One of the reasons why e-learning took a little bit of time to be accepted as a genuine training solution is because it introduced new and novel technologies that had never been seen before in teaching environments. Some employers were rather sceptical as to whether it would work, while members of staff had to get used to the learning techniques on offer. But before long, e-learning was the training solution of choice for countless organisations. Even so, it would be wrong to compare the integration of e-learning with the future potential of m-learning or mobile learning. This is because we are already familiar and au fait with mobile technology, as it dominates and dictates modern society. Therefore, when it comes to adopting mobile learning as a training technique, you shouldn’t be looking for ways to get content onto smartphones and tablets. Instead, you must think of how to marry up learning and development with the digital lives of your employees.   Modern day mobile learning Most people in today’s digitally connected society will probably say that their smartphone or tablet is extremely personal to them. Along with functionality to help the user go about their daily routine, mobile devices also feature applications that deliver the latest news stories, social media trends, and information about every subject imaginable. But it is important to make the distinction between learning and finding things out. Therefore, a mobile learning strategy must abide by the consumption habits of mobile users and not force training upon them. Mobile learning should also provide users with content they actually want to receive. This should involve the "micro-moments" that employees are experiencing on their mobile devices. Google defines these micro-moments as "I-want-to-go, I-want-to-do, I-want-to-buy, or I-want-to-know moments when people are turning to devices to find answers, discover new things, or make decisions." Although these micro-moments will differ depending on the learner’s position, from new hires to senior executives, it is fair to say that each and every staff member experiences them. For this reason, you can’t expect just one person or even a small team of employees to create relevant content for everyone. Instead, the content creation process should be contextual, which changes to the wants and needs of the workforce over time. Inspiration for this approach can be taken from YouTube and its "CCC content framework." This can help you to create, collaborate on, and curate content to produce appropriate learning materials and be there for employees in their various micro-moments of need.   Create The first aspect of the CCC framework is to create your own content. Think carefully about the I-want-to-do and I-want-to-know micro-moments your employers are experiencing and how to address them. Try to create content that captures the brand’s voice and embraces its core values. Although your focus will be on educating employees, you should also try to make this content entertaining and inspiring. For example, a short video that addresses significant moments can get the audience’s attention and keep their interest levels high for the duration. Several businesses are adopting this approach for induction days, performance management, selling tips, and other types of internal training.   Collaborate The second aspect of the CCC framework is collaborating on your content with others. Along with broadening the relevance and reach of your mobile learning footprint, it also opens up the possibility of leveraging the experience and expertise of other creators. These additional architects might be more obvious than you think too. For example, speak to your finance department to discover what content is needed to satisfy their micro-moments. This could involve processing payments, future forecasts or allocating budgets. Across the business, approach employees from different departments and in different positions to discover what their most critical micro-moments are and how to solve them. They may even be willing to provide the content for your mobile strategy, as a recent study by Towards Maturity revealed that 84 per cent of respondents were willing to use technology to share what they know with their peers, which could include webinars or podcasts.   Curate The third and final aspect of the CCC framework is to curate content that already exists. This can be anything from previous training materials, information on your company website, employee onboarding handbooks, or any other content that is easy to locate and curate. The Internet is arguably the most important and extensive resource at your disposal. Use tools to find and filter relevant resources or give others the opportunity to point you towards valuable resources online. After all, 87 per cent of people feel they should be able to communicate, share opinions, and interact with brands in real time. Although the same can be said for your organisation’s employees, any recommended content should still be referenced against an organisational context.   Piecing together a great content strategy for mobile In contrast to e-learning, which required employers and employees to adapt to a new way of training, the prospect of mobile learning seems much easier to introduce and implement. However, it still presents a number of challenges, as organisations can’t get away with simply migrating existing training materials over to mobile devices. Modern-day learners are using their smartphones and tablets to actively seek out the information they want to consume based on micro-moments of need. Therefore, training materials need to be available on mobile devices but also capitalise on the habits of their users. But thanks to technology, this is a distinct possibility. In addition to creating content, which can include interactive infographics and entertaining videos, businesses have the ability to collaborate with others to identify what is required and transform existing materials to meet these needs. Make sure you are there for your employees’ micro-moments of need, enabling them to quickly and easily find contextually relevant content. Share this post with your own audience

As 2015 comes to a close, I’m excited to review some of my most popular educational technology posts with you! How to Add Backgrounds in Google Docs: A Workaround Most people can appreciate how awesome the world of Google Drive actually is. However, the main complaint that I get about especially[Read more] The post Educational Technology in 2015: My Most Popular Posts appeared first on Teaching with Technology.

Congratulations for arriving - it is the last week of the year. You are in this exact place as a result of all of your conversations in 2015. Yes all of them. The successful and the failed ones. The clean and the messy ones. The ones with tears and the ones with laughs. The ones you had to redo.Each conversation brought you one step closer to this very moment, these exact results. So I ask: When you look back, are you happy with the results this past year? What relationships are the most fulfilling? What achievements are you most proud of? What do you wish you would have approached differently? Who deserved more of your time?When we take it seriously that we are navigating our lives one conversation at a time, it makes it less daunting to take on change because we know our job is to just show up, present and awake, for the conversations that need and want to take place.This week’s tip is to make a conversations resolution for 2016. Think about the conversations you want and need to have for the coming year and write them down. Think about how you want to show up in those conversations.To get your mind jogging:Who neds an apology?Who deserves your praise?Who do you need to talk with to discuss what and where you want to go in 2016?What relationships need your attention?How will you show up in the conversations?  Write your resolution down, and put it in a place you often look. Or add it as a reminder on your phone, so that you get a daily reinforcement at the same time every day.What is your conversations resolution?The post Fierce Tip of the Week: Make Your Conversations Resolution appeared first on Fierce, Inc..

It’s snowing at Goat Leap, my tree house on Orcas Island. That’s where I am now, as I write to you. My dogs Dobby, Tallulah, and Hamish - two labradoodles and a Cairn terrier - and I are cozy. The fire is toasty, I’ve enjoyed my coffee with whipped cream and there’s a roast in the oven. It smells heavenly. I read somewhere, "I’m not anti-social.  I’m pro-solitude." Amen to that! I’m in my favorite place for solitude.Each December, I think about what to share with you. I wrote in Fierce Conversations: "Life is curly. Don’t try to straighten it out." 2015 has been a decidedly curly year and is in no danger of straightening out in 2016. So let’s talk about curls and how to navigate them. Those we welcome and those we don’t.Curls can be wonderful. An unexpected romance, a financial windfall, a promotion. For me, stepping back into the company as CEO was a welcome curl. Meeting with clients, giving talks, writing articles, hanging out with our team and planning for the future is pure pleasure, and if you’ve ever been in our Seattle offices, you know what a warm, welcoming culture we have.Our mission is to transform the conversations central to our clients’ success. Our vision is to change the world - one conversation at a time. I had wondered now and then if the notion of fierce conversations, those conversations in which we come out from behind ourselves, into our conversations and make them real, would remain relevant in the years since Fierce was founded. Turns out, they are increasingly relevant for individuals, companies, this world we share.Our world is struggling. Weather related tragedies like the tornadoes in Texas must be navigated after they occur. No one is to blame. But others are entirely man-made. Shootings, Paris, corporations that have broken the trust of their customers and the public, the current political debate in the U.S.Words matter. What we set in motion. "I shot him because I believed my life was in danger." "We can cheat the emissions tests." "Those who don’t believe as I do deserve to die." "They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists."And at home. "What’s wrong?" "Nothing!" Followed by a weekend of stony silence.We all do or say things we regret from time to time, but shouldn’t we be solving problems together, rather than being the problem ourselves?When I returned to Fierce, my leadership team and I identified a few things we wanted to transform.  We began by modeling what we espouse to our clients: radical transparency and human connectivity, which includes the four objectives of a fierce conversation:Interrogate realityProvoke learningTackle tough challengesEnrich relationships Radical transparency:  Telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, at all times, no matter what, even if it makes you look bad. Also uncovering and addresses mokitas, the Papua New Guinea word for that which everyone knows but no one talks about.The "truth" is complicated. There are multiple, competing truths existing simultaneously on just about every topic under the sun. Leaders can’t see everything that’s going on and be aware firsthand of every broken or limping segment of an organization.  What don’t you know?  Who does know?  Are you sure you’ve got the whole picture?What realities might you need to interrogate at work or at home? What mokitas are in your way? What about this world we share? If a problem exists, it exists whether we talk about it or not, so we might as well talk about it. And as Carl Jung said, "What we do not make conscious emerges later as fate."At Fierce, we believe that a leader’s job is to get it right, not be right, which requires heaping handfuls of humility, modesty, and recognizing that, while we may object to reality, we cannot successfully argue with it.When I returned to Fierce, we had frequent, all-company meetings during which we gained the perspective of everyone in the company, including our remote employees, which helped ensure that we made the best possible decisions for the company going forward.Human connectivity:  If you are a leader, your most valuable currency is not money, intelligence, charisma, self sufficiency, industry experience, or the ability to analyze a case study and read a profit and loss statement.Your most valuable currency is relationship. It is emotional capital. To realize the next wave of growth for yourself, your family, and your organization, you must introduce a new element to your existing skill set - relevant and appropriate warmth and human connectivity.Consider leaders you know or know of, who conduct business as usual. Many lead with their intelligence, experience, title.  Others lead with a spectacular ability to spin a story in order to motivate employees to work 24/7 or to hype a stock. Such leadership is temporary.Notice the difference between those individuals and leaders to whom people willingly commit at a deep level. Big difference.Human connectivity is the next frontier for exponential growth, for individuals and for companies, and the only sustainable competitive edge. In fact, if you want to be a great leader, you must gain the capacity to connect with your employees and your clients - at a deep level - or lower your aim.So connect I did. I began by having one-to-one meetings with everyone at Fierce, which took a full month. I learned a great deal and the staff, particularly those who had come on board when I was no longer running the company, had an opportunity to size me up. The leadership team conducted insight interviews with our clients. They told us what they liked, what they wanted more of. They are savvy and smart, measuring the results of training in all things "fierce." We love them. Literally, love them.There is a clear, compelling line between leadership and fierce leadership. It’s okay to cross the line. In fact, it’s essential. The progress of the world depends on our progress as individuals now. It’s not up to someone else. It’s up to you. And me.I leave you with an image and a quote from T. S. Eliot.The image: Imagine yourself in a canoe.  If you put your paddle in the water at the right angle for just one or two seconds, the canoe will change direction.  A conversation can be like this.  A few words that connect us.  A question.  Truth.The quote is from T.S. Eliot:""For last year’s words belong to last year’s language And next year’s words await another voice."Yes, please. Another voice would be helpful, for all of us, for our families, our companies, this world we share. Your voice, sharing what is true for you and inviting it from others.We navigate the curliness of life one conversation at a time. Make them fierce.With fierce affection,Susan ScottThe post 2015 Year End: Life is curly appeared first on Fierce, Inc..

As 2016 quickly approaches we all look into our crystal balls and pontificate about the coming year. Whether we do it in a blog, or during New Years parties, or just thinking to ourselves, it’s an exercise in hoping for a better tomorrow. The L&D world can participate in this annual custom, but it can rarely act on it. As the lagging indicator of the tech world, the future of education and L&D often looks like the old tech rather than new tech. But that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the excitement of newly revealed tech gadgetry. It simply means that when the tech world is thinking about the new year of new tech, the greater L&D community will be viewing the same tech through a 5-10 year lens. With that being said, it’s still fun to get an early look at what the training experience of tomorrow will look like today. Wearable Sports Training One of the hottest trends in the internet of things (IoT) is wearable tech. It’s a trend that is already available, but remains a little clumsy and mostly priced outside the budget of the average consumer. The Fitbit, Apple Watch, and other activity tracking devices have been the most successful wearable tech. And while they are really good at collecting data, their intended purpose is to change behavior. Hey, isn’t that what we strive for? Sure it is. We should be thinking about wearable tech as a viable training technology. Wearable technology at this point is nothing more than a bulky attachment to our bodies or clothing. Tomorrow’s wearable technology will be embedded in the clothing and unobtrusive. We won’t even know it’s there. And it will gather data well beyond heart rate, and number of steps. The natural market for the growth of wearable tech has been in sports and fitness. The same holds true for clothing with embedded tech. However, companies are beginning to experiment with other markets like ergonomics and personal development/improvement. Imagine a manufacturing employee in wearable tech that tracks precise movements, posture, and environmental conditions. Many jobs still require repetitive movements throughout a given work shift. Even white collar jobs are subject to repetitive stress injuries. Today we do our best to "require" ergonomics training for all employees in an effort to reduce "days away from the job due to injury or illness". But why not let technology monitor this as well, and cue us to change our behavior? Lumobodytech.com is working on this problem with their innovative Lumo Lift product. A heading on their website reads, "Solving back pain through elegant sensing and custom coaching." The small device works attached to your shirt and mildly vibrating as you slouch or otherwise relax into poor posture. The vibration is your cue, or trigger, to adjust into a healthier posture. Their clothing line specifically for running will launch first as shorts for men and capris for women with the tech embedded in the clothing. The data gathered from their clothing is well beyond what you would get from a wrist band device. Check it out at their website, and then imagine the training opportunities. Wearable Virtual Reality Suit Most virtual reality to date is an experience of immersive interactive 3D. The real virtual reality of the future involves so much more. Instead of viewing an environment on a screen and imagining being there, virtual reality puts you into a simulated environment that you can see and feel. Advances in haptic suits are making the future of VR a reality. If you’ve read the books Ready Player One, or the older Snowcrash, you know exactly what I’m talking about. The virtual reality imagined in those books is becoming our reality with products like TeslaSuit. Brian Daly is a UK Department of Education Consultant who has experienced the Teslasuit and gives his feedback in this 30 second video. The range of educational possibilities is limitless. We won’t see haptic suits in corporate training any time soon. But we can watch and learn from those industries on the bleeding edge of haptic suit commercialization like gaming, military training, sports, and healthcare. The technology is not what holds back the L&D community. It’s the culture of technology usage that lags behind the technology. The good news is that this lag gives us time to look more deeply into the learning applications of new tech. The rapid growth of computer-based training in the ‘90s taught us a valuable lesson in the importance of people over technology in our process of training. If the people we are charged with training are not familiar with a technology and currently using it in their daily lives, it often complicates the learning process. The extensive focus required to teach the technology before applying the technology to learning can be an expensive endeavor. In some cases the expense and time is worth the effort. As in the case of military training simulations, or surgical simulations. But in the case of corporate training, the return on investment is just not there…yet. Next week the annual pilgrimage to Las Vegas by the technology community known as CES (Computer Electronics Show) begins. I will be Periscoping, blogging, vlogging, tweeting, instragraming, from the event and hope you will join me virtually on any of these platforms. If there is something you're interested in hearing about, please feel free to reach out and let me know @Litmos. The post Future eLearning Tech 2016: Wearable Training Experiences appeared first on Litmos.

If training departments are going to be successful in the 21st century business environment, they must show business value. Part of providing value means spending as little money as possible to achieve the greatest result in the shortest amount of time. Expensive and time consuming one-and-done training course development is no longer a viable strategy. In order to succeed you must shift to produce-publish-repeat. The "repeat" means learning from data and feedback so you can re-produce and re-publish.  You continue the process until there is no more improvement required or the need no longer exists. This "good enough" strategy is not something traditional training designers/developers are often open too. To be fare, in some cases they are right. You will have instances where more in-depth analysis and content development is required. But those cases are rare. Most self-motivated adult professionals opt for training when no other choice exists. Accessing content and learning on their own is often the preferred choice. Even if that choice is watching an hour long course lecture video. They would rather have the option of watching the video now, rather than waiting for the next available course offering. Step #1: Always make content available as soon as possible in any format.  Part of this "lean training design" strategy is leveraging your existing instructor-led training. Instead of deriding the ILT, as our industry does so freely, you should be grateful for it and view it as an opportunity. It's an opportunity to provide real business value in the form digital content that was inexpensive and quick to produce and publish. 5 Reasons Why Recording ILT is Worth Your Time Inexpensive - In a world of seemly constant expense reductions, inexpensive solutions have become more and more valuable. When your audience wants the information now, don't make them wait because you want the training to be perfect. Do what you can with what you have and you will be surprised at your success. Scales Up - The logistics around physical spaces are limiting. Once you've held an event, if it is not recorded, that experience is lost forever only to remain in the minds of those who attended. And after a while, according to research, only 10% of that content will remain. Recording classroom presentations allows you to publish the recording making it available to a larger audience any where, at any time, almost immediately after the event. Fast - When you and your training team are short on time, you need fast solutions. These solutions are not perfect but they are better than nothing. And they provide business value. Be fast first! Then make improvements. Anyone can do it - Recording presentations and other live events has become easier than ever. And when the training team ends up needing some help, this is an area where you can delegate outside of the training department.You may have an in-house AV team that can help. Or perhaps someone in IT, or other department is interesting in helping out. In some cases you may even have an instructor that can record their session themselves. Design Strategy - If you have SMEs already teaching regular courses as part of their job, then instead of wasting their time with meetings, recording their training events gives you key insight into what content is important. You can review the recording multiple times to further define your content re-design strategy. You can also use these events to gather attendee feedback on the SMEs content. This is all work you would normally do as part of content and audience analysis. However, instead of the hassles of scheduling multiple meetings, coordinating schedules, and a myriad of email exchanges, you can get most of what you need by simply attending and recording the training event. I know recording ILT as a design strategy is unorthodox and not part of traditional training design models. However, I know you have employees currently wanting information. They are looking for any bit of digital content they can find to help them do their jobs better. Their need and desire outweighs any instructional design value you could add. If they could get an hour of time with the SME instead of taking your class (sadly) I know they would. Give them the next best thing. And then make it better! Have you already done this? What was your experience? I'd love to hear about it. @Litmos The post Top 5 Reasons Recorded ILT Content is Valuable appeared first on Litmos.

Malcolm Gladwell, author of ‘Outliers’ says that to truly master something takes 10,000 hours of practice. That’s a long time. But while Gladwell is probably not too far off the mark, we’d add one small caveat: 10,000 hours of practicing the right way, with the right foundations. So we’ve put together the 10 commandments eLearning professionals must follow to see their courses be a success. Take these rules, incorporate them into your eLearning, and get busy mastering your craft.

Have you ever heard the saying, "It’s called work and not fun for a reason"? Doesn’t make you very excited for your future in the workforce, does it? Well have no fear; Ed4Online has created training programs to help you turn your hobby into a profitable career!  We offer training in a wide variety of fields - here are just a few careers you may not have considered: Photography Event Planning Wedding Consultant Fitness Instructor Cyber Security Travel Agent Think about it! If you love traveling and seeing the world then you would be great at helping others fulfill their vacation dreams as a travel agent. If you love partying, why not get paid and rock out some awesome parties? Open your mind, think of what you enjoy and turn it into a career!  Take a few classes that expand your knowledge in your area of interest and add in an entrepreneurial class to lock down the business side. There you have it! A formula for a business you can enjoy and have fun with. Utilizing online schooling can let you have the freedom to take these classes at your own pace as well as whatever location you like. Want your classroom to be poolside? Done! Here’s another great quote for you: "No one ever looked back and wished they spent more time at the office." Obviously whoever said that didn’t think to turn their hobby into a financial jackpot. With the right motivation and education, anything is possible. Sound cliché? Who cares! Sounds like a great place to start to us! Modified from: http://www.milcareered.com/blog/investing-your-hobbies#sthash.IWlqE6Pq.dpuf          

  Our libraries and Learning Commons are key to supporting innovation. Therefore, Librarians are at the heart of the innovation narrative that takes place in our schools. Librarians are facilitators of learning and knowledge building. Sometimes this is about technology, sometimes it is about other resources, but it is always about people. We don’t make […]

This week I am reviewing my posts from 2015 and putting some of the core ideas together. Here are some thoughts on personal and social learning in the network era. Training, and education, are often solutions looking for a problem. But good training and education can have a huge impact on behaviour and performance. Remember that great teacher who inspired you? Did you ever have a coach who got you to a higher level of performance? But throwing content at someone and hoping for learning to happen is not a good strategy. This is how far too many courses are designed and delivered. 9 ways to improve workplace learning Training helped us prepare for a relatively stable workplace. Integrating learning and work ensures that we can adapt to a changing workplace. By extending the borders of work, through communities of practice and social networks, we can support social learning. Structured and goal-oriented work still needs to get done. However, knowledge workers also need to develop emergent practices through their social relationship outside the workplace. This keeps work connected to the changing external environment, through human relationships and social networks. from training to social learning Too many people in the training department make the leap from a performance issue (lack of skills, abilities, knowledge; lack of access to appropriate data and resources; etc) directly to ‘training as the only solution’. This is a wrong approach and is the most costly. Management plays into this, with statements like "We have a training problem" while no one challenges that statement. There is no such thing as a training problem. enough training Learning out loud in our social networks helps to seek new opinions and share our own with a diverse group of people. Outside the organization we can make new connections without permission. In addition, trusted spaces, like communities of practice, give us a place to take our half-baked ideas and test them out, with minimal risk. Meanwhile, we can sharpen these ideas and share them in our digital workplaces when we discern the time is appropriate. All of this is an art, requiring ongoing practice, and countless negotiated conversations and relationships. digital workforce skills Removing barriers should be the focus of the learning and development professional, not delivering content. It is time to stop being takers of orders and become better diagnosticians. Solving problems will help L&D be seen as a valued part of the enterprise. L&D professionals therefore have to master their own field as well the business they support. In addition, they have to understand that few outside L&D think what they do is important. It’s a big challenge, but learning is becoming critical to all businesses. It is up to L&D to be part of this. L&D outside the box Communities of practice act as filters of new knowledge in order to find competitive knowledge for your organization. People who understand the context of the work teams must participate in communities of practice, as only they can identify what new knowledge could be competitive. That means that those doing the work need time and support to get away from their teams and see the bigger picture. innovation means learning at work Building knowledge networks of trusted connections is one way we can learn as a society and address the complex problems facing us. Nobody can do it alone. Explicitly using social media and social networks to better understand complex issues should be part of all education programmes and everyone’s professional practice. There is so much to know and very little time. I call this serendipitous drip-fed learning. You just have to find the feeds, thankfully of which there are many. serendipitous drip-fed learning It is not the size of our networks that matters, but the diversity of opinions and expertise that we can draw upon, in order to prevent group think, or an ‘echo chamber’ effect. In times of crisis, when information is critical, then having a diversity of opinions can ensure that drastic measures are not taken for the wrong reasons, or that viable options are not ignored. diverse networks, strong relationships "Work is learning, learning work" — that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. learning and the future of work Image: finding perpetual beta

Top 5 Learning Technology Trends for 2016 https://t.co/zsywkhinLu #elearning

  What is your problem? No.. really! What problems are you facing and trying to solve in your classroom this year? What student needs are at the forefront of your teaching journey right now? And how does this impact your mindset for adopting new ideas and initiatives? I have been thinking about this a lot […]

This week I am reviewing my posts from 2015 and putting some of the core ideas together. Here are some thoughts on the changing nature of work and shifting wealth creation. Platform capitalism is beginning to define the economy for the second Gilded Age we seem to be entering. It requires 4 contributing factors, which when combined, create a perfect opportunity for the ‘uberization’ of almost any industry. A platform: a mobile application delivered through an oligopoly like iTunes or Google Play. A critical mass of users: upwardly mobile knowledge workers, especially those in Silicon Valley or the tech sector. Desperate service providers: people with no ability to organize due to weak or non-existing trade unions in their field, who see opportunities for better cash flow. Lack of regulations and oversight: bureaucracies that either cannot keep up with technology advances, or political leadership that condones poor working conditions in the name of progress. uber-proof your labour Platform capitalism is the ability of a common internet exchange medium to enable easy commercial transactions. Buyers of services get convenience, while sellers get a larger market. The spoils go to the owner of the platform, receiving a percentage of revenues. Most of these platforms are created when regulations and oligopolies make these transactions difficult by traditional means. Platform capitalism initially disrupts a sector that is poorly served. play the long game The emerging economy of platform capitalism includes companies like Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Apple. These giants combined do not employ as many people as General Motors did. But the money accrued by them is enormous and remains in a few hands. The rest of the labour market has to find ways to cobble together a living income. Hence we see many people willing to drive for a company like Über in order to increase cash-flow. But drivers for Über have no career track. The platform gets richer, but the drivers are limited by time. They can only drive so many hours per day, and without benefits. democratizing distribution Consider open source software versus software as a service. If you do not own the software, you do not really own your data, as they are usually useless without the software to use them effectively. The same can apply to labour. If the workers do not own the platform that provides the work, then they may be of little economic value without it. Über is an excellent example of platform capitalism that turns labour into an easily replaceable commodity. Some day that labour may even be automated, eliminating the need for drivers. open source workers The job is a social construct that has outlived its usefulness. Freelancing may be a replacement but often lacks a safety net, and many of the self-employed become the pawns of the platform capitalists. In the next five years, many professionals will have to change not only who they work for, but what they do. Are they prepared? We are entering a post-job economy. Our careers will be shorter as our lives get longer. Companies and institutions are no longer the stable source of employment they once were. The structures we create now to shift society to a post-job economy will determine how much turmoil the transition will create. Now is the time to construct better ways to distribute the wealth of the network era. turmoil and transition Changing How We Work If those who are educated, knowledgeable, and experienced do not push for a better world of work, then who will? An effective knowledge network cultivates the diversity and autonomy of each worker. Knowledge networks function best when each person can choose with whom and when they connect. Solving problems together is becoming the real business challenge. caught in-between

As 2015 comes to a close, you may find yourself reflecting on the past year. Self-assessment or thinking about what we’ve accomplished or left undone, and what’s led to success or failure, is a process most of us engage in as a closure activity at different times such as at year’s end or after losing the big game. But, what if we engaged in self-assessment "during the game" so we could alter what we do when we get back on the field and change the outcome? That’s what educators are asking students to do now—to engage in self-assessment with low-stakes activities during the learning process before they have to demonstrate achievement on high-stakes assessment. As formative assessment, self-assessment helps students shape their learning process to succeed in achieving learning outcomes. It is an essential component of effective personalized learning. Defining Self-Assessment According to educators James McMillan and Jessica Hearn, in Student Self-Assessment: The Key to Stronger Student Motivation and Higher Achievement, … Self-assessment is… a process by which students 1) monitor and evaluate the quality of their thinking and behavior when learning and 2) identify strategies that improve their understanding and skills…Finally, students must be able to make adjustments to their work prior to graded evaluation. Self-Assessment Works Engaging in self-assessment and experiencing success with it motivates students to apply themselves and persevere. In a review of studies on the effectiveness of self-assessment, researcher John Ross, University of Toronto, found that student self-assessment consistently "contributes to higher student achievement and improved behavior." Self-assessment is associated with varied learning approaches including "growth mindset," a concept promoted by Carol Dweck, Stanford University. With growth mindset, students understand that exerting greater effort and changing strategies will help them succeed where they have failed. Self-assessment helps students figure out new learning strategies. Students who develop growth mindset achieve higher levels of learning. In one study, inner-city fourth graders using growth mindset for only one year went from doing poorly to placing first in New York state math exams. At the college level, B. J. Zimmerman and colleagues taught urban developmental math students to use self-reflection during their course. Students engaging in self-assessment not only achieved 25% higher grades than the control group on a standardized test, but also gained general insights: Instead of viewing the reception of an academic grade as an end-point of learning, these students learned to view it as an opportunity for further learning. Self-Assessment in Practice In Acrobatiq courseware, the self-assessment process mirrors McMillan and Hearn’s definition as a regular activity. Students engage in self-assessment after completing activities for each topic with targeted feedback so that they can adjust their learning strategies. Then, they have the opportunity to apply their insights to additional exercises on previous topics or new topics before summative assessment. What makes this type of self-assessment powerful is that it’s ongoing so that students can improve their learning in real time. Self-assessment is a positive process that students can apply to learning throughout their lives.

Around the middle of December, I received an awesome email from one of my favorite companies, EDpuzzle, sharing a new addition to their wonderful site. As is typically the case during the school day when I check my email, I saw the email title, squealed a little, and made a[Read more] The post EDpuzzle + Google Classroom = Awesome! appeared first on Teaching with Technology.

About a month ago, I was contacted by Stile, an EdTech company out of Australia. They presented their super cool lesson builder, and asked if I would give it a try. I did. My thoughts? Holy moly. This tool is AH-MAZING! Stile allows teachers to build interactive lessons with a[Read more] The post Stile: A Great Interactive Lesson Tool appeared first on Teaching with Technology.

We are going to give and receive feedback in the classroom whether we are aware of it or not. How lucky would students be if we all learned how to effectively give and receive feedback? My own struggles with the answers to this question fueled my passion for writing, and I ended up writing a […]

This week I am reviewing my posts from 2015 and putting some of the core ideas together. Here are some thoughts on how the increasing automation of knowledge work can be addressed by a new approach to organizational leadership. Any work that is routine will be automated. Jobs that only do routine work will disappear. Valued work, enhanced by our increased connectivity, will be based more on creativity than intelligence. The future of human work will require tacit knowledge and informal learning, and will create intangible value that cannot easily be turned into commodities. The future of work will be complex and this will be even more obvious in the next five years, as robots and software keep doing more complicated work. Just as people had to become literate to work in the 20th century workplace, now they will have to be creative, empathetic, and human: doing what machines cannot do. preparing for 2020 Thinking for ourselves is the foundation of a new way of working. This requires an understanding of the whole environment in which we work. Artificial structures like jobs remove our ability to see the whole system. As we learn to think for ourselves, we must also connect with others. We are only as smart as our knowledge networks. But we do not need someone to manage our connections. The simple guideline of self-direction, often enabled by network technologies, can create beautifully complex relationships amongst interconnected people. This is already happening outside the organization. We need to bring it inside. For the first time, we have the technology for democracy at work. The writer, Gwynne Dyer, has observed that, "Tyranny was the solution to what was essentially a communications problem". This problem no longer exists. democracy at work Anything less than working on creating a better system for people is not leadership. It may be self-aggrandizement, vanity, or even custodial work, but it is not leadership. Good leaders prepare for their departure. All that is left when they depart are the structures and systems they have helped put in place. The measure of a leader is his or her legacy. If they get a performance review, it should be given years after they leave. leadership in the rear-view mirror Those in leadership and management positions today must find ways to nurture creativity and critical thinking. Management must set the initial example of transparency and working out loud. In addition, self-governance is required at all levels. When there is no one to defer work to, everyone sets an example through their actions. In this environment everyone is learning and everyone is teaching by example. As a result, work gets done very quickly. From this foundation, today’s organizations can prepare for a new world of work. Machines will continue to replace jobs but people can create new work roles that are creative and social, beyond the reach of automation. leading beyond automation

This hour glass is an estimation of time, not exact. In learning, it is best to develop skills of estimation, exactness follows. Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

https://youtu.be/7QAMrzqeDGM This reminded me of what Jane Bozarth showed us with the ukelele. Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

I saw this chart in Kyoto Station and reminded me of core structure of a lesson. "Eat" is a factual content, while "paradise" is an emotional content. Both are needed for learners to understand content. Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

This hour glass is an estimation of time, not exact. In learning, it is best to develop skills of estimation, exactness follows. Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

https://youtu.be/7QAMrzqeDGM This reminded me of what Jane Bozarth showed us with the ukelele. Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

I saw this chart in Kyoto Station and reminded me of core structure of a lesson. "Eat" is a factual content, while "paradise" is an emotional content. Both are needed for learners to understand content. Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning