Archive for February 2007
Relevant Networking- PersonalGrowth.com

Relevant Networking- PersonalGrowth.com

8:48 AM Add Comment

Anyone who is a member of LinkedIn and other business networking sites may find that these networking sites are lacking something important, relevance.

I've recently discovered a new networking site that is for professionals who are interested in personal growth. http://www.personalgrowth.com

What I like about this site over others is that, not only is it pretty much a blank slate in the forums and groups, being new, but those who have started and joined the site are passionate about sharing knowledge that will help you grow as a person, not simply business connections.

If you join PersonalGrowth.com, visit my profile and add me to your network.

mlearning

Text-message course helping newcomers learn English

Text-message course helping newcomers learn English

9:30 AM Add Comment
Once again, language classes seem to be one of the best uses for mLearning solutions. This also shows something I've been saying for a while, mLearning is HERE, NOW! It has simply defied being labeled as such.

Text-message course helping newcomers learn English

A pen and paper aren't necessary in an Edmonton classroom where students are learning English with a new tool � text messages on their cellphones.
Under a pilot project, the students at the Mennonite Centre for Newcomers are testing "m-learning," or mobile learning, where they download an English grammar lesson, then answer a series of multiple choice, or true or false questions.

Athabasca University, a long-distance post-secondary school, created the cellphone lessons for those wanting to learn English as a second language (ESL).
"You're controlling it, which is so nice," said Tracey Woodburn of Athabasca University. "A lot of people have been telling me, 'Oh, I can do this when I am watching my kid's soccer practice or when I am on the bus coming to school.'"

'You learn where you are' The students in the class are from all over the world, many from countries where they don't have home phones, only cellphones.
"Everybody has a phone. My husband and I worked in Japan for five years teaching ESL and we were the only people in the school, out of 600 people,
who didn't have cellphones," said Woodburn.


Student Fadieh Al-Kaloti said cellphone learning works well for her. "You learn where you are � in the bus or in the train or maybe in the plane," she said. If the pilot project works, Athabasca University hopes eventually people all over the world will be able dial up English lessons on their cellphone, whether it's the LRT in Edmonton or the bullet train in Japan.

Win a free iPhone and learn something new!

Win a free iPhone and learn something new!

8:51 AM Add Comment
From Corporate eLearning Strategies and Development: eLearning DevCon 2007 - Chance for a FREE iPhone#links

The eLearning DevCon 2007 is coming this summer. I know many of you need to plan your conference schedules early, and you also want to take advantage of the early registration discounts ($749 through April 9th).

Good news! Register with the code iPhone and you will be entered into an exclusive drawing for an iPhone.What? You've never heard of the elearndevcon? Check out what people have said from previous years. For the eLearning Developer that's in the trenches every day designing, developing, and delivering eLearning, this is the best show...at the BEST price....




Book Review- The Brand You 50

Book Review- The Brand You 50

5:06 AM Add Comment

This is from a review I wrote on Epinions.com several years ago. I felt it was a good time to revisit how we can personally brand ourselves.

The Brand You 50 : Or : Fifty Ways to Transform Yourself from an 'Employee' into a Brand That Shouts Distinction, Commitment, and Passion!


In the book The Brand You 50, Tom Peters creates a process in which we can empower ourselves to stand out, both personally, and professionally. With corporations extending their global reach, technology evolving faster than most people can keep up with, and the internet opening all sorts of doors of information, Tom helps us create a path to help us stand out from the crowd and be heard above the roar. As with all of Tom Peter�s books, the paths are given in an almost elementary order with humorous analogies and descriptions, sure to stick in one's head. I felt that providing a simple �book review� would not do justice to the concepts that Tom is conveying so instead I will take this book, brick by brick, through the start of the transformation and self branding process. It is, of course, impractical to for me to cover every topic here, but I believe that this sample will leave you with sweet dreams of your future.



It Is Up To You


The first and most important item in transforming ourselves is to first declare independence from �the same old same old�. The first chapter has us create a Declaration of Personal Independence. We need to free ourselves from what we think are the constraints of our job. There are no such things as �white-collar� jobs any more, and as long as we think in those limited terms, we will never be independent from they typical j.o.b.





The White-Collar Revolution Has Started


Just as during the 80s we saw a massive change in the �blue-collar� job sector. Plants that used to take five hundred people to operate suddenly were automated to the point a handful of workers could run the plant. In the same way, traditional white-collar jobs are now changing. With advances in technology, accountants, IT professionals, managers, HR professionals, and customer service professionals are now finding that their jobs may not even exist with in the next few years. According to The Brand You 50, 90% or more of white-collar jobs will either be gone or changed in the next fifteen years. We all must motivate ourselves to surf the wave of change, or drown.





Brand Yourself


Just as it is vital for each company to find a way to make themselves stand out from the competition, it is also vital for us to create our own �branding.� Part of our personal branding is to create a �branded skill set�. We must emphasize our marketable skill craft, make ourselves distinct and memorable, and enhance our networking skills so as to advertise ourselves through word of mouth contacts.





Start NOW


With all of the changes taking place, there is no time to wait to improve yourself and your situation. In this chapter, Tom assigns his readers with a starting point to their personal change. Before you go on in this book, it is important that you do the following steps:


  • Evaluate your personal brand equity.
  • Develop an advertisement for your personal brand.
  • Create an eight word mission statement.
  • Describe yourself in a bumper sticker statement.

Although you will expand on these steps through out the book, this will give you a starting point and a personal vision to work on.




Forget Jobs


As long as we look at what we do as simply a job, we will never realize the scope of our impact, nor reach the potential of our work. Change our mindset to think of our work in terms of projects for clients. I found myself recently using this with a group of customer service representatives for a major ISP. I asked each representative to look at each call as a unique project that they were working for a unique client (the customer.) The change that happened with many of these CSR�s, when they changed their work attitude, was tremendous. Not only did each of these CSR�s handle their customers in an efficient and friendly manner, but they all started looking for ways to improve their next �project� by learning from prior �projects�. Changing how you view your work will have an impact on how you grow in your work.





Package Yourself


Every brand needs packaging. Think about how different companies brand themselves in their packaging and advertising. What image do they attempt to portray? How does the public receive that image? Think about your craft and skills you described when you branded yourself. How would you package that brand to sell it to the public?





Inc. Yourself


Refer to yourself as your own corporation. When you start looking at yourself as your own corporation, then your focus and priorities will change. How much differently will Your Name work than Your Name Inc.?





Determine What You Value


What is important to you? What are your values about life? Once you have a picture of what is truly valuable to you, work always for those values. Here Tom has us create a mission statement for ourselves that relates to our value statement. Our mission should reflect what is truly important to us.





Develop A Portfolio


We are far more than the little jobs we may do on a daily basis. Each of us must determine what skills we bring to the job. For me, just having an MBA did not say much about my skills in my work and I found that title was actually self-limiting. Each of us must determine the extent of our skills and what we can bring to the table. I have worked with many self-employed people who categorized their skills only by the label they give themselves. Many are amazed at how many skills they truly have by looking at all aspects of their careers. Most self employed people do their own books, taxes, scheduling, advertising, and marketing; with out ever giving themselves credit for it.





Know How Money Is Made


Most people have no concept of what money really is or how it works. For most people, money is something they receive for working and spend for products. It is important that when you go through the process of Branding Yourself you take the time to acquire a good economic understanding. One of the keys that most truly successful people have is they understand the true value of a dollar, and how it works in relation to society.





Market The �Brand You� To The World


This chapter does not entail running out and buying advertising on every TV station through out the world in order to get your �face� recognized. Instead, this is a lesson in global marketing based on those who are successful at it. While each of us may not be an Oprah or Martha Stewart, each of us has the ultimate potential to have our �self branding� reach through out the world. Study how those who successfully market themselves through out the world conduct their business.





Buy The Book


No, buying the book is not one of Tom Peter�s guideposts in The Brand You 50. Buying the book is my suggestion for anyone who wishes to create a �happily ever after� for the rest of their lives. It would be virtually impossible for me to cover every single topic in this review, but if you want to truly maximize your crappy little tasks to gold and you wish to be your own Rolodex then I suggest you consider investing in yourself and buy a copy of The Brand You 50.





The February Big Question- What Question?

The February Big Question- What Question?

7:45 AM Add Comment
The Learning Circuits Blog has given us another challenge with their February Big Question: What Questions Should We Be Asking?

I am glad to see this question, it's about time we as education professionals ask instead of tell. We are often dictating to our learners the information we think they need. We are also 'telling' our learners that they must be taught following XX style because that is what a textbook taught us or what we learned from a speaker at some conference.

We should step back and really think about what responsibility we are placing on our learners. If we develop to some 'textbook' style, then not only are we giving our learners the responsibility of learning the knowledge we've given them, we often now are giving them the responsibility of conforming to our teaching methods.


Given that, my answer would be for us as educators to ask our learners:

What do you need from us?

I believe we will be surprised when we go to our learners that they may have a completely different answer than our assumptions.


Responses thus far:


Promote your mLearning Work

Promote your mLearning Work

1:50 PM Add Comment
Has your organization developed a training program specifically to push to mobile devices such as mobile phones or iPods?

I would like to hear about your experience. I plan to start a series of interviews on mLearning-World.com & for our newsletter on real-world application of mLearning.

I'm not looking for your typical 'gurus' on the subject, instead, I am looking for real-world developers or instructional designers who are 'in the trenches'.

If you would like to participate in a short interview, either respond with a comment to this post or drop me an e-mail at mobilelearn@gmail.com




AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF FACTORS INFLUENCING M-LEARNING SUCCESS | from AllBusiness.com

AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF FACTORS INFLUENCING M-LEARNING SUCCESS | from AllBusiness.com

7:51 AM Add Comment
There is a lot of interesting data in this report:

AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF FACTORS INFLUENCING M-LEARNING SUCCESS Management from AllBusiness.com

The measure of m-learning success is important to understand the value of management actions and investment in m-learning. Focusing on technology aspects of m-learning, no research has been done in m-learning success factors from the user's perspective. The objective of this study is to investigate key determinants of m-learning success perceived by users. Potential determinants of m-learning success are inferred from the general characteristics of m-learning system, the literature in Information System (IS) success and expert interviews. The potential factors are grouped into system quality, contents quality and service quality. User satisfaction construct is used to measure m-learning success. The questionnaire is used to assess the satisfaction of users who had recently purchased learning products from m-learning vendors. The data collected by questionnaire were analyzed to check the validity of constructs. Then hypotheses describing the relationships between the identified constructs and user satisfaction were formulated and tested.

The rapid development of information and communication technologies (ICT) has led to the increased use of ICT in instruction and learning (8). The convergence of the mobile devices with existing educational technologies provides learners with greater flexibility by making learning available and accessible. The term m-learning is coined to describe the convergence of mobile technologies with e-learning. The development of m-learning products and the provision of
mlearning opportunities are expected to be rapidly expanding. In business, for example, the importance of m-learning has
been raised as many companies look into mobile technologies to support mobility of their Knowledge Management (KM) activities. The use of ICT facilitates knowledge sharing and cooperative learning among KM participants (24, 30).

Read the full report here ->





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