Open Source software does not always stay Open Source, and many of the products I’ve reviewed in the past either disappeared, were devoured by other products, were acquired by companies, or simply stopped the updates (rendering many fairly unusable). So, I’ve put together a quick list of Open Source Webinar / Web-Conferencing software. They can be downloaded, and you can customize the look and

WizIQ has developed a solution that brings together synchronous web conferencing in a "live classroom" skin, with built-in utilities and tool sets that provide a robust learning experience, with assessment as well as additional course content. Instead of just two streaming windows, there can be up to 6 live video streams. Chat, whiteboard, breakout sessions, and on-the-fly uploading of

Earlier this week, I posted my reflections to Seth Godin’s new education manifesto: Stop Stealing Dreams. I am excited to take the conversation farther with my friend and colleague, Steve Hargadon. He will be hosting a panel that includes Patrick Ferenga, Lisa Nielsen, Lisa Cooley, Lisa Nalbone, and Nikhil Goyal, asking them to share their thoughts around the topics addressed in the book including K - 12 and higher education reform, home schooling, and what parents, students, and school boards can do to affect change. (More about the panel members here) Steve addresses the importance of the conversation on his blog today: With a growing sense that something has to change, Seth Godin’s manifesto addresses the need to update outdated teaching practice. He explains, "School was invented to create a constant stream of compliant factory workers to the growing businesses of the 1900s. It continues to do an excellent job at achieving this goal, but it’s not a goal we need to achieve any longer." In his 30,000 word manifesto (information on free download and discussion options here), Seth Godin imagines a different set of goals. He warns that one thing is certain: if we keep doing what we’ve been doing, we’re going to keep getting what we’ve been getting. I hope you can join us for what promises to be a passion-driven conversation: Date: Wednesday, March 7th, 2012 Time: 4pm Pacific / 7pm Eastern / 00 (next day) GMT (international times here) Duration: 1 hour Location: In Blackboard Collaborate (formerly Elluminate). Log in at http://futureofed.info. The Blackboard Collaborate room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early. To make sure that your computer is configured for Blackboard Collaborate, please visit the support and configuration page. Recordings: The full Blackboard Collaborate and an .mp3 recording and will be available here within 48 hours of the broadcast. Related articles True, Stop Stealing Dreams, but Keep up the Foundations, too! 42 Quotes from "Stop Stealing Dreams" #manifesto by Seth Godin Stop stealing dreams. New Seth Godin Education EBook: "Stop Stealing Dreams" Stop Stealing Dreams

Thanks to improvements in access and bandwidth management, massive open online courses (MOOCs) are rapidly gaining in popularity. Two different types of MOOCs have emerged: the first, the x-MOOC, emphasizes content mastery and incorporates self-grading activities; the second, the c-MOOC, emphasizes learning through collaboration and incorporates connectivist learning theory. The x-MOOCs are

We’ve all experienced stress before, and I’m sure most of you would love some ways to deal with it. Here are some of Candace Webb’s great thoughts on stress that can benefit everyone! Enjoy! When problems exist, anxiety increases; leaders direct the focus of anxiety upon themselves to enable those around them to prosper. Unfortunately, when leaders cannot direct anxiety, anxiety influences them and impairs their cognitive state. Followers find it is hard to work in this state. This can come out in many ways, such as watching people too closely, directing anger, messing up things or ineffectively using resources at hand. When we think of intelligence, we think "smart", yet smart is very subjective. If one were measured by school achievement, they could appear intelligent in a broad range of theories, but relatively impaired when asked to do a specialized task. If someone were specialized in one task, we could look at them with disdain if we needed them for the same broad range. However, when we see someone effectively do one thing, it is easier to stand behind that person, so long as the task is related to it. This implies that people are usually effective leaders when they are capable of voiding the stress of those underneath them; simply by making something look easier, morale increases. So how do we decide what stress is for those underneath us? This is the hardest part of leadership assessment. People underneath their leaders have different concepts of stress. Some may not be able to use equipment effectively, while others excel. Others may communicate effectively while others don’t. Situations are also not clear-cut and stress is inevitable for anyone. So, if becoming an effective leader means voiding stress and stress is inevitable, what does that mean? Leaders will attempt to speak, understand and do. It is a leader’s role to make sure that they are alleviating the stress of their team, in the best way they can, at the time of the challenge. They essentially have to do two jobs: make work easier for themselves and their team. The way to make those lives underneath you easier can be done by understanding how stress is compromising them. Appearing at the core of the stress can help the team in more ways than one. People naturally fill voids when stress occurs. They mutter words or "um" when they speak, they lash out when they are angry, cry when they are overtaken, and undermine others if they feel threatened. They become less productive when they are overworked and productive when they can interact with things and get things done. Coordinate efforts at the beginning and end of the day, understand where your team is at and plug any project gaps. If you believe you are incapable of fixing something, encourage your followers to explain what they need to complete a task and take it into account. At times, they may be held back by not knowing what your limitations are and what they can do. Weigh their method to yours and define your boundaries. Doing so will ease the burden of second-guessing. It is important to foster a non-judgmental appearance; otherwise you effectively cut off true communication. Candice Webb is a leading social media expert with 10 years of experience in human resource management.  She is a major collaborator in the site Degree Jungle, a resource for college bound students. Related articles Managing Stress (californiaarbitrationassociate.wordpress.com) Stress, Anxiety, Life… What’s your FIX? (drjeffreymaehara.com) Stress: The Demon of Adaptation (saneamidthederanged.wordpress.com)

Worth Ave. Group has sent me this post that beautifully sums up digital literacy and why it is important. You might find it useful in your day to day work! _________________________________________________________________________________________ Literacy in the Digital Age Historically, literacy has been defined as having the ability to read and write. Schools were designed to ensure that students could become active, productive participants in society by helping them attain basic literacy and numeracy skills. Schools focused their efforts largely on what became known as the "three Rs" of reading, writing, and arithmetic. Today, as technology becomes more and more embedded in society and in workplaces of all kinds, I believe the age-old definition of literacy is no longer sufficient. To ensure that our students can become active, productive participants in today’s society, we must teach them not only basic literacy and numeracy skills, but we must also teach them digital literacy. I believe that digital literacy is comprised primarily of three main skills: finding information using technology, evaluating the validity of online information (and the merit of various online sources), and writing for a digital audience. The following paragraphs will examine each of these skills in more detail and point out how schools can help students to attain them. Finding Information Using Technology The single most important digital literacy skill is the ability to find information on the Internet. Elementary students should be taught how to use search engines effectively. Secondary students should be able to choose effective keywords for any search; they should also know how to use more advanced searching techniques, such as searching for information posted within a certain timeframe, using quotes to find exact phrase matches, using the subtraction sign to remove search results with an unwanted word, and so on. In today’s digital society, individuals who cannot effectively locate information on the Internet are, in many ways, functionally illiterate. Evaluating the Validity of Online Information Simply being able to locate information on the Internet is not enough; students must also be able to critique and evaluate the merit of the online material they discover. Students should be taught at an early age to use multiple sources for verification when searching for important information on the Internet. We must also teach our students how to recognize telltale signs of websites that cannot be trusted: abundant pop-up ads, masked URLs, biased organizations touting their own goods or services, and so on. (A sizable number of spoof/hoax websites also exist specifically for the purpose of teaching young students not to immediately believe everything they read on the Internet.) By the secondary grades, students’ abilities to evaluate website validity should become even more sophisticated. Secondary students should understand how to conduct a WHOIS search to determine what individual or organization owns a website and for how long that website has been running. To avoid becoming a victim of phishing or identity theft, older students must also understand the importance of HTTP Secure (HTTPS), encryption, and password security, and they should also be aware of common email scams. This type of digital literacy should be systematically and intentionally embedded within the classroom instruction of secondary schools everywhere. Writing for a Digital Audience A final, important part of digital literacy involves writing for a digital audience. Digital writing does not simply mean keyboarding on a computer rather writing on paper. Instead, students should be taught how to use hyperlinks and basic HTML tags to enhance their online writing. When writing in an interactive online space, such as a blog or wiki, students should be taught to engage the reader and pose questions that will lead to lively comments. Secondary students should be taught how to comment intelligently and appropriately on everything from Twitter to a local website’s latest news article. Older students should also understand the prevalence of "troll" behavior on the Internet, and logical fallacies (such as straw men and other red herrings) commonly found in online debates should be brought to light in classroom discussions. The Vision: Creating Digitally Literate Citizens Schools have always had the goal of developing literate, productive, empowered citizens who can lead their country into the next generation. Today, simply teaching students to read, write, and understand basic mathematics is not enough to accomplish this goal. Students must be digitally literate as well. It is critical that we find ways to get technology into students’ hands as much as possible (ideally through 1:1 classrooms), then intentionally teach them the skills I’ve described here to ensure that all of our students gain the digital literacy they will need throughout their lives. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Mark Pullen has been an elementary teacher for 13 years, currently teaching third grade in East Grand Rapids, MI. He’s a 1:1 classroom teacher writing on behalf of Worth Ave Group. Worth Ave Group provides laptop, tablet computer, and iPad insurance to schools and universities. They have been insuring schools since 1971. Related articles Digital literacy metaphors we live by (deftoer3.wordpress.com) Developing Digital Literacies (digitalliteracyuow.wordpress.com) In full bloom: Digital literacy and creative learners (deftoer3.wordpress.com)

We could be on the verge of a new Industrial Revolution -- a Fourth Industrial Revolution -- and it will be one that will use new technologies to restore and revitalize earth resources, and it will start with water. I believe that the Fourth Industrial Revolution will be an outgrowth of planetary exigency rather than human convenience or greed, although we will most certainly witness the earlier

One of the things I love most about being around young children, is their passionate and fierce sense of curiosity. It defines their genius. Why is the sky blue? Who discovered the world? How did the sun get so hot? Where did toothpaste come from? And my favorite: Are we there yet? I’m not sure exactly when it happens, but somewhere between grade school and grad school we stop relishing in the question and start celebrating answers. I never want children (or adults) to underestimate the power questions hold; especially when asked of the right people at the right time. One of my favorite lessons to teach, is the "The Art of Asking Genius Questions"; taken right from the playbook of my curiosity mentor and coach, Albert Einstein. The goal of the lesson is to help students; big and small, understand that genius is not determined by the questions you are able to answer but rather the questions you are courageous enough to ask of yourselves and of the others you lead and serve. I have found the following 12 Questions Most Important. They are the questions commonly asked by genius learners, genius leaders, genius teams and organizations, and with a little practice an be a part of your genius too. These questions come in no particular order, but each will flex your "question-asking muscles" in a way that promises to grow your strength and courage in pursuing solutions to those you lead and serve. 1. How can we make it /each other better? 2. How do we know this to be so? 3. Is this what is needed most? 4. What is it we hope to accomplish and what’s stopping us? 5. What are we most proud of? 6. What is possible? 7. When can we start? 8. How will we prevent failure? 9. Who/how can we make this happen? 10. What do we regret most? 11. How can we make the best use of…? 12. What if we…(Dream big!) If it has been a while, since your classroom or boardroom has been filled with conversations beginning this way, there are experts in our midst ready and willing to show us how it’s done: You are on the brink of brilliance, but like every great innovator, inventor, ideator and initiator…you must practice your genius. Your homework this week will be to give each of these questions a try. Don’t be afraid to ask new questions, and more importantly don’t be afraid to surround yourself with individuals brave enough put the answers to use. The possibilities are endless. Happy Wondering! This was originally posted on 12most.com

In the quest to put the puzzle pieces together to help convert the saltwater (brine) that is coproduced with gas and oil into a usable product, and help solve the problem of water shortages, polluted surface and ground water, and and a host of other issues, we are featuring interviews and technology profiles that relate to questions raised by our earlier post, Getting Started in Purifying

Image via Wikipedia After two decades, the World-Wide-Web is really starting to deliver on the promise of readily available, high-quality content for nearly every subject imaginable. Nearly all of this content is free, and is therefore "open content" ready to be used, modified, and shared again. With such a vast repository of content available, we need to come up with ways to index and share it that are meaningful to educators and address their specific goals. If these needs can be met, schools can leave expensive textbooks behind and move towards the future of Open Content. In two days, I will be joining a group of educators and industry thought leaders as a participant to Discovery Education’s Beyond the Textbook Forum to explore the implications of this Open Content Revolution.  I feel quite honored and excited to join my friends colleagues to discuss the future possibiliteis of learning that extend beyond the textbook. I want to invite you to participate virtually and share your ideas with the team  as it relates to the future of textbooks or the future of reference materials. Here are some questions to consider posting or tweeting about at using the #BeyondtheTextbook  Hashtag What materials are you currently using? Are they adequate and representative of the knowledge and expereince you want to enagage your students in? What are your thoughts about open source courseware and materials? Where is your number one place to turn, when you seek information that is beyond the scope of your textbook and curriculum materials? This week I explored this topic in  a presentation panel at the SXSW Interactive Conference in Austin, Texas. I was joined by Matt Federoff, Principal in Vail Arizona.   In 2005, he led the opening of Empire High School, called the first textbook-free school in the United States. As part of Empire’s initiative, all students are issued laptops, and technology helps form the core of their learning experience, much of which is self-directed. He was named the 2005 Arizona Technology Director of the Year and is currently involved in the Beyond Textbooks Initiative, extending the Empire methodology across all grade levels. In the following video clip, Matt shares how the New Content Revolution we are experiencing can be an opportunity for students and teachers: I look forward to your comments here and on Twitter. I will be sure to share our discoveries in a follow up post! Related Posts: David Warlick- Beyond the Textbook Richard Byrne- Beyond the Textbook Textbooks, Wikipedia, and Primary Sources Comparison Bookboon - More Than 500 Free eTextbooks Temple Project Ditches Textbooks for Homemade Digital Alternatives Is there a Future for e-textbooks in Online Courses? How to create your own textbook - with or without Apple The No-textbook Challenge: Using web resources to replace the College Text

Encouraging students to update Shakespeare for their new, urban contexts has been encouraged in theatre and in film. Baz Luhrman's Romeo+ Juliet, Gus van Sant's My Own Private Idaho immediately come to mind. It is doubly exciting to see students encouraged to update Shakespeare, make the ideas and concepts their own, and to do so in a hybrid approach that blends immersive and interactive

Guest Post: by Savannah Krause Here is a beautiful post in the spirit of Self-Injury Awareness Day to put all of you in mind of the people we can help and the people who care about. Thank you, Savannah, for this little dose of inspiration! Currently I am taking a Novels course where the class was assigned a project to do for the quarter. My teacher, Mrs. Olson, asked us each to be inspired by our free read books to create or do something that would benefit other people. All we are required to do is make it something we are passionate about; something meaningful, blog about what we are doing, show evidence through pictures, video, music, etc, and then share it with the class when we are finished. After reading the book Perfect by Ellen Hopkins, I knew I wanted my project to in someway help teens who are struggling with all different types of issues such as depression, anxiety, self-harming, eating disorders, and more. I wanted to show them somehow that they ARE important and they DO matter. My initial idea was to cover all of the mirrors in the high school with signs that have inspiring messages and quotes to let them know how important and beautiful they are to the world. As I was preparing to do this, I discovered that Self-Injury Awareness Day was on March 1st. I started to think of how I could incorporate this into my project and soon after I stumbled onto what is called the Butterfly Project. It is used to help people who self-harm to quit and has seven rules:  1. When you feel like you want to cut, take a marker, pen, or sharpies and draw a butterfly on your arm or hand. 2. Name the butterfly after a loved one, or someone that really wants you to get better. 3. You must let the butterfly fade naturally. NO scrubbing it off. 4. If you self-harm before the butterfly is gone, you’ve killed it. If you don’t, it lives. 5. If you have more than one butterfly, cutting kills all of them. 6. Another person may draw them on you. These butterflies are extra special. Take good care of them. 7. Even if you don’t cut, feel free to draw a butterfly anyways, to show your support. If you do this, name it after someone you know that cuts or is suffering right now, and tell them. It could help. When I found this, I knew I had to do something with it. So I talked to my friend Taylor, who I knew felt passionate about this issue also. We decided that we wanted to raise awareness and inform people about the Butterfly Project so they could show support. We created signs asking people to wear orange, the self-injury awareness color, and to participate in the Butterfly Project. We created an event on Facebook to spread the word faster and farther. Within a few hours there were over 1,000 people invited and at least 100 attending our event. In the next two days there were over 4,500 people invited and 600 attending! People from all over were posting on the wall and sharing their stories and saying how amazing they thought this idea was. All the support that these people showed was overwhelming. People from my own school who I had never talked to were messaging me and telling me how what I was doing was amazing and how much it meant to them. Going to school that day and seeing all the butterflies was so incredible. I had friends from other towns sending me pictures of their own butterflies and telling me how their school had even participated in it! I never expected for it to go as far as it did. Words can not describe how this experience has impacted my life. I feel so grateful that I was enabled to be such a big part of something that has helped so many people.  Related articles The butterfly project (natashanewlife.wordpress.com)

What makes much of Big Data extremely useful is the ability to integrate geospatial information, especially when tracked with time. To that end, ArcGIS is a "must have", and Python is a practical language that allows one to manipulate large data sets such as those found in databases, and that gathered via data acquisition module streams. While the "cookbook" part of the title is a bit of a

It is easier than ever to offer a Massively Open Online Course (MOOC), with platforms such as Coursera, which are designed to handle hundreds of thousands of users, and to export data in a way that can be easily used within the information systems of colleges and universities.  Coursera currently hosts and delivers content for 63 universities, and they content is in Spanish as well as in English.

Today’s great tool is a testament to how one person can make a big impact in the world! I know how important the internet has become, and what a great opportunity to make some great connections it can be, but it is always important to take a step back and look at the situation. Amitay Tweeto understood this, and has come up with a great way to remind us that, while we work on our digital literacy and build new networks, we can always take a step back and have a quiet moment. The Quiet Place Project, Amitay’s global reminder, has had huge success in spreading his peaceful message. It combines three beautifully designed interfaces that provide a hushed reminder to stop and smell the roses. Check out The Quiet Place, the opening message from the site to take a small moment for yourself, and see if it makes you feel better about your hectic schedule! The beauty in the project is its simplicity. If you are feeling stressed, you can simply click the 90 Seconds Relaxation Excercise. The message is simple; we’ve all heard it before, but in his quiet way, it can help you feel more in touch and prepare you to face the stressful world with a calm face. If you need to take a little more action to feel at peace, the newest addition to The Quiet Place, The Thoughts Room might be a huge help as well. The room lets you type all your thoughts for as long as you wants as it destroys your negative feelings with bright starbursts in the night sky. The room is a great visualization that really makes your bad feelings seem more manageable, and might make your day that much more productive! Thank you to Amitay Tweeto for your beautiful example of how something small can make a big difference. Check out The Quiet Place, contribute if you want to, listen to the beautiful background music, and see how Amitay’s wonderful message can brighten your day! Here’s Marc Aeicherts composition "One Day in August," the background music to The Thoughts Room, to get you started! Check out the quiet place so we can all have A Quiet Day!  

Many colleges and universities are moving toward competency-based education, and developing opportunities for students to earn credit based on demonstrated mastery of skills and knowledge areas. This

If you’ve ever had trouble speaking in public, this post by Elaine Hirsch should be a wonderful tool for you! Enjoy, and speak up! How to Develop Public Speaking Skills Online Public speaking is one of the most effective ways to communicate ideas and persuade people to understand your point of view. However, if you have never spoken in public before, or just have anxiety towards doing so, you may have trouble with the idea of giving a speech to a group of people. Now you can let go of that fear because there are ways to learn how to develop public speaking skills online. One way to develop your public speaking skills is to look for an online class devoted to the topic. If there is no in-person class in your area, find an online class that teaches public speaking skills. Several colleges offer online public speaking courses, including the University of Wisconsin. Its Introduction to Public Speaking course covers speech composition, delivery and effective listening skills and can help you gather the poise and confidence to become a better public speaker. It requires you to be able to record video clips and post them online with the use of a webcam, helping you learn different methods of speaking in front of an audience. Although the course may seem basic and lacking in content, prominent programs such as traditional or online MBA programs value their students’ abilities to be able to speak in public and persuade consumers or shareholders. If you cannot afford a college course, you can still take public speaking lessons online for free. One such site, School for Champions, offers a full spectrum of topics related to public speaking, including setting goals, preparing to speak, showing confidence in your delivery, and satisfying your audience. It even suggests ways to make money as a public speaker. If you dislike the structure of a classroom, you can still learn to speak in public by reading as many articles as you can about the subject. Stephen M. Fournier’s website focuses on the art and science of rhetoric and how speakers use their skills effectively. In addition, his site contains pointers about body language, speech writing, vocal intonation, and how to overcome nervousness. Most importantly, you need to practice the skills you learn in order to develop them and keep them sharp. Just as a photographer can only take better pictures through practice, you can only become good public speaker when you practice the skills you learn from one of these online sources. If you want to practice using a pre-written speech, the Internet is full of historical speeches you can use to improve your skills. The History Place offers a collection of historically significant speeches, from Patrick Henry’s "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" speech to Winston Churchill’s "Their Finest Hour" speech to President George W. Bush’s first address to the American people after 9/11. When you know what skills you need to speak in public effectively, you can overcome your fear of public speaking through study and practice. The Internet is a great place to gather the resources needed to start gaining the experience needed to speak in public.   Related articles Public speaking (shanemcmordie.wordpress.com) Public Speaking on Short Notice (podiumproapp.wordpress.com) Getting Over Stage Fright: Becoming an Effective Public Speaker (psychologytoday.com) We get a new vocabulary list for public speaking (clipboards.wordpress.com)

One might argue that it's not necessary to have a special platform for online tutoring -- after all, free platforms such as Skype and Facetime are very effective. Further, opensource web conferencing such as Big Blue Button have many of the features (whiteboard, tools, etc.), of an Adobe Connect or Omnovia. However, when it comes to locating vetted tutors and subject matter experts, it's another

I’m excited to welcome back Joe Baker with a great post on modern teaching! ________________________________________________________________________________________ Pssst! Instructors, students expect more… Old habits die hard, but some need to die faster. In a recent research presentation at the International Conference on Online Learning, findings supported what many have suspected: college instructors are neither using nor as proficient in technology as are their students. They are not widely incorporating it into their courses and their own use is of technology is significantly less than that of their students. One conclusion stated in the report was that "…(online students) are much more proficient in technology than are their online instructors." Incorporating the use of technology and the Internet into the classroom is important as it becomes an integrated part of people’s lifestyle. Here are three specific ways instructors can meet their student’s expectations of using technology in school. E-mail: Really? It’s back to the basics when it comes to instructors using technology. In this case, we mean really basic. E-mail, for many, has become a dreaded reality, not because of its ease of quickly communicating and sharing documents, but because its ease has been so misused. Stories of users turning on their devices and finding literally hundreds of messages are common, but an overwhelming amount of mail is likely the result of users having no management systems, and that’s a huge problem. Practically all e-mail systems have filters that automatically direct incoming mail to specific, prioritized folders. One highly recommended filter strategy is to direct all Fwd: messages to one folder; don’t discount your trash or junk folder for this purpose. Naturally, you’ll want to scan your subject lines before flushing or redirecting these messages, but there’s a pretty good chance that these types of messages contain a majority of low-relevancy mail. Be ruthless in your deleting! Another important practice for your email account is filtering. Use a filter to direct all e-mail from your current students into a specific folder. Make sure your students know that you sort emails by their names so they should cut and paste rather than Fwd: messages. Using e-mail to generate group messages, share common files and address individual questions is a good use of e-mail, so don’t neglect this grand old technology - manage it! Content Management Systems (CMS) When your think CMS, think Cloud. Google Docs and Dropbox are two of the most popular, cloud-based CMS programs on the market, and many schools have their own cloud platforms that allow for collaborative file sharing. Think of the times circumstances have necessitated changing a syllabus, but process to make the changes is daunting, so it’s easier to just leave things as they are. With a CMS, such changes are relatively simple. If you are teaching online classes, group work can be greatly enhanced by sharing common documents with your students. You can manage the documents to access projects and evaluate student progress. Using a cloud system is also helpful to your students because hard-drive crashes and other incidences are sometimes unavoidable. Having the work available on the cloud saves time and stress. Saving documents on the cloud is a good skill to both practice as an instructor and teach to students. Digital Textbooks (e-books) Surprisingly, e-textbooks have had a slow acceptance record by students, but that trend is quickly changing. If you’re not using e-texts, invest a little time in locating appropriate digital text materials. The obvious place to begin this search is with your current bound copy’s publishing company. The cost saving to students is just one good reason to use a digital text. If you DO use digital text, be sure that your e-book isn’t simply an electronic duplicate of the regular text. In many cases it is, and if you can’t find a better replacement, you’ll want to begin developing additional online resources to augment your regular text - another good reason to take the time to find an e-text with value added features already present - such as student self-tests, videos underscoring core concepts, and other interactive assets. The future is now Knowing how to effectively use the most common forms of technology for teaching is not - as if it ever were - an optional part of teaching. If you’re hesitant, it’s time to face facts. Education is changing for everyone and even the seasoned instructor needs to leave their comfort zone and make their good content even better. This isn’t about changing for change’s sake, as is too often the case in education, but rather an opportunity to be more professional in both delivery and impact for students, the reason most instructors chose teaching in the first place.   Related articles Three Teaching Thoughts on Lectures and Textbooks (mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com) Crowdsourcing the Textbook: Terminology, Technology, and Technique (onlinecollege.org) Instant Messaging Found to Slow Students’ Reading (education.com)

The ultimate goal of data mining is not the acquisition of data, but the exploration and analysis  of massive amounts of data resulting in patterns, rules, and relationships. One of the key outcomes is the identification of reliable and meaningful patterns. Meaningful patterns can do the following: * Model typical behaviors * Identify atypical behaviors * Express possible cause and effect

Personalized service is such a rarity in the marketplace. In a sea of automated recordings, generic emails, and anonymous service representatives - true customer service is not only a luxury; it is often a shock to the system. Case and point. I recently stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel in Boston. I had a minor (and I emphasize the minor) mixup with my online reservation. The staff was wonderfully accommodating and took care of everything when I arrived. Quick, immediate, apologetic, and done. Great customer service right? Imagine my surprise when, I came back to the room later that evening to this beautiful site.   My first I thought - this must be a mistake. Somewhere in another room, a guest is going to receive a wonderful treat. I called the front desk wanting to make sure the"intended guest" still had time to enjoy their gifts.  As I was dialing, I glanced at the card and saw my name.  In shock, I hung up the phone. The front desk rang me back (of course) again apologizing for any inconvenience this minor incident caused me, wanting to make sure I knew how valued my patience and consideration was. What…they valued my patience and consideration???  I had long forgotten the "incidence".  I thought I was being "punked" by my husband or friend. Nope…they meant it.  Imagine that; someone going out of their way to make sure I left happy and satisfied with their service. WOW- almost unheard of these days! Glad they put this in writing, or I would think it was a dream: Although, I appreciated and loved these special gifts; she "had me at Angela."  I was a return customer at, "I’m Sorry."  So few brands take the time and energy for those basics. That is all people are looking for- to be noticed and acknowledged; to matter- right? Luxury is no longer defined by the quality of your product or zeros on your price tag. It is defined by your ability to meet and exceed the needs of customers. How do you provide "luxurious" service to those you lead and serve?   Related articles Customer Service: Before and After (themarlincompany.com) Why Just Service Customers When You Can Engage Them? (community.constantcontact.com) Do You Have Welcomers Working for You? (smallbiztrends.com) Mar 26, Good Customer Service: Define Customer Service and Understand Impact on Business (more-for-small-business.com) Leap Year Lesson #103: Companies Need Customer Service Like Granny Provides (jeffrossblog.com) The Evolution of Customer Service (socialmediachat.wordpress.com) Educate All Your Employees to be Brand Ambassadors (themarlincompany.com) Shirt-off-my-back customer service (theorganizedexecutiveblog.com)

MOOCs for creative writing require innovative instructional strategies, and textbooks that combine prompts, examples, and flowcharts. Certain presses (such as Texture Press) are making innovative textbooks available, in both as a free e-book (Writing for Human Relations), and at low-cost printed format (Poems for the Writing: Prompts for Poets). Welcome to an interview with Lynn Levin, Drexel

Thanks to Tim Stokman for reminding us all how fun education and documentaries can be! Remember those good old times when the teacher used to roll the television set into the classroom, to play documentaries about biology and geology and physics? Well, "good old times" seems a little bit too nostalgic here, especially for a kid from the 80’s, because I’m pretty sure they still play them every now and then, using more modern media like DVD’s. When the teacher pressed the play button and the video started rolling, the whole class literally went mute. Before we could realize what happened, we were all sucked into a world where David Attenborough was our teacher, and the tropical rainforest our classroom. We visited laboratories, museums and even went inside plants to see how chlorophyl worked, and we still had time for supper that day! Most kids, including me of course, were hungry for more by the time the credits started rolling. What makes documentaries great? What makes documentaries so engaging and captivating? What made all us kids sit down and watch in awe for more than one full hour? If you have a child, you know this is something impossible to do, right? No child can sit silent for even one minute, let alone an hour. To understand this better, let’s look at what a documentary really is. A documentary is a montage of sights and sounds from different sources, ranging from radio and television to rare footage from extreme and unreachable places, all with the aim of documenting reality. The key concept here is "reality": A documentary feels so real and concrete, unlike a chalkboard, which only portrays the abstract. Add to this special effects, and you truly have a unique experience here. It appeals to all five senses: Sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. The latter three are generated by our own brain, our imagination, our sixth sense if you will. Documentaries spark interest and enthusiasm, precisely because our brains are completely engaged with the material being presented. Learning becomes easy and fun, because our attention is fixed while our senses are constantly being stimulated. We form (emotional) memories of what we like, so the stage for future career choices and future creativity for you children could be set here. Education with documentaries Documentaries are a great supplementary tool for educators and teachers alike. As a documentary buff, I’ve been using them for myself and my kids for years with amazing results. However, they are not there to replace you. Like I said: They are just tools, and like any other tool, they should be used with caution and skill. Documentaries have a couple of crucial shortcomings, and I will discuss them here. First, the problem of objectivity. A good documentary filmmaker will always document reality as objectively as possible, but some can be very subjective as well, especially when they have some kind of political agenda in mind. There is no such thing as peer review in the world of documentaries, so anybody can produce anything. Always watch a documentary yourself before you show it to your kids. I know from experience that many can be misleading. Another problem is that watching documentaries is a very unsocial activity. Keep in mind that documentaries will never offer real valuable human contact and warmth. Always limit the amount of documentary time to your kids and students. Once or twice a week should be enough. Fill in the rest of their time with more social activities. A third problem I see with documentaries has to do with passivity. It’s no different from watching tv, because it offers no interactivity at all. It’s all very linear and absolutely no engagement is required, which kind of dulls the little brains a little bit. We don’t want our children just sitting there and watching all the time, right? We want to keep their minds sharp, and this can only be done with more interactivity. Fortunately, this problem is tackled by interactive web documentaries which I will cover in another post. Tim Stokman is the founder of DocumentaryZ.com, a website where you can watch free documentaries online. In his spare time, he raises three kids and watches documentaries.