Today's #ThrowbackThursday brings us to a post I wrote that explains why blogging is important for anyone who wants a voice in global the global conversations that matter to them. In the piece I share how in the short time my blog had been around, I already was seeing the ability a blog gave me to share important ideas. Many of the sites, I referred to back then no longer exist. Keeping a blog or website active is hard work. But for me it has been worth it.  Here's a little more about that post. Written: Friday, May 9, 2008Topic: Why blogWho might be interested: Anyone considering starting a blog.Favorite excerpt:  It is crucially important that our digital immigrant educators begin teaching in meaningful and engaging ways that our digital native students will pay attention too. Part of bridging the gap between the natives and the immigrants occurs when the immigrants are communicating with the natives in the 21st Century platforms to which they connect and are familiar. I want more »

It’s time to get ready for the death of paper.  I know you love it. I know it helps you think better if you can just write on paper. I know you love the smell and the feel of paper.Get over it.It’s dead. Stop killing trees. Stop wasting time and MONEY.  Stop saying we can’t afford to get tech for every kid so we need paper. That’s a lie. We can get a Chromebook that will last three years for $300 bucks.  That’s $100 a year per student. In places like New York we pay about 10k per year for students, but it’s not even about the spending.  We’d spend more than that in all the paper books, textbooks, printing, ink, printers, and MORE!  Getting rid of paper saves us money.No more paper.  No more books. No more teachers giving dirty looks at students who embrace digital devices for learning. I want more »

Educators who incorporate social media into the work of students must ensure responsible use. I asked members of The Innovative Educator group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheInnovativeEducator) for their advice to students when it comes to using social media responsibly. Here is what they said. I want more »

Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot of what people are trying, but not succeeding, to convey to others. They complain: "I tried to tell him…" (How to do that right. Not to do that. It wasn’t a good idea. This person was trouble, etc.) And, they think it is the fault of the person they tried to tell, for not listening.  However, when I ask how they tried to convey their message, I find sometimes the problem wasn't with the audience. Instead, it may be with the person "trying" to convey their message, idea, warning, or lesson. You’ve seen this if you’ve ever watched someone trying to teach a person or class that’s just not getting it. You can spot when and where they’ve lost the audience. Perhaps they said one thing, but meant to say something else. Maybe they went too fast and someone couldn’t keep up or too slow and they got bored. Maybe the class completely misunderstood what was being conveyed. Maybe they didn’t have the foundation to grasp the concept or idea.  Maybe they just didn’t explain clearly or didn’t wait until the audience was focused and ready to receive the information.Here’s the thing, if you want to be understood, it takes more work than just talking at your audience. There are some ways you can convey your message more clearly. This is important in general, but especially important for teachers to do effectively. Here are four strategies to keep in mind.I want more »

The power of the hashtag is to bring to the conversation what is missing from the conversation. That is what I discussed with Amy Coupal CEO of Learnography at ISTE in Philadelphia. Amy asked me what was missing from the conversation at ISTE and I realized that with hashtags we can include whatever it is we feel is missing from a conversation. For example, during the opening keynote, @soledadobrien showed a clip from a school that did not offer classes such as calculus required by some college programs.  A student was able to get the class added to the school's offerings, but ultimately, nearly all the students dropped out. What wasn't addressed is that this class looked extremely boring and there was no technology. It was not a place I could imagine anyone would choose to be. In short, what I wanted to add to the conversation, was that it is not enough to offer a class. We have to offer classes that make kids want to be there. Because I am Twitterate, I used the appropriate hashtag, my thoughts were heard, and I became a part of the conversation (you can see one such conversation here).  Gone are the days when we can gripe about a conference, news program, or really anything, missing the mark. With hashtags we can contribute to the solution. Hashtags allow us to enlist the talent and ideas of a global community. That is of course if you have, and share, a hashtag.  Whether you are running a conference, a school, or a business, hashtags are indeed the magic bullet to bring the community into the conversation.  You can watch our conversation in the 90 second video below.  

I’m not alone in my experience of education: I made it all the way through college without discovering what talents, passions, interests, or abilities I might have.As a result I graduated college with a diploma in one hand and with the other hand scratching my head in puzzlement. What on earth I was going to do with my life? This happened because, for the most part, school is not engineered to uncover a student’s genius. It is designed to uncover and reward specific academic talent. If you don’t think textbooks, teaching and testing your knowledge of unwanted subjects will strike a chord with you, you might consider staying well away from traditional school. Consider students like Aaron Iba and Nick Perez, who were considered failures in school despite having a passion for and achieving success in their real-world pursuits. This is a problem people like Mike Rowe of "Dirty Jobs" fame often points out. He started a movement (learn more at Profoundly Disconnected) to address the problem of a school system and national curriculum that are not designed to prepare students for fulfilling and independent lives. Worse, it completely dismisses, disregards and disrespects them.It doesn’t have to be this way.  Walk into a school practicing the schoolwide enrichment model and you’d find a that every child there develops and shares their passions and talents. They can explain how their teachers, mentors, and helpers in the community help them grow their talents. Enter a Big Picture Learning school, and you may be surprised to find on certain days their are no kids in school. That’s because they are out in the world about three days a week discovering and pursuing their talents and interests. They are supported by mentors and a school advisory. Rather than sit through a one-size-fits-all standards-based curriculum, students choose seminars that will help them excel in areas customized to their interests. There are standards tied to the student rather than the system.  Unfortunately, in the current standardized, test-dependent public school system, such models are rarely seen or they are relegated to after school programs. Schools are not designed to recognize the genius of those like Albert Einstein. He was considered a foolish dreamer by his teachers, and one teacher even asked him to drop out of his class. That didn’t stop Einstein. He just taught himself subjects he was interested in such as calculus which he began studying independently at age 12.But what if there was a way to change this for every child? What if there was a way to discover, honor, and develop a child’s strengths, talents, and interests? Isn’t that exactly what students and their parents want?  Now there is.  It’s called Thrively.  Thrively gives every child a strength-based assessment that uncovers the student’s talents, interests, and abilities.  It also shows them via short videos the kind of lives and careers others have pursued who have similar strengths. Next, Thrively shows them how to pursue their interests via face-to-face and online activities, videos, experiences, and apps to inspire and challenge students- all personalized to their unique strengths. Finally, Thrively provides a digital portfolio for students to capture and share their accomplishments.  Back in 2008 I worked on a similar project called the Personal Success Plan which was aligned to the Renzulli Learning System engine. It was a great tool that helps students to identify their interests, understand how to develop these interests into talents, associate themselves with role models, and — ultimately — create meaningful, attainable goals and plans.Unlike that platform, however, Thrively is available free of charge either to individuals or students in a classroom. The platforms matches students talents, interests, and potentials with all that will get them there. It is powered by the same technology that powers Pandora Radio.  This video provides an overview of Thrively:https://youtu.be/YawH7dtG_i8 There is finally a free tool that enables us to know and grow every child’s genius. Not only that, you can help students learn in ways that are tied to their interests and strengths.  Another plus for teachers is that you can group together students who share strengths and learning styles to work collaboratively on projects of interest.  Sound interesting? You, your child, or students can get started by visiting http://thrively.com and joining, then take your free strength assessment.  You can see mine here. Here is a snipet.  Here is what a teacher sees at a glance for each student. Check out Thrively now. Do your profile. Create your class. Have a look around. If you have contact information for your student’s families, reach out and have them start on their profile. You’ll know a lot about your students before the year starts. If you don’t, Thrively is the tool you should be using to start your year and drive your planning.  

There’s a massive shift in the way people are watching TV Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/theres-a-massive-shift-in-the-way-people-are-watching-tv-2015-6#ixzz3eUiD8bJy "While mobile devices are driving a significant uptick in digital video consumption in the US, OTT devices like smart TVs, connected devices, and gaming consoles are driving long-form premium content, according to a new report from Hulu. The popularity of OTT devices and time-shifted viewing habits for premium content drove OTT devices to account for almost 60% of all streams on Hulu in the first quarter of 2015. The share of video streams on PCs has fallen sequentially, and it will likely continue to do so in the quarters to come. In the most recent quarter, PCs accounted for less than one-fourth of Hulu’s digital streaming, down from 41% the same time last year. Mobile is holding steady. Mobile devices accounted for 17% of Hulu’s streams in the most recent quarter, which held steady from Q3 2014. This share is unlikely to remain flat, as greater phablet adoption in the US, among other factors, helps drive mobile video consumption. Hulu ascertains that mobile’s stagnant share, combined with the drop in PC viewing, points to a growing trend of living room streaming habits. When content is streamed to a large screen, viewers tend to watch with friends and family; OTT devices average 1.4 viewers per stream, and for certain programming, the "co-viewing" factor, as Hulu calls it, can reach an average of two viewers per stream." Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/theres-a-massive-shift-in-the-way-people-are-watching-tv-2015-6#ixzz3eUiOQYU3   Stephen

Feeling the Internet: How people with visual disabilities surf the web http://www.hopesandfears.com/hopes/future/technology/215239-internet-blind-braille "Can you imagine using a computer without a monitor? How would you know where to click, where to type or what images your screen should be showing? These challenges are very real for people who are blind and visually impaired. Most of us have never considered how we would use a computer, let alone the internet without sight. Though the early internet consisted mostly of text-based BB boards and emails, as the web sped up, images, videos and graphics came to dominate its design. Though the visually impaired are cut off from much of what we think of as the internet, they can, and do, use it in as many ways as everyone else. Computers can be challenging without sight, but the solutions that have emerged are ingenious, and constantly evolving. Some recent advancements in tech, such as smartphones, wearables and connected products, may even come to benefit visually impaired people more than the sighted. But without help from the sighted, many of the functions we enjoy online will remain inaccessible to the visually impaired. The first step to change that is understanding the challenges. Here’s a tour of a side of the web that sighted people can’t see, guided by those who know it best."   Stephen

Higher Education (U.S.): New Data Released on Postsecondary Tuition, Fees and Degrees Via Gary Price at LJ InfoDocket http://www.infodocket.com/2015/07/23/higher-education-u-s-new-data-released-on-postsecondary-tuition-fees-and-degrees/ "From the National Center for Education Statistics: Between 2012-13 and 2014-15, the average tuition and required fees at 4-year public institutions (after adjusting for inflation) increased approximately the same for both in-state and out-of-state students (a nearly 3 percent increase for both). During that same time period, 4-year nonprofit institutions increased overall at 3 percent. However, for-profit institutions reported a 2 percent decrease. This First Look presents findings from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) fall 2014 data collection, which included three survey components: institutional characteristics for 2014-15—such as degrees offered, type of program, application information, and tuition and other costs; the number and type of degrees conferred from July 2013 through June 2014; and 12-month enrollment data for the 2013-14 academic year. Other findings include: In 2014-15, of the 7,311 Title IV institutions in the United States and other U.S. jurisdictions, 3,100 were classified as 4-year institutions, 2,156 were 2-year institutions, and the remaining 2,055 were less-than-2-year institutions. Of the roughly 3.2 million students receiving degrees at 4-year Title IV institutions, 58 percent received a bachelor’s degree. This percentage varied by control of institution, with 65 percent of the 1.8 million students at public institutions receiving a bachelor’s degree, 53 percent of the roughly 1.0 million students at private nonprofit institutions receiving a bachelor’s degree, and 39 percent of the roughly 355,000 student at private for-profit institutions receiving a bachelor’s degree. Institutions reported a 12-month unduplicated headcount enrollment totaling about 27.8 million individual students. Of these, roughly 24.1 million were undergraduates and approximately 3.8 million were graduate students. Direct to Full Text Report/Data (16 pages; PDF) and Embedded Below Postsecondary Institutions and Price of Attendance in 2014-15; Degrees and Other Awards Conferred: 2013-14;… by LJ’s infoDOCKET" Stephen

Tumblr for Public Libraries Tumblr for Public Libraries Workshop from ALATechSource Stephen

Blending Learning: The Evolution of Online and Face-to-Face Education from 2008-2015 "From the iNACOL report: Emerging models in other countries, such as Singapore and Australia, as well as in higher education, suggest that a large part of the future of education will involve blended learning instructional models offering content, resources, and data-driven teaching both digitally and face-to-face. Over the past decade, we have seen this trend take shape as more schools opt for a blended approach to harness what is possible, optimizing their instructional model for student success." http://www.inacol.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/iNACOL_Blended-Learning-The-Evolution-of-Online-And-Face-to-Face-Education-from-2008-2015.pdf Stephen

The Science Behind Creating Buyer Personas http://www.coolinfographics.com/blog/2015/7/29/the-science-behind-creating-buyer-personas.html Stephen

Marketing Lessons From Hollywood Blockbusters (Infographic) http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/marketing-lessons-from-hollywood-blockbusters-infographic/624058 Stephen

New Privacy Guidelines for Ebooks http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/blogs/e-content/new-privacy-guidelines-ebooks/ "ALA’s Intellectual Freedom Committee (IFC) recently published "Library Privacy Guidelines for E-book Lending and Digital Content Vendors." The document outlines principles for vendors to follow to protect the privacy of library users while delivering digital content and services. The document was developed with input from a number of groups with an interest in privacy and was endorsed during the 2015 ALA Annual Conference by both the Intellectual Freedom Committee and the Digital Content Working Group. Libraries and vendors must work together to develop best practices that respect the reader’s right to privacy while still allowing online personalization and compelling user experiences. "Library Privacy Guidelines for E-book Lending and Digital Content Vendors" provides a starting point for that work. As ALA President Sari Feldman said in a press release announcing the guidelines: "Even as libraries transform to offer content via new technologies and delivery systems, librarians remain staunch protectors of patrons’ privacy. These guidelines are an important step in helping libraries work with vendors to develop necessary protections for readers’ privacy." The guidelines are available on the ALA website." Stephen

Here’s a quick reminder just how enormous Facebook is http://uk.businessinsider.com/how-many-users-each-facebook-app-has-2015-3?r=US&IR=T Stephen

Jeff sits down with Jon Phillips, Managing Director, Strategy of Worldwide Education at Dell Education to discuss their global strategy for educational professional development. In todays episode, we discuss Dell’s  Teaching and Learning Academy and how teachers can have access to a robust learning network to help them in their classrooms. About Dell Education Dell Inc. is committed to helping students develop the knowledge and skills they need to learn and succeed in an increasingly digital world and a globally competitive workforce. As a top provider of technology and services to schools, Dell listens to and works with students, educators, administrators, parents and community members around the world to deliver innovative technology and services that give them the power to do more in and out of the classroom. Learn more about Dell in Education at www.dell.com. Follow us on Twitter @DellEDU. Links of interest Dell Education | @DellEDU Jon Phillip’s Twitter | @2scale About Guest Jon Phillips is Managing Director, Strategy of Worldwide Education at Dell. In this role, he leads the global strategy for Dell’s education services and solutions. Working as part of Dell’s team of education experts, he helps to create technology solutions specifically designed to personalize learning for students and to increase efficiency in schools and universities around the world. He also leads operations management, product development and go-to-market strategies across the education business. Prior to Dell, Phillips worked at McMillan Publishing, a division of Pearson Education and Course Technology a Cengage Learning educational technology group. He is a seasoned executive with over 20 years of experience successfully helping organizations with business strategy and operational execution. Share the Love If you enjoyed the show, please rate us on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Please join the TechEducator Podcast LIVE every Sunday night at 7:00 P.M. EST on http://www.TeacherCast.tv Learn How To Launch Your Very Own Podcast! Are you interested in learning how to podcast? Do you want to share podcasting with your students or perhaps create a podcast from your own home?  Jeff is available for one-on-one consulting to help you learn how to bring your podcasting ideas to life. Email: info@teachercast.net Voice Mail: http://www.TeacherCast.net/voicemail Check out our Educators Guide to Podcasting today! | Video | Slideshare Presentation Please contact to become a guest on the show Host: Jeff Bradbury @TeacherCast Email: info@teachercast.net Voice Mail: http://www.TeacherCast.net/voicemail YouTube: http://www.TeacherCast.net/YouTube iTunes: http://www.TeacherCast.net/iTunes View LIVE Professional Development from TeacherCast Watch LIVE: http://www.TeacherCast.tv | Broadcasting Schedule (http://www.teachercast.net/showcal) TeacherCast Broadcasting Community: http://www.TeacherCast.net/broadcastingcommunity Invite TeacherCast to Speak or Broadcast at your conference Jeff Bradbury (@TeacherCast) is available as a Keynote Speaker, Presenter, or to Broadcast your conference LIVE! Check out more TeacherCast Educational Broadcasting Network Shows TeacherCast Podcast (http://www.teachercast.net/education/teachercast-broadcasting/) TeacherCast App Spotlight (http://www.teachercast.net/education/teachercast-broadcasting/the-teachercast-app-spotlight/) Educational Podcasting Today (http://www.educationalpodcasting.today) The TechEducator Podcast (http://www.techeducatorpodcast.com)

Are you an educator? Are you on Twitter? Do you know Craig yen??? Of course… if the answer to 1 and 2 are yes… the answer to 3 MUST be YES! The Setup On August 1, the world participated in EdCamp Global. During my session called "Present Like a WWE Superstar" I invited several educators from across the world to join me in the Google Hangout to learn how two properly give a WWE style presentation.  What happened was truly amazing. Instead of the group creating promos for their classes, the group started creating promo’s sharing reasons why Craig Yen is simply AMAZING! So…. We are turning this into an interactive activity and we want YOU To join us. How Can I Participate? Join us in celebrating Mr. Craig Yen by submitting your 1 min "Craig Yen Promo" Grab your webcam and create a WWE style promo telling us why Craig Yen is the #1 Connected Educator on the planet! Please send a link to your completed (downloadable) video to TeacherCast and we will compile all videos into a single video. What Can I Do To Support? If you are a friend or a fan of the amazing Craig Yen, please take a moment to share this post with them and encourage them to share their thoughts and feelings on how wonderful Craig is. Thanks for your help and support and we look forward to seeing your videos. Jeff

I have talked with some teachers recently about using programming to model systems. This is great and super duper common core thinking as a way to demonstrate understanding. Using Scratch or the Ipad programming app, Hopscotch students can create presentations, animations, and interactive games. This lesson is a great application of an open studio app and allows for student creativity, while allowing for easy assessment. The goal is content-based and not tool based. This lesson was mid way through the year and the students all had some experience programming in Hopscotch. This is the text I put in front of my fifth graders in STEM class. ______________________________________ _______ One of the ways we can demonstrate how well we understand a system is to create a simulation of that system. Our Guiding Question What are the significant parts of the system of photosynthesis? How do they relate? Getting Started Begin by sketching the system you want to animate. Think about which pieces need to move and change and which will stay motionless? Take it to the Tablet You will be using Hopscotch to animate a model of photosynthesis. I suggest you investigate the emoji keyboard for the sun, rain, plants, flowers and arrows. Your model needs to clearly show how photosynthesis works. Be sure to get your basic functionality down first, and then make it more complex. Let’s see what they came up with: Can you imagine your students modelling a system you study? Which system would it be? Share your ideas in the comments and let’s get more students coding to learn in all subject areas! Coding to Learn is blowing my mind! so many ways to show and grow understanding #csk8Click To Tweet

It seems that no matter how hard you try students just don't ever seem to put in as much work outside of class as you would like them to; or, and this can be even more frustrating, students practice their language skills in highly ineffective ways (more on that in a future post). This fact leads to the following conundrum, how can you, as a language teacher, get students to work outside of class?The answer is you can't - people are going to do what they are going to do. However, what teachers can do is try to make the work they assign as relevant and (gasp!) fun as possible.It is in this spirit that I suggest the following activity given to me by Anthony Teacher. I haven't tried it yet but I have a good feeling about it.Read more »

Zarina Subhan is an experienced teacher and teacher trainer. She has taught and delivered teacher training at all levels, across the world. She joins us on the blog today for the fourth article in a series focused on boosting classroom participation. Last week, she covered embracing different learning styles to widen your reach in class. This week, Zarina examines how changing your questioning technique can boost interest and interaction in your EFL classroom.  "Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers" - Voltaire The above quotation can also be applied to teachers, whatever their gender! Questioning is a vital part of most language lessons, but this essential technique can be difficult to master. Do you find that some students never answer? Do you avoid singling out members of your class who find direct questions intimidating? And what do you do when your questions are met with resounding silence? In this article, I’ll be suggesting some creative ways to get around these common problems. Accepting non-verbal responses When asking questions to a class, we can often rely on the same students to participate and hope the rest are paying attention so that they learn from others’ answers. To encourage participation from as many students as possible, you could consider accepting responses in other ways: Use a voting system which encourages students to offer a kinaesthetic, rather than a spoken response. For example, stick a "Yes"/ "No"; "True"/"False"; "Agree"/"Disagree" label on opposite sides of the room and ask students to move and stand under the correct answer. If you have access to mini-whiteboards held by each student, ask your class to write down their answers in response to your question. This is useful if multiple choice answers are possible, when asking for synonyms/antonyms, investigating parts of speech or grammar, and for brainstorming ideas as well as voting. Distribute cards labelled ‘true’ and ‘false’, and ask students to hold up their responses. If you use a colour code, for example, making ‘true’ cards green and ‘red’ cards false, it makes it easier to quickly assess the opinion of the group. Provide more thinking time We all know the feeling when we ask a question and no one answers - but what do you do about it? Silences can feel uncomfortable, and one common occurrence is that the teacher ends up answering themselves, without giving students enough thinking time. Studies have shown that on average a teacher waits 1-3 seconds for a response. Thinking time in the first language actually takes 7-10 seconds, so for students who are studying a foreign language, we need to be giving 10-15 seconds at the very least for a response. Otherwise they will be unable to process the question and consider the answer in English before saying it out loud. (Boyes and Watts, 2009) Here’s a technique you can use in class to allow for more thinking time. It also has the advantage of bringing more students into the discussion. Choose a student (student A) to answer your question, but don’t say whether you think they are right or not. Ask a second student (student B) if s/he agrees with student A. Still not saying what your opinion is, open it up to the whole class to get more involved, and only then give the ‘correct’ answer. This provides much more thinking time and keeps students on their toes as they may be asked next. It works particularly well if students have had time to consider the questions in pairs or groups beforehand. They can then test out possible answers in the safer environment of their small group first. Also, if you monitor your students during this discussion time, you can pick two opposing answers which the whole class can then go on to exploit. This should encourage a flurry of agreements and disagreements, as the other students reconsider their answers. When you single out individuals, be sure to create a safe atmosphere. If teachers randomly choose a student to provide an answer without providing the chance to discuss things, it can cause a lot of anxiety. Another way of creating a feeling of safety is to praise all answers, not only the correct ones. Praise the participation or the fact that they are thinking about a different point that you weren’t considering, before rephrasing the question and throwing it out there again. So for an incorrect answer: Accept the incorrect answer. Add some additional questions (which may seem like baby steps) until the student who got it wrong can see what you were expecting from the original question. Go back to the student who got it wrong, to give them a second chance. If students are embarrassed in public, they are far less likely to answer next time, so we need to avoid this at all costs. Why ask questions? And finally, it’s worth thinking about why asking questions is so important. The 2012 handbook of the UK Office of Standards in Education says inspectors must decide whether teachers use questioning to assess the effectiveness of their teaching and promote pupils’ learning. By using questions to guide our students towards particular answers, we are checking that what we are teaching has been understood. Just in case some students have slipped through the net of understanding, questions should be a way of catching them and preventing them from falling into the waters of confusion. By encouraging more students to respond to questions, we promote the expectation that we require our students to contribute, and that we won’t accept "Don’t know" as an answer. By thinking carefully about how we set questions up and how we phrase them, we can help our students to reach the answers that they previously thought they couldn’t. And from their answers, you learn a lot about your teaching! Look out for my next article in the series next week - I’ll be exploring the benefits of really listening carefully to your students. This article was first published in the September 2014 issue of Teaching Adults. To find out more about the newsletter and to sign up, click here.  References Boyes, K. and G. Watts (2009) Developing Habits of Mind in Elementary Schools. ASCD http://www.fromgoodtooutstanding.com/2012/05/ofsted-2012-questioning-topromote-learningFiled under: Adults / Young Adults, Professional Development Tagged: EAP, questioning, Teaching adults, verbal skills

For trainer-teacher-learners with backgrounds in journalism—and I suspect there are plenty of us—attending the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (AEJMC)  98th Annual Conference (held here in San Francisco this year) is a bit of a homecoming. It’s not just the joy of being around more than 2,000 thoughtful, innovative colleagues from all over the world as we explore trends, challenges, and developments in journalism and mass communication; it’s an opportunity to see how our training-teaching-learning colleagues in a vitally important part of our contemporary world are continuing to hone their own skills while fostering the next generation(s) of professionals who will shape the face of the industry and the world it serves. As is the case with any ambitiously-designed conference, the number of sessions to explore is overwhelming and hints at the importance of incorporating at least a couple of digital-literacy skills into the experience of treating conferences as part of our lifelong-learning experiences: the skill of sifting through torrents of information (in this case, to initially identify what is most likely to contribute to our own lifelong-learning needs), and an ability to use digital resources to enhance our learning. These skills, I might add, are clearly essential not just to the journalism and mass communications colleagues whose company I’m currently enjoying, but to any of us involved in the constantly-evolving world of training-teaching-learning. The sifting, in this case, takes place at a variety of levels. Access to the online schedule before arriving onsite at the conference gave us an opportunity to make preliminary decisions regarding which sessions would most likely meet our learning needs. Receiving the printed copy of the 270-page conference book onsite allows us to fine-tune those choices a bit more. Following the Twitter feed from the conference draws our attention to colleagues’ recommendations for opportunities we might otherwise have missed. And hallway conversations add the icing to the conference cake by giving us opportunities to meet presenters whose sessions might otherwise not have made it onto our must-attend lists. Using digital resources to enhance our learning not only while we’re here but long after the conference formally concludes is something equally worth noting and exploring. The simple act of tweeting highlights from sessions we attend pays off at several levels: we produce a set of online notes to which we later can return to continue our learning; we see onsite colleagues’ tweets from those sessions and others we are not physically able to join, thereby increasing the breadth and scope of our conference/learning experience; we occasionally engage online with colleagues who couldn’t be here physically but feel less "left behind" because of our online exchanges; and the natural inclination to occasionally, while a session is underway, go online to find a site that further explains what is being discussed means we are extending the reach of these physical learning spaces well into the virtual world to create an onsite-online classroom that is limited only by our imaginations and access to the Internet. This plays out nicely, as I saw during a "State of the Industry" panel discussion—the first session I was able to attend at the conference—yesterday afternoon. At the heart of the learning experience was a first-rate set of panelists: panel moderator Bob Papper, Director, RTDNA (Radio Television Digital News Association) /Hofstra University Annual [Industry] Survey; Teri Hayt, Executive Director, American Society of News Editors (ASNE); David Smydra, Executive Producer, Google Play Newstand; and Robert Hernandez, Associate Professor of Professional Practice at USC Annenberg. Adding to the experience was our ability, while tweeting highlights of the session, to see tweets from colleagues in other sessions where subject matter occasionally complemented what we were absorbing—which provided an opportunity, at a limited level, to actually create a much larger virtual learning space than any of us might have anticipated. Another element—common to what I experience while attending conferences these days—was the opportunity to extend that virtual classroom to include online resources that could provide additional background to unfamiliar topics the panelists were presenting. The online-resources-as-extension-of-learning-space opportunity was particularly rewarding when Smydra introduced us to the concept of Structured Journalism—something he described as being "what digital media wants journalism to be" in that it makes the various bits and pieces of data (in various media) collected by journalists and the numerous resources going into news stories more accessible and reusable than they otherwise might be. While he was valiantly attempting to describe this somewhat complex concept in a brief period of time by providing visually-appealing examples (e.g., the Thomson Reuters Connected China project), I continued to listen to him and glance at his slides while also doing a quick online search to see whether he had any online resources providing a more in-depth exploration of the topic. And there, among the gems, was the article "Structured journalism offers readers a different kind of story experience," written by Chava Gourarie for the Columbia Journalism Review and including quotes form Smydra, including this one that captures the concept beautifully: "It not only produces incredible stories but creates this reservoir of material that reporters and readers can call upon for future stories." It was at that moment that I realized I was experiencing a key learning moment described by so many of our best training-teaching-learning colleagues: that moment of learning that builds upon what we previously learned. As a blogger (as opposed to the broader role of writing articles and co-writing a book), I’ve come to appreciate the obvious and unique art form online writing offers: the ability to develop a cohesive piece of work that, through hyperlinks, allows readers to read start-to-finish or take as many detours as they care to take—and if I also make the piece more visually stimulating by embedding photographs or images of videos that include live links, I’ve further taken advantage of what this particular art form offers me and those who read my work. Smydra’s comments inspired an instantaneous building-upon-previous-learning leap from what I have been seeing in blogging to what I was beginning to see in Structured Journalism: a form that includes writing, imagery, video work, and more combined as unique, innovative, creative mash-ups providing another cohesive form of work/writing/journalism—with the added benefit of producing additional unique elements/source material that could be repurposed elsewhere. As I continue thinking about what Smydra and his colleagues provided through their presentations, I continue taking advantage of the numerous streams of information and other resources that make conferences so richly rewarding as part of our lifelong learning landscape. There are the tweets. The conversations over a meal during an opening-night reception last night. The Storify recap of conference highlights from sessions yesterday. The bookmarked websites I accessed to write this piece as well as the websites to which I haven’t yet had time to return. My own stream of conference-related tweets (August 6 - 9, 2015) through my @trainersleaders Twitter account. And links to PowerPoint slide decks and other resources allowing us to draw upon our digital-literacy skills to continue the learning that is proving so rewarding in this and expanded moments of learning. All of which makes me suspect that Structured Journalism is already claiming a place in my training-teaching-learning-writing world. N.B. - This report from the AEJMC 2015 Annual Conference is also the fifth in a series of reflections inspired by our ALA Editions "Rethinking Digital Literacy" course.

Mobile learning, or mLearning, is one of the most popular topics in the L&D industry, but it certainly is not anything new. InfoPro Learning has been creating mobile learning solutions for more than 10 years, starting with the development of learning content to be consumed on the Palm Pilot. Back then, devices were not readily connected to the internet and virtually no company had a BYOD environment. It is a stark contrast to the mobile environment we have today. The mobile learning environment today is as complex, as it is dynamic. Data is being transmitted faster than ever, through networks that are larger than ever, on devices that are smarter than ever. This has created serious challenges for L&D professionals trying to keep pace. As an answer to this dynamic environment, InfoPro Learning invented the Mobisode for mobile learning. In the video above, you will learn more about the challenges that led InfoPro Learning to create a Mobisode, the definition of a Mobisode, and most importantly, how you can create a Mobisode using the resources within your own company. About the author: Nolan spends the majority of his time performing marketing research in the L&D industry to help understand the most common and pressing challenges of the industry.  He uses this information to help formulate cutting-edge learning solutions that are designed to maximize business performance and return on investment. The post Understanding the Basics of a Mobisode appeared first on .

We are excited to be heading to ASAE Annual Meeting & Expo 2015 at the weekend!   The ASAE Annual Conference is the biggest Association Conference and draws the widest audience of technology and hospitality attendees. The event runs from Saturday, August 8 to Tuesday, August 11 and the schedule is jam packed with educational sessions, learning labs and social events.   We are looking forward to making the most of our time there, both by attending sessions and while exhibiting in the Expo Hall.   TopClass LMS, the most flexible way to truly integrate with your AMS   With our Learning Management System, you can setup all forms of training courses in your Association Management Software and have them automatically published to the LMS. Without re-keying any data, our two-way AMS product bridge will automatically synchronize the information, regardless of how your education products are setup in your AMS.   For the learners, the workflows are kept simple. Consistent branding, single sign-on, and automatic user creation allow your members to access training directly from your website. User achievements, including CE credits, are sent back to your AMS for real-time synchronization to allow you to reach and connect with your Education and Certification members in more effective ways.   Want to learn more about our LMS and our AMS bridge?   We will have Gilles Defer, VP of Sales and Marketing, Mike Bourassa, Director of Business Development and Alison Clery, QA Manager, representing WBT Systems over the course of the conference.   They will be demonstrating TopClass 9.8 at booth #505, so be sure to stop by!   Or if you prefer, you can make an appointment online by logging in the ASAE Attendee Service Center (ASC) and clicking on ‘Expo Connector‘.

The awesome community of ELH has a weekly challenge for e-learning enthusiasts. Amazing challenges, and contributions! This particular challenge is about building interesting and interactive ‘Gate Screens’ for courses. Here is my contribution. I applied a different approach - mOTP. In this, a person has to give his mobile number for authentication.… Read the rest...