If you spend time hanging around education blogs and social networks, you will have noticed the rising number of elearning trends out there, most of which claiming that they are the ‘ultimate’ one. In this context, it might be difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff and select the… Read More

We all know someone who is outstandingly brilliant at learning. They are the Stephen Hawking or Marissa Mayer of your class and you’re probably scratching your head wondering why you can’t do it too, am I right? Many students lose motivation when someone else is thriving and you feel as… Read More

Continuing the transformation of our Notes tool that began earlier this year, we’ve added 3 new features for you to try out.  These new additions improve the design of your online notes plus boost their usefulness for your study routine. What’s New? The new features fall under 3 areas; themes,… Read More

A version of this blog post is published on the GoConqr blog here. Learning is about achieving your full potential, not just passing exams or tests. We developed ExamTime to create better learning experiences. As we’ve continually added new features to the platform, we’ve realised the potential for using ExamTime… Read More

At GoConqr (formerly ExamTime), we believe that learning is not just about passing exams. For us, learning is about acquiring knowledge and life-skills that can be applied to solving real problems. This idea is why we love PBL (Project-Based Learning) and the reason why today, we have invited Suzie Boss,… Read More

Every student who aims to become a high-achiever will experience exam stress. It’s an unavoidable part of student life that can be a tough nut to crack. Remember, stress exists for a reason and you can choose to let it be your downfall or use it to drive you to… Read More

It’s time for the hard facts. Final exams are just around the corner and your study in the coming weeks will play a big part in your exam performance. To make sure you obtain the best results you can, you should face these tests with a different approach to the… Read More

Avoiding Summer Reading Meltdown If you are a US high school student, you are probably tired of hearing this, but have you started your summer reading yet? Summer is half way over, and I bet you have barely cracked open a book. Despite popular opinion, your school’s English department did… Read More

Yeah, we all know how much students like to text, right? So, why not take advantage of the SMS Generator, a nifty online generator that mimics the real thing. This cool tool—part of the suite of educational resources available on the ClassTools.net web site—is super simple to use as well as a visually engaging way to allow students to demonstrate knowledge in a way that is super familiar to them. Plus, there’s nothing quite like using a gimmick to grab our students’ interest and attention, right? Working with the SMS Generator goes something like this: After accessing the web site, use the toolbar shown below to create your masterpiece. Click one of the gray or green text messaging icons to begin formulating a conversation. Then continue to click on one of them to add dialogue to the chat. Once the mock exchange is complete, users can do the following with the remaining items on the toolbar: The blue save button does just that—allows users to save the project in order to access and/or edit the message at a later time. The blue gear icon provides users with multiple options including a URL Link, Embed Code, QR Code and/or the ability to Download a Web Shortcut. From here, users can add the image of the text messaging convo to a project, web site, wiki, blog or favorite social media outlet. Is that way cool or what? Oh, and did I mention that this resource is a freebie and requires no registration? As an educator, that’s what I’m talking about! Check out an SMS Generator example shown below—one between characters in a popular novel.  Can you guess which one? Here’s another sample—one between two historical figures. And finally, encourage students to add some wit, humor or sarcasm to a conversation between concepts being discussed in a particular content area—science, math, computers, etc. Classroom Connection: The SMS Generator can be utilized in a variety of ways in any subject area to allow students to practice reading and writing dialogue. Here are some additional ideas to help get you started: » Conversations between two famous people, book characters, animals, friends discussing a movie or event, etc. » Formative assessments for independent reading » Displaying vocabulary and definitions in a fun way » Writing prompts » Poetry activities In addition to these literacy activities, the SMS Generator could be used to teach students proper texting etiquette and digital citizenship.

Your or you’re? There, their or they’re? I suppose it’s the eternal teacher in me, but there’s nothing that makes my head spin like the Exorcist more than seeing the inappropriate use of these words—in the classroom and beyond! As much as I appreciate gadgets and the digital world in which we live, I would probably have to say that I believe all of the quick and casual codes that are often associated with texting, email and social media have somewhat contributed to the massacre of the English language. Don’t get me wrong: I’m guilty of using my own form of communication when I’m banging around on my mobile devices, but when I need to write formally or effectively, I can and do. I sometimes wonder: Can our students do the same? But enough of that totally serious stuff… This was supposed to be a lighthearted post not a debate about technology and its potential effects on grammar. Or is that it’s and affects? Just kidding! Check out the infographic shown below depicting 15 of the most common grammar goofs. It made me laugh (OK, sorta!). If nothing else, learn how you can help your students avoid looking like total hillbillies! A shout out to the Copyblogger for creating and sharing this useful infographic. Classroom Connection: Although this visual certainly does not contain all of the grammar goofs that our students (and colleagues!) are guilty of making, this infographic could be used as a quick reference guide and/or as a fun classroom poster that displays some of the most common grammatical errors.

As Quincy Jones once remarked, "I’ve always thought that a big laugh is a really loud noise from the soul saying, "Ain’t that the truth." That said, Edu-fun Friday is a series devoted to adding some humor to the lives of teachers who visit this blog. After all, there’s nothing better than ending the week on a positive note! Plus, do we have the best topics to provide us with some comic relief or what? OK, seeing one or more of those icons during a lesson really doesn’t prompt a giggle, but since it’s summer, this image did make me laugh! At least we don’t have to worry about a Plan B today! Have a great one!

While traveling here and there this summer, I’ve noticed more than ever that visual symbols are everywhere around us; they actually guide us through everyday situations—through signs, image, infographics, etc. And that got me thinking about how I should bring back tech-y with this oldie but goodie—The Noun Project—just to make sure my readers were aware of this tech gem. The Noun Project is a site dedicated to providing users with standard clipart for every noun in the English language. Yeah, I know—it doesn’t sound very techie. But if you’re an infographic junkie like me, this resource is more than a must-have. Seriously, no more endless surfing for the perfect free icon or spending hours developing your very own. Instead just dial up The Noun Project and search the collection to your heart’s content for the one that will rock your next design project. So, how does this super cool tool work? Access the site, enter the desired icon in the search box and boom—the fun begins! Within seconds, tons of choices will appear on your screen. To download your favorite(s), simply right click on the icon and this action will provide you with options to save a high quality png or svg file to your device. Next step: Have at it! All of the thousands and thousands of images (and counting) in The Noun Project live in the public domain under a Creative Commons license—which means they are free to download as long as the designer is properly attributed. If that doesn’t work for you, royalty free icons can be purchased for $1.99 each. No sign-up or registration is required to utilize The Noun Project; however, users can create an account in order to download icons to a personal library within the site and/or to contribute icons to the global library. For a sneak peek at the various collections of icons, check out the snippet below of some of iPod images I snagged from a recent search. But wait! There’s more… As you can see, the icons featured in the The Noun Project are black and white, but if you would like to pimp them out with some color, check out this awesome post from Learning in Hand that shares some ways you can transform all of your favorite icons into colorful works of art! Classroom Connection: Use The Noun Project for any type of classroom activity that requires the use of icons—infographics, logos, brochures, illustrations, diagrams and/or multimedia projects. If you’re really feeling adventurous, the symbols could be utilized in various storytelling activities. For example, create a fun scenario in which students develop a dialogue based on a set of icons. Of course, the universal sets of icons could also be integrated into a foreign language class to teach vocabulary or practice basic phrases and sentences. The icons could very well lead the way to more profound language acquisition. Actually, with a little imagination, the The Noun Project presents an endless list of possibilities in an educational setting.

With a myriad of web tools and apps available to teachers, it’s sometimes mind-boggling trying to identify which are the most effective for the classroom. But if you’re looking for some innovative ways to showcase student work in the upcoming year, here’s an awesome visual collection of resources spanning 11 categories—audio recordings, collages, comics, posters, slides, digital books, narrated slideshows, movies, animations, screen casts and study aids—to help get you started! Two thumbs up to Tony Vincent, author of the awesome Learning in Hand web site, for creating and sharing this extremely useful infographic! Classroom Connection: Use the visual to discover resources that best suit your students’ needs.

A headline is a two-second tryout for an audience’s attention—a short snippet that must snag a reader from the distractions of the world and engage them with content. But that’s quite a tall order in our over-stimulated image-based society. So, how does one go about getting others to pause and take a chance on reading a blog post? Well, since it’s all about the headline, especially in the online world where that is basically what ends up being shared on social media sites and/or seen in search results, one needs to use a tech gem like the Headline Genius to create titles that readers won’t be able to resist. It’s simple, free, super useful and it works something like this: Access the Headline Genius site, enter your title, click the "Analyse Headline" button and check out the results which includes a grade, sentiment score and a character and word count. The best part is the section that provides feedback regarding how to improve the headline. For example, when I initially entered my title for this post, I received the following recommendation: Your headline could use some power words. Use words with an impact to provoke an response from your audience, such as ‘fantastic’ or ‘awesome’. Download a list of Power Words. Um, in case you’re wondering… Yes, I did request the free list of 102 Power Words Would Be Really Useful Right Now! It’s a great doc to share with students! Anyway, users can edit the headline as many times as necessary until it receives an A+ rating! Oh, and another cool feature is the tool records the history of all modifications so users can view progress. A shout out to the Tech Chef for sharing this tool with your PLN. It’s a neat one to add to the tech-box! Classroom Connection: Even though the Headline Genius was developed to assist bloggers with developing eye-catchy titles in order to capture an audience, this tool can be used by students to assist them with writing powerful titles for any assignment, including but not limited to, blog posts.

As you know, there are a zillion tools in the technosphere for developing just about anything imaginable—some are good; some not so much. That said, when I recently discovered a collection of tools compiled into one resource by one of my favorite edtech gurus using one of my go-to tools, I knew I had to get the thumbs up to share it on my space. Soooo, if you’re in need of some excellent ways to create one or more of the following—graphics, infographics, images, labels, posters, flyers, lists of info, tutorials and more for classroom and/or professional development purposes, then the TechChef’s Smooth Tools is a must-see concoction of geeky goodness. In the words of the TechChef: I have had several inquiries to the tools that I use to create and curate. These ingredients seemed to be just the spice to complete this ed tech dish. While these may not be the most new and flashy tools in the edusphere, they happen to be tried and true ingredients in my kitchen for concocting and curating content… so I thought I would share. Just hover over the image shown below to reveal all of the "Smooth Tools"… Click here to read the TechChef’s entire blog post containing this awesome interactive image that was generated utilizing ThingLink. Oh, and by the way: If you don’t know much about ThingLink, you should definitely check out this fabulous tool and its classroom benefits by visiting some of my past posts and/or my ThingLink channel: » Educate with Thinglink » Interesting Ways to Use Thinglink in the Classroom » jf20’s ThingLink Channel A shout out to the TechChef for giving me the green light to feature her swanky stuff on my blog!

Even though there is always a mind-boggling amount of invaluable info shared on the Discovery Educator Network (DEN), one of the best resources available is the Spotlight on Strategies (S.O.S) series, a must-see DEN favorite designed to provide teachers with simple yet effective instructional practices for using digital content to support student learning. To date, there are 70+ teacher tried and tested strategies featured on the DEN blog, and with permission from Discovery Education, I am now featuring some of these techniques on my space. So, enough of that. Let’s fast forward to the really good stuff… This week’s spotlight—Half the Story—is a simple strategy that can be utilized to ignite a conversation about any topic. Background How many of us have ever struggled to begin student conversation around a particular topic? They say pictures are worth a thousand words.  If this is true, why wouldn’t we use images as a springboard to discussion.  Whether we are trying to show students that we need the whole picture to make an opinion or we are trying to encourage their minds  to begin processing and making connections, images provide a quick and easy way to build a foundation for learning. Now that I have your attention, all you have to do is click here to snag a PDF version of this super cool strategy which includes info related to materials needed and step-by-step instructions for utilizing the Half the Story strategy in the classroom. There’s even valuable bonus info you can check out here. Pretty cool, eh? Better yet—click here to check out the entire S.O.S. series on the DEN blog! So, there you have it: Another S.O.S. trick to add to your edtech toolbox. Stay tuned for additional ways to activate learning in your classroom… Like what you see? Then take the digital integration challenge by trying to implement the Half the Story strategy and/or one of these additional ideas into a classroom lesson: » Reading Between the Lines » ABC Summary » 6-Word Stories » What Did They Say? » A-E-I-O-U » Snowball Fight » Whittle It Down » Concept Circles » The Envelope Please » Get Venn-y with It! » MVP » Partner Time

It’s back to school for this geeky girl—for the 44th time to be exact! Oh, my! I know—I’m becoming a fossil, but just to clarify: It’s only my 27th first day as an educator so you can do the math with the rest of all that! In any event, I’m ready to roll with a brand-new attitude—one that developed after encountering many new life experiences—some challenging and some rewarding—throughout the past summer. And it looks something like this: Yep, it’s true! Regardless of what we might encounter on our respective journeys—both the positive, the negative and the unexpected—we always have the freedom to choose how we handle all of these circumstances. That means we can either allow others or events beyond our control to ruin the moment and wound our spirit, or we can decide to move forward step-by-step even though we might not be capable of seeing the entire staircase at any given time. So, with all of that said—if you’re looking for a super cool motivational video to kick start the year in your classroom and/or school… Or maybe you need an inspirational video to set the tone for a professional development session… Or you might just need a boost to rejuvenate your own mojo… Whatever the case may be—one or all of the above—then here’s the perfect solution to "get your learn on" for a new another go-round of being awesome!

20 YouTube Channels for EducatorsYouTube = Learning at Your Fingertips!When you want to learn something new these days, most of us head over to YouTube. You can learn just about anything on YouTube: how to fix your dryer, how to create a blog, or how to use Google Docs. For students, YouTube is often their first stop when learning a new skill. Did you know you can also get notifications when new videos have been added by your favorite channels? Or that you can use YouTube as a curation tool to create playlists for your students?Today, I am going to share with you some of my favorite YouTube Channels. Just about all of your favorite educational organization and bloggers have a YouTube channel. When you subscribe, you can set up notifications when something new has been posted. This is a great way to stay up-to-date with innovative tools like Google Apps. Below are 20 YouTube Channels to get you started!Alice Keeler: Alice is a fantastic blogger and Google Certified Innovator who freely shares her Google tips and tricks online. She is my go-to resource for all things Google Classroom. She is also the spreadsheet queen! Follow her blog and her channel!Amy Mayer/FriedTechnology: Amy is another Google Certified Innovator and Certified Trainer who offers fabulous free tutorials on her YouTube channel. Hat's off to Amy and all things "fried!" Gotta give some love to my Texas friends!Google for Education: If you are a GAFE user (Google Apps for Education), this is a must channel for you. Here you will find lots of great information on Google products, tutorials, and case studies from other Google Apps schools.Google for Work: Google Apps are used in the business world as well as education. This channel offers even more resources for increasing your skills, AND they do a semi-weekly Apps Show which is AWESOME, and includes updates to Google Apps, tips, and tricks.Google Chrome: If you have followed this blog for long, you know I'm a huge Google Chrome fan, and this channel does not disappoint! Lots of tutorials, tips, and tricks are included in this channel for all users of Chrome AND Chromebooks!Google Help: There are so many Google-owned YouTube channels, so I tried to share the ones I find the most useful. Google Help offers just that--help with Google Apps and devices. But what I really like here are the videos that are available in other languages like Spanish, Vietnamese and more. Great way to support ELL!Google Science Fair: Google offers an incredible opportunity for students 13-18 to be part of a global science fair! Subscribe to this channel to get all the details, and watch videos of the finalists.Google Students: This one is geared more toward higher-education, but still a great resource for secondary students and teachers to learn more about career opportunities and products at Google.Infinite Thinking Machine: The folks over at CUE produce this highly engaging internet TV show/podcast to help inspire creativity and innovation in Education. Subscribe to this channel to get cool ideas for the classroom and be inspired by the talented host, Ramsey Musallam, along with inspiring guests.ISTE: The International Society for Technology in Education is a world-renowned organization and conference. This YouTube channel offers a glimpse into the conference, keynotes, and other ISTE learning opportunities throughout the year.Teacher Cast: Jeff Bradbury hosts the TeacherCast podcast, and a few others, AND shares tons of resources, webinars and tutorials through his YouTube Channel. Subscribe to learn about new apps and gain access to FREE professional development for educators.Make: Makezine, the Magazine for Makers, has a fabulous channel loaded with Maker/DIY projects and ideas.Michael Fricano II: Michael Fricano, a Google Certified Trainer and author of the EdTechnocation Blog, has some great tutorials for teachers, and a lot of resources for Google Apps. He also shares his weekly Google Hangout show, EdTech Mixed Plate, on his channel. Check it out!Office of EdTech: Yep, that's THE Office of EdTech at the U.S. Department of Education. They are actually beginning to share some great videos from events like the Games for Learning Summit and #FutureReady events.Richard Byrne: Of course one of the best bloggers around, Free Tech for Teachers, has an amazing YouTube channel with tutorials on all kinds of digital tools for the classroom. Be sure you subscribe to the blog and the channel to get the latest from Richard Byrne.SciShow: Thanks to my #GTAATX friend, Cori Frede, for sharing this one! Don't be fooled by the title, this channel offers more than just science! Here you will find creative animated videos on science, news, and history!Soul Pancake: Do you like Kid President?! Get all the Kid President videos and more gems that are good for the soul from the Soul Pancake YouTube Channel.TED Talks: "TEDTalks shares the best ideas from the TED Conference with the world, for free: trusted voices and convention-breaking mavericks, icons and geniuses, all giving the talk of their lives in 18 minutes." If you haven't explored TED Talks before, make it a goal for this school year. These talks are informative and inspiring!TED-Ed: Here you will find video lessons that inspire curiosity in the classroom. These high-quality videos offer engaging animations to tell the story of things like Football Physics, and the Origins of English.The Gooru: (a.k.a. The Google Gooru) The Gooru is a great resource for Google Apps, and they offer tons of tutorials on their YouTube Channel with updates every week. Follow The Gooru to stay up-to-date on all things Google.What are your favorite YouTube Channels? Please share in the comments below.

Google Spotlight StoriesExplore interactive stories that take students into a fully 360-degree immersive environment that doesn't require a special VR viewfinder. These stories are viewable on both iOS and Android devices, and coming soon to YouTube!This app is something you really have to see to believe! Install the app on your phone (iOS or Android), and choose a story to download. (Yes, requires a download inside the app.) The story will then "play," but you can move your device in all directions to see an entire 360-degree view. These award-winning are very engaging, and some are gorgeous animations, and some are even in 3D!I am really excited to see where this technology will take us, and more importantly how we can leverage this for learning in the classroom. Not all of the stories that I explored are appropriate for the classroom, so please review the material before sharing with students. "Buggy Night," was something I discovered that would be great for the younger students.Be sure to download (inside the app), "Help," while it is free and check out the 3D story for yourself! This one is definitely for an older audience, but a great way to see the potential of this technology.Share your thoughts on Google Spotlight Stories in the comments below!

How Can Shake Up Learning Help You and Your Students?Help me, help you!!!The goal of the Shake Up Learning blog has always been to help teachers, and by helping teachers I hope to reach more students. I have a lot of new resources planned and a big update to the site, but I'd love to hear from you! Now is your chance to ask for what you want and share your biggest needs?  Like Jerry Maguire says, "Help me, help you!"What are your biggest struggles as an educator?What resources are you looking for as your prepare for back to school and the fall semester?What cheat sheets and guides would make your life easier?What have been your favorite posts? What would you like to see more of?What are your biggest roadblocks to integrating technology?What video tutorials would you like to see?Please share your responses in the comments below, and I will use your needs to drive my editorial calendar and try to help in any way that I can!

5 Ways Video Can Increase Student Ownership of LearningThis blog post was originally published on the Swivl blog as part of the Summer Learning Series.In a student-centered classroom, it is important for students to take ownership of their learning and make it meaningful in a way that fits their needs and learning styles. This is much easier said than done. As a teacher, it can be difficult to get out of the way and let students take the reins. Ideally, we must take on the role of partner, guiding and facilitating learning. One crucial piece of the learning process is reflection, which can take many forms, but most agree that time to reflect is critical for learners of all ages.The Swivl Robot, Swivl Capture App and Swivl Cloud offer the tools to support and make student ownership of learning possible in the classroom. When students are able to create peer-to-peer instruction videos, review performances and presentations, and see progress over time, video becomes a powerful tool to support the learning process. Below are five ways that teachers and students can use video to increase student ownership of learning.Student Created Video for Peer-to-Peer InstructionStudents learn better from each other. So why not tap into this experience with video in your classroom? Allow students to demonstrate mastery of skills by teaching others using a video-enabled device like a smartphone or tablet and the Swivl Capture app. The app is free and will give students the freedom to share in a way that is comfortable to them. Recordings are then stored in Swivl Cloud and easily shared with others.  These videos might be used to review concepts, study for exams, or merely as learning for assessment! Empowering students to become teachers is a great way to increase student ownership of learning in your classroom.Offer Video as a Choice of Product or PerformanceGiving students voice and choice in the classroom is another powerful way to increase student ownership of learning. The learning path can be very different for each student depending on interests and learning styles. One way I like to offer choice is through learning menus or choice boards. (See my post here: Interactive Learning Menus with Google Docs.) Why not allow students to create a video to demonstrate student learning? Students may flourish with the use of video using the Swivl solution! Make it a choice and provide students with the opportunity to tap into their creative talents! The Swivl Capture app can be downloaded on any mobile device and connected with Swivl Cloud for easy video management and sharing. Teachers are able to provide students with feedback using time-stamped commenting in Swivl Cloud. These presentations are able to be utilized for assessment and included in digital portfolios.Self-ReflectionAs Jordan Garrett shared in her blog post Using Video for Reflection and Growth, reflection is a crucial part to the learning process. Self-reflection is something that even adult learners need should remember. If we do not take time to reflect on what we have learned, make connections, and define those lingering questions, we run the risk of  stalling growth and learning. Video is a powerful self-reflection tool: What did you learn? What questions do you still have? How have you improved? What skills do you need to work to improve?Review Your Work, Performance or PresentationsWith the ability to record and store video of just about anything, teachers and students are able to record their own work, performance and presentations in the classroom. As scary as it may be to watch one’s self on video, it can be eye-opening and constructive. I encourage you to take a chance and record yourself as a review of your own work and performance. The Swivl Capture app and Swivl Cloud make it easy to capture video for reflect and growth. The ability to make time-stamped notes and comments to share with others document self-reflection. This builds a longitudinal review of your work over time, and by allowing your students to do the same, you will all see growth and mastery. Then, make this part of a digital portfolio process and give your students even more ownership of their learning!Goal SettingGoal setting is closely connected to self-review and reflection. During the reflective process, we often ask students to set goals. These might be goals for the learning experience, goals for the semester, goals for the school year, or even personal goals outside of the classroom. Providing students with an opportunity to record their goals on video can be very empowering for the learner. Use strategies, like SMART goals, and ask students to review their goal videos every few weeks and record updates as they reach milestones. Help your students reach their goals inside and outside of the classroom.How do you use video in the classroom? Please share in the comments below.

3 Ways You Can Get Involved with #SXSWEduThis post is also cross-posted on the TextHelp blog.Get Involved with the Most Unique Educational Festival in the World!South by Southwest® (SXSW) is the largest festival of its kind for creative professionals around the world. For those not familiar, the event is actually a series of conferences and festivals that encompass music, film and emerging technologies. While SXSW includes a number of events, the SXSWedu Conference and Festival looks specifically at learning and innovation in education. The festival is just a few years old, and still defining itself. My first experience at SXSWEdu opened my eyes to so many new ideas, creative educators, authors, and a lot of fun along the way. You might say I am biased since I am from Texas, and spent most of my adult life in Austin, but this conference is unlike any I have ever attended. SXSWEdu takes a new approach, and brings that unique vibe that only Austin can provide. (Keep Austin Weird, ya'll!)This year SXSWedu takes place March 7th - 10th, and includes engaging sessions, interactive workshops, hands on learning experiences, film screenings, early stage startups and a host of networking opportunities. If you haven’t checked out the event before you should definitely visit their site to learn more.SXSWedu offers unique opportunities for attendee engagement before, during, and after the conference that are unlike any other conference in the industry! Even though the event is more than 6 months away, plenty of social buzz is already happening. That’s why we’ve listed below the top 3 ways you can get involved with SXSWedu, starting today…Panel PickerEven if you can’t make it to the festival in person you can still help decide what sessions will be offered. This year SXSWedu is using a crowdsourced platform that is responsible for 30% of the decision making process towards what sessions will be accepted. Over 1200 sessions have been submitted this year, so your input will go a long way in deciding what sessions make the final cut. The process to vote is simple. Just visit panelpicker.sxsw.com and click sign in. You do have to create an account, but it only takes a few seconds. Not sure where to start after signing in? Here are a couple of sessions that we would love your help towards being accepted (don’t worry, you can vote for as many sessions as you want).Big Data in Education: Online tools like Google Apps for Education provide tons of useful analytics that can help educators, researchers and software developers learn more about which technologies and features are helping students the most. The goal of this session is to explain how and what that means for the future of education.Can you hear me now? The Power of Student Voice (Kasey Bell, Kristen Swanson and Chris Avile ):  (Yep! Shameless plug right here!) Have you ever asked a student about their learning experiences? The results can be eye-opening! Research shows that only 44 percent of students believe they have a voice in decision making, and this dips to as low as 34 percent in the 12th grade (www.stuvoice.org). Join a celebrated panel of students and educators as we discuss ways to incorporate student voice into the school culture, classroom, professional learning and beyond.Social MediaFollow the latest news about the conference, learn what’s trending, and connect with your favorite speakers. SXSWedu information is available on the following social channels and even has their own social platform, SXsocial.See what’s trending today on your favorite social channel: #SXSWedu #PanelPicker #edchatTwitter: twitter.com/sxswedu Facebook: facebook.com/sxswedu Instagram: instagram.com/SXSWeduGoogle+: plus.google.com/+Sxswedu/posts YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCzTpVpOAXUXmU5qlY8wDWxQ SXsocial / eduSocial: a tool that allows SXSW registrants to find and connect with other conference attendees. You can also book your accommodations for the conference and link your conference badge to gain all the features available through the conference apps/services.Attend the EventThe conference, festival and expo offer many opportunities to immerse yourself in the compelling content from industry leaders in education: SXSWedu Conference & Festival Badge: The option that gives you all-access to the content available throughout the 4-day conference. Registration includes keynotes, all sessions & workshops, eduFILM screenings, Playground displays, and more!Register today for $245 (the lowest rate!) Price begins to increase on October 23rd.SXSWedu Expo: A free event for students, parents, educators, employers, and schools, designed to help you "identify and reach your education and career goals". The Expo provides hands-on, interactive exhibits and takes place on March 8th from 9am - 5pm at the Austin Convention Center.Can’t make the trip to Austin this year? Follow the latest news about SXSWedu on social and via the official SXSW newsletter. You can start by taking a look at some past sessions posted on Google+ and YouTube. We recommend checking out SXSWedu 2015 Featured Session, "If I Knew then What I Know Now" by Guy Kawaski, Canva Chief Evangelist. How will you get involved? What are your favorite educational conferences? Please share in the comments below!

As gomo’s Managing Director, I know gomo like the back of my hand and I spend a lot of my time helping organizations understand everything our tool does. I’m always answering questions on how gomo works alongside different elements of learning infrastructure, how it compares to other authoring tools and pretty much anything else you can think of… I understand how important it is for teams to be absolutely sure that any tool they’re looking at fits their unique requirements. This is why I’ve pulled together some of the more common questions I’m asked, in order to help out anyone who is new to gomo or thinking of starting our free trial. If there’s anything else you would like to know, don’t hesitate to get in touch - ask away and we’ll be sure to update this post to make it as helpful as possible. Do me and my team need training to use gomo? gomo is built with ease of use in mind and most of our customers are self taught through our tutorials and support articles, but training is available for those who would like it. What standards does gomo support? gomo content is HTML5, SCORM 1.2 and Experience API (xAPI - Version 1.0) conformant. Can I translate my gomo courses into different languages? Yes, gomo supports the XLIFF standard for language translation. How do I control the look and feel of my courses to ensure they are on-brand? gomo comes with a range of themes which you can customize to get the look you need. For organizations with very specific brand requirements we also offer a custom theme development service. Themes allow you to re-brand hundreds of courses in an instant. Can we embed third party content in a gomo course? Yes, the gomo iFrame asset acts as a placeholder for online content, allowing you to embed things from elsewhere on the web, including Youtube, Vimeo, Captivate, Google Maps and more. How many themes come with gomo? There are 6 as standard and more are being added all the time. All gomo themes can be customized completely. What video formats does gomo accept? To ensure that video will work seamlessly across all devices, gomo accepts MP4 only. What happens if I run out of storage? gomo storage and logins can be easily added. In fact - we find that most of our customers  tailor packages to their needs by adding additional users and storage. How much does gomo cost? Plans start at just $89 a month for gomo authoring and $178 a month for the gomo learning suite. For more info, head to our pricing page here. How do I create mobile learning with gomo? All gomo content is mobile friendly automatically. Just layout your content and the gomo player automatically optimizes your learning for every device, including smartphones. Do you have to design differently for every device and screen size? No you don’t. The gomo player automatically adjusts the course for the screen size and orientation it’s viewed on, making sure that it fills each screen efficiently. Can you target devices with specific content? Yes, gomo’s display conditions functionality allows you to deliver device specific content when still only creating one version of a course. You can optimize images so that when a course is viewed on a smartphone, everything is readable and just as useful as it would be when viewed on a desktop. Can I deliver courses from the cloud? Yes, the gomo learning suite offers full hosting and xAPI analytics to save you the headache and cost of finding a distribution platform or LMS. Anything you’d like to know that’s not on here? Get in touch with us today and we’ll get back to you shortly. The post Frequently asked questions about gomo (and answers to them!) appeared first on gomo Learning.

Learning and development allows businesses to run more smoothly, helping staff past potential blockers throughout the working day with a range of support that helps us do our jobs better. The e-learning industry is constantly talking about weird and wonderful ways companies can benefit from e-learning, which, unfortunately for small businesses and startups, usually requires a fairly substantial learning and development budget. With resource difficult to find at the best of times and the very thought of set-up costs making MDs and small business owners break out into a sweat, it makes perfect business sense not to over-invest in L&D in the early days of a business. But as a business begins to grow, how do you get out of the habit of training on the back foot without spending over the odds? E-learning isn’t just for big organizations There are some really big e-learning vendors who charge tens (and hundreds) of thousands for e-learning solutions and infrastructure at enterprise scale. It’s a common misconception that e-learning has to be this expensive, with many small businesses put off the idea because they see it as more of a big, corporate venture. Today, this is becoming less and less of the case, with cloud solutions offering ‘start small and scale’ solutions to meet every business’ unique needs without eating up too much valuable revenue. What can e-learning do for small businesses? Without e-learning support, senior members of staff are the fountain of all knowledge; onboarding, upskilling and troubleshooting new and current staff in order to keep everything and everyone ticking over. Choosing to invest in e-learning is a bit of a chicken or egg predicament - you need to employ more staff (and want them upskilled quickly) but you have no way of training them. On the other hand you may want to invest in training, but worry you don’t have enough people to make it valuable. There are range of benefits startups and small businesses can gain from implementing e-learning without breaking the ban, here are just a few… Improve core company competencies Understand what people do and don’t know about your business Provide centralized support for soft skills Train remote workers and freelancers Ensure all new members of your team get the same training Reduce the time taken to train new staff Turn downtime into personal development time Improve on-boarding and induction processes The basics of a learning CMS (LCMS) A learning management system (LMS) or learning content management system (LCMS) is where learning is stored by a business and accessed by staff in order to keep people moving. Modern learning CMS’ are much more nimble, cost effective, scalable and less feature-focussed, allowing businesses to start small and move up as and when new staff join. A learning CMS is useful for small companies and startups as it gives some structure to the development and support of staff, providing one central system for them to head or be directed in. It also allows for staff to collaborate and share their learning experiences, while the business can analyse what courses people have and haven’t taken, helping understand what people do and don’t know. This helps your business because a system does the heavy lifting and organizing, taking over as the fountain of all knowledge from busy, senior staff within a business. Solutions available It’s probably wise to avoid open source solutions, as you’re going to need a developer on hand to get things up and running, as well as a means of hosting it. You want something that’s easy and takes up as little of everyone’s time as possible, giving staff an easy means of support wherever they may be. The gomo learning suite is a cloud based solution which allows you to create, host, update and track multi-device e-learning content for as little as $1,780 a year, all in. This gives you a means of creating e-learning plus a cloud hosting and distribution suite to give you multiple distribution methods to reach your teams, wherever they’re based. Sound like something that would suit your business and budget? Check out this video of it in action to get a better idea of how it comes together to support your organization’s learning and development. The post Why a learning CMS is great for startups appeared first on gomo Learning.