to offer bigger and better rewards in the future. But more than that, offering external motivation can actually lead to lower productivity in the long run. The article explains how when a task is done for compensation, the minimal necessary requirement needed to fulfill the task will be the one chosen. On the other hand, when the way by which to fulfill a task is left open, there is a larger chance that out of goodwill and curiosity, employees (and children) will look to see how they can not only fulfill the task, but also go above and beyond. Using games to recruit is more effective, and says something about your company According to an article in FastCompany, recruiting is in trouble. The traditional ways to attract talent aren’t as effective as they used to be, but the completely automated solutions could be discriminating against qualified, diverse candidates. This is a problem a company called CodeFights thought they could assist in solving. The company started as a platform for programmers to propose, solve and discuss coding challenges. But the company has now found it can offer value in the form of a fun, highly effective recruiting tool. Employers can give candidates different tasks that they need to solve, and only those that are able to give the correct answers move on to the next stage in the recruiting process. The FastCompany article explains that this isn’t only for engineers, but is actually being done by more and more companies, looking for different types of recruits. It feels that this is only to be expected since technology is moving into more and more areas in the workplace.

This week’s Fierce resource was originally published by The Harvard Business Review and discusses what factors play into our stress levels as humans, and how to overcome them. Stress within the workplace is nothing new, and all of us have experienced it during our careers at some point. Whether it is a critical boss, a big deadline, or an angry client - they all trigger stress. In the article, Markman explains how stress is an emotional response to our motivational system. There are two components to a person’s motivational system. The approach system is concentrated on accomplishing favorable outcomes while the avoidance system aims to avoid unfavorable outcomes."Your motivational system engages goals and gives them energy so that you can pursue them. Simply put, when you succeed at your goals, you feel good, and when you don’t succeed you feel bad."So the key to relieving stress at its core is figuring out what you are avoiding and conquering that obstacle head on. Seems simple enough, right? Identifying these issues may be more difficult than expected. When we get caught in our daily grind, it is easy to focus solely on the negative elements of our jobs. Instead, in times of duress try focusing on the bigger picture. Hone in on all of the desirable aspects of your job and the long-term goals you want to accomplish. Ultimately the best way to manage your stress is to really understand what it is you are avoiding and to shift your focus to what you can accomplish.Read the article.The post Fierce Resource: Stress Is Your Brain Trying to Avoid Something appeared first on Fierce, Inc..

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. - John Quincy AdamsWhen people think about being a leader and inspiring others, doing something unique often comes to mind. At its core, this is a well-guided strategy. You want to have your own personal style and not be like everyone else. The flaw in going to that reasoning, however, is that the everyday interactions and conversations are often overlooked. While paying attention to the big picture, you can miss the smaller pieces that sometimes make the most impact.So I ask: Do you have regular meetings with your team members or peers that inspire them? Oftentimes, when I talk with people in organizations, the answer is no. In fact, when the people are honest, they say they aren’t inspired by the conversation either. What a waste. Come on, you’re better than that. Your one-on-one time with others can be described as uninspiring and inconvenient or illuminating and enriching. Which would you prefer?This week’s tip is to make your one-on-one meetings with your team members and peers more meaningful. Bring your whole self to the conversation and get curious. Make it about the person you are with rather than about yourself.Yes, it is a simple tip, and yet, why do we keep having lackluster meetings?It’s your choice to set the tone and create meaningful one-on-one meetings.The post Fierce Tip of the Week: Stop Your Useless One-on-One Meetings appeared first on Fierce, Inc..

According to Lucid Meetings research, 55 million meetings occur per day. For average workers that means eight meetings per week. For managers, 12 per week. Meetings can vary from status updates to brainstorming, from company-wide to one-on-one’s. They range from mission critical for completion of a project or milestone to completely useless. And let’s be honest, with so many hours in meetings, it can be easy to go into autopilot.I want to focus on one-on-one meetings, because I see them as one of the best ways to build personal relationships and connections. These meetings give me insights about the person, our team, and the overall operations of the business in a way nothing else can. When effective, they truly give me a pulse on what needs to potentially start, stop, and continue. The catch? I must be willing to REALLY invite feedback and truthfulness into the conversation. It needs to be a safe zone. And I am not perfect at it. Sometimes, it is really hard- for myself, for my team, for the company. The insights are pure gold.So I ask: How would you describe the quality of your one-on-one conversations? Are they robust and authentic? Or shallow and superficial? Whichever qualities you choose to describe your conversations, are the qualities of your relationship with that person (fierce idea: the conversation is the relationship).One of my commitments to myself this quarter is to continue to take my one-on-one’s to a new level. Here are a few tips that I have learned and want to remember:Be consistent. Susan Scott, our founder, states that trust requires persistent identity. I couldn’t agree more. The people I respect most in my life are ones who know themselves and show up consistently. If your team members do not know how you are going to show up from one day to another, they will not trust you. It is your job to stay true to yourself - whether you are having the best or worst day. Ditch the checklist. If you get in the habit of constantly using a list to dictate your conversation, you might miss something altogether. The list of action items most likely will not bring up a bigger issue or challenge that your team member is wrestling with. Start off with open-ended questions. Specifically: Given everything on your plate, what’s the most important thing we should be talking about today?Be here prepared to be nowhere else. This means turning off the screens. Yes, close the laptop, turn away from the computer, go into a room with no windows - seriously. It is easy to be distracted by shiny objects or pinging software. Physically make the space, so that you can be present and fully embrace the moment.Let silence do the heavy lifting. This can be very challenging if you are typically asking the questions. If you ask a question, allow the time and space for your partner to really think about it before answering. If you are exploring a topic together, leave enough room for the other person to engage. Don’t listen to respond, listen to understand. Take your time.Ask for feedback. In a 2011 Fierce survey, eighty percent of respondents who reported a good employee-supervisor relationship claimed that the most important thing a boss can do to create a positive working relationship is to both solicit and value their input. Yes, there is a skill set that can be learned to ask for feedback more effectively, and at the end of the day, it is important to just ask.Perhaps choose one or two tips to try at first. And if you are going to try something new with your team, make sure to be transparent and share your intention, because it can be jarring if you show up very differently (hence, tip #1).Don’t worry about messing up. Remember, a missing conversation is much worse than a failed one.The post 5 Tips for Having a Better One-on-One with Your Direct Reports appeared first on Fierce, Inc..

This week’s Fierce resource was originally published by Forbes Insights and discusses the importance of face-to-face interactions as opposed to virtual meetings.As businesses continue to heal from the economic downturn, travel budgets continue to have slow growth within organizations. Currently businesses rely heavily on technology for internal communication, which has replaced interactions that were once had in-person. Although virtual meetings and conferences cut down on costs initially, are they actually costing companies more in the end?Common answers for a preference towards technology-enabled meetings include saving time, money, and increasing flexibility in location and timing. These are all very practical answers. Saving money and time is crucial to any business - but what are these virtual meetings missing?The answer: The human element. After surveying over 750 business executives, the data shows that face-to-face meetings build stronger, more meaningful business relationships, an enhanced ability to read crucial body language, and increases the ability for complex strategic thinking. In the end, while technology cuts down on costs and can simplify many elements of our jobs, it cannot replace the intangible team building elements that arise from face-to-face interactions. Finding a balance between the two of these is critical for the continued growth of any business.Read the case studyThe post Friday Resource: Business Meetings - The Case for Face-to-Face appeared first on Fierce, Inc..

Oh, the smell of fresh air. Living in the United States’ Pacific Northwest, it is very normal to go outside as much as possible - rain or shine - to our mountains, lakes, and trails. How often do you go outside?While seeing the beautiful scenery is great for our standard of living, it turns out that going outside is good for business. It feeds our anthropological roots, and it fosters creativity. In the NPR segment, We’re Not Taking Enough Lunch Breaks. Why That’s Bad for Business, Kimberly Elsbach, a professor at the University of California, Davis Graduate School of Management, who studies workplace psychology, states "We know that creativity and innovation happen when people change their environment, and especially when they expose themselves to a nature-like environment, to a natural environment."So, what is the easiest way to go outside? Take a walk. Research published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology found that walking anywhere prompts creativity, and researchers found that spending time outside also influences innovation. Making your next meeting a walking one could get the creative juices flowing before you know it.This week’s tip is to go outside to honor Earth Day. Whether it is taking a short walk outside of your office or planning something else, don’t make excuses. Close your laptops and put the phones away.It’s time to soak up the scenery - it is good for your business.The post Fierce Tip of the Week: Go Outside - It’s Good for Business appeared first on Fierce, Inc..

Have you ever seen this super creative and simple ad of Norwegian Airlines? It’s so amazing how hidden gems are revealed in this visual. I was really excited with this week’s scratch-off card e-learning challenge. Scratch-off effect has an element of surprise while you’re keeping a coin in your hand you’re wondering what’s going be under the scratch-off area. I immediately matched the ad seen the other day with my project idea for the challenge.As I currently live in the UK, my first choice of

Inbuilt within Learning Space is the option of multiple reports that track activity within a module page. This monitoring feature can be particularly useful if you are wanting to gain an insight into the popularity of content or to track use of a activity, such an assessment hand-in point. Tracking engagement and module activity helps teaching staff to reflect on the activities and resources made available to students through the learning environment. As an example using the Activity report academic staff are able to check the amount of views per resource, along with most last accessed information. Using this information staff are able to assess and evaluate content, in addition to keeping resources current. Reports can also be used to track an individual’s engagement, highlighting their activity or actions of a specific resource. Additionally real time reports are available should you need specific information, detailed to the minute they are particularly useful for monitoring online assessment. Should you wish to make use of the report function within Learning Space we’ve created a guide to give an overview of all the options available, and as always the team are on hand to advise if you have any questions or queries. Guide - Using Reports to Evaluate Module Contentetsupport@falmouth.ac.uk      

I spent this morning reading two journals from a professional development organisation. What started off as a curiosity and relaxing half hour with a coffee, quickly became a deeper reflective exercise. There were numerous articles about individuals which read as egotistical narrative CVs. Written with a huge ‘past’ orientation, they were celebrating the contributions of these individuals to the profession and whilst presenting mildly interesting (often personal rather than professional) facts, there was very little about future vision and mission, strategies for collaboration and achievement even survival of the profession although several talked about ‘dreams’. It was more about ‘I’ than ‘we’ with little about developing the field, the knowledge base or the future impact of the profession. I felt a sense of stagnation and a frustration with a lack of knowing about plans for bright horizons. So … what did all this have to do with me? Accepting that I have a future orientation and little interest in a past that cannot be changed, the big focus for me was the lack of ‘alignment’ or collaboration with others. There was so little coherence and connection that the journals seemed to be a micro example of how the world is living today. ‘Alignment’ is both a state and a process. The state being part of the identity that comes from membership of the profession or specific organisation, and in this case  the overlap between the individual identity and that of the peer group (Dutton, Dukerich & Harquail, 1994). Alignment is an unconscious, immediate, unified response without detailed planning, task analysis and allocation of roles in an environment that is ever changing. It is about an evolutionary, flexible and trusting move forward in harmony to build a successful outcome where all contributions are respected and built on. It is about unified growth! The process comes from the joining of the ‘I’ and the ‘we’ and how the professional unconsciously changes or evolves to stay in balance (Kreiner, Hollensbee & Sheep, 2006). It can be debated as to whether ‘I’ the professional, exists. This could happen where a professional is a sole trader, and holds the individual identity of ‘being’ the organisation or the profession and the associated responsibility, and is therefore disassociated from the team/group and a sense of belonging to a collective. Professionals need to review both intrapersonal and interpersonal ways of working, at the same time working collaboratively within the profession to aid development. Much is written about identity and previous research suggests a constant search for self and ‘being’ authentic, finding meaning in what it is to be who we are.  There is an interplay or dynamic here between self as ‘subject’ where ‘alignment’ is a quality of experience, self as ‘object’ where ‘alignment’ is a characteristic and self as an ‘evolution’ where ‘alignment’ is a favourable progression and yet is so much more. The higher one’s status in a profession, the more authentic and connected to ones’ self and the  holistic system one has the opportunity to become. This questions how professionals are able to achieve this sustainably when there is so much external pressure placed on them to conform with the expectations of the market place. The concept of alignment is defined as having harmony and equilibrium in their lives, so as to have the composure, stability, authenticity and connection to form a springboard from which to respond to various contexts. This could be ‘intra-alignment’ (within self) or inter-alignment (between self and others) and these integration tactics, go some way to dissolving the tensions between group and personal identity and merge social and personal identity (Kreiner & Sheep,2008). This sense of ‘being’ rather than ‘posturing’ gives us a freedom to work ecologically and in balance, to use the wisdom of the simple, single celled amoeba to retain a sense of ‘core self’, whilst flexing, changing, moving according to the needs of the contexts in which we find ourselves. This ability to continually evolve reduces ‘stuckness’ and enables us to contribute to a profession we will leave as a legacy to a world of which we could be justifiably proud. I debate how it can possibly be more appropriate to work from the ‘safe haven’ perspective, of what could be termed ‘guru status’, (Kreiner & Sheep, 2008) than from taking risks by experimenting with possible selves in order to cause transformational change and whether individuals have the coping strategies to manage this (Kristof,1996). It would appear that the focus of being the ‘docile bodies’ mooted by Foucault (1977) needs to change from being ‘compliant’ to the status quo, and become ‘compliant’ with the much needed change agenda for both the professions and the wider contexts. I leave you with three questions; What are the core characteristics of the identity challenges faced by you today? What individual tensions result from these challenges? How do you align identity work to respond to these challenges and tensions? Dr Sally Vanson is an executive coach, working with identity challenges in senior professionals. Contact sally@theperformancesolution.com for a confidential introductory discussion about your personal and organisational needs. The post Day to day Allignment …. appeared first on The Performance Solution.

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Okay, so your eLearning course is all wrapped up and ready to go - but what do you do now? Do you feel a strange sense of inertia? Like you should be doing something? You’re right. There are five things that it’s essential to do after you’ve completed your course design. Here they are:

Thinkific makes it extremely easy to create a custom-designed online course site. The best part is, with our theme editor you can do this without any coding knowledge. We explain how in this video. Hi, welcome to the Thinkific theme editor. In the theme editor, you can create brand-new themes or edit existing themes for your site and for your courses. Hi, welcome to the Thinkific theme editor. In the theme editor you can create brand-new themes or edit existing themes for your site and for your courses. Now, what’s a theme? A theme is just the HTML and CSS code that designs out the look and feel of your landing pages, thank you pages, course pages, all of the things that you students are seeing around the process of signing up for and purchasing and checking out your course. And so the theme editor allows you to edit all of that stuff to your heart’s content. You can basically create anything you want. And we’ve seen some people create some pretty amazing themes styling their course all around their own brand. And the theme editor allows you to do that. Now, you don’t need to dive in here to edit and change the look and feel of your course, you can make simple changes like colors and images and pick from a few predesigned themes that we’ve created for you, just in the "Design" tab, for your courses and your site. But if you want to get a little bit more advanced, you can dive in here. Now, warning, it does involve some HTML and CSS, so unless you’re proficient with that you may not want to go too far, but you’re welcome to check it out. Plus, if you want to actually bring in a designer or connect with us to have us introduce you to someone, that can be a great way of editing your themes and getting the look and feel that you’re looking for. But just remember, with themes pretty much anything is possible. So if there is a really specific look and feel that you are going for, you can do that with your themes. The post Teach Online TV #25: Designing Your Online Course Site appeared first on Thinkific.

It would appear that they don’t need to know too much about the effect that technology has on key review questions such as reducing costs or raising quality and efficiency. Not to mention the need for colleges to ‘be equipped to respond to the reform and expansion of the apprenticeship programme.’  An important area that warrants […]

I write this at 2:30am.My friends and co-workers know that I am an unapologetic morning person.The running joke is "Wendy turns into a pumpkin as soon as the sun sets".My friends (and boss - who seems to get the brunt of my crazy early morning emails) are very understanding. ---------------------------Morning insomnia has been an issue for most of my adult life.  The past 5 years, it's gotten better.I'm down to only a couple of mornings per week where I'm waking at ungodly hours and not getting at least 6 hours per night.I've learned that I don't function terribly well with less than 6 hours a night. I'm OK in the morning (to me, others may argue with that assessment), but by 1pm - the brain decides it doesn't want to work anymore, I get even crankier, and I want sugar (preferably in licorice, mint, gummy bear or ice cream form).A helpful pattern I picked up during the Masters Thesis push is "sleep when you are stuck."Tough to do at work (most workplaces frown on napping) - but when I am in the throes of learning something really mentally intensive, I find myself sleeping a lot more.Knowing these patterns, I went into the PMP boot camp week with the plan to prioritize sleep during the week. Above all else.The plan: Schedule the test for your strongest time of day.  Since mine is early morning - I scheduled the 7:30am exam.  Last year, I took the TOGAF in the afternoon on a work day 3 days after the class. Taking a test is stressful enough without walking in already frazzled from work and tired because you are trying to do this when the circadian rhythms want you to take a nap. I had zero intention of repeating that experience.Go to bed as close to my normal time as possible.  I knew my brain was going to be completely fried by the end of each day, and I don't work so well in the evening. I figured much more studying after class was likely going to be a case of diminishing returns.Get to the hotel ballroom early. Leaving before 6am helped me beat DC traffic. That gave me time to do my homework while the brain was still fresh.  And the behavior was closer to what I was actually going to do on test day.Don't sweat if you don't get your homework "done."  Thankfully, I found the extra time in the hotel ballroom in the morning was enough time to get the homework complete.I was pleased to find that my plan worked brilliantly. Less stress, better rested, felt sharper than I had expected.------------------Meanwhile, I was amazed at the number of my classmates who prided themselves on not sleeping."I was up until 3am studying!""Yeah - well I was up until 4am, then came here at 6!""So Wendy, what did you do?"Uh...went to bed at my normal time and came here early this morning.They would usually go back to one-upping each other on their lack of sleep and busyness and how "hard" they were studying.  Much like work.There is so much research on how lack of sleep impacts brain function.And from experience, I knew that if I slept - it would allow me to process the information in a way that I could more easily retrieve it when I needed it.Why are we still in the cult of sleeplessness and busy and "hard"?How well is that really working? I would posit "not well"- if finding the director of a Fortune 500 company crying in the bathroom on day 3 - sleep deprived, frustrated, and scared that she wasn't going to pass the certification exam because she could not see ANY improvement in her practice tests - is any indication.----------------------I've been there.Sleepless, busy and working "hard" (vs smart) doesn't work for me.As much as my partner loves to point out my love of "the struggle".My lack of sleep is not by choice and not a point of pride.Yes, I get a lot of work done early in the morning.Yes, I occasionally send emails at ungodly hours.But for me, this is making the best of an unfortunate situation.My current boss is smart enough to chide me for it (vs reward me for it).I'm getting better.It is a work in progress.I'm going back to bed.

Check my latest contribution to the blog EnlanubeTic (Spanish):http://www.enlanubetic.com.es/2016/04/moodle-solucionando-el-scroll-de-la.html#.VxCuK1Z948oTranslated using Google:https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=es&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.enlanubetic.com.es%2F2016%2F04%2Fmoodle-solucionando-el-scroll-de-la.html%23.VxCuK1Z948o&edit-text=

Interview with Christopher Jaynes, CTO of Mersive We answer the questions:What is Solstice?Does it improve classroom pedagogy?Does it replace AppleTV? What are the Enterprise features?How is it used in active learning spaces?What are the network requirements?How about distant end users?How about lecture capture?LinksMersiveApple TVPodsafe music selection Vivaldi: Concerto No. 1 in D Major (Spring, 1st Movement) from The Four Seasons by the American Baroque OrchestraDuration: 28:38