Murder in the shelves

I love, love, love this image from scampion from a library’s Murder Mystery section:

Actually it’s a tape outline, and it’s been drawing the public’s attention to the library’s mysteries section for several months. The librarian decided to try it after rearranging the shelves housing the fiction genres. A staff member created the outline with the help of a (living) high school student volunteer.

 

Why you need to go mobile now

I like this slideshow by Tijs Vrolix : 10 Reasons Why NOW is the Perfect Time to get Started with the Mobile Web:

http://www.slideshare.net/tijs/10-reasons-why-now-is-the-perfect-time-to-get-started-with-the-mobile-web#

 

Please people – have an opinion

by  Stewf

I liked yesterday’s post from Seth Godin’s blog about how frustrating it is when you ask someone their opinion and they don’t want to admit they have no opinion and then hide behind counter-questions:

Too many people, when asked for their opinion, dissemble. Instead of giving an opinion, they push back. They ask,

• What do you think?
• Did you do any research?
• Can we do a focus group?
• What did Will say?
• There’s a typo on page three
• How long do we have to study this?
• Can we form a committee?

This is the work of the resistance. This is your lizard brain, hiding. It feels safe. It’s not.

You’re an expert. If nothing else, you’re an expert on life, on your opinion, on being a consumer. When I ask you for your opinion I’m not asking you for the right answer. I’m asking you for your opinion.

I know I’ve been accused in the past of being opinionated – but honestly people at least I have an opinion!

 

50 best blogs for education

by  tarop

The folks at Online Universities.com have released their 50 Best Blogs for Education Leaders which they say will fill you in on the latest news, offer inspiration, and ensure that you are up-to-date with the latest educational technologies so you can be the best education leader you can be.

The list of 50 is subdivided into 6:

1. Education News
2. Subject Specific
3. Inspiration and Innovation
4. Educational Policy
5. Educational Technology
6. E-Learning and Online Education

There are some great new additions, and a few old favorites, to the list and well worth a click-through.

 

Back again!

Hi there!

I haven’t posted in months and there are a few good reasons for that:

1) I was on leave for a whole month during Dec/Jan and I really struggled to get back into the blogging routine (blame it on too many mornings sleeping late!)

2) I’m just over 3 months pregnant =) and the morning sickness and all those lovely symptoms made me just fit enough to come to work and do my bit. Nothing extra people.

But now that the holiday memories are growing dimmer and I’m entering the so-called honeymoon phase of my pregnancy I’d better start keeping up with what’s going on the world!

 

Sesame Street is 40! (And the Cookie Monsters is in the library)

 

Happy Birthday Firefox

 

Left vs Right explained

I’ve never really understood the American political system – choosing between only two parties sounds totally different from our last election in SA where there were more than 14 parties on the ballot.

The infographic below, from InformationIsBeautiful, shows me in an easy way what the main differences between the Republicans and the Democrats are and could be very useful to illustrate the differences between two parties. Showing the differences between 14 parties, now that will be a challenge!

click on image to enlarge

 

Best of E-learning learning

I can’t believe it’s been a week since Tony Karrer‘s last “best of” list and I still haven’t been able to play with half of the sites he listed in his last list! But I’m sure this list will be filled with even more goodies for me to play with. The links to Audacity makes me excited as I have that on my list of things to learn for October – thanks Tony!

Upcoming Free eLearning Webinars

• Metrics for the Modern CLO: How to Measure Formal and Informal Learning Thursday, October 08, 2009 This webinar covers how to define a measurement strategy that encompasses all types of learning, how to measure effectiveness and use of informal learning, new tools to make measurement easier, and how to find the metrics that matter most to your business. Seems interesting but the timing is, unfortunately, all wrong for me in South Africa
  
• Social Media: Trends and Implications for Learning
  Tuesday, October 13, 2009 This one looks very interesting as it will explore the impact of new technologies, research, and related projects and it asks the question I want answered: should academics and education leaders respond? They have it on 3 days, so don’t worry if you miss the October session.
  
• Gaining Leverage From Leadership
  Wednesday, October 14, 2009
• Formalizing Informal Learning …What? Why? How?
  Thursday, October 15, 2009 This webinar will cover non-formal learning approaches and technologies; the best application of these approaches and technologies and how to formalize and make non-formal learning in your organization

Featured Sources

The following are the top items from featured sources based on social signals.

1. I Finally Get It – Why Social Networking is So Important- Engaged Learning, September 29, 2009 – Kevin does a great job of explaining the difference between Web 1.0, a Content Management System (CMS), Web 2.0, Social Media and Social Networking and then stresses the importance of Social Networking as a story telling tool
2. Flash Accessibility (508 Compliance)- MinuteBio, September 13, 2009 - this site as a link on how to create Flash sites accessible to people with disabilities. At my institution we have many such students and this will be a helpful post to bookmark
3. Characteristics of Adult Learners- The eLearning Coach, September 28, 2009 – I blogged about this last week
4. eLearning Strategy- eLearning Technology, September 14, 2009 - a great post from Tony about getting your strategy together before you start waving elearning about with some thought proving questions and resources to use
5. E-Learning Debate 2009- Clive on Learning, September 30, 2009 – follow a great debate on “This house believes that the e-learning of today is essential for the important skills of tomorrow”with Clive Shepard giving you all the juicy For and Against arguments. Then make up your own mind.
6. Learning Strategies You Can Use- Road to Learning, September 9, 2009 – it was the words “you can use” that drew my attention to this post from Sreya Dutta and as it links nicely to Tony’s post above (#4) it’s well worth a read
7. Business applications of Twitter- E-learning in the Corporate Sector, September 3, 2009
8. Presentation: Fear and Loathing in Social Media- Dont Waste Your Time, September 19, 2009 – I love presenting (ok, maybe not the first few minutes, but once the audience laughs or even giggles or even smiles at one of my lame jokes I’m loving it!) and I love making presentations informative AND fun and this one from David Griner is great. Blogged about it last week as well.
9. Nothing More Important in my Life Than Blogging- eLearning Technology, September 1, 2009 – A great vid between Seth Godin and Tom Peters. Trust me just watch the video and be inspired!
10. Instructional Designers need more tools than just writing!- Free as in Freedom, September 5, 2009
11. Moodle LMS: Hot Potatoes is Now Free!- The E-Learning Curve, September 15, 2009
12. The Finnish Education System Rocks! Why?- ZaidLearn, September 26, 2009
13. Video: Bring your presentation alive- Dont Waste Your Time, September 10, 2009 - shows you how to create photo effects that you can use in Powerpoint. Seems like a LOT of work though for one little shadow…
    
14. Adult learning shminciples- E-learning in the Corporate Sector, September 28, 2009 – I like this section of Ryan’s post [there are] times when one approach might be more appropriate than the other, in light of the circumstances and the needs of the leaner
15. Discussion Forums for Knowledge Sharing at Capital City Bank- eLearning Technology, September 15, 2009
16. eLearning Authoring Tools Review — Help!- Learning Visions, September 21, 2009 – Cammy’s post of last week. So if you are using authoring tools, please go and help her out.
17. Learnerprise 2.0: Why Learning 2.0 & Enterprise 2.0 Should Align- trainingwreck, September 5, 2009
18. My Personal Learning Environment- Sticky Learning, September 2, 2009
19. Presentation Resources- Kapp Notes, September 1, 2009
20. The Fallacy of Open/Closed Culture in Social Business Design- Skilful Minds, September 22, 2009
21. Quotes websites- Take an e-Learning Break, September 1, 2009
22. What to take into account when developing online courses for learners in low resource settings- Ignatia Webs, September 24, 2009 – most of my institution’s students are from low resource areas (think little electricity, little running water, no infrastructure to speak of etc) and Inge de Waard’s slideshow shares her experience and learning curve when dealing with such students
23. Let the Learners Hold the Spoon- Bozarthzone , September 23, 2009
24. Demand for Instructional Designers- Experiencing eLearning, September 18, 2009
25. What does a real life e-learning strategy look like?- e-bites, September 17, 2009
26. Learning – augmented- Lars is Learning, September 9, 2009
27. How do I learn to teach online?- eLearning Acupuncture, September 9, 2009
28. Patterns at Play – Fundamental to Games- Upside Learning Blog, September 9, 2009
29. Where to get pre keyed (green screen) video footage for your web video or online project.- Business Casual, September 7, 2009
30. Corporate learning not preparing workers for the future- Internet Time, September 23, 2009
31. Corporations need to catch up on open content- Informal Learning, September 17, 2009
32. What Makes Online Learning Effective?- aLearning, September 29, 2009
33. A Session in Snapshots – Networking and Learning- Blogger in Middle-earth, September 29, 2009
34. Game of the Week : FarmVille- The Writers Gateway, September 28, 2009 - ok,ok I admit it I’m a FarmVille farmer and I’m only admitting it bec according to this great post I’m actually the Theory of Constructivism while doing immersed learning which will spark my creativity! (And here I thought I was milking cows and planting pumpkins)
35. Top five tips for managing resources- Spicy Learning, September 29, 2009
36. How I Created Help Tutorials for My LMS- Discovery Through eLearning, September 28, 2009
37. Five Warning Signs That Your Training is Expendable- Leveraging Learning, September 28, 2009 – this is a post well worth reading to make sure that your training and training material is not irrelevant for users
38. From Maslow to Morozov- Simply Speaking, September 24, 2009
39. How to be a Successful Technical Writer- Learn and Lead, September 19, 2009
40. Web 2.0 & ROI- Web 2.0 and Learning, September 20, 2009
41. get the file size you want …- Adobe Captivate Blog, September 11, 2009
42. 7 Traits an ID Must Have- Speak Out, September 7, 2009
43. Harvesting Learning’s Fruit: A Downstream Training Investment- Living in Learning, September 4, 2009
44. Blogging my homework: I don’t wanna be a Bob!!- Adventures in Corporate Education, September 2, 2009
45. Everyone is Talking About Social Media- Element K Blog, September 2, 2009
46. Working with Subject Matter Experts- The Learning Circuits Blog, September 1, 2009

Other Sources

The following are the top items based on social signals.

1. 10 Sites to Learn Something New in 10 Minutes a Day, September 25, 2009
2. My social learning presentations – on Slideshare, September 29, 2009 - Jane’s presentation is one of my favourites – she never disappoints
3. ADDIE is dead! Long live ADDIE!, September 9, 2009
4. Over 100 Free Handwritten Fonts, September 29, 2009
5. Photos you can use, September 27, 2009 – great list of photo sites that you can use either freely or under the Creative Commons license
6. Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text, September 1, 2009
7. Social Learning Models, September 27, 2009
8. It’s Not the Tool That’s Boring. It’s You., September 28, 2009 – Yep this title beggs to be read and confirms what we’ve been meaning to tell so many presenters
9. How to Create a Visual Design for Your E-Learning Scenario, September 22, 2009 – the words visual, design, e-learning and scenario was enough to get me interested
10. 21st-century skills: Downes’s OS for the mind, September 30, 2009
11. Color Basics: Dos and Dont’s, September 12, 2009
12. The Best Ever Instructional Design Model List., September 13, 2009
13. How to use Twitter on Campus, September 18, 2009
14. The 7 c’s of natural learning, September 18, 2009
15. 10 Tips for Recording Audio on Screencasts, September 15, 2009 - tips that are very helpful indeed! I did a voice-over for a library project earlier in the year and almost all the tips in this post was given to me by the sound engineers as well. The only one not on – chew bubblegum before the recording and keep the gum in your cheek. It will stop the clicking sounds.
16. How to build an online community | Community Building, September 16, 2009
17. See How Easily You Can Create Graphics in PowerPoint, September 1, 2009
18. An “Admirable Use” Policy, September 21, 2009
19. Seed, feed, & weed, September 17, 2009
20. The Rise and Rise of Online Learning, September 20, 2009

Hot Topics

LearnTrends (17)

1. LearnTrends 2009 – Free Online Conference, September 21, 2009
2. LearnTrends 2009, September 23, 2009
3. LearnTrends Innovation Awards, September 22, 2009
4. Two Free Online Conferences, September 21, 2009

Audacity (12)

1. Podcasting for E-Learning – Tour of Audacity’s User Interface, September 4, 2009
2. Podcasting for E-Learning: Recording with Audacity, September 9, 2009
3. Podcasting for E-Learning: Setting Audacity Preferences, September 8, 2009
4. Multitrack audio and creating MP3 podcast files: Podcasting for E-Learning, September 21, 2009

 

Don’t hitch a lift for work

Seth Godin recently posted on why it’s sometimes a good idea NOT to hitch a lift for work idea or project from a colleague and as I’m realising Seth Godin is rarely wrong.

Here is the part I liked best:

But, just as you should never get in a car with a drunk driver, understand that the minute you let the other person drive, you’ve bought into their process. Spending three months or three years following someone off a cliff is nuts.

I’d rather disappoint you today and refuse your offer of a lift than end up with both of us having wasted hours and hours of time somewhere further down the road. No, you can’t pitch this to your husband, that’s my job. No, I won’t stand by and watch you mangle this before the board. No, we’re not going to interact with customers your way merely because it’s the only way you know.

I’m beginning to realise that saying “no thanks” or even just “no” (or sometimes “hell no”) now will save my time and energy later. Hey it’s better to learn that later than never don’t you think?