2001 Everyone has the capacity to learn but most people can do a much better job of it. Learning is a skill one can improve. Learning how to learn is a key to its mastery. Learning is the primary determinant of personal and professional success in our ever-changing knowledge age. People and organizations that strive … Continue reading Meta-Learning, 2001 →

Here is a good story that shows the value of learning as working, as opposed to relying on previous expertise. "On the surface, John looked like the perfect up-and-coming executive to lead BFC’s Asia expansion plans. He went to an Ivy League B-school. His track record was flawless. Every goal or objective the organization had... Read more »

What impacts the effectiveness of Learning and Development teams? In this article I will show you how to deal with the growing skills crisis in this critical department. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

Check out the risks involved and reasons why social media awareness should be made mandatory for employees.

Today, outsourcing content development is a fairly well established practice for several organizations. However, what works for one organization and helps them leverage on an offshore partner may not work for another. So, how can you determine if you should evaluate eLearning content development outsourcing? The answer lies in looking at the pros of content development outsourcing and comparing them against the triggers of your outsourcing need. In this article I will outline the pros of content development outsourcing and how you can use these pointers and arrive at the right strategy to outsource and create a successful partnership that you can leverage on. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

Isn’t it great that Google’s API enables you to do stuff like this? I’ve visited 46 countries. (20.4%)Create your own visited map of The World I’ve visited 48 of the 50 states. (96%)Create your own visited map of The United States Google hacks site. Google talk a Google Hack by Douwe Osinga

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With one in two Fortune 500 companies using it, Microsoft SharePoint is one of the fastest growing CMSs. Integrating it with you LMS offers a host of new possibilities that could change the way your company collaborates and trains. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

Education is what people do to you; learning is what you do to yourself." These are the wise words of Joi Ito, Director of the MIT Media Lab. In a recent TED Talk, Ito reveals a revolutionary style of innovation that he and his colleagues discovered during a time when...The post Now-ism: Why Perfect Scores Don’t Matter And What To Focus On Instead appeared first on InformED.

A delightful nostalgic post by Paul Simbeck-Hampson this morning led me on a search of my Flickr photos. When was it that Paul, Harold, and I spent a zany day shooting video in Berlin? I couldn’t find it. (I have 32,000 photos, most of them not tagged, on Flickr; finding anything is a bitch.) So … Continue reading Photographic memories →

The following is an excerpt from my new book, The Global Educator, being published by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) in early 2016. I share it here now to show how careful planning in conjunction with 'leaping into new learning modes' has started to transform teaching and learning in Berea District, Ohio, USA. This could be you and your school and/or district! Online global collaboration is imperative - when will you take that leap?My quest is to find the true global school and I am excited to share the work of global educators in Berea City Schools District in the USA who are embedding global collaborative learning across the curriculum. This started as a school-based approach, but over the years has become a district-based initiative with classes and students across K-12 levels participating in global projects. Over a handful of years school leaders and teachers have systematically supported new approaches to using digital technologies and online learning to embrace global opportunities. It has been steady and hard work for all involved, but the winners are the students. Now many grade levels take advantage of global projects that ‘flatten the school district walls’ and the question they ask, ‘How are we helping our students to achieve dreams they never imagined possible?’, is being answered.Berea School District - A story of online global collaboration success!The Berea City School District (BCSD) is located in Berea, Ohio, USA. Student enrollment is approximately 7000 students K-12 consisting of four Pre-school to Grade 4 schools, one intermediate school, one junior high and one senior high school. They advertise to the community that they want students to gain skills that will help them compete successfully in the global economy of the 21st Century. They want students to be prepared for jobs and fields that haven’t been created yet.Approaches to and goals for global collaborationBCSD encourages and supports the use of technology through BYOD and several one-to-one models as tools for learning throughout the district. Elementary to high school students participate in global projects to learn from and with each other. It is about connection, collaboration and co-construction. It includes technology-infused, challenge-based and project-based experiences across the globe through personalized approaches to learning for all.The goal of BCSD is that all students communicate, collaborate,  and create on a global scale; they experience the challenges and triumphs of working in an authentic global team environment; they are exposed to intercultural dynamics within a professional working environment.  Reaching these goals will prepare students for the challenge of the multicultural workplace. Flat Connections Global Project: Teachers and Student experiences For quite a few years now BCSD high school classes at Grade 10 or 11 levels have joined the Flat Connections Global Project (FCGP) through the high school computer curriculum which is based on the ISTE standards. The global project (create, collaborate, communicate, and critical thinking) helps fulfill the objectives in the ISTE standards and is embedded into the curriculum through this expectation. Teacher preparation for FCGP Teachers at BCSD have been prepared for the demands of global collaboration in the classroom through Global Educator courses offered through Flat Connections professional learning. They also learn with their students as they participate in the project - professional learning is embedded into the global collaboration. The Administration and Academic Affairs Department support teachers so they can participate in the regular online teacher meetings as part of being in the FCGP teacher community. Student preparation for FCGP Students are given time in their Integrated Technology (required high school semester computer class) to learn the tools used in the project. They are given time in class to research, create their documents, communicate with team members, and create their final products. Barriers and enablersBarriers to success include teachers and students who are not used to and are opposed to taking ‘risks’ in learning. They prefer to keep on the same pathway as before, and do not like to embrace change. Teachers can be an additional barrier when they are not willing to be transparent in their learning. Enablers to successful global collaboration include strong administrative support - making this project a priority; strong board office support - giving paid time off to participate in meetings and training; teachers willing to spend extra time to training and participate; and adequate technology devices and Internet access and speeds. Stories of student achievement and impact A student who had participated in the FCGP approached her teacher the next semester.  When asked how she was doing she replied, "Great Mrs. Jambor, however, I miss global collaboration.  I just don’t feel as connected as I did when I was participating in our global project." This comes as words of encouragement to other schools, districts, teachers if they are looking for reasons as to why should they do this as well. Students in a former FCGP presented at the Global Education Conference in 2014, confidently relating in a virtual classroom to a global audience how their learning was connected and collaborative and how it opened many doors and creative opportunities for them as learners. According to teachers at Berea….. "There is no greater or more authentic experience for teachers and students.  We learn by doing and Flat Connections allows students to do just that." "Participating in such projects creates a professional learning community that for many will consistently develop and grow." Empowering teacher leadersBoth Amy Jambor and Sheri Williams completed the Flat Connections Global Educator online course five years ago. Since then they have developed further skills as global project managers and have become empowered to lead and promote online global collaborative learning within Berea District and beyond."Global collaboration and online learning communities have helped me make a critical shift in my teaching.  I now feel confident in my ability to help students prepare for the world ahead.  Most importantly, students and I learn something new every day - together." Amy Jambor"I have met many colleagues and students from around the world.  That fact alone has added a dimension to my classes that I could not have received inside the walls of my classroom. This journey has shaped my teaching and learning, making me a better teacher." Sheri WilliamsMore Berea District updatesSince becoming a Flat Connections School, teachers at Berea have planned to implement global projects across schools and across grade levels K-12. There are systematic plans in place to train and support educators so that they are ready to embrace global opportunities for themselves and their students. THIS COULD BE YOU! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?Contact Julie Lindsay at Flat Connections today to discuss possibilities. Find out more about Flat Connections global projects for K-12 - all projects start again in September 2015.Find out more about the Flat Connections Global Educator online course - starts again in September! Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

Ben Kleine, News Herald Reporter summarizes, "A common charter school philosophy is students learn by doing."Photo: FreeDigitalPhotos.netAt University Academy, the elementary school that repurposed a former airport terminal, one example is Rock and Roll Academy. Fifth-graders Madeline Olive and Catherine Lee, both 10, recorded vocals on a song their band, the Geniuses, wrote called, "I’m Happy to Be Me." Teachers Aaron Bearden and Jennye Shaling preferred the rock and roll campers to write and perform their own music. Although Rock and Roll Academy is a regular class, the school hosted a Rock and Roll Academy camp over the summer. "What I like is that it has more opportunities," Olive said of her schooling at University Academy. "You get to have more fun. It’s hands on, everything." Both University Academy and the Bay Haven family of schools — North Bay Haven Elementary, Middle School and High School and Bay Haven K-8 — have exemplary records for school grades. Dating back to 2009, the schools earned a slew all but one A, and that grade was a B. Of the Bay Haven schools’ 119 graduating seniors from 2014-15, 20 had Advanced Placement honors and 108 students plan to attend universities in the fall, many receiving some of the $5.4 million in scholarships awarded Bay Haven students by various colleges. Out of the graduating class, 58 students participated in internships at the school. The school also had a National Merit scholar, now on a full ride to Auburn University. Bay Haven Chief Education Officer Tim Kitts said the explanation of the charter schools’ success is simple: They do things differently than other public schools.But Bay District Schools officials counter that the success of charter schools is based on cherry picking high-performing students... "There are multiple ways of solving a problem," University Academy Executive Director Judy Vandergrift said. "It’s all about problem solving."University Academy teaches STEAM — science, technology, engineering art and math. The way the course is organized is the first nine weeks are research and technology, the next nine weeks are debate and economics and the next nine weeks are devoted to visual art. "Technology is involved in all of that," Crowe said.For the school’s own problem solving, Crowe said they will try to divide students into different groups based on a variety of factors, behavior and intelligence being two. Like Bay Haven, Crowe said University Academy has a passionate group of parents. "Since we’re a school of choice, they’re choosing to apply here, the parents are more involved," Crowe said. Read more...Source: The News Herald

Photo: Paul Myers"Thousands of students are preparing to begin their job searches with newly earned STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) degrees in hand, eagerly waiting to use the logical, analytical and practical skills they’ve acquired." reports Paul Myers, Chair of Computer Science at Trinity University.  There is beauty in mathematical ideas and proofs. Photo: The Conversation USHowever, as qualified as they might be, they could be missing one critical component of the STEM field - art.I pursued an education and career in computer science and mathematics. And I know only too well that in the field of computer science, there is often an emphasis on elegance and beauty alongside sheer practicality. Indeed, programming itself is sometimes referred to as an art.It is the same in related fields. The discipline of mathematics has long championed beauty as an important quality of ideas and proofs. And, of course, many engineers value elegance and beauty as important components in their designs and solutions...Mathematical beauty around us Similarly, ideas of beauty and poetry have always been important in mathematics.Prominent mathematicians and computer scientists have long embraced elegance, beauty, poetry and literacy in the code that they write and the theorems that they prove.These ideas, in fact, have been around for millennia. Indeed, the extreme separation of the disciplines is relatively new in Western history.Those doing science (natural philosophy) and mathematics were also often doing poetry and music. Many of today’s disciplines were subsumed as philosophy. So contemporary surprise at the idea that science and mathematics could be poetic is a somewhat recent phenomenon.For example, Pythagoras was a philosopher/scientist/mystic/mathematician who explored beauty in art and music.This attention to beauty and pattern continued through Fibonacci and beyond.Fibonacci (13th century), considered to be the leading mathematician in the Middle Ages, is probably best known for the Fibonacci Sequence named after him: a number in the sequence is the sum of the previous two numbers (eg, start with 1, 2; then add to get 3. Then add 2, 3 to get 5, and it goes on: 1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,…). Fibonacci discovered that much else that we regard as beautiful follows this elegant pattern.This technical, mathematical beauty is evident in all of nature - from flower petals and shells to spiral galaxies and hurricanes.Read more... Source: The Conversation US

Most people who own a company would say that a big reason they’re in business is to make money. There’s more to being successful, however, than the absolute dollar amount you bring in. Revenue and profit are important, but alone they do not provide the full picture of a company’s overall health. Revenue shows how much you’ve earned and profits show how much money your company has made in absolute terms. Margin ratios, however, offer a look at your profitability by telling you how much you're making relative to your revenue. It's not an absolute metric, and that's a good thing. Read all of Profit Is Nice. Margins Are Even Better on QuickBooks.com.

Research shows that entrepreneurs with larger and more diverse networks grow their businesses bigger. Yet, networking can be uncomfortable, especially if you’re an introvert. Leave it to an introvert, Dorie Clark, to write a practical, actionable e-book, Stand Out Networking: A Simple and Authentic Way to Meet People on Your Own Terms, that anyone can follow. It maps out how to make meaningful connections that can lead to an investment, a major new customer or partnership, media coverage, a publishing contract, a speaking opportunity, and much more. Read all of How To Make The Connections That Make Things Happen on Forbes.com. read more

"Life very often throws some curious coincidences my way." continues Goa com. Just as I was preparing a presentation for architecture students at the Goa College of Architecture on ‘Architecture and Music’ and looking at the relationship of the Fibonacci sequence to music, what should appear in my newsfeed but the announcement of the famed piano firm Steinway and Sons unveiling its 600,000th piano, incorporating the iconic Fibonacci spiral in its design.Keilani plays the Fibonacci piano The veneer of the "Fibonacci" piano features the eponymous spiral made from six individual logs of Macassar Ebony, "creating a fluid design that represents the geometric harmony found in nature." In the words of designer Frank Pollaro, who spent over 6000 work-hours over four years in its creation: "Designing Steinway & Sons’ 600,000th piano was an honour and a challenge.  To me, knowing that this piano would become part of history meant that it had to be more than just a beautiful design, but also needed to visually convey a deeper message…as I considered the number 600,000, the Fibonacci spiral came to mind.  The way in which it continues to grow but stay true to its form is very much like Steinway and Sons over these many years. Combining the universal languages of music and mathematics suddenly made perfect sense."  Mind you, 600,000 is not a number in the Fibonacci sequence; I checked. 600,000 is between the 29th and 30th numbers in the Fibonacci series, which are 514,229 and 832,040 respectively. But Pollaro was nevertheless highlighting an interesting relationship between music and mathematics.  Named after the Italian mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci (c. 1170- c. 1250) who brought the Indian-Arabic numeral system to Europe, the Fibonacci series appear in nature and in music, and finds application in architecture and in instrument design, much before the Fibonacci Steinway.The basic ideas of the Fibonacci progression are contained in the writings of Indian scholar Pingala (300-200 BC) in his treatise on Sanskrit prosody. The Fibonacci numbers have the following integer sequence:  0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987 and onward. Each added number is the sum of two previous numbers before it.Read more... Related link To celebrate its 600,000th piano, Steinway & Sons has unveiled this absolute beaut of an instrument. 'The Fibonacci', as its name suggests features the iconic Fibonacci spiral and is made out of Macassar Ebony. It was designed by Frank Pollaro.Source: Goa com and KikuLani Channel (YouTube)

As part of my job, I write for our blog - in fact, our whole marketing team contributes content. The approach is great because it provides a variety of perspectives and voices and keeps a steady stream of content flowing … The post 6 Ideas to Inspire Your Next Blog Post appeared first on Bloomfire.

Zain e Learning Center organizes selected presentations for the best practices in the design, development, management and teaching of e-courses to demonstrate excellence, creativity and identification of the criteria for such excellence. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

In the previous installment we took our first look at the ADDIE model. We learned its general characteristics, considered its advantages and disadvantages, and also discussed at length the first stage of the ADDIE methodology - Analysis. In this installment we will tell you about Design, the second stage of the ADDIE methodology. All the requisite data is gathered during the analysis stage. Once we have learned what the course’s target audience is, set the goals we aim to achieve, and determined the best way to deliver the information, it is time to set about laying out the structure of the course. This is precisely what happens during the second stage. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

In order to get ahead in the world of business, most companies will have to stand out from the crowd and do something different. More often that not, this will involve bending the rules in someway, albeit legally and legitimately. [...]

Psalm 94:18-19 New International Version (NIV) 18 When I said, "My foot is slipping,"     your unfailing love, Lord, supported me. 19 When anxiety was great within me,     your consolation brought me joy.

Flipped Classroom Survey Highlights Benefits and Challenges — from facultyfocus.com Excerpt/Key findings: Results from the survey are based on the responses from the 1,089 Faculty Focus readers who completed the survey. Highlights include: More than two-thirds (69.5%) have tried flipping an activity, class, or course, and plan to do it again. Another 5.49% have tried […]

The world is getting smaller every day, and that means your business has the potential to work with clients from all over the world. The flip side of this is that you also have the chance to seriously embarrass yourself, and to alienate potential business partners when you smack face-first into language barriers. There are a lot of reasons to get translation services for your business aside from saving face. In this article, I'll discuss 4 benefits of translating eLearning. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

What happens when you feel like you're stuck in a career rut? How do you get moving in a different direction? I think we make things more complicated than they need to be. Here are three steps you can take....