Michael Shapiro is serving in his second year as the principal of Highland Tech Charter School in Anchorage School District. A recent transplant from the Chicago area, he previously served as principal of Shepard Middle School in Deerfield, Illinois for seven years, during which time the school earned a U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon Award. Prior to that he served as an assistant principal for five years in two different schools. Mr. Shapiro began his educational career as a computer applications teacher and director of instructional technology. He is currently a doctoral candidate in Administration and Supervision at Loyola University in Chicago. Highland Tech is a 6th-12th grade charter school that promotes personal mastery through student centered, individualized learning and varied assessment strategies. Student placement is based on academic ability, rather than chronological age, ensuring students are challenged each day. Students are encouraged to take an active role in their education and master core content and the skills necessary for success in the 21st Century. Technology integration and project-based assessments are critical components of Highland Tech’s rigorous model.  Not one and done approach, focused on student Mastery. Time bound, but a lot of flexibility. Real-world project based learning. Rubrics at every level. Takes some time for kids, teachers and principals even to get used to it. Lots of misperceptions in the community. Reinventing Schools Coalition RISC Different Levels - Standards and Rubrics Kids can be in 8th grade math and be in 10 grade ELA. Require up to Alg. II/Trig in math at Highland Tech. Integrate levels as much as possible. Paying attention to outliers. Variety of assessments qualify for standards. Not just the paper-pencil type. Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools. Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show. Buy Communication Cards Show notes on TransformativePrincipal.com Download Paperless Principal.  New Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

Michael Shapiro is serving in his second year as the principal of Highland Tech Charter School in Anchorage School District. A recent transplant from the Chicago area, he previously served as principal of Shepard Middle School in Deerfield, Illinois for seven years, during which time the school earned a U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon Award. Prior to that he served as an assistant principal for five years in two different schools. Mr. Shapiro began his educational career as a computer applications teacher and director of instructional technology. He is currently a doctoral candidate in Administration and Supervision at Loyola University in Chicago. Highland Tech is a 6th-12th grade charter school that promotes personal mastery through student centered, individualized learning and varied assessment strategies. Student placement is based on academic ability, rather than chronological age, ensuring students are challenged each day. Students are encouraged to take an active role in their education and master core content and the skills necessary for success in the 21st Century. Technology integration and project-based assessments are critical components of Highland Tech’s rigorous model.  Professional Development - content expertise and deep understanding of the standards. Focus on building a curriculum that is standards-based. Planning meaningful activities that align with standards. Help teachers help students refine and revise work. Time is a huge barrier. Giving up control to students. Advisory - take this incredibly seriously. School visit in Michigan. In the traditional model, we don’t demand that they master, we demand that they pass with an average. Redos and Retakes Be present. Be in classrooms learning every day. Uncomfortable being called boss, because he is really a servant. Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools. Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show. Buy Communication Cards Show notes on TransformativePrincipal.com Download Paperless Principal.  New Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

Jamie: Jamie enjoys seeing students complete learning independently. Jamie teaches 3rd grade at Greenwood Elementary School in Plymouth, Minnesota. She received her undergraduate degree in Early Childhood Education from University of Iowa. She completed her Masters in Education from Hamline University in Minnesota.  Both Jamie and Ashley feel that learning should be meaningful and authentic for their students. PICE Learning is a new and improved way of teaching comprehension skills for our 21st century learners. The PICE approach gives students ownership in their learning while using the common core standards. Students are able to connect with each other and independently learn in our 21st century. PICE Learning was developed by Ashley and Jamie, they wanted to connect students’ learning to skills that they will use everyday and in their future.  If you’d like more information check out: www.picelearning.com   Gives Students an opportunity to be engaged learners. Started as coteachers Not 1:1 - 3:1 or 4:1 Engaging our students. Kids were already eager learners Model with the students how to learn together Weekly Lessons - Project starts on a Monday, and they have all week to work on it. Not about using an app, it is about learning. Sequencing activities - visualizing. How they are presenting their learning is up to them. Students can listen to stories through the Moodle site. Two students have jobs of being the Tweeters. Kids are wanting to see themselves. Twitter papers teach kids about character limits. Twitter Mrs. Tewksbury Twitter Mrs. Drill Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools. Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show. Buy Communication Cards Show notes on TransformativePrincipal.com Download Paperless Principal.  New Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

Here is a little bonus episode with Principal Kafele. We talk about how to reach those that are hardest to reach. Principal Kafele spoke at the Alaska Principals conference in Anchorage on October 18th.  If this is your first time listening to Transformative Principal, please subscribe.    Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools. Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show. Buy Communication Cards Show notes on TransformativePrincipal.com Download Paperless Principal.   Sponsor: Sanebox Transformative Principal on Stitcher Refer A Principal Best Tools for Busy Administrators SurveyNew Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

  Just before the #AKPrincipals conference ended, I had a chance to catch up the minds behind it all, Mary MacMahon and Rod Morrison. They did a great job planning the event and will do an even better job next year.      Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools. Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show. Buy Communication Cards Show notes on TransformativePrincipal.com Download Paperless Principal.   Sponsor: Sanebox Web Site Transformative Principal on Stitcher Refer A Principal Best Tools for Busy Administrators SurveyNew Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

Ashley:  Ashley teaches 3rd grade in Plymouth, Minnesota at Greenwood Elementary School. She received her undergraduate degree in Early Childhood Education from Miami University in Ohio. She then completed her Masters of Arts in Education with an endorsement in   K - 8 writing from St. Mary University in Minnesota.  Jamie: Jamie enjoys seeing students complete learning independently. Jamie teaches 3rd grade at Greenwood Elementary School in Plymouth, Minnesota. She received her undergraduate degree in Early Childhood Education from University of Iowa. She completed her Masters in Education from Hamline University in Minnesota.  Both Jamie and Ashley feel that learning should be meaningful and authentic for their students. PICE Learning is a new and improved way of teaching comprehension skills for our 21st century learners. The PICE approach gives students ownership in their learning while using the common core standards. Students are able to connect with each other and independently learn in our 21st century. PICE Learning was developed by Ashley and Jamie, they wanted to connect students’ learning to skills that they will use everyday and in their future.  If you’d like more information check out: www.picelearning.com   * Learning then vs. now with PICE * There is a little more work that goes into PICE. * PICE Learning web site. * Explain Everything App * iMovie * Notability * Book Creator * Pic Collage * Mini Lessons on Monday to teach kids the apps. * Email Learningpice@gmail.com Follow on Twitter @picelearning Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools. Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show. Buy Communication Cards Show notes on TransformativePrincipal.com Download Paperless Principal.  New Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

John Hope Bryant came to Alaska for the Alaska Principals Conference. He spoke to us about how he hopes to inspire corporations to partner with schools to prepare our students for the future. I bought both of his books mentioned below. I am excited to read them.  John Hope Bryant on Twitter. Learn more about Operation Hope. Learn more about Global Dignity Day. John has two books out. The first is Love Leadership: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World. "Summary from the publisher: Aimed at a new generation of leaders and extremely relevant for today’s economic climate, Love Leadership outlines Bryant’s five laws of love-based leadership-Loss Creates Leaders (there can be no strength without legitimate suffering), Fear Fails (only respect and love leads to success), Love Makes Money (love is at the core of true wealth), Vulnerability is Power (when you open up to people they open up to you), and Giving is Getting (the more you offer to others, the more they will give back to you)." The second is How the Poor Can Save Capitalism: Rebuilding the Path to the Middle Class. "Summary from the publisher: Raised in poverty-stricken, gang-infested South Central Los Angeles, Bryant saw firsthand how our institutions have abandoned the poor. He details how business loans, home loans, and financial investments have vanished from their communities. After decades of deprivation, the poor lack bank accounts, decent credit scores, and any real firsthand experience of how a healthy free enterprise system functions. Bryant radically redefines the meaning of poverty and wealth. (It’s not just a question of finances; it’s values too.) He exposes why attempts to aid the poor so far have fallen short and offers a way forward: the HOPE Plan, a series of straightforward, actionable steps to build financial literacy and expand opportunity so that the poor can join the middle class."         Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools. Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show. Buy Communication Cards Show notes on TransformativePrincipal.com Download Paperless Principal.   Sponsor: Sanebox Web Site Transformative Principal on Stitcher Refer A Principal Best Tools for Busy Administrators SurveyNew Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

Amy Locke graduated from the University of North Florida with a BA in Special Education: Deaf Studies and an M.Ed in Special Education: Deaf Education. She has been working in the field of Deaf Education for 7 years, beginning her career as an itinerant teacher for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing students in central Florida, then moving to Houston, TX to teach in a self-contained 3rd/4th grade class with DHH students. About 4 ½ years ago, she moved to Alabama to work as a reading teacher in the high school department at the Alabama School for the Deaf. In November 2014, she became the high school director. The Alabama School for the Deaf currently has 178 students from all around our state, all of whom have a documented hearing loss. We have two academic departments here: Elementary serves students from age 3 through 6th grade and the High School department serves students in grades 7-12. We are a residential program and a little more half of them live on campus in our dorms. The rest are day students living within an hour of our school.   Wanted nothing to do with learning sign language. Small community, tightly knit. Culture is inviting. Switched at Birth There are always many opportunities to serve the hard of hearing students. Parental involvement is hard to come by because of logistics. IEPs over the phone. 16 teachers are deaf. Just started picture-in-picture with sign language interpreter. Huddle originated at a university for the deaf Galladette University. Travel to other deaf schools. Recruiting and hiring. Director for the high school Director for elementary Director for career teach Director for athletics Challenge to find other people to learn from. Applying learning from other principals to her school. Sending teachers to professional development. Bring more professional development to the school, rather than sending teachers out. Empowering teachers with technology. Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools. Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show. Buy Communication Cards Show notes on TransformativePrincipal.com Download Paperless Principal.  New Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

Amy Locke graduated from the University of North Florida with a BA in Special Education: Deaf Studies and an M.Ed in Special Education: Deaf Education. She has been working in the field of Deaf Education for 7 years, beginning her career as an itinerant teacher for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing students in central Florida, then moving to Houston, TX to teach in a self-contained 3rd/4th grade class with DHH students. About 4 ½ years ago, she moved to Alabama to work as a reading teacher in the high school department at the Alabama School for the Deaf. In November 2014, she became the high school director. The Alabama School for the Deaf currently has 178 students from all around our state, all of whom have a documented hearing loss. We have two academic departments here: Elementary serves students from age 3 through 6th grade and the High School department serves students in grades 7-12. We are a residential program and a little more half of them live on campus in our dorms. The rest are day students living within an hour of our school. Seats arranged in semi circles Classroom management Communication is very powerful among adults. Academic challenge is language. English is a second language. We can accidentally learn grammar and usage. Students become the teachers of the language when they surpass their parents in ability. Struggle showing knowledge on standardized test. Disconnect between scores they get and what they know. Transformation from advocate to getting what they need. IEP Meeting dad spent 30 minutes educating them on deaf education. Outsider because Amy is not hard of hearing. If you try, and give a valiant effort, the community will hear you. How to be a transformative principal: know your population: students, teachers, parents. Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools. Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show. Buy Communication Cards Show notes on TransformativePrincipal.com Download Paperless Principal.  New Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

Doug Timm is the principal of Carrie Downie Elementary School First principalship - innovative technology, focus on standards. Modern Teacher, Instructional Rounds. Cognitive growth targets (Bloom’s taxonomy) Think beyond comprehension and recall. What is the teacher doing and assigning? 6 different centers, but all 6 focused on retrieving and comprehending. How can we focus on more than the two basic levels? Charlotte’s Web in the city takes it up a level. Not all we are looking at, but major focus on tasks. I need to change what I am asking them to do to get them where I want them to be. Importance of how kids think. Why we need to make sure our kids are thinking beyond comprehending. Have to practice those skills. I don’t make inferences in observations anymore. Talk to kids during the observation. Sitting at a desk with the kids. Coaches (2) and Doug are assigned to teachers Teacher Name, Task, Where it falls in blooms taxonomy. What can you do to be a transformative principal? Walk around the building and see what focus you want to have: technology, literacy, math, student ownership. What do we have and how do we get to where we want to be? Keep the focus. There’s no end game. Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools. Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show. Buy Communication Cards Show notes on TransformativePrincipal.com Download Paperless Principal.   Sponsor: Sanebox Web Site Transformative Principal on Stitcher Refer A Principal Best Tools for Busy Administrators SurveyNew Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

Overview:  Woodson has been an all-day everyday Kindergarten Center for the past 11 years.  In the past 4 years enrollment has fluctuated between 360-425 students (currently about 385 with our preschool class).  51% of our students are students of color, and we have a 61% free and reduced lunch student population.  We have 16 sections of kindergarten this year-13 on the traditional school calendar and 3 on the modified (year long) calendar as they feed into the modified calendar elementary school.  We have been a PBIS school for the past 5 years and this year we were award a "School of Excellence" award by the State Department for our work in established strong tier one behavioral supports for all students.  This year we have implemented a behavior specialist position as well as being the second year in our bi-linguage reading pilot in which we have a spanish speaking paraprofessional front loading reading instruction in home languages of a sub section of our EL students.  Last year we tried a new venue for Parent Education via videos of local "celebrities" and teachers role playing activities that parents could do with their children to prepare for K. Bio:  This is my 4th year as Principal of the Woodson Kindergarten Center.  Prior to this position I was an Assistant Principal, Supervisor of Special Education (all in Austin MN) and Special Education Teacher in Saint Paul MN.  Besides being the Principal at Woodson I am a facilitator for the Minnesota Principal Academy out of the University of Minnesota in units surrounding literacy, ethical leadership and RtI.   This year I am also a presenter for the Minnesota Department of Education in their P3 Principal Leadership Series.  I have started a blog.   Provide appropriate staff development Provide flipped PD Teachers leading PD (play center activities) Solid Understanding of developmental milestones Become friends with the experts Adjust schedule for success of students School time: 8:30-2:05 with teacher prep time after school. No specialists to reduce transitions for students Teachers run everything Parent Engagement Connecting with Parents Packers in Training Being a partner Community initiative for kids to be ready for Kindergarten, so local celebrities get in on the action for "Ready, Set, Go" Make videos for parents Be more knowledgable about preschool options in the community Meet the pre-k providers and respect their work Give parents information about Pre-K options. Service learning opportunities for former students. Principal’s academy Professional development for principals, in a cohort. Principal as an ethical leader: just, fair and caring How to deal with Social Media issues BIFF Brief, Informative, Friendly, Firm Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools. Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show. Buy Communication Cards Show notes on TransformativePrincipal.com Download Paperless Principal.   Sponsor: Sanebox Web Site Transformative Principal on Stitcher Refer A Principal Best Tools for Busy Administrators SurveyNew Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

Today, Damon Hargraves, host of the WorkflowED podcast turned the mic on me and interviewed me for the 100th episode of the Transformative Principal Podcast. I can’t believe I have done 100 episodes of this podcast. Thank you so much for listening to this and helping me make it better. RTI idea was in place, but we needed a little kick in the pants. Value of getting away from the day-to-day issues at school. How to keep it going when you come back from conferences: hang up the poster. Reducing ELA from 90 minutes per day to 45 minutes per day, with students who need 90 minutes still getting that much time. How to get teachers to agree to reduce the number of minutes for their content area. Yolanda Westerberg We can always be better, so let’s always improve. There is a story written before you. Accept the story that has been there before your chapter 1 starts. How to have solid forward momentum as you make changes, and not get stalled. Meeting with the correct people so you don’t get stalled. Getting feedback and adjusting course. Schedules Explained for Teachers video Schedules Explained for Parents video Making sure that the right people had the information at the right time. The schedule we creating had a place for every student in the school. How to design software for your school when you don’t have what you need. Having plans in place even if it is going to be very difficult. Guru Technologies - the company we hired to develop the app for us. The app you can actually use yourself: Pickr App Teacher choice tutorial - kids know they aren’t performing and are eager to have the extra help. Be simple about what you’re trying to implement. MVP - minimum viable product Goals for moving forward: anticipate needs earlier. The book by Austin Buffum and Mike Mattos: It’s About Time   Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools. Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show. Buy Communication Cards Show notes on TransformativePrincipal.com Download Paperless Principal.  New Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

The difficulty in understanding what is really going on in Britain, Raymond Williams wrote in 1960, ‘is that too much is being said by too few people’. The same is true today, only more so. Not only is the current Westminster commentariat small in number, it is exclusive in background, in terms of schooling, political outlook, ethnic background and social class, to an extent that would have surprised even Williams, I suspect. It would have been difficult, from the vantage of the 1960s, to have predicted quite how unequal and divided a society we would become in so short a time. Of course, as Sadiq Khan said eloquently about his wealthy mayoral opponent Zac Goldsmith, having a privileged background does not exclude you from empathy, and it certainly does not mean that your opinion is wrong or lacks value. But it is a clear indictment of the quality of our democracy - and the failings of our education system - that those charged with interpreting politics for the general public - those, in other words, with the most influence over public opinion about politics - are, like the politicians they talk to and write about, drawn overwhelmingly from a narrow, privileged section of society. This perhaps explains the degree of indulgence (so far) afforded to David Cameron in the reporting of alleged indiscretions during his student days. It is hard to imagine this relatively sympathetic coverage being extended to Jeremy Corbyn. It would be surprising, given this background, if the range of opinion on offer in our print and broadcast media was broad and inclusive. And, indeed, it is not. The range of debate in the mainstream media is extremely narrow. The broad consensus in the media about the need for austerity cuts contrasts with the substantially more varied spectrum of opinion among economists and the general public. As a result, there has been little real scrutiny of the government’s economic position. Compare this to the aggressive, often hectoring tone in which opposition policy is questioned, and it becomes clear that this unfair and unbalanced approached to political reporting and commentary is threatening (perhaps preventing) the successful functioning of our democracy. This is not only about social background. There are powerful, fiercely defended vested interests shaping UK media coverage. But the fact that so many of our leading journalists come from privileged backgrounds - the Sutton Trust reported in 2006 that most ‘leading’ journalists went to independent schools, compared to seven per cent of the population as a whole, while just 14 per cent had attended comprehensive school (compared to 90 per cent of the population) - and have, quite often, to varying degrees, a stake in these same interests, makes it much more likely that the artificial confinement of debate will go unchallenged. There is a stark contrast between the cosy affability and rough uniformity of opinion to be found in most UK political programming and the desperate desire for change felt by so many ‘ordinary’ people who believe their views have no outlet. All of this has been thrown into sharp relief by the election of Mr Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party, a remarkable turn of events which sent much of the mainstream media into a state of deranged frenzy. Almost all of the media - like the other three Labour leadership candidates - have, to differing degrees, accepted a heavily politicized version of recent political and economic events, committing to the necessity of austerity politics and the myth that Labour overspending was a contributory factor in the financial crash (either in directly causing it and thus crashing the economy or, in a more polished version for the better educated, in leaving the country unprepared to cope with it). Winning this ‘argument’ has been critical for the Conservatives, and gave them the platform they needed to win a majority in the general election (credit where it’s due: they couldn’t have done it without the support of the Liberal Democrats). It provided the ultimate justification for the huge cuts in public spending and the misery they are causing to poor and vulnerable people across the country (those, the story goes, whose demands on the public purse plunged us into economic crisis in the first place). The problem with Corbyn, from the point of view of the mainstream media and of mainstream politics more generally, is that his success was due largely to his rejection of this view. Unsurprisingly, the media would prefer not to have this debate. The same is true of our politicians. Tony Blair described Corbyn’s outline economic plan as ‘Alice in Wonderland’ politics, while the new leader of the Liberal Democrats, anxious to occupy what he wants us to believe is the centre ground, said this week that Corbyn was engaged in ‘fantasy’ economics. None of this of course constitutes a debate. It is an attempt to close it down. But there is, at the very least, a serious debate to be had here. Most of what Corbyn is proposing, including borrowing to finance investment, national ownership of the railways and quantitative easing to finance public services during time of recession, is not unreasonable or untested, and has the support of many mainstream economists. And while you may not agree with all of Corbyn’s views, on Trident, for example, they are surely worth a serious, national debate, if only because they are shared by many thousands of UK voters. They certainly do not deserve to be derided as childish, dangerous, backward-looking or foolish. The effort being made to close down these debates reflects the remarkably shallow and unequal nature of our democracy. One of the main uses to which austerity politics has been put is to convince people that moral and political choices are facts of life they cannot change, and that they really have no option when it comes to the kind of society they live in. Political decisions, often driven by ideology, are passed off as tough choices necessitated by difficult times over which politicians have no control. It’s vital to the health of democratic society that people understand that change is possible. Much of what we now value and admire about our society - universal suffrage, for example - is the result of the efforts of difficult, awkward people who were derided as childish, dangerous, backward-looking or foolish. No society, as R.H. Tawney argued, can be too poor to seek a ‘right order to life’ - or so rich that it does not need to. We shouldn’t be discouraged from asking difficult questions because people who believe they know better tell us things can’t change. We are not obliged to put economic considerations before human ones. This is, in itself, a moral and political choice that can be challenged and resisted. As Tawney recognised, the creation of a ‘right order of life’ is the first business of politics. Those who try to convince us otherwise should be viewed with suspicion. Tawney poses an interesting question here. It’s one that will, I think, resonate with those who work in adult education, particularly with next month’s spending review looming large and the new secretary of state reportedly keen to impress by taking a huge hit to his departmental budget (an odd form of initiation but perhaps not the oddest I can think of). The small but important adult and community learning budget, long protected (though only in cash terms), is once again under scrutiny, with sector leaders preparing to make an economic case for something that is, like adult education more generally, of far wider value. We have been doing this for some time, playing the Treasury’s game while privately finding other ways of valuing the work we do. In fact, despite the economic case having been made exceptionally well, backed by a strong body of research, including that produced by the Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning, publicly funded adult education is facing its end game. Adult further education is widely predicted to be a thing of the past by 2020 while part-time higher education continues to decline rapidly with ministers happy to turn a blind eye as long as full-time numbers hold up. Yet it’s obvious that we need much more of both. The economic case is clear, well made, yet ignored. Perhaps it is time to take a different tack, offering a wider vision for adult education tied to a more optimistic view of what is possible for us, as a society. It may be that by adopting the language and values of those who do not, by and large, understand us, we are inadvertently contributing to our own demise.

Learning isn’t just about consuming chunks of knowledge in order to be able to do a job. It’s about broadening the mind, giving people self-belief, strengthening the bonds of community … Adult learning has a really important role to play in encouraging active citizenship … Going along to college means meeting people, discussing what’s going on in the world, boosting your belief in what you can do. It’s that self-belief that leads people to get involved in their communities and become more active citizens. Given that my vision for this country is for all of us to get involved and play our part in national renewal, I believe adult learning and the way it inspires people is crucially important. David Cameron, Adults Learning, May 2010 The government’s 2015 comprehensive spending review looms large, with yet more large-scale reductions expected to the budget of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the policy lead for adult education. Another round of cuts - perhaps, this time, mortal ones - are predicted for adult further education, while the safeguarded adult and community learning budget, which has been ‘maintained’ at £210 million for the past decade, is under renewed scrutiny. The sharks of austerity are circling. That this small but, nevertheless, critical budget line has been retained at all is a minor miracle. Successive ministers have appeared to take great pleasure in deriding this sort of learning, dismissing it, variously, as ‘holiday Spanish’ (John Denham), ‘Pilates … and over-subsidised flower arranging’ (Alan Johnson) and ‘Australian cake decoration’ (Phil Hope). Yet it continues to signify the government’s recognition that there is value in learning that does not necessarily lead directly to qualifications or vocational skills. Its survival owes much to the quiet, persistent advocacy of organisations such as NIACE, the Workers’ Educational Association and Holex, and the passionate support of John Hayes, who was coalition skills minister during the 2010 comprehensive spending review. Hayes and his secretary of state, Vince Cable, to their great credit, saw the value of adult education and of further education more widely, and held firm in the face of Treasury scepticism and the ill-judged advice of their civil servants. Sadly, such ministerial support is now in short supply. Adult and further education have few obvious friends in government. Even with the support of Hayes and Cable, the budget for adult and community learning has stagnated, while the proportion of resources spent on adult education has shrunk (the eye-catching 24 per cent cut to the adult skills budget for 2015/16 followed other substantial funding cuts to adult FE). This is partly, I think, because adult and further education is poorly understood by ministers who, in most cases, have no experience of it and (with the above honourable exceptions) little sense of its value, and partly because, with no powerful public or political lobby to back it, it is reckoned a low-risk target for cuts. What Alan Tuckett, writing in Adults Learning in 2005, described as a ‘rich mix of worthwhile learning that sits outside the narrowness of the national qualifications framework’ is now very much less rich thanks to more than a decade of cuts, under Labour, the coalition and the Tories, and the now entrenched view among ministers that education (with the exception of some higher education) is fundamentally about developing skills for the workforce. While ministers, and even Prime Minister David Cameron, have paid lip service to the wider value of adult and community learning and ‘other’ further education, this narrowly economic view of the purposes of education has, in reality, carried all before it. Post-compulsory education, with the exception of universities, is now organised around the principle set out in Sir Andrew Foster’s 2005 review of further education, that the mission of a further education college is ‘to improve employability and skills in its local area, contributing to economic growth and social inclusion’. Social objectives are acknowledged but they are to be met by the same means through which economic growth is to be achieved: by helping people ‘gain the skills and qualification for employability’. However cleverly this shift in emphasis is spun, the outcome is the same: the destruction of great swathes of provision with huge social value but no direct pay-off in terms of employability and vocational skills. The stagnation of the adult and community learning budget and the dramatic reductions in adult further education are symptomatic of the view that only education and training which deliver skills directly related to employability are worth funding. Even on its own terms, this narrow view does not bear up to scrutiny. With an ageing population and a third of the British workforce projected to be over 50 by 2020, it is obvious that the economy needs both older workers to retrain and reskill and disengaged adults (young and older) who were failed by the education system first time around to return to education and training. This won’t be achieved simply by offering courses which deliver vocational skills. Adults the furthest distance from the labour market often need multiple points of entry in settings in which they feel safe and which offer something different to their experience of schooling. As David Cameron argued in 2010, they often need to build confidence and self-belief, something that can take numerous tries, in settings some distance from the workplace or the conventional classroom. By investing in people’s education at this stage we contribute to their employability by making them more confident, reasonable, cooperative and resilient, so supporting economic growth and productivity. Just as important though are the numerous social outcomes. There is a strong body of research attesting to the benefits of adult learning in terms of mental and physical health and wellbeing, civic and community engagement, crime reduction and family life (including the educational attainment of children). Even accepting the government’s overarching emphasis on productivity (as Tawney argued, ‘a confusion of means with ends’), it is obvious that cutting provision with these outcomes is going to prove counter-productive. If the government is serious about improving UK productivity it needs to combine a focus on vocational skills with investment in more basic, community-level education, as well as in a broader post-16 curriculum offer capable of delivering the more general sort of education taken for granted by, for example, apprentices in Germany, where productivity - in my view, not unrelatedly - is much higher. There are other troubling signs too. UK employers continue to lag behind their international competitors in terms of investment in training while fee increases and the limited availability of loans have led to a dramatic reduction in part-time student numbers. Given that part-time students are typically older adults combining work and family life with study in order to up-skill or change career, this is plainly a pretty dreadful outcome when it comes to improving productivity. It also runs contrary to what David Cameron argued for in the 2010 interview quoted above, a university system that recognises ‘that people’s lives are messy and varied’ and that ‘[m]any don’t fit neatly into the shape of traditional university or college education’. At the same time, many further education colleges, which traditionally have offered adults a local, affordable chance to change direction, think again or simply get on, are likely to face closure or merger, as a result of the government’s local area reviews. This is certain to mean a further narrowing of opportunities for adults to learn. With its focus on young, full-time residential HE study and its obsession with apprenticeships (the answer to some of life’s questions but surely not all of them), the government is squeezing out other kinds of provision and modes of delivery which are not only important in their own right but critical to the fair and successful functioning of our education system, and, therefore, the economy, as a whole. There is little evidence to suggest that ministers recognise that education is a system and that changes in one part of the system affect the successful operation of others, as well as of the system itself. Adult education has always been about the economy. But it has also always been about other things too, as David Blunkett acknowledged in his 1998 green paper, The Learning Age (from which this site takes its name). Blunkett wrote of learning: It helps make ours a civilised society, develops the spiritual side of our lives and promotes active citizenship. Learning enables people to play a full part in their community. It strengthens the family, the neighbourhood and consequently the nation. It helps us fulfil our potential and opens doors to a love of music, art and literature. That is why we value learning for its own sake as well as for the equality of opportunity it brings. By limiting the availability of this sort of broader, liberal education to elite universities and the sons and daughters of privilege, the government is sending a clear message to those who were not fortunate enough to follow the gilded path from school, through A-levels into higher education: music, art, literature etc are for other people - stick with what you know. By cutting the adult and community learning budget, it would be sending an equally clear and uncompromising message to those with the greatest distance to travel to formal education and a job: you’re on your own - if you want a better life, don’t expect any help from us. This, to me, goes against what every civilised society should aspire to: a decent education and opportunities to succeed whoever you are, wherever you are from and whoever your parents happen to be. That must mean not just first chances, but second, third and fourth chances for everyone, at every stage of their lives and careers. In terms of economic competitiveness and productivity, social cohesion, and the development of a healthy, resilient, creative and engaged population, I can’t think of a better, more cost-effective or sensible investment. The Workers’ Educational Association has launched a petition to stop further cuts to adult education. Please consider signing it. To learn more about the campaign to save adult education go to: http://fefunding.org.uk/.

The Public Accounts Committee, a cross-party committee of MPs, this month raised serious concerns about the quality and consistency of support for disadvantaged school children in England. Meg Hillier, who chairs the committee, called for a ‘step change’ in efforts to close the ‘attainment gap’ and prevent pupils from less advantaged backgrounds performing poorly at school, thus perpetuating disadvantage across generations. The MPs’ report followed hard on the heels of the publication of some of the key messages emerging from a 10-year study of how background influences Scottish children’s development. Growing up in Scotland, a longitudinal research programme tracking the lives of 10,000 children and their families from the early years onwards, found that socio-economic inequalities have a clear and substantial impact on children’s development and that these differences are apparent from an early age. By age five, it found, children whose parents have no qualifications are about 12 months behind the average child on vocabulary and 10 months behind on problem-solving abilities. These differences - important indicators of subsequent educational success and employment and life chances - are apparent in children as young as three, the study found. With social inequality seemingly a major concern of government, these findings should set alarm bells ringing. They show that, as a society, we are failing to do anything like enough to prevent the hardening of social differences and ensure that the circumstances of a child’s birth do not, to a very large extent, determine their subsequent life trajectory. And while the Public Accounts Committee observed that the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers had narrowed slightly since the introduction of the pupil premium (which aims to improve outcomes for disadvantaged children), it also noted that the results were uneven, and that pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds risked losing out if its success was not spread more widely. The roll-out of universal credit would ‘make it harder to identify children eligible to benefit from the pupil premium,’ Ms Hillier said. It shouldn’t be beyond the wit of a society such as ours to devise an education system which, rather than calcifying patterns of disadvantage across generations, challenges them, giving children the opportunity to achieve their full potential, whatever their background. The strength and seeming permanence of the relationship between parental background and children’s educational attainment is a serious indictment of education policy in the UK over the past few decades. It suggests, sadly, a society which is prepared to tolerate the writing-off of large numbers of its citizens, almost from birth, and permit the life chances and potential of so many working-class children to be brutally stunted. The end result of this is not only entrenched poverty, but a less prosperous, resilient, democratic and cohesive society. The government’s ideological obsession with free schools and academies, and its efforts to introduce a market into other areas of education, are making matters worse. The idea that grammar schools constitute a part of the answer to this problem reflects not only a bankruptcy of ideas but an impressive imperviousness to evidence. Grammar schools, like other forms of selection, benefit the middle classes, those who understand the system and can bring in private help to get their kids through the entrance exam, and further disadvantage poorer children. As the son of two bright secondary-modern kids, both conscious of being dubbed failures at the age of 11, I know very well the damage the 11-plus system could cause, dividing not just communities but families (my Dad’s older brother was the only one of four kids to pass). I fear we are again seeing the development of a two-tier education system, in which parents with the double advantage of money and an education get a double benefit from a system rigged to suit those who know how to work it and have the resources to pay for it. Increasingly, the benefits of a rounded, liberal education are, like the universities that offer them, largely the preserve of the better-off. The best the rest of us can hope for is the basic education and training we need to do a job. I don’t mean to disparage vocational training, which is of critical importance, but an education system which prepares people only to be employees is, frankly, not an education system worthy of the name. It doesn’t have to be this way. Even within the narrow envelope of possibilities envisaged by our austerian leaders, change is possible. It should begin with evidence and not ideology. The Growing up in Scotland report makes a number of straightforward recommendations that could make a difference to educational outcomes and help ‘build resilience in the face of disadvantage’, including the encouragement of ‘rich home learning environments’ (even simple home learning activities such as reading a book at bedtime can have a significant impact on cognitive development and reduce some of the effects of socio-economic disadvantage, the report says) and increased investment in good early learning and childcare, which can reduce inequality by the start of primary school (by which point most kids from poorer backgrounds are already playing catch-up). There are no silver bullets, of course, but one important but often neglected intervention - family learning - has the potential to make a huge difference here, if adequately resourced and offered on a sufficiently wide and even basis across the country. Research suggests that children stand a much better chance of doing well at school, and in life more generally, if their parents are learners themselves. A Joseph Rowntree Foundation study found that parental involvement in a child’s education has a direct causal influence on the child’s school readiness and subsequent attainment. As the Growing up in Scotland study suggests, home learning activities make a huge difference. Yet very many children still grow up in homes without books, and, as any teacher will tell you, there is only so much a school can do. A child learns best when learning is a process in which the whole family is involved and interested. Family learning is also hugely effective hook for parents who had a poor experience of compulsory education themselves, appealing to their desire to support their children to do better than they did at school and encouraging them to overcome their own practical and dispositional barriers to learning. Many parents want to do more to support their children in school but often lack the time, resources or wherewithal to do so. Just as important, they frequently lack the confidence too, and family learning is a powerful way of building up an adult’s learning confidence and aptitude in a safe and non-threatening environment, while at the same time also improving children’s confidence, self-belief and attainment. A 2012 analysis of foundation-stage pupil data by Sheffield City Council found that the overall level of development among children who had taken part in family learning programmes could be as much as 15 percentage points higher than for those who had not. When I drafted the 2013 NIACE Inquiry into Family Learning report, Family Learning Works, I emphasised not only the remarkable impact family learning programmes have on children and their families, but also their huge potential in addressing a range of other agendas and in achieving key cross-departmental outcomes. As well as being relatively low-cost, family learning interventions make vulnerable families more resilient, and encourage parents to become more involved in their communities, whether as citizens, volunteers or employees. One school-based project I visited in Ely, the most deprived area of Cardiff and one of the most deprived in the UK, in 2012 brought this home to me. The group of mums I met there, some of whom had previously been afraid even to speak to their children’s teachers in the playground, were now organising regular adult education classes, campaigning on local issues and even publishing their own newspaper, the Grand Avenue Times (named after the main road on which the school is located). What got them engaged, they told me, was, first, their desire to help their kids do better at school, and, second, the fact that the learning environment was ‘nothing like school’. In some cases, their engagement in learning had completely transformed their children’s attitude to education too. Most adult educators won’t need convincing of the huge positive impact learning can have on adults and their families. But with participation in family learning declining, it is obvious that this understanding is not widely enough shared. As the Inquiry into Family Learning argued, family learning should be ‘integral to school strategies to raise children’s attainment’ and ‘narrow the gap between the lowest and highest achievers’, and ought to form a key element of adult learning and skills strategies ‘to engage those further from the labour market and improve employability’. National family learning policies should be part of an integrated approach to addressing educational inequality and social inequality more widely. A government serious about reducing social inequality would be investing more in family learning (alongside other initiatives to promote learning within families) as part of a rounded, strategic approach that would see further education spending increase, alongside UK education spending overall, which continues to lag behind the levels of other developed countries. If the post-16 area review process, which includes only FE and sixth-form colleges, is anything to go by, we are as far as ever from a genuinely coherent, holistic approach to education policy and the challenges of social and educational inequality. We need a government fired up to address these real and deeply entrenched problems head on, and that means thinking about education not through the limiting lens of ideology but in an evidence-based and seriously joined-up way. Thanks to John Field for sharing the link to a Scotsman report on the Growing up in Scotland findings and making the link with family learning

NIACE, the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, was founded in 1921 by Albert Mansbridge as the British Institute of Adult Education, ‘a centre for common thought’ about adult education, a representative body and a ‘thinking department’ focused on discussion and advocacy. One of a small number of iconic organisations within the adult education movement, the institute announced earlier this year that it was to merge with the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion, an organisation that promotes social inclusion in the labour market and which shares some of NIACE’s core values. A couple of weeks ago, FE Week reported that the newly merged organisation would be called the Learning and Work Institute, subject to the agreement of NIACE’s annual general meeting, which convenes this week. The proposed name change has understandably ruffled some feathers among NIACE members, and, while many will be supportive, recognising the economic rationale for the merger and the inevitable need to compromise and make accommodations in such a situation, others will see it as representing a decisive break from the institute’s founding purposes. For those in the latter camp, there are perhaps three main issues. First, the stress on ‘work’ will confirm for some what they see as the institute’s drift away from a wider vision of the values of education and its benefits. Second, the decision to drop the word ‘adult’ from the name is a fairly clear indicator of the organisation’s intent to focus more on the education and training of young people and less on adult education, described by Chief Executive David Hughes - perhaps all too accurately - as NIACE’s ‘historic work’. And, third, there is the omission of the word ‘education’ in favour of ‘learning’, another important change though one that reflects a longer-standing trend, towards what Ian Martin has described as the ‘de-politicisation’ of adult education. NIACE has been through some tough financial times recently, resulting in a succession of bruising ‘restructures’ and the loss of some large areas of work, including its events and publishing activity and some of its research capacity. The main reason for this has been the ongoing reduction in government funding on which NIACE became reliant during the boom years under New Labour. NIACE has been subject to the same trends in funding that have seen university lifelong learning shrink, part-time student numbers collapse and adult further education approach extinction. At the same time, successive governments have moved further and further away from a wider view of the benefits of adult education - so glowingly described by David Blunkett in the early months of Tony Blair’s government and by David Cameron shortly before he was elected in 2010 - to a narrowly utilitarian perspective which sees the purpose of adult and further education as being to make adults more employable and businesses more economically prosperous. This has had an impact on NIACE, as it has on other organisations, though NIACE has done better than most in resisting the distorting effects public funding can have on the values of organisations in receipt of it. When New Labour began investing more money in the sector and in adult education contract work, in particular, the institute had a choice. It could engage with the changing world of policy and help shape it, perhaps sacrificing some of its independence along the way. Or it could remain fully independent of government, keep its hands clean and remain firmly on the sidelines, unsullied by the new resources flooding into the sector. NIACE, rightly I think, opted to do the former, making a difference on a range of policy fronts though, at the same time, sacrificing credibility in some quarters. The approach worked for NIACE because, uniquely in a terrain beset with sectional interests, it stood up for adult learners rather than a group of providers. It became a close but ‘critical’ friend of government, willing and able to point out when a policy was doing harm rather than good, often behind closed doors but also publicly, when it thought it was necessary (some would argue, given the current state of the sector, it hasn’t thought it was necessary often enough). A lot of NIACE’s best advocacy work was conducted sotto voce, with the institute preferring to be privately effective rather than publicly lauded. The commitment to adults and their learning, and the independence this gave it, kept the organisation from becoming just another contracting ‘think tank’ working at the behest of ministers and civil servants often with quite divergent agendas. This is a tightrope NIACE’s leaders have continued to walk, with increasing difficulty and awkwardness as funding has shrunk and survival become a more pressing concern. With large numbers of livelihoods at risk, the pull of financial security has become greater, making the balancing act more difficult still. The merger adds yet another pressure and, while it will give NIACE a stronger foothold in its work on young people, employment and skills, there is a clear danger that, at the same time, it will also push it further away from adult education and a wider vision of lifelong learning. Critics see that drift in mission reflected already in the change of name. They are right to say that the choice of name is about more than branding. It says something important about the organisation and what it is about. While learning and work does not imply learning for work, the dual focus is bound to bring the two sides of the new institute’s offer closer together, which is likely to mean a further squeeze on NIACE’s traditional focus on the wider value of learning and its promotion of a pluralistic and inclusive vision of lifelong education. Funding pressures will further exacerbate this. As John Field has argued, the change represents the end of an era, a cause for concern in some respects but perhaps also unavoidable, given the context. NIACE has struggled for stability for a number of years only to find the same challenges resurfacing with renewed force. Clearly, all good organisations need stability, first and foremost. So too do their staff if they are to do the work required to take their organisations forward. It is to be hoped that the merger will provide all of that. And I have no doubt that the merged organisation will do good and valuable work that will help make a difference to the lives of many young people and adults. Certainly, there seems to be a genuine intention to retain a focus on lifelong learning and to keep alive a vision of education that is about more than training for employment. That is hugely important and welcome, and I hope it can be delivered. It is clearly preferable that NIACE and its values survive in some form, even if that form is, in some respects, a diminished one. However, irrespective of the outcome and the institute’s success or otherwise in retaining its core values, the merger means there will no longer be a dedicated organisation committed to promoting the interests of adult learners to the exclusion of other interests. That loss, inevitable or not, will be keenly felt.

The UK’s leading employers will hire 8.1% more graduates this year, with PwC and Deloitte named as two of the top three recruiters of 2015, offering 1,570 and 1,100 vacancies respectively [1]. With thousands of fresh-faced students vying for the top graduate positions every year, new talent is hardly in short supply. But attracting and […]

More than 120 of our customers gathered at the Lancaster London hotel yesterday for Uncovered, our 10th annual user conference, which proved to be our biggest and best yet. Stand-up comedian, screenwriter and author Deborah Frances-White delivered a really dynamic and inspiring keynote on the power of play. The session set everybody up for a […]

Mobile learning is revolutionizing the way that we learn. If you’re thinking of using your existing eLearning content and delivering it to your learners as mLearning it’s unlikely to be effective. eLearning and mLearning position the learner in completely different learning environments.   This transition from stationary to portable devices has redefined the learning environment. One is sitting comfortably with a laptop or desktop computer and keyboard in front of them ready to learn. The other may be sitting on a bus with 15 minutes until they reach their destination. How has this change in environment affected learner engagement?   Well, for one thing, learners may be more distracted. They no longer have to sit at their computer, they can now complete their courses while on the go. In order to hold your learner’s attention you need to devise a mobile learning strategy to ensure your courses are keeping learners digitally engaged instead of digitally distracted.   Devising a mobile learning strategy When it comes to creating engaging mobile learning content it is vital that you identify your audience. Who are you learners? What do they know already? What do they need to know? Where and when will they access the course? In fact, these questions should be addressed irrespective of the device that will be used to access your course content. You can then use the answers to these questions to form the basis of your mobile learning strategy.   When creating courses for mobile learning take the approach that these courses will be designed to complement your desktop learning courses, not replace them. Don’t force mobile learning, instead give your learners the option to choose their preferred platform by providing them with content for desktop, tablet and mobile devices.   Keep it simple Reading text content on a mobile screen can be challenging at the best of times, especially if you need to retain the information being covered in the text. If possible go easy on text-based course content and if you do include it ensure the text font and size is mobile friendly and easy to read. Where possible try to use alternative content to text, can you present the same message in image, audio or video format? Using alternative content formats to text-based makes it easier for learners to engage.   It’s also important to ensure the content is thumb friendly and easy to navigate through by using large buttons. If you in doubt test your courses with a control group, get their feedback and use this insight to improve the layout and structure of your mobile courses.   When to use mobile learning You could decide that you’re only going to offer refresher or knowledge update courses for previously learned skills in your mobile courses suite. Or just-in-time learning in the form of bite-size courses that the learner can access and complete while on-the-job. Alternatively you may chose to incorporate mobile learning into the instructor led training environment using short mobile courses that feature video or audio learning content.   Each of these scenarios requires simple content that avoids overloading the learner with information. Stay focused on the specific learning outcome or objective in order to ensure your course content is engaging.   You can measure and track the effectiveness of your courses by including a short quiz or knowledge check at the end. This will provide your learners with real-time feedback on their own performance while allowing you to identify elements of the course that require improvement.   What’s next? Following on from the recent launch of our iOS app for mobile we’ll be launching an iOS app for iPad in the next couple of weeks. Subscribe to our blog to receive all of our latest news, eLearning tips and tricks. The post How to create engaging mobile learning courses appeared first on LearnUpon.

About the role The Quality Assurance Tester will be responsible for creating an end-to-end test plans that target testing of the LearnUpon web application. A typical day involves working closely with the development team to document new features while writing and executing test plans for these features. The candidate will receive intensive training on LearnUpon’s product suite to get a core understanding of the application and its features. We’re looking for people who love to win, have strong integrity and perfectionism traits backed up by great communication skills.   Specifically, the role will involve: Documenting test scripts for LearnUpon’s features. Working closely with our development team to manage new features and test requirements. Management of release schedules, testing and bug-tracking with the development team. Learn the full range of LearnUpon technology and services and identifying core testing needs, as releases are prepared. Collaborating with colleagues, right across the organisation, to support the sales process. Suggesting product enhancements to our product development team to help make LearnUpon even better for our existing and future customers.   Who We Are Looking For The person we are looking for: 3+ years testing experience in web app testing is a must. Understanding and experience with modern web development techniques and technologies, and modern web culture. A technology qualification is a plus (3rd-level  degree or equivalent). You will have excellent written and spoken English for communicating with the team. Someone who constantly strives for perfection and who will challenge your colleagues in our quest to create the world’s leading LMS platform. Applicants need to be comfortable working with others,in a team environment, and be confident to deliver on individual tasks. Must be open to receiving constructive criticism (feedback) and applying and integrating the feedback in an effort to improve their results. Enjoys the challenge of delivering a bug- free app! You have the potential and vision to lead and grow a strong QA team.   Considered as a bonus for the role: An elearning / LMS background with experience of industry standards and terminology such as SCORM, AICC, Tin Can, etc. while not necessary would be a bonus. Experience in web development and JavaScripting considered a major plus. Experience with automated testing using tools like Selenium WebDriver/IDE. Knowledge of Ruby/Rails, JQuery, SQL, *nix OS platforms, basic network protocols and/or API/Auth type mechanisms are considered a major plus.   Benefits Competitive salary and benefits 22 days annual leave Flexible working hours Exciting start-up environment with rapidly expanding superstar team Excellent career progression opportunities for the right candidate Team building events If you are interested in applying for this role please send your CV in confidence to jobs@learnupon.com. We look forward to hearing from you!   About LearnUpon LearnUpon is a new, exciting cloud based software company headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Our mission is to change the way online learning is delivered by developing a Learning Management System (LMS) that companies love to use. We are addressing the common frustrations with traditional learning management systems by developing a platform that can be set-up in minutes, is easy and intuitive to use, looks amazing and doesn’t cost a fortune. Since launching LearnUpon in mid 2012 we are now one of the fastest growing LMS platforms in the world with new customers signing up for our platform every day. Our customers are based in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, Spain, South Africa and of course here in Ireland.   LearnUpon is growing incredibly fast with established and increasing revenue. The company is a very open, collaborative environment where team and individual accomplishments are celebrated and encouraged. Our product is on the path to being very successful and the people who join now will be critical contributors to its ongoing adoption throughout the world.   Life at LearnUpon is fun and challenging. You will get to work with a great team in a Dublin city centre location. We are constantly making LearnUpon better for our customers and never adopt an "it will do" attitude when it comes to our platform. We love releasing new features which make our customers go "wow". All the team are given time-out each month to go off and think and come up with amazing new ideas which will make LearnUpon even better. Everyone contributes and everyone’s ideas are respected. We treat our staff like our customers, they are the most important elements in our business without whom we would just be another run of the mill, boring, clunky LMS. The post We’re hiring! Quality Assurance Tester appeared first on LearnUpon.

LearnUpon’s iOS app is now even better. Newly released version 1.0.7 includes support for more devices and screen sizes. The updated LMS app makes it easier for learners to complete courses, exams and surveys on their iPhone and iPad. Progress and completion data syncs with the LearnUpon learning management system in real time. Support for even more devices and screen sizes The updated LearnUpon LMS app is compatible with any iOS device using iOS v7 or later. This update to the LearnUpon app delivers the same UI across all devices but provides an improved experience for larger screens.     Enhanced app features The updated app provides an enhanced learning experience for all users. Learners and instructors now enjoy more control over their training. LearnUpon’s LMS app makes it easy for users to access courses wherever and whenever suits them best, not just at their desk. LearnUpon delivers content directly to the learner’s iOS device in a range of supported formats including documents, video and audio. Learners can access everything from courses and exams to messages instantly on their iPhone or iPad - track course progress, complete surveys, get results and post updates. Instructor and admin users can also use the mobile LMS app to respond to learners on the go.   Investing in mLearning This latest update marks LearnUpon‘s most recent investment in mobile learning technology. With mobile revolutionizing the training landscape, more and more learners now work mobile first. LearnUpon’s updated iOS app has been developed to give users more control over their learning, available in the time and place that suits them best. This flexibility gives instructors and learners the greatest chance of success, improving completion and performance rates.   Download the updated LearnUpon app now.   Don’t miss out on new features - subscribe to our blog. Read our tips on how to create engaging mobile learning courses. The post New update for LearnUpon iOS App appeared first on LearnUpon.

You expect an LMS to manage certain tasks for your association. Your learning management system must make delivering Continuing Professional Development to your members easy, most obviously. But that’s only the start of how hard a good LMS should work for you. If managing training is all you expect from your learning management system, your association could be missing out. The most important task for any LMS is to drive non-dues revenue for your association. Check out 8 top ways you can use your LMS to drive more revenue for your association or professional body. Bonus takeaway: Download a free PDF of the associations revenue checklist   1. Understand the potential of your LMS Not all LMSs are created equal. Some are more equipped to drive non-dues revenue than others. If you’re assessing how your learning management system can drive growth, start with the LMS itself. First check that your LMS offers ecommerce functionality. Ecommerce features are essential to using your learning management system to drive non-dues revenue for your association. By integrating with online stores like Shopify, you can use your LMS to sell courses online, opening up your catalog to new customer audiences, member and non-member. Your LMS should also be able to offer multiple price points depending on factors like membership status and discounts, coupons and other shopping cart rules.     2. Know the value of your course catalog Your course catalog is an asset. As an association, there is a delicate balance to strike between providing value and undermining the worth of your training offerings. Investing in an LMS provides the perfect opportunity to analyze the return on investment of all course components. When assessing the worth of training content, many associations make the mistake of working from the perspective of cost. A more effective strategy starts from the perspective of the member. Calculate the professional value of course components to each member segment. Assess which pieces of collateral and events you can afford to provide for free and which are best served by charging a fee. Advertise the CEU, CPD and formal credit relevance of your courses upfront. Many members will be most interested in the professional recognition a course offers. Be clear about the immediate and long-term value of each course to the learner’s career. The best LMSs allow you to brand your training portals so learners experience it as an extension of their membership.   3. Work your learning content  A good LMS will do more than manage your courses, it will multiply their value. Above all, using an online learning management system should free you from the practical constraints your training was previously limited by. Using your LMS to make offline assets available online can expand the usefulness of previously once-off events and seminars. Once your core courses can be accessed by members, think about other pieces and components you can repurpose in new ways. Many LearnUpon associations and professional bodies offer access to recordings of annual conference sessions at a reduced fee, for example.   4. Get the price right Pricing is one of the most important course elements to get right but all too often it’s treated as an afterthought. Price will be one of the most critical elements in determining your courses’ success. The most effective strategy we encounter makes pricing part of the planning process from the beginning. Calculate pricing from the perspective of the value your courses deliver to members. Member-centric pricing escapes a mistaken focus on cost that risks undervaluing the true worth of your courses. Although the cost of delivering courses online can be lower, for example, the true value to members is often higher. Many learners place greater value on the convenience and flexibility of blended offerings. Guide your decision-making with regular assessments of pricing models. Remember to factor in hidden costs associated with content development and distribution. Anything that requires the investment of time and resources should be reflected in your association’s learning and training pricing. Learn more about building an eLearning business model with this guide from the ASAE.     5. Scale your reach One of the main benefits of using an LMS is the freedom to move beyond current practices to realize the full potential courses have for your association. Time previously spent on admin can be invested in expanding the reach of courses to the widest possible audience. Your members are only the most immediate audience your course content can target. Features included with the best learning management systems can help your content to travel far beyond old practical limits. Begin by brainstorming additional audiences your courses are relevant to and list the most effective ways to reach them. Consider previous professional partners, from complementary associations or professional bodies, to past conference attendees. Reach out to affiliates in complementary domains and regions. Most LMSs include bulk messaging tools that can manage these communications for you.   6. Promotion, promotion, promotion Like price, promotion is often overlooked in supporting successful course offerings. Best practice dictates that you should spend almost as much time promoting courses as you spend creating them. Make a list of all channels you can use to build awareness about your courses. Adoption rates can shape decisions on how much promotion is required. If adoption is slow to begin with, offer an early-bird discount or create a refer-a-friend scheme. A good LMS supports promotional tactics like discounts and coupons you can use strategically. First check that your LMS includes ecommerce features with multiple pricing tiers and shopping cart rules. Use your LMS to reward actions that have additional value for you. Bundle complementary courses together and offer a bulk discount. Consider offering courses to non-members at higher price points. Make sure your calendar includes time to promote courses to maximize participation rates and revenue.     7. Read all about it Purchasing an LMS is a great time to evaluate how you communicate with members. Use your LMS’s bulk messaging features to flag upcoming courses in advance in any existing communications. Consider making sneak previews of course content available to boost participation rates. Samples and screenshots can help your learners to visualize the relevance of your courses for themselves. Include information about all upcoming courses in regular member communications.   8. Always be measuring How do you know if your learning and strategy is working? Measure everything. A good LMS will include robust reporting features that help you understand exactly how your members are using your LMS and areas for improvement. Tweak course offerings and promotion strategies slightly and monitor the impact on participation rates. Test the effects of small price increases at strategic intervals. Integrate all insights and learnings into future planning phases.   To find out more about how LearnUpon can help your association or professional body, sign-up for a free 30 day trial or schedule a demo with one of our account managers. The post 8 ways to use an LMS to boost your Association’s revenue appeared first on LearnUpon.

Following on from being named the Top LMS for SMBs earlier this year, we’re delighted to announce that LearnUpon is featured in the TrainingIndustry.com Learning Portals Watch List for 2015.   TrainingIndustry.com continuously monitor the training marketplace for the best providers and services. The 16 Learning Portal Companies featured in the watch list were selected on the following criteria: New and innovative service offerings Unique approach to delivering learning solutions Commitment to improving through learning technology Quality of initial clients   TrainingIndustry.com update this watch list yearly to help buyers of training services evaluate learning portal providers and to keep them up to date on the latest learning management technology.   To find out more about how LearnUpon can help your organization to create, deliver and manage your online courses, sign-up for a free 30 day trial or schedule a demo with one of our account managers. The post LearnUpon named in the 2015 TrainingIndustry.com Learning Portals Watch List appeared first on LearnUpon.

Dublin, Ireland September 22nd 2015 - LearnUpon today announced a new technology partnership with leading AMS provider Personify that will see them build an integration between Personify360 and LearnUpon’s learning management system. Personify will also use LearnUpon’s LMS to deliver their own customer training.   The new partnership follows the release of LearnUpon’s learning management system developed specifically for associations and professional bodies. The LearnUpon-Personify360 integration will allow members to seamlessly access their online learning through single sign-on while also providing them with access to their completed training and attained learning credits directly in Personify360.   LearnUpon developed an LMS specifically for associations in response to customer demand for features to track and manage a range of learning credits, including CPD, CME, CLE and CEU. The learning management system provider also responded to association requests for the ability to automatically award members credits and certificates on successful completion of online, classroom-based courses or for attending conferences.   Personify delivers the software, consulting, and cloud hosting solutions that help leading associations and other non-profit organizations optimize relationships to achieve sustainable success. Personify’s solutions help organizations better understand, track and manage the interests, behaviors and transactions of members to encourage loyalty, increase engagement and grow revenue. Personify360 is the leading AMS/CRM platform, supported by the association industry’s largest community of integrated third-party application and solution providers.   The partnership is the latest development in LearnUpon’s growing expertise in tailoring learning management solutions for associations and professional bodies. LearnUpon is used by some of the world’s leading associations and non-profit organizations, including NTMA, IIE, ATI, IICIE, the IDA and World Obesity Federation.   Commenting on the announcement Personify’s VP of Product Marketing and Management, Andre Pavlovic, said: "The team at LearnUpon has delivered a robust learning management solution that reduces costs and complexity for our customers. Their ability to provide 24/7 customer support and commitment to building a standard, off-the-shelf integration to Personify360 shows dedication to Personify users. We are excited to welcome them to the Personify Solution Partner Program."   LearnUpon’s CEO, Brendan Noud, commented: "We are delighted to announce our partnership with Personify. Having a tight integration between LearnUpon and Personify360 will be of great value to associations and professional bodies looking to use both platforms. We have found working with the Personify team to be a great experience, they have a clear understanding and passion for the needs of customers in this sector."   Interested in how LearnUpon could help you to create, deliver and manage online courses? Sign-up for your free 30 day trial or schedule a demo with one of our account managers. The post LearnUpon partners with Personify to offer better online training appeared first on LearnUpon.