Education Week, one of the leading publications in the education space, announced that it will implement a so called metered paywall to its website. The post Education Week Paywall: 10 Free Articles for your Data - No Thank You appeared first on Kirsten Winkler.

Less than 5% of all languages can still ascend to the digital realm. In other words some 96% of all known languages don’t find any use in the digital world. The post Digital Language Death: How the Internet is killing Languages appeared first on Kirsten Winkler.

During a presentation at our London event I pointed out that Google is a threat to edtech startups in the marketplace / directory vertical. Here is why. The post What happens when Edtech Startups enter Google’s Market appeared first on Kirsten Winkler.

As education provider, may it be as private tutor or learning app, you battle for attention and mental bandwidth with an increasing group of other services. The post The Battle for Attention and Mental Bandwidth appeared first on Kirsten Winkler.

If you ask me today as a tutor whether you should start a blog I’d say no. Because I know that most tutors blog for the wrong reasons. The post Why Tutors should not Blog appeared first on Kirsten Winkler.

This is my quick and easy recipe for a detox drink that I prepare for myself every morning, and it also tastes surprisingly good, too. The post A tasty Detox Drink you can easily make at home in under 1 minute appeared first on Kirsten Winkler.

Chegg announced the acquisition of Internships.com, an acquisition I had predicted would happen when I came up with a list of three potential acquisition targets in May. The post Chegg enters the Internship Market - Which Vertical is next? appeared first on Kirsten Winkler.

This is my slightly adapted Pesto Rosso recipe in which I use semi dried tomatoes. This sauce is prepared in minutes and great with pasta, meat or fish. The post Startup Meal of the Week: Pesto Rosso appeared first on Kirsten Winkler.

In the not so distant future the student will decide on the topic of the session and the session itself will be much shorter. The post The Future of Tutoring: Cloud-based and On-Demand appeared first on Kirsten Winkler.

Streusel cake is very popular in Germany throughout the year but especially in late summer and fall when all kinds of fruit are ripe. The post German Cake Recipes: Streusel Cake with your favorite fruit appeared first on Kirsten Winkler.

This Indian carrot salad works great with all kinds of spicy dishes from, you guessed it, India but also from North Africa or even Asia. The post Slow Carb Recipes: Indian Carrot Salad appeared first on Kirsten Winkler.

The goal of every tutor is the success of her student. But many tutors artificially hold back their students based on the fear of missing out on revenue. The post Keep what you got by giving it all away appeared first on Kirsten Winkler.

Zaalouk is an eggplant and tomato salad from Morocco, easy to prepare and bursting with flavor. It's especially great in summer with grilled meat or fish. The post Zaalouk - Moroccan Eggplant Salad loaded with Flavor appeared first on Kirsten Winkler.

To kickstart my day with a power breakfast or for that extra boost of energy during the day, I often prepare myself this nosh. The post Power Breakfast: Grated Apples with Oats and Cinnamon appeared first on Kirsten Winkler.

This is my version of the traditional Scottish caramel shortcake recipe. Who doesn’t love the combination of shortbread, caramel and chocolate! The post My Caramel Shortcake Recipe appeared first on Kirsten Winkler.

Working professionals are beginning to realize that they must be in charge of their own personal development. Traditional courses, offered through a corporate university or an accredited college, are becoming out-of-date at record speed. What is needed intead is a new approach to learning-one that focuses on using Web 2.0 to continuously build one’s profile of competencies. Web 2.0 refers to the Web as a platform to publish and create new content. The web has gone beyond static pages to a dynamic mix of creativity and fun where users generate much of the content. This has resulted in a major cultural phenomenon, indicated in part by the fact that, according to Technorati, the number of blogs has doubled every six months for the last three years. There are now over 70 million blogs. As learning professionals we have to determine what we can we do to use Web 2.0 as a vehicle for engaging everyone in the organization. Well, here are some "to-do’s" you can suggest to your team as a way of becoming Web 2.0 savvy: Create a channel on your Intranet site for learners to "rate" their courses, just like Amazon does for books. Sign up for news feeds so you can keep track of what consumers are saying about your products and your company. Interview a consumer on what it means to be do business with your firm, then consider editing this into a five-minute podcast. Technorati Tags: podcasts, web2.0

Each facet of our lives as working professionals is being dominated by Web 2.0. Consider what is happening in the current race for U.S. president. All the candidates now have a presence on MySpace and YouTube. Also, YouTube has sponsored a debate for each party (with more debates scheduled), in which questions for the candidates were solicited from site users and select questions were then put to the candidates during the debate broadcast. Senator Hillary Clinton may have the most interesting YouTube presence. She has asked viewers to vote on a theme song for her presidential campaign. According to Peter Daou, Clinton’s campaign Internet Director, the possible theme songs have been viewed more than 900,000 times in a few months. The leading contenders include: "Rock This Country," by Shania Twain, "Suddenly I See," by KT Tunstall and "You and I," by Celine Dion. Write in songs continue to come in daily to the site and the winner will be announced soon-after creating quite a buzz online.

Clearly we will be left behind as learning professionals if we rely solely on a linear production model of instructional design. Recently I spoke with Karie Willyerd, VP and Chief Learning Officer at Sun Learning Services, about what she is doing to enourage her staff to use use Web 2.0 regularly. Karie has some suggestions for experiments designed help further employ Web 2.0 as a tool for learning. She believes CLO’s should consider the following: Develop a wiki for your New Employee Orientation program requesting input from recently hired employees on what to include in future programs. Rather than spend 6-9 months in the instructional design phase, the wiki could begin to capture the suggestions of new employees as they enter and then complete the program. Create a podcast series profiling a variety of subject matter experts sharing their "top tips" in a number of areas relevant to learning clients in the organization, such as new product development, leadership development needs and branding challenges. Use the latest computer technology to troll Internet sites and push blogs and other feeds to the desktops of employees so they can keep track of what consumers are saying about your company and your competitors. Develop a channel on your site to have learners "rate" their courses, just like Amazon does for books. Amazon, their such innovations, has had a huge impact on book retailing (things aren’t like they used to be anymore). Another way to utilize this Amazon tool is to create a referral service so you can begin to capture which books your managers and staff are reading that may be of interest to you. Develop a private online community for the learning organization staff to share the latest ways Web 2.0 can improve the design, development and/or delivery of a program. Create a wiki of company acronyms and invite everyone to contribute. Also, create a wiki for the vision and goals of a new product/project so that all can comment about them in a regular and easy way. Add a search engine connected to your Learning Management Services (perhaps Goggle). Let anyone in your organization build a course in Second Life and then create a blog about their experience. Encourage comments by offering prizes so you can create a buzz in your group for trying these new tools. Identify experts you are reading about in the media (political figures, university presidents, etc.), and then reach out to them to see if they will link their blogs or websites to your site. Adding lots of interesting links will increase usage. Remember: the goal is to make learning accessible, engaging, and fun.Technorati Tags: Web 2.0, Wikis

The age of the Net Generation (people born between 1977 and 1996) is defined by rampant online social interaction, rooted in individuals desire to be able to interact with one another immediately, any time (24/7), any place. Websites like Twitter.com and MySpace represent examples of websites that keep users updated, informed and in constant contact with their friends, colleagues and co-workers. Learning, like the workplace itself, is becoming more team- based and collaborative, and thus more dependent on a new set of technical competencies. Don Tapscott says in his book, Wikinomics that the ability to use a wiki, software that enables any number of users to easily edit the content of web pages, will be a required job skill in the next two to three years.Technorati Tags: Web 2.0

One of the most powerful concepts to be explored at the recent World Economic Forum is "open source innovation." This refers to the creation of a Linux style innovation engine where practitioners, not just subject matter experts, play a leading role in creating the end product. There are many examples from the consumer world of open source innovation now in action. In the past year, companies as diverse as Nestle and Procter & Gamble have reached out to their consumers to encourage them to share experiences in using their products. Consider the following examples. The Purina division of Nestle is soliciting "secrets from dog owners" for training their dogs; the input is being used to promote a new product, Second Nature. In just two weeks, the website doglitter.com generated over two million email messages from dog owners fully engaged in sharing problems, secrets and tips in training their dogs. Procter & Gamble went a step further in their campaign, "Are You Strong Enough to Share Your Secret?" The company asked women to share their "inner most secrets," via either text messaging or the website shareyoursecret.com. The secrets were time-stamped (with many coming in the wee hours of the morning), and than they were all displayed on the huge message board on the Reuters Building in Times Square. A sample letter was selected and shown on a 30-second commercial. The response: overwhelming buzz in the marketplace, proving consumers are just waiting to be asked for their input.Technorati Tags: Open Source

The idea that people who use products should have input into their design is not entirely new. There have been many episodes of user-driven creativity in the history of invention, which scholars such as MIT professor Eric Von Hippel have shown through their research. As Don Tapscott points out in his book, Wikinomics , steam engine makers in 19th century England collaborated openly with mine owners to improve the efficiency of the steam engine used to pump water out of coal mines. A more recent example comes from BMW. When it came time to rethink the features for future models (such as GPS navigation), the company released a digital design kit on its website to encourage interested customers to design these features themselves. Thousands responded and shared ideas with company engineers, many of which have since turned into valued business initiatives. Now BMW hosts a "virtual innovation agency" on its website, where small and medium-sized businesses can submit ideas in the hope of establishing an ongoing relationship with BMW. Increasingly smart companies see co-creation with their customers as an important way to develop new products. Technorati Tags: Wikis, Corporate Learning

Open source innovation creates a Linux style approach to involving employees, customers and outside experts in the creation of new products and services. Fast forward to the world of corporate learning and ask yourself: Are you involving your learners so that they can contribute their input to enhance your organization’s learning offerings? Think about the many ways to involve both the learners and your learning staff. Sun Microsystems CLO Karie Willyerd has suggested a number of ways to use open source innovation in learning, like creating wiki sites for your learning department in multiple areas. Here are some of her great examples: 1) A course design site. Give the URL to subject matter experts and let them start unleashing their power, which includes allowing them to edit online in real time. 2) A learning terms site - for use by those interacting with the learning function. So many of us tend to use training jargon, so this will be a great benefit for interacting with business leaders and important collaborators. 3) A wiki devoted to your learning organization’s vision and goals. Remember those long sessions in the conference room devoted to coming up with the optimal vision statement? This can now all happen online through this site. You can generate input from contributors across the organization, edit immediately and seek feedback just as fast. 4) An acronym site, for the most frequently used terms within your company. Instead of having to update that dusty New Employee Manual the old way, it can happen online. 5) A course wiki for use by learners that includes regular updates of all the common terms and concepts. Perhaps most important of all, thogh, is to allow learners to easily add content and then instruct them in how to tag this content so it is easily located by everyone. Technorati Tags: Open Source, CLO

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Welcome to New Learning Playbook—a blog tracking innovations and trends in learning among corporations, universities and government agencies. The blog features case studies, interviews, links to resources in the field and more. The first series of posts will focus on how learning is being redefined for the Net Generation, those individuals born between 1980 and 1994 who are especially adept at collaborating and socializing online. How will corporate learning evolve to provide Net Geners with the experiences to which they are accustomed? Sun Microsystems had to address this issue. While the average age of a SUN employee is 42 years old (I was surprised by this. Are you?) 100% of Sun new hires are Net Geners, accustomed to a fast-paced life of constant, immediate communication, including frequent posts to Facebook and exponentially more text messages than emails. These Net Geners are demanding to be in charge of their digital lives both on the job and in the "classroom." Charles Beckham, Chief Technology Officer for Sun Learning Services, the learning arm of Sun Microsystems (which provides learning to Sun employees, customers and channel partners), discusses in the video above how his company has revamped learning. The journey to redefine learning has included adding a social networking capability behind Sun’s firewall, as well as the creation of a multi-player game for Sun new hires which requires them to learn about Sun’s vision, values, industry, competitors and strategy in order to win the game. As you view the video think about your own new hire program and how well prepared your organization is to attract, motivate and retain Net Geners.