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"Organising information to find clarity is key for making good decisions. This collaborative mind-mapping tool allows multiple users to work together to put together their ideas and resources."

Why is prioritizing mental health so important for professionals, now more than ever? Professionals have been investing more 'work hours' than ever. This may be due to the changing essence of market goals and priorities, along with how integrated we are nowadays. The 'always-on' working community, which is particularly widespread in diverse industries, relies on inadequate sleep, high-pressure conditions, running around time zones, high burden associated with turnover, and more. It is not unusual for employees to worry about burnout, anxiety associated with employment, and depression. There is a strong connection between pressure and productivity in the workplace. To feel safe, content, and efficient, we all need to have a certain level of involvement and pressure in our working lives. But if there isn't enough strain or too much, there could be a risk. The accompanying diagram illustrates the distinct areas associated with job strain. Mental health at workplace The relation between pressure, performance, and mental health: Rust Out Zone: It doesn't necessarily mean that you don't have enough to do or anything at all but that you find yourself often wondering if your work is intriguing or challenging enough. This leaves you feeling extremely disassociated and disengaged. Emotional Wellbeing Zone: You will be motivated, concentrated and invested in what you're doing when you face a fair level of challenge and responsibility in your career. You are likely to feel more secure, satisfied and therefore more confident over time producing successful results. Burn Out Zone: When conditions are extreme and last for prolonged periods of time, you may be at risk of burn-out and, inevitably, anxiety. Your commitment, enthusiasm and efficiency decline dramatically as this happens. People often claim that "when they're stressed/ under pressure, they work well", but this is clearly not the case. When you are challenged, oriented and committed, you can

Product Management could be your key to move out of a stagnating career. At times many of us may feel that we are stuck in a profession, in a job role, or in an organization that is not for us. It may feel like it is not our true calling. Well, then why waste time? Make a career switch into a career of your choice. Muster the courage and make the move. If Product Management is your likely choice, then this is the right blog for you. If not, then why not explore what is it like to be a PM! (Product Manager not Prime Minister) So, what would you be doing as a PM? Wearing multiple hats. As a Product Manager, you have to wear different hats at different times. Be a Psychologist - Embark upon a journey to empathize and understand consumer needs and challenges Be a Consumer Behaviour expert - Leave no stone unturned to mine latent consumer insights Be a Marketeer - Use frameworks to gauge the perfect product-market fit Be a Diplomat - Negotiate with and influence relevant stakeholders to obtain desired results Be an Architect and an Interior Designer - Build and design products that address consumer pain-points effectively and transpires into a practical and scalable solution Be a co-ordinator - Guide and Direct cross-functional teams to deliver timely results in sync with the overarching objective Be a crisis manager - Diagnose the situation, identify hurdles and be agile in resolving them while the product is being tested in the market Be a Relationship Manager - The duty of a PM does not end as soon as the product is launched. It extends further to keep creating and nurturing a delightful experience for the customer. Now, you're aware of the roles you are likely to perform. What about the skills required to fulfil them efficiently? Well, most experienced PMs emphasize on soft skills being the differentiator between a good and a great PM. Let's have a look at the most essential hard and soft skills required to be a product manager: Com

I tried to think of a different way of titling this post, I wasn't keen on the word 'surviving' but the more I thought about it, the more I realised that actually, you really do feel like you're surviving… Just about. I've been onto Twitter, Instagram and even scrolled through my personal Facebook a few times to discover that Teacher Training Nerves are setting in. Now, I know you've probably (definitely) heard some complete horror stories but let's begin with an open mind. Having just completed the PGCE, I totally understand why you are so nervy and that is why I've created this post… So, sit back, take a deep breath and repeat "I can do this"...

In teaching it is often the little things we do on a daily basis that have the largest cumulative effect. While the events, festivals, camps and more spectacular lessons may stand out in our memories these moments have less overall impact across the time that our students spend in our company. Getting these little details right however is a complex business that demands we bring our best to every interaction, every lesson and every opportunity we have to shape the minds and dispositions of our learners. The result is that there are no easy lessons, no easy days.

Introduction to Concept Mapping Used as a learning and teaching technique, concept mapping visually illustrates the relationships between concepts and ideas. Often represented in circles or boxes, concepts are linked by words and phrases that explain the connection between the ideas, helping students organize and structure their thoughts to further understand information and discover new relationships. Most concept maps represent a hierarchical structure, with the overall, broad concept first with connected sub-topics, more specific concepts, following. Concept Map Example Definition of a Concept Map A concept map is a type of graphic organizer used to help students organize and represent knowledge of a subject. Concept maps begin with a main idea (or concept) and then branch out to show how that main idea can be broken down into specific topics. Benefits of Concept Mapping Concept mapping serves several purposes for learners: Helping students brainstorm and generate new ideas Encouraging students to discover new concepts and the propositions that connect them Allowing students to more clearly communicate ideas, thoughts and information Helping students integrate new concepts with older concepts Enabling students to gain enhanced knowledge of any topic and evaluate the information How to Build a Concept Map Concept maps are typically hierarchical, with the subordinate concepts stemming from the main concept or idea. This type of graphic organizer however, always allows change and new concepts to be added. The Rubber Sheet Analogy states that concept positions on a map can continuously change, while always maintaining the same relationship with the other ideas on the map. Start with a main idea, topic, or issue to focus on. A helpful way to determine the context of your concept map is to choose a focus question-something that needs to be solved or a conclusion that needs to be reached. Once a topic or question is

This is a fun, cute, social 3D island world designed especially with children in mind. Children make an avatar and follow a quick tutorial and explanation of safety rules. The children can take their characters on quests, play educational games and interact with other users of the site. A fabulous feature of the site is that users are encouraged to 'make and do' offline as well. These activities can be uploaded to a scrapbook and multimedia blog. Offline activities also generate points in the game. The scrapbook is defaulted to private and no photos of children will be approved by moderators if the scrapbook is public. All the usual safety features are in place, including a 'report' and 'block' other users button. The basic account with most features is free, but there are optional 'paid for' extras. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/ICT+%26+Web+Tools

Book Reviews Book title: Digitisation Perspectives Type: book Author: Ruth Rikowski Year: 2010 Edition: 1st ISBN: 9460912982 Publisher: Sense Publishers Publisher's Description: This book examines various views and perspectives on digitisation. As Simon Tanner, Director Digital Consultancy, King's College London says in the Foreword: "Digitisation has become a cultural, scholastic, economic and political imperative and raises many issues for our consideration." Furthermore, that the book: "...seeks to address and answer some of the big questions of digitisation... It succeeds on many levels..." There are 22 contributors in the book, all experts in their fields. The book is divided into six parts: Part 1: 'Background and Overview to Digitisation and Digital Libraries' Part 2: 'Digitisation and Higher Education' Part 3: 'Digitisation and Inequalities' Part 4: 'Digital Libraries, Reference Services and Citation Indexing' Part 5: 'Digitisation of Rare, Valued and Scholarly Works' Part 6: 'Futuristic Developments of Digitisation' Topics covered include electronic theses, search engine technology, digitisation in Africa, citation indexing, reference services, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, new media and scholarly publishing. The final chapter explores virtual libraries, and poses some interesting questions for possible futures. The book will be of particular interest to information professionals, educators, librarians, academics and I.T. and knowledge experts. Ruth Rikowski concludes by indicating that: "...hopefully, the book will provide a source of inspiration for further research, leading to some more effective ways to proceed with the digitisation process. Also, that it will be possible to do this within a framework that can be used for good rather than ill, and for the benefit of many." Reviewer: Eric Jukes (Formerly of College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London) Book Rating: 5/5 Buy this book from Amazon  Review Summary