Top Posts for Simple Life Habits in 2011 | Simple Life Habits 2011 was a fantastic year for Simple Life Habits. I was able to connect with many of you that share the same passions for self productivity, time management, and developing better habits. This past week, I sat down and thought through all of the projects and goals that I have for this blog. I will be releasing more details in the days ahead. My goal today is to highlight the 10 most popular blog posts of 2011. Top Posts for Simple Life Habits in 2011 [list style="p"] [/list] Of course, I have a few personal favorites from the year. [list style="arrowblue2"] I hope you are renewed, refreshed and excited about the New Year! Join the 30 Day Get Productive Challenge! Includes videos, PDF's, daily checklists, life planning templates and more! We hate spam just as much as you Jon Milligan This is a test of using this system.
Ten Best Practices for Teaching Online J. V. Boettcher, Ph.D. Designing for Learning 2006 - 2013 Minor revisions May 2011 Our knowledge about what works well in online teaching and learning is growing rapidly and that is very good news. Here are ten best practices for anyone just getting started in the online environment. Best Practice 1: Be Present at the Course Site Liberal use of a faculty's use of communication tools such as announcements, discussion board postings, and forums communicate to the students that the faculty member cares about who they are, cares about their questions and concerns, and is generally "present" to do the mentoring and challenging that teaching is all about. When faculty actively interact and engage students in a face-to-face classroom, the class develops as a learning community, developing intellectual and personal bonds. We have learned to quantify what it means to "be present." Note: Students who feel abandoned or who feel alone may even post questions, such as "Is anybody there?" References
TED Launches TED Ed Video Service For Teachers, Partners With YouTube Education By Paul Glader, WiredAcademic Managing Editor BERLIN – TED is expanding its popular video offerings into the education space by launching new videos made by teacher and animators that schools can find on a TED-Ed channel on YouTube and use in the classroom. “TED’s core mission is to spread ideas,” said TED Curator Chris Anderson. The TED Talk videos feature hundreds of speakers – from billionaire Bill Gates to Khan Academy founder Salman Khan and architecture critic James Howard Kunstler – who appeared at TED conferences giving talks 18 minutes or less, which are video taped and distributed around the web for free. The TED-Ed initiative will be different. “There has been lots of dreaming at TED in the last few years about what can be done in education,” said TED curator Chris Anderson, during a conference call with journalists. He said the educational videos average 5 minutes in length and are perfect for opening a class time without disrupting the class by taking up too much time.
Tidbits, titbits or tipbits? Turning Engagement Upside Down – Part 2 | Life by Design Turning Engagement Upside Down (Human Capital Magazine Interview – Part 2) With employers failing to get cut-through with traditional notions of what engages employees, Human Capital Magazine’s Chief Editor, Iain Hopkins, recently interviewed ‘Employee Activated Engagement’ expert Ian Hutchinson, Chief Engagement Officer of LifebyDesign.com.au, who says it’s time for a fresh take on engagement. In Part 1 of this interview Ian Hutchinson answered questions from Human Capital Magazine such as: What is the problem with existing models of engagement? You mention the top-down approach – what’s the alternative? Now, Part 2 continues: Human Capital: What are Life by Design’s ‘7 Key Motivational Engagement Drivers’? Ian Hutchinson: We’ve boiled it down to seven key drivers, which we present as a set of cards (see the People Glue Employee Engagement Kit). For individual employees, they can see there are seven key motivators that really drive them at work. IH: Absolutely. Add to the discussion!
21 Habits of Happy People “Happiness is a habit – cultivate it.” ~ Elbert Hubbard Happiness is one aspiration all people share. No one wants to be sad and depressed. We’ve all seen people who are always happy – even amidst agonizing life trials. 1. Be thankful that you woke up alive each morning. 2. Surround yourself with happy, positive people who share your values and goals. Accept others for who they are as well as where they are in life. 4. Keep up to date with the latest news regarding your career and hobbies. 5. Don’t wallow in self-pity. 6. Some statistics show that 80% of people dislike their jobs! 7. Take the time to see the beauty around you. 8. Don’t take yourself – or life to seriously. 9. Holding a grudge will hurt no one but you. 10. Develop an attitude of gratitude. 11. Always make sure your loved ones know you love them even in times of conflict. 12. Honesty is the best policy. 13. Meditation gives your very active brain a rest. 14. Concentrate on creating your life the way you want it. 15. 16.
The future of higher education and other imponderables We will be running an open online course from Oct 8-Nov 16, 2012, addressing some of the concepts in this post. Registration is free (duh). The discussion below is part of a proposed text with Johns Hopkins University Press that I’m co-authoring with Dave Cormier and Bonnie Stewart. I’ve been interested in changes in higher education since I was at Red River College in the late 1990′s. That simple example gets at the heart of what’s happening in higher education: What people do with information determines the types of institutions required in a particular era. Since my experience at Red River College, I’ve spent quite a bit of time traveling and speaking about changes in knowledge, learning, teaching, technology, and by extension, the system of education. Educators are not driving the change bus. I have delivered two presentations recently on the scope of change in higher education, one in Peru at Universidad de San Martin Porres and the other at the CANHEIT conference. (adapted)
Ten Skills for the Future Workforce Ten Skills for the Future Workforce Sense-making, social intelligence, novel & adaptive thinking, cross-cultural competency, computational thinking, new-media literacy, transdisciplarity, design mindset, cognitive load management, virtual collaboration. These are the 10 skills needed for the future workforce. For a full report, see the work done by the Institute for the Future with Apollo Group looking at the Skills Needed by 2020 (also available on the IFTF website). A summary map is also available. The related, Shape of Jobs to Come: Possible New Careers Emerging from Advances in Science and Technology (2010 – 2030) full study from FastFuture is also very insightful (summary of study). Note: last time I checked, the FastFuture website had exceeded its bandwidth limit. Thanks to Josep Comas for pointing me to these resources.