Here it is that time of year again: The week in which the worldwide Hour of Code initiative (sponsored by Code.org and Computer Education Science Week),  is being held to introduce computer programming to 10 million students and most importantly, to hopefully encourage them to pursue further knowledge in this area—a field that is projected to have 1,000,000 more jobs than there are students to fill them by the year 2020! Seriously! My rationale for participating in this event? Besides the fact that students can hone computational thinking (problem decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction, algorithmic thinking and automation) and programming concepts (repetition, conditional logic, computer drawing, handling keyboard input and creating apps), those who have the knack and/or desire to choose a career in this market are going to be able to pretty much name their job and even their salary. In addition, not only does coding help students learn problem solving and creative thinking skills, it teaches them to be risk-takers, persistent and to persevere in the face of frustration—skills that are relevant in all sorts of other activities in both school and the "real world". Furthermore, even if students do not wish to become die hard computer scientists for a living, they can become adept at developing games and apps by starting with some of the basics. Wouldn’t it be super cool to find one of their creations in the iTunes Store someday? I mean, do you even need any more of a reason to provide this opportunity for your students? So, why just use technology, when you can build it, right? That was my line when I began discussing the importance of acquiring basic html or java skills with students as we kicked off the Hour of Code in our district this morning. Unfortunately, most of the 86 students I met with already today had no clue that they could easily learn and utilize basic programming concepts in every day life—for a job or for fun. But the good news is this: The flame in some of them has been ignited—including a few of them whose mugshot I included to the left. ♥ Need some resources? Besides Code.org, the following sites are also curriculum providers for the Hour of Code: Tynker, Khan Academy, Codecademy and Code Avengers—all of which I will be utilizing throughout my coding adventure this week.  Can’t find what you want or need? Just Google the Hour of Code. You’ll find more info than you’ll even know what to do with! Classroom Connection: The founders of Google, Microsoft and Facebook all started their journeys with just one line of code. Like these successful entrepreneurs, our students should have the opportunity to create the technology of the future, not just use it! That said, join over 54.7 million students in classrooms spanning the globe as they venture into the language of computer programming by participating in the Hour of Code. And by the way—I realize that coding sounds intimidating to some, but the activities on the sites mentioned above literally require no computer programming skills at all. If your students can type, they can code! And you know what? You can even learn, too!

Introduction Today I'd like to highlight some posts from last year. It's my version of Throwback Thursday, or #tbt, in blog form. Back in April 2014 I shared these 5 tips after just leaving my job as Director of Training. So the realities of corporate training were fresh. As I reread this post I notice there are some good tips embedded inside each of the 5 tips. So, you're getting a lot more than 5. I hope you find them useful and will share your thoughts with me via twitter @Litmos or @bschlenker. The world of Corporate Training is really not that complicated. But with all of our instructional models and frameworks, we like making it a little more complicated than others believe it to be. There are situations where all the detailed processes of instructional design are required.  But, in my experience, those projects are rare.  The perceptions others have of your work is critical to your success. Here are my top 5 development tips that will increase your perceived value within your company and amongst your team. Done is Better than Perfect! There is a good reason why this quote is so popular.  IT'S TRUE! And it's one of the most important lessons I've learned in my career. As a young recent graduate of the Educational Media and Computers Masters program at ASU, I was perfectly prepared to employ everything I had learned at my first full time job. I was ready to implement the ADDIE model in all its glory. Imagine my surprise when my manager asked that my first eLearning course be created in 5 days. It was a project that framed the rest of my eLearning career, and was also my first experience with "the business" and what they expected from the training department. The business does not care about instructional design, analysis, evaluation, and all the other stuff we like to spend so much time on.  In most cases they just want content that is easily accessed and proof that all employees have "taken the course". So, get the minimum done and release it.  You can always go back and improve once you start receiving user feedback. And of course, these days, your tools and systems should be doing most of the heavy lifting around evaluation and analysis anyways. If not, maybe it's time for a new LMS. UPDATE: This still stands. If you aren't happy with your tools then figure out how to get new ones. And get the job done. You will discover that your skills are pretty solid and the final product is pretty good, even if it's not the polished solution you had in mind. Produce business value! Use the Tools You Have Now! The computer, and other technologies, that you have are good enough.  Instead of thinking about all the gear you don't have, figure out how to use everything you have now. If you have a late model smartphone, then you have a powerful multimedia production studio in the palm of your hand. And that corporate issued laptop may not be the multimedia development power house you've been dreaming of, but it does have enough power to create most of the digital content elements you need.  I was developing fully interactive 3D training simulations in 1996 on computers with only a fraction of what today's computers have.  Don't make technology your excuse for not producing. Your company has an LMS with authoring capabilities...or an authoring tool in general.  However, you still need to create media or modify stock media. All eLearning starts with digital media content. Photoshop is pricey, but there are options...some of which are free. Figure out how to get the job done with the tools you have.  And don't forget to devote time to improving your skills with those tools. UPDATE: This tip is still valid. You have more tools today than any training professional before you. Those who master the tools get the jobs. Don't be afraid to practice, practice, practice. If you are interested in learning about video and practicing with video in social media then join me on Fridays for Video Friday. Just follow the hashtag #vidfri and join others learning and sharing their video tips. Templates are your Friend. Use them! Yes, for the perfectionist in all of us templates are the ultimate sin.  Using templates somehow minimizes the instructional design process for us. But having a few ready to go will save you time, and make you look like a hero. Just think of it as working smarter, not harder. You often don't have the luxury of time, and templates will help you get courses done faster (see #1). That course may not end up being the one you submit for an award, but "the business" will care and respect your ability to produce...fast.  UPDATE: You'll notice that I talk about providing business value frequently. Most of my obsession with providing business value just comes from experience. The experiences of training departments that do good work and yet, not get recognized, viewed as a pricey expense, or even disbanded. Some of my colleagues argue there is more business value in pushing back and saying no, than just getting the job done and showing an iterative, progression of improvements. You are the only one that can decide what your organization can tolerate. And this is why relationships are important. Leverage Your Subject Matter Experts Subject Matter Experts are passionate about what they do...that’s why they are SMEs.  And most, not all but most, are happy to share what they know.  Let them.  And get out of their way.  Do not try to make them follow your instructional model. Do not force them to use your template or framework. Leave them alone.  UNLESS, they ask for your help or are struggling getting started.  Then, and only then, offer up some possible templates or other design options. Hopefully you've built a relationship with your SMEs and already have a feeling for how to approach them with new ideas. Respect what they do, and let them discover their instructional shortcomings through experience.  Then help them improve.  UPDATE: I've focused a lot on SMEs in my posts over the last year. And I think that's because it took many years of treating them like content ATMs before I realized how wrong I was. I was always taught that you needed a subject matter expert in order to get the content you need to create your eLearning master piece. But nobody ever taught us how to treat them like people. And that there would be egos, and corporate politics involved.  I know my thoughts on releasing training that is not fully designed is controversial. But it comes from years of real world frustrations working with SMEs, and through trial and error discovering how best to get the job done while building a strong relationship. And THEN updating the course with instructionaly sound updates to the content.  Relationships are the key to 21st century training departments because there is no such thing as "one-and-done" any more.  Master Your LMS No, you're not reading this wrong.  And yes, these tips are for anyone developing and delivering training content.  Even if you have an LMS administrator on your team, you should be fully aware of how it works including it's quirks and shortcomings. How you develop your content will always be influenced by the capabilities of your LMS.  So, don't just use it. MASTER it! It will save you precious development time, and reduce your LMS related headaches when it’s time to deliver.  What have you learned, the hard way, in your career? The post My Top 5 Training Development Tips Redux #tbt appeared first on Litmos.

You might find it hard to believe, but the North Pole just sent out an alert stating that children are having a hard time believing in Santa this. Hmmm… Kids these days! So, in order to keep the true spirit of Christmas alive—faith, hope and believing—it’s your job as a star photographer to snap Santa’s picture as often as you can in order to prove he’s for real. Click here to play the Santa Paparazzi game, the 5th Tech Treasure found within The Twelve Digital Days of Christmas Thinglink interactive holiday resource.

The most obvious reason for needing an LMS is the ability to create, deliver, and track training courses. Did you know your LMS can do more than that? Successful Training Leaders Know the Secret To successful training departments, it's no secret that your LMS can be used for more than just courses. They view their LMS as a platform and use it to address both training and non-traditional-training activities. Successful training managers avoid the curse of "that's not a training problem". One secret to avoiding that curse is letting go of your pre-conceived notions of training as defined by instructional design schooling. You may have started your career learning how to design effective training courses, but in today's business climate you need to add business value to achieve success. You need to look beyond the course. One common training request is a typical compliance requirement. Often the requirement is that companies prove that employees have read a policy document. Many training traditionalists meet this request with horror and frustration. The immediate response is to "push back". There are certainly many training requests that require clarifying questions, but this is not one of them. In the eyes of the person making the request, this is not a complicated request. Armed with the right LMS your response is easily "Absolutely! We'll have it published and communicated by the end of the day". But before we look at how let's look at why, and consider an alternative. We could push back, or even just say no. Often we followup no with which department should be handling this type of non-training solution. And for checking the compliance box let's imagine sending it to the marketing department. After all, they have the email tracking system. They could simply send a blast email to all employees, track who opens that email, as well as who clicked the link. BOOM! Problem solved...right? Maybe, but we've given up an opportunity to show value, and given up a valuable opportunity for employees. Employees See Things Differently We all enjoy the feeling of accomplishment no matter how small the task. When you leave documents online and just expect employees to find it they are left not knowing who will care that they read it. Even if the email marketing system is used for this purpose you lose a valuable opportunity for employees. We all love to check the done box on our todo lists. Including this task as part of their overall training and learning opportunities within the company has more value to them than you might think. Most employees, and Internet users in general, have no idea how the technology works. Many don't even know email and links can be tracked. In a 21st century workplace employees like to see their data. Engaging with your marketing department to email important docs is a great way to track "opens", and "link clicks". But that's where the value ends. Now that data point is in a different system. Why jump through the hoops of another department when the system you have can get the job done...and so much more? Let's just say you don't care or you don't have time for this request. The email marketing solution is good enough, and you still want to go that route. There are a few minor issues that you will need to deal with. The marketing department personalities and politics. Trusting a marketing employee, responsible for the email tracking system, has the time and desire to help you. Getting approvals to access to the email marketing system. And there's probably more, but you get the idea. Why own the responsibility but defer the solution to another department? Or worse, give up the opportunity to add value by sending the requestor to another department? Here's what you lose. Control over the data The respect of the person making the request An opportunity for employees to track their own accomplishments When training departments are already fighting for respect, the last thing you want is for other department heads, and employees to see you as the bad guy. Using someone else's systems for solving business problems can also be a perception issue against you. And when you train leadership, through your actions, to see the value of one system(email marketing) over another(training) they may (even just subconsciously) begin to place more value on the former. Most importantly you risk taking away your employees ability to track and monitor themselves. They not only lose the immediate gratification of finishing a task, but they have no record of its completion. There is no way for employees to have a record of their accomplishment if that record is being held in the marketing system. Using your LMS Employees see the training department and its systems as the place for tracking their progress while employed at the company. Their profile becomes an extension of who they are. A gamified LMS gives them a system to measure themselves against their peers as well. The next time you are asked to "train" employees on a policy employees just need to read, and their is little concern if it's understood, then put it in your LMS. And yes, it will be listed as a course, and that's okay. Even if that's an issue that goes against your belief in what training is, it's not an issue for your employees. Your LMS is a platform to provide business solutions. Take every opportunity to do so. Use your LMS to create a course where the first module explains what it is expected of the employee and why. If the expectation is simply that they have accessed a policy document then tell them so. Put the policy document or a link to the document in the next module so that you have accurate tracking. This gives you the same data that the email marketing system would give you, but you have avoided confusion, boosted your team's value to the business, and given your employees feeling of accomplishment, the comfort of knowing its tracked as training, and the fun of adding to their game score. Ask yourself, "what else can we use our LMS platform for besides courses"? Let me know what you come up with @litmos. The post Discovering Hidden Business Value in Your LMS appeared first on Litmos.

jpg… gif… png… Ever wonder when you should use which file type for what purpose? If so, then take the guess work out of this dilemma by checking out the super cool Know Your File Types infographic shown below. Not only does it describe each one of these image formats, but the visual provides information related to which type works best in different sets of circumstances. Some really good stuff! A shout out to the WhoIsHostingThis? blog for sharing this useful infographic! Classroom Connection: Teaching students which file extensions to utilize so that they can avoid overloading an inbox, maxing out storage space and/or causing web pages, blogs and wikis to load slowly is invaluable—especially if you’re teaching computers or multimedia courses. That said, print the cluster of infographics explaining file format facts and then post it in your classroom as a handy reference.

I was recently talking with the Learning and Development Manager for a growing international company. They had identified an opportunity to provide their employees with an alternative form of training, in addition to their current offering of classroom training, which was falling on the shoulders of an already overworked, understaffed training team. The conversation quickly turned to elearning, and one of the first questions to pop up was: "Once you've built an elearning course, how do you deliver that to your employees?" It dawned on me that the two key components required for delivering elearning (the elearning course itself and the platform upon which the elearning courses are hosted) maybe aren’t as widely understood as I had assumed. In fact, understanding that they are separate components, isn’t really obvious to those of us who are not living and breathing elearning - the word ‘elearning’ is used as a catchall phrase to describe online training courses, and in no way indicates that two different components are required. So this blog is aimed at anyone who is new to elearning and needs a basic introduction into understanding these concepts. And after a brief introduction to elearning as a whole, we will focus primarily on the ‘LMS’ - the abbreviation given to a platform used to host elearning and deliver courses to learners. So let’s start at the beginning  There are essentially 3 ways to create elearning: Do it yourself - Some of you will have heard of ‘rapid-authoring’ tools such as Articulate and Captivate, which allow you to build your own elearning courses. These are essentially DIY tools that let you install the software locally and with a little knowhow, start building a course yourself. There are also cloud-based tools that are also gaining traction in the market - Elucidat and Gomo are great examples. Off-the-shelf - Any topics that are not company specific, i.e. course types such as Compliance, Soft Skills, Software training etc. will already have a plethora of pre-built elearning courses which you can download ‘off-the-shelf’. Websites such as Coursera or Learnpass offer libraries of these types of elearning packages which are ready to go. Custom built - Finally, if you don’t have the time or resources to build the courses yourself, or the topics aren’t available in an off-the-shelf format, you can recruit an elearning consultancy to custom build a course for you. These types of providers will work with the subject-matter experts within your organisation to design and deliver a course that achieves the desired objectives. Right, so let’s assume we already have our first elearning course ready to go. (It’s usually comes as a simple ZIP folder, which is exported in a format called SCORM. But that’s not important right now, we’ll talk about that another time). But what next? Well the simple answer is that you need upload these courses to a website, in order for learners to access the courses via their online device. In fact, you can even do this for free these days - you could upload an elearning course to a public Dropbox folder and send the link out to someone, who could then click on the link and begin the course. The Value of Elearning But the real value in providing elearning is two dimensional, and I think that isn’t always obvious. What do I mean by two dimensional? The first aspect is delivering the course as explained above. The learner sits in front of their laptop/tablet etc. for 20 minutes and learns something. Easy. But the second aspect (and most interesting aspect for learning professionals) is in the information that can be captured from the elearning course: How long did the learner take to complete each module? Which sections did they avoid? Were there any parts of the course that they didn’t understand or skipped completely? Did they leave any interesting feedback? Capturing and using this data is vital in ensuring the elearning is achieving the objectives of the course i.e. Why did we deliver this elearning course in the first place? (You can see my thoughts on the importance of identifying why you are implementing a course here). The data captured from each course can then be fed back to management within the business to make strategic decisions in a variety of areas. Here are some examples of data/feedback that could be gathered from each course: (just imagine what you could do with the following info!) 70% of our customer service team answered a question about a key feature of a new product incorrectly (if our staff don’t understand our products, how will our customers understand our products?) 25% of staff based in the USA haven’t undertaken mandatory compliance training (if we were to undergo an audit, would we get fined for not having all our staff compliant?) 40% of managers don’t know how to input their staff appraisals into the new HR system (we’ve spent tens of thousands on a new system and they aren’t using it?) These are just some simple examples (a couple of which that I have actually seen!) I’m sure you can think of lots more. So the conversation I was having moved onto the topic of this post - the ‘LMS’. So what is an LMS? LMS stands for learning management system. To explain an LMS in its most simple form, it is simply a secure website upon which a business can host their elearning courses and from which their employees can undertake online training. In this context, we are using the phrase ‘elearning courses’ in its broadest sense - although it doesn't necessarily have to be a full-blown elearning course to be hosted on an LMS. It can simply be a combination of videos, PowerPoint presentations, PDF documents etc. But we’ll get onto the nitty-gritty of the content another time. (It seems I am setting myself up for several more blog posts at this rate!) But as well as delivering courses, an LMS has a lot more functionality. So what else can it do? Typical LMS functionality There are literally thousands of LMS on the market, and each have their own unique selling points and various features. It can be an intimidating prospect to choose an LMS, so I would always recommend writing a list of your requirements before starting your search. But you don’t know what you don’t know right?! So it is useful to know some of the more common features that are available. Maybe you can use the following as a checklist if you are currently looking for an LMS: Reporting The single most powerful aspect of an LMS is that the administrator (the person who manages the LMS) has access to a wide range of different reports, generated from the data fed back from each learner’s behaviour within each course. Some of the most useful reports are as follows: Learner activity - the most common type of report is data based on each individual learner and their behaviour within a course or across all courses. Some of the key measurements that can be found within this type of report are the amount of time spent taking the course, the learner's progress within the course and the answers given to specific questions within the course. Course reports - these types of reports are based on each individual course, rather than focusing on each learner. Let's say for example you have 200 employees that all have access to the same course, you can run a course report that tells you what percentage of your employees have taken the course. Or if there is a quiz within that elearning course, what percentage of employees have successfully passed the course. Resource downloads - you can use the LMS as a central location to store any resources that you need to make available to staff. Some LMS give you information on how many times a particular resource has been downloaded, and by whom. I would also recommend looking closely at how this data is presented. Is it in a simple CSV spreadsheet format? Or does the LMS offer beautifully laid out dashboards with pie charts, widgets and filtering etc.? Definitely something to spend some time investigating before you look any closer at a potential LMS. Administration Most LMS will have one person within the organisation who is responsible for managing the LMS. But the real beauty of using an LMS is that you can provide administrator access to other key people throughout the business, including managers and team leaders. This has a number of positive benefits, namely that the information gathered by the LMS is much more useful to the manager, because they can use this data to directly impact the progress and behaviour of his team. This also reduces the amount of administration placed on the shoulders of the L&D manager. (Or whoever is responsible for managing the LMS). NB: In the previous paragraph, we talked about reporting. I have seen prehistoric, clunky reporting interfaces being a barrier to managers within the business using the system. If they don’t use the LMS regularly, and find the reporting functionality difficult to use which may deter them from using it at all. Dynamic content Learners can be added to different groups within the LMS, which means different learners will have access to different content. This is where an LMS really steps up in comparison to an Intranet, for example, where there is often a wealth of information, however finding what you need can be a challenge. With an LMS, when you add a new learner, you can assign them to different groups which means they only see content that is relevant to them. Systems integration One of the most challenging things about implementing LMS into a corporate environment, is that there are already a host of systems available. A decent LMS will integrate seamlessly with other systems, such as a company intranet and other HR systems, ensuring that it doesn’t feel like yet another website to remember to use. Automated communication The administration of training is usually responsible for taking up the majority of the training teams’ resources. However with an LMS, once the system is set up efficiently, most of the administration can be automated. For example, automated emails can be sent out to learners reminding them to take a course, letting them know whether they have passed or failed. Similarly, emails can be sent to managers informing them of their teams’ progress in the form of automated reports. Instructional Led Training (ILT) It doesn’t stop at automating online learning. Most organisations will continue to deliver classroom training alongside elearning - a blended solution is the perfect way to be able to deliver instant training on a global basis, while still delivering a hands-on, classroom or coaching based program. You will find that the majority of LMS support the administration of instructor led training (ILT) which can include virtual or classroom training scheduling, automating enrolment and registration emails and attendance tracking. Social elements The most exciting features to be found in a modern day LMS incorporate some of the social features that we use on a day-to-day basis on many of the social platforms: Communities/discussion forum - depending on the size and spread of the organisation, discussion forums and communities can be built around each individual course. This can be extremely useful if employees, who aren’t necessarily sitting at the adjacent desks, are looking to discuss content of the course with other colleagues who are also at the same point in the course. This conversation is also saved within the course resources, for learners undertaking the course at a future date to access. Leaderboards - one way that organisations are encouraging more staff to engage with their online learning is to provide elements of competition amongst their teams. A visual leaderboard can be displayed on the learners’ dashboard which shows the amount of courses or the pass completion rate in comparison to that of their peers and colleagues. This can be a great way to create a buzz around online training, and these types of statistics can feed very nicely into performance reviews and appraisals. What better way to justify awarding a bonus to someone than by making it public that they have taken and passed more course than their colleagues? Reviews - we are seeing it more and more frequently as we shop online, before buying we can read reviews of products and services. We can easily see what score has been given at the description or comment about the consumer's experience in buying the product service. LMS are starting to incorporate a similar kind of review system, whereby learners who have taken an elearning course can leave a review or feedback about the course. This will allow other learners to read the review before deciding whether they want to spend their time on the course. Polls, surveys and competitions - to increase engagement and conversation around the content, polls, surveys and competitions can be implemented which can generate enthusiasm. Mobile apps The majority of LMS will be accessible via a web browser on a mobile device or tablet. Some LMS will have a mobile version that automatically recognise when the learner is using a mobile device and optimise the LMS to fit the screen. However many LMS have an app that can be downloaded from the App Store. This would serve two purposes: 1. From a learners perspective, having an app would allow the learner to access their own personal LMS dashboard and undertake training or view progress 24/7. 2. From the perspective of the manager, reports could be viewed from the app to see how many people have taken the course, assessment results, course feedback etc. giving managers the ability to work on the fly. Assessment/quizzing Most elearning content development tools (such as Captivate and Articulate that we mentioned earlier in the post) provide the tools to build assessment and quizzing within the course itself. (It is more and more common to see quiz questions appearing throughout the course rather than just at the end). However, it is also possible in many LMS that you can build a quiz or assessment in the LMS itself. This would be useful in a situation where you don't have a traditional elearning course, but you maybe have a series of videos or a combination of different resources. An example of this that I used in a previous company, was where we didn’t have the budget for an elearning course, so we filmed a trainer delivering classroom-based training, and then built the assessment in the LMS for the learner to undertake after they had watched the classroom training videos. This gave us a ‘quick-win’ in regard to delivering a course to a wide audience without having to build complex elearning course from the ground up. Certification One fantastic aspect to using LMS is the ability for a certificate to be generated once a course has been successfully completed. In my last company, we created a certificate template that was populated at the end of each course and emailed to the learner once they had successfully passed the assessment at the end. We set up the system to carbon copy the email to the employees’ manager, which gave the manager the opportunity able to provide some positive recognition on successful completion of the course within their team. E-commerce  Many of the more advanced LMS incorporate some type of e-commerce facility. If you had invested time developing an elearning course and that course would be useful to learners outside the organisation or maybe even your customers, you could always look at a model whereby you sell your courses on a per user basis. This would mean that learners could login to your LMS and purchase a single course or group of courses using a credit card or PayPal account - a great way to create an additional revenue stream and demonstrate an immediate return on investment on your LMS? Multi-lingual interface The subject of language within elearning can be confusing, but it’s important to think back to earlier in this blog when we discussed the two sides of elearning: the course itself and the platform. Many LMS will provide the functionality to change the language used on a learner’s dashboard at the click of a button. Whilst this is extremely useful, especially for global organisations, it is really important to remember that while the platform will change into a different language, the content will not! Learning Paths As learning professionals, we are all conditioned to understand that learning is not a single event, but an ongoing process of learning experiences. So to support this theory, you can also create learning paths or curricula within the LMS. These are multiple courses organised into logical groupings, which create a path for learners to follow. Well... That escalated quickly! What started out as a quick overview of a conversation, turned into a 3,000 word behemoth of a blog post - I hope that didn’t wear you out?! Hopefully that gave you a really good insight into an LMS, and how the LMS platform fits into the broader spectrum of elearning. I pride myself on being able to talk plain English, so if any of that was confusing or left you scratching your head, I would be really grateful if you could let me know where I could have improved the article. If you have any questions please post them below, or please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me directly by clicking here to ask any questions. The post Beginner's Guide to Delivering eLearning via an LMS appeared first on Litmos.

Another day, another fun Christmas-themed resource awaits you behind Tech Treasure #7. This time it’s a really neat holiday greeting generator that is sure to make you and your recipient(s) smile. Yep, with Chatty Santa students can choose one of four festive backgrounds, enter a customized holiday message and then send it to others via Facebook, Twitter or email. Students can also snag a URL that can be posted on a web site or blog as well. Just hover over the interactive image shown below to say it with Santa! The full screen version of this interactive image can be accessed here.

What’s behind Tech Treasure #8? How ’bout the Finding Christmas Game. As a lonely Christmas ornament, you are in search of the North Pole. To find your way through the holiday madness, you must solve puzzles and use your strategy skills to conquer each level of the game. Click here to access this wacky holiday activity—plus seven others—within The Twelve Digital Days of Christmas Thinglink image.

As Quincy Jones once remarked, "I’ve always thought that a big laugh is a really loud noise from the soul saying, "Ain’t that the truth." That said, Edu-fun Friday is a series devoted to adding some humor to the lives of teachers who visit this blog. After all, there’s nothing better than ending the week on a positive note! Plus, do we have the best topics to provide us with some comic relief or what? When I saw this comic, I laughed and then immediately thought: Yeah, me too! Ha! A shout out to shoeboxblog.com for the reindeer humor!

If you’re a fan of both Christmas and puzzles, then you’ll really enjoy what’s behind Tech Treasure #9—a collection of online holiday puzzles. From Sudoku to jigsaws to hangman and photo swaps, there’s a brain teaser for everyone! Click here to check out Digipuzzle.net’s lineup of online activities found within The Twelve Digital Days of Christmas Thinglink interactive holiday resource.

Just sharing an article that appeared in the Altoona Mirror on December 12 regarding my school district’s participation in the Hour of Code, a world-wide event held last week in an effort to introduce computer programming to students around the globe. A shout out to Staff Writer Russ O’Reilly for not only writing this timely (and awesome) article but for allowing me to share it on my space! It goes something like this… At first glimpse, fourth-grader Ava Miller and her classmates at Bellwood-Antis School District’s Myers Elementary School appear to be playing a computer game, but it’s much more than that. They are participating in a global learning event, The Hour of Code, a one-hour online tutorial in computer science. Miller related a statistic that she was taught in preparation for the computer science tutorial: In about five years, there will be 1 million computer programming job vacancies. "(The tutorial) will help us with that because we know how to use the codes," she said. Asked whether she wants to be a computer programmer when she grows up, she said: "Yeah, I want to." When did she decide that? "Today," she said with a wide smile. The online tutorials are designed by the nonprofit code.org to make programming opportunities more available in schools and increase participation by women and underrepresented minority students. Bellwood-Antis, Altoona Area and Hollidaysburg Area are among the districts in Pennsylvania that are giving children an hour this week to see if their ravenous consumption of computer apps and games might translate into potential programming career paths. President Barack Obama kicked off the Hour of Code this week by doing the tutorial with some students. More than 100 partners including Microsoft, Apple, Amazon and College Board support the movement. A photo of Obama is taped to an Altoona Area Junior High School Door with a quote: "Don’t just play on your phone, program it." Computer programming jobs are growing at a rate of two times the national average, with the expectation that there will be 1 million more jobs than students by 2020. However, nine out of 10 schools do not teach computer science classes. Hour of Code tutorials allow students to write code to animate actions of cartoon characters on their computer screen. "(The tutorial) is a chance for students to see what’s going on behind the scenes of what they are using every day," said Lori Brown, algebra facilitator for the Altoona Area freshmen academy. Her students followed the tutorials on iPads. "It’s making coding concrete to them. If we inspire students, who knows what these kids can create," she said. "A line of code can change the world." Bellwood-Antis instructional technology coach Jamie Forshey said she is surprised the Pennsylvania Department of Education hasn’t identified computer programming as an area for schools to emphasize in curriculum. "There’s no better way to incorporate literacy, math and science into problem solving than computer programming," she said. Computer programmer and Saint Francis University computer science professor Mike Shanafelt said Hollidaysburg Area’s Frankstown Elementary students enjoyed the introduction to programming this week. Shanafelt is also organizer of the district’s Lego League, a competitive club that uses programming for Lego robotics. "One of the challenges facing the country is to drive interest in science, technology, engineering and math programs," he said. "I think programs like (code.org) drive that curriculum change."

Today marks the final day of The Twelve Digital Days of Christmas series—and of course, I’ve saved the best resource for last—one I’ve actually previously shared. Even though there are more than enough fun and festive holiday activities available on the web, this gem is definitely worth the encore—especially if you’ve somehow missed it along the way. So, here it is: The award-winning NorthPole.com holiday site has it all for educators, students and parents—dozens of games, activities, stories, crafts and more—all related to Santa’s visit on December 25. This "cool tool" promotes a traditional look at Santa’s Secret Village at the North Pole, but with high-tech, creative features to keep students entertained—all for free. For example, check out the Elf Clubhouse for online games and activities including checkers with Santa, Trim the Tree, crossword puzzles, word searches, concentration, and mazes. But free games are only the beginning of the fun your students can have at the NorthPole.com. Play Winter flash games, watch cool Christmas movies and cartoons at the North Pole Arcade—or chat with some of Santa’s helpers and read stories about your favorite elf. All of this and more awaits you and your students at the NorthPole.com! So push the desks aside for a few minutes and allow your children to be children during one of the most exciting and magical times of the year by checking out this site as well as other festive Christmas activities by hovering over The Twelve Digital Days of Christmas Thinglink interactive image shown below! The full screen version of this interactive image can be accessed here. As an added bonus—I’ve also included previous versions of The Twelve Digital Days of Christmas giving you one click access to a total of 35 different holiday activities that can be utilized with students. Enjoy! The full screen version of this interactive image can be accessed here. The full screen version of this interactive image can be accessed here.

As Quincy Jones once remarked, "I’ve always thought that a big laugh is a really loud noise from the soul saying, "Ain’t that the truth." That said, Edu-fun Friday is a series devoted to adding some humor to the lives of teachers who visit this blog. After all, there’s nothing better than ending the week on a positive note! Plus, do we have the best topics to provide us with some comic relief or what? When I was taking some pictures of fourth graders participating in the Hour of Code last week, one of them immediately asked me if I was putting it on Facebook. So, when I saw this cartoon, I totally laughed—again. Not only do I think it’s pretty funny, but it definitely speaks to the social media awareness that our digital natives possess.

I’m not the type that puts too much emphasis on awards. Blogging is a passion, a labor of love; therefore, awards do not define me or my work. I mean, don’t get me wrong. It’s not that being recognized by others for a job well done is unappreciated, but what I know to be true intrinsically is way more meaningful to me than any external praise I can receive. Setting goals and then doing whatever is necessary to accomplish them is of the utmost importance—regardless of how others weigh in on the matter. That is why winning the Edublogs Teacher Blog of 2014 is significant to me. Not because I personally picked up some digital bling, but because in the process of doing so, one of my students made a dream a reality: To win the Student Blog of the Year. Knowing I played a key role in her success and better yet, we were recognized together—like a team—is beyond coolness. As an educator, it’s one of those unforgettable, irreplaceable, cherished moments that speak to me like "Yep, this would definitely explain why I chose this career path." So, here’s to you, Aubs, for never losing sight of your vision, for staying the course despite last year’s disappointment and for finally picking up that swanky badge for your space. You rock, GG! Be sure to check out Simply Aubree, an official award-winning blog, to read all about the ramblings of a country girl! ♥

If you enjoyed the 12 Digital Days of Christmas posts I published over the last few weeks, then you can’t miss the Celebrate Holiday Traditions interactive image embedded below. Compiled by ThingLink Education Community Manager Susan Oxnevad, this must-see contains a collection of resources to tech your halls before the holiday break. From Christmas traditions and songs around the world to an inquiry project based on where Christmas trees grow as well as a super cool mash-up of activities based on Shel Silverstein’s Snowball poem, there’s something fun and festive for everyone! Thanks to tech gurus Aunty Tech, Cathy Maher, Meghan Zigmund and Amy Kincaid for sharing your awesomeness! Joy to the World! Psalm 98

In the words of Oprah, "Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us. Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right." So, along with the opportunity to have 12 months of happiness, 52 weeks of fun, 365 days of love and laughter and 8,760 hours of learning to use all sorts of new cool tools, apps and gadgets, here’s to writing a new chapter in which you have the opportunity to get it right—however that may look for you. And of course, as educators, we all have another year to influence the educational world and the students who live in it. Does it really get much better than that? Regardless of where your 2015 journey takes you, I hope it’s an unforgettable one!

As 2015 begins, it’s out with the old and in with the new—goals, ways of doing things and efforts to make dreams become a reality. Well, apparently, that old adage also holds true for tech-related terms, particularly those based on the latest trends and changes on the technology scene. So, what’s retro? What terms indicate you just might be a fossil? How about surf, click and .com? Yep, it’s true. These once popular geeky expressions top the endangered list as they are now being completely updated or replaced with newfangled hip words such as "torrent" and "glassed up". Take a closer look at the latest technical jargon by checking out the infographic shown below. And find out just how old school you are in the process! A shout out to Lebara Mobile for creating and sharing this handy visual. Classroom Connection: The infographic provides connected educators with a guide to new and outdated technology terms—info that can be helpful in the classroom and beyond. You don’t want to sound like you’re a flashback from the Woodstock era, do you? (OK, so maybe you do but……)

As Quincy Jones once remarked, "I’ve always thought that a big laugh is a really loud noise from the soul saying, "Ain’t that the truth." That said, Edu-fun Friday is a series devoted to adding some humor to the lives of teachers who visit this blog. After all, there’s nothing better than ending the week on a positive note! Plus, do we have the best topics to provide us with some comic relief or what? OK, so I don’t pray for snow days (sometimes), but I do frequently wish for two hour delays! Is that pathetic? If you enjoy this meme, then you should definitely check out nine other Teacher New Year’s Resolutions here. A shout out to the Pensive Sloth for the giggles!

Looking for a way to add some coolness and originality to digital pictures? Then PhotoFunia, a fun and free online photo editing tool, is the ideal resource for you—and your students! Whether you want to see your portrait on the cover of a magazine, the billboards of Times Square or on the walls of the Louve—or maybe you just want to make your own mark in the sand, write graffiti text on a wall or create a customized road sign—either way, a myriad of effects and filters are waiting for you on this fantastic site! Aside from hundreds of ways to pimp out your photos, did I mention how simple PhotoFunia is to use? Yep, you don’t even need a bunch of high-tech image editing skills in order to utilize and enjoy this application. Oh, and guess what? There is no registration or software download of any type necessary to get started. Just select the desired template, upload your photo(s), and after a few clicks, your very own work of art is ready in an instant. Depending on the filter chosen, users have several download options in order to save images for future use. You can even have tons of fun on the go anywhere, anytime by utilizing one of the PhotoFunia mobile apps that are available for virtually any device. Sound too good to be true? You might think so, but not so much. As the name implies, this tech tool makes tweaking photos a lot of fun! And it’s pretty impressive as well, especially for a freebie! Check out a few of my favorite effects shown below… Ever wondered what’s it like to be a rockstar? Project a picture of you and your students on a huge screen in front of your loyal fans by taking center stage with this fun concert effect. So, you wake up in the morning and a newspaper is waiting for you. Look! One of your students made the headlines! Create your own vintage stamp effect by uploading a few of your favorite student photos. I’m sure your students have dreamed of starring in a hit TV show? Find out what they would look like with this nifty retro TV Prisoner effect. Leave a personalized message on a foggy window.  Classroom Connection: Give students the opportunity to use the PhotoFunia effects and filters to design captivating supplementary materials that add a creative edge to any project or presentation that requires the use of an image to convey an idea or concept:  Digital stories, reports, posters, advertisements, comic strips, blogs, wikis and much more!

Just one example of the many words of wisdom spoken by Martin Luther King, Jr., pastor, activist, humanitarian and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. As we celebrate the life and legacy of this great man on the upcoming federal holiday established in his honor, don’t miss the opportunity to share some MLK information with your students so they can learn about the role he played in shaping our country’s culture and history. As you might imagine, there are tons of teaching and learning resources available online, but out of all of them, I highly recommend the video "My Friend Martin", especially if you teach middle school students. It’s a cool mix of animation and actual black and white video footage that is extremely effective and captivating—one that can be used as a springboard to discuss Dr. King and his accomplishments. The use of kid lingo and voice overs from famous actors such as Whoopie Goldberg and LaVar Burton as well encouraging messages about  how one person can make a difference by standing up for what is right even when it’s difficult makes this video a perfect choice for the classroom! Even though I’ve seen the video dozens of times, it’s still my all-time favorite MLK educational resource. Check it out below! Additional Resources: » Martin Luther King, Jr.: A one stop shop for all things MLK—articles, videos, images and speeches. The History Channel has it all! » Classroom Resources for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: Help students put in perspective Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life, his impact on the Civil Rights Movement, and his significance to American culture and history via this NEA resource. » Commemorate the Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: Learn about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his nonviolent struggle for Civil Rights with these lesson plans and multimedia resources from Scholastic. » MLK, Jr. Lesson Plans & Teacher Guides: The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Legacy of Racial and Social Justice: A Curriculum for Empowerment is a teacher’s resource guide that provides activities for students in kindergarten through eighth grade to explore the rich history of the civil rights movement and the persona of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. » Martin Luther King, Jr. Resources for Teachers: Check out quizzes, biographies, and various activities to learn about Martin Luther King, Jr. on this TeacherVision site. » Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: Join Education World this January to celebrate Martin Luther King Day. The resource page includes articles, lesson ideas, books, activities and much more! » Larry Ferlazzo’s Best Websites For Learning About Martin Luther King, Jr.: A comprehensive list of MLK resources. Classroom Connection: Use the Our Friend, Martin video and the other resources mentioned to teach students about the life and achievements of Martin Luther King, Jr.

As Quincy Jones once remarked, "I’ve always thought that a big laugh is a really loud noise from the soul saying, "Ain’t that the truth." That said, Edu-fun Friday is a series devoted to adding some humor to the lives of teachers who visit this blog. After all, there’s nothing better than ending the week on a positive note! Plus, do we have the best topics to provide us with some comic relief or what? Just imagine the impact if the principal is not very tech savvy! Ha, ha!

Rubrics… You know, those scoring guides that assist teachers with objectively evaluating student work. These same tools also provide teachers with a consistent framework using specific criteria to determine if and how learning objectives are achieved and skills are mastered. On the flip side, rubrics demystify the grading process for students by clearly stating, in age-appropriate terminology, the expectations of an assignment. Regardless of whether or not you utilize rubrics, the must-see infographic shown below offers some pretty compelling rationale for promoting and/or reinforcing the implementation of this concept into every classroom. Basically, rubrics can make the life of an educator simpler. Rather than adding an arbitrary grade to an assignment, rubrics streamline the scoring process by eliminating the guess work that is sometimes associated with determining the quality of project based assessments. Although they are very valuable and worthwhile tools, creating rubrics can be a challenging and tedious task. That said, check out some of these really cool and useful digital tools that can assist educators in the development of rubrics. Not only can they be downloaded for future use, but they can be shared with others as well. Many of these sites also offer pre-made templates and examples that can be tweaked to suit your academic needs. » RubiStar » iRubric » Rubrics4Teachers » eRubric Assistant » Common Core Rubric Creation Tool » Teachnology General Rubric Generator And then there’s the must-see Kathy Schrock’s Assessments and Rubrics page, a one stop shop for all things rubrics including tons of general and subject specific rubrics for all grade levels! A huge shout out to Mia Macmeekin for creating and sharing another useful educational resource! Your infographics are the bomb! A special thanks also goes out to GoPixPic for the use of the rubrics image! Classroom Connection: Use the infographic as a guide to help explain why teachers should utilize rubrics to assess student assignments and projects. Utilize the tools mentioned to get the job done!

Sometimes we just need to forget the curriculum, the standards, the test prep and interject some fun, some inspiration, some motivation into our daily routines. Well, I can’t think of a better way to do so than via the super popular Kid President videos. This YouTube sensation, the brainstorm of Brad Montague—one based on the belief that kids have voices that can change the world—features the uniquely humorous yet meaningful words of wisdom from ten year old Robby Novak. Ironically, Robby has Osteogenesis Imperfecta, a brittle bone condition which has resulted in him having over 70 breaks since birth. But despite life’s struggles, Robby not only keeps going—he dances as well because after all, "It’s everybody’s duty to give the world a reason to dance." Check out an example of a Kid President video shown below. This particular one—entitled "A Pep Talk from Kid President to You"—is one of my all-time favorites. The message not only encourages viewers to create something that will make the world awesome, but it also contains a special shout out to teachers and students. ♥ Classroom Connection: OK, so like I said, the best way I personally believe the Kid President videos can be utilized is to break one out one of these gems when you feel the need to share some encouragement with your students—or colleagues for that matter. We recently began featuring a select video during our morning announcements program in the middle school, and our students love, love them. Of course, if you want to go beyond just showing the video, follow-up with a class or small group discussion and/or a writing response to the particular message that was promoted. The Pinterest Board located here has some really neat ideas that could be modified to suit your needs. You could even inspire your students to create their own motivational video as well. Now that would be awesome! So, what are you waiting for? Get your learnin’ on and make some history. I’m out… Happy 49th Anniversary to my really swell parents… Love you guys! ♥

As Quincy Jones once remarked, "I’ve always thought that a big laugh is a really loud noise from the soul saying, "Ain’t that the truth." That said, Edu-fun Friday is a series devoted to adding some humor to the lives of teachers who visit this blog. After all, there’s nothing better than ending the week on a positive note! Plus, do we have the best topics to provide us with some comic relief or what? The funniest thing is that I’m pretty sure Miss Blanch thinks she’s all tech-ed out! Ha, ha!