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Amplify tablet of poor quality in first big district wide adoption, may not survive rocky rollout, Molnar, 6.26.15

by Matt Zalaznick, Universitybusiness.com Article from Oct 2015 on how more institutions offer digital badges as a form of micro-credential or "subdegree" to students. Also - "Perhaps appropriately, the University of Alaska, Anchorage offers professional development badges to instructors for studying digital instruction techniques, such as course design, social media and student interaction."

Margaret Morford, NYT from 9/26/15 defines some rules for networking with a professional in the field you are trying to enter into. Her first resonated with me - remember we are paid professionals are this is a big favor!

John Hagel is a co-chair of Deloitte Center for the Edge. Here he talks about influence points and positioning oneself among influence points through our technology enabled connections. Power laws still concentrate an extraordinary # of connections around a few nodes. But having access to knowledge flows, one will be able to anticipate what's going to happen before others do, one could perhaps shape the flows and more rapid learning may occur because of access to a growing and diverse set of information or knowledge flows. Learning faster than anyone else will enable a company or person to "have a significant advantage relative to those who are scrambling to catch up." Uses the PC microprocessor and operating system components to concretize influence points.

Great 19 minute podcast with Buffy Hamilton, Unquiet Librarian, on why libraries are great places for connected learning. This podcast produced by Connected Learning Alliance, a national initiative led by Mimi Ito and other big names on Making Learning Relevant has lessons for WLS. The podcast design itself The content, especially the emphasis on libraries (substitute WLS) as incubator hubs, making learning relevant by working from the learner's point of need, interest and project driven, etc.

Five tips by Stacey Roberts at ProBlogger on things to do/not do with your blog in 2015; we (I?) could do more with each of these. 1. Thinking an email list isn't such a big deal 2. Forgetting to share your posts on social media 3. Wasting time 4. Failing to have an editorial calendar 5. Ignoring networks

Interesting article on how millennials are not buying cars or houses. This quote makes me think about how we market to middle-aged career professionals, i.e., "I've made it and I'm a tech person." (based on how I use IT technology to communicate, collaborate, and convene groups online) "Subaru's publicist Doug O'Reilly told us, "The Millennial wants to tell people not just 'I've made it,' but also 'I'm a tech person.' " Smartphones compete against cars for young people's big-ticket dollars, since the cost of a good phone and data plan can exceed $1,000 a year. But they also provide some of the same psychic benefits-opening new vistas and carrying us far from the physical space in which we reside. "You no longer need to feel connected to your friends with a car when you have this technology that's so ubiquitous, it transcends time and space," Connelly said."

article by Walter Chen, Inc. Excerpt: "The most important character trait of a leader isn't where she went to school or her IQ. It's one that you're more likely to associate with a boring person than a Silicon Valley star: predictability. The more predictable you are, day in and day out, the better." The article It isn't as much about predictability as it is leaders establishing clear direction and getting out of the way of employees to work autonomously in making the goals/vision come true. All backed up by big data that has changed Google's hiring practices.

Excellent blog on valuable July reads by Jane Hart led me to this blog post by Thomas Handcock and Warren Howlett, July 29, 2014, CEB Blogs, a very good discussion of building productive learning cultures. They recommend three steps: 1. Right size opportunities (which on the surface sounds fine but then they say that the "best organizations limit learning opportunities to those that are most relevant to employees and impactful for the organization but then rely on their (HR's) determination of learning needs (how do employees express their learning needs in this scenario? how does it support ownership and spontaneity beyond annual surveys? Of course they are talking about BIG corporations.) and "learning maturity" which sounds condescending to me) 2. Advance the organization's learning capability (most of this rings truer to me than #1 but it may be that my perception of what they say in #1 is slanted and hypersensitive). Here they talk about "teaching employees how to learn." "this lack of learning aptitude is primarily a capability issue, not a matter of employee motivation." 3. Foster shared ownership of the learning environment (which overcomes much of my objection to what they say in #1)

Nice blog on focusing--understand your priorities on importance and urgency axes; take command of your schedule by defining time blocks; break down big tasks into steps; distract yourself intentionally by stretching, going for a walk, doing routine tasks that don't require brainpower.

Blog by Ben Werdmuller, one of the creators of Known, a new platform designed to encourage connectivist learning. He explains the platform in this blog and why he created it instead of a LMS such as Blackboard that has terrible usability. This is much lower cost and is open source.

Blog by Ben Werdmuller, one of the creators of Known, a new platform designed to encourage connectivist learning. He explains the platform in this blog and why he created it instead of a LMS such as Blackboard that has terrible usability. This is much lower cost and is open source.

Very good article on not overinflating value of our followers or what whom we follow says about us. Instead, look for value in other ways such as how those whom you follow/those who follow really listen to what is being said in social media. by Clive Andrews, NixonMcInnes (UK social media firm), 7/4/2012

Really good blog post by Brook Manville, 9/5/14, HBR on how the "thin we" becomes the "thick we" excerpt: To borrow language from the philosopher Avishai Margalit, the web is a "thin we" type of network. Participants tend to belong for individualistic reasons. They have little in common with other members, and they're reluctant to do much for the network. A big goal requires a "thick we" network - a community of people who feel responsible for collaborating toward a shared purpose that they see as superseding their individual needs. Members of a community - as opposed to a simple network - expect relationships within the group to continue, and they even hold one another accountable for effort and performance. When networks develop into communities, the results can be powerful. Look at the accomplishments of Wikipedia contributors, open-source software developers who find and fix bugs in Linux, or doctors who help each another with difficult diagnoses as part of the Sermo social network.

humorous infograph (1 minute read) on Zuckerberg's self-improvement efforts and parallels to big acquisitions/successes of Facebook

beautiful success story of how no-kill animal shelters got a big boost with networking approaches, uniform data collection, and creation of new medical specialty--shelter veterinary medicine.

By Sara Sutton Fell, CEO of FlexJobs.com. Her take on the status of Job Boards today. She has 3 observations: Boards have changed, job postings haven't and need to be updated; big box job boards focus on volume, smaller niche job boards on a refined pool of potential applicants; ATS/RMS keep candidates and hiring managers apart. New technologies such as gaming used by Marriott may erase this.

story of how algorithms and big data sealed the deal for Trump

Quick and easy to read New Year's resolution for women workers.

Great article on pay gaps between men and women in same positions but with slightly different levels of experience, college attainment--men except for one earned more, sometimes much more.

How some traditional jobs have become extinct or evolved into other services or for the need for additional and new skills.

Good quick study of how jobs change. Quote from intro: An overload of "DIY" and virtual everything may lead consumers to value skilled laborers as the new "big thing." Just remember that quality work is always in style and value will never be obsolete.