"The eLearning Guild announces the release of a free eBook, 65 Tips on Managing Projects and SMEs for eLearning. The Guild has assembled 65 tips from 11 contributors who will be presenting in the upcoming July 2012 Online Forum, "Managing Projects and SMEs for eLearning." This experienced and diverse group offers advice and insights on topics such as defining the parameters of a project, the importance of sign-offs and written approvals, what to do when you're out of resources, and what factors drive quality. 65 Tips on Managing Projects and SMEs for eLearning presents practical solutions in five categories: Dealing with Stakeholders and Planning Your Project. Planning is arguably the most important step in any project. Learn how to lay a sturdy foundation with 25 expert tips. Choosing and Managing Your Team. The team is the center of your project universe. Heed these 13 suggestions to choose and manage your project teams effectively. Effective Communication. Keep the lines of communication open with these nine tips. Constraints and Challenges. Two factors - constraints and challenges - are a way of life in the project world. Follow these eight tips from our knowledgeable panel to ensure challenges only cause a bump in the road, rather than a major traffic jam. Quality Control. Determining if your project meets expectations is key, and these 10 tips will help ensure a solid final product."

"We organized our expert presenters' tips into seven categories: Making Learning Stick, Effective Instructional Design and Development, Managing Project Costs and Time, Demonstrating Your Value, Documenting and Managing Your Designs and Standards, Designing for Mobile, and Customizing and Personalizing Learning. We compiled these into a free eBook for your enjoyment. Read here for details and where to download the book!"

"Research for Practitioners: Are There Basic Principles Across All Instructional Design Models?"

The resources at the bottom of the article are good.

"Farquer said presently, while the ISLE is still in beta, state leaders and educators are making efforts to "use resources from repositories and organizations that have shown a commitment to publishing according to the LRMI."

"oday's education system includes ingrained practices, including policy and decades-old methods, that prevent schools from moving to competency-based models. Solutions to this problem include: Creating and making available educational resources on competency-based learning. These resources might be best practices, rubrics or tools, or research. Convening a coalition of League of Innovative Schools districts that are working to build successful competency-based models. Creating a technical solution for flexible tracking of competencies and credits. Problem No. 2: Leadership doesn't always support second-order change, and those in potential leadership roles, such as teachers and librarians, aren't always empowered to help effect change. Solutions to this problem include: Promoting League of Innovative Schools efforts to enable second-order change leadership Creating a framework, to be used in professional development, that would target and explain second-order change leadership discussions Schedule panel discussions about second-order change leadership Problem No. 3: Communities and cultures are resistant to change, including technology-based change Solutions to this problem include: Identifying new and engaging ways to share cutting-edge and tech-savvy best practices with school and district stakeholders and community members Involve business leaders in technology-rich schools and create school-business partnerships Look to influential organizations to spearhead national ed-tech awareness campaigns Problem No. 4: Education budgets aren't always flexible enough to support the cost, sustainability, or scalability of innovations Solutions to this problem include: Build relationships with local businesses and career academies, and create incentives for companies to hire students, in order to create a revenue stream for schools Look to competitive pricing and creative solutions Leaders must not be afraid t

"Guide to Piloting CK-12 Quick Guide to Doing a Pilot All of CK-12 Foundation's resources (FlexBook System, FlexMath, INeedAPencil, BrainGenie, and studyHELP) are free and open for use by everyone, anywhere. We do, however, invite our administrator and teacher users to initiate a more formal exploration of our offerings in the form of a pilot. Below is a quick guide to doing so with questions to consider. The actual implementation will be a joint effort by the school and CK-12 (pilots@ck12.org) CK-12 Pilot - the systematic implementation of CK-12 resources as part of an official exploration to fully incorporate the content and services into a school or class curriculum with structured feedback and data being provided to CK-12 for improving our future development OVERALL PILOT DEFINITION How many schools, students and teachers will be involved in the pilot? What subjects will be explored (e.g. Physics, Algebra)? What are the content needs (e.g. standards-alignment, lesson plans)? What CK-12 offering best meets your needs (e.g. FlexMath for Algebra I)? What are the technology needs for presenting content to students (e.g. projector, laptops, tablets, print)? What is the pilot duration? TACTICS FOR IMPLEMENTATION Select a project manager to oversee and define roles and to coordinate across schools and teachers Establish a main point of contact for corresponding with CK-12 Assign roles for customizing CK-12 content for your school and compiling and uploading finalized materials Have editors and reviewers view online training materials and attend webinar(s) to familiarize themselves with the CK-12 platform CK-12 SUPPORT Set up accounts at www.ck12.org Create a timeline for editing content and coordinate editing collaboration Set up training schedule (online and/or onsite) with CK-12 for your school / district Weekly/monthly check-in meetings to ensure progress with pilot PILOT RESULTS & NEXT STEPS

"Access to learning repositories is helping educators locate more impactful content for students learning-repository-instructionThe emergence of open educational resources, coupled with students' desire for more personalized learning, has fueled a need for content repositories that enable teachers, students, and parents to locate effective learning resources and educational content quickly. Now, the state of Illinois is developing efforts to help teachers and students leverage tagged educational content to make learning more customized, and effective, for students. The Illinois Shared Learning Environment (ISLE) will help educators use data and other tools to connect students with the learning resources and instructional content best suited to their needs. State educators can use student data to locate tagged educational resources and learning materials that suit each student's needs, moving away from a "one size fits all" mindset."