FATDEC and Face-to-Face Classes - 5/2012Technology and Playing Games - 11/2011

A good digital game is an activity which transcends players into an environment which entrenches them to focus on accomplishing a mission. Games provide prompts for players to use resources, problem solve and/or think critically to succeed.  Failure is simply part of the game which prompts the players to try to solve the task at hand by selecting a different action to get there.   Have your students Play to Learn! 

Gratitude is built into San Francisco’s Hidden Garden Steps—as it is with any community-based, volunteer-driven collaboration that transforms an eyesore into a place where neighbors and visitors from all over the world routinely meet, chat, relax, and dream. Together. Detail of the "Gratitude" passion flower on the Hidden Garden StepsAnyone spending time on those ceramic-tiled steps today—the second anniversary of the formal ceremony celebrating completion of the mosaic designed and fabricated by project artists Aileen Barr and Colette Crutcher here in San Francisco’s Inner Sunset District—is bound to see a wonderful intersection of gratitude, community, and cause for celebration. The signs of gratitude begin at the foot of the Steps, where a bronze plaque reminds visitors that a group of neighborhood volunteers, along with more than 600 donors and numerous community partners, formally presented the mosaic and gardens as "a gift to the City of San Francisco." Gratitude is overtly on display just above the largest landing on the project—at the top of the fourth set of Steps as we ascend from Kirkham toward Lawton Street—where a large ceramic passion flower expresses formal gratitude to the numerous project supporters who provided time and services to help bring the project to fruition. And gratitude is expressed nearly every day not only by those who see volunteers who continue to work together to clean the site and expand the gardens, but also by those of us in the neighborhood who have a wonderful outdoor version of what Ray Oldenburg described as a "Third Place" in The Great Good Place: Cafés, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community—that place where we can just show up and know that we’ll see members of our extended community willing to take the time to stop, talk enjoy the site, and meet numerous other people drawn by the site’s beauty and tranquility. There are plenty of partners to acknowledge—not the least of whom are our predecessors who inspired us by creating the 16th Avenue Tiled Steps Project with the same two artists five years before we began working on the Hidden Garden Steps—as I noted during a brief presentation at the dedication ceremony on December 17, 2013. The Friday-morning sweepers on the StepsAnd there’s plenty of cause for continuing to acknowledge, thank, and celebrate the contributions of those numerous partners in community-building. We still see a group of neighbors—including a few who served on the project organizing committee—on the Steps every Friday morning to sweep them from top to bottom so weekend visitors will see the site at its best. We also see the volunteers who work onsite from 1 - 3 pm on the second Saturday of almost every month (the exceptions are when rain prevents onsite work) to maintain and expand the gardens adjacent to the Steps—a group that has, over the past couple of years, included drop-in volunteers from other parts of the city as well as from France and Japan. Our partners in the San Francisco Department of Public Works have returned to the site several times for continuing work including additional erosion-control retaining walls and work to resolve long-term drainage problems resulting from blocked pipes underground; they have, at times, been supported by colleagues from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. There are, furthermore, what I lovingly call the "guerilla volunteers," those neighbors who, without prodding from anyone else, show up at various times to sweep, pick up the occasional piece of letter left on the Steps or in the gardens, or simply tidy up an area in need of attention. And there are the neighbors who, without complaint, show up to quickly remove the rare bit of graffiti left by those apparently unaware of how dedicated many of us are to keeping the site pristine and welcoming. Visiting photographers on the Steps But the often unacknowledged partners in this wonderful ongoing project are those of you who visit once, twice, or many times. Your presence on the Steps and in the neighborhood overall have contributed to a sense of positive street life and community that was barely visible before the Hidden Garden Steps project began—which, more than anything else, is a tremendous cause for celebration and gratitude in a city where we have plenty worth celebrating—including a third (Flights of Fancy) and fourth (Lincoln Park Steps) set of ceramic tiled steps. N.B.: Numerous articles documenting the Hidden Garden Steps project remain available on this Building Creative Bridges blog. Steps updates can be found on the Friends of the Hidden Garden Steps blog. Stories provided by donors to the Hidden Garden Steps project continue to be added to the project website by Steps volunteer Liz McLoughlin, and a step-by-step virtual tour created by McLoughlin and by project volunteer Gilbert Johnson also continues to grow, with 110 of the 148 individual steps currently included on that online tour. 

This week’s Fierce resource was originally published on Huffington Post and explores the link between employee engagement and the future of workplace technology.The need to keep up with ever changing technology can sometimes leave your head spinning. But if used in the proper way it can also lead to higher productivity and happier, more engaged employees. The trick is not to bring in a new solution expecting it to be one-size-fits-all.According to How Technology and Work Culture Drive Each Other, gamification, intra-company social networks, and external applications all pay a role when it comes to maintaining the health and well-being of employees. Each solution also brings its own set of problems, which if left unchecked can make it less effective.Is technology making life for your team easier or harder?"While cash prizes are nice, they are not as rewarding as simple recognition. People want to be recognized for their skills and job acumen. Using a gamification program doesn’t necessarily mean more money, but does mean creating personally meaningful rewards."Read the article.The post Fierce Resource: How Technology and Work Culture Drive Each Other appeared first on Fierce, Inc..

Madeline Albright once said, "What matters anywhere, matters everywhere." That statement is especially relevant in our increasingly divisive American and global landscape. In those five words, she says: Don’t act like something doesn’t apply to you. Don’t brush off an issue thinking it isn’t yours. We are connected. Yes, that matters. And yes, those people matter. We can’t run away from that.So let’s assume you support that idea. Then we, as humans, have an obligation to recognize people, even in far reaching corners and places, who make our world better. Their efforts may not immediately affect us; however, we are connected. Their setbacks are our setbacks. Their progress fuels our progress.Oftentimes our acknowledgement as a collective is shown in the form of an award. Nobel Prize Day is this Thursday, December 10. The Nobel Prize exists to award those who have done their best to benefit the world in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace.According to their website, here are three 2015 winners:The Nobel Peace Prize 2015 was awarded to National Dialogue Quartet "for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011".The Nobel Prize in Literature 2015 was awarded to Svetlana Alexievich "for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time".The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2015 was awarded jointly to Tomas Lindahl, Paul Modrich and Aziz Sancar "for mechanistic studies of DNA repair". These individuals have left a permanent mark on the world with their contributions. Who in your world has made an incredible impact? Who deserves praise? This week’s tip is to celebrate someone that you think exemplifies the best in your world. So often we can be tempted to wait until we give formal awards or prizes. But this week, give your own. Schedule a time to connect one-on-one with the individual you want to recognize. Be specific about the contributions you feel make them the best.Who are you going to acknowledge? The post Fierce Tip of the Week: Yes, It Matters. Acknowledge the Best. appeared first on Fierce, Inc..

Originally posted on HR Times - The HR Blog : Posted by Jennifer Stempel and Amy A. Titus on April 17, 2014 It’s tempting to think that social learning is about technology — after all, social media platforms and the Web 2.0 technologies that enable them are virtually inseparable. But as our recent overview (Social Learning: Empowering employees to learn from one another) points out, social learning is different: more about people than technology. Specifically, social learning is about people sharing knowledge to learn from and with one another. Technology might be involved, or it might not. A more important characteristic is that it provides learners the ability to pull the information they need, when and where they need it. That’s the ideal "teachable moment" and when learning can be most valuable and productive. View original 759 more words

Originally posted on Julian Stodd's Learning Blog: The Social Age is upon us: a time of constant change. The ecosystem we inhabit has evolved through a combination of technology and social trends. The distinction between work and play, between formal and social is blurring. This is both a good and a bad thing. On the plus side: social learning draws upon the ‘sense making‘ power of communities, making us more effective. On the down side: we run the risk of disenfranchisement and a loss of privacy. It’s unclear who owns the rules anymore. What else is happening? Formal hierarchies are being subverted in all walks of life: reputation forged in social spaces subverts formal hierarchies of authority. New business models subvert long established notions of retail, communication, banking and so forth. This change means that only the agile, innovative and creative will thrive. Is that all? No, the changes in technology and society… View original 100 more words

The topic of gamification within our learning and development team is very popular. What is gamification and how can we apply it in the training corporate world? Collect gold coins for a job well done? Earn points for completing courses or learning experiences? What would that look like and why would this be a good idea? We have images and perceptions of what gamification is and an assumption that it wouldn’t work especially within the financial world….but maybe we need to re-look at this. Gamification is about taking gaming elements and incorporating it into a non-gaming environment to make the task or work more engaging and fun so the end user can feel they’ve achieved something great and do it over and over again resulting in a positive outcome. How appropriate for learning new skills! In this TedTalks video with Gabe Zichermann, author of The Gamification Revolution, he gives the best explanation of gamification and how it can enhance and improve our lives.    

Sir Ken Robinson has to be one of the most inspirational speakers of education. I just finished reading Teaching Naked, by Jose Bowen that speaks to the changes of education and how we as adult educators need to be open and change our ways because our ultimate goal is to create interactive, engaging and positive learning environments…well, it got me thinking about this Ted Talk.    In this talk from RSA Animate, Sir Ken Robinson lays out the link between 3 troubling trends: rising drop-out rates, schools’ dwindling stake in the arts, and ADHD. An important, timely talk for parents and teachers. Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we’re educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence.    

I’m currently taking two Provincial Instructor’s Diploma courses. 3100 teaches the foundations of adult education and how the roles of adult educators are changing in our world today. 3240 teaches media and technology and how it can positively impact the learning experience. I get really jazzed thinking of ways to apply what I’ve learned at work. I’m inspired and want to make a difference to how people learn and perform on the job….and then I watch a video like this. This is truly inspiring! In this video you’ll see the shift in the role of the teachers and how they leverage the use of mobile devices for learning and improve the experience for their students. This is creating a social learning environment, connectivity and a generation of life long learners.  

I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of TedTalks. I owe the credit to my friend Vissch who would regularly ask me if I’ve watched the latest and greatest most inspirational thing that week. Well the latest and greatest is in theme with the copyright discussion we’re having in my PID 3240 Digtial, Media and Learning course. Is anything truly original? Is it just re-mixed and new again? Is it enough to just acknowledge the source?…it’s a tricky topic out there. I just had to post this new video that shows this brilliant artist Mark Ronson, a modern day musician. If his name is not familiar, I’m sure you’ve heard his music. I’m wondering…How has he protected himself with copyright issues and his music? Here’s his take on re-mixing and creativity…It’s just brilliant!  

Mobile learning is nothing new. As soon as you got your first smart phone and realized you had the world at your finger tips and no longer had to be at your desk or computer to have Google answer your questions, you started learning. All of your questions were answered with a couple of taps and within seconds. When you discovered the LinkedIn App and Twitter could push out information to you that would help the project you’re leading at work and when you discovered how to change the carburetor on your motorcycle on YouTube, you were learning. All through your mobile device. How do you prepare your organization for mobile learning? Aren’t we mobile learning already? Jennifer Neibert asks critical questions for learning leaders….#don’tgetleftbehind right? http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/1416/?utm_campaign=lsmag&utm_medium=email&utm_source=lsm-news  

Social media is here to stay and a great method to deliver information and learn. It’s become more readily used and accepted, so how do we implement this into the corporate learning world?  

I started a new certification program. Even though I haven’t quite finished my Provincial Instructors Diploma, I just couldn’t resist starting this new course to get my Certificate in Online/ e-Learning Instruction. There is so much e-Learning development required at work, it just made sense.  I feel the need to learn in depth about online development and at the same time put my new knowledge into action…yes, I’m a bit of a nerd that way. The worst learning experience for me is trying to retain information for the duration of the course and never be able to apply it in real life. I feel that the time is wasted….so needless to say I’m going to learn and do. How constructivist of me! It’s my first week or so and I’m back into the world of online learning. As long as I’ve remembered, I’ve always been an online learner. I almost prefer it than going into the classroom. The first time I was given an opportunity to take an online course, I was all over it. Why leave the comforts of home? Especially after a long day at work and wanting to spend family time. This course is a bit different in that it’s asking me to reflect on my experiences as an online student. I never really thought about it before, I just learned and was on my way. Here are some things I’m asked to reflect on… What are the challenges for you as an online student? I only have two…Moodle navigation and self paced courses. If it wasn’t for my instructor giving me tips on navigation I would be lost in the never ending Moodle paths. I’ve been so used to "follow the menu on the left" instructions. With Moodle you have to remember not to do this and "follow the center path". Moodle could design a more learner friendly interface - something more cognitive in design? (Can you tell I’m learning about learning theories and online implications?) With the self paced course, the challenge is just simply staying on track. I find that with the online courses that have end of week deadlines, although it’s a bit more pressure at the time, it’s less pressure to get it all done in time or even catch up with the course schedule. Both of these challenges are my own learner, behavioural challenges. Things I can manage and don’t significantly impact my learning…or so I think. How are you going to deal with these challenges? With the Moodle navigation challenges it’s easier - stop myself of my old ways and trust the process of learning sequentially. With the self paced schedule, it’s a bit trickier. I binge work - which I know is not a productive and efficient way to work but it’s a behavior and habit I’m trying to change. My answer - set my weekly goal. Something that is realistic and not over achieving. Something that is reasonable and attainable. Something SMART? What has been your most important learning to date? The most important things I learned so far on the course are: 1. Generational learners and online learning - It’s not about the year you were born but how you use and interact with media and learning. It’s not fair to label someone a millennial just because they are 25 years old, there is more to their experiences than just their age. Take this generational test from Penelope Trunk to see what generation you belong to. 2. How learning theories impact online learning - Behaviourism (The "What), Cognitivisim (The "How") and Constructivism (The "Why") all play a part in developing more meaningful and valuable learning. Knowing how each theory can support the learner and create a well rounded online learning experience.

In the EDUC 4150 - e-Learning Principles and Processes, we learned about Generational Learners, how this new generation or digital natives need learning to be delivered differently than the previous generations because of the environment they’ve been brought up in. It’s important now more than ever as online instructional designers to develop a learning space where the experience is just as good as the academic classroom if not better. So what would make online learning better? Active Learning Self Paced Instant Feedback Gamification Peer Learning Check out this video from Anant Agarwal the CEO of edX where he talks about  Why massive open online courses (still) matter. In another Ted.com video I learned that A demographic kick from a new generation and a demand pull from a new economic global environment is causing the world to open up…and that’s a good thing. ~ Don Tapscott.  This push and pull has created a global environment of open learning and has improved our lives significantly both personally and socially. I’ve always felt that online learning was something great - it was convenient and helped me develop my career while I worked and raised a family, but it wasn’t until I started taking my last two PIDP courses and began my online certification that I started to understand the huge impact that online learning has on a global scale.

Yesterday we introduced the first five benefits of online training and today we will provide the final five! If you missed part one on the top 10 benefits of online training you can check them out here. 6. Online Training Makes Knowledge Transfer Easier With baby boomers retiring at ever quickening rates, change management managers are busier than ever. Using the company learning management system, knowledge that needs to be transferred to current and future employees can be organized so that training managers can re-purpose information easier and faster. Whether it is a system, process or skill that needs to be learnt—online training makes it easy to facilitate organizational change in a cost effective manner.

We recently issued a survey targeting professionals from the healthcare world to gain insight into the particular learning and development challenges they face. Being fairly familiar with the challenges faced by those from the corporate enterprise world we were curious to see if the healthcare industry—hospitals in particular—are struggling with similar challenges and to what degree. We received over 300 responses coming from a range of professionals who work in hospitals. Responses came from those who work in: IT, Operations/Administration, Human Resources, Learning and Development, Nursing, and Education/Research. The majority of responses came from Directors/Managers/Supervisors, Senior Management and Staff Members. Before we issue the full report, we thought we would share some key takeaways.

There has been an upward trend in the past 10 years in both the growth of internet use and consumer expenditure on education. Online and cloud-based technology tools are quickly being adopted by academic institutions, business, hospitals and consumers, which is quickly propelling the global education technology (EduTech) market forward.   According to Euromonitor International research, global education expenditure is expected to grow by 95% in real terms between 2014 and 2030 which is bar none the fastest growing market segment. This projected growth is increasing investment in the once thought to be risky market which partially explains the rapid rise in innovative start-ups. This is changing the eLearning market at large.

Co-hosted with Limestone Learning, our webinar: Gamify your eLearning! 6 Ways to Incorporate Gamification into eLearning was one of our most successful to date so we thought we would share the learning outcomes in a series of articles. We believe that the webinar had high attendance and little drop-off because now more than ever, trainers and educators are seeking means to make online learning and training more engaging. With free access to interactive social platforms like Facebook, Youtube and Twitter—our expectations to be engaged and entertained are high. We welcome you to watch the webinar and continue reading for a quick understaning on the difference between gamification and game based learning!  

In today’s growing e-learning market, instructional designers are critical in helping organizations reach their goals but all too often, many do not see the value they bring to organizational development. This is becoming more common in organizations that view training and learning as a necessary evil versus understanding the strategic business value it can bring. In a struggling economy, executive pressures are at an all time high and the value of training is often forgotten.

A report co-published by Zimbra and the Ponemon Institute, The Open Source Collaboration Study: Viewpoints on Security and Privacy in the US and EMEA, confirmed the changing perceptions of open source software. Once thought to be risky for security and privacy concerns—the study uncovers the fact that open source software is now viewed to be of higher quality due to enhanced privacy and security. The survey drew in responses from IT and IT security practitioners across 18 countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the United States. The majority (57%) of respondents came from the US and EMEA and indicated that they were very familiar with their organizations’ data privacy and security policies. When asked if open source solutions for commercial banking would increase transparency, security and trustworthiness of applications, 68% of US respondents and 78% of EMEA respondents said ‘yes’.

Now that you have a deep understanding of how Gamification and Game Based Learning differ, it’s time to begin considering the Gamification elements that will help increase engagement in your eLearning courses. Many people think that Gamification is a complicated and technical process but this is simply not true. Using gaming components, you can begin building Gamification in your eLearning courses as long as you have a talent or learning management system to support your online learning and training. To begin, we will outline a few things to consider before designing Gamification for eLearning.

The Open University recently released a report on the new innovations in teaching, learning and assessments which are changing higher education at large. While the report outlines the ten eLearning pedagogy innovations that are predicated to profoundly impact the way post-secondary students learn, there are three that we believe will have the most immediate impact in areas where institutional learning takes place. It is important to take note that while this report was written for an education audience, the pedagogical innovations have similar implications for corporate, healthcare and government environments as well. Let’s take a closer look at how Massive Open Social Learning, Learning Analytics and Blended Learning will influence the way we learn.

The evolution of social technologies from Yahoo in 1995 to Facebook in 2004 has greatly impacted the way we communicate and hence the way we learn in our professional lives. Saba and the Human Capital Media (HCM) Advisory Group surveyed over 500 senior leaders from a wide range of industries and company sizes to better understand how organizations are adopting social learning technologies to achieve their learning and talent development goals.