If you have never been to a real Irish wedding, know that it is a marathon. Before the wedding begins, the families stroll the graveyard on the property to pray over or talk with the relatives who have passed. Generally there is a beautiful morning wedding in a stone church complete with haunting Irish music played and sung by relatives. After the wedding, it's a quick visit to the local pub or a visit to an elder relative who may serve you Jameson in a juice glass before noon. Mid afternoon, you're off to the reception which usually has Happy Hour, Dinner, Happy Hour, Dancing and Happy Hour on repeat, sometimes for multiple days. This proverb explains it all "An Irishman is never drunk as long as he can hold onto one blade of grass and not fall off the face of the earth." I have never been to a wedding in the US like this. Everyone is family at these events and celebration means reconnecting. Even the children are treated to presents and fun as shown by my little cousin Michael (right). As demonstrated by our current elections and global politics, it's become very easy to hate people we don't know and even some we do. We're pretty thrilled with wishing limping on others. Even at work, we make up stupid things in our head about people and we suspend them into always being that person that did that thing. With all the multitasking and chaos at work, people are isolated and tired, triggering more judgment, comparison and disconnect. "Us Against Them" is an evil but easy game when nothing else is getting done but hate and discontent. I do not believe this is the best use of our time.   

Think your organization is too young, hip, and fresh to have baby boomers on its books? Think again. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately 59,000 Americans over the age of 60 are currently enrolled in colleges and universities. A recent report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project estimates that 70 percent of people aged 50 to 64 uses the Internet, and 33 percent of people over 65 do the same. Oh and also, did we mention that those over 50 are the fastest growing demographic online? According to Immersion Active, that’s a fact. Wow. If your eLearning audience are baby boomers then, how do you design eLearning courses that cater to their needs? Well, let’s have a look. What follows is our guide to eLearning design for the baby-boomer audience.

As the amount of tablet and smartphone users continues to rise, it’s clear that preparing responsive courses will help you get your content into more hands. Need an easy way to create responsive courses? The recently released Lectora® 16 with new Responsive Course Design™ (RCD) helps you seamlessly take your eLearning to multiple devices. With 5 different device orientations to design for, you’re ready to take a step into the modern mobile learning trend. But what if you have course content from before Lectora 16? How do you migrate your desktop-based eLearning into a new responsive design? I’ve thought about this and come up with a few considerations to be aware of as you make that move into RCD. Don’t Copy and Paste Lectora has made it very easy to make your old courses responsive. Instead of copying and pasting all of your content over to a new responsive title, which can break some functionality, just go to the "Design" ribbon, select "Title Options" from the "Title Setup" box on the left, and check "Enable Responsive Title." Lectora will then add a responsive bar to the top of your work area with 5 different device views, and will even scale your existing objects to fit logically in each view! Desktop First Thinking first and foremost about your desktop version every time you make a change is the easiest way to build or adjust your content. Seems odd, considering that we’re trying to make something responsive, right? Well, there’s a good (and helpful!) reason for it. Anything you edit in the desktop views will be inherited by the tablet and phone views. Anything you edit in the tablet views also will be inherited by the phone views. The more work you do in the desktop view, the less you have to worry about in the other views. It’s also interesting to note that you shouldn’t have to worry about changing anything in the portrait tablet view because it is exactly the same size as the desktop view. (Well, you might want to change any rollover actions to be mobile friendly "tap/select.") Utilize Scrolling Lectora will automatically resize everything in your course to fit the preset device sizes, but this can make some things, especially text, very small and hard to read. Luckily, the majority of people expect to be scrolling when viewing something on their tablet or phone, so you can increase the page height and Lectora will allow that view to be scrolled. This allows you to fit everything you need into your course without sacrificing any content. Auto-playing Audio If you have audio in your course, keep in mind that it will not auto-play when viewed on mobile, as mobile browsers don’t really support this feature. You will need to add a button that triggers the audio if you are building a responsive project. Design From the Title Level Downward Put as much as you can on the title level and take the time to make sure all of the objects look and function as they should in each of the views. These objects will be inherited by each of your pages, so you won’t have to worry about changing them multiple times. RIP Flash Flash will not work on mobile devices, so you will need to remove any Flash interactions you have or convert them to HTML5. There are a few free programs around the internet that will do this if you need some help. Speaking of help, here at the eLearning Brothers HQ we’ve got loads of templates available to help you get started on a fresh responsive course. The best part is that they’re already included with Lectora 16! For that reason alone, it makes sense to start exploring what RCD can do for you. What kinds of things do you think about as you migrate your older eLearning content into something newer? Share with us and let us know! Don’t forget to take a look at what else is new in Lectora 16. Editor’s Note: Brother Andrew from the eLearning Brothers kindly stopped by to share his eLearning knowledge with our readers. Interested in using the eLearning Brothers templates in Lectora? Download a free 30-day trial of Lectora Inspire. The post Adjusting an Older Lectora Project for Responsive Course Design appeared first on .

Every day you hear the news. Another corporate pro has gone freelance. It’s easy to want to follow in their footsteps and succumb to the siren call of being your own boss, calling the shots, making your own schedule, etc. But even more than you want to revel in that freelancing freedom, you don’t want to be a freelance failure. What is a freelance failure? It’s Joe from floor six who thought he was ready, thought he had it all figured out, and then six months into freelancing, he’s endlessly hitting "Refresh" on those LinkedIn job listings. Just couldn’t hack it. Don’t be a freelance failure. Ask yourself these two questions before you march over to your boss and tell her what you really think about the stinky tuna sandwiches she eats in the lunchroom every day. There’s no coming back after that, so you better be ready to freelance then. Do you have a business plan?  If you’re considering becoming an eLearning freelancer, you’re probably bursting with knowledge and experience in instructional design, authoring tools, and teaching methods. (If you’re not, we have a great eLearning 101 eBook you might want to check out.) But are you also an expert on running a business? To be a freelancer, you’re going to have to learn how to balance the books, negotiate for jobs, market yourself, and more. Figure out how much you’re going to charge, how many hours a week you want to work, and make sure you have a solid business plan in place before you quit your day job! What’s your USP? Not to be confused with the United Parcel Service (UPS), a USP is your "unique selling proposition." It’s your angle, your hook, your thing that ONLY YOU can offer to a client. For example, maybe you already have a lot of experience creating eLearning content for veterinary technicians. This can be your niche. You can position yourself as the foremost expert in vet tech training. Knowing your strengths allows you to focus marketing efforts on that target demo and gives you an easy answer to "Why should I hire you instead of some other eLearning freelancer? So, are you ready? If so, congrats! We look forward to hearing your freelancing tales in the Trivantis® Community—and seeing some samples of your work. Not quite there yet? Check out our other freelancing articles for more tips: How to Set Your eLearning Freelancing Rate 5 Tips for Promoting and Pitching Yourself as an eLearning Freelancer The post These 2 Questions Will Determine if You’re Ready to Freelance appeared first on .

  Eugene Cheng is the co-founder and creative lead of HighSpark (formerly Slide Comet), a strategic presentation consultancy serving Fortune 500 companies like Panasonic, Dentsu, Nike. A self-confessed presentation obsessive, he relishes in building compelling visual content for his agency’s channel and his personal channel on SlideShare and is also a Keynote Author ( top 1% of SlideShare). Marketing a course is hard especially if you don’t already have a list. Most people try selling on FB or Twitter or paying for ads. Getting the word out in the marketplace is a complicated feat especially if you have limited resources and lack the technological know-how of marketing your next online course. For a low-cost way to target your audience, I highly recommend you give SlideShare a shot - a platform that sees more than 70 million visitors a month with 500% more business owners than all the other existing platforms like Facebook Twitter or Linkedin. The Case for Slideshare Over the past couple of years, I’ve gotten more than 2M views on my agency channel and more than 400+ subscribers every month as a result. Now take a second to imagine what that could mean for you filling up seats to your course. High Authority Slideshare is a high authority site (top 100+ in the world) and sees more than half its traffic from direct search. This means that traffic you get from it are people actively looking for the type of content you put out. Visual Content Visual content has seen a crazy amount of uptake. For instance: Researchers found that colored visuals increase people’s willingness to read a piece of content by 80%. ( Source: Xerox ) This is precisely the reason why entrepreneurs are rethinking and tweaking how visual content marketing strategy can overhaul their business - with the integration of Slideshare. What this means for you is a new and powerful medium to build your brand and market your course. Embeddable Links Another great feature is that you can embed links and strategize call to actions within your presentations to drive traffic to and from your SlideShare. With extensive traffic, lead generation opportunity and brand-building capabilities, there’s real cause for you to start exploring SlideShare as a course-marketing medium. 1. Just Start Collecting Leads! If you’re familiar with the AIDA framework in funnel marketing, you’ll hardly ever get a sale from the get-go if your audience member has never come across your work or your brand before. The concept behind the AIDA model, which is an acronym that stands for Attention-Interest-Desire-Action, is a system used by the best influencers in the industry to build their revenue funnels from scratch. This sets up your target audience to take part in your online course. The AIDA system runs this way in the case of SlideShare: You start by capturing your target audience’s attention. Your SlideShare’s cover page needs to be arresting and motivate audiences to interact with it. Next, you build up the momentum or interest by getting them hooked into the course offering through your SlideShare’s content. Engaging them to be curious or excited about what you have to offer. Moving your audience further down the sales funnel, your presentations go about stirring up desire - a link to your opt-in page from your SlideShare. Driving your leads towards signing up and sealing the deal - target conversions or action. This can mean a sale of a lower-ticket product or even your course. It’s funny how some people put tons of effort into creating content for SlideShare but never collect information about their viewers. Trade emails for free stuff SlideShare’s LeadShare is meant to help you collect details of your leads. The problem is that the cost-per-lead is really expensive ( i.e. $8 per lead ). Creating your own landing page using software like Leadpages or Pagewiz is a more cost-efficient way to start collecting those leads. By incentivizing them with lead magnets or free valuable stuff and subsequently moving them down your funnel, you’ll have a much higher chance of selling your course as opposed to going in Rambo with "Buy my course" on your t-shirt. Embed anywhere Of course, the beautiful thing about SlideShare is that it’s embeddable on different sites. Sites you own and those you don’t. Imagine your SlideShare on multiple platforms collecting information for your lead magnets on auto-pilot. This works especially well when you’re able to get guest post opportunities on high-traffic blogs and related sites. Talk about scaling up your marketing efforts for your course. 2. Be Strategic with your Links Just because viewers are unlikely to purchase your course from the get-go, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t, at least, try to sell to audiences that are ready to buy. The great thing about SlideShare is that you can place multiple links throughout your deck. So it pays to be strategic with the real estate in the pages of your SlideShare. You can place live links starting from the fourth (4th) slide up until the end by adding them through software like Keynote or PowerPoint to make these clickable within the SlideShare. The type of links that you use will be dependent on your ‘objectives’. In this case, it could be a variety of things that eventually lead to the sale of your course: a)  Link to your course or other purchase Linking to your course is the most obvious and direct way to lead a viewer to your landing page to try to sell them your course. Unfortunately, they’re not always ready to buy, even for those that are actually interested. Make each slide irresistible and worth the click. Do deep linking to ease your audience towards more valuable content. You can embed videos of a pilot course tutorial or a free trial to give your audience a teaser of what they will expect from the full course. Try offering a discount especially for SlideShare users who find out about your course through the platform. This gives them an impetus to start taking action on the spot instead of looking to find out more if they are already primed for the purchase. b)  Link to your lead magnet The open end of your funnel is going to be your best bet at getting their details and eventually selling them the course through a nurturing email sequence and a line of lower-ticket products. This is one link you can’t do without. Try to lock in the course offer by enabling a free download of your Slideshare presentation in pdf form which also increases opt-ins. You can also offer pre-orders of an ebook or a course primer. You must look at content marketing as a marathon, not a sprint. In most cases it’ll take some time to see the results. So be patient if you are not immediately getting enough leads on the first deck. To increase your chances, be sure to make your links to lead magnets are really obvious - think big buttons and visuals. Additionally, don’t ask for too much information unless you’re trying to qualify them. The less information you ask for- the more likely people would want to participate. Once you get their email addresses, you can start shooting emails and remarket your course offering or future SlideShares.  You may not get to close the deal today but it doesn’t mean you won’t get a ‘YES’ later. c) Link to a sharing enabler If your viewer isn’t ready to buy, why waste the engagement? Enable them to share your SlideShare through a well-placed link to a service like ClickToTweet. This way, even if they decide not to purchase your course, you’ll, at least, get a shot at their friends or colleagues. Be strategic with where you place these, though. ClickToTweet buttons are better placed with quotable slides with brief phrases. Using these outlets, you get to spread the word without breaking a sweat. No leads are wasted with the right strategy in place. 3. Preview the course An indirect way to prime the person viewing your presentation is to include material from the course that you’re putting out. Don’t give away the whole forest of course, but give them just enough value to whet their appetite to start finding out more about you and your course. You can insert actual slide content from your online course (assuming you use slides) to give them a taste of what you have to offer and also to boost your credibility as an expert in the industry. Knowing what’s actually in your course helps them to reduce the mental obstacle of perceived risk before making a decision to spend money on your offering. Giving your audiences a taste of what’s to come will help you create hype for your upcoming course and make them more open to your ideas. 4. Get discovered through SEO 50% of SlideShare’s traffic comes via direct search traffic. This is great news because if you optimize your SlideShare for the right keywords, you’ll be able to attract a crowd that is actively searching for the content angle that you’re writing and perhaps the course topic that you’re putting out. Hours of burning the midnight oil with creating content would lead to minimal results if you fail to optimize your SlideShares for SEO - to get it right on the front page of major search engines. The easy way out of course is to pick popular keywords. Unfortunately, many people try to weigh-in for competitive keywords making it extremely difficult to rank. Opt for the low-hanging fruit instead.  Beef up your presentations by selecting keywords that have medium to high traffic and low competition to squeeze generous link juice from a high authority site like Slideshare. Check out Google Keyword Planner and search for long-tail keywords that may not have significant monthly searches but has lower competition. Ranking for the right keywords doesn’t just drive targeted traffic to your SlideShares and boost brand visibility, it also ensures that you are attracting the right people who are actually interested in your course offering and subsequently drive more opt-ins or sales. Here’s what you have to do to increase your Slideshare presentations’ discoverability: Hook your audience with a compelling title that has the right keywords. Your headline will appear as the main header in search engine result pages (SERPs) as well as in your Slideshare presentations’ URL. Make sure that you use the right keywords along with a striking headline to capture the attention of your target audience right away. Create a relevant description. This is your time to play up with words - be sales-y but keep it short. Incorporate the right keywords to generate traffic. Use tags. You can easily draw in organic traffic with the use of meta-tags. You can integrate up to 20 tags per presentation. Include terms that will amplify your presence on SlideShares internal search function for your angle and improve discoverability of your slides. Transcript. Make sure that your presentation is keyword-rich and there is variation in content to improve its searchability factor. SlideShare is an excellent platform that’s worked for not just me but many others to generate leads, rank on SEO, and it can help you garner interest for your course if you know how to optimize it to your advantage. The distinction here is to remember that SlideShare is not yet a silver-bullet solution, but when used in conjunction with your other marketing touch points, it can pack a powerful punch in marketing your course. If you’d like a starting point to better presentations online and offline, we made a template based off our SlideShare that got 20,000 views and 300 social shares within a week for you to swipe for FREE!   The post How To Use Slideshare To Market Your Online Courses appeared first on Thinkific.

One of the biggest reasons why people might not be buying your online course is because of the risk. Many people are wary of paying for something online and, for things like online courses, it’s hard to tell if they’ll benefit from it until they pay up. By offering a money-back guarantee you reduce the risk for your customers and make it a no-brainer to buy your course. Today, on Teach Online TV, we talk a bit more about how money-back guarantees work along with some case studies. So the biggest concern course creators have with offering money-back guarantees is that people will abuse it and get refunds after completing the course. On the contrary, I actually find that money-back guarantees work exceptionally well and people very rarely actually cash in on them, especially if you’re providing some real value to them. One of the reasons to do a money-back guarantee is it actually removes the risk when someone is considering purchasing your product. From their point of view, the biggest risk they have is that they pay money upfront but they don’t get what they expect back for it. So when you offer a money back guarantee on your course or on your product, you’re taking on that risk, and it makes it that much easier for them to purchase your product. Plus as I said, very few people actually exercise money back guarantees and, if they do, it’s often very much upset by the additional conversions that you get by offering a money-back guarantee. Now for a few specifics around doing this. Some people do a no questions asked money back guarantee. That works quite well. You can also add a bit of fine print where you make sure that people have actually completed the course or done the homework or gone through the exercises before they can get their money back. Another really interesting one that I love is Ramit Sethi who does an 110% money back guarantee. Now Ramit’s course is about making sure that you’re going to earn some additional income by building a new business. If you don’t achieve that goal, then he actually gives you an 110% back guarantee! It’s a really uniquely way of going about it but I’m sure it helps drive his conversion rates up and completely removes that perception of risk because people are guaranteed a return on their investment even if they fail. So I definitely recommend you trying out the money back guarantee to see what kind of an effect it has on your conversion rates. You have nothing to lose other than a couple of refunds and then you can always turn it off if it doesn’t work for you. From what I’ve seen, money back guarantees work exceptionally well and your customers appreciate it because it addresses their concerns about paying for your product. And when they start to see value out of it, they feel even more comfortable with you as a someone that they want to work with and trust. The post Teach Online TV #11: Sell More Courses With A Money-Back Guarantee appeared first on Thinkific.

We are hearing a lot recently about search engines for kids. This is a tricky issue when we get into issues of social justice and certain groups of people and topics being omitted from searches. No matter what, we always need to be vigilant with our students when it comes to searching the internet. I […]

There are two models that I regularly use when explaining how organizations need to integrate learning and working in the network era. Individuals need to master the ability to negotiate social networks, communities of practice, and teams doing complex or creative work. Personal knowledge mastery is the individual skill, while working out loud helps groups stay in close contact with the work flow. Everyone needs to be adept at cooperating in the openness of social networks in order to be open to possible innovative ideas. At the same time these workers have to be focused co-creating value at work. They also need to find a trusted middle ground to test new ideas. Communities of practice become a business necessity and a professional development imperative. This is the network learning model. Another model is the triple operating system, inspired by Valdis Krebs. This looks at network learning from the organizational perspective. Systems and practices need to be put in place so that workers can practice PKM while at work. This ensures awareness of the external environment. Workers also require communities of practice so they can examine multiple alternatives in emerging practices or determine how to deal with changing situations. Given a higher degree of awareness, and a greater number of viable alternatives, the organization can take action in a more coherent manner, taking into account the complex nature of the network era.

In The Three Value Conversations, Erik Peterson, Tim Riesterer, Conrad Smith, and Cheryl Geoffrion present an alternative sales technique. Instead of pushing their products or services, salespeople should have value conversations with their prospects to engage them more effectively. They must do their research, understand their buyers’ business needs, and present solutions that speak to the buyers’ values and interests. For the conversations to be successful, salespeople must differentiate themselves from the competition, justify their solutions, and emphasize the value for themselves and their customers. According to the authors: Most selling takes place during conversations. While these conversations need to appear casual, in actuality they take careful planning and research. Salespeople must be able to help their customers establish a buying vision by getting customers to do something different. Disrupting the status quo, or showing a buyer that the pain of living with the present situation will be greater than the pain of making a change, is key to a successful value conversation. Discovering buyers’ unconsidered needs-that is, helping buyers identify things they did not already know about their business situations-will enable salespeople to differentiate themselves from the competition. Customers are concerned about business needs; they want to have conversations about solutions to situations caused by external factors and business initiatives. Salespeople must do their research, using available annual reports and earnings statements, to discover trends in prospects’ businesses. Salespeople must be confident enough to achieve pivotal agreements throughout the selling process while conveying the true value of what they have to offer. To learn more, please visit http://www.bizsum.com

Have you ever struggled to create a topic outline for a chapter in your course? Did you worry you may have missed something or added concepts a bit out of scope? Or, have you been working on volumes of content, trying to divide it into chapters and topics? Grouping content in categories in not enough to create eLearning courses! Follow this article to create a complete and meaningful topic for your next eLearning course. A topic is a single unit of an eLearning course that accomplishes one learning objective. A topic contains the activities and assessments that enable the learner to achieve mastery in the learning objective. A topic is the key feature of your eLearning course where active learning takes place. How do you create an effective topic? eLearning courses cannot be similar to a podcast or a video, where the boundaries of a topic are defined by the length of the video. eLearning courses are interactive and a lot of the learning depends on the learner. Topics need to be well-defined and complete. They need to revise previous materials and prepare for upcoming ones. There are several strategies for developing topics available to eLearning developers, and the following 8 elements that lead to effective topic design will help you quickly create topics while ensuring that you are covering all the required items. 1. Objective: This is a statement of what the topic will accomplish. This is usually one of the learning objectives of the entire course. This statement should remind the learners of exactly that; they should know that they are working on the Nth learning objective and that they are getting closer to the learning goal. This statement can be followed by sub-objectives if the overall objective is too complex for a single topic. The learning objectives are basically used to design your assessment items. They are also used to tie your chapters and topics with learning objectives so that your learners understand the relevance of each chapter. Explain to your learners that, by the end of the course, they will have mastered the following objectives. 2. Title: This is the label of the topic. It must be clear enough to convey what the topic is offering. Titles are the first "hooks" of your course. Make sure they describe how the course is tied to the life of the learner. Will the course help learners perform better at work? Will it make them better in some other aspect? Titles can also include the time duration in which this change is expected to happen. They shouldn’t be long. You need to be very brief when writing titles, and they shouldn’t be too complex, otherwise learners might get lost in jargon or ambiguity. One of the best ways to add to a title is to use a descriptive image with it. A supporting image will help describe the title better. 3. Introduction: This is a transition into the content of the topic. It welcomes the learner and provides some background and context for a more gradual beginning. This is the next important "hook" of the course. In fact, your introduction is like the first page of a novel. If the page jumps out at you and takes you inside the book, you definitely want to read it till the end. And that’s exactly what a page-turner is. In our case, create a strong introduction that has an emotional impact on the learner. Convince them that they are in the right place (your course). Use real-world multimedia like snippets of a video to support your text in the introduction. 4. Tests: Assessments that test the achievement of the objectives and the sub-objectives taught in the topic need to be fair in terms of adhering to the objectives and bearing the grading weight. Learners need to feel that what they were taught a short while ago is enough to complete the test, while still seeing the usefulness with real-world questions. Always include the topics to be included in a test. 5. Activities: These are the informal tests that allow the learner to absorb knowledge offered, apply the knowledge to a given real-world scenario and further connect this new knowledge with his or her existing knowledge, thus ensuring retention, which is after all, what we’re going for! 6. Summary: This is the section where the main points covered in the activities are summarized and recapped. This section should be an overview of the entire topic and can also be printed as a job aid. Summaries are the most viewed pages of an eLearning course. Learners use them to revise and as checkpoints, to compare with the learning objective achieved at that point of the course. 7. Links: These are the external resources to supplement the topic. Be careful with links, always check they’re working whenever revising the course. Try not to overdo it with "nice to know" links, at least without stating it clearly. 8. Metadata: These are usually entered as descriptive text or keywords that help learners and instructors find the topic when searching within a large eLearning program. eLearning topics reflect the quality of your eLearning courses. A course evaluator would investigate the depth and width of a topic to determine how good of a unit it would make for a given eLearning program. Create a complete topic with these 8 elements and enjoy better ROI, improved retention and of course, happier learners! The post 8 Elements of an Effective Topic appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

As the notable Scottish politician, Walter Elliot, once said: "Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other." In other words, it takes grit and determination to achieve true success in life, and the same rule applies to eLearning experiences. In this article, I’ll explore the basics of "grit" and why it is such a valuable resource in eLearning. The Power Of Grit In eLearning According to Angela Duckworth, a leading researcher in the field of psychological "grit", the trait possesses two key characteristics. First and foremost, an individual with grit will pursue a goal, even if there are obstacles standing in their way. They will use their willpower and self-determination to see it through to fruition. Secondly, a "gritty" individual will not abandon a goal or task simply because another task or goal appeals to them at the moment. For example, they would not leave their goals by the wayside just to pursue a fad or trend. Grit in eLearning is essential as it gives the online learner the power to walk through the 6 steps of the eLearning process. 1. Overcome learning obstacles People who have grit in eLearning don’t let obstacles stand between them and their goals. They understand that nothing worthwhile is easy to achieve, and that you have to put in a lot of hard work and dedication to get what you want. Grit in eLearning gives your online learners the power and focus to tackle the challenges that come their way and never give up, even if the task may seem almost impossible to accomplish. In fact, a challenge typically makes them work even harder to prove that they have what it takes to get through it. Someone who lacks grit may simply click away from a scenario if it becomes too difficult, while an online learner who does have it would try out different solutions and decision paths until they reached the best outcome. 2. Turn mistakes into opportunities Someone who has grit doesn’t view a mistake as a failure, but as a chance to grow as a person. They understand that every struggle is an opportunity to learn something new about themselves, develop new skills, or gather new information that can help them in the future. Mistakes are nothing to be feared; on the contrary, they give us the ability to test ourselves and identify our weaknesses. Once we know our areas for improvement, we can then modify our behaviors or mindsets to turn them into strengths. 3. Pursue their purpose with passion One of the most significant benefits of having grit in eLearning is being able to pursue everything with a passion. These individuals know what they want out of life and aren’t afraid to dive into every eLearning experience, even if a risk of failure is involved. For example, if they want to step up the corporate ladder and get a promotion, then they will go above and beyond to upskill and fill performance gaps so that they are the ideal candidate. Once they set their sights on something, it is very difficult to change their mind or steer them in another direction. This can also make them a bit headstrong and stubborn, however, as they prefer to deal with problems and challenges on their own and won’t willingly ask for help. 4. Develop self-control It takes a great deal of dedication and self-control to achieve challenging goals. You must resist the temptation to give up when the going gets tough, or to take the easy way out. Those who possess grit usually have a significant amount of self-control and are always trying to improve upon it. They are also able to self-regulate, which means that they have the power to balance their emotions and think logically. In other words, they don’t let their hearts rule their heads. They may be passionate about their goals, but they know that staying cool, calm, and collected is the only way to achieve them. It is important to mention that self-control must be paired with intrinsic motivation, or else the online learner won’t have any reason to strive for their goals. 5. Achieve long-term goals These individuals aren’t interested in easy, short-term goals that offer instant gratification. Instead, they look for long-term goals that lead to the optimal outcome, even if it means they are going to have to endure hardships and struggles along the way. For example, they might enroll in an optional eLearning course because they know it will take them one step closer to eventually becoming a manager. They can see how each milestone they achieve is part of the larger plan, instead of only seeing the immediate consequences or benefits of their actions. After accomplishing each milestone they will start strategizing on how they are going to reach the next, and so on. 6. Demand the best from themselves "Gritty" individuals don’t judge others or criticize them for their mistakes. They do, however, demand the best from themselves. Even if they aren’t able to achieve their goals or complete the task, they still hold themselves to high standards and expect nothing less than excellence. It’s not about being perfect or flawless. Instead, people with grit are constantly looking for ways to improve themselves and achieve success on their own terms. They accept the fact that they are only human, but they don’t use that as an excuse to give up when the outlook is grim. Grit in eLearning is all about willpower, determination, and focus on mastering the information provided by the eLearning course. If your online learners have it, they are more likely to achieve their objectives and reach their true potential. Even if obstacles threaten to slow them down or make the process more challenging, grit allows them to see it through to the end, and get the most out of the eLearning experience. Intrinsic motivation is one of the key characteristics of "grit", which makes it a key component of successful eLearning experiences. Read the article Intrinsic Motivation In Online Training to discover 6 tips that can help you integrate intrinsic motivation into your online training courses. The post What Ιs "Grit" In eLearning Αnd Why Your Online Learners Need It To Succeed appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

Tim Ferris. This gentleman’s name has been popping up everywhere in my life lately. I thought he was just the author of a fun cookbook called the 4-Hour Chef that my boyfriend and I enjoyed using in the kitchen. Recently a peer of mine pointed out that he is the epitome of accelerated learning. I went back to my copy of 4-Hour Chef and looked through the introduction. Sure enough, this book was much, much more than a cookbook. I have since read through more of his books, his blogs posts, listened to his podcasts, and watched his videos. (You can see most of this here.) Forbes magazine wrote a great article about Ferris’s TV show and his accelerated learning practices that contain the two main points that I find extremely interesting as an instructional designer. First, the brain learns through patterns. By learning a little of several skills, instead of learning to an expert-level in one skill, a person is more likely to see the patterns between the skills and apply the knowledge. The example the article provides is how to master fear. Ferris learned a calming technique when learning to surf and found that technique was valuable when learning other skills such as performing in front of an audience. As instructional designers, aren’t we always telling personal stories and providing "realistic" scenarios so that learners can visualize how the information should be applied? Well, this is the same but in reverse. It is building off what they already know and carrying it over to another skill. When developing your next course, think about a skillset that your learners already have and how that skillset may help jumpstart your course. For example, if it is management training on dealing with difficult employees, consider drawing on the learners’ experience in dealing with a child that doesn’t want to share toys. There are common techniques used in both situations. The second point that I found interesting is the 80/20 rule. The 80/20 rule states that 80% of your consequences stem from 20% of your actions. Ferris uses this rule in learning by focusing and mastering the 20% that will supply the biggest impact. When learning jiu-jitsu, Ferris mastered on learning one choke hold, but that one move allowed him to deal with the majority of his situations when sparing. How can this be applied to your courses? In systems training, do employees really need to walk through completing every field, on every screen, and in every possible situation? Probably not. Chances are you can easily identify the 20% that they NEED to know to function in their job. The employee gets what they need in a faster amount of time and is better at it. The company has people up a working in a faster amount of time. Yes, I know this is an over-simplified example, but who hasn’t sat through systems training only to walk away and think the training was too long and you learned what you needed in the first tem minutes? For more information on Tim Ferris’s accelerated learning process you can watch one of his videos discussing his basic framework. A How-to Guide: Accelerated Learning for Accelerated Times

 The Nature of the ProblemA couple of comments often heard from students and their parents in the past and even today are the following:Student: "I go to school all day and we do things that take up time in our day but in the end these things have nothing to do with the real world."Parent to Teacher:  " Its okay with me if you have my child do all these discovery activities and have him/her make decisions but in the end I want you to tell him/her what they need to know."If you examine these comments within the context of a society that is becoming more globally connected and precisely the world that young learners will take their place in as adult citizens, you can't help but ask the question:" Is there a disastrous disconnect here? Are education systems really preparing students for the "real world" that they will actually have to live, contribute and function in or are they being prepared for a world that no longer exists but is faithful to our own memories?" If students are still making such comments, then we are at risk of them completely disconnecting from valuing education and "life long learning".Credit: www.pinterest.comRecognizing and admitting that we have a problem are only the first steps. To reestablish the link between education as a relevant activity to preparation for living in a rapidly changing world means that we need to re-design the pedagogy that we use in such a way that the learner can see that what they are doing in their education is consistently connected to people, resources and needs that exist in the real world. We need to stop making excuses to learners that the regimented, conforming and controlling activities that are used in education but never go beyond the four walls of the brick and mortar classroom or even the virtual classroom, is somehow good for them.Credit: www.quotestank.blogspot.com So, if we are going to involve learners, whether in the learning cultures of business or formal education, in effective collaboration, it has to be personally meaningful and give the learner the opportunity to make valid contributions to real world problems. It is no secret to those who are involved in educating or training learners that learning that is deep and sustainable reaches it potential by having learners actually do tasks where they can collaborate with each other and receive feedback from the outside world. Feedback from the outside world from people who are on the cutting edge of their disciplines is more validating for the learner than feedback from their instructor. It validates that what they are doing is real and has importance in the real world.Lessons in Sustained Learner Engagement: "The NASA Martian Rover Design Project" If we want learners to achieve deeper and more sustainable levels of learning, it is not enough just to dazzle them with a uniquely designed learning experience, we need to have the learner remain engaged. This is where technology can serve our re-designed pedagogy.One project that demonstrated the importance of this type pedagogy for me was a project titled: "The NASA Martian Rover Design Project" which was an off shoot of a larger initiative called: "The Marsville Project". This was a project that was first started as a result of the terrible Challenger Spacecraft explosion on Jan. 28, 1986. The families wanted to leave a lasting memory of the dedication of seven astronauts to the ideal of exploring space for young people. As a result, the Marsville project was born. This project was geared to the idea of collaboration in the exploration and design of a human habitation on Mars. The exploration focused on all aspects of such an endeavor which included structural design, life support systems, renewable energy production, food, communication systems and of course, the design of a realistic design for a Martian terrain vehicle called a rover.  Unlike other school based projects, this one was a good example of blended E-Learning since it combined in class based project with making connections with NASA personnel who could act as mentors with suggestions about student ideas.Credit: www.itgsnews.comI worked with students on this project for approximately 11 years. At first we focused on all aspects of the project but quickly discovered that the timelines became tight and the logistics of bringing our innovations to Toronto where over 50 other schools would meet to demonstrate their scientific innovative thinking on the project became a real challenge. As a result the teams decided to specialize on two aspects: design of a Martian Rover and the generation of renewable Mars based energy.Credit: www.article.wn.comWhat I discovered about sustainable engagement and through talking with students amazed me. Here are some results:Students asked why this type of learning that connected them with real scientists who were actually working on such projects was rare and too often a one time event.After, our collaborative teams were formed, the students connected with scientists and included them in their collaborative teams. Although scientists are very busy with their research, many were willing to hear students innovative ideas and give them feedback and even references to easy to understand data and information.After, our teams were introduced to the task of building and programming robotic rovers, my role changed from being the "sage on the stage" to the "guide on the side". Amazingly, the students took over, working collaboratively, accessing information from the Internet, problem solving and communicating with specialists. Intrinsic motivation became the driver for what they were doing. I was the "encourager on the side". There was no need for me to offer external motivators to keep them going.Credit: www.resources21.orgOn thinking back on this experience, it was one of the most gratifying of my career because what I was observing was what I would term "pure, ongoing learning". Students who felt that school was not the real world changed their minds in our groups because now they were connected to an important task in the world that involved them collaborating with real scientists and receiving meaningful feedback about their ideas.For two of my students this experience encouraged them to come up with innovative ideas that found real application in the real world. One re-programmed the original program used to guide the robots so that they could navigate a maze of obstacles using different types of light and heat sensors where the other one went on and came up with a new and more cost effective treatment for Malaria.The question posed by the students is a valid one:Why is collaboration with the real world just a one time thing and not something that should be an important skillset designed as part of all their courses?Credit: www.sunnyskyz.comNext----Specific areas where effective collaboration should be part of the design in E-Learning. NASA's space shuttle Challenger accident was a devastating tragedy that killed seven astronauts and shocked the world on Jan. 28, 1986. Killed in the accident were Challenger commander Dick Scobee, pilot Michael Smith, mission specialists Judy Resnik, Ronald McNair and Ellison Onizuka, payload specialist Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe, who was set to become the first teacher in space. - See more at: http://www.space.com/31732-space-shuttle-challenger-disaster-explained-infographic.html#sthash.dZ0X39nF.dpufNASA's space shuttle Challenger accident was a devastating tragedy that killed seven astronauts and shocked the world on Jan. 28, 1986. Killed in the accident were Challenger commander Dick Scobee, pilot Michael Smith, mission specialists Judy Resnik, Ronald McNair and Ellison Onizuka, payload specialist Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe, who was set to become the first teacher in space. - See more at: http://www.space.com/31732-space-shuttle-challenger-disaster-explained-infographic.html#sthash.dZ0X39nF.dpuf

Written by Holly ClarkEducational Strategist - EdTechTeamIn late 2015, my best friend’s daughter was going through something really horrific at school. She would come home and cry about math tests and she was beginning to show signs of hating school.Tanya and I thought it was because her teacher was so caught up in making sure she delivered certain content in a timely matter, that she had failed to notice that some of her students were not understanding the information. The sad part is that Tanya's daughter was growing frustrated with what she thought was her inability to learn.One evening while saying her "good-nights," this sweet seven year old girl confided in her mom about a punishment she had received for talking during class…and as she told her story, her mom began to cry. She quickly called me and told me about what was happening at her daughters school. It is from this story of an unjust and misunderstood punishment that this TEDx talk was written…

Lisa ThumannDirector of Professional LearningEdTechTeamDespite it being the shortest month of the year, February was jam-packed with Googley-Goodness in all shapes and sizes over the globe. Last month, EdTechTeam hosted 25 events in 7 countries!The events ranged from our six Summits featuring Google in Education in places like India, Missouri and Argentina to our new Certification Bootcamps and in-district customized professional development in Oklahoma and Florida, and a student summit in Alberta. In February, we reported a combined 288 hours of professional development on behalf of 52 different Google Certified Trainers. As a Google PD Partner, we're responsible for reporting our events that feature Google for Education as well as the hours for all the Google Certified Trainers that work with us. We are honored to work with so many fabulous trainers and organizations. Thank you for allowing us to share our knowledge and expertise with so many educators and students. Look what's in store for March and contact us about coming to you for a Bootcamp or custom event for your staff!

We talk to customers every chance we get at LearnUpon. Sometimes that’s through the 24/7 free support we offer as standard. Our Customer Success team reaches out regularly so we aren’t just in contact when a customer has a query. And a few times a year we share three questions to help us understand what’s on our customers’ minds. The insights they offer make for great reading. They give the whole team a snapshot of what matters most to customers today, what they’re feeling, what they’re less crazy about, and what they need next. The results are in! Here’s a sneak peek at the feedback our customers shared this year.   Why customers choose an LMS Here’s a breakdown of the main reasons customers chose LearnUpon: With almost 700 eLearning platforms on the market, there are any number of benefits potential customers can choose from. We love that the richness of our feature selection came in as the #1 reason organizations signed with us. Not only are our existing LMS features a big draw, customers appreciate the effort we make to roll out new ones every month. Every request we receive is reviewed for inclusion in our product roadmap, so customers play a big role in helping to shape the future of their LMS. This nugget made us extra excited to share some big surprises coming later this year. And while customers appreciate our competitive pricing right from the start, they grow to love our fast and friendly customer support team more and more.   In our customers’ words These are the words customers used when describing their experience with LearnUpon. If you returned our survey, you’ll see your words here too.     Thanks for sharing the love We’re so grateful for the time customers took to share their feedback. It means a lot to us and we put it to good use. Here are just a few of the shout outs the team received. "Everything ranks highly across the board in my opinion. Customer service responsiveness and help, engagement, keeping customers in the loop, added features, etc. Keep doing what you’re doing!" Ryan, Cornerstone Learning "You are the best. Everyone we have dealt with has been wonderful, responsive, receptive, helpful. Change nothing." Christine, WideOrbit "I think you guys are amazing! Price is what brought me to you but your customer service has been incredible. I have been very impressed." Angela, Ascenta Health "Even though features and price were what initially made LearnUpon stand out, it is your people that truly set LearnUpon apart. Absolutely phenomenal team! Everyone I have been in contact with has been extremely pleasant and helpful. Thank you!" Jennifer, Premium Retail Services "LearnUpon has been one of the best vendor relationships I’ve had in my 20+ career in training and development. Keep doing what you are doing. I believe that is the key to your current and future success." Marvette, SNL Knowledge Center "LearnUpon is amazing, working with Carrie, Phily and the LearnUpon support team. I would recommend LearnUpon to anyone and everyone that needs an easy to use model. I can’t think of anything that could be done better when they have already gone above and beyond their scope of work." Mel, Newmont Mining "Just keep doing what you are doing! You continue to make improvements, you continue to show customer appreciation, and you continue to provide award-winning service. I love LearnUpon. It has literally made my job as a trainer so much easier! Thank you again for being so wonderful!" Lydia, Key Benefit Administrators "LearnUpon is a foundation that we are building upon. Your service is great and your sales team was awesome. There are few times in the software industry where selecting a solution is fun but as I look back at this project, I realize I actually enjoyed it." Matt, MyFarms LLC   And we say - right back at you! We would be nothing without our customers. Thank you all so much.   Want to read more? Sign up to get our latest posts! The post What customers love most about their LMS appeared first on LearnUpon.

We talked a little bit about risk in the last post.In highly risk and change averse cultures, you want to make sure you have a solid argument for why you want to make the changes you wish to make.For executive-types, they want to see numbers.Return on Investment.Whether what you are proposing and the resources it will require will be worth it.--------------------------------------Some basics on opportunity cost can be found in the movie and links below.Calculating Opportunity CostsStudy.com: How to Calculate Opportunity Costs ----------------------------In this example, I am going to calculate the Opportunity Cost for eliminating one of our LMSs.Note: This is NOT a reflection of my reality.  This is just an intellectual exercise.To do this, I need the following:Current contract for the LMS I wish to eliminateCurrent contract for the LMS I wish to merge into - I am looking for service gapsVendor information for the LMS I wish to merge intoProposed cost for filling in the service gapsGeneral average of the labor costs involved in maintaining the LMS I wish to eliminate General average of the labor costs that will be involved in the merger.  The general formula is(what you are sacrificing) / (what you are gaining) = opportunity cost What I am sacrificing includes:- The proposed cost for filling in the service gaps - as provided by the vendor (ex. $10,000 / yr to add the features and licenses currently missing)- The labor cost involved in the transition (ex. $50,000 - one time cost during length of time of transition)- How long I expect this transition to take (1 year)What I am gaining would include- The cost of the current contract for the LMS I wish to eliminate (ex. $50,000 / yr - off the books)- General average of the labor costs involved in maintaining the LMS (ex. $50,000 / yr - off the books)- Number of years I expect this solution to be in place (3 years)So for the first year - I am looking at an opportunity cost ratio ofImplementation year - (10,000 + 50,000) / (50,000 + 50,000) = 60,000 / 100,000  = 0.6.Subsequent years - (10,000) / (100,000) = 10,000 / 100,000 = 0.1From this, I see 2 things.1) I am gaining more than I am losing (Opportunity cost ratio is less than 1)2) After the implementation year, I stand to gain even moreI can also take a look at how much I stand to gain or lose.So....Implementation year - I am sacrificing $60,000 (the annual cost of the contract(10K) + labor cost for implementation(50K)) and stand to gain $100,000 in savings (the annual cost of the old contract (50K) + the FTE to maintain (50K).  So the total gain is $40,000Subsequent years, since I don't have the labor costs of implementation (50K), I'm gaining $90,000 per year!Notice that these are financial costs and not necessarily the emotional costs of change management.You may run the numbers and find that the aggravation still isn't worth it.

Recall a time in the last month that you, as leader or peer, needed to give someone feedback - positive or constructive. Did you give it? Why or why not?Consistently throughout my work week, there are at least three or four times that someone will describe a situation to me about someone else, inside or outside of work, and my response is the exact same: Did you give he or she that feedback? (And I often ask the same question while processing the situation myself.)Feedback should be given for both positive and constructive intent. If Katie impressed every single person in the room in her last client presentation, did you give her specific feedback about how great she was? And going further, the impact it has on you? Or on the flip side, if Dan was tentative and less poised in his last presentation, did you give him constructive feedback about using more definitive, confident language? And then explore how he can be supported?Now be honest: Does it make your skin crawl thinking about having these conversations? Feedback in theory should be easy, but it rarely is. Especially when giving constructive feedback. We want to be liked and fear that pointing out areas to work on can jeopardize that. On the receiving end, we want to appear as though we are competent in everything we do. When we learn we have behaviors that need to be course corrected, it can be difficult to hear. And when we need to have this conversation with others, especially giving feedback up (to our boss for example) it can feel dangerous.Focus on overcoming this fear. This week’s tip is to give more feedback to people on your team and in your life. Feedback really does feed others. According to a study from OfficeVibe, the impact of feedback is often underestimated. Chew on these thoughts:98% of employees will fail to be engaged when managers give little or no feedback65% of employees want more feedback43% of highly engaged employees receive feedback once a week  Those stats are enough to make me reconsider staying quiet, when minor discomfort temporarily overcomes me.So I ask: How will you "feed" others this week? The post Fierce Tip of the Week: "Feed" Others with Your Feedback appeared first on Fierce, Inc..

A Feedback Genius: Someone who is strong in both giving and receiving feedback. This person gives feedback frequently and chances are that has made them pretty good at it. This person welcomes feedback and receives it with interest and gratitude (most of the time). Would you consider yourself a feedback genius? Feedback is something that everyone craves, yet many people do not give enough of it. When we talk about Fierce Feedback, we define it as a conversation in which we have the opportunity to see what we may not see. And in order for people to feel engaged, they need to be learning about their discipline, their role, and most importantly, about themselves.According to a 2013 Zinger Folkman study of 22,719 leaders, leaders who ranked at the bottom 10% in their ability to give honest feedback to direct reports received engagement scores from their subordinates that averaged 25 percent. In contrast, those in the top 10% for giving honest feedback had subordinates who ranked at the 77th percentile in engagement.That’s a big deal for an individual leader…and an organization. So it is time for you to get some feedback on your own feedback skills. Use this survey to gauge your individual perspective on how you feel about giving and receiving both positive and constructive feedback, and you can also facilitate it with a team, if you wish.What did you score? Are you a feedback wanna-be?The post Are You a Feedback Genius? Test it. appeared first on Fierce, Inc..

This week’s Fierce resource was originally published on Ted.com and uncovers what really motivates employees to perform better.One of the biggest mistakes leaders make in their career, is assuming feedback conversations are a one-way street. Feedback shouldn’t just be about communication what went wrong or right. We also need to spend time understanding what inspires people to do their best, because that is where the answer to employee motivation really lies. In his 2009 TedTalk: The Puzzle of Motivation, Dan Pink explores the three elements required for intrinsic motivation.Do you know what matters to your team? Read the complete transcript here. The post Fierce Resource: Dan Pink - The Puzzle Of Motivation appeared first on Fierce, Inc..

Last night was the 88th Annual Academy Awards - an annual tradition to recognize excellence in cinematic achievements. Essentially, it is a once a year recognition program for people in the industry. People get dressed up and wait to hear the results. In some ways, it isn’t much different than what happens in many organizations.So I ask: Do you have once a year recognition program? Do promotion opportunities come once a year?Waiting every 12 months for a "main event" announcement is not how recognition should happen. According to a Bersin & Associates study, only 17 percent of employees indicated that their organizations’ cultures strongly support recognition. This lack of effectiveness is largely driven by the misdirected nature of most recognition programs: 87 percent of organizations reported that their programs are designed to recognize service or tenure. These programs do not meet the needs of today’s employees, nearly 70 percent of whom report they are recognized annually or not at all.We must make recognition less complicated. Let’s not make it about one night where you put on a fancy dress or suit…or the annual performance process.This week’s tip is to recognize people around you and thank them. In fact, 50% of employees believe being thanked by managers not only improved their relationship but also built trust with their higher-ups, according to the Cicero Group. Showing gratitude is a simple act that has a lot of impact.How will you recognize people this week? The post Fierce Tip of the Week: Leaders, Don’t Follow the Oscars - Stop Once a Year Recognition appeared first on Fierce, Inc..

All you have to do is turn on the news to see that there is a lack of diversity of thought around us, from our grid-locked Congress to our arguments about anything under the sun. There is never one simple solution to the challenges we face, and we need more, than ever, diversity of thought. In order to get there, we need to focus on two things: getting curious and expanding our thinking.To dig a little deeper, I wanted to share a relevant excerpt from our white paper: A Perspective on Diversity, Building a Culture of Curiosity: The metaphorical phrase "you can’t judge a book by its cover" has endured as long as it has for a reason. In a similar vein, an employee should not be judged by the generation they represent, the religion they practice, or the socioeconomic status they were raised in. Because the combination of experiences and characteristics are so vast, it is fruitless to attempt to do so.What organizations can do is ensure employees become skilled at gathering insights from people of all backgrounds and encourage employees to interrogate their own perceptions of reality. Focus then shifts to the ideas, and thought processes of the individual.One of the transformational ideas at Fierce, Inc. is that "all conversations are with myself and sometimes they involve other people." In other words, everyone enters into conversations with their own opinions, beliefs and attitudes. Instead of getting curious and learning, people often use conversations as a forum to validate, confirm, and reinforce their own previously held beliefs.Get CuriousBuilding a work environment where diversity of thought is valued begins with the commitment to enter into each conversation without making assumptions, to interrogate personal context. The goal is to learn rather than to convince. If participants spend an entire meeting convincing others of what they know, nobody learns anything new. Curiosity not only brings fresh ideas to light, it also increases the likelihood of well- rounded decisions.Without curiosity and inquisitiveness, meetings become mere presentations; perspectives are not shared and acumen is not improved.Expand Your ThinkingOrganizations understand the benefits of a workforce that represents its consumers and clients. When employee diversity mirrors the customer base, organizations have a better understanding of the clients they serve. However, if the work environment rewards apathetic agreement, thereby discouraging the very differences it sought to engage, the benefits of a diverse workforce are wasted and the organization is put at risk of falling into the trap of group think.Diversity in and of itself is not the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is the creativity, innovation and insight that result from open and inclusive dialogue. Leaders can replace the potential for diverse thought with the reality of diverse thought by creating a work environment that encourages employees to challenge their own realities, ask questions, and revisit alternate perspectives regularly.What will you do to create diversity of thought with your work?The post Two Tips to Create Diversity of Thought appeared first on Fierce, Inc..