It was requested by several readers, many months ago, but it’s finally here… Terminology Tuesday: Year 1 - The Ebook Loading… Purchase your copy through gumroad.com. The prices are in Canadian dollars, so it’s a steal for all of my American or international readers! I hope you enjoy the ebook, and keep your eyes peeled for Terminology Tuesday: Year 2!  

The Artificial Intelligence trend will take the L&D industry by storm. Or by surprise, depending on how open you are to believe it. AI is not something any industry enjoys discussing because it usually means "machines doing the work that humans used to do." We’re all excited about technologies that help us do our jobs better, but not so thrilled about tech doing our jobs for us. Writers were transitioned from print to blogs. Musicians were transitioned from CDs to internet singles, and YouTube. The job of instructional design will transition as well, but into what is not clear. But the reality is that computers can and will do it better than we do. What is AI Currently Capable of Doing? AI conversations often revolve around the creation of robots that help us complete tasks, and, at least partially, think for themselves. But AI is much more useful than that even with today's tech. It's not just a dream for the future. It's part of the reality of today. Not only did technology disrupt publishing, but in at least 2 use cases technology has already illuminated human writers. Simple sports and news reports are now generated completely by computer.  Writing instructional content is a logical business application and saving companies money. From an article in The Guardian, Kris Hammond, co-founder of Narrative Science, is quoted as saying this. "Look!" he says, "we are humanising the machine and giving it the ability not only to look at data but, based on general ideas of what is important and a close understanding of who the audience is, we are giving it the tools to know how to tell us stories." We currently only consider the possibility of personalized instruction. And in those conversations we discuss a computer deciding what content should be presented and in what order. I don’t think anyone in our industry is considering computers actually creating learning content as well. And yet all technology signposts point in that direction. Artificial Intelligence, Web Publishing and eLearning In a recent entrepreneur magazine article AI is discussed as part of a web site building system. "Founder and CEO Dan Tocchini IV says his goal is to enable business owners to wrest control from web designers and template-driven website services. "You’re not sending ideas back and forth with a designer, waiting weeks to approve the latest backend," Tocchini says. "All that latency is gone."" Exchange the term "web services" with instructional design services, and "template-driven website services" with template-driven training course design and you have the future of the learning management system. The name will probably never catch on, but in our industry the feature might be called Artificial Intelligent Instruction Design... or AIID. There are many simple rules that instructional designers follow when designing content. They've been well documented in books like Ruth Clark's E-Learning and the Science of Instruction. One of the most widely quoted in elearning development groups is the theory of cognitive load. A quick google search turns up this quote... "In cognitive psychology, cognitive load refers to the total amount of mental effort being used in the working memory. Cognitive load theory was developed out of the study of problem solving by John Sweller in the late 1980s. Sweller argued that instructional design can be used to reduce cognitive load in learners." Considering what a little artificial intelligence can currently do for web design in systems like the Grid,  integrating elements that support cognitive load theory is not that far off. In fact, it would not surprise me if The Grid's AI didnt already define it's solutions based on the science of designing content for human consumption. Since much of eLearning development has focused on content design issues, I would guess that AI can handle that for the eLearning industry as well. Even our learning solutions design processes are based on simple decision tree structures. Any check list currently in use for audience analysis, and conclusions you draw from them, will soon be part of a Learning Solution Designer system's AI. The LSD could even use HR records to constantly perform employee/learner analysis and define learning solution algorithms based on that data. I would expect that my friends promoting xAPI have considered this future and firmly planned a stake in the ground of xAPI being part of that future. LMS's like other internet sites already use a form of AI in the form of responsive design. You, the trainer, simply upload a video to the LMS and the system decides how to deliver that video based on the device being used to view it. Your work as instructional designers is already significantly easier than it was 10 years ago. AI will soon take even more human work out of the process. This is just another reason why non-training professionals are quietly leading the revolution in L&D within corporations. Why Business Will Love AIID and LSD The move to eLearning by corporations was largely a decision made by the bean counters. When looking at the human resource costs, travel costs, and material costs, it was easy to see how much money could be saved moving all that online. Consider how much more money will be saved when all employees have the ability to load content into a system and have that system analyze the content and then reconfigure it to match instructional design theories like cognitive load. Not only that, its ability to assess HR data to create and present the instruction in a format best suited for each individual. And that doesn't just mean adjusting the CSS depending on the device. No. It means writing unique content for each individual based on skill level, past experience, and personal data...and THEN presenting it with contextually appropriate imagery and multimedia content in the proper format for each device. What will this look like? I can imagine one scenario in which a training session between a SME and a new hire is recorded and converted to training material instantly by the LSD. A webinar tool like gototraining might be used to manage the live conversation and record it. when the session is over the video is analyzed and a series of options are presented to the SME. For example a voice like siri might say "I noticed your vocabulary is at a the level of Engineer-PhD. Would you like me to publish a version more suitable for the greater employee population?" Or something like that. The possibilities are limitless. But this scenario won't happen over night. It will be an evolutionary process that has already started. Some of my first CBTs took months to create with large teams supporting the design, development, and delivery. We had to code multiple choice questions manually where today its as easy as importing a spreadsheet of questions into the LMS. Tomorrow's LSD will review the video of a training event and create assesments automatically based on a multitude of corporate, business, amd personel data. It's a future not quite fully baked, but the ingredients are ready for mixing. Are you ready?   The post Artificial Intelligent Instructional Design appeared first on Litmos.

  "Storytelling is ultimately a creative act of pattern recognition. Through characters, plot and setting, a writer creates places where previously invisible truths become visible. Or the storyteller posits a series of dots that the reader can connect." Douglas Coupland Storytelling is popular topic amongst L&D professionals. It's the type of thing we all talk about, but do you actually practice your storytelling skills? If you do, what is it that you practice? I think we often practice our storytelling skills in very random places without even knowing it. Like, for example, in crafting an email, or Facebook post. Stories don't need to be long. And stories can be told with pictures as well. But in this post I've limited my tips to writing and telling stories. Learn the Basics of Storytelling Structure All stories tend to follow a similar framework known as the story arc. Start by learning this basic structure. Its origin goes all the way back to Aristotle in 335 B.C. Since then we have similar templates to follow like the three-act structure typically used screenwriting. But you will find it in novels as well. This is the foundation that will make everything else you do make sense to you. Think about creating your next course with a three-act structure. Read More Books About Storytelling And read less about instructional design. I'm serious. Learning the craft of storytelling will take you further in your career. It's takes much longer practicing to become a good storyteller than it does to learn instructional design. So start now. Start by reading great books about writing like Writing a Novel and Getting Published by Nigel Watts. Sure, it's not specifically about writing training content, but all of what you learn applies to the work you do. Listen to More Stories I enjoy listening to podcasts. Not everyone does. But for me, especially when I'm driving, it's better than the radio. There are many varieties to choose from. There are short practical podcasts that cover the mechanics like Grammar Girls Quick and Dirty Tips. And there are interview podcasts that speak with famous writers and story tellers. Listening to Tim Ferriss interview Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (2 comedic writers/storytellers) was hilarious and educational for me. You don't need to find a podcast specifically about writing or storytelling either. Every good podcast that is highly rated often has great storytelling elements. Its what tends to make for a great podcast. And likewise, a great story can make for great learning content. Informal Practice We can tell stories. Informal practice can occur in our daily lives. We tell stories every day during regular conversations. And we don't ever really put too much thought into telling them. We simply recall the facts and verbalize them. Some people are naturally more entertaining at this then others. If you happen to be on the "not-so-good" end of this spectrum, then telling the same story multiple times can be helpful. Most of us tell a good story one time. Then we're bored with it and move on unless there is a reason to share that experience again. Try telling the same story in different ways to your friends. Practice under Pressure Events like The Moth are great for learning to craft your storytelling skills. Start by listening to the podcast of past events, or watching their YouTube channel. And then take the next step and tell your story at a Moth event. Actually, any event will do. I just wanted a reason to tell you about the Moth. It's one of my favorites. Write More of Your Own Stories If you want to become better at writing instruction, you can start by just practicing the art of writing and telling stories. Many people do this in a daily journal. Recall the events of the day and write them down. But as you write be mindful of how you are telling the story of your day. Don't take it so seriously that the habit becomes stressful. Just put a little thought into the little details. Try something new. Use a new word that you recently heard. Or tell the story of your day through the eyes of someone else. Include Stories in Your Training If you are a teacher/instructor/facilitator you should be telling stories during every training event you lead. If you've been running a particular course for a long period of time you may be getting bored with the topic. So, mix it up by either improving existing stories that you tell, or write new ones. Storytelling is a natural teaching tool for gaining attention, sharing examples, or transitioning to new topics amongst others. Your learners will most likely forget most of the facts in your course, but there is a high probability they will remember your stories. The post 7 Tips to Practicing the Craft of Instructional Storytelling appeared first on Litmos.

Getting your elearning project off the ground? Need some guidance to get started? In this article, we look at the first stage in the process of producing elearning: analysis and scope. There are no hard and fast rules about how to produce great elearning, but there are a few tried and tested methods. The graphic below outlines the steps of one approach, from the initial analysis to the final evaluation of the product. In this article we’re going to start with the planning phase, stage one: analysis and scope. Set yourself up for success Preparation is all about setting up the project for success and making sure you’re going about it in the optimal way. The planning phase is sometimes neglected in the tight time-scales you are often required to work to. But, planning is really important. Ignore it at your peril. Analysis is the planning step in which you identify what it is the project needs to achieve. Getting the right people involved from the start will save you time in the long run. I recommend you include the following: Lead author: the person who will oversee the project from start to finish ensuring quality and objectives are met. Project owner: this may be the lead designer, or on larger projects a project manager who can ensure the day-to-day running of the project Stakeholders: the person or people who have an interest in the project, either as sponsor, commissioner or subject matter expert (SME). Once you have the right people involved, arrange a kick-off meeting. Start with the problem you are trying to solve. This will inform the outcomes that you want from the completed product. Here are some questions you should be asking: Where are the knowledge gaps? What do people already know about this topic? Are there any common misconceptions? What benefits will this learning have to the organization and the learner? Does this training align closely to your business goals? By now you should have a clear understanding of the problem you are trying to solve. Next, you’ll need to find out who your audience is. There’s no point designing a program to run on a desktop if your target audience is a mobile salesforce seldom in the office. Find out where the learners will be starting from: Are they new learners, or do they have experience you can draw on? What is their attitude to training and learning? If your audience are top civil servants, they may need a more academic approach than if they are salespeople who may respond best to contextualized learning. Is your audience used to self-study and directing their own learning? If they are not, your training design may need a more structured and supportive approach. If they are independent learners, you can free-up the structure and allow them greater choice in navigating the program. I love using focus groups to elicit audience characteristics. You can learn a lot by running fact-finding sessions where you brainstorm a few words or phrases to personify the audience. It’s a good idea to have a colleague with you when you run the session—one of you can handle the questions and discussion while the other records responses and interprets the findings on the fly to help inform the rest of the session. Here are some questions you need to think about during this early analysis stage: Where are they functioning? What devices are they using? What experience do you want them to have? What outcomes should result from the learning? How are you going to measure this behavior shift or new understanding? Do the anticipated outcomes align with the business objectives and goals? How are you going to check that you’re focusing on the right things? Scope Scoping involves getting a clear understanding of the design challenge that you’re about to address. For example, is it going to be a tool, survey, game, resource, course, micro-experience, simulation, diagnostic, reflection, or an app? Several factors can affect the scope: budget, time, resources, and requirements. If there are no objections with the first three, then you’re relatively free to push the boat out on the last one. If, as normally happens, you do have limitations on some or all of the first three, it’s important to find out what your end goal is and work backwards from there. For example, if you need to deliver a course covering safety legislation to ensure compliance, your aim will be to create an informative and behavior-changing course quickly and effectively, so don’t get distracted by stakeholders requesting lots of videos or games. If you gather your requirements thoroughly, arriving at an agreed goal before starting, you should find that you don’t get the dreaded scope creep during the production phase. Source content and materials Find out if any source content or materials are already available and can be reused. Schedule time with your stakeholders or SME to analyze the content and use that time to align the content against the goals and objectives to decide what to include or exclude. Final thoughts The purpose of planning is to set up the project to succeed. Honing in on the answers to fundamental questions such as, what’s the purpose of this project, what problem will it solve, and what outcomes do you want really helps to set the process on the right course. And remember, including the right people in the early steps is crucial, so make sure your stakeholders represent both the business and the learners, because ultimately the engagement of both is crucial to success. Stay on top of the latest elearning ideas, trends, and technologies by subscribing to the Elucidat weekly newsletter. The post Analysis and scope: How to approach the 1st stage in the elearning production process appeared first on Elucidat Blog.

There’s a reason everyone is using infographics. A casual stroll through the social media playground will show you that many people are using infographics for mundane things, such as entertainment facts. This content is shared so often because it’s interesting, and the format makes it easy to digest. When given the opportunity, people would much rather look at an image or watch a video than read, and taking advantage of that for your online course design can help improve learner engagement by appealing to the common preference of visual learning. The "why" is simple - understanding the "how" and "when" is what will allow you to use them effectively in your online courses.

Allison Miller is a member of eWorks’ team of accredited consultants, and a regular contributor to eWorks’ blog. With only a few days left until Christmas, Allison encourages us to consider what we should be doing to ensure that our Moodle courses are ready for 2016 - before we head off on our summer break. Don’t worry, just […]

Ok, you’ve been warned: this article is a stretch. But keep an open mind, and you’ll never look at eLearning the same way again. Naturally, a comparison between eLearning and coffee can only happen over a good java. So get yourself a cup, settle yourself, and read on. We all know how a well-brewed cup of coffee perks us up when we’re tired, or when we’ve got that mid-day slump. Well, eLearning perks up the most tired and slumped training programs (we told you that this would be a stretch), especially if designed and executed well. You could say that participation is key: you have to participate in a cup of coffee since it is largely an experience. This is also true of eLearning. Learners are drawn into participating actively in the learning. Coffee wakes you up and gets you going. A good eLearning program goes a long way in waking up the learner for the real-world tasks ahead. A cup of coffee can be enjoyed in a number of different ways. And the choices are many: hot or iced, black or white, sweetened or unsweetened, hyper-caffeinated or decaf. It’s thoroughly customizable within the boundaries of its purpose. With eLearning, the customizing depends on the needs of your unique organization, and on your learners. From the content to the method(s) of presentation, you get to determine what goes in your eLearning program, and what stays out. You also control how much, and how often your learners engage in the learning. And, like coffee, new program content can be developed for your changing requirements. Coffee is independently enjoyed, and often shared socially. The same is true for eLearning. While each person who engages in eLearning does so as an individual, eLearning programs often allow, and even encourage, a social discussion of the content. The synergy that happens can lead to new solutions for issues and challenges and the benefits are communal. In addition, shared experiences contribute to the creation and maintenance of a community. Individuals maintain their autonomy and independence while they share their experiences, and everyone wins. Most coffee drinkers know that a cup can range in price from the no-frills, gas-station, sits-on-the-burner-all-day (a long way of saying "cheap") cup, all the way to the designer coffees that have first, middle, family, given and last names. Well, so does eLearning… except maybe we need to work on fancier program names. At any rate, you get what you pay for. Just like coffee, eLearning systems differ from application to application, and it takes something to select the one that gives you the best bang for your cup- er… buck. While price is an important consideration, the finished product is what should demand the greater attention. Coffee is chosen based on taste, and where and how you’re going to use it. Choose your eLearning the same way: who is going to be using it? Do I need the extra flavors? Or the latest fads? Do I already have the right equipment to make it work, or will I need something different to get the "zing" I want? Coffee is a relatively simple way to show that you care about your guests, or for yourself. Similarly, eLearning is a great way to show you care for your employees. So how did we come to that conclusion? Consider: new employees can often feel disconnected or overwhelmed by the simple fact that they’re new. And shadowing a veteran employee often does little to alleviate the "newbie" condition. Meeting over coffee provides an informal, comfortable way for people to learn about each other. eLearning does the same thing for training. Employees engage the material in a neutral, informal and flexible environment. And newer/younger folks entering the workforce find the eLearning environment familiar and comfortable. You know how the offer of a cup of coffee often has guests stick around and chat for a little longer? eLearning programs empower employees to do their jobs and connect employees to the organization in a way that traditional training methods might not. Furthermore, allowing people the opportunity to encounter real-life situations in the relative comfort and safety of eLearning means that they function better when faced with the real thing. Again, this contributes to a sense of winning for your employees. And typically, happy employees do better and contribute positively to the well-being of their companies. The sheer simplicity of coffee makes it an elegant addition to any table. At its core, eLearning is simple, and you can do a lot with that simplicity. If you’re willing to experiment with a simple cup of coffee, you often discover exciting new ways to enjoy it. In the realm of eLearning, experimentation involves asking questions, and finding out as much as you can about what’s really needed, and what’s available. And, you may have to be willing to lighten up and play a little. Just as coffee offers something for every taste, so eLearning offers learning programs unique to every need. And the discovery is both educational and fun. We hope you’ve enjoyed this coffee talk about eLearning. Like you enjoy a good cup of coffee, we want you to savor your eLearning experience, and find a blend that best suits your needs. You can engage in eLearning about coffee by checking out the internet. If you’d like more information about eLearning, visit . And you’re always welcome to come back for refills! The post Coffee and eLearning: a Caffeinated Community Connection appeared first on KMI Learning.

Are you ready to get some bright new ideas from your peers at the 2016 Lectora® User Conference? The sessions just get better and better each year, but you know what would make the next conference even cooler? If YOU presented YOUR ideas at the 2016 Lectora User Conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida this May 18-19. Submit your speaker proposal now! We’re eager to see what you’ve been working on. Don’t make us wait too long: the deadline to submit your speaker proposal is February 1, 2016. You’ll hear from us by March 1, 2016 if your proposal is accepted. We’re looking for proposals that showcase exceptional new uses, ideas, and techniques for using one of our authoring tools or learning management and delivery solutions. Some suggested topics for presentations are: Instructional Design Mobile Learning/Responsive Course Design Gaming/Interactivity Social Learning Collaborative Development Learning Management Systems Emerging Technologies Business Initiatives/Case Studies How-To/Development Techniques Rapid e-Learning Development   All sessions must be presented using a recent version of the software: Lectora Publisher/Inspire 12 or higher Lectora Online 3 ReviewLink™ 2 CourseMill® 7 CourseMill Mobile 1 Full of bright ideas? Send ‘em all over! You can submit as many proposals as you like—just make sure to submit a separate form for each proposal. Submit Proposal For each proposal accepted, one complimentary conference registration will be given. If you have already registered and paid, you’ll be refunded. The post Now Accepting LUC 2016 Speaker Proposals appeared first on .

Content from the nowcomms.com: the B2B marketing company for tech busineses in education, sports, security & ID. See the full story here SecureIdentity Beta Launch SecureIdentity by Morpho Launch! SecureIdentity, the new government verification service is coming soon… In the meantime, be sure to check out our helpful FAQs to guide you through the changes coming on our website. This is brought to you by Morpho, the world leader in government ID. The SecureIdentity service is secure, easy to use and reliable, keeping all of your details safe and easily accessable to make government verification faster and easier for you. See the full story SecureIdentity Beta Launch

Content from the nowcomms.com: the B2B marketing company for tech busineses in education, sports, security & ID. See the full story here Marie’s Getting Started Blog as a new B2B Marketer Let me introduce myself…   Hello, my name is Marie Mulvaney and welcome to my first blog as a new B2B digital marketer. I have created this blog to document my learning experiences in my first marketing role and to give advice based on those experiences. Ultimately, I hope that this is a head start to new marketers beginning their B2B marketing career.   Why should you read my content?   I re-entered university as a mature student to study in a more creative and people orientated field, I have since developed skills in marketing, branding and social media. My start in B2B marketing is pretty typical, utilising this knowledge in a practical working environment and ultimately planning to improve my current skills through work in order to progress.   Just like you, I have aspirations to lead a successful career in marketing, and with on the job learning, I am able to pass along my personal experiences, challenges and new skills for those who are entering into the field.   One of the first things I realised in the marketing industry is that through a business it can be difficult to follow, especially if content production involves a management team that all have their own individual work responsibilities.   In order to efficiently and proactively monitor work tasks across a team it’s useful to implement a organisation management system. This improves communication between colleagues in relation to daily job tasks. It means everyone is informed, support is available and team members can adapt to manage workloads as efficiently as possible.   There are various ways of visually organising content. The effective method applied at Now Communications is the agile management system and the use of a KANBAN board.   The use of the KANBAN   The Kanban is a Japanese developed method of visual organisation. Established around 20 years ago by Mr. Taiichi Ohno, one of Toyota’s vice presidents. It’s a visual way for all team members to know what everyone is doing and what progress has been made on all tasks. The purpose is to reduce costs, enable quick responses to changes, ensure quality control and to create heightened connectivity between team members. Ultimately this eliminates time wasting. Kanbans help organisations adapt to changes on demand which ultimately speeds up production and ROI. The idea is to identify all tasks that need to be completed in the week, who is individually responsible for them and how long they will take to do. As the tasks are going through stages, depending on how far along they are, they will be moved into the appropriate heading on the board. Tasks are usually displayed on cards that show the individual uncompleted tasks that are assigned to each team member, an estimated number of hours/days until completion and the name of the person responsible. You can see an example of a card below: Here you can see my blog task card on the board! You can see I have my name on it, as I am responsible for completing the tasks, along with the first letter of my name in a green circle. The number of days I need to complete the tasks in is showing as one day circled in green in the top right hand corner. My tasks are shown as bullet points.   The Kanban board itself is divided into categories. At Now Communications we have headings such as hold, current sprint, in progress, test and released, as shown below: Tasks advance across the board from left to right. When work is just getting started it’s pinned inder "current sprint". When it’s done it’s pinned under X. Agile management and Kanbans are widely used organisational methods that grew out of the software development industry. It can be considered a bit geeky - So much so that the cult nerd sitcom ‘Silicon Valley’ dedicates an entire episode to the Kanban. My first impression of the Kanban was that it is an extremely visual tool in the communication of work responsibilities and very easy to read. I liked the togetherness it promotes in terms of bringing the team closer to each others work tasks and closer to employees using their own initiative regarding team member support. The sharpest and most discerning marketers are usually on top of all the latest trends and news in the industry. Is this you? Kanban is a visually stimulating way to organise your team, ultimately creating wider team connectivity, enabling adaptation to your organisations demand and for faster production. Pushing workplace teams towards success together! Thank you to Library Tech for the Kanban image See the full story Marie’s Getting Started Blog as a new B2B Marketer

How we organize and get things done as governments, communities, and companies needs to change. We are shifting to a new economy, with global surveillance, and new ways of work. As we shift from a society focused on institutions and markets and prepare to enter the network area, three areas require greater emphasis. collaborative work social learning connected leadership Change happens where these intersect, and this has been my focus for the past 12 years. Connecting work and learning through Personal Knowledge Mastery Adopting a Triple Operating System for organizational Awareness, Alternatives & Action Maintaining a perspective of Perpetual Beta  so that our networks can make better decisions

It’s here! Last month we officially announced the launch of Acrobatiq’s Smart Author - the easiest and most innovative application for educators and instructional designers to develop rich, interactive and adaptive courseware based in the learning science methodology from CMU’s Open Learning Initiative. So what’s "Smart" about Smart Author? Put simply, Smart Author enables best practices in data-driven instructional design including the development of outcomes models; rich content and assessment tied to outcomes; adaptive course delivery; and powerful analytics showing who is learning and who is not, which content works and which content does not, and where to focus time making course improvements. Institutions are using Smart Author to develop high-impact and mobile-ready seat or competency-based online learning programs; to facilitate blended instruction where foundational learning occurs online and outside the classroom; and to improve learning outcomes in "red flag" or traditionally high failure courses by developing "smart" courseware that personalizes student learning. To date we have over 30 institutions in our Smart Author beta program providing robust feedback to our software development team. Early feedback from customers has been overwhelmingly positive with many beta users commenting on how easy and intuitive the tools are for creating dynamic online lessons. More than once I’ve heard. "It’s like WordPress for educators - only better!" Here’s a quick preview of some key features: 1 Enterprise-level workflow management tools to support the scaled development of adaptive courseware: Never before has it been this easy for teams of educators and instructional designers to actively collaborate on the development of beautiful, adaptive online courseware. With support for multiple role types, projects and permissions, you control the courseware development process from initial concept to courseware release and continuous updates. 2 Support for collaboration among educators and instructional design teams (in-line commenting and courseware versioning to serve different student audiences or faculty content preferences): 3 Easy-to-use Courseware Blueprint creation tool to quickly generate Skill Graphs that align learning objectives or competencies to skills, assessments and activities contained within the Units and Modules. Now see "at a glance" what students should know and be able to do by the end of a course. 4 Robust content and page creation tools - WYSIWYG interface, support for content from multiple sources - (3rd party, OER, user-generated), page layout templates, 27 question types including support for math equations, multi-step problems and many other types of formative and summative assessment types. In addition, course designers can easily integrate multiple types of dynamic media element types including slide shows from assembled images, interactive timelines, image hot spotting, etc. The tool palette enables the development of a wide variety of creative and interactive activities.  Developing high impact and engaging lessons just got fun again! 5 Media management for tracking, organizing and tagging various media types used in courseware development. Course designers can upload and tag media, and track rights management right within the Smart Author tool set. 6 Support for Accessibility and Interoperability with LTI integration for single-sign-on with leading learning management systems. Now you can have the best of both words - a robust LMS AND a beautiful, adaptive online learning experience that actually helps students learn! In addition to these features, there are many more. But don’t take my word for it, see for yourself! Fast-forward through this great demo from Acrobatiq’s Chief Technology Officer, John Rinderle. Last, no new SAAS-based application would be complete without services to support configuration, implementation and training. And Smart Author is no exception. Our Customer Success team is ready to help you make the most of the Acrobatiq platform. When you’re ready to learn more, drop me an email at alison@acrobatiq.com. PS Happy holidays from all of us here at Acrobatiq!

It’s Monday. The frenzy of "everyone will code" is technically over and most people are back to business as usual. Last week was incredible as I was fortunate enough to participate in the first ever White House Computer Science Tech Jam where educators were paired with technology developers to ideate ways and/or products to help teachers teach Computer Science. At the same time, my district was going full throttle in making sure that every student had an opportunity to code for one hour. I have to admit that it was quite amazing to watch from afar while our students and teachers tried multiple programs and even found new friends in Dash & Dot, the "made for blockly" coding robots. The week even ended on a massive high note where the passage of ESSA established a definition of "well-rounded" which includes courses, activities, and programs across many subjects, including computer science. Today, I went back to my office and amidst a hectic day of "this is what you get for being in DC for a week", I found myself reflecting on the opportunities that we gave our kids and excitement felt across the community because we fully committed to a week of coding…a week that was felt in its entirety in this district for the first time…ever! …a week where kids who had never heard of "coding" were all of a sudden saying that they wanted to learn more. …a week where a 65 year old community member, after seeing #LufkinCodes on the news, called to ask if she could learn too. It felt good and it still does. Yet, today…post-reflection, I found myself back at a familiar spot…"business as usual". Until… I happened to see a stream of Periscopes by Black Girls Code, touting an event featuring Black women engineers, startup founders, creators , programmers, designers and activist. Still time to register! "Behind the Click: The Intersection of WoC in STEM + Social Justice" https://t.co/wfIeAj51Cj pic.twitter.com/cvqrBbNjFS — BlackGirlsCode.Com (@BlackGirlsCode) December 14, 2015 I watched every second of Periscope in its entirety and I felt moved, motivated…determined. I had never seen a panel like this before!!! I was reminded by Black Girls Code, founder, Kimberly Bryant, that it’s not about coding but about empowering kids to understand that their ideas are valid and that they too can build something that not only represents their passions and dreams but can solve problems of their communities and world…in an environment created to support them. So, I did what any person would do… I started to look at what our district was already offering in Computer Science. I made a note to check statistics of students signing up for those courses. We’ll definitely be able to see positive impact here. I checked my calendar to see when we could offer open "coding" workshops at schools for kids without access to those courses and not just code.org but courses on web development, app development and yes…gaming. We have work to do, like many districts, in evaluating and improving CS course offerings but we also have a choice. We can wait on votes and cycles of change or we can use the power that we have to spread change, awareness and opportunities…NOW. I choose now.

I first posted back in July about the H&R Block Budget Challenge and included links to financial literacy sites to use in the classroom. There is still time to enroll your high school or high-school age homeschool class in this great contest which helps students learn and, more importantly, practice personal financial literacy, as well as offering teachers and students a chance to win grants and scholarships!  The H&R Block Budget Challenge immerses high-school students in the life of a recent college graduate who has been working for six months. Each participant receives a virtual salary and must make smart budgeting decisions regarding expenses, such as rent, utilities, car payments and more. Students are challenged to balance current and future financial needs and demonstrate resourcefulness, understanding and practical application of financial concepts. There are six rounds of the H&R Block Budget Challenge, and there are still three rounds left to participate in, so sign your class up today! The closing dates for registration for the remaining three simulations are January 7, January 21, or February 4, 2016.The H&R Block Budget Challenge encourages students to learn personal finance in a fun, engaging way while competing against other classrooms and students for $3 million in classroom grants and student scholarships. These awards include 60 chances for classroom grants up to $5000, 132 chances of student scholarships of $20,000, and a grand prize student scholarship of $100,000!http://hrbds.orgSince I believe financial literacy is one of the important literacies our students should attain before they graduate high school, I have blogged about ideas to enhance this across the curriculum, and I consider financial literacy one of the thirteen essential literacies. The H&R Block Web site also includes Budget Challenge lesson plans and student activities educators can use in the classroom. The H&R Block Budget Challenge and these lesson plans target Common Core standards for English language arts and mathematics, as well as personal finance benchmarks established by the Council for Economic Education (CEE) and the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy. FINANCIAL LITERACY INFOGRAPHICSOnce students have completed the H&R Budget Challenge, you can continue the financial literacy instruction by the use of infographics. After participating in the H&R Block Budget Challenge, the students will have the knowledge base to determine the usefulness, validity, and information included in these types of infographics. In addition, you can have students re-create the infographics by including new data, a different focus, or research data they have collected. (Additional information on how to use infographics in the classroom may be found on my Web page here.)Here are some infographics and Google search links to get students started.http://newsroom.mastercard.com/photos/road-to-inclusion-money-management/http://blogs.usda.gov/2013/08/14/what-does-it-cost-to-raise-a-child/http://www.moneymanagement.org/Budgeting-Tools/InfoGraphics/Kids-and-Money.aspxInvesting infographicsPaying rent infographicsLiving expense infographicsLiving expenses infographicsMoney management infographicsSign your class up today for the H&R Block Budget Challenge!   Visit Kathy's Web pages: Kathy Schrock's Home Page Kathy Schrock's Guide to Everything

Do you remember being a child and seeing your teachers out at the local grocery store? It was absolutely jarring, right? As a child, you thought, don’t they live at the school? In the same way, many senior leaders lock themselves in the corner office. Employees never see them—and never connect with them—expect on a business level. As CEO, I feel it’s my job to be visible to my employees, not only as a leader, but also as a human being. How do you do this? Here are three ways below: Walk the halls I learned this lesson from my father, John. Dad worked at Phillips Petroleum and in 1975, he was sent to run a manufacturing subsidiary. His job was to turn operations around at two brick factories. The general manager who ran the brick company was never on-site. In fact, he ran operations from a suite of country-club-like villas miles away from the industrial complex. He was described as aloof and dictatorial, and drove to the office in the latest model company Jaguar when he was required to be there. My dad operated differently. Upon arriving on site, he moved his office from the adjacent town onto the cramped, factory grounds. He took away the fancy company cars and gave everyone, himself included, the same Ford sedan. But most distinctly, my dad walked the factory floor daily. He talked casually with the workers, alternately telling jokes, bonding over a beer or two, and asking for their opinions about manufacturing issues. Productivity and morale improved and the company, once in danger of being shut down, was able to take control of their own destiny. Each day, I try to get out of my office and walk the halls. I take time to say hello to my employees in the hallways and in the break room. I ask them how their families are doing—their spouse, their kids, their pets—and what they did that week. I ask how the program we just completed went and if there was feedback. I casually check-in. By walking the halls, I’m able to build relationships. CEO’s, by the nature of our work, can find ourselves cut off from our employees in ways that make us unapproachable. By being visible and chit-chatting, I hope my employees feel that I’m available whenever they need. Be social and sociable I run a small company, so I know this isn’t feasible for everyone, but there’s nothing I love more than sitting down in our breakroom and having lunch with our employees. The conversation is about a variety of things, but it’s always entertaining. I also get to see employees who I don’t usually see because of the location of my office. During the recession, we saved money on our holiday party by holding a potluck supper at my house. When times improved, the suggestion of returning to a catered event at a nice restaurant was emphatically overruled. Everyone loved getting together in my home where they see the complete me, along with the dog, pictures of my kids and—when looking for the corkscrew—see that the boss has a "junk drawer" too! And no matter the social function, make that extra effort to connect with those you don’t often interact with at work. Listening to and telling personal stories in a personal setting builds bonds of teamwork and increased engagement. Get on social media Employees—not just the younger ones—are on social media. They are active on Facebook pages and will share big stories to their own personal networks. I’ll be honest, I’m not the best when it comes to social media, (throw me a bone and follow me on Twitter) but I understand its power. We don’t do business with any of the people below, but I do appreciate how they authentically engage with their communities on social media. Tom Erickson, Acquia Acquia CEO Tom Erickson personally answers almost every review made about his company on Glassdoor. What impresses me most is Tom’s transparency is that he even takes the time to answer the negative ones. He explains his positioning, talks about future opportunities, and thanks employees for their feedback. Employees—and prospective employees—see that the CEO is listening and let know their voice is heard. Santa J. Ono, University of Cincinnati University of Cincinnati President Santa J. Ono has a unique ability to genuinely connect with his students, alumni, faculty, and parents and bring the Bearcat community together—all via Twitter. If you scroll through his feed, you will see his replies to students inviting him to attend games, lectures, plays, and more. Yes, his tweets tout the university’s research achievements, but it’s when he reaches out to upset students to see if they can come to a solution together that really hits the mark. Santa took the helm in 2012 and enrollment grew to 42, 656 in 2013, and 43, 691 in 2014. I’m not sure if Santa’s tweeting is having a direct effect on this growth, but one thing is for sure, something’s working.   Don’t be an email that your employees just send a report to. As a senior leader, get out of your office and show your human side. The post Do Your Employees See You…as Human? appeared first on Ariel Group.          CommentsSean, I agree. Many times I have had those jarring moments of ... by Mary LahtiRelated StoriesDo Your Employees See You…as Human?Flying Unfriendly Skies: 6 Ways to Manage ChangeThe Employee Engagement Equation 

As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S., I would like to take a moment to give thanks. Thank you, Internet gods, for creating email and for making it good. Thank you for the ability to communicate without having to speak a word. Thank you for allowing me, as an introvert, to type key strokes rather than return calls. I admit it. I’m not as comfortable speaking in meetings as I am at the keyboard, which could be tricky working for a company who believes in people interacting generously and communicating well. Email is on the less-effective end of the communication spectrum. Great for speed, but there is no real interaction. At "send," an email goes into the ether. It is only coincidence that someone might receive it in real-time. And it’s more likely for one to communicate badly via email than to communicate well. Hasn’t it happened to each of us? Minus body language, facial expression and vocal inflection, our email tone has been misinterpreted or we have misinterpreted someone else’s. A short-length email seems rude or CAP LOCKS excitement just seems like yelling. And, of course, there’s the negative impression spelling and grammatical errors leave on a recipient, whether due to our haste or auto-correct "helpfulness." But in a global business landscape where our clients are on the other side of the world and our colleagues may sit in their home office — rather than the office next door — sometimes email is the best mode of communication that we have. To make the best of what we’ve got, I recommend these tactics: Focus on the email that you are writing rather than the check mark you’ll make on your to-do list once the email is sent. We are all busy and sometimes need to fire off a lot of email in a short period of time. Regardless of how much time you have — or don’t have — do your best to be present and "in the moment," paying full attention as you write. Whether a long or short note, you reduce the risk of errors and misinterpreted tone. Take a moment to offer something about yourself — a moment in your weekend, a moment with your children — and inquire about the other person. It doesn’t have to happen with every email, every time. But when time allows, take the time. You will find that these small personal stories, over time, help build good virtual working relationships. In an email, you only have your words to convey thoughts and feelings. Choose them wisely. If you’re stuck, enlist the help of a colleague to proofread and give you feedback. It’s an easy, low-risk way to gauge how your message will land. In a business setting, all of the exclamation points in the world will not substitute for the right phrasing and an emoji, while acceptable in some instances, is not worth a thousand words. It’s okay to be yourself in your email. Speak in print as you would in an in-person interaction. If you are using an email template and there is room to personalize it, do so. You are a human being, not a robot. So is your recipient. Let your emails reflect that. Have thoughts about this? Start typing! Want more tips on how to construct a work email? Read Harvard Business Review’s Essential Guide to Crafting a Work Email. The post Electronic Presence: How to Have Presence in Email appeared first on Ariel Group.          CommentsTerrifically practical Christine. A good reminder to myself. by Josh BAs a regular recipient of your Emails, you certainly practice ... by Richard RichardsRelated StoriesDo Your Employees See You…as Human?The Virtual Coffee Break: The Importance of Relationship-Building Moments in a Virtual WorldHow Sales Presence Impacts Clients 

There’s a new type of speech plaguing America. No, it’s not the latest politician standing atop the soapbox. It’s a way many Americans, especially women, speak called vocal fry. Vocal fry, according to Naomi Wolf, is the "glottalization in the back of the throat." It is a creak, growl, or a croak in the voice, which gets the voice to the lowest vocal register. The speaker speaks with barely enough breath to finish a sentence, causing them to appear apathetic to both their message—and their audience. You can watch this short video from Faith Salie about vocal fry here. I had the opportunity to interview Liz Callahan about vocal fry earlier this year. Read her tips below and you can watch the full interview with Liz Callahan below.* -Stephanie St. Martin Fact: The way you speak can hurt your career. In the early 1990’s, Americans were told to avoid using "likes" and talking "up" at the end of sentence. Yes, talking in the Up-speak trend (or the speech of a Valley Girl) was not kind to your career. Now-a-days, it’s vocal fry. Think of this is way: If "like" is associated with Up-speak, then the implied "whatever" is the same to vocal fry. Millennial women, especially, suffer from this behavior. They mimic the behavior they see on television, and often use vocal fry to show gravitas. As a result, it seems they are too entitled to devote energy to whatever this conversation is about. Picture a woman who, although bright, is speaking with vocal fry. The problem is that she doesn’t have the breath to get out her message. As a result, she appears disengaged and underwhelmed, leaving her audience also underwhelmed by her message. As a professional, leaving that type of impression - with your coworkers, boss, or a client — when you speak should be alarming. How can you counteract vocal fry? By your presence. Here are some tips: • Add energy and breath to your voice to make your audience feel more connected. An audience will perk up when your energy does: they want to hear what you’re saying because they are connecting with your words. If you speak in vocal fry, it will interfere with this connection because you leave the impression that not only don’t you care about the information, you also don’t care about the audience. • Posture helps. If you are slumped in your chair (despite the fact you’re trying to have a conversation about something you consider incredibly important) and respond in a lower register with no breath, your words will be lost. All your audience will hear is, "Oh my god, I do not have the energy to deal with that right now." Sit up straight. Feel your feet on the ground. Be more present to the conversation. • If you hear yourself make that awful growl, use your belly breath. It’s a good tool in your presence arsenal is your belly breath. Use it whenever you feel your breath becoming short and your voice not carrying. *Before you judge MY performance, know that I was on the job for only one week when we did this…you should see my virtual presence now: it’s stellar! The post How to Fight Vocal Fry appeared first on Ariel Group.        Related StoriesElectronic Presence: How to Have Presence in EmailExpress Yourself!Political Debates: Where Presence Speaks Louder Than Words 

Mediocrity, noun : the quality of something that is not very good : the quality or state of being mediocre : a person who does not have the special ability to do something well I don’t normally use this forum for expressing my thoughts on politically charged topics, but this particular one is bothering me … Continue reading →

  Schools are the most important learning grounds to prepare your children for the future. The future is more clearly getting digitized and it’s high time that we ensure our children learn technology from an early age. In order to do this, you need to ensure your children go to the right schools. Teachers should be in a position to incorporate technology to improve the learning experience in classroom. A right school should be able to answer questions of how, where, when and what technology it plans to teach children.Good educational technology should prepare its students to become better entrepreneurs, innovators, self-starters, independent thinkers and be able to solve problems. As parents you have a major role to ensure you give your children the best education. Here is how to begin the edtec discussion:   Is technology a top priority in the school and what specific goals does the school have? The school should be able to explain how technology is of top priority and what measures are in place to ensure that the school is in the front line as far as technology in learning is concerned. Parents should look out for specific ongoing or start up projects, for example measures should be in place to ensure that all teachers are well trained on technology.   How is information communicated? It’s of importance to find out how the school conveys information to the parents and community so as to be in the look out. Some modes of communication could be through email, the school website or through social media.   What type of devices will the child be exposed to and what is the access type? As parents, you will be required to know the type of devices your child uses in school so as to make efforts to provide the same at home. Every student should have easy access to technology devices.   Are there policies against cyber-crimes and are parents educated on how to raise digital children With the rising rates of cyber-crimes, it’s important to ensure that strict rules are put in place to curb cyber-crimes. Parents should also be educated to ensure there are no loop holes at home as well.   Are children allowed to bring personal devices and if so, what policies are in place? Parents should get information on whether to allow their children to come to school with personal devices and what rules to enforce, and should discuss the same with their children.   Does the school support a child with particular interests on coding? The school should have forums to expose students to things like coding. This will ensure that they improve on skills like innovation and problem solving.   How does technology ensure a better future for my child? The technology used in the school should be relevant and fit into the learning system.   How can I help at home? The school should have a platform for parents to continue teaching their children at home.   In this digital age, technology is important and so is the teacher. Technology has not come to replace the teacher but to act as an enhancement to learning. Technology is here to stay; so let us all embrace it and especially for the young generation.   The post EdTech Questions Parents Should Ask Schools before Admissions appeared first on Fedena Blog.

Heading into an Internet dead-zone over the holidays? Have no fear! There are many things you can do with Google without connecting to the World Wide Web. Chrome Offline Gmail AppUsing Maps without a Connection  Save a copy on Apple devices and on Android Files Accessible Offline Install the drive app Play a Game! Just use the spacebar to start after losing connection.Listen to MusicChrome Calendar AppPlan for When You're Offline Permanently  Choose what happens when you can no longer use your account: www.google.com/settings/u/0/account/inactive Preload DocumentsAccess Documents Offline on Mobile  Open the document > Settings > Keep Offline Find Chrome Offline-Capable AppsDid you know EdTechTeam does a 1:1 with Chromebook Workshop? Visit edtechteam.com/request for more info.

Our members are weaving the threads of education every day with people of all ages across the country. They are involved in improving lives and the overall well-being of our communities. With over 4000 members strong, NCCE would like to introduce you to a few peers. Every month we will take a snapshot of active NCCE members and find out what they are doing to make a difference in technology education. In it Together: NCCE Members Making a Difference Learn more about the leadership and members who contribute to Northwest Council for Computer Education (NCCE). NAME and TITLE: Morgen Larsen, Teacher-Librarian & Technology Instructional Coach at Greenacres Elementary School SCHOOL DISTRICT: Central Valley School District, Spokane Valley, WA NCCE MEMBER SINCE: 2011 * Share with us - what is one new initiative you are working on in your district? I am the Social Studies Special Curriculum Project Lead for Central Valley School District. This school year, one goal of this project is to create Open Educational Resource (OER) curriculum for social studies in fifth grade. We are currently in the process of modifying and vetting digital resources from the Stanford History Education Group (sheg.stanford.edu/rlh), Library of Congress (loc.gov), and the New York State K-12 Social Studies Resource Toolkit: Grades 5-8 (engageny.org/resource/new-york-state-k-12-social-studies-resource-toolkit-grades-5-8) for instructional use in our district. We are purposefully aligning the social studies curriculum so it complements English Language Arts, Common Core State Standards in an intentional and purposeful way. Currently, the Central Valley School District is piloting these OER lesson plans in five different elementary schools. Data from this pilot will be utilized to strengthen the curriculum and further the deployment of OER throughout the district. * What is one strategy you use to have a more productive workday? I utilize multiple email and calendar accounts for separate parts of my life. I have separate accounts for work/school, personal life, and educational consulting. I schedule everything into my digital calendars. I have the ability to look at each of my digital calendars separately, but most often I show all of them together. I also have all of my accounts synched to each digital device that I use. That way I don’t have to log into separate accounts to check email. Everything is one click away and in the same location. * Name one thing your "Mama always told you"? "Learn from your mistakes, and live your life without regret." * When you "unplug" - what do you like to do? Read, sashiko, sew and take cooking classes. * Where was your last training for NCCE? Tell us about it? I presented "Reading like a Historian: Using digital primary sources for inquiry based learning" at the Washington Library Media Association (WLMA) conference in Yakima, Washington. Participants learned how to utilize primary sources documents available through the Library of Congress (LOC.gov) and Washington State Digital Archives (digitalarchives.wa.gov/) to create inquiry based lessons for students in grades 4-12. Thank you! We are excited to highlight our trainers and appreciate ALL you do for NCCE! The post NCCE Member Highlights: Morgen Larsen appeared first on NCCE's Tech-Savvy Teacher Blog.

In some recent articles, we’ve been looking at issues related to determining if your training program is having a desired positive effect, determining how big of a positive effect it’s having, and communicating that information internally within the training department but also externally with others in your workplace. For example, in our last article that touched on these issues, we looked at a way to evaluate the movement of a key performance indicator (KPI) after a training program was held. In that same article, we also noted that although it’s great if you initiate a training program and see a KPI (or several KPIs) that the program is intended to effect respond in a positive manner, that’s not the whole story. Because there are other factors that may have influenced that KPI at the same time. And if that’s the case, who’s to say that the newly implemented training program truly deserves all the credit? Or how much of the credit it does deserve? And that introduction leads us straight to the point of this article. Today, we’re going to explain a few methods of "isolating the effects of your training program." What this means is determining how much of that desired increase in the KPI your training program was responsible for-if any. Convergence Training is a training solutions provider. We make several different learning management systems (LMSs), offer many different libraries of e-learning courses for workforce training, create custom training solutions for our customers, have apps for mobile learning and mobile performance support, and more. Contact us to find out more information or to set up a demo. And since you’re here, please feel free to download any or all of these free guides: Guide to Effective Manufacturing Training Guide to Effective EHS Training Guide to Online MSHA Training Guide to Writing Learning Objectives How to Demonstrate The Effects of Your Training Program: 3 Options OK, let’s set the scene. Business leaders came to you with a  business problem, and they were looking for a training solution. You performed a training needs analysis and determined that yep, training could help. You asked the business leaders what business goal the training would support and the key performance indicator (KPI) that tracks progress toward that business goal. You designed and delivered the training. And after the training was held, there was a positive movement in the KPI that tracks progress on the goal you were trying to affect. Sounds good so far, right? Well, we agree, it does. So at this point, you’ve got a few options: Do nothing Stand tall and take all the credit Analyze the situation and see how much credit your training program really deserves Let’s take a quick look at each of these options: Do Nothing You can do nothing. But if you do nothing, you and the other members of the training department won’t know if the work you’re doing is effective. And presumably, you want to that, right? In addition, the business leaders won’t know if the training department is carrying its weight. Maybe they’ll just assume you are and place their trust in your assurances and hard work. But then again, maybe not. Maybe your department won’t get as much money next year if you don’t present some evidence that you’re having a positive effect on business goals. Maybe you won’t be able to hire that much-needed new trainer, or maybe you won’t get the funds for that new e-learning authoring tool you wanted. Or maybe the head of another department will make a persuasive case that something he or she did at the same time really deserves all the credit for the positive change. Remember, training rarely happens in a vacuum, and there will be other things that might have influenced the positive change, and other people will be trying to take credit for it-rightly or wrongly. So maybe doing nothing isn’t the greatest option. Stand Tall and Take All Credit for Progress Toward Business Goal/Desired Change in KPI Another option is to do no analysis but try to take credit for the entire change. Let’s look at a simple example, illustrated with the graph below. Let’s say you were tasked with creating a training program that rolled out in July, 2015. The relevant KPI to track to see if the company made progress toward a desired business goal in this case was net profits. And as you can see in the graph, net profits began an uninterrupted upward trend after the July, 2015 implementation of your training program. So you COULD do no further analysis, take the graph above to your business leaders, and say the positive trend in net profits is entirely due to your new training program. And MAYBE they’d buy that. Hey-maybe it’s even true. But there are some downsides to this approach. First, you wouldn’t know if what you’re saying is really true, and so you wouldn’t know if your training program was effective or not. And we still really believe that deep down, you want to know, because you want to have a positive impact and you want to duplicate those techniques and do it again and again. And second, there’s the risk that the business leaders WON’T buy what you’re selling. Maybe they won’t believe you. And since you’ve got no real data to back up your claims, you may lose some credibility here. And that’s not what you want to do. Analyze the Situation and See How Much Credit Your Training Program Really Deserves (aka, Isolating the Effects of Your Training Program So if your first option was to do nothing, and your second option was to do no analysis and try to take all the credit, then your third option is to do some analysis, try to determine how much of the positive movement in the KPI was due to your training program, and then present that information to your business leads. There are a few benefits of this. First, it will help you and your training team really know what’s going on. How well are you doing? When are your efforts really helping (and when you know this, you’ve got a better chance to study whey and then copy it to create future successes). And when are your efforts not helping, or not helping as much as desired? This is good information-we all benefit from reflection, self-evaluation, and continuous improvement. And second, it will give you credible information that you can take to the business leads to show the positive effect your training program is having. You won’t have to present half-baked data, you won’t have to risk your credibility, and you just may earn their respect, appreciation, and continued or expanded funding for future projects. We’ll show you a few ways of doing this in the next section. Isolating The Effects of Your Training Program: Another Step in Determining the ROI of Training What you’re trying to do-separate the positive effects that your training program had on a KPI from the effects of other factors that may have contributed to the positive movement in the same KPI-is sometimes known as isolating the effects of your training program. The book Return on Investment (ROI) Basics, written by Patricia Pulliam Phillips and Jack J. Phillips and published by The Association for Talent Development (ATD), provides a pretty comprehensive overview of training ROI analysis. It dedicates an entire chapter to the issue of isolating the effects of a training program, and suggests three possible techniques. They are: Analysis Technique 1: Be a Scientist and Create a Control Group Remember high school and all the talk about the scientific method and creating a control group before running an experiment? Well, you can do that with your training, too, and set up an experiment to measure the benefits of the training. The idea, as shown below, is to set up two groups of employees for comparison. The first group of employees won’t get your training (at least not right away). The second group will get your training. When the training program is over, you’ll measure the performance of each group (and/or the relevant KPI) and see how effective your training was. Here’s the group of employees you’ll use as a control group (they won’t get the new training): And here’s the group of employees who’ll get the new training: That’s the basic idea. You probably run this kind of experiment all the time in your everyday life, so it’s probably familiar to you and we won’t belabor the point. However, here are a few things to keep in mind. Other than the fact that one group receives training and the other does not, the two employee groups should be as similar as possible. Other than the difference in receiving/not receiving the training program, both groups should be under the same set of working conditions/environments/influences. As shown in the image above, it’s not necessary to create a measurement before the training (although you might want to). You can use this method in situations where it’s OK to withhold the training from one group of employees. That’s not true in all cases, however-for an extreme example, you won’t withhold critical safety training that could reduce the chances of an incident, injury, illness, or death. It’s best to run this type of experiment so that the two groups of employees don’t "contaminate" one another. For example, if you train one group, and the workers in that trained group work side-by-side with the workers in the control/untrained group, you can assume that the training message will "seep out" from the trained employees and to the untrained employees. This will influence the behavior of the untrained employees and mess up the results of your experiment. If your training program has a long roll-out period, and you’ll introduce it to some employees well before you introduce it to others (largely for logistic reasons), you can use that lucky coincidence to take advantage of a "built-in" control group-monitor the performance of the early trainees and compare that to the performance of the later trainees. In a sense, creating experimental and control groups like this is the "gold standard" for isolating your training program and seeing it it’s helping your company reach business goals. However, there are many cases where it’s unethical (such as withholding critical safety training), unfair or unwise (such as when it sets some employees at an unfair disadvantage or places them in a confusing situation), or simply impractical to do this. Analysis Technique 2: Perform a Trend-Line Analysis Another option is to perform a trend-line analysis. Here’s how that works. Let’s assume you’ve been tasked with creating a sales training program. The business goal it support is to increase sales. The KPI will be the average number of widgets sold by sales people each month. Here’s how it works. First, get the monthly sales figures for the six months leading up to the training program (shown in the graph below in the solid blue line). Next, create a trend analysis that shows what the sales totals might have looked like if the trend had continued and there were no training (shown in the graph below in the dotted blue line). Then, mark a point on the graph that represents when the training program was held (shown in the graph below with the solid vertical red line-July, 2015). Next, show the average monthly sales that could have been expected if the pre-training trend had continued and no trend had resulted. And finally, plot the actual sales figures for the months following the implementation of the training program (shown in the graph below with the red dots). You can now make a convincing case that the sales training program is responsible for the increase in sales represented by the space between the solid green horizontal line (the monthly average of the pre-training trend) and the red dots (actual sales), or, breaking that down into single figure, an increase from 97 widgets sold by each salesperson per month to an average of 111.3 widgets. And here’s what it looks like: If you’re going to use this method, remember that it’s based on two assumptions: All factors that influenced the trend before the training program must continue after the program as well No new factors were introduced These assumptions may not always be true, but if nothing else, this gives a quick and dirty estimate that’s better than doing nothing. In addition, you may want to use forecasting methods that predict changes instead of relying on a consistent trend. Of course, that assumes your company has forecasting skills, which some do and some don’t, but it’s worth a consideration. Analysis Technique 3: Rely on Expert Estimation Finally, a third technique is to use experts to make an estimate of how much influence the training program had. Those experts may include the employees who went through the training program (they are often the best source of information for this), and/or their supervisors, managers, and business leaders (who sometimes are aware of other factors the employees are not aware of). The basic idea is this: Begin by creating a list of factors that could have influenced the positive change (training, new ads, new season, good weather, etc.) Ask assemble your experts (or distribute questionnaires/surveys to them) Ask them provide an estimated percentage of the impact each factor had on the overall improvement (for example, 50% or 30%) Ask them to provide an estimated percentage for how confident they are of that first estimate (for example, 90% or 80%) Multiply the two percentages together to created an "adjusted percentage of improvement share." Here’s what that might look like in a very simple version (the table below shows the estimates by one person): You now have some data you can present to business leads. Sure, it’s an estimate. No, it’s not going to be 100% estimate. But the information is based on input from experts, not just the training program. And people are used to having to work with estimates in business-it’s better than stabbing in the dark. Plus, you’ve built in a margin of error by adjusting for confidence of the estimates. Doing this, and coming in with a lower estimate, will gain you and your figures credibility. Conclusion: How Do YOU Isolate the Effects of Your Training Program? We hope that gets you headed in the right direction on this phase of the "ROI of Training" quest. If you’ve done some of this before, or if you have some tips to add, please add them in the comments section below. If you’d like to learn about this in more detail, we can recommend the book we already reference and another by the same another. Return on Investment (ROI) Basics Measuring ROI In Learning & Development: Case Studies from Global Organizations In addition, the ATD has other books on Training ROI as well. Just click that link and search their bookstore for "ROI" and you’ll find at least a few more. Good luck! The post Determining Training ROI: Isolating the Effects of Your Training Program appeared first on Convergence Training Blog.

Shelby Fox has kindly shared her lesson plan based on Christmas. Take it away, Shelby… Talking about holidays and cultural practices can be quite interesting as holidays come up. It also gives both the teacher and student a chance to learn more about the other’s culture and learn about the person on a more personal level. […] The post Christmas Lesson Plan for ESL/EFL Teachers appeared first on Teaching ESL Online.

Universities and colleges have a history of preparing past generations to take their place in the industries and scientific disciplines on the planet. Ivy league universities had as an important mandate the task of producing the "captains of industry" who would carry on the tradition of leading the corporate world which was steeped in the industrial economy. Their main objective was to create wealth. This was especially important in the Americas with the rise of such men as JP Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt and John D. Rockefeller. How they created that wealth was the distinguishing tipping point. This picture was mirrored in other industrial economies of the time.Credit: www.dayshare.org  The term ,"captains of industry",  was coined by Thomas Carlyle in his 1843 book titled:"Past and Present". To that end, these universities sought to attract the top economic, scientific, and business minds to act as educators and mentors to these up and coming leaders. Due to the competition among universities and colleges to acquire the most talented minds, the concept of tenure was offered as a means of securing their loyalty to the institution.The reason it is important to understand these traditions is so that we can recognize how deeply the industrial model mindset is in the life blood of universities. This is also a pointer to the reason of why there is such a high level of institutional inertia when it comes to changing the model of education that universities and colleges operate under.De-Programming Education FacultiesFrom these halls of higher learning comes a demonstration of what may be termed the "trickle down effect" of this industrial mindset with an important difference. In order to fuel the drive of industry, workers were needed who would learn to conform and all follow the same pattern for effective production. To enable this to happen educators also needed to be harnessed to train the future workers.The world has since changed. Since most major universities have faculties of education responsible for the training of teachers, if the university is still adhering to the industrial model mindset then it will be the same situation for the faculty tasked in training educators. De-programming these faculties is now essential if we are ever to have teachers who have a renewed purpose to be agents of change and creators of new knowledge and skillsets.It means de-programming  minds and preparing them for a new mindset that is going to have an exciting impact on their careers as educators and on students as agents of change in their respective societies.  As we continue down this path, one should not underestimate the very positive impact these collaborative networks will have on the business culture.Next ...the relationship between this network and the others.