Information technology has the power to create and enhance new proficiencies in the education arena. Information technology in education revolutionizes most of the approaches we view, receive and perceive information every day. There has been a paradigm shift from textbook based education system to a more interactive and virtual education system across the world.   Here are 7 ways information technology is changing the face of education all over the world.   Multimedia content: One of the major changes brought about by use of information technology in education is the introduction of multimedia content. Multimedia learning meets the needs of all types of learning styles. Learning through the use of videos, pictures, text and games offer a better understanding of concepts than learning in the traditional manner. Tutors can also use online learning resources and apps to present information in an easy-to-apprehend manner.   Access to quality content: Digital devices have resulted in a paradigm shift from limited information to a vast resource of quality content available online. They offer personalization, by providing direct access to all kinds of content, are interactive and mobile. The access to quality content is also at a lightning speed rather than spending hours browsing through books to pull out required content.   Mobile learning: Classroom learning has almost become a thing of the past. The use of information technology in education has led to a new concept termed as "mobile learning." Student can move from their desks, walk around, and learn new concepts. Students can now access learning modules from the comfort of their home, skype with other classes and involve in various collaborations for project learning.   Self-Monitoring techniques: One of the most appreciated changes that has been fueled by use of information technology in education is the plethora of tools available for self-monitoring and evaluation. There are numerous mock tests and applications available online that can offer real-time evaluation of the students. There is no need for classroom evaluation tests as was the case earlier. Real-time and factual test results offer an easy insight into the performance of students.   Focus on practical skill training vis-à-vis soft skill training: The utilization of information technology in education has shifted the focus of education from monotonous soft-skill training techniques to practical skill training. Most universities now concentrate their activities and projects to areas that can help students to show a portfolio of work activities to their future employers.   Students with disabilities: Recent studies have shown how the use of information technology in education has helped students with various disabilities to learn at par with other students. Tablets have helped many students with autism to communicate effectively. e-Books with text-to-speech features have assisted blind students or children with dyslexia to gain access to all kinds of learning material.   Cost-effective education: Many people argue that the use of information technology in education involves huge costs. However, if you look at it closely, resources such as eBooks, free online resources and virtual outdoor trips are in fact promoting better learning at affordable prices across students of all strata and ages.   EBooks are often cheaper and are available with interactive learning sessions, worksheets and linked dictionary tools. Think of the days when every change in information involved purchase of new books and resources. Due to digital learning techniques, most schools that subscribe to eBooks have access to constantly updated content at almost nil cost.   The availability of online resources facilitated by use of information technology in education makes informative content easier to discover, access, to change and disseminate. All these stages are crucial for teaching, study or even research work. In a nutshell, information technology in education has paved the way for digital learning.   The post 7 Ways Information Technology is Changing Education appeared first on Fedena Blog.

Over the past 4 weeks, we've challenged you to share your inspiring learning spaces on Twitter and we're so happy to have seen all the entries come in! We gathered the entries in a G+ Collection for easy viewing - take a peek here! And while it was SO hard to only choose 4 winners, we asked each one to share a bit about their journey with inspiring learning spaces below: Simon Ashby - Hampden Street School, New Zealand I was wandering around my class listening to students, motivating etc. and came across a student who said, "I'm stuck, I don't know what to write about..." a fairly typical situation.A thought came into my head, well, why not take a walk and think about it I said.Then another spark flickered, why not take your walk inside the classroom-it was a fairly cold and grey day...So I grabbed my masking tape and marked it out on the carpet in our shared (5 classes) breakout space. The first student tried it out, complete with thinking-man type facial features (finger and thumb to the chin), and after about 5 minutes, he said....I've got it!The rumour quickly spread that this was a great place to get ideas...and thus it has become popular to use.An afterthought....try and keep it to one student on the road at a time, otherwise they tend to create an F1 bumper car style race!Lori Franzen - Los Alamitos High School, CAMy students and I wanted to create a warm, welcoming space for teens. We wanted a space which would invite lingering discussion as well as open new topics.We decided to paint the ceiling tiles with the covers of our favorite books. I took the ceiling tiles down, sent them home with kids, and trusted the students would return something wonderful.....and they did! My Thanatology class wanted to open to all students the types of conversations we had daily in class; they found Candy Chang's TED talk on her Before I Die project. The students replicated the Before I Die wall in the back of my classroom and the students still write on it every single day. My #inspiringspace has become a gathering space and touchstone for students across campus. My room is FULL of students (many of whom I don't have in class) all day long. In truth, their presence is what inspires ME. Nvyette and Kevin - The Westminster Schools in Atlanta, GAWhen we first moved into the classroom a few years ago, we were intentional about making the space more student-friendly. We decided to get rid of the two clunky teacher desks in order to maximize our corner spaces. In the photo, you see our reading nook. We asked a relative who works in contracting to build the bench and purchased patio pillows to soften it up. We also added a neutral color rug and wicker baskets to house our classroom library. The bean bags add additional flexible and comfortable seating options. Instead of adding another bulletin board to display our word wall, we framed out a square area with thin molding and used twine to divide it up. Students gravitate to the reading nook - it's a great collaborative space for partner and small group work. Michael Morrison - Laguna Beach USDMichael wowed us with his many #inspiringspaces Tweets - including this inspiring space for teacher training and classrooms with HUE lighting. He also shared some videos of teachers describing their spaces.Here's an article he wrote about his school district's journey with inspiring learning spaces.Thank you to everyone that participated in the Challenge and to our friends at Smith System who donated their inspiring furniture as prizes! Don't forget to check out the Collection and to keep sharing your spaces with us online!

Just as farmhands were replaced by machines 100 years ago, so too will knowledge workers be replaced by networked computers in the next few decades. Last century, those farmhands had the option of moving to the city and working in factories, but what are the alternatives for today’s knowledge workers? It is not likely to be a new job, as the job itself is being made obsolete, underlined by 54 million freelancers in the USA today, accounting for almost 1/4 of working-age adults. As we shift to a post-job economy, creativity, empathy, and the ability to solve complex problems collaboratively are increasingly becoming skills valued in the emerging labour market.  This is work that computers cannot do. We see new artists emerge through YouTube and other crowd-enabled platforms. There continues to be a need for empathy as the real sharing economy emerges, not through platform capitalists, like Über, but neighbours sharing with each other. There are many wicked problems that confront society, such as climate change, resource depletion, and fundamentalism, and these can only be solved collaboratively. People who can work with others in creative and collaborative tension will find meaningful work. Helping the existing workforce transition from predominantly routine, standardized work to an economy focused on unique, customized work will alleviate the current and coming socio-economic tensions facing us today. The path to a prosperous future is not in creating more jobs. Educators, politicians, and business leaders have to shift their effort and focus from Labour to Talent. The good news is that we are not just losing standardized work but we are gaining the tools and the time to do more unique, customized work of our own choosing. Networked computers enable us to learn informally and share tacit knowledge in social networks and communities of practice, leaving the boring stuff to the droids. In the digital network era, creative economies run on ideas, not assembly lines. The automation of standardized work will benefit us in the long run, if those with power see people as Talent, not Labour. Automation is coming to a job near you. Recently, McKinsey Global Institute looked at a wide array of US jobs to see how much work could be automated using current technology, in its Automation Potential report. Paralegals 69% - Lawyers 23% Food Service Managers 32% - Chief Executives 25% Computer User Support Specialists 65% - Actuaries 15% Pharmacists 47% - Psychiatrists 7% Rehabilitation Counselors 31% - Health Educators 0% Library Technicians 59% - PreSchool Teachers 7% Training & Development Managers 38% - Legislators 4% Take a look at this interactive report and see where your job, or future work, lies. Examine the rest of your organization or business. This may be an indicator of your near-term future of work. Source: McKinsey Global Institute - Automation potential and wages for US jobs

Mark Zuckerberg and wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, put personalized learning in the spotlight this month by pledging billions to support it. Here’s what others are saying about personalized learning. Personalized Learning is the Future APLU Awarded $4.6 Million to Advance Personalized Learning and Proactive Advising at Public Universities The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) will use a Gates Foundation grant awarded in November, 2015, to speed up the development and adoption of personalized courseware in higher education. According to APLU President Peter McPherson: When fully realized at a public university, personalized learning encompasses an institution-wide commitment to student success and degree completion, flexible technologies to inform classroom instruction and prompt advising interventions, and accessible tools that help educators know and advise students. 3 Ways Higher Ed is Making Learning More Personal by Daniel Greenstein Greenstein explains that personalized learning is the way to go in higher education by describing 3 examples including Carnegie Mellon’s Open Learning Initiative (OLI) in biology at UC Davis. REAL Personalized Learning for ALL, Now That Is Innovation!  by K. Lirenman Lirenman, who has taught for 23 years, predicts that personalized learning will be the most important innovation in education in the next ten years. She describes her initial experience with personalized technology: …with the introduction of technology into my classroom the reality is that as much as open-ended activities are good, utilizing technology properly allows me to provide what feels like endless opportunities for personalization and individual learning. Personalized Learning and Blended Learning  Learners, Teachers, and Technology: Personalization in 2015 and Beyond by Kristen DeCerbo DeCerbo reviews how personalized learning is evolving and how technology can be used to personalize learning in the blended classroom. She explains that technology drives the scalability of personalization: The technology allows the use of big data to investigate the learning outcomes of students who take path A versus path B through content. Even more, the technology-based systems can look at how these outcomes vary for students with a variety of characteristics and interests. Finally, the technology allows personalization to scale to a whole classroom whereas making separate paths for 30 students is a big request to make of a teacher. The Power of Personalized Learning for School Improvement by Cameron Pipkin. Pipkin reviews studies since 2007 on personalized learning in blended learning environments, He concludes that "new intelligent technology, designed from the ground up to support personalized learning" is very powerful in conjunction with teachers who are trained to lead blended learning classes. Blended Learning: It’s Not the Tech, It’s How the Tech is Used by Preston Smith Smith is an advocate for personalized learning in a blended learning environment. He argues that technology and teachers dedicated to personalized learning are the key to success in the blended classroom. Personalized Learning Technology Really Works Adaptive Learning and the Quest to Improve Undergraduate Education featuring Eric Frank In his presentation at the Center for Online Innovation in Learning, Eric Frank, CEO at Acrobatiq, explains how personalized learning courseware based on learning science really works.

This week’s Fierce resource was originally published on Forbes and uncovers six ways to get the most out of the holiday season rush.For most of us, December is a mad dash to the New Year filled with performance reviews, holiday parties, and year-end strategy meetings. It’s easy to get swept up into the madness and forget about setting up our new year on the right foot.Make sure you set aside some time to focus on enriching your workplace relationships. The article How Successful People Take Advantage Of The Holiday Season provides a simple guide for getting the most out of your holiday season.Are you struggling to make that personal connection? It might be time to put away the keyboard."Pick Up the Phone. In our digital world, we are all pre-programmed to shoot over a quick email or text message when reaching out to someone. We’ve forgotten about the power of a phone call, which has only gained effectiveness since becoming phased out by the keyboard. This is the perfect time to pick up the phone, whether you’re inviting someone to a holiday get-together or just calling to say hello."Read the article.The post Fierce Resource: How Successful People Take Advantage Of The Holiday Season appeared first on Fierce, Inc..

"You influence more by your actions than your words. You operate as the message, not the messenger, with an alignment between your words and actions." - Nan Russell This time of year can be so busy that there is barely any time to think about what is next, let alone spend time alone with your thoughts. And guess what? It is too costly to skip reflection time, despite all of the legitimate excuses you have.As Master Facilitator, Beth Wagner, mentioned last week in our Fierce webinar, reflection is very important and often overlooked. Many studies have shown the critical role that reflection plays in performance and learning. Leaders and employees alike who take time to reflect on their successes and their mistakes at work, perform 20-25% better than those who do not.So, if that’s really the case, it is your responsibility to find the time to reflect. What’s at stake? The difference of performing 20-25% better the next time you do something. Yes, this is definitely something your manager and organization want. Sometimes, you may just have to remind them of reflection’s importance."I don’t see a lot of organizations that actually encourage employees to reflect—or give them time to do it," Gino says. "When we fall behind even though we’re working hard, our response is often just to work harder. But in terms of working smarter, our research suggests that we should take time for reflection."So given that, let’s make 2016 a year that reaps the benefits of thoughtfulness and allowing ourselves the space to think. This week’s tip is to find time to reflect on your past and future conversations.Here are seven questions to dive into:Do you go into your conversations open and willing to be influenced?Consider what is at stake for you when the conversations that you are a part of remain one way, superficial, or inauthentic in some way. What is the cost of unreal conversations?What is at stake for you when you are not present? What is at stake for colleagues, friends and family? Who would benefit from your undivided attention?What were some times when obeying your instinct helped you reach a goal or avoid a negative outcome? What instincts or internal messages have been beckoning you?What kind of emotional wake do you typically leave with your colleagues? With your direct reports? ? At home? How can you ensure your intent meets your impact?What might happen if you said less, listened more, and provided time to think about what has - and has not - been said?  Now, schedule this time into your calendar. I look forward to hearing about it.The post Fierce Tip of the Week: Spend Time Reflecting appeared first on Fierce, Inc..

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Ultimately, the goal of this network is to develop educators who will model and practice "transformative" teaching. One thing to notice is that this is a radical departure from the "command and control" mindset of the industrial economy. This is the very same mindset that permeates many of today's business learning cultures and is a reason why so many businesses are struggling with the exponential changes that are happening and will continue to happen as long as they are linked with education systems that turn out more and more of the same type of employees and future business leaders. It also explains why many businesses, although they realize the need to promote innovation within their sector of interest, have no idea of where to start.The purposes of this transformative teaching are:Educate learners to be creators of new knowledge and skillsets. The benefit to business is having new employees and business leaders who enter the scene having an innovative thinking mindsets as a natural way of approaching decision making.Educate learners to adopt innovative problem solving in seeking real solutions to complex real world problems. Instrumental to this is to promote an attitude for prolific and divergent thinking. This is a problem that the education systems, under the assembly line model of education, continue to struggle with. Sir Kenneth Robinson expressed the dilemma quite eloquently.     3. Educate learners to collaborate effectively in an online environment. Learners need to know how to access a variety of knowledge repositories on the web, evaluate their usefulness to the tasked problem and then apply the skillsets that each require. Learners need to be a little eclectic in using technology that meets the purpose and they need to now how to capitalize on the talents of their co-collaborators. The benefit to business deals with improved employee performance and efficiency.[Did you notice the change in justification in item #3? Even small skillsets dealing with the presentation of information are important!]Critical thinking is a skillset that needs to be emphasized even more, now that learners will have such greater access to information."One of the most important skillsets in this online, E-Learning environment is the ability to authenticate and corroborate the truth value of information that is presented. Since it is our purpose within a business organization to make critical decisions dealing with the operation and success of the business, neglecting to pay attention to the development of this skillset is akin to organizational suicide!"Next...The Global Corporate Trainers, Instructional Designer and Learning Principles Network

Teaching literacy is perhaps one of the most important areas of learning for our students. Learning and literacy is about making meaning. One could argue that making meaning is contingent upon being able to read, write, listen, reflect and think critically. These skills are of utmost importance now as students move forward in their lives. […]

L&D Week in Review, Dec. 18 This week was Star Wars week, but that didn't stop us from focusing on what really matters in L&D. In this first episode of L&D Week in Review we discussed Mobile Learning: Is it a thing? Christmas List Items for the L&D Professional in your life 5 Hot Topics from 2015 This is another video experiment using the live streaming application blab.im. You'll notice that the recording might seem edited between the different segments.  Instead of recoding an entire hour of the blabbing, I decided to just record each segment individually and the between segment banter was not recorded. If this goes well I will continue the Weekly Reviews into 2016. Send me your feedback and let me know what you think. @litmos The post L&D Week in Review - December 18 - mLearning Christmas & 5 Hot 2015 Topics appeared first on Litmos.

How to equip students to give, receive, and seek quality feedback that will support their social, academic, and developmental needs

With all the hustle and bustle surrounding the holiday seasons, it’s easy to forget about holiday safety. Rushing around is a prime cause of workplace accidents, after all, as is being distracted. With that in mind, and not a minute too soon, we’ve pulled together the following safety training suggestions for characters in made-for-TV holiday specials. Hope you enjoy this and that you have a wonderful holiday season. Convergence Training makes learning management systems (LMSs), e-learning courses, and more. Contact us to learn more or set up a demo. You may also want to download our FREE Guide to Effective EHS Training and our  FREE Guide to Effective Manufacturing Training. Safety Training for Characters in Animated Holiday TV Specials Here are the safety (and other workforce) training suggestions we’ve pulled together for some of the characters from these popular TV shows. We’ve broken the character lists down by the special they appear in, and have included a total of six specials: Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town The Year Without Santa Claus How the Grinch Stole Christmas Frosty the Snowman Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer A Charlie Brown Christmas Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town In case you don’t know, or don’t remember, this is the story of how an red-headed orphan named Kris Kringle (nope, not Krispy Kreme, but if you look at him when he gets older, you DO wonder if there’s a connection…) becomes Santa Claus. Fred Astaire handles the voice of a mailman telling the story, and it features some great tunes, including one of my faves, "Put One Foot in Front of the Other." Here are our safety and other workforce training suggestions for some of the characters: Special Delivery (S.D.) Kluger-For our kindly narrator, voiced by and bearing a remarkable resemblance to Fred Astaire, who is an old-school mailman, we recommend our Email Basics course for to step into the new era. Kris Kringle-Captured in the tight embrace of evil, magic trees; crawling down long, narrow chimneys; even locked up in the slammer. Give this man a dose of Confined Space Awareness training. Winter Warlock-For one of the two singers of "Put One Foot In Front of the Other," we suggest Pedestrian Safety. Burgermeister Meisterburger-The episode kicks into high gear when the Burgermeister trips on a toy, breaking his leg. Our medical evaluation: he needs Slips, Trips, and Falls. The Kringle Elves and Momma Kringle-They seem too nice to joke about. Well, they’re toymakers, so let’s give them some Hand and Power Tool Safety training and let them keep up the good work. The Citizens of Somber Town-I thought about a course on moods and depression, but their real problem is the contradiction between their values (especially those of the kids) and the values of the Burgermeister. These differences can be resolved with some Conflict Management training. Topper the Penguin-What’s a penguin doing at the North Pole? Get back to Antarctica where you belong, our cute little black-and-white friend. Some Precision Instruments & Measurement training, especially on compasses and GPS, is just what you need. Jessica the School Teacher-Jessica initially scolds Kris Kringle for bringing the children of SomberTown toys, but her heart softens and she changes her mind after Kringle gives her a doll. A little Adult Learning is in line to show even adults can grow (and in this case, it’s ironic, since her day gig is as a teacher). The Year Without Santa Claus If Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town focuses on the early Santa, then The Year Without Santa Claus depicts Santa in his later years: bed-ridden, suffering from a cold or flu and chronic back pain, disenchanted with the holiday season, and ready to "bag it" this year without delivering any presents. Sound like anyone you know? The musical high notes of this one come compliments of the loveable "Miser Brothers," Heat Miser and Snow Miser. Here are our safety and other workforce training suggestions for some of the characters: Santa Claus-Not the spry young Kris Kringle we met earlier, this Santa is grumpy, sick, bed-ridden, and notably obese. Our First Aid for Emergencies course includes information on diabetes, and a special course dedicated to the Dirty D is coming very soon. Remember, Santa-diet and exercise. Mrs. Claus (aka "Mrs. C")-If Santa wants to dodge his yearly duty to deliver presents this year, Mrs. C knows the importance of Meeting Customer Expectations and ultimately rights the wobbly ship in time for the holiday season. Jingle Bells, Jangle Bells, and Vixen the Baby Reindeer-These two good-natured elves and this young-but-plucky reindeer try to save Christmas by leaving the North Pole and mixing it up in the "real world," but they’re not prepared for life in the big city and wind up in the pokey (a surprisingly common occurrence in these shows, it seems). Our recommendation is a triple serving of Hazard Awareness. Heat Miser—Heat Stress, of course. Cold Miser-You guessed it-Cold Stress for this one. Mother Nature-She’s called in to address a conflict between her two sons, Heat Miser and Cold Miser, and with the deft manner in which she handles these two, it looks like she may already have received some Environmental Hazards training on the job. How the Grinch Stole Christmas The story of a grumpy, green, elf-like character, his sadly mistreated yet inexplicably loyal (and supremely cute!) dog, and their fruitless attempts to bring an end to holiday cheer in nearby Whoville. This one features the narrative talents of none other than Boris Karloff, displaying more elocution skills than he did in Frankenstein, and the music highlight is, of course, the tune about the Grinch himself. My favorite line explains that the Grinch is "a bad banana with a  greasy black peel"…what’s yours? Here are our safety and other workforce training suggestions for some of the characters: Grinch-He seems angry-maybe Stress Management and Prevention? He’s mad about all the noise in Whoville on the holiday, especially the singing-maybe some Hearing Conservation? And hey, about that madcap toboggan run down the hill you live on-how about some Alert Driving? Grinch’s Dog-What this little sweetie really needs is a course on recognizing misplaced loyalty. But we don’t have one. So we’ll suggest our Line of Authority course, so our fuzzy canine friend can recognize authority and (in this case only) disobey it immediately. Cindy Lou Who-She’s young, sweet, and naïve, but she still should have known something was wrong when she discovered the Grinch in her home. We recommend a course on Good Housekeeping so she’ll recognize a hot mess when she sees one in the future. Frosty the Snowman In this one, we watch as a down-on-his-luck magician tosses out his worthless magic hat, only to find that it brings a snowman to life. Hilarity, shenanigans, adventure, and sentiment follow, natch. The movie’s narrated by Burl Ives, and the show-stopping tune is named after the big guy himself: "Frosty the Snowman." Here are our safety and other workforce training suggestions for some of the characters: Professor Hinkle, the Magician-Tosses out his magic hat only to discover it’s got enough magic to bring Frosty to life. Should have consulted our Equipment Maintenance and Reliability course. Hocus Pocus, the Rabbit-He’s a cute, friendly, and helpful rabbit-what’s not to like? I’m not sure we’ve got a joke for that. Come back next year and see if we do better. Frosty, the Snowman-A man poorly suited in a world that’s too hot. We’ve got just what he needs-Refrigeration: Compressors and Ice Makers. Karen-A good-natured girl who tries to travel with Frosty in a refrigerated box car to the North Pole and nearly catches her death of a cold. Our Flu Awareness course is in order (this is from our blog, but our full-scale, fancy Production-department model is coming soon). Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer In this thrilling tale,  a young reindeer shows you can be born with a grogblossom, go into self-imposed exile, round up a crew of fellow travelers, and still return in time to win the girl, save the family, re-establish community, and save the day. Not only that, we learn that dental care at the North Pole is finally put in goods hands. Once again, Burl Ives does the narration, and the smash hit song is the title tune, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Here are our safety and other workforce training suggestions for some of the characters: Santa-A big snowstorm has Santa stuck at the North Pole on the big night. Rudolph ultimately saves the day, but what the big guy needed was an Emergency Action Plan. Rudolph the Reindeer-Even as a young buck, barely born, our red-nosed friend is told by no less an authority than Santa that he’ll never get to fly and pull the sleigh with that red nose. Might be a need for a bit of Workplace Discrimination here. Donner and Blitzen-Did you know that Donner was originally known as "Dunder" (German for "thunder") and Blitzen was originally known as "Blixem" (German for "lightning")? It’s true. And so we suggest some Electrical Safety for our explosive Nordic friends. Or maybe just an all-day Thor-fest. Rudolf’s Mom-The show makes it clear that Donner is Rudolf’s Dad, and we meet Rudy’s mum, but she never gets named (tell me if I’m wrong on this, but I think I’m right). That sounds like low-level Sexual Harassment to me, and just plain not fair. Abominable Snowmonster of the North-By the end of the show, he’s tamed and asked with putting stars on top of trees, so we’ll offer some training for Working at Heights. Herbie the Elf-For the toy-making elf who wants to be a dentist and is teased as a result, we recommend Diversity in the Workplace. Yukon Cornelius-An entire series of mining safety training for our bearded friend, who’s both (1) obsessed with "silver and gold" and (2) quite the risk-taker (wandering the frozen tundra alone, willingly setting off on chipped ice flows, single-handedly attacking The Abominable-and taming him, no less!). Island of Misfit Toys-Faced with a bleak future, some would say no future, these toys no one plays with might become candidates for Substance Abuse training. Luckily, things don’t seem to have turned that way when we meet them mid-episode. King Moonracer-We’ve got no joke for the winged lion-kind of the Island of Misfit Toys, but he’s got such a cool name we thought we’d mention him here. Why he never got a role in a 1970s-era James Bond movie, we’ll never know. A Charlie Brown Christmas The show starts with Charlie Brown being depressed and confused. What’s new, right? This time it’s because he doesn’t understand the meaning of the holiday season. To help him find meaning in the season, Lucy offers him the chance to direct the school play. Though we see precious little real thespian activity, the music is tops (thanks to Schroeder and Vince Gauraldi) and the dance moves are as hot as any on Soul Train. Here are our safety and other workforce training suggestions for some of the characters: Charlie Brown-Who can make yet another joke at Charlie Brown’s expense. I can’t. I can’t do it. I won’t do it. Happy Holidays, Charlie Brown, even if you are "the Charlie Browniest." Lucy-Lucy sells psychiatric therapy sessions (for the bargain price of a nickel, even, though you have to account for inflation to get an accurate assessment of that), so it seems like in today’s workplace, she might have a role in HR training. Snoopy-What more can you say about the perpetually happy, graceful, and successful Joe Cool? He should take an OJT Mentoring course and teach us all his secrets. Schroeder-Schroder is in charge of the music for this episode. And as we’ve already discussed, the tune-age is H-O-T smokin’ hot, so we’ll suggest a little Fire Safety training in case things get out of hand. Linus-Linus is cool, and Charlie Brown’s best friend. I don’t begrudge him for carrying that blue blanket everywhere, but you wonder what greater meaning it has. Our Symbols, Standards, and Schematics course is in order for learning more. Pigpen-A nice enough guy, to be sure, but you still assume our Hand Washing and Hygiene course could benefit. Conclusion: Happy Holidays to All from Convergence Training We’d like to wish all of you a happy holiday season, regardless of the particular holiday(s) you celebrate. May your family be happy and healthy, and may good fortune smile your way. Are you familiar with the TV specials we included in this article? If so, we’d love to hear from you. Which were your favorite specials? Which were your favorite characters? Do you still watch any of these today, even as an adult? If you liked this post, you may also like: Workforce and Safety Training Suggestions for a Family Thanksgiving Super Bowl Party Safety Training Suggestions Workforce Training Suggestions from TV Series "Breaking Bad" Sharknado Safety Training Valentine’s Day Safety Poem Safety Training for the Mayan Apocalypse Zombie Safety Training for Halloween The post Safety Training for Santa and Friends appeared first on Convergence Training Blog.

As we wrap up a year of double-digit growth at Enspire, we wish Happy Holidays to our valued clients and partners, and we have big news to share! As of today, Enspire’s leadership simulations live under a new name: Abilitie (pronounced ability). This year, our leadership simulations have taught and inspired thousands of participants in over 20 countries - and we are excited to build on that momentum by creating a new company with a clear focus on corporate talent development and management. Enspire will continue to create award-winning e-learning and blended learning solutions. Abilitie will focus on leadership development experiences and talent management solutions, with an emphasis on people management, business acumen, and cross-functional leadership. In 2016, Abilitie plans to launch an exciting new product in the recruiting space - stay tuned for more! To find out more about Abilitie’s innovative leadership development programs, we invite you to join us for a 30-minute webinar on one of the dates below: December 18th at 12 PM CST December 22nd at 12 PM CST January 6th at 9 AM CST January 7th at 12 PM CST Register Here Hyperlink with: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/rt/5525979785892931842   The post Enspire Launches Abilitie appeared first on Enspire.

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It’s time to streamline Streamlined learning is all about making it easier to create, customize, deliver and consume the knowledge that employees need to improve their job performance, whenever and wherever they are. With increased pressure on L&D to meet the rapidly-changing needs of the business—to compress turnaround time on learning programs, plus identify how learning directly links to the bottom line—we think it’s more important than ever to streamline learning across the organization. Here are 5 tips: 1. Develop a learning strategy that aligns with overall business objectives. To truly impact the business, L&D needs to invest resources in activities that directly help the organization meet its business objectives. Improving L&D alignment with business objectives involves the following: Linking overall business objectives to departmental or group objectives. Outlining individual performance objectives that are required to meet the departmental objectives. Identifying individual core job behaviors, that when performed consistently, will help employees meet their performance objectives. Defining learning that will provide the knowledge employees need to perform job behaviors properly and consistently. Once there is a learning strategy in place that aligns with business objectives, L&D can truly prove the value of learning and impact on the business as a whole. 2. Provide consistent training through short microlearning modules. Microlearning is the next big trend in corporate learning and it’s no wonder. The fire hose approach to training simply doesn’t work. Microlearning takes a far more streamlined approach to driving knowledge growth and sustainment. Not only can the microlearning content being delivered be more tightly tailored to an individual’s job function, but unlike traditional methods, microlearning can zero in on what the employee knows and doesn’t know. Additionally, adopting a microlearning approach provides the opportunity for learning organizations to escape the inflexibility associated with massive course development and become more agile. Microlearning module updates can be made quickly and efficiently, ensuring learning keeps pace with changing business requirements. 3. Separate "need to know" from "nice to know". There’s a tendency to train employees on everything possible. But, it’s better to take a strategic and practical approach to determine what they need in their heads versus what they need at their fingertips. For information they only need once in awhile, allow employees to access knowledge directly at the point of need, by using a knowledge-on-demand performance support capability. This means employees can search for the information they need, when they need it, without having to keep that knowledge top of mind. 4. Define and track behaviors that drive success.  It’s not enough to simply provide learning, organizations need to identify consistent job behaviors that lead to superior performance. This information should be passed on to leaders and managers. Have them observe behaviors and document whether or not employees are exhibiting them to correlate performance to job actions. Then, have them provide coaching and mentoring in areas that employees find challenging. A consistent, streamlined methodology will allow the organization to truly track and impact job performance as well as the bottom line. 5. Use an integrated solution to deliver streamlined learning. Streamlining learning takes effort, and the ability to coordinate a variety of activities and inputs, to keep on top of what employees need at any moment in time. In an ideal world, a solution that allows you to integrate all components into a single, easy-to-manage platform,that can be used in every part of the organization, can be extremely beneficial. Specifically, this type of solution would: Allow you to deliver daily microlearning content, adapted to each individual employee’s requirements and knowledge gaps. Provide multiple access points to allow employees to access learning whenever and wherever they wish (i.e. mobile, POS system, desktop, etc.) Offer knowledge-on-demand so employees can access information at the point of need. Accept behavior observation inputs from supervisors, and allow those inputs to modify learning content to ensure learning drives proper job behaviors. Highlight areas where employees need additional learning to fill knowledge gaps, or where coaching or mentoring is required. Provide comprehensive reporting and analytics to allow you to identify the value of learning and link it directly to business outcomes. If you deploy a solution that does all this, plus leverages the latest brain science techniques and employ methods to engage employees in their learning success, you can create a streamlined learning ecosystem that’s designed to be responsive to—and contribute directly to—the business bottom line.   Written by Laura Martin. The post 5 Keys to Streamlining Learning appeared first on Axonify.

  At Talented Learning, an independent learning tech market research and consulting firm, we recently compiled an obnoxious 85 question survey detailing over 450 points of LMS business, market and functional data.  We collected statistically significant hard data about the global LMS market providing us unparalleled and unique insight into what LMS buyers are buying today. Most other analysts’ surveys and resulting data are the output of sending out a blast email request to 100,000 HR professions and drawing conclusions from the few hundred responses from those who have too much time on their hands and dated LMS expertise. We took the much tougher path and went to the LMS vendors one by one to get the best, most accurate and timely data.  Seventy LMS vendors of all types have graciously filled it out so far.  Vendors are out on the front lines winning and losing every day.  They always know what is selling and what is not.  When vendors lose two or three sales opportunities because of the same lacking feature, it magically shows up on their product roadmap.  The functionality that exists in the collective LMS community illustrates what buyers are buying. Our survey was designed to allow us to [...] The post Mobile LMS: The Facts appeared first on Talented Learning.

2015 has been a busy year for elearning with record numbers attending events, entering awards and joining in the debate about how to move the industry forward.We’re looking back on some of the best moments and milestones of the past 12 months.JanuaryLearning TechnologiesThe largest L&D show in Europe returned for its 18th year, busier than ever with more than 7,500 visitors, 150 free seminars, 250 exhibitors and two packed exhibition halls at London’s Olympia.The scale of the event highlighted the growing interest in how to best utilise technology to modernise learning in the workplace.Elearning games, video, blended learning and multi-device content were all among the hot topics.The 2016 event takes place on February 3-4 and promises to provide lots of inspiration for the next 12 months.FebruaryLearning Awards The Learning and Performance Institute (LPI) saw a record number of submissions for the 2015 Learning Awards, which celebrate outstanding achievement, best practice and excellence in corporate learning and performance.Hosted by Strictly Come Dancing’s Claudia Winkleman, the event at The Dorchester in London on February 5 saw an extremely high standard of entries.LPI Chief Executive, Colin Steed, said: "This year we have been taken aback by the huge increase in submissions, all of which have been extremely high quality. With such a large number of entries the competition is fierce, making the achievement of our shortlisted entries all the more impressive."All eyes will now be on the 2016 Learning Awards which take place on February 4. MarchLearning Solutions The convergence of technology and training was this year’s theme for the big spring gathering organised by The eLearning Guild.Learning Solutions in Orlando, Florida (March 25-27) saw a keynote address by Tom Wujec of Autodesk who highlighted the importance of innovation to learning.Learning Solutions 2016 takes place from March 16 to 18.   AprilLaunch of Apple Watch The long-awaited Apple Watch launched in April this year and almost instantly the L&D world started to think about what it might mean for digital learning.David Kelly was one of the first in the learning space to write about the new tech. He said: "I think there are great opportunities to leverage the context-sensitive nature of this device to support learning and performance. A small bit of relevant content inserted into the right place at the right time can be incredibly powerful."    #GameWeekApril 2015 saw the very first #GameWeek, exploring the role of games in elearning and their effectiveness in the workplace.The week-long social media event, hosted by Sponge UK, bought together blogs, infographics, opinion and resources from across the world about game-based learning and gamification.In a keynote interview, Professor Karl M. Kapp said: "Saying that games don’t teach is ridiculous. It’s like saying lectures don’t teach, discussions don’t teach or homework doesn’t teach." MayLearning & Development ShowThere was something for everyone at this year’s CIPD Learning & Development Show with 28 different conference sessions on leading edge themes by some of the world’s leading learning practitioners.It was a bumper year in the exhibition space with more than 160 learning suppliers and more than 60 free learning workshops.JuneSummer Forum This one-day follow up event to January’s Learning Technologies conference proved a valuable mid-year catch up for L&D professionals.Summer Forum 2015 saw conference presentations by Deborah Frances-White on learning and creativity, Asi de Gani on mobile delivery and Julian Stodd on social learning.July#Blimage!This month learning saw its own ‘mini-phenomenon’ as #Blimage hit social media.The challenge started as some fun between Learning Technologies expert, Steve Wheeler and education blogger, Amy Burvall.This is how it worked: Send an image to friends in your personal learning network. Challenge them to write a learning-related blog about it and share on social media. They then challenge their friends with an image of their choice. In just 6 days, almost 100 bloggers responded to the challenge with Dutch and Spanish language versions also springing up. The hashtag is still continuing with offshoots such as #twistedpair and #blideo.AugustLaunch of Adapt framework V2.0The responsive elearning design framework Adapt launched its second major version in August this year, bringing with it new features and several improvements.The update has accessibility improvements, right to left language support, question banks, new plugins and improvements to themes and performance.2016 is expected to see further development of the Adapt Authoring Tool which allows non-technical users to create responsive elearning courses without needing to do any coding.Launch of Captivate PrimeAugust also saw the launch of Adobe’s own Learning Management System, Captivate Prime.The new LMS promises a learner-first approach where "employees don’t dodge learning, but embrace it."SeptemberDevLearnNorth America’s biggest learning technologies event kicked off on the last day of September this year with another stellar crowd gathered at Las Vegas.Innovation in the making was the DevLearn strapline for 2015 with practitioners from across the world in attendance to showcase the latest elearning technology and design.  World of Learning It was the 23rd year for the highly-respected World of Learning Conference and Exhibition at the NEC in Birmingham.The event provided a valuable insight into some of the key issues facing L&D from talent management, employee engagement, leadership development and coaching, to collaborative learning, elearning development and delivering business growth.OctoberLearning Now TV celebrates first birthdayThe live-streamed internet television channel reached a milestone in October this year having broadcast to a growing audience for a whole 12 months.The free channel for the L&D sector screened inspirational interviews, debates and round tables, as well as advice and guidance on real-world issues.Executive producer, Colin Steed: "We’ve been overwhelmed with the positive response to Learning Now TV since its launch last year."NovemberTowards Maturity Industry Benchmark ReportEmbracing Change is the title of the 2015-16 Industry Benchmark Report launched by the independent research organisation, Towards Maturity at the start of November.  It’s a must-read study for learning and business leaders looking to improve performance with quality research and insights from more than 600 L&D leaders.eLN’s first national conferenceThe eLearning Network (eLN) held its first national one day conference, Beyond Click Next in London in early November.The UK-based non-profit organisation for the elearning community has also seen its profile and support grow in 2015.Elearning AwardsIt’s one of the biggest nights of the year for the elearning industry and 2015 smashed all records in terms of the number and standard of entries.Elearning Awards organiser, Mark Penton said: "It was the toughest competition to date and congratulations are in order to all of the winners and everyone that was shortlisted. The Awards programme has been a true recognition of the breadth of elearning worldwide and we’d like to thank everyone who was involved."December   Excellence in Technology AwardsThe 2015 Brandon Hall Group Excellence in Technology Awards were announced on December 3.Often called the ‘Academy Awards’ for learning, talent and business, they cover more than 50 categories recognising excellence in all aspects of elearning.With 2015 proving such a busy year there’s not enough room in this post to include everything, so please feel free to expand the list either in the comments box below or on Twitter to @Sponge_UKFinally, may we wish you all a very happy New Year from everyone at Sponge UK. Discuss a project Subscribe to our newsletter The post Elearning Review of the Year 2015 appeared first on Sponge UK.

Dear Freesounders, It’s been a while since our last post, but as always we’ve been busy working on many Freesoundish things. This time, we’d like to let you know about the new Audio Commons initiative! During the last year we’ve been working together with two other research institutions (Queen Mary University of London and University of Surrey) and three companies (Jamendo, Audiogaming and Waves), to prepare a project proposal for one of the funding lines of the European Commission (Horizon 2020 programme). The project we proposed is to support that Audio Commons initiative, and the good news is that we have been granted the funding! This means that we will start now working in this project together with the aforementioned research institutions and companies and with the aim of attracting more people in our way. But, "what is Audio Commons all about and why are you explaining all of this to us"? Well, the objective of the Audio Commons initiative is to promote and facilitate the reuse of Creative Commons audio content in production environments. This includes the development of new technologies for annotating and organising sound samples and music pieces, the development of technologies to support easy licensing procedures of CC audio content, and the development of tools to allow easy access to CC audio content within existing production environments such as a DAWs or video editors. Freesound is playing a big role in this initiative as, together with Jamendo, we will be the first repository of CC audio content to be part of the initiative. You’ll find more detailed information in the Audio Commons web site: www.audiocommons.org. We’re very excited to start this new initiative and to work on all the challenges that it poses. We sincerely think that the Audio Commons initiative and Freesound can be greatly beneficial to each other, and expect that the outcomes of this symbiosis will also be very valuable and useful to the whole Freesound community. That’s all for now, we’ll keep you informed! cheers,   frederic