No longer can I ignore the emails from campus indicating that Fall semester will soon begin. Nor can I put off too much longer that manuscript review which is due September 3. Time to doff my invisibility cloak and return to campus rejuvenated, reinvigorated, enriched by extensive reading, and with a clear (closely guarded) plan of what I want to accomplish over the next five years. Invite me to coffee if you’d like to trade closely guarded secrets! I did an unusually large amount of reading this summer—at least 20 novels including Stieg Larson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, Richard Russo’s Straight Man and his Empire Falls, Rebecca Newberg Goldstein’s 36 Arguments for the Existence of God, David Lodge’s Thinks; Gary Shteyngart’s Super Sad True Love Story, Lesley Kagen’s Whistling in the Dark, Benjamin Taylor’s The Book of Getting Even, and Brady Udall’s magnificent The Lonely Polygamist. Among the nonfiction books I found especially interesting, provocative, or intellectully stimulating were Chris Anderson’s Free: The Future of A Radical Price, Nicoholas Carr’s The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, and two books by social psychologist Ellen Langer, The Power of Mindful Learning and Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility. More about each of these good reads can be found elsewhere. What else should I read? The other day I decided to read cover-to-cover and, yes, word-by word the official 2010 - 2011 Carroll University catalog. How things have changed since I joined the Carroll community! I wonder if I have changed to the same degree (but please don’t send me photos of me from 1977). Of the 120 individuals listed as Carroll faculty for 2010 - 2011 (included are administrators and librarians with "faculty status") I am now seventh-most senior in years of continuous service. Three of those faculty listed who are more senior than I plan to make 2010 - 2011 their last year here (or so I have been told). Almost half the faculty and most administrators have only been at Carroll since 2006. It might make an interesting exercise in my statistics class to use this data (faculty colleague, academic degrees earned, institutions from which degrees were earned, years of continuous service, academic rank) to better see who we are and how we have changed. Hmm, carpe diem (seize the the teaching moment)—I think I may have developed the content of my first Lab in PSY205 "Statistics and Experimental Design" on September 1. What are the responsibilities of a senior faculty, such as I, who is such an increasingly scarce commodity? I’ve seen far too many former colleagues across these 32 years at my stage of faculty development become bitter, angry, despondent, frustrated or exhausted, as they tried to do too much (serving on every committee and task force and accreditation visit) or resisted institutional change they found inappropriate. How can one protect the integrity of an institution one has grown to love, preserve traditions deserving of being kept, and be guided and anchored by the collective wisdom and core values of Carroll’s founders—and yet be open to new ideas and supportive of younger colleagues who need the opportunity to make mistakes and to have the same growth opportunities as did I? In a week I’ll have an opportunity to have lunch with members of Carroll’s 25-year Club (faculty, staff, and emeriti) who have served Carroll for at least 25 years. I enjoy that annual celebration with these campus colleagues, faculty and non-faculty, who have been mentors, friends, teachers and role models to me. How many lives these dedicated individuals have affected—and continue to do so as they’ve shaped and lived core institutional values across the years and have produced a rich collective legacy of traditions, successes, failures, and reasons for celebration. How they have enriched my life and inspired me.Filed under: Curious David Tagged: Carroll Alumni, Curious David, technology

I continue to experiment with my "best" course to make it better by finding the right balance of technology-assisted and personally- delivered instruction. I have been pleased at the helpfulness, useful feedback and receptiveness of students as we "experiment." I just made a Screenflow screencast of what I taught in lab this week (using SPSS to create a scatterplot, calculate Pearson’s r, and do simple linear regression). This time I published it on YouTube rather than on Vimeo. I also, in response to student feedback, created some Quizlet study materials. Click the Quizlet link to try them. A next step will be to involve students in the creation of such materials—rather than my doing so. That may wait until next year, however, since I want to  introduce this year’s students to instruction in using Survey Monkey survey creation software. Please go here to evaluate the video shown above It would be fun to teach an entire course on these topics.    Filed under: Carroll Reflections, Curious David, Jane Hart's Top 100 Learning Tools, Personal Learning Tools, technology tools Tagged: Carroll Alumni, correlation and regression, Curious David, PSY205, Quizlet, ScreenCasting, Survey Monkey, Teaching Statistics

This post is password protected. You must visit the website and enter the password to continue reading.Filed under: Curious David

This post is password protected. You must visit the website and enter the password to continue reading.Filed under: Curious David

Alison Lehman A Look Back at the Once Unknown As time flies by, I am going into my third year at Carroll University. If you would have asked me four years ago if I would be at the place I am today or doing what I am today, I would have said no way. I could never have imagined that I would be so involved in campus life and extracurricular activities. I find myself finally reaching outside my comfort zone and pushing myself to reach new limits and loving every minute of it. Looking back at where it all started in my senior year of high school, I could not be more blessed to have the pieces fall into place along with all the opportunities and experiences I have encountered up to this point. As a senior in high school, my norm was to arrive home and find up to five new college informational flyers daily, further confusing my college search. The flyers just seemed to keep pouring in and even consumed an entire corner of my bedroom. Yet, I continually pushed off the college search because I became overwhelmed with deciding the fate of my career. How could an 18 year old truly know what they wanted for their future? As the school year came to a close and time was running out, I made the decision to attend Lawrence University and play on their volleyball team. Carroll University and St Norbert’s were leading contenders but Lawrence swayed my decision because I could continue to play the sport I loved. Looking back, a sport was a foolish deciding factor but that is what it had boiled down to. The love of the game motivated me but as my first trimester came to a close, I knew I was not in the right school. Feeling out of place and lost, I was no longer set on Lawrence and I decided to transfer into a school that was close to my family and focus solely on academics. My search lead me back to Carroll University, which has a central location to my home, beautiful architecture and buildings, and respectable academic programs. Transferring into Carroll halfway through my freshman year, I was like a fish out of water. I tried to find my calling by attending all my classes, making some friends along the way, and even sticking to a gym routine but I still did not entirely blend in and fit into Carroll. The end of my sophomore was when I started to feel like I was branching outside my comfort zone that had held me back so many times in my past. The writing center had open positions and I took a bold step forward and applied. This job strengthened my desire to work with other individuals from various backgrounds in my future. Some other extracurricular clubs I became involved with were psychology club and Psi Chi. Through these activities, I was able to make connections with other students and faculty and further push myself into trying new activities outside my comfort zone. Slowly but surely, I was learning to stand up for myself and not hold myself back from opportunities that I was surrounded by. Going into my junior year I became even more involved in out of school activities. I continued working for the writing center, obtained a job tutoring a student in English, joined Habitat for Humanity, and was fortunate with the opportunity to work for Dr. Simpson. Even though I am constantly on the move and running from place to place, I could not imagine my life any other way. Looking back, I have had countless opportunities come knocking on my door. As a senior in high school, I could never have guessed I would be so consumed by school, extracurricular actives, and jobs that are guiding me to better understand who I am and what I want to be doing in my future. I have spent countless late nights researching jobs, masters programs, internship ideas and countless more trying to grasp some grain of knowledge or direction. My career path after Carroll has many opportunities and possible directions. Part of me is pulled toward areas of social work, industrial and organization psychology or research programs in psychology; as I plan to pursue at least a master’s degree. Since I am also minoring in Spanish, I would love to further explore the Spanish language and culture and incorporate that into my future in any way possible. As I look back on my life and how it has shaped me into the individual I am today, I cannot help but wonder what direction my life will take me in another five years. With all of the opportunities I have encountered to date and the individuals that have touched my life, it motivates me to push my limits and reach for the stars even in times of confusion and self-discovery. I need to not hold back but immerse myself into the opportunities that surround me.        Filed under: Curious David Tagged: Carroll Alumni, Carroll University, Crious David, student research assistants

One of the many lessons I’ve learned from many years of teaching is how much I learn through the act of teaching. It recently occurred to me that one way to facilitate my students’ learning of statistics is to position them to teach it. Below is a video created by two of my students illustrating how to use and interpret SPSS’s procedures for creating a scatter plot, calculating Pearson’s r, and, if warranted, performing a simple linear regression. Here is what they wrote and did:   This video was designed to help demonstrate an SPSS analysis for a simple linear regression. This video helps to show the steps to obtain an analysis of data, but the steps are also printed below for further assistance. Step 1) Enter the names of the data into the variable view. For our data, the first name is Global Awareness which is the "independent variable" while the second name is "Satisfaction" which is the dependent variable. The data will come up automatically as numeric, but change the decimals to 0. Once complete hit the data view. Step 2) Enter data under the appropriate name. Step 3) To see if several of Pearson r’s assumptions are met  first create a scatter plot. To create the scatter plot, go underneath graphs, legacy dialogues, and then click on scatter/dot. Then a pop up menu will appear and select simple scatterplot, which is the first option. Then SPSS will ask you for the x and y axis. The X is the independent variable while the Y is the dependent variable. Step 4) When the scatter plot appears, notice the  direction (positive or negative), the strength of the scatter plot, and if the scatter plot is linear. If the scatter plot is linear, calculate Pearson’s r. Step 5) To calculate Pearson’s r, go under Analyze, Correlate, than select bi-variate, and a pop up menu will ask you for the independent and dependent variable. Make sure the Pearson box is selected as well as the two tailed box. Step 6) To calculate the linear regression, go under Analyze, Regression, and select linear. A pop up menu will ask for the independent and dependent variable. To understand the data: Pearson’s r indicates how strong the two variables are correlated. r squared is the coefficient of determination which communicates how much of the Y variable is explainable by knowing the X variable. The standard error of estimate is the range around a predicted score within which you are sure with a specified degree of certainty that the predicted score will indeed fall. Underneath the coefficients table in the B column, one is able to see the y predicted equation (Ypredicted = Bx + A). B is going to be the next to the independent variable while the A is going to be next to the constant.  Filed under: Curious David Tagged: Carroll University, PSY205, Research Seminar, SPSS, Teaching Statistics

GET A FREE BLENDED LEARNING AUDIT, PROOF OF CONCEPT AND ACTION PLAN FROM SWIFT e-LEARNING For a limited time, Swift e-Learning will provide you with an obligation free audit of your current training delivery, propose a range of ideas to suit blended delivery and even develop a short proof of concept e-learning/m-learning course for your review. OK - you are a Retailer wanting to take advantage of the benefits of just in time, measurable and relevant training solutions… Over 10% of the Australian workforce are engaged in Retail. However, the majority of employees are employed as either casual or part time workers, working on their feet in 3 to 8 hour shifts. (http://serviceskills.com.au/sites/default/files/files/Environmental%20Scans/2015-SSA-Escan-WRAPS.pdf ) No PC’s or laptops to be seem - other than POS systems. Retailers need to deliver induction, compliance, systems and customer service training and that’s  just to the front line… How on earth do you train them in your processes, procedures, policies and customer service culture, let alone cover all the compliance stuff in a measurable way? e-Learning is NOT the answer. Blended m-Learning most definitely is! However with most retailers struggling to manage traditional paper based/people intensive training, how do you make the shift? You need to engage with expert instructional designers. People who understand the audience, the retail space and the technology mix. Swift understands the Retail Space. Our sister company FIR the Australian Retail College has been designing and delivering quality retail training to national and international retailers for over 27 years. Low cost tablet devices (and smartphones) when combined with readily available Wi-Fi make this possible. When creative training is engineered to suit the audience using this medium, backed with a good Learning Management System, suddenly just in time, relevant and real training can become accessible. Saving huge HR & L&D hours at the coalface. However - "rapid e learning" adopted by many is often an awful translation of paper based training or PowerPoint content to an online  medium with a quiz ‘bolted on’ does not make the grade. Does it influence behavior - NO! Does it provide real understanding - Often NOT! Does it tick some boxes - Maybe….? Does it build performance - No! Effective e-learning / m-learning in the workforce adopts the 70:20:10 principal. A mix of measurable online content with effective workforce develop interactions and engagement. Make it Fun - Edutainment Delivery of great m-learning should be designed for tablet and/or smartphone access, be short (Bite sized), to the point (relevant), on-demand (just in time), social and measurable. It should be designed to be available and accessible across all mobile devices - even if this means designing it suit smartphone and tablet individually - and most of all entertaining. How are you delivering your ‘retail training’?  Is it measurable in a systemic way? Have you mastered the ‘blend’? Is it cost effective? Are you getting the results you desire? For a limited time will provide you with an obligation free audit of your current training delivery, propose a range of ideas and even develop a short proof of concept e-learning/m-learning course for your review. Click here to get started: http://swiftelearning.com.au/contact-us.html The post Retail eLearning - Are you thinking on your feet? appeared first on Swift eLearning Pyt Ltd.

Why start a blog? Well, we obviously need more stuff to fill those empty corners of the web. Beyond that, I hope to contribute to a reverence of our brain. Neuroscience continues to help us understand this amazing feat of nature and in doing so is a timely reminder that we shouldn’t let it go to waste. I fundamentally believe that anyone can learn and that everybody is creative… and I hope that this blog offers some tools, inspiration and distractions for you to find your learning & creative mojo. Read the About section to find out more or just make yourself at home.    

Every time we focus our attention we’re making choices about how we fill our relatively limited working memory. Latest research indicates that there are about 4 chunks within our working memory that are filled and lost quickly, but before they slip away there’s a chance for them to integrate into our long term memory. There are a range of ways this happens more effectively, and one of them is how those thoughts connect with our existing mental models. Barbara Oakley compared this process to an octopus. The octopus body sits in your forehead, just as working memory sits in your prefrontal cortex. Working memory is relatively fleeting, so it struggles to grip onto something by relating and connecting to your neural structures (your existing concepts and memories). Similarly, the octopus grasps out with it’s tentacles, searching for something to grab hold of. Metaphors help strengthen those gripping points. It takes one concept that can be alien to us (like how working memory functions) and helps to embed them into long term memory by relating it to something we do know (like an octopus). That’s pretty handy… but wait, there’s more! Latest research has revealed that metaphors actually trigger sensory responses in our brain. The Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience reported that taste based metaphors trigger the same parts of the brain that are relevant to taste. For example, consider ‘she looked at him kindly’ compared to ‘she looked at him sweetly’. The change in that one word sets off a range of taste related activity in your amygdala and portions of your hippocampus (which are related to taste)… even if you’re not consciously aware of it. Meanwhile Science Mag reported on another study where volunteers listened to literal sentences and then ‘touch’ based metaphors. Language processing parts of the brain were triggered with both, but the parietal operculum (part of the brain associated with textures and touch) only activated with the metaphors. What does this all mean? Metaphors provide conceptual hooks for memories and evoke real emotional and sensory triggers in our brain… in other words, they help that slippery octopus latch on and stick around.  

Have you ever been on a company or association website and clicked a link only to be sent to another site that doesn’t come close to the user interface you just left? Oh sure, it’s got that company’s or association’s logo.   But that is where it ends. You are obviously on some other website. And now, you need to try to figure out how to navigate it. Otherwise, you will not be able to achieve what you want to accomplish.   Poor Association LMS Branding = Lost Revenues + Higher Costs The above scenario is a common occurrence with many Associations and Professional Bodies that offer their members training through an LMS. Their Association LMS branding does not really match their website’s branding. And worse, the overall look and feel of the user interface is significantly different.   As noted in a recent research brief published by the Brandon Hall Group, "ease of use is critical to the success of learning programs. Today’s learner expects a consumer like experience".   Indeed, members are sophisticated and time constrained. Therefore, they tend to get frustrated using sites that are disjointed and not cohesive. Eventually this frustration leads to members not coming back to poorly branded LMS sites to take training. For Associations, this can mean high levels of member support, lost revenues or, even worse, members dropping out of the association altogether.   Think of it this way. Your association’s website is its front door, just as much so as the local grocery store. When you enter a grocery store you pretty much know very quickly where the items are that you want to purchase, just by a quick look around. and how orderly everything is laid out. However, if you entered the same store and saw that it was a jumble inside, you might only go in once. Most likely, you won’t go back. It’s the same with your web based applications. If your members can navigate to your LMS from your website and figure out how to use it by simply taking a quick look, they will keep coming back to take additional training.   Conclusion It is therefore critical to ensure that your Association LMS branding and navigation matches both your website branding and look and feel. It allows your members to easily navigate around all your digital assets. It allows them to enjoy the whole experience you are offering. Once your members enjoy the experience, they become more engaged and are likely to take more training. Thus, it increases non-dues revenues for those Associations that are selling training and certification programs.   As presented in the above mentioned Brandon Hall research brief, "losing time to supporting learners or having learners give up because they cannot navigate the system needs to be avoided at all cost. To remedy this, [organizations should] determine their critical 3-5 use cases and have their short list of vendors demonstrate these."   If this is a topic that would like to discuss further, don’t hesitate to get in touch. Ensuring the best user experience is at the front of our priority list and we will gladly share a few insights! The post The Importance of Association LMS Branding appeared first on WBT Systems.

Making a living shouldn’t have to cost you your life. Workplace fatalities, injuries, and illnesses are preventable. Safe jobs happen [...] The post Keep Safe With Our Updated Safety Training Content! appeared first on .

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Imagine it's the end of a long, important sales process. Your buyer has given you the verbal 'yes' to buy, but he has to deliver a summary of the value proposition case—why he's made the decision to move forward with you—to his peers and the board of directors. And no, you can't attend the meeting and speak alongside him. He must make the argument himself, and it has to be good. If you want buyers to be armed with the best material to make this case, first you must be able to make it to yourself. The most successful sellers make the value case to themselves as powerfully as possible—before getting buyers to believe in it just as strongly. Making the value proposition case is straightforward if you ask the following questions.     Related StoriesThe 4 Buyer Mindsets: Who Will Buy and Who Won'tWant to Win Your Next Big Sale? Win Lab It4 Examples of Big Plays to Help You Win Major Sales and Grow Accounts 

I’ve just returned from four days at Helitech 2015 - Europe’s largest exhibition for all things rotary. The GP Strategies’ EMEA Professional and Technical Solutions (PTS) team demonstrated virtual and augmented reality technologies. We showcased both our Technical Publications and Digital Learning Solutions capabilities. So what was the common thread linking these two disciplines? We have been able to bring the technical reference manual to life by incorporating interactive 3D models through augmented reality (AR) and providing real added value both as a training aid and as a maintenance asset. Helitech 2015 demonstrated that the ability to overlay digital information onto a live video source is increasingly impacting a range of sectors. A significant number of show exhibitors were from the surveillance space. Attendees saw everything from gimballed camera turrets that can be mounted on any airborne platform and a micro UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle or drone) to search and rescue helicopters. Augmented reality allows the superimposition of real time data, either from on-board instruments or GPS mapping, providing the operator with enhanced information. Outside of the aerospace sector, augmented reality is becoming an increasingly important technology associated with the proliferation of video sources, from the smartphone to wearable technology. Increasingly, video recording devices are being incorporated into the workplace - as part of the police uniform, on borescope inspection appliances, or as part of the surgeon’s head wear. I’m convinced that with this growing access to video imagery in the workplace, opportunities to enhance learning experiences, provide mentor support and assess on-the-job performance are significantly improved. Where it is impractical to gain access to the live environment for cost or safety reasons, the ability to create virtual worlds provides an effective supplement to on-the-job training. Increasingly, manufacturers are able to source 3D/CAD models of their product ranges. These provide the learning designer with a rich asset around which to build simulations, interactive tasks and even games. When these virtual environments are combined with the physical control devices operators routinely use, learning outcomes increase significantly. We all recognise the importance of bridging the gap between classroom training and workplace learning. These emerging immersive technologies are now reaching a maturity that enables them to be considered a realistic and cost effective addition to learning organisations’ toolsets.

Often the people who need to use government services the most are those who find it the hardest to do so. They don’t want to interact with us - they have to. Joanne Schofield - content designer, DWP I’m a Content Designer with the team building the digital Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claim, a benefit for those who have difficulties as the result of a health condition or disability. We want to make the digital PIP claim as effective as possible and I make sure what we write meets the needs of the users clearly, simply and quickly. If you’ve seen the existing paper application form for claiming PIP, you’ll appreciate this is no mean feat. I recently joined our user researcher, Simon Hurst, at Sense, a national charity that supports people who are deafblind. Deaf-blindness is a combination of sight and hearing loss that can affect a person’s ability to communicate, access information and get around. There are about 250,000 people who are deafblind in the UK, many with varying degrees of vision or hearing. We met with five deafblind users to get their views on how we could improve our latest version of the digital PIP claim. The importance of assistive technology This was my first user research session with people with sensory impairments and it was clear that assistive technology can massively affect the quality of life and independence of its users. There are a range of innovations - that magnify the screen, change the screen colour, read the page content aloud - to make it easier.  These technologies are going a long way to minimise the frustrations of using a computer and going online for many people. We asked our users to look at the latest version of the digital PIP claim using laptops that were available in the Sense office. A screen from the prototype digital PIP claim tested with users at Sense Although assistive technology was available on each machine, it became clear that the unfamiliarity of the browser, the size of the screen and the layout of the keys all had a significant impact on the usability of the laptop for our users.  At our next session at Sense we will encourage users to bring their own, familiar devices. Using assistive technology The way the users interacted with our digital service varied. Marcus and Atif had helpers who would read the content of a page out or type for them; Steven and Margaret relied on screen readers; Norman, Marcus and Atif used screen magnifiers; Atif had a hands-on sign language interpreter (he would touch the interpreters hand to understand what was being signed); and Marcus would print a page out, memorise the order of the questions, hand-write the answers, before then completing it online. Whichever approach they relied on, it was apparent that completing a transaction online can be a long process and exhausting for both the user and the helper or interpreter. Regular breaks need to be taken. We’re developing a ‘save and continue later’ function for the digital claim which we hope will make this easier. Joanne Schofield and Simon Hurst from the Digital PIP Claim team The session also highlighted that not all assistive technology interacts the same way with our webpages. The pages worked well with one screenreader but less so with another, so we’ll be making sure we work closely with experts in assisted technology to understand the differences better. And, we’ll be testing the online journey with as many different types of assisted technology as possible. The impact of second or third languages The session was my first experience of seeing hands-on signing. There are roughly 150,000 people in Britain who use British Sign Language and it’s the preferred language of 50,000 to 70,000. English was the third language of Atif, after sign language (his first) and Urdu. So he had to translate everything through two other languages before being able to gain any understanding of what the digital claim was asking of him. When trying to explain something as important as his quality of life, it became apparent how draining and frustrating this would be. Making services clear, simple and accessible So, we’re going to go back on a regular basis and work more closely with Sense (and other organisations that support people with health conditions and disabilities). We need to make the digital PIP claim - and all government services - clear, simple and accessible to all, especially for those who find our services the hardest to use. This won’t just make our services quicker and easier for all our users, but for many, it’s essential.

Hi, my name is Hayley Goldthorpe and I've just joined DWP as a Business Analyst (BA). During my first week at DWP I had the opportunity to attend the BA Academy in Leeds. This gave me the perfect opportunity to find out a bit more about how DWP approaches business analysis and meet some of the other BAs across government services. People came from the DVLA, HM Treasury, and the Health and Social Care Information Centre. The role of a Business Analyst The Academy kicked off with an overview of business analysis and working on digital projects. We discussed our own experiences within the role and what we thought were some of the key elements of being a BA. Richard Knight, Head of Role for Business Analysts This was followed by a presentation from Richard Knight, the head of role for BAs. It was interesting to learn more about the direction Richard wants to take the profession within DWP, with an aim to create a community across the Department sharing knowledge, experiences and learning. This is great news for me being new to the team - I think it will make it so much easier to connect with others. During the three-day Academy we had the chance to hear from a user researcher, technical architect, quality assurer and developer. They spoke about their roles within a project team and how they would interact with a BA. I learnt about the ‘three amigos’ process, which is a discussion between the BA, developer and quality assurer to ensure the user stories are well formed, provide context and also give the opportunity to clarify any points ready for sprint planning. Learning by doing Throughout the presentations we took part in activities, putting what we had learnt into practice. We were provided with some user research, based on a real-life project, which we discussed in groups to get a feel for the business and user needs. We then had a go at creating some user stories based on this information - our work has also been given back to the project team which I felt made the exercises more valuable. After working on the user stories we identified our acceptance criteria using "Given, When, Then." We also had a go at writing some code and test scripts, resulting in a web page.   Get involved The BA Academy was great and I would definitely recommend it to other BAs or even those people that  want to find out more about business analysis and a career as a BA. We would like to hear from BAs in other government departments or agencies. Get in touch with Jon Osborn or Rob Banathy and register your interest for a future BA Academy event.

Introduction: Lookup columns are a quick and easy way to reference data residing at a single point from multiple locations in the same site, without having to recreate the source. One such case is a scenario of a custom list with list items primarily enticing with images. It becomes just so irresistible to be able to use images from this list into another. Another example could be referring to Wiki pages from the Wiki Page library. While in the former case the OOTB reference however fails to render the graphic, in the latter, if you ever had to do it, you’d know what it means - the default reference is nothing more than a seemingly encrypted text termed as Doc ID not even remotely indicating the page name. These are not the only scenarios, but I believe most of the situations one might come across can still be related to either of the two. Scenarios: The situation is not so heart breaking though. While, the OOTB capability limits the extensibility of its application, a little coupling with SharePoint Designer has been verified to have significant impact on the magnitude of its reference. Starting from the basics of using lookup columns, this series of articles will highlight workarounds using the SPD with minor tweaks in the structure of reference lists and dependent lists that lookup. Here we deal with two scenarios - first referencing images, and the second referencing wiki pages. The approach to both of the discussed cases can be termed generic and attempted to be applied to a myriad of situations. The following articles sequentially deal with both of the scenarios discussed above. In the given scope, our environment is limited to SP 2013 or Online, however not ruling out the possibility of such extensions in lower grades of SharePoint. In both my solutions, a terminology that I’d be frequently using is calling the source list which is looked up as Reference List and the other list which looks upto the former list will be called Dependent List. Look for my subsequent posts on: How to display images in dependent lists How to make Wiki Page references to dependent lists

Many businesspeople today grasp the intricacies of their industries, but they fall short in knowing how to lead their people to get their jobs done effectively. In Leading on Purpose, Timothy I. Thomas and Charles "Rip" Tilden focus on helping leaders and managers develop the sophisticated people skills they need to supplement their technical and organizational skills. Drawing on authoritative research, the authors cover topics ranging from different leadership styles to conflict resolution to change management. According to the authors: Leaders have two types of power: Positional power, which stems from their positions within their organizations, and personal power, which flows from their qualities as individuals. There are five basic leadership styles: bureaucratic, supportive, directive, traditional, and collaborative. Leaders should generally strive to use the collaborative style, which shows high levels of concern for both people and production and strives to foster employee satisfaction rather than basic employee happiness. Leaders must have effective business strategies, or basic statements of the value their organizations intend to create. Business strategies should be SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely. A leader’s most important skill is to be able to communicate effectively. This includes articulating a vision, connecting with people to promote understanding, and listening to really hear what people have to say. Employee disengagement is a major problem in the United States. Disengaged employees show little commitment to their companies’ futures and complain often. Motivating people depends on understanding the hierarchy of human needs, which includes basic needs, security needs, belonging needs, ego-status needs, and self-actualization needs. Feedback is a powerful tool for improving employee engagement and performance. The most critical element of the feedback process is the opening statement, which should be descriptive and not judgmental. Workplace conflict is unhealthy if it involves strong emotions and is disruptive to productivity and morale. In resolving conflicts, thoughts must be distinguished from feelings, and wants must be distinguished from needs. To learn more, please visit http://www.bizsum.com

One might think that in this era of Emotional Intelligence and sensitivity training, we’d have somehow learned to be nicer to one another on the job, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Incivility and all-around rudeness are on the rise and they’re affecting our health, wellbeing, and even our job performance. So claims a recent article in the New York Times by Christine Porath, "No Time to Be Nice at Work." What behaviors are we talking about? In particular, it’s the behaviors of bosses that cause the most harm. This is hardly surprising, since bosses generally wield unequal power to behave abusively toward others, while underlings often lack the status to complain or "fire back." And bosses’ incivility can pollute the workplace environment in ways that peers’ behaviors can’t. Some common uncivil boss behaviors Porath cites are walking away in the middle of a conversation, taking phone calls during meetings, berating others by pointing out their flaws in front of others (both in person and via email), taking credit for "wins" while blaming others for "losses," and generally behaving abrasively as a way of demonstrating power or forcing compliance. What’s the harm? Clearly, no one likes to be treated rudely, but does incivility cause any real and lasting harm in the workplace? According to Porath’s research, yes. First, there are the health effects. Intermittent stress—such as being yelled at randomly and sporadically—raises our glucocorticoids, which can lead to a wide range of health issues. In one ten-year study, stressful jobs were found to increase the likelihood of a cardiovascular "event" by 38 percent. Belittling also leads to worsened job performance, presumably not the effect intended by those who do the belittling. In one study, subjects who were belittled before testing performed 33 percent more poorly on anagram puzzles and 39 percent more poorly on creative brainstorming tasks than peers who were not. Even those who merely witnessed incivility had a marked drop-off in performance. Rudeness affects businesses in other ways, too. Customers are less likely to patronize a business where an employee is perceived as being rude—regardless of whom the rudeness is aimed at. In medical settings, incivility can have even direr consequences. In one survey of over 4,500 medical personnel, 71 percent stated that they believed rude, condescending, and/or insulting behavior led to medical errors; 27 percent reported it sometimes led to deaths. So why do we do it? Why are we so [bleeping] rude? When Porath asked hundreds of employees across seventeen industries why they were rude, two of the most common responses were that people felt "overloaded" or didn’t believe they had the time to be nice. (But does it really take more time to be nice than to be rude?) Probably the greatest reason many of us are reluctant to be nice is that we fear our niceness will cost us. Perhaps others will perceive us as less leader-like. Perhaps we’ll be taken advantage of or will fail to rise in the organization. Civility, not abrasiveness, is the mark of leaders But those fears seem to be way off base. Bottom line: civility rules. A cornerstone of the PRES model is empathy, one’s ability to reach out and build authentic relationships. Studies show that politeness and regard for others leads to a greater, not a lesser, likelihood of being viewed as a leader. Civil behavior leads to perceptions of warmth and competence, two traits that account for more than 90 percent of our impressions—positive vs. negative—of others. Those impressions, in turn, determine whether people trust us, like us, and are willing to follow us as leaders. Turn it around in big and small ways So give up the rudeness rationalizations. You do have time to be nice. Turn the dial up on the small things, like smiling and thanking others. Work on your listening skills. This means ignoring the text conversation and giving your full attention to a live human being. If you’re a manager, stop looking for reasons to bark at people. Look, instead, for opportunities to "catch people in the act of doing right." Build your people up, don’t tear them down. Perhaps you’ve heard this Hollywood admonition: be kind to the people you meet on the way up; you’ll meet the same people on the way down. If you’ve been rude or belittling to others, there will eventually be payback. Why? Because people tend to harbor deep memories of humiliation. On the other hand, if you’re thoughtful and civil toward everyone, people will look for opportunities to return the favor.       The post Be Nice! It Pays appeared first on Ariel Group.        Related StoriesClaim It until You Make ItHow to Influence Without AuthorityExpress Yourself! 

The conference room is jammed with a hundred new volunteers. It’s 2004, and I’m a program director for one of the largest nonprofits in Los Angeles. As I deliver the final words of my orientation talk, my voice pops with emotion. The volunteers cheer wildly. That’s when I notice the CEO at the back of the room. He is a reserved type of leader, and I can tell he has something to say. I’m worried he might have perceived my presentation as over the top. I feel a slight tightness in my throat as the volunteers file out of the room, gabbing excitedly. "The buzz around the office is that your presentations always leave volunteers enthusiastic to get involved," says the CEO. "I came to see for myself. Now I know why. Good job, Brian." How did I get volunteers so excited? Simple: I openly expressed my passion for the organization’s work. In the business world, many of us believe that being expressive—allowing our faces, our voices, and our body language to convey authentic emotion—will be viewed as unprofessional. In fact, expressiveness can be one of your biggest business assets. Here are four reasons expressiveness works: Engages your audience You’re probably familiar with the actor Ben Stein. Whether droning the tagline, "Clear Eyes. Wow," or portraying the sleep-inducing economics teacher in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, he has made a career out of speaking in a lifeless monotone. For most of us, though, dull and boring is not the ticket to getting noticed. The truth is that an audience is only as engaged as the speaker. If you are not moved or excited by the material you are presenting, your audience won’t be either. That’s why it’s crucial to look for opportunities to be more expressive, not less so. Change up your vocal variety—make your voice softer to draw your audience closer or louder to shake them up a bit. Inject passion into important points. Use pauses to build tension. Get your body involved. In short, don’t be the Clear Eyes guy. Expressiveness grabs an audience’s attention and holds it—which means they’re absorbing your message, not thinking about that email they need to send. Helps to create clarity Have you ever been misunderstood? It’s likely because your body language or tone didn’t match your words. Dr. Albert Mehrabian, author of Silent Messages, concluded in his research that only 7% of the meaning of any message is conveyed through the words. Vocal elements, such as pitch and tone, shape 33% of the perceived meaning, while about 55% is conveyed through nonverbal elements, such as facial expressions and gestures. People want to understand what you are saying. So they look for nonverbal cues. A frowning doctor communicates a different message from a smiling one, no matter what words he chooses. By expressing emotion to clarify your meaning, you help listeners better understand what you’re saying. Imagine your boss telling you in a flat, emotionless tone, "This quarter’s results are really interesting." You’re left wondering, Interesting/bad or interesting/good? But if that same leader delivers those words with a lilt in her voice and a playful smile on her lips, you breathe a sigh of relief, knowing she means, Interesting, this could really propel our business forward! Clearer emotion, clearer meaning. Helps your audience retain information Think about your days back in the classroom. Which teachers made the most lasting impressions on you? Probably the ones who made learning fun. Why? Brain research suggests that fun aids long-term memory. Neurologist and educator Judy Willis finds in her book Research-Based Strategies to Ignite Student Learning: Insights from a Neurologist and Classroom Teacher that "the highest-level executive thinking, making of connections, and ‘aha‘ moments, are more likely to occur in an atmosphere of ‘exuberant discovery.’" There’s no doubt that an expressive speaker creates far more exuberance in an audience than a dull one. Express more and your audience will retain more. Allows you to stand out Let’s face it, there are thousands of people out there with job titles and qualifications similar to yours. So what’s the "it" factor that can help you stand out from the pack? Your expressiveness. When you express your true emotions in your trademark way, you become a unique and specific individual in the minds of others, not just a face in the crowd. You acquire a personality and flavor all your own. You become indelible in others’ memories. It all boils down to this: when authentic emotion arises during a presentation, don’t suppress it; show it! Let your passion, your caring, and your excitement shine—in your face, in your voice, in your body. By using expressiveness in my nonprofit job, I conveyed enthusiasm for my organization’s work, and volunteers became engaged and energized. I also stood out to my co-workers and CEO, who didn’t realize they had the freedom to do the same. Connect with the hearts and minds of others, and you’ll be a highly sought commodity in whatever field you’re in. The post Express Yourself! appeared first on Ariel Group.        Related StoriesClaim It until You Make ItPolitical Debates: Where Presence Speaks Louder Than WordsBe Nice! It Pays 

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Reducing your customer defection rate by 5% can increase your profitability by 25 to 125%. (source) Advice from Jennifer Blackmon, Corporate Director, Culture Transformation at The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center: Many organizations dedicate significant resources to effective problem resolution training when they could be training their employees on how to avoid the same incidents altogether. Most of us understand this logic but fail to completely refocus the energy. Knowing the difference between a one-time mistake and a recurring issue is a great place to begin. Effectively tracking defects gives you the ability to view the scope of your customer incidents and identify those that will make the biggest impact when resolved. The good news is, once you understand the causes and consequences of the breakdown, many of the answers are most likely right in your building. Leverage your employees’ expertise and creativity to solve the problem and improve your customers’ experiences. At The Ritz-Carlton, we understand that the best ideas come from the people actually doing the work. When employees have the opportunity to submit ideas or be involved in root cause analysis, then processes are in a state of continuous improvement and breakdowns have a way of disappearing. ∞ Join us for a one-day symposium on November 12th. The day includes a Ritz-Carlton executive panel with Herve Humler, president & chief operations officer of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. The Blog Post Significant Stat: Reduce Customer Defection, Grow Profits appeared first on The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center.

While thinking about this blog, I turned to the best source for advice to young girls - other young girls who are happy and thriving - so I asked my granddaughters and the daughters of one of our leaders here at Fierce what advice they would give a freshman girl in high school.Clara, 15: "Do not judge someone until you know them well enough, talk to as many people as possible, wear things that make you love your body and make you feel beautiful, attend as many sports games as you can, join clubs or sports, go to homecoming because there are only 4 in your life! Don’t be afraid to ask your teachers questions if you are confused, be nice to everyone."Maizy, 17: "Be nice. To everyone. People aren’t as scary as you imagine and making someone’s day is so worth it. I would agree with Clara on joining sports/clubs. It’s a great way to make new friends, immerse yourself in something that keeps you grounded throughout high school, and to meet upper classmen who can answer questions and help mentor/guide you. Do your homework and respect your teachers! As a senior, you’ll have to ask for teacher recommendation letters for college applications and it’s a lot easier if you have a bunch of teachers who like you to choose from ;). Cheesy, but be yourself and love it. Experiment - find things you like, things you don’t, find yourself. And don’t worry if you aren’t totally sure of yourself your first year of high school. I’m a senior and just now beginning to be comfortable with myself/figure myself out! But there will always be someone who will appreciate you for you; I don’t know anyone at my high school who doesn’t have friends."Teagan, 17 & Kira, 14: "Trust your instincts about people and situations. If you feel good in your friends’ company, it most likely means they treat you well. If you feel uncomfortable or bad when you interact with your friends, it is most likely not you, but them. Hang out with people who treat you well. Get help when you need it. Don’t be afraid to ask adults for help. Your counselors at school are there to support you! Don’t be afraid to be weird. Hang out with people who get you and appreciate your weirdness. Don’t do something you don’t want to do just because someone else thinks it’s a good idea or will be fun. Don’t let someone pressure you. Find something you love to do and pour your heart into it. You don’t have to have it all figured out. The journey lasts a lifetime. Enjoy it!I will add: Navigate your life one conversation at a time. You already are, whether you realize it or not. Your time in school, your eventual career, your relationships and your life will succeed or fail, gradually then suddenly, one conversation at a time.The post Advice to Young Girls appeared first on Fierce, Inc..