"Sorry, I can’t go to lunch, I really need to finish a few more things." "I had to miss another yoga class last night. I’m just so swamped at work that I can’t seem to get everything done!’ Do these or a variation of these sound familiar? It’s not surprising that people are overworked, burned-out, and stressed. We see it everywhere. Many people act as if being overwhelmed is a badge of honor. If they constantly skip lunch and other activities, it shows their dedication and expresses to others that they are working the hardest at their job. I say they are foolish. Taking a break and enjoying life outside of work creates better mental health. Better mental health means you think more clearly. You think clearly and you get stuff done. Have you ever been late leaving your house for an important appointment only to start running around searching for your keys because you don’t remember where you put them? If you could go back, take a deep breath, and calm yourself, do you think you would have found your keys faster? When we rush around in a frenzy, we are too busy telling our bodies what to do, instead of listening to what our brain has to say. So, take a break for lunch. Walk around the building and breathe in the fresh air. Find a dark corner and take a power nap. You’ll find when you return to your desk, your mind is sharper and ready to conquer your To Do list. Check out this great article by EOS on taking a clarity break. A Clarity Break Confession

In my last blog, we built a global Student Notes feature in Lectora®. Entry fields, like the one we used on the Notes Entry Page of the feature, require you to supply a character limit value on the field. But this is a value that the user cannot see automatically. And when the character limit is reached, with no warning, typing further content into the field is prevented. This could leave users scratching their heads! So, as a nice user-feedback feature, let’s add a character counter to our Notes Entry Page that shows the user how many characters are remaining in the character limit. If you built your own Student Notes feature using my last blog, open that now. Or, you can download the completed version from the Trivantis® Community and follow along. Download Example Let’s begin by adding an additional text field to the Notes Entry Page. If your version does not yet have the Character Remaining text block, add a Text Block to the Notes Entry Page and position it to the left of the Notes Summary button. Resize it so that it fills the space between the left side of the page and the Notes Summary button, and has a height to accommodate one line of text. Type the following text into the new text block: Characters Remaining: 250 Rename the text block in the Title Explorer to Characters Remaining. Now we need to add an additional User-Defined variable that will keep track of how many characters can be typed into the entry field on the Notes Entry Page. Every time a character is typed into the entry field, the value of the variable will change and its value will be displayed in the Characters Remaining text block. From the Tools ribbon, open the Variable Manager and click the Add button at the bottom of the User-Defined tab. Set the Variable Name of the new variable to _NoteCharsRemaining. Set the initial value of the variable to 250, and click OK. The Notes Entry page should already have one action attached to it, OnShowResetForm. This will clear out the previous note that the user typed. If the action doesn’t exist yet, add it now. Action 1 - This action resets the contents of Form_1, in this case the Entry_0001 field, to its initially empty state. Name: OnShowResetForm                   Trigger: Show Action: Reset Form Target: Form_1 Since we are resetting the form and clearing out the contents of the entry field, we need to reset the value of the _NoteCharsRemaining variable back to 250. Action 2 - This action resets the value of the _NoteCharsRemaining variable to 250. Name: OnShowModVar _NoteCharsRemaining = 250                   Trigger: Show Action: Modify Variable Target: _NoteCharsRemaining                   Type: Set Equal To                   Value: 250 After this action, we want to add a series of actions that are triggered by keystrokes that will add or subtract to the value of the _NoteCharsRemaining variable in this order. Action 3 - This action always subtracts 1 from the _NoteCharsRemaining variable regardless of which key is typed. Name: OnAnyKeyModVar _NoteCharsRemaining - 1                   Trigger: Any Key Action: Modify Variable Target: _NoteCharsRemaining Type: Subtract from Variable Value: 1 Conditions: All conditions must be true Variable: _NoteCharsRemaining Relationship: Greater Than Or Equal Value: 1 As you know, not all keys add a physical character when typed and some actually delete characters. So, we need to add a series of actions to offset the subtraction done by Action 2 by adding 1 or 2 back to the value of _NoteCharsRemaining when one of these keys (such as Backspace, Home, End, or arrow keys) is typed. The following 10 actions do this. Action 4 - The Backspace key does not produce a physical character and it deletes a physical character, so we add 2 back to the value of _NoteCharsRemaining when this key is typed. Name: OnKey Backspace ModVar _NoteCharsRemaining + 2                   Trigger: Keystroke Key: Backspace Action: Modify Variable Target: _NoteCharsRemaining Type: Add to Variable Value: 2 Conditions: All conditions must be true Variable: _NoteCharsRemaining Relationship: Greater Than Or Equal Value: 0                                                       ———- Variable: _NoteCharsRemaining Relationship: Less Than Value: 250 Action 5 - The Delete key does not produce a physical character and it deletes a physical character, so we add 2 back to the value of _NoteCharsRemaining when this key is typed. Name: OnKey Delete ModVar _NoteCharsRemaining + 2                   Trigger: Keystroke Key: Delete Action: Modify Variable Target: _NoteCharsRemaining Type: Add to Variable Value: 2 Conditions: All conditions must be true Variable: _NoteCharsRemaining Relationship: Greater Than Or Equal Value: 0                                                       ———- Variable: _NoteCharsRemaining Relationship: Less Than Value: 250 Action 6 - The Left Arrow key does not produce a physical character, so we add 1 back to the value of _NoteCharsRemaining when this key is typed. Name: OnKey Left Arrow ModVar _NoteCharsRemaining + 1                   Trigger: Keystroke Key: LeftArrow Action: Modify Variable Target: _NoteCharsRemaining Type: Add to Variable Value: 1 Conditions: All conditions must be true Variable: _NoteCharsRemaining Relationship: Greater Than Or Equal Value: 0                                                       ———- Variable: _NoteCharsRemaining Relationship: Less Than Value: 250 Action 7 - The Right Arrow key does not produce a physical character, so we add 1 back to the value of _NoteCharsRemaining when this key is typed. Name: OnKey Right Arrow ModVar _NoteCharsRemaining + 1                   Trigger: Keystroke Key: RightArrow Action: Modify Variable Target: _NoteCharsRemaining Type: Add to Variable Value: 1 Conditions: All conditions must be true Variable: _NoteCharsRemaining Relationship: Greater Than Or Equal Value: 0                                                       ———- Variable: _NoteCharsRemaining Relationship: Less Than Value: 250 Action 8 - The Up Arrow key does not produce a physical character, so we add 1 back to the value of _NoteCharsRemaining when this key is typed. Name: OnKey Up Arrow ModVar _NoteCharsRemaining + 1                   Trigger: Keystroke Key: UpArrow Action: Modify Variable Target: _NoteCharsRemaining Type: Add to Variable Value: 1 Conditions: All conditions must be true Variable: _NoteCharsRemaining Relationship: Greater Than Or Equal Value: 0                                                       ———- Variable: _NoteCharsRemaining Relationship: Less Than Value: 250 Action 9 - The Down Arrow key does not produce a physical character, so we add 1 back to the value of _NoteCharsRemaining when this key is typed. Name: OnKey Down Arrow ModVar _NoteCharsRemaining + 1                   Trigger: Keystroke Key: DownArrow Action: Modify Variable Target: _NoteCharsRemaining Type: Add to Variable Value: 1 Conditions: All conditions must be true Variable: _NoteCharsRemaining Relationship: Greater Than Or Equal Value: 0                                                       ———- Variable: _NoteCharsRemaining Relationship: Less Than Value: 250 Action 10 - The Home key does not produce a physical character, so we add 1 back to the value of _NoteCharsRemaining when this key is typed. Name: OnKey Home ModVar _NoteCharsRemaining + 1                   Trigger: Keystroke Key: Home Action: Modify Variable Target: _NoteCharsRemaining Type: Add to Variable Value: 1 Conditions: All conditions must be true Variable: _NoteCharsRemaining Relationship: Greater Than Or Equal Value: 0                                                       ———- Variable: _NoteCharsRemaining Relationship: Less Than Value: 250 Action 11 - The End key does not produce a physical character, so we add 1 back to the value of _NoteCharsRemaining when this key is typed. Name: OnKey End ModVar _NoteCharsRemaining + 1                   Trigger: Keystroke Key: End Action: Modify Variable Target: _NoteCharsRemaining Type: Add to Variable Value: 1 Conditions: All conditions must be true Variable: _NoteCharsRemaining Relationship: Greater Than Or Equal Value: 0                                                       ———- Variable: _NoteCharsRemaining Relationship: Less Than Value: 250 Action 12 - The Insert key does not produce a physical character, so we add 1 back to the value of _NoteCharsRemaining when this key is typed. Name: OnKey Insert ModVar _NoteCharsRemaining + 1                   Trigger: Keystroke Key: Insert Action: Modify Variable Target: _NoteCharsRemaining Type: Add to Variable Value: 1 Conditions: All conditions must be true Variable: _NoteCharsRemaining Relationship: Greater Than Or Equal Value: 0                                                       ———- Variable: _NoteCharsRemaining Relationship: Less Than Value: 250 Action 13 - The Page Up key does not produce a physical character, so we add 1 back to the value of _NoteCharsRemaining when this key is typed. Name: OnKey Page Up ModVar _NoteCharsRemaining + 1                   Trigger: Keystroke Key: PageUp Action: Modify Variable Target: _NoteCharsRemaining Type: Add to Variable Value: 1 Conditions: All conditions must be true Variable: _NoteCharsRemaining Relationship: Greater Than Or Equal Value: 0                                                       ———- Variable: _NoteCharsRemaining Relationship: Less Than Value: 250 Action 14 - The Page Down key does not produce a physical character, so we add 1 back to the value of _NoteCharsRemaining when this key is typed. Name: OnKey Page Down ModVar _NoteCharsRemaining + 1                   Trigger: Keystroke Key: PageDown Action: Modify Variable Target: _NoteCharsRemaining Type: Add to Variable Value: 1 Conditions: All conditions must be true Variable: _NoteCharsRemaining Relationship: Greater Than Or Equal Value: 0                                                       ———- Variable: _NoteCharsRemaining Relationship: Less Than Value: 250 And finally, once all of the other keystroke actions have run, we need an action to update the contents of the Characters Remaining text block with the new value of the _NoteCharsRemaining variable. Action 15 - This action updates the contents of the Characters Remaining text block every time a key is typed. Name: OnAnyKeyChange Characters Remaining                   Trigger: Any Key Action: Change Contents Target: Characters Remaining Value: Set Text Text: Characters Remaining: VAR(_NotesCharsRemaining) When you are done adding actions, the Notes Entry Page should look something like this in the Title Explorer. Now you can run the title, open the Notes Entry Page, and watch the value of the Characters Remaining text block change as you type into the entry field. If you have not done so yet, you can download the finished version of the Students Notes Feature Example from the Trivantis Community. Download Example The post Lectora Advanced: Adding a Character Counter to an Entry Field appeared first on .

When you sell a product online, whether it’s an online course, an ebook, or some physical good, you need a sales page. This is what your visitors will read through before purchasing. That means your sales copy needs to be really compelling, and the best way to do that is to tell a story that connects with readers emotionally. Learn how in this episode of Teach Online TV. I often get asked about how to write good sales copy for your online courses and there are numerous ways to go about doing this. But one technique that I find works in almost every scenario, and it’s not your entire sales copy but it’s a piece of it, is to tell a story. Like any good story, this story will take the reader on a journey from struggle to triumph. You want to have a little bit of emotion built in there if possible, but what it’s going to do is it’s going to take that reader through the problems that they may be experiencing now. Those problems will be mirrored in the story in the problems that you experienced in arriving at the solution that you are presenting them in your online course. It could be your story, or it could be the story of one of your clients was already taken your course. But what it’s going to do is it’s going to start with the problems that are going to be solved by your course and help people connect emotionally to the problems, help people identify with them and say, "Yeah, that’s what I’m suffering from right now." And then you’re going to take them through the journey of how you’re going to solve those problems for them. And often a good element of the story is showing that it can take time and effort and work to solve those problems. But your course is going to make it easier, it’s going to make it happen faster, so they don’t have to search on their own for the answer like you did or like your client in the story did. You’re going to give them the easier answers and help guide them through that journey. So if you haven’t already, consider telling a story as part of your sales copy and you can test it out and see what kind of an impact it has on your conversion rates. If you have more questions, shoot them over but I would also love to hear if this makes a difference for you and see examples of the stories that you are telling. The post Teach Online TV #13: How To Tell A Story With Sales Copy appeared first on Thinkific.

When you create a course on Thinkific, you get a free Thinkific branded domain name. If you want to look more professional and control your branding, you need a custom domain. This can be your main site or a sub-domain of it. Watch the video to learn more about it. Today at Teach Online TV we’re going to be talking about integrating your online course right into your website or essentially putting it on your own custom domain. Now anytime you set up a Thinkific account, you get your own site automatically for free. But one thing that will take your business to a new level is to integrate that into your website, to put it on your domain. So instead of our branding, you’ve got your own branding. It’s very easy to do, it only takes a few minutes and it’s definitely worth it because it really ties the course and your product directly to your brand and we’re no longer in the picture. So whether you’re using WordPress, Squarespace, Weebly, Wix, or any of these other products or you have your own custom HTML and CSS site, you can drop your Thinkific courses into it, add it to your custom domain and make it part of that. And that means when people are taking courses from you, they’re going to see your domain or your website address up in that address bar which is just a further element of building your personal brand and making it look more professional as well. So if you haven’t already, make sure you set up your custom domain and get Thinkific to be part of your website. For more instructions on setting up custom domains with your Thinkific account, read our step-by-step guide here. The post Teach Online TV #14: Using Custom Domains For Your Online Course appeared first on Thinkific.

Made any poor hires lately? Have you hired individuals despite red flags? Do your interviewers follow the right hiring processes? Do they focus overly on technical fit, or chase down irrelevant leads? Would you want to make your hiring process more effective, and enable recruiters to make the best choice? The hiring process in any organisation involves having conversations with applicants to understand their qualifications and also assess whether they are a ‘fit’ for your corporate culture. However, most interviewers do not demonstrate the acumen to conduct interviews. Not surprising, because nobody outside of HR trains for interviews! Usually, interviewers go with their gut instinct, or get into irrelevant details, and usually end up with wrong recommendations. Interviewing, particularly in larger organizations, becomes a roulette (Russian if the hire is particularly bad). So, there’s a pressing need to stop gambling with your hires and train recruiting managers to be better interviewers. Interviewing Simulations is an effective solution since this works well as a training format. They are a very effective mechanism for interviewers to learn, apply, and experience the process within a simulated environment. The interviewer learns how to engage with a virtual candidate, conduct an effective interview, and gauge the interviewee’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as their fitment for the position. To know more, read Impactful Interviewing: Hiring to Win

Millennials watch 11.3 hours of online video a week! With the average YouTube video at 4 minutes long, that means they are watching about 171 videos per week. Educators need to take note of this trend, and take some tips from the "TubeGurus" on how to create engaging videos for their courses.Our webinar on March 2, 2016 talked about a number of topics from the use of humor, to how to get started with ideas. We shared and discussed some of the best practices below, and applied them to videos for online and flipped courses.  Some of the best practices included:Shorter is BetterUse the 5A's of EmotionTell a StoryCall (Students) to ActionCreate a "Viral" titleAs always, the best way to get started is to meet with an instructional designer, with your objectives and a few sketches on what you want to do.  Below is the summary video, slides and resources.Resources:Summary videoPowerPoint slidesFrame-by-Frame TemplateVideo Idea Links:YouTube First VideoCrash Course Heredity VideoMichael Angilletta's Funniest Professor VideoDialogue Video ExampleZaption Video Example:References:Humor in the Classroom Effective Educational Videos

Initially published on Medium.com, as Hierarchies in Perpetual Beta, the following is based on several previous blog posts. A Post-Job Economy The job was the way we redistributed wealth, making capitalists pay for the means of production and in return creating a middle class that could pay for mass produced goods. That period is almost over, as witnessed by 54 million self-employed Americans. The job is a social construct that has outlived its usefulness. Freelancing may be a replacement but often lacks a safety net, and many of the self-employed become pawns of the platform monopolists. We are entering a post-job economy. Our careers will be shorter as our lives get longer. Companies and institutions are no longer the stable source of employment they once were, as even the Fortune 500 companies now have an average lifespan of 20 years, as opposed to 60 years in 1960. Consider that almost all of our institutions and many of our laws are based on the notion of the job as the normal mode of working life. Schools prepare us for jobs. Politicians campaign on job creation. Labour laws are based on the employer-employee relationship. What happens when having a job is not the norm? In the USA today, half of all jobs are at a high risk of automation. These will soon disappear and are not being replaced at the same rate. The decrease in salaried employment is a key factor that will change the nature of work teams. As long as people have jobs, we will have hierarchical teams. The job is premised on the assumption that people can fit into existing teams like cogs in a machine and that team members can be easily replaced. We already have other ways of organizing work. Orchestras are not teams, and neither are jazz ensembles. There may be teamwork on a theatre production but the cast is not a team. It is more like a social network. Hierarchical teams are what we get when we use the blunt stick of economic consequences as the prime motivator. In a creative economy, the unity of hierarchical teams can be counter-productive, as it shuts off opportunities for serendipity and innovation. In complex, networked economies, workers need more autonomy. Autonomy at Work In the triple operating system (Awareness > Alternatives > Action) work gets done by self-governing work teams with a degree of autonomy operating in temporary, negotiated hierarchies. Self-organizing teams are more flexible than hierarchical ones, but they require active and engaged members. One cannot cede power to the boss, because everyone is responsible for the boss they choose. Like democracy, self-organized teams require constant effort to work. Hierarchies work well when information flows mostly in one direction: down. They are good for command and control. Hierarchies can get things done efficiently. But hierarchies are useless to create, innovate, or change. Hierarchies in perpetual beta are optimal for creativity and to deal with complexity. What is autonomy in the workplace? Employees are given different degrees of autonomy in terms of the decisions they are allowed to make within the confines of organizational power. Discretion for action is usually accorded by virtue of one’s place in the hierarchy. Usually the higher one goes, the more autonomy one has. One way to look at autonomy is the type of action people are allowed to take without permission. There are five levels of increasing autonomy in the workplace. Where you work + How you get things done + What you work on + Who you will work with + Why you do the work in the first place Each one builds on the other, so that people should be able to decide for themselves where to work before they can be autonomous in how they work. The constraints of space and place must be released in order to find the best ways to get work done, such as the selection of the appropriate tools. Once people can decide where and how they work, they can make informed decisions on what they will work on, as nurses at Buurtzorg do. Given this autonomy, workers can then decide who they work with, as employees at Semco do. Finally, when business strategy is informed by the emergent activities of all employees with their customers and environment, the why of work truly reflects the organization and is not imposed on the people doing the work. This is full autonomy which is necessary for the network era, because you cannot manage a network. Principles of Network Management As networks become the dominant organizational form, the way we think about management has to change, as well as the way those in positions of authority try to influence others. In a network society, we influence through reputation, based on our previous actions. This is why working out loud and learning out loud are so important. Others need to see what we are contributing to the network. Those who contribute to their networks will be seen as valuable and hence will have a better reputation and may be able to influence others. Management in networks is fuzzy. Here is how I define networked management: It is only through innovative and contextual methods, the self-selection of the most appropriate tools and work conditions, and willing cooperation that more creative work can be fostered. The duty of being transparent in our work and sharing our knowledge rests with all workers, especially management. Image: perpetual beta series 1. innovative & contextual methods = in the network era work and jobs cannot be standardized, which means first getting rid of job descriptions and individual performance appraisals and shifting to simpler ways to organize for complexity. 2. self-selection of tools = moving away from standardized enterprise tools toward an open platform in which workers, many of which are part-time or contracted, can use their own tools in order to be knowledge artisans. 3. willing cooperation = lessening the emphasis on teamwork and collaboration and encouraging wider cooperation. 4. duty of being transparent = shifting from ‘need to know’ to ‘need to share’ especially for those with leadership responsibilities, who must understand that in the network era, management is a role, not a career. Transparency is probably the biggest challenge for organizations today, and it can start with salary transparency. 5. sharing our knowledge = changing the environment so that sharing one’s knowledge does not put that person in a weaker organizational position. An effective knowledge worker is an engaged individual with the freedom to act. Rewarding the organization (network) is better than rewarding the individual, but only if people feel empowered and can be actively engaged in decision-making. Intrinsic, not extrinsic, motivation is necessary for complex and creative work. A Framework for Network Management In the network era, organizations need to build their own unique model, based on some general principles, within their specific complex context, which only they can understand. There are no cookie cutters to organize for complexity. Improve insights — Traditional management often focuses on reducing errors, but it is insight that drives innovation. Managers must loosen the filters through which information and knowledge pass in the organization and increase the organizational willpower to act on these insights. Encouraging small experiments to probe the complexity requires an attitude of perpetual beta. Provide Learning Experiences — As Charles Jennings notes, managers are vital for workers’ performance improvement, but only if they provide opportunities for experiential learning with constructive feedback, new projects, and new skills. Focus on the Why of Work — Current compensation systems ignore the data on human motivation. Extrinsic rewards only work for simple physical tasks and increased monetary rewards can actually be detrimental to performance, especially with creative work. The keys to motivation at work are for each person to have a sense of Autonomy, Competence, and Relatedness, based on self-determination theory.  Relatedness "is the universal want to interact, be connected to, and experience caring for others". This is what it means to be a social enterprise, and why social learning is so important to help knowledge flow. Help the Network Make Better Decisions — Managers should see themselves as servant leaders. Managers must actively listen, continuously question the changing work context, help to see patterns and make sense of them, and then suggest new practices and build consensus with networked workers. Be Knowledge Managers — Managers need to practice and encourage personal knowledge mastery (PKM) throughout the network. Be an Example — Social networks shine a spotlight on dysfunctional managers. Cooperative behaviours require an example and that example must come from those in management positions. While there may be a role for good managers in networks, there likely will not be much of a future for bosses. Distribute Authority — Coupled with a willingness to experiment, distributed authority is needed to ensure the organization stays connected to its outside environment. People at the outer edges of the organization often can see the environment more clearly than those at the centre. The future of work is in temporary, negotiated hierarchies connected through human and digital networks. Image: perpetual beta series

‘In 2015 The owners and managers of the Railway Hotel in Hornchurch, Essex, were fined £1.5 million after being found guilty of placing unsafe food on the market after a Christmas dinner served at their restaurant left a mother dead and dozens of other diners ill with food poisoning.’ This is not a headline that anyone operating a business within the hospitality sector would want to be associated with but sadly, according to the Food Standards Agency, around 500,000 people suffer from food poisoning each year and these are just the ones who have reported it. Many of these cases would not have arisen if the relevant Food Safety training had been undertaken and safe practices adhered to. Food safety is a scientific discipline describing the handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness. Over time, scientists and food professionals have developed a number of routines that should be followed to avoid potentially severe health hazards. To protect both customers’ health and themselves, businesses and food establishments must adhere to the minimum legal requirements for hospitality businesses in order to meet the required Food Safety standards. All staff should be trained in order to practice all the safe methods that are relevant to the job they do. Measures should also be in place within the business to ensure staff are supervised to check they are following the safe methods properly. Although in the UK there is no statuary requirement for food safety qualifications, no food business wants a headline such as the one in The Independent on February 4th which read: ‘Rat ruins Weatherspoon pub by ‘running up a man’s leg and stealing a chip’. Although a spokesman for the successful pub chain said there was no evidence to support the claim that the vermin did indeed run up a customer’s leg, they did confirm that rats had been found in their Wiltshire pub and had to tighten their hygiene standards. Not surprisingly, this bad publicity had a very negative effect on their trade. As part of their remit to protect the public, Environmental Health Officers (EHO) inspect businesses for health and safety, food hygiene and food standards. They follow up on complaints and investigate outbreaks of food poisoning, infectious disease or pests and will enforce environmental health laws when required. Although there is no statuary requirement to have food safety qualifications part of the EHO officer inspections will be looking to see that the knowledge, experience and training level of individuals involved in food preparation is relevant and relative to the job role and position. All food businesses must, by law, have a Food Safety Management System in place and this should serve as the backbone to the operational practices that take place. These systems should be based on HACCP (hazard analysis and critical control points). In simple terms, this process should identify any potential areas of concern and direct the business to define procedures and processes that will eradicate, control or limit them. Implementing some standard food safety training in any hospitality business will not only protect the public, business owners and the employees but could well be the difference between closures, prosecution and even, in the case of The Railway Hotel, death and imprisonment. Our Top Three Recommendations for Food Safety Training Food Hygiene - In the UK, food handlers don’t have to hold a food hygiene certificate to prepare or sell food, but it is highly recommended that they do. The basic food hygiene training package teaches the learner safe working practice and provides an understanding of the importance of food safety standards. Allergen Awareness - in 2014 new laws came in making it a legal requirement for caterers and restaurant owners to display to customers information concerning 14 common allergens or risk a fine of up to £5,000. HACCP - Businesses involved in the production, preparation or sale of food have a moral and legal obligation to ensure the safety of the food served. In order to create internal standards which will ensure safe food operations, a business must have a Food Management System. An understanding of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Planning (HACCP) will enable a business to put this at the heart of its Food Management System. All the recommended training courses are easily accessible as online learning and can be purchased through Elearning Marketplace. If you are a business owner requiring multiple purchases of each course then do contact us direct on 01488 580177 and we would be very happy to put together a bespoke proposal to meet your training requirements. Sources: www.theguardian.com www.thefoodsafetysystem.com www.food.gov.uk  

Along with a weekly wage or monthly salary, your employer may also have some sort of incentive program in place to keep you happy and motivated at work. But while several members of staff appreciate getting a free gift or monetary bonus every now and again, the vast majority of incentive programs are rather boring and repetitive. This is especially true if you have worked at one company for many years and continued to receive positive appraisals throughout this time, only to receive an arbitrary "incentive" as a reward. A lot of the time, each and every employee will receive the same thing too, which isn’t tailored to your contribution, achievement, or how long you have been a loyal member of staff. Thankfully, there is an alternative. You might associate gamification as a way to increase engagement with staff training, but it can also be used as an alternative to traditional incentive programs. Instead of handing out tangible presents that aren’t scalable according to the individual’s performance and can end up costing a great deal of money, gamification provides participants with unique aims and bespoke rewards. In the opinion of Gabe Zichermann, author of The Gamification Revolution, the majority of people aren’t achievement or winning-orientated anyway and would prefer the reward of being in control of their own destiny, which gamification goals and gratuity can afford. But how can gamification collaborate with workplace incentive programs?   Follow the SAPS model "People may be motivated by getting a gift card, but what really drives them is recognition [as well as] status, access power and stuff (SAPS)," says Zichermann. In fact, he believes that these things are want people want to be rewarded with in life - in that order. For example, higher tier airline fliers benefit from the status of being able to board first. "It turns out that cash isn’t that good of a reward," adds Zichermann. "Status is a fantastic motivator for getting people to do stuff." Unfortunately, several incentive programs do not recognise this fact and focus on physical gratification instead. However, it goes without saying that employees appreciate visible recognition from their peers and superiors, which can be built into a gamification campaign. Individual achievements can be acknowledged and published for the rest of the workforce to see.   Make recognition a more regular occurrence When it comes to receiving a bonus, most employees will have to wait until the end of the year to find out whether they are deserving of this reward. On top of that, an "Employee of the Month" picture or plaque doesn’t exactly inspire members of staff to keep performing on a daily basis. For this reason, it is a good idea to make recognition a more regular occurrence. Happiness and motivation levels among employees are bound to increase if gratification is being offered on completion of a gamified exercise or activity. As Zichermann explains: "Weekly recognition and incentives provide employees a chance to start the week fresh and work hard towards a SAPS structured goal."   Give rewards that relate to individual staff members As touched upon previously, not all staff members are created equal, especially in large organisations with a multitude of different departments. So, there will be little incentive for a travelling sales rep to work harder if the reward on offer is an in-car Bluetooth headset, which they probably own already. Therefore, be certain that individual members of staff will appreciate the gifts you are giving out. "Whatever the actual reward, make sure it relates to what the employees value," Zichermann recommends. "Consider conducting a gamified employee survey to help determine some specifics." Examples include giving customer service staff who work unsociable hours a complementary day off or providing software developers the opportunity to attend training, which could result in a new qualification and possible promotion.   Encourage staff to master a particular subject "When confronted with a game challenge, people are often more satisfied with mastery of the game than completion," cites Zichermann. "It provides a deeper sense of accomplishment, especially when their mastery is shared in some way with the group." This is where you can take advantage of things like cloud technology, which has the power to increase collaboration between employees but also share their incentive program achievements. But while members of staff should be allowed to participate in gamified scenarios at their own pace, it makes sense to establish a framework that encourages progress at a reasonable rate too. Otherwise there is a possibility that employees will become discouraged and lose interest.   Promote competition among your workforce Incentive programs should give precedence to fun and recognition, but this doesn’t mean to say you can’t introduce an element of healthy competition as well. After all, Zichermann believes that "incentives are typically valued more when they are ‘won’ and employees will take more pride in their accomplishments if they work hard to achieve them." It helps if competition is structured with multiple tiers, which features rewards that are accordingly equal. After all, the last thing you want is for a few staff members to outperform everybody else, causing the rest of the workforce to abandon the program altogether.   Place importance on originality for long-term engagement Even though employees will grow tired of the same old physical or material rewards, the same can be said gamification too. So, you should place importance on originality with your incentive program to achieve long-term engagement among the workforce. "Gamification should be kept fresh by tweaking the ‘game’ itself or by shifting the focus from one area of the employee’s work to another," believes Zichermann. "The rewards should also shift over time to encourage participation." By doing so, you will be able to provide employees with regular and meaningful recognition that keeps engagement levels high. As a consequence of greater interest, members of staff will also better serve the needs of the entire organisation as well as those of colleagues and customers. Share this post with your own audience

When life gives you lemons, should you invest?o Ever wonder whether you should invest in a friend’s business idea? What is the mysterious formula against which businesses, from your local corner shop to Apple Inc, are evaluated?

Two of my proposals were accepted for presentation at the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE) International Conference in Savannah, GA.  I’d love to connect with any of my readers who are also going to SITE. This will be my second time to attend this conference and my first time in the city of Savannah. … Continue reading "Join me at SITE 2016 in Savannah, GA!"

[Post by Phil Cazella, Director of Business Development at Pillar Training Solutions] A recent article published on the Smart Business website discusses the war on talent as it relates to the manufacturing and distribution industry. Associate editor for SBNOnline, Jayne Gest, writes, "We’ve all heard it: There is a war on talent. The baby boomer workforce is retiring. Manufacturing is dying. The available workforce doesn’t have the necessary skill sets that employers need." Smart Business interviewed Stacy Feiner, Psy.D., management consulting director at BDO USA, LLP, for the article and asked questions such as: Where do businesses fall short with their talent management? And How can employers be more proactive in building their talent management system? Feiner’s responses begin with, "It takes skill to recruit and attract top talent, but many manufacturers and distributors employ antiquated processes and methods that don’t reach ready candidates and aren’t truly connected to the company’s culture." To read the article and answers to those questions and more, visit: How to Attract and Retain Talent In Manufacturing and Distribution

In a recent article on EHS leading indicators, we touched on the topic of training-related EHS leading indicators. Meaning, stuff related to EHS training that can be used as a leading indicator for measuring general EHS performance at a company. Since we’re a training company and offer a lot of EHS training solutions, we thought we’d double-back to that issue and show you how you can track some of those EHS leading indicators that are related to EHS training. By tracking these, along with other EHS leading indicators, you can really begin to gather meaningful and actionable data about the performance of your EHS management system as a whole. Convergence Training is a training solutions provider with a strong EHS offering. We have off-the-shelf EHS e-learning courses, learning management systems (LMSs), and more. Contact us to set up a demo, view full-length course previews, or just ask some questions. Also, feel free to download this free Guide to Effective EHS Training while you’re here. EHS Training-Related EHS Leading Indicators OK, let’s get a few terms straight before we dive in. First, what’s an EHS leading indicator? An EHS leading indicator is something you can measure now that might help you identify, eliminate, and/or control risks that could lead to injuries, illnesses, or other workplace incidents in the future.                   Here’s how the National Security Council’s Campbell Library puts it: "proactive, preventative, and predictive measures that monitor and provide current information about the effective performance, activities, and processes of an EHS management system that drive the identification and elimination or control of risks in the workplace that can cause incidents and injuries." (1) Next, what do we mean by EHS leading indicators that are training-related? We’re talking about things related to EHS training at your worksite that can be used as EHS leading indicators.                     This can include but is not limited to: The number of EHS training activities/programs completed The percentage of EHS training activities/programs completed (as opposed to intended or assigned) Percentage of "compliant" workers Number of training hours per employee/business unit/site/company/time period Number of incidents with a root cause that includes lack of appropriate EHS training Number of certified EHS trainers Dollars spent on training per time period Percentage of new employees who complete new employee safety orientation per time period Percentage of employees who complete job-specific safety training per time period Average scores on post-training employee reaction surveys Average test scores on EHS training tests Tracking EHS Training-Related EHS Leading Indicators Now that we know we EHS leading indicators are, and what are some that are related to EHS training, let’s take a closer look at how you can track these over time to identify positive or negative trends.                 You can access this information from several different sources. For example: EHS Incident Investigation Records and/or Tracking System If you keep records of incident investigations (and you should), or if you have an automated system that does that for you, you can find the following training-related information there: Number of incidents with a root cause that includes lack of appropriate EHS training EHS Management and/or EHS Training Management Records If you keep records for your EHS management system and/or if you have a system that automates this for you (again, you should), you may find the following information there: Number of certified EHS trainers Dollars spent on training per time period Average scores on post-training employee reaction surveys EHS Training Management System/Learning Management System (LMS) If you keep records of your EHS training and/or if you have a system that automates that for you, you may find the following information there: The number of EHS training activities/programs completed The percentage of EHS training activities/programs completed (as opposed to intended or assigned) Percentage of "compliant" workers Number of training hours per employee/business unit/site/company/time period Percentage of new employees who complete new employee safety orientation per time period Percentage of employees who complete job-specific safety training per time period Average test scores on EHS training tests Let’s take a quick look at what each of these might look like if you track them over time. You can get this information by going to your EHS training management system and running a report or perhaps by exporting the data from that system and inputting the data into Excel.                 Because we assume you’re all doing a great job with your EHS programs, our examples will all trend up. The number of EHS training activities/programs completed Why is this a useful EHS leading indicator? Because presumably, if you’re training workers about safety more, they’ll be safer workers. Which should mean you’ll have fewer incidents in the future.                     The percentage of EHS training activities/programs completed (as opposed to intended or assigned) Why is this a useful EHS leading indicator? Same logic as above. We’re just slicing and dicing the information a little differently. This may help you identify training gaps that just looking at the number of trainings may not.                     Percentage of "compliant" workers Why is this a useful EHS leading indicator? Again, same logic as above (more training should mean safer workers). Just another way to look at the data, which gives you another chance to identify any gaps the other views wouldn’t offer.                         Number of training hours per employee/business unit/site/company/time period Why is this a useful EHS leading indicator? Same idea as earlier-more training, safer workers. Just another view, which may help you identify a gap the earlier views might not.                     Percentage of new employees who complete new employee safety orientation per time period Why is this a useful EHS leading indicator? This is a little different than the other views we’ve shown you. New workers can be more prone to being involved in safety incidents because they’re not as aware of the hazards as other workers are. So this may be an especially important thing to track.                     Percentage of employees who complete job-specific safety training per time period Why is this a useful EHS leading indicator? This is similar to the graph above, but the logic is applied differently. Just as completely new hires at less likely to know all the risk of the job, when a current employee moves to a new job, he or she may not be aware of risks relevant to that job. So again, this may be especially useful data to track.                     Average test scores on EHS training tests Why is this a useful EHS leading indicator? Training completed is good, but this gives you a better "window" into whether or not people are understanding that training, which is maybe even better.                     Using an EHS Training Management System/Learning Management System (LMS) to Track EHS Leading Indicators How did we get all this data in the section above, you ask? We pulled it out of a learning management system (LMS), an online software system you can use to administer any kind of training, including EHS training. Convergence Training makes four different learning management systems (LMSs) that are useful for administering EHS training. They are: Enterprise LMS: Our "flagship" LMS-flexible, powerful, robust, and capable of administering training at multiple sites Express LMS: our "stripped down" LMS-best for smaller companies MSHA LMS: The same as our Enterprise LMS but with some additional features for MSHA mining safety training compliance Contractor LMS: for administering site-specific safety orientations to visitors, vendors, and contractors You may find either of these short video introductions to our LMSs helpful and informative: Enterprise LMS MSHA LMS Conclusion: EHS Training Data as EHS Leading Indicators Hopefully that gave you a good idea of how you can use this kind of data as EHS leading indicators, and how you can collect/gather and visualize it. What are your own thoughts? What EHS training-related data do you track as an EHS leading indicator? Notes: (1) Transforming EHS Performance Measurement through Leading Indicators, Campbell Institute/NSC, p. 2. The post Tracking Training-Related EHS Leading Indicators appeared first on Convergence Training Blog.

Is your learning and development team able to transform so it can support complex work, help people be more creative, and adapt to the changing nature of the digital workplace? Strategic transformation is more than changing what you work on. "Strategic Transformation. This means changing the very essence of what ‘learning’ means in the company, through both a new understanding of how it happens in the workplace (i.e. not just through conventional training but as people carry out their daily jobs) and how performance problems can be solved in different ways. It also means that learning and performance improvement is no longer the sole remit of the L&D department, but something that everyone in the organisation - managers and employees alike - has responsibility for." - Jane Hart The strategic transformation of organizational learning requires a shift from delivery of content and courses to integrating learning and working. While learning is personal, much of it happens while we are working with others. Learning is mostly social and often informal. Informal learning is learning without instruction and is personally directed or done in collaboration with others. Studies show that informal learning accounts for between 70% and 95% of workplace learning. For example, performance improvement specialist, Gary Wise extrapolated Josh Bersin’s research data from 2009 and found that as much as 95% of workplace learning is informal. The surveys of hundreds of companies showed that knowledge workers formal learning averages 100 hours per year out of 2,080 available work hours, which is about 5%. The strategic transformation is to shift the focus to the 95%. Offering only formal instruction as professional development is not enough in today’s complex work environment, as courses address less than 10% of workplace learning needs. We cannot know in advance and prepare instruction for everything that people need to learn on the job today. Everyone needs to experiment, learn from experience, and share with colleagues, as part of their work. The 70:20:10 principle provides a rule of thumb to help organizations stay focused on what is important in workplace learning. The principle states that what we learn at work is based, generally, on these ratios: 70%: Experience 20%: Exposure 10%: Education While multiple good practices and methods can be recommended, a pragmatic approach is to master a few and implement them vigorously. I have identified nine components to create a structure of continuous, action-based learning that goes from the classroom, to the workplace, into the community, and beyond. Moving to Social Action Mapping for Designing Instruction, instead of a focus on content distribution. Flipping the Classroom, so that instructors spend more time assisting and engaging in learning activities, then in lecturing. Promoting Personal Learning Networks as part of all formal instruction. Adopting Enterprise Social Networks as bridges between personal and organizational knowledge. Working Out Loud as part of group knowledge sharing in work teams. Supporting Coaching & Cognitive Apprenticeship to connect different generations of workers. Using Social Media to connect working and learning. Learning Out Loud to ensure more signal than noise is shared with others, within a framework of personal knowledge mastery. Engaging others cooperatively through Communities of Practice. To learn more, the social learning workshop provides a pragmatic path for the enterprise L&D team to implement a performance-oriented and social learning framework that supports workplace performance in the network era. This can be the beginning of a strategic transformation for workplace learning.

Based upon the impressions of the last post, there are a couple of points I would like to be abundantly clear:This type of re-design is not limited to the STEM area of learning activities. Even though I used a STEM example, if we believe that solving complex real world problems requires a cross disciplinary approach, then collaborative groups must involve more than just the sciences. STEAM projects might be the bridge to hybrid collaboration. The key to thoughtful engagement is to focus on real world problems and feedback should not be simply a self-quiz or exam at the end of a learning activity but should be on-going throughout the learning experience and should shape on-going decision making during the learning experience. This provides a wealth of information for the learner and can also result in a growing self-confidence in themselves as dynamic learners with a purpose.Experiential learning and project based learning take center stage in such a re-design. Design thinking as a skillset becomes a focal point and one that is consistently encouraged in the learner consistently.Education: Specific Changes to Promote Effective CollaborationMoving Away From Content Focused Pedagogy:  One of the great realities of 21st century learning is that knowledge and information are expanding across the disciplines in an exponential rate. The advancing changes in technology based on a revised understanding of Moore's Law have not only accelerated the advancement of information and knowledge but also the time of globally communicating these expanding waves of information and knowledge has quickly grown shorter and shorter. As a student aptly put to his teacher in 2016:"I can find more information and knowledge on the Internet than you could teach me in your life time as a teacher!"Whether we like it or not, Moore's Law is being re-written by the advancements of technology and the growth of information and knowledge. This in turn impacts the shape that education should take. The past focus on educating students to acquire more and more information for the purpose of repeating it back to satisfy the industrial economy mindset, no longer fits with the needs of 21st century society.Credit: Ray Kurzweil and KurzweilAI.netWith the new start up areas in the Internet of Things, the skillsets required go beyond the simple acquirement of knowledge. The focus needs to shift to the higher order thinking skills (Revised Bloom's Taxonomy) and purpose driven innovative thinking.Credit: www.Todbot.comSo, if we move away from a content for content's sake pedagogy, then what do we move to?In order for us to really build effective collaboration in a sea of information and knowledge, information and knowledge is not solely our end goal for the learner. More importantly, the re-design of pedagogy needs to emphasize the following skillsets: Learners already know that there is a huge repository of information and knowledge on the Internet but one of the skills that they need to be mentored on is how to effectively search for information that will be useful for sharing with partners with the common end goal of solving complex real world problems. The great realization that learners need to be led to is that not all information on the Internet is true, real or valid to a particular problem. The fact that the Internet has become an outlet for any person who has web access means that there is a need for "thoughtful discernment".Learners need to be able to collaboratively analyze a problem and be able to see that problem from a cross disciplinary perspective. This is where having an honest assessment of each others gifts and talents will help make the approach to solving complex real world problems easier. For example, a collaborator who has a solid gift for mathematics is able to contribute to the process by analyzing the problem from the point of view of mathematics and can also help in the search by being able to distinguish between shallow mathematics interpretations from those who are valid, real and hold promise for shedding light on the problem.In order for true collaboration to take place, networking with outside specialist learning communities must be established and facilitated so that relationships are developed between the collaborative learners who need to authenticate the knowledge that they find and those who are in the best position to validate what they find in their searches. This relationship is beneficial to both groups. For the learner there are the relationships that are formed between themselves and representatives of disciplines that provide impetus for future professional career directions. For the varied professional learning communities, they are given insight into the potential future growth of their profession. Another very unusual but real benefit for professional learning communities is that they have the opportunity to "step outside entrenched routines and see problems from fresh new approaches." A greater emphasis on the skillsets of synthesis and creativity is needed. With the exponential growth of knowledge, it is easy to become swamped by all that is out there.The learner's ability to analyze and then to synthesize information and knowledge so that it is focused on enabling the production of a host of innovative solutions. This is a discipline of the mind and like any other discipline it requires a commitment to "hone or fine tune" it with an eye on excellence.In a nutshell, it is not about learning all the content for the content's sake but it is about how to search for tasked content, how to authenticate that which is true, real and valid to the task and reject everything else, how to take a huge body of knowledge and through the skill of synthesis make it manageable so that you have the most current, authenticated cross disciplinary knowledge that can be shared and used to arrive at innovative solutions to complex real world problems that to this point have defied solution 2. Create a Global Learning Contract Between Education and Professional                Learning CommunitiesThe learning of future citizens living in our global societies is no longer just the responsibility of the educational communities in an age of information and learning. All of society has an important stake in how education of learners progresses because the focus is to create agents of change who can effectively deal with very real complex real world problems that are increasing. The professional disciplines as well as global business are stakeholders because they are greatly affected by the results of education. Education needs to establish what I would term a "global learning contract" between themselves and the other stakeholders. This means extensive collaboration among the learning communities with a powerful purpose of supporting those who would become agents of change in our societies.  How are business organizations and professional learning communities affected? More in the next post and the idea of using collaboration in learning assessment.

I am proud to share that in a few weeks, Training Magazine Network will release a new first-of-its kind member service. Our research confirms this is brand-new. We call it Path to Expertise or Path2X.According to Judith A. Hale, Ph.D., CPT, ID (ILT, JA+): I am humbled by the experience and learning during the Path2X platform creation and making it available to our members. Thanks to everyone who has helped make this vision a reality.Please watch a brief video. Path2X has these key elements.1) Power of the Prompt QuestionsWith over 90,000 TMN members asking questions in their search activities, we curate and share these questions with the whole community. These prompt questions get crowd-sourced. We refer to them as, "exploratory thinking," "thinking aloud" or "intense curiosity." As the saying goes, "the solution is possible if we ask the right questions."It's challenging to formulate these questions and if we reuse and repurpose all of them including the search results, it would save time and add more context to the learning.2) Freedom to Learn One's Interest AreasWe allow members to follow their interests and passions openly through access to unbundled and unrestricted sources of content.Training magazine is a 40-year-old company. It has developed the best-of-breed resource materials in the world of training. Yet, the breadth and depth of knowledge required by learners surpass our present capabilities to provide this to our members. So, we unshackled our thinking,pushed beyond our current boundaries and uncovered a path for learners to have far-reaching access to varied learning.We published guest blogs - now 50,000 and growing each day. Our learners deserve to enjoy the abundance of open content from all other sources.3) Ripple Effects of InsightsEncourage real-time insights noting, sharing and tracking.Savor the moment. As members go through all types of content that they find interesting through the help of a powerful search engine, they are constantly encouraged to record their insights as it happens. The key idea is to allow them to document what they find interesting at the moment.Their learning preferences and interest areas are captured by the system. This provides them a unique perspective of their pursuit of expertise.In TMN, we capture the ripples of insights, those small and micro instances of learning - as they happen. While in webinars, reading white papers, watching videos, etc. members can quickly record the ripple of their insights. They also share and view other members' insights.4) Trending and Patterns of Insights are Predictors of Expertise AreasArticulate your expertise/digital tracker.I like the book Show Your Work by Jane Bozarth. It suggests a profound change of our outlook. When we share our work, we actually learn a lot better. I recall a story from a toxic waste company client about how they apply "Chalk Talk." After each training they ask participants to use chalk and blackboard (may be flipcharts, white boards and markers) to talk about what they have learned.This is a powerful self-learning process that enables the learners to articulate what they know and correct themselves along the way. Let's call this the digital tracker.At TMN, we allow members to capture trends and patterns. They discover, learn and track what they are good at and they show it off in the "Trending Report."5) Celebrate and Stand Out as Experts and SpecialistsFeedback to self, peers and significant leaders.Mobile apps and digital watches are so good at this. Their entry into the market is by providing people immediate/instant feedback - whether they are walking, running or consuming calories. The key is feedback for people to correct and achieve their goals. In the Path2X (Path to Expertise), our members achieve this through Path2X eShare.TMN members can share with friends, peers, leaders and if they wish, in the world of social media like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. We encourage TMN members to announce and celebrate their accomplishments.What is the single most compelling Benefit to TMN Members?The new world of learning is open, limitless, abundant and exponential. It is our ardent hope that TMN members experience first-hand this new learning environment. As they discover possibilities, gain insights into their expertise and interest areas and showcase their achievements, we strongly sense that members will eagerly pass on this breakthrough in learning environments to their own learners - helping them to learn better and faster.Join The All-New TrainingMagNetwork.com. Preview the video again, click here.References Gerald O. Grow. Teaching Learners To Be Self-Directed. Florida A&M University, Tallahassee.http://aeq.sagepub.com/content/41/3/125.short   Jane Bozarth. Social Media for Trainers: Techniques for Enhancing and Extending Learning. John Wiley & Sons, 30 Jul 2010. https://books.google.com.ph/books?hl=en&lr=&id=xiWi4fuOOl0C&oi=fnd&pg=PR11&dq=Jane+Bozarth&ots=KLyp2Na35O&sig=KLyMa5H8ngmbLbwLxqhCZyFlHU&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Jane%20Bozarth&f=false   Ray Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

Learning is a creative process. We start with a question, a challenge, a problem, an opportunity or possibly simple or complex tasks. Then we go back to asking more questions. Because of what we want to do, accomplish or learn, our minds go through discovery and creativity.Recursive learning and Creativity The focus of this tip is on Recursive Learning and Creativity. People learn recursively. We connect past experiences, with new experiences, and formulate new insights.  These then, become part of our new and improved expertise. Doing these repeatedly help us build skills, mastery and expertise.The compounding effect of incremental insights show us where our interest areas are,and where our vocation and our passion lie. People tend to do things that give them pleasure. What gives them pleasure allows them to pursue interests. Eventually and along the way, our expertise is rooted in our passions and vocations, whether we are consciouslyor just unknowingly pursuing them.Generating insights is normal and common. But deepening insights which is a creative process requires some level of intensity and penetration of desire. Is it difficult to attain? Not really.It is easily provided when it is incremental - thinking through your insights as it happensis where the epiphany is. It is like when you eat really great food at a 5-Star Michelin restaurant. It is at the moment when your taste buds savor the flavor - at that moment - where experience is highest. This is the moment of ecstatic insights, sometimes euphoria or the Aha!moment. This is similar to the feeling when one generates fresh ideas to change a product and improve services in order to achieve organizational goals. This is similar to the Aha! moment when one discovers the connection between two previously unrelated concepts.                                                                                                                According to David Jones, "Aha! moments may be sudden, but they probably depend on an unconscious mental process that has grown slowly." Jones argues further that we can't truly have new ideas, rather, we can connect existing facts or notions by observing others. The Social Component of CreativityCreativity does not occur in a vacuum. Experts agree that while creativity or insight is a personal experience, "creative thinking is not so much an individual trait but rather a social phenomenon involving interactions among people within their specific group or cultural settings."By curating and sharing back to the community "prompt questions," members find it easier or faster to direct their attention to answers and therefore facilitate discovery and insights.The most intriguing part about prompt questions is that it sends or kicks off learners into an automatic recursive learning process. When we ask questions, our minds go on autopilot to find what we already know, then search outside what else we can know. This allows us to reflect and gain insights -- this is recursive learning or creative musing in action. This happens in milliseconds. Although this is most often unconscious, it is most effective in learning and gaining insights.Two phases of creative musingWe introduced the process called "Path2X trending" which means that as you add and record insights, you are able to see your "crumbs" - where you have been and what you have been thinking aloud, and the interests you are pursuing and the knowledge and learning that you are accumulating. In essence you are building expertise, but instead of a whimsical and tentative way, we allow members to see the trends of their insights. Here are the two phases of creative musing: 1. Generative phase - During this phase, one tends to generate different solutions to a given problem. Also known as the divergent phase, the creative mind is in a brainstorming mode and tries to consider a variety of ways in which a problem can be approached and a solution can be had. This is what we commonly call "out of the box" thinking.2. Exploratory/Evaluative phase - Also known as the convergent phase, during this phase the creative mind tends to focus on the best solution to the problem. No longer is the mind brainstorming ideas, rather, with surgical precision, it decides on what to do and faces the problem head on. According to Robert L. DeHaan, "During the generative process, the creative mind pictures a set of novel mental models as potential solutions to a problem. In the exploratory phase, we evaluate the multiple options and select the best one."ConclusionCreativity is the result of incremental and recursive learning. While we tend to think of it as an innate talent, it cannot be separated from the social context. As a matter of fact, it is enhanced by social interaction as observed from the curated "prompt questions" by TMN members. With "Path2X trending," members can focus and see the trend of their creative musings.References Robert L. DeHaan. Teaching Creativity and Inventive Problem Solving in Science. Division of Educational Studies, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322.  http://www.lifescied.org/content/8/3/172.full    David Jones. The Aha! Moment: A Scientist Take on Creativity. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2715 North Charles Street, Baltimore Maryland 21218-4363. https://books.google.com.ph/books?hl=en&lr=&id=pbZzl0V0s0YC&oi=fnd&pg=PP2& dq=aha+moment&ots=XmDDAuCR6d&sig=JE0yiMz6uOL3RyfQoR06MZljtQE&redir esc=y#v=onepage&q=aha%20moment&f=false     Ray Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

This is the second installment of of my five-part blog series on helping members of TrainingMagNetwork understand their expertise better.We believe in unshackling our thinking and providing learners as much access to content and this is what this post is about.Trainers and content developers can no longer hold back learners from using other sources of knowledge. There is a breaking away from control as these new discoveries continue to sprout like mushrooms. This allows them to accelerate learning. It is in this openness that we encourage the learners to explore, create and develop.The Proliferation of Open LearningWe have witnessed the dramatic increase in open learning. If you have been following the online trends, you will have noticed the popularity of sites like Coursera, edX and other spinoffs. The dramatic decrease in cost of producing learning materials contributes to the proliferation of open learning.According to Caswell, Henson, Jensen, and David Wiley, "This marked decrease in costs has significant implications and allows distance educators to play an important role in the fulfillment of the promise of the right to universal education. At relatively little additional cost, universities can make their content available to millions. This content has the potential to substantially improve the quality of life of learners around the world."But the cost is just one aspect. While technology made open learning easy, it is the current attitude requiring more flexibility and collaboration in learning that made this possible. Rigid and traditional approach to learning is a thing of the past.  According to Liyanagunawardena, Adams, and Williams, "Connectivity is usually provided through social networking, and a set of freely accessible online resources provides the content or the study material... For example, MOOC participants may create their own blog posts discussing aspects of the MOOC in different spaces and/or may use microblogs such as Twitter to express themselves."eLearning pioneers like Jay Cross are advocating informal learning wherein unofficial and impromptu encounters between learners and people in the know take place. Jay posts that "formal training and workshops account for only 5% to 20% of what people learn from experience and interactions."If you are a lifelong learner, you can find free and open courses at Harvard Open Learning. Are you looking for a new recipe to cook for lunch? You can just head to Youtube, watch a video and turn yourself into an instant chef.We haven't witnessed this level of openness before and this is just the tip of the iceberg. With technological development mostly done in the open, the high level of interactivity required to respond to modern challenges and the attitude of modern learners all converge to spice up Open Learning. The concept of Open learning is far more vast than what we have witnessed and I believe the best is yet to come.The Philosophy Behind TrainingMagNetwork's Open Learning Richard Baraniuk shares his vision of open learning which led to the creation of OpenStax, an open-source, online education system which allows teachers to share and modify course materials freely and globally.Different programs have varied degrees of openness and diverse implementations of the concept of Open Learning.At TrainingMagNetwork, we allow the members to search over 50,000 blogs and resources (growing each day). We believe we can only serve the learners by enabling them to access quickly, assist them to search with prompt questions and discover what they want in the abundance of content. They drive the learning, not us or the designers or any form of formal structure. In fact, we don't have a hierarchical learning design that is typical of other associations and learning providers. We want to free our learners to follow their own passion and help them track their own studies.References Tharindu Rekha Liyanagunawardena, Andrew Alexander Adams, and Shirley Ann  Williams. MOOCs: A Systematic Study of the Published Literature 2008-2012. July 2013. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning. http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1455/2531    Tom Caswell, Shelley Henson, Marion Jensen, and David Wiley. Open Educational  Resources: Enabling universal education.February 2008. The International Review of  Research in Open and Distributed Learning. http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/  article/view/469/1001   Ray Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

This is the third installment of the five-part blog series about the The All-New TrainingMagNetwork.com Open Learning Environment.At Training Magazine Network, we capture the crumbs of insights as they happen. This level of self-awareness enables our members to keep track of their train of thought. While in webinars, reading white papers, watching videos, etc., members can quickly record the ripple of their insights. They also encourage real-time noting, sharing and tracking of other members' insights. Savor the moment. As members go through all types of content that they find interesting through the help of a powerful search engine, they are constantly encouraged to record their insights as it happens. The key idea is to allow them to document what piqued their interest at the moment. Their learning preferences and interest areas are captured by the system. This provides them a unique perspective of their pursuit of expertise.Why Evaluate Insight?The idea behind evaluating one's insight is established by a huge quantum of studies. Organizations discover that giving appropriate feedback enhances personnel's ability to grow. As a matter of fact, neglecting a good evaluation or feedback mechanism is a recipe for disaster. According to Jane Bozarth "We often treat evaluation as an afterthought, focus on measures that offer little real information, or, when the effort looks difficult, just don't do evaluation at all. In looking at evaluation strategies, choose those that will get you what you need. Are you trying to prove results, or drive improvement? And above all, remember: some evaluation is better than none."  A founder of Triad Consulting Group and a lecturer at Harvard Law School, Sheila Heen delivers a talk on the importance of feedback. Giving the right kind of feedback takes center stage in sharing and tracking of other people's insights.Technology-Enhanced Feedback MechanismThere are a lot of advantages in using technology as a feedback mechanism. First of all, the time and distance constraint is easily overcome. A good LMS (Learning Management System) can easily incorporate feedback mechanisms like forums where learners can discuss the ripples of insight.Through this mechanism, peer learners can easily assess and give feedback on each other's ideas. This can be personalized even in a large group. On top of that, real-time tracking of feedback is easy with fast data transfer.   The Training Magazine Network is soon to release the first-of-its kind member service we call Path to Expertise or Path2X. It incorporates a technology-enhanced feedback mechanism.  References Jane Bozarth. Nuts and Bolts: How to Evaluate e-Learning. OCTOBER 5, 2010  http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/530/nuts-and-bolts-how-to- evaluate-e-learning   Jane Bozarth. Nuts and Bolts: Useful Interactions and Meaningful Feedback. DECEMBER 7, 2010. http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/597/nuts-and- bolts-useful-interactions-and-meaningful-feedback    Sarah Davis. Effective Assessment in a Digital Age. Effective Assessment in a Digital Age. http://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20140613220103/http://www.jisc.ac.uk asd/media/documents/programmes/elearning/digiassass_eada.pdf    Effective assessment in a digital age. https://www.jisc.ac.uk/podcasts/podcastpress- release-effective-assessment-in-a-digital-age-06-sep-2010   Ray Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

Have you ever shared your thoughts with someone? On a grander scale, have you tried sharing your work or a potential masterpiece with like-minded people? Sharing your work simply means that it is where your mind is at. It is where your expertise can be found. The patterns of your insights showcase your expertise areas.Of course you can imagine the satisfaction you get when you receive the approval of people you respect. But the approval of like-minded people is not the only thing. Rather, it's making your work bigger than yourself that matters.    In this fourth installment of my five-part blog series about The All-New TrainingMagNetwork.com Open Learning Environment, I'm going to talk about the importance of sharing your work. The Internet and a good portion of its supporting technology has been the result of open sharing of ideas.Inevitability of Sharing InsightApart from the climate of openness, we can't expect to enjoy what many would consider to be the greatest invention of modern times. Buzzwords like "open source," "collaboration," and "crowdsourcing" are all synonymous to the sharing of ideas and the climate of openness thatit entails.Although the effort to share one's ideas is not something recent, modern development made it easier to collaborate. According to Josh Lerner and Jean Tirol in their book The Simple Economics Of Open Source, "While media attention to the phenomenon of open source software has been recent, the basic behaviors are much older in their origins. There has long been a tradition of sharing and cooperation in software development. But in recent years, both the scale and formalization of the activity have expanded dramatically with the widespread diffusion of the Internet."On a more limited scale, programmers have been sharing source codes as early as the '60s and the '70s and this has been called "sneakernet" due primarily to the actual movement of files through people wearing sneakers. I'm sure you can imagine the inconvenience but you get the picture. There is no way ideas can be prevented from getting shared.Matt Ridley shows that the great progresses experienced by human history have been the result of collaboration or the "meeting and mating" of ideas.I like the book Show Your Work by Jane Bozarth. It suggests a profound change of our outlook. When we share our work, we actually learn a lot better.I recall a story from a toxic waste company client about how they apply "Chalk Talk." After each training they ask participants to use chalk and blackboard (may be flipcharts, white boards and markers) to talk about what they have learned.This is a powerful self-learning process that enables the learners to articulate what they know and correct themselves along the way. Let's call this the digital tracker.At TMN we allow members to capture trends and patterns. They discover and learn and track what they are good at and they show it off in the "Trending Report."How is Openness Beneficial to Organizational PerformanceThe advantages of collaboration to organizations are enormous. Bozarth opined, "Showing work offers increased efficiencies, the possibility of innovation and increased ability to improvise, and promises correction of longstanding deficits in organizational communication."In another study, Martine R. Haas and Morten T. Hansen proposed that, "An organization's  capacity to share knowledge among its individuals and teams and apply that shared knowledge to performing important activities is increasingly seen as a vital source of competitive advantage in many industries."While it's nice to think about the solo working genius, it's undeniable that we are at a time when certain problems are just too big for the individual to solve alone. We need the insights of other like-minded people whose expertise are in other areas.ConclusionThe pattern of your insight is a clear predictor of where your expertise lies. While the solo genius presents an attractive picture, sharing these insights expands your horizons. It is only through openness that ideas take on a new life because they meet and mate with other ideas. Innovation becomes possible and inevitable when ideas are shared. Problem-solving is facilitated by not one person but through the contribution of others.References Martine R. Haas and Morten T. Hansen. Different Knowledge, Different Benefits: Toward A Productivity Perspective On knowledge Sharing In Organizations. Strategic Management  Journal.   Paul Hendriks. WhyShare Knowledge? The Influence of ICT on the Motivation for Knowledge Sharing. University of Nijmegen, TheNetherlands.   Josh Lerner and Jean Tirol. The Simple Economics Of Open Source. NATIONAL BUREAU  OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH. 1050 Massachusetts AvenueCambridge, MA 02138. March  2000.   Jane Bozarth. Show Your Work: The Payoffs and How-tos of Working out Loud.   Ray Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

In the previous tip we talked about sharing your insights. In this fifth installement of the five-part blog series about The All-New TrainingMagNetwork.com Open Learning Environment, we will talk about presenting yourself as an expert and specialist of a specific field.TMN members can share with friends, peers, leaders and if they wish, in the world of social media like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. We encourage TMN members to announce and celebrate their accomplishments.On the other hand, people with whom members share their achievements are likewise provided the facility for feedback by sharing ideas and comments. Mobile apps and digital watches are so good at this. Their entry to the market is by providing people immediate/instant feedback - whether they are walking, running or consuming calories.Feedback is key for people to correct and achieve their goals. In the Path2X (Path to Expertise), our members accomplish this through Path2X eShare.Path to Expertise ProgressThe classic resume is static. It is insufficient because it fails to provide the reviewer a better perspective of the capabilities and experiences of an applicant. With teams, leaders have no immediate way to assess capacities,  status of ongoing learning and new skills developed by team members. They have to wait for evaluation and assessments which may happen only once a year.In Training Mag Network we try to provide a dynamic way for leaders and members to update interests and skills development. TNM members share their Path2X progress with their leaders, bosses, friends, peers and team. These people are able to comment and have discussions with the member/owner of the report. They can drill down into what resources the TMN member has "actually" studied, reviewed and submitted insights to. Members can share the Path2X report as often as they like. The Path2X Progress Report helps the member "celebrate, announce and demonstrate" their deliberate efforts in building skills and expertise.The graphics below is an illustration of the Path2X Progress Report.The Importance of VisibilitySeth Godin talks about connecting with the customers and standing out as an expert in this short clip of an interview with Bryan Elliott.In the world where competition is the norm, how do you stand out against everybody else? Nowadays, it's not enough to be good at something or be connected to someone, you have to standout. According to William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson, "In today's workplace, creativity has trumped loyalty; individuality has replaced conformity; pro-activity has replaced hierarchy. Those who succeeded were aware of their talents and confident enough to use them to stand out and consistently deliver value to their teams.References William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson. Career distinction: stand out by building your brand.  Ray Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

I am proud to share that in a few weeks, Training Magazine Network will release a new first-of-its kind member service. Our research confirms this is brand-new. We call it Path to Expertise or Path2X.According to Judith A. Hale, Ph.D., CPT, ID (ILT, JA+): I am humbled by the experience and learning during the Path2X platform creation and making it available to our members. Thanks to everyone who has helped make this vision a reality.Please watch a brief video. Path2X has these key elements.1) Power of the Prompt QuestionsWith over 90,000 TMN members asking questions in their search activities, we curate and share these questions with the whole community. These prompt questions get crowd-sourced. We refer to them as, "exploratory thinking," "thinking aloud" or "intense curiosity." As the saying goes, "the solution is possible if we ask the right questions."It's challenging to formulate these questions and if we reuse and repurpose all of them including the search results, it would save time and add more context to the learning.2) Freedom to Learn One's Interest AreasWe allow members to follow their interests and passions openly through access to unbundled and unrestricted sources of content.Training magazine is a 40-year-old company. It has developed the best-of-breed resource materials in the world of training. Yet, the breadth and depth of knowledge required by learners surpass our present capabilities to provide this to our members. So, we unshackled our thinking,pushed beyond our current boundaries and uncovered a path for learners to have far-reaching access to varied learning.We published guest blogs - now 50,000 and growing each day. Our learners deserve to enjoy the abundance of open content from all other sources.3) Ripple Effects of InsightsEncourage real-time insights noting, sharing and tracking.Savor the moment. As members go through all types of content that they find interesting through the help of a powerful search engine, they are constantly encouraged to record their insights as it happens. The key idea is to allow them to document what they find interesting at the moment.Their learning preferences and interest areas are captured by the system. This provides them a unique perspective of their pursuit of expertise.In TMN, we capture the ripples of insights, those small and micro instances of learning - as they happen. While in webinars, reading white papers, watching videos, etc. members can quickly record the ripple of their insights. They also share and view other members' insights.4) Trending and Patterns of Insights are Predictors of Expertise AreasArticulate your expertise/digital tracker.I like the book Show Your Work by Jane Bozarth. It suggests a profound change of our outlook. When we share our work, we actually learn a lot better. I recall a story from a toxic waste company client about how they apply "Chalk Talk." After each training they ask participants to use chalk and blackboard (may be flipcharts, white boards and markers) to talk about what they have learned.This is a powerful self-learning process that enables the learners to articulate what they know and correct themselves along the way. Let's call this the digital tracker.At TMN, we allow members to capture trends and patterns. They discover, learn and track what they are good at and they show it off in the "Trending Report."5) Celebrate and Stand Out as Experts and SpecialistsFeedback to self, peers and significant leaders.Mobile apps and digital watches are so good at this. Their entry into the market is by providing people immediate/instant feedback - whether they are walking, running or consuming calories. The key is feedback for people to correct and achieve their goals. In the Path2X (Path to Expertise), our members achieve this through Path2X eShare.TMN members can share with friends, peers, leaders and if they wish, in the world of social media like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. We encourage TMN members to announce and celebrate their accomplishments.What is the single most compelling Benefit to TMN Members?The new world of learning is open, limitless, abundant and exponential. It is our ardent hope that TMN members experience first-hand this new learning environment. As they discover possibilities, gain insights into their expertise and interest areas and showcase their achievements, we strongly sense that members will eagerly pass on this breakthrough in learning environments to their own learners - helping them to learn better and faster.Join The All-New TrainingMagNetwork.com. Preview the video again, click here.References Gerald O. Grow. Teaching Learners To Be Self-Directed. Florida A&M University, Tallahassee.http://aeq.sagepub.com/content/41/3/125.short   Jane Bozarth. Social Media for Trainers: Techniques for Enhancing and Extending Learning. John Wiley & Sons, 30 Jul 2010. https://books.google.com.ph/books?hl=en&lr=&id=xiWi4fuOOl0C&oi=fnd&pg=PR11&dq=Jane+Bozarth&ots=KLyp2Na35O&sig=KLyMa5H8ngmbLbwLxqhCZyFlHU&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Jane%20Bozarth&f=false   Ray Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning