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Interesting round-up of engagement techniques for the classroom but at least some could be adapted for online adult work. Contained in a Google docs; came to me via weekly PLP social media roundup

An article view by Jenna Wortham at the New York Times of different online learning sites for mastering computer codes and programming, March 27, 2012. Mentions Codecademy, Girls Develop It, Treehouse, General Assembly, etc. Excerpt: "Peter Harsha, director of government affairs at the association, said the figure had been steadily climbing for the last three years, after a six-year decline in the aftermath of the dot-com bust. Mr. Harsha said that interest in computer science was cyclical but that the current excitement seemed to be more than a blip and was not limited to people who wanted to be engineers. "To be successful in the modern world, regardless of your occupation, requires a fluency in computers," he said. "It is more than knowing how to use Word or Excel but how to use a computer to solve problems." "

Blog site named "e-Literate" catchy, no? (Wish I had thought of it! But maybe we can use e-literacy for the foundations course?) This blog post written by Michael Feldstein, one of multiple bloggers on this site, quotes extensively from a New Republic article written by Kevin Carey. What I think is interesting for us is how we must add value (coaching, badging, mentoring, etc.) as private providers of learning to what most people could do on a DIY basis if they had all the skills--technological, contextual, and others--to proceed on their own. Excerpt: "Other providers might take advantage of the fast-growing body of open educational resources-free online courses, videos, lectures, and syllabi-and add value primarily through mentoring, designing course sequences, and assessing learning."

an interesting free tool for basic screen capture recording on Windows or Mac. A pro version is also available. Found it through Kathy Schrock's web tips on her blog, 2.20.13

Essay written by Heather Kenyon for the Tampa Bay Times, 2.13.13, on the shortage of people with the desired IT skills. Found this via the Encore LinkedIn group. What I find particularly interesting is the employers' desire for critical thinking, communication skills, and "professional curiosity" mentioned below. Nowhere here does it mention the middle aged or older worker; I guess they might have the critical thinking, communication, and curiosity, but not be able to master the IT skills through PD and DIY learning? Excerpt "Topping IT employers' wish lists were candidates who have at least 3-5 years of relevant work experience, bachelor's degrees and capabilities that go beyond the latest technical competencies to show an aptitude for continuous learning and multiple skill acquisition. These include critical thinking and communication skills as well as professional curiosity, which employers seem to find in short supply in the available talent pool. "

Blog post by Suzie Mitchell, November 6, 2012, on how her desire to have a more satisfying relationship with her son led to learning about technology and using online tools to build her knowledge, which in turn led to a new career and more satisfying life. Wonderful justification for Studio IMO enriching one's life in the short-term and how opportunities came to her for work, etc. Excerpt: ""Google is your friend, Mom. Use it whenever you don't understand something." OK, duh!, but those words set me free. I could ramp up my learning all by myself. I dived headfirst into the tech world, got a smartphone and started downloading apps on every topic that interested me: health and wellness, fitness, recipes, news and, yes, shopping. Soon Justin and I were exchanging emails about apps, articles and websites. It felt great; my son-buddy was coming back into the fold. There was a lot I didn't understand, but I embraced the "fake it until you make it" approach. Before long he was sending me links he thought would appeal to me. Some I really liked, but others were hard to comprehend. They offered products and services that boomers would supposedly appreciate - but I couldn't figure out how to navigate the site, or I didn't understand what was so "amazing" about the "revolutionary" product."

Pinterest Board from ISTE 2013 conference--lots of interesting infographs, links to resources, and presentations

An interesting practice suggested by Jordan Rappaport, 6.24.13, curated on Scoop.it!

Interesting blog post by Jennifer Dunn on Scoop.it, June 25, 2013. It suggests using LinkedIn, conferences, and current contacts as starting points for building your business network. Not so unusual but the point about how you don't have to go a conference to benefit from the circle of like-minded peers it attracts but go to the website or Facebook page or Twitter to circulate and get acquainted with the people who might be valuable for you to know is a good one. Makes me think, also, about how wikis or any record building device given to participants one year at a conference or workshop might be left open for one to go back and view current participants. (ex. BEtreat wiki is still open to me; WLstudio?)

Slideshare favorites ranking of all the presentations published at Slideshare. Very interesting mix of ideas and styles and content.

Description of a course offered by the Hague University of Applied Sciences, Fall 2012. Nancy White is one of the faculty. "The intersection of technology and social processes has changed what it means to "be together." No longer confined to an engineering team, a company, a market segment or country, we have the opportunity to tap into different groups of people using online tools and processes. While we initially recognized this as "online communities," the ubiquity and diversity of technology and access has widened our possibilities. When we want to "organize our passion" into something, we have interesting choices. It is time to think about a more diverse ecosystem of interaction possibilities which embrace things such as different group configurations, online + offline, short and long term interactions, etc. In this course we will consider the range of options that can be utilized in the design, testing, marketing and use of engineering products. In this course, we'll also begin to pay attention to "The Four i's of Innovation." You'll be learning a lot about these in the coming courses, but consider this a preview. The first i is the itch; "a hunch" that there is something going on. This inclination can indicate the sublime starting point for change or an innovation The second i is insight; the research framework to base the fundamentals of the innovation on The i for idea; the experimenting towards potential solutions ("what if"- approach) The final i is for impact; the realization of the changes and innovations."

"The Varied Functions of Badges" summary from HASTAC discussion, 9/2012 My interest in the functions of badges was spurred along when the MacArthur Foundation asked for help documenting the design principles for using digital badges that emerge across the 30 projects underway by the awardees in their Badges for Lifelong Learning project. We needed to come up with a manageable number of categories. Here is what we came up with: Recognizing Learning. This is the most obvious and arguably the primary function of badges. David Wiley has argued cogently that this should be the primary purpose of badges. If we focus only on purposes, then he may well be right. His point is that badges are credentials and not assessments. This is also consistent with the terrifically concise definition in Seven Things You Should Know About Badgesby Erin Knight and Carla Casilli. Assessing Learning. Nearly every application of digital badges includes some form of assessment. These assessments have either formative or summative functions and likely have both. In some cases, these are simply an assessment of whether somebody clicked on a few things or made a few comments. In other cases, there might be a project or essay that was reviewed and scored, or a test that was graded. In still other cases, peers might assess an individual, group, or project as badgeworthy. Motivating Learning. This is where the controversy comes in. Much of the debate over badges concerns the well-documented negative consequences of extrinsic incentive on intrinsic motivation and free choice engagement. This is why some argue that we should not use badges to motivate learning. However, if we use badges to recognize and assess learning, they are likely to impact motivation. So, we might as well harness this crucial function of badges and study these functions carefully while searching for both their positive and negative consequences for motivation. Evaluating Learning. The final category of

Very interesting blog post that speaks to our desire to help women tackle desired futures design issues

interesting report showing that revenues are going down dramatically for elearning platforms and packaged content while remaining constant for services or even up a little

interesting look at doing away with our reliance on email

Can't find the date on this but Quertime lists 15 of the most widely used web forum platforms that we might want to explore. It does list BuddyPress as well. phpBB looks interesting, as does zetaboards, and maybe PunBB.

Review of Melissa Broder's book that documents her twitter account use of twitter to express sad, hurt, and negative feelings vs. the sunny posts you usually get. Interesting review of social media use in general.

Interesting blog on skilledup for learners by Nick Gidwani from 9/14/13 on the Team Treehouse, an onlline course site for learning web design, coding, and more. Their approach includes using digital badges for incentivizing learning.

interesting, short blog post on positioning yourself for success

interesting start of a social learning leadership spectrum model