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Beginning to love the free stuff coming from different organizations from the ConnectED initiative....

Loving the free stuff coming from the ConnectED initiative. Are you taking advantage of it? From...

Loving the free stuff coming from the ConnectED initiative. Are you taking advantage of it? From...

Loving the free stuff coming from the ConnectED initiative. Are you taking advantage of it? From...

This photo is going around the internet and is being used by a bunch of grumpy old folks that don’t understand technology as an example of our uber hyper connected kids today and how they simply are too involved with their screens to notice the beauty that is right behind them. (In this case, I believe the painting is Rembrandt’s "The Night Watch" which hangs in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. It is one of the most famous paintings in the world. We can assume that the picture was taken there, since that is where that particular painting resides.) As you can see, a group of kids are sitting in front of the painting, obviously at a museum, and they are, it seems, oblivious to the art work hanging mere feet away from them. The obvious conclusion is that technology is bad, and that kids today are slaves to their electronic devices. Technology bad. I call out BS. Here is why: First of all, there is absolutely no way to know what is going on in that picture. But here is one possibility that the haters completely missed in their haste to hate technology: Students in this picture are using their devices to find out MORE about the art. Many museums have programs where visitors can extend their knowledge about a topic by scanning a nearby QR code, usually hanging on the wall near the painting description. Here is an example of a museum that uses the QR Codes to expand knowledge of its visitors: There are thousands of other examples. This is just one. Here is another: The Rijksmuseum, as a world class museum, is no exception. In fact ,it has an APP for both iOS and Android. Here are the links: IOS and Android Look a little more closely at the kids: Do you see that a few of them have papers on their laps? What is that all about? Could it possibly be that they have a paper that they have to work on while they are on this field trip? Could it be that they are using their devices in a BYOD setting to actually learn something? Could it be that the teachers have actually done a good job preparing for this field trip? I think that is what is happening in this picture. A class of students, visiting a museum are using an app to extend their learning BEYOND what they would learn by just walking through listening to a docent drone on about the pictures. Technology is actually IMPROVING learning here, not limiting it. So Grandpa, before you get off of your rocking chair on your porch and start yelling at kids today, maybe learn a little bit about the topic that you think you know so much about. Because if you are thinking that kids only use their devices to text each other and send inappropriate pictures to snapchat, think again. And while you are at it, maybe use YOUR electronic device to learn something.

Ten ways to teach kids coding #dayofcode

Ten places with free high quality education resources.

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What was your favorite education app that came out this year? Here are our top 30, This is a three...

What was your favorite education app that came out this year? Here are our top 30, This is a three...

What was your favorite education app that came out this year? Here are our top 30, This is a three...

Learning Technology Compass from the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. Pick your goal in the center and work your way out to the edge where the tools that you use to make the goal achievable. Nice job.

So totally unforgettable summer storms, power outages and digital addictions? Say what? Um, yeah, that’s what I experienced a few weeks ago when I had the awesome app-ortunity to co-facilitate an iPads in Education 2 course with edtech rock stars Jim Gates and Theresa Bartholomew in Lewisburg, PA. Throughout this four-day app-venture, 50+ teachers learned how to utilize an iPad and a variety of apps to engage students in the learning process. From out-of-the-box set up to creating digital stories, presentations, movie trailers, e-books and formative assessments, these educators were not only immersed in utilizing the latest and greatest educational tools, but they also received training related to effectively integrating devices and resources into the curriculum via the pedagogical foundations of Understanding by Design, ISTE NETS, TPACK and SAMR. After all, it should never really be about the tool, but how it is used. That’s what really makes the impact. Just sayin’… So, go ahead—release your inner geek… Crack open that tech-box and add the resources located within the interactive image embedded below to your bag of tricks. Transforming your classroom into a modern learning digital wonderland is just a few clicks away! Be sure to hover over the image to reveal the "hotspots". A must see: #13. It’s my new fav! Click here to view a full screen version of this interactive image. For my colleagues, the participants and especially for me personally—the week was a game changer, for sure… Thank you, Jim and Eduspire, for the chance to be a part of something pretty cool. Check out additional Eduspire course offerings here. Let’s roll…

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This article was originally published in Will's Insight News, my monthly newsletter. It has been updated and improved to include new information. Click here if you want to sign up for my newsletter...   Radically Improved Action Planning Using Cognitive Triggers to Support On-the-Job Performance   Most of us who have been trainers have tried one or more methods of action planning--hoping to get our learners to apply what they've learned back on the job. The most common form of action planning goes something like this (at the end of a training program): "Okay, take a look at this action-planning handout. Think of 3 things from the course you'd like to take away and apply back on the job. This is critically important. If you feel you've learned something you'd like to use, you won't get the results you want if you forget what your goals are. On the handout, you'll see space to write down your 3 action-planning goals. I'm going to give you 20 minutes to do this because it's so important!" Unfortunately, that method is likely to get less than half the follow-through that another--research based--method may get you!   When we as trainers do action planning, we are recognizing that learning is not enough. We want to make sure that all of our passionate, exhaustive efforts at training are not wasted. If we're honest with ourselves, we know that if our learners forget everything they've learned, then we really haven't been effective. This goes for e-learning as well. There's a lot of effort that goes into creating an e-learning course--and, if we can maximize the benefits through effective action planning, then we ought to do it.     Before sharing with you my radically improved action-planning method, it's critical that I motivate it. Look at the above diagram. It shows that the human mind is subject to both conscious and sub-conscious messages. It also shows that the sub-conscious channel is using a broader bandwidth--and when humans process messages consciously, they often filter the messages in ways that limit the effectiveness of those messages.   One of the most important findings from psychological research in the past 10 years--I hate to call it "brain science" because that's an inaccurate tease--is that much of what controls human thinking comes from or is influenced by sub-conscious primes. Speed limit signs (conscious messages to slow down) are not as effective as narrowing streets, planting trees near streets, and other sub-conscious influencers. Committing to a diet may not be as effective as using smaller dishes, removing snacks from eyesight, and shopping at farmer's markets instead of in the processed-food isles of grocery stores.   We workplace professionals tend to use the conscious communication channel almost exclusively--we think it's our job to compile content, make the best arguments for it's usefulness, and share information so that our learners acknowledge its value and plan to use it. But, if a large part of human cognition is sub-conscious, shouldn't we use that too? Don't we have a professional responsibility to be as effective as we can?   My action-planning method does just that. It sets triggers that later create spontaneous sub-conscious prompts to action. I'm calling this "Triggered Action Planning"--a reminder that we are TAP-ping into our learners' sub-conscious processing to help them remember what they've learned. SMILE.   The basic concept is this:  We want learners, when they are back on the job, to be reminded of what they've learned. We should do this by aligning context--one of the Decisive Dozen research-based learning factors--in our training designs. We can do this by using more hands-on exercises, more real work, more simulations--but we can extend this to action planning as well.   The key is to set SITUATION-ACTION triggers. We want contextual situations to trigger certain actions. So for example, if we teach supervisors to bring their direct reports into decision-making, we want them to think about this when they are having team meetings, when they are discussing a decision with one of their direct reports, etc. The SITUATION could be a team meeting. The ACTION could be delegating a decision, asking for input, etc., as appropriate.   In action planning, it's even simpler. Instead of just asking our learners what their goals are for implementing what they've learned, we also ask them to select situations when they will begin to carry out those goals. So for example: GOAL: I will work with my team to identify a change initiative. SITUATION-ACTION: At our first staff meeting in October, I will work with my team to identify a change initiative. Remarkably, this kind of intervention--what researchers call "implementation intentions"--has been found to create incredibly significant effects, often doubling compliance of actual performance!!!!!!!!!!!!!   I think this research finding is so important to workplace learning that I've devoted a whole section of my unpublished tome to considering how to use it. Instead of using the term "implementation intentions"--it's such a mouthful--I just call this trigger-setting.   The bottom line here is that we may be able to double the likelihood that our learners actually apply what they've learned simply by having our learners link situations and actions in their action planning.     New Job Aid for Triggered Action Planning   You can easily create your own triggered-action planning worksheets or e-learning interactions, but I've got one ready to go that you can use as is--FREE OF CHARGE BECAUSE I LOVE TO SHARE--or you can just use it as a starting point for your own triggered-action-planning exercises.   Click here to download the triggered-action-planning job aid (as a PDF)   Click here for a Word version (so you can modify)     Research:   Gollwitzer, P. M., & Sheeran, P. (2006). Implementation intentions and goal achievement: A meta-analysis of effects and processes. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 69-119.   Bjork, R. A., & Richardson-Klavehn, A. (1989). On the puzzling relationship between environmental context and human memory. In C. Izawa (Ed.) Current Issues in Cognitive Processes: The Tulane Floweree Symposium on Cognition (pp. 313-344). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.   Roediger, H. L., III, & Guynn, M. J. (1996). Retrieval processes. In E. L. Bjork & R. A. Bjork (Eds.), Memory (pp. 197-236). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.   Smith, S. M., & Vela, E. (2001). Environmental context-dependent memory: A review and meta-analysis. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 8, 203-220.   Thalheimer, W. (2013). The decisive dozen: Research review abridged. Available at www.work-learning.com/catalog.html.

Notice who the school is set up: Not like a traditional campus but more like an Apple Store and...

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