ScanLang plc is an Austrian company specialized in language services and business development for Scandinavian companies. The language services comprise courses offered to B2B-customers for German, Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian language. Moreover the language services include translation services of technical, … Continue reading →

The findings of ASTD’s 2011 State of the Industry Report show that organizations are just as committed as ever to learning and development (L&D).This report, ASTD's definitive review of workplace learning and development trends, includes data from ASTD BEST Awards Winners, ASTD Forum members, and other organizations from 2002 to date.The 2011 State of the Industry Report is free for ASTD national members.Check it out:  http://store.astd.org/Default.aspx?tabid=167&ProductId=22697

DIAGRAM stands for "Digital Image And Graphic Resources for Accessible Materials." Established in 2010, The DIAGRAM Center is a research and development center whose goal is to dramatically change the way image and graphic content for Accessible Electronic Media (AEM) is produced and accessed, so that students with print disabilities are provided equal access to the general education curriculum. EPUB3 is... Read More ›

The ever-increasing abundance of free downloadables available for educators continues to astonish me.They are as numerous as the sites that catalogue them by the hundreds.Recently I was made aware of yet another index - this time specifically for teachers. I must admit I was sceptical - just another list, I thought. But closer inspection got me thinking that, perhaps, this one was worth a second look.My last GPS Website Gold Rush site for this month is Online Degree, a resource for online degree program information. It has just posted an article on 100 Essential Web 2.0 Tools For Teachers. There are goodies listed there I've never seen before.Check them out. To name a few, I recommend taking a look at:Befuddlr (No. 93) - adds fun to pictures by making them into puzzles - easy-to-use, it offers choices of flickr picture groups to choose fromFleck (No. 86) - puts sticky notes and annotations onto existing web pages and permits you to share them with othersMany Eyes (No. 94) - a take on the power of human visual intelligence to find patterns - this tool has the potential to create great discussion and debate in the classroom.As well, Online Degree presents a broad series of reviews of top rated online degree programs and offers an online degree search tool.Could be a useful site to bookmark?A Green Pen Society contribution

eLearning Guild:  Thought Leaders WebinarsJanuary 17Tom Kuhlmann |VP, Community, Articulate Here’s a story that resonates with many: You were a good explainer, so you became a trainer. Then your company said, You’re now doing eLearning. So you bought a tool and got your courses online. Soon you started hearing that all your stuff looks and feels like PowerPoint. So you started building better-looking courses. But then you went to a conference and someone said, you need to make your course more interactive. So you made them more interactive. But then your company said, You need to develop these courses more quickly. How do you keep up with all of these demands and produce effective eLearning?Register now:  http://www.elearningguild.com/content.cfm?selection=doc.2130

The International Federation for Learning, Education, and Training Systems Interoperability, LETSI, is a community of people and organizations who see technology’s potential to revolutionize the way we teach and learn online. LETSI prepared a white paper in 2010 describing how an ‘activity-based architecture’ could replace content packaged for delivery on a Learning Management System and... Read More ›

With Knovio, take your existing PowerPoint slides and quickly and easily add your own video to synchronize with the slide content. You can then share this new presentation out to your intended audience by email or social media.  You don’t need any special software to use Knovio. From a standard web browser you simply upload your existing PowerPoint files. You will need a webcam and microphone to record your video and audio which is already installed on most laptop computers.Check it out:  http://www.knovio.com/

Tero Toivanen is a Finnish teacher with passion in music & arts, works for Kilonpuiston koulu (school) in Finland. He lived many years in Santiago de Cuba and currently he is teaching autistic pupils. He is part of the best educational system … Continue reading →

I wheeled with the stars, my heart broke loose on the wind - Pablo NerudaYou may have read posts tagged Green Pen Society on this blog. September’s first post is hosting the 'Green Pen Society' (GPS) writers' club for Paul Cornies at quoteflections.GPS is a group of writers/bloggers who are developing their voice in writing about the world around them. As this month’s host, I have the privilege and pleasure of choosing the theme.What gets you flying?Seth Godin is one of the world’s foremost blogger/writers. In the short video at the base of this post, he summarises what writing (in a blog) means to him. I identify with Seth’s childhood fascination for short-wave radio, for like him, the phenomenon of true wireless communication with others was one of my teenage obsessions. Today, writing is everything for Seth, especially writing a blog post.Some write to pass on their thoughts to their descendants; some writers record their daily activities; others just write for the hell of it.The theme for this month is about the passion that makes you write.What brings you to write the things you choose to write about? Go on! Sock it to us! What gets you flying when you feel you want to write?To participate in this month’s venture, post on the theme:"What gets you flying when you feel you want to write?"Tag your post with the label Green Pen Society. Put a comment here with a link to your post (important if you want me to know you exist!)I will summarise your response with an update on this post. Go for it!Virginia Yonkers - Connecting 2 the World Why Do I Blog?Paul Cornies - quoteflections What Empowers Your Blogging?Tania Sheko - Brave new worldWhy do you write?What gets you flying?Jody Hayes - Navigators I Blog So That . . .Joanna Young - Confident WritingWhat Makes Your Writing Fly?Kathy Stilwell - Stilwell ReflectionsWhat Gets You Flying WhenYou Feel You Want To WriteSusan Ens Funk - What Counts!Inspired by . . .A Green Pen Society contribution

With online courses and resources available in abundance, competency-based learning should play a more crucial role in education. A competency-based education allows students to progress at their speed. Students can take an assessment on-demand when they were ready to demonstrate mastery on specific competencies.  Learning truly becomes more personalized. This infographic is created by Rasmussen College. Beyond the scope of this... Read More ›

Thursday, January 12 • 2:00 p.m. ETPresenter: David Kelly Twitter is an excellent tool to leverage for both personal and professional learning and growth, and more and more organizations are harnessing its power as part of learning programs. And with that, many learning professionals are encountering the same challenges, such as: How can I use Twitter in my learning programs if I don't even know how to use Twitter myself? What is the platform's value? We will explain what Twitter is, walk through the steps to (properly) set up a twitter account, define much of the technical Twitter terminology, and share some examples of how learning professionals are using the platform. REGISTER NOWOpen to all as part of the ASTD 2012 TechKnowledge webcast series

Through education, research and development, HAAGA-HELIA prepares professionals for business and services. They offer students a versatile choice of studies, great opportunities for specialisation, high-quality education in Finnish and English, and wide business networks even during the studies. They have … Continue reading →

How do you recognise comment spam?Just over a year ago I started getting weird comments against a few blog posts. Not too frequently, perhaps one or two a month. Their occurrence was regular enough for me to consider using comment moderation. I didn’t switch it on as it happens, but the experience made the option very tempting.The comments were not always posted on the most recent posts, which could have been a bit of a worry.Luckily I enabled Comment Notification Email early on. This option in the blog settings is a splendid alert system. It’s just as good to know when valid comments arrive as it is when bogus ones hit the fan.Cut-throat approachWhen I get comment spam, I usually just delete it there and then. It's a minor nuisance. But in recent months I’ve noticed these infrequent occurrences are becoming more sophisticated. I’d hate to delete a valid comment from a well meaning commenter.These days, it takes me longer to work out whether it’s spam or just a comment with odd diction. Some of them can be almost appropriate to the post, though usually they come at the blog from left field.Tell-tale signsThere are usually signs that indicate something is dodgy. One comment that I deleted recently, Nice blog and have lots of stuff here, actually linked to what appeared to be a valid and reputable environmental site. However, a search on Google, using the parenthesised comment as search criterion, returned 1740 hits.That was telling!Here’s an example of a recent comment I got against a post published in July last year:First time I have seen your blog and what a great post that was!Remember the saying "Genius is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration"So once you have a great idea you have to work hard to turn it into a viable product that doesn’t just exist in your head. Keep blogging.Plausible commentAt first reading, the comment makes some sort of sense, even with its idiosyncratic punctuation. But it linked to a commercial site, which is a tell-tale spam characteristic, rather than to a blogger’s account or about page.Having jostled uneasily with comments like this over the past year,I eventually developed a speedy strategy for putting them to test.Perhaps you have a strategy of your own? Here’s my three point plan for nutting out an otherwise convincing spam comment -Does it make any sense that’s appropriate to the post it’s posted against?Does it link back to a valid blog or site that may be associated with a single person or valid group?How many hits do I get in Google when searching using the text of the comment or any parenthesised significant part of it?The last point sometimes presents the need for closer inspection, despite a low number return. 15,00 hits is unequivocal, but if the number is less than 10, as it was with the otherwise convincing comment featured here, I have to inspect a few of the destinations listed in the search return.Tracing the originsAt the time of posting, the search criterion, which was the first sentence from the suspicious comment, "First time I have seen your blog and what a great post that was", returned only 9 hits.But it becomes clear, when tracing their origins, that the comments are bogus - check them out.I’d like to learn more about how others view this growing nuisance.Are you a cut-throat deleter? Or do you have a sleuth-like strategy up your sleeve? What checks on suspicious comments do you make before you delete them?

Did you miss Learning 2011 (Masie Conference)?  If so, here's the scoop on available content - lots of great information, videos and a free eBook!Learning Wiki: Content, video and participant perspectives on the seminars and keynotes at http://www.learningwiki.com  Watch interviews with Inventor Dean Kamen, learning leaders from Walmart and Starbucks, and much more. The interviews are rboken into segments focused on key questions; you can use them or pass them along. Go to http://www.learningtalks.com for the videos from Learning 2011. eBook Released: Learning Perspectives 2011: This year’s Learning Perspectives 2011 e-Book was just released in open source for your download and reading. Articles from several dozen "30 Under 30" learning professionals, with their views on the changing nature of our field. In addition, Bob Baker, CLO of the MASIE Center, has a detailed perspective on the role of "Checklists" for the learning world. Download it at http://learning2011.com/ebookLearning 2012 Dates: October 21 to 24, 2012 at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Early Registration will open next week for those who want to use 2011 funds for next year’s event.

After introducing certificates of Completion on Eliademy 8 months ago we saw a very steady growth trend. Over 10.000 course completion certificates has been issued by instructors and over thousand of them is being shared by students on LinkedIn every month. We decided to … Continue reading →

Envisioned by W3C consortium, "Web on Everything" is one of the goals of "One Web". (Open Standards, Open Web Platform, Web on Everything) This infographic could extend the topic by showing how technologies pave the way for the future.

This was one comment I got that certainly wasn't comment spam!Scott Merrick’s announcement almost made me jump out of my newMiddle-earth blogspot!Would you believe!Blogger in Middle-earth has been nominated Blog-o-the-Month!The announcement and polling place is at ISTE Island's Blogger's Hut in Second Life. Scott maintains the island for the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).Apparently, your vote counts. So if you’d like to vote for this site, teleport over to the ISTE Island's Blogger’s Hut and cast your vote.I'd much appreciate your support.( 7 ) ( 6 ) ( 5 ) ( 4 ) ( 3 ) ( 2 ) < - related posts

Yesterday at CES, Microsoft announced the new Kinect for Windows hardware and accompanying software will be available on February 1st, 2012. In a blog post, Craig Weiss wrote "Kinect technology and gesture free will equally make an appearance in 2012. I am projecting that the number of vendors who enter this space to start slow, but gain steam - at least with some aspect, by the end of 2012. ..... Great opportunities in education (K-12 and higher ed) and even with companies, although I see it more with mid-size and large. Costs will vary, again lower price points are needed. What is great about Kinect technology is that it will work with tablets, eventually smartphones and televisions. "Check it out: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/kinectforwindows/archive/2012/01/09/kinect-for-windows-commercial-program-announced.aspxCraig's Post: http://elearninfo247.com/2011/12/20/5-e-learning-forecasts-for-2012/

      Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Finland’s largest university of applied sciences, educates the professionals of tomorrow in the fields of culture, business, health care and social services, and technology. Metropolia has over 16.000 students and 67 … Continue reading →

January 27th, 1:00pm ETSpace is LimitedReserve Your Webinar Seat Now At:http://www.rapidintake.com/webinar You've tried every trick in the book to engage your learners. Everything from simple drag and drop to highly animated avatars but you may be missing out on one of the best and simplest forms of engagement, conversation. Learn how to integrate interactive voice tools and audio based instructions to actively engage the learner in a mobile application or a blended learning solution. The presenter will be Nancy Munro, CEO of KnowledgeShift and a seasoned developer of online and mobile learning applications.During her presentation, Nancy will seek out a volunteer who will demonstrate some of these interactive voice tools in real time. Rapid Intake's development platforms can easily integrate the voice/audio tools that she will be demonstrating. Nancy has been a presenter for regional ASTD chapters, eLearning Guild's mLearning Conference and a repeat presenter for the Chicago eLearning Showcase.

Last year, I listened to Clare Atkins talk of Koru at the DEANZ Conference, Wellington. I watched as Nancy White met with Clare (or rather Choconancy1 met with Arwenna) on Koru Island, just one of many virtual islands in Second Life (SL).This weekend I ventured into Second Life as a first time visitor. Here are my first impressions.Having done the requisite registration and created my avatar, I set off to visit ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) Island.I followed the link to Blogger’s Hut given to me by Scott Merrick who announced the nomination of this blog for Blog-o-the-Month sponsored by ISTE.Getting the hang of a few mobility controls was easy, assisted by an easy-to-follow tutorial.Blogger’s Hut sits among many other similar and some larger buildings, as well as stadia, conference centres and concourses on the island - an educator’s dream. The Island’s clean, freshly cropped grassy terrain and its shrubs and trees reminded me of Kinloch, a little village on the North Shore of Lake Taupo, New Zealand.I felt quite at home walking about the precincts of the hut. I met Scott’s friendly ginger pussy-cat snoozing nearby.I think I was extremely fortunate to meet up with a few very helpful ISTE Second Life members, among them PZ Zadark, from Mexico, who took me off to meet Snowflake and Aviva. After a brief conversation following introductions, Aviva invited me to become an ISTE SL member, which I accepted.Exploring the Island was an experience. I enjoyed the flying - a far more efficient way of moving about from place to place on an island. Having got the hang of flying and then returning to terra firma, as it were, I happened to be soaring across the Monroe Public School building, when I decided to drop down to have a look.Unfortunately, I stopped flying immediately above the swimming pool there, only to find that I dropped right to the bottom of the pool.No problem. It’s SL. I started to explore underwater and was delighted to see that the pool designer had a sense of humour. Along the base of the pool is a lamp-lit street with a mural of the moon on one side and a couple of what look like vacant shop premises on the other.One of the shops sports the sign, "Second Life Education Resources"! Now that’s funny!PZ also gave me the teleport coordinates for the Science Centre, Info Island. I teleported straight to Info Island! Best ever way to travel.This was a most interesting excursion. I visited a memorial exhibition, Slane College of Communications and Fine Arts Gallery, in memory of author Philip José Farmer who died early this year. It features Cover Art from International Exhibitions of his works.I recalled my experience in the swimming pool when I came across dolphins frolicking in the water outside Bradley University main building. I didn’t pass up the experience of having a virtual swim with the dolphins.Living in New Zealand means that at certain times during the day there would be very few educators who would be visiting ISTE Island. Most of my time was spent exploring alone. But on one occasion, early on, and being new to teleportation, I happened to choose ‘Go Home’ when selecting a destination. I found myself at Bay City Airport.This destination was not the most enamouring. Lots of people there. But like most airports I’ve been to, it made me feel I wanted to teleport out of the place, soon as.( 7 ) ( 6 ) ( 5 ) ( 4 ) ( 3 ) <-related posts - > ( 1 )

This is an abstract from the paper : How Should I Offer This Course? The Course Delivery Decision Model (CDDM) (published on MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, Vol. 10, No. 2, June 2014) The emergence of new methods of course delivery has increased the complexity of determining a course’s optimal delivery mode. In this paper, teachers... Read More ›

Experience is the Best Teacher - Using Simulations to Build Experience Ken Spero, Executive Director, NexLearn - Immersive Learning UniversityAre you interested in developing simulations but don’t have the time to go to a workshop or conference?  If so, this ASTD online workshop may be the answer.  Each Essentials Series online workshop is delivered by a live facilitator who is an experienced learning and development practitioner. You and your fellow classmates will collaborate in the virtual classroom via interactive group discussions, polls, chats, and whiteboards.  Each session of an Essentials Series workshop is recorded in case you miss a session or would like to review the content again.This interactive online workshop introduces you to a simple framework for simulations, which combine one’s work experience and expertise with the power of storytelling. Simulation isn’t a science; it’s just a way of organizing your thinking. This workshop will help participants to organize them to train others. Check it out: http://www.astd.org/content/education/certificatePrograms/online-programs/essentialsSeries/essentialsofexperientiallearningandsimulations.htm

I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty thingsAntoine de St-ExuperyThe latest topic from the Green Pen Society has already gathered a flock of winged posts! September’s GPS topic is,"What gets you flying when you feel you want to write?"GPS, the brain-child of Paul Cornies at quoteflections, is a group of writers/bloggers who are developing their voice in writing about the world around them. What brings you to write the things you choose to write about?What gets you flying when you feel you want to write?To participate in this month’s venture, tag your post with the label Green Pen Society and link back to this post. Put a comment here with a link to your post (important if you want me to know you exist!)I've pasted my contribution at the base of this post.Here is the flock of wonderful winged contributions to date.Virginia Yonkers - Connecting 2 the World Why Do I Blog?Paul Cornies - quoteflections What Empowers Your Blogging?Tania Sheko - Brave new worldWhy do you write?What gets you flying?Jody Hayes - Navigators I Blog So That . . .Joanna Young - Confident WritingWhat Makes Your Writing Fly?Kathy Stilwell - Stilwell ReflectionsWhat Gets You Flying WhenYou Feel You Want To WriteSusan Ens Funk - What Counts!Inspired by . . .How do I know what I think till I see what I write?Ideas, feelings and stories that lie idly in my mind rise to the surface and glide when I write about them. Tangled thought-threads, perhaps diffuse and disparate, become less so and move more freely and succinctly when I do this.Even if I’m confused or baffled in trying to make sense of what may seem like nonsense, I try to think of a title relevant to the jumble of thoughts I have. I write to the title. It is rare that any title determined this way remains unchanged, but it is a place to start.The original tangle of thoughts begins to change shape as I write. What was bound and knotted starts to unravel. Thoughts become more linear by writing about them.During this unweaving, I find that related thoughts can be grouped - ideas can be prioritised. There is opportunity for differences to become apparent - comparisons to be made. Twaddle can be culled. Emerging thoughts take shape and make contributions to the edits.The cycle reiterates in loops in much the same way as a gull soars in circles higher and higher in the warm updraft from a sunny hillside.When the looping is complete, and my thoughts are brought to rest,I can sleep on them.A Green Pen Society contribution