Book Club In June, Early Childhood Technology Network launched a virtual book club. Now you can use the questions and ongoing discussion to jump start your PLN, support the use of the book in college classrooms, or just explore issues in early childhood technology. Best of all, it’s free! About the book: Digital Decisions: Choosing the Right Technology Tools for Early Childhood, written by Fran Simon, M.Ed. and Karen Nemeth, Ed.M., was created to help teachers and administrators develop a plan to link developmentally appropriate practice and technology integration in the early childhood classroom. You can participate by: Now, as a member of Early Childhood Technology Network (it’s free), you can use the questions and and join the ongoing discussions in our Booknet. In addition to the discussion forum, Karen Nemeth and Fran Simon, the authors, will be happy to host a live author chat via webinar upon request for your study group, college class, or professional learning network! d out to members!
What it’s like to work for Stripe | Alex MacCaw A company’s culture is something intangible and nebulous, and yet it can be just as important to success as revenues or growth. Culture influences everything, from design and product implementation to the level of support and operations of a company. It’s crucial to get it right. I’ve been at Stripe for a few months now, and I’ve wanted to write about what it’s like to work there. Culture can be hard to define, and it certainly can’t be created with mission statements and performance reviews. Email - complete transparency By convention, every email at Stripe is CC-ed to lists that go to either the entire company or to any particular team. It turns out that Stripe generates a lot of email. This requires a lot of filtering, of course, but it allows me to dip in and out of the company’s fire hose whenever I want. I’ve never before seen this level of access or trust at a company. There are a few other email conventions. All hands The is the only meeting that everyone is required to attend.
10 Colleges Most Creatively Using Mobile Technology Seeing as how mobile devices and related technologies have completely overtaken a good chunk of society already, naturally the education sector has followed suit. Oddly enough, though, smartphones, social media, tablet computers, and other hallmarks of the mobile technology revolution still have yet to fully creep onto campus, with many schools somewhat puzzled over exactly what to do with the exciting new toys the kids are into these days. Others, however, saw innovation as opportunity, and went about drawing up innovative strategies for letting these digital developments enhance lessons, streamline college life, open up new possibilities, or some combination thereof. Get inspired by some of the seriously cool, creative ways the following schools have harnessed mobile media for current and future students.
What Makes an Intern a Good Hire? Nathan Parcells, Co-founder of Internmatch.com This is a guest post by Nathan Parcells. Nathan Parcells is co-founder of InternMatch.com, a leading website to help students find amazing internships and help companies find amazing interns. Nathan has spoken at universities across the country on intern hiring issues and InternMatch was part of 500 Startups’ first batch. Why Fantastic Interns add $50K+ of Value to Your Startup, and Mediocre Interns Will Cost You A few years ago Aaron Patzer, co-founder of Mint.com, gave one of the best startup presentations I have seen. At InternMatch we hear a similar debate about the value of interns at early stage companies. At a startup you simply cannot waste time and resources with employees who aren’t a good culture fit, are working on non-essential projects, or who need excessive attention. So what makes an intern fantastic? Cultural Fit: If an intern is a bad cultural fit, they’ll get bored and treat work like a class, doing just enough to pass.
Google Updates iPad App to Make Search More Local Google said on Tuesday that iPad users in the U.S. will be treated to a new interactive experience when they search for restaurants, bars or other locales. The search engine giant has added a horizontal "carousel" to its iPad platform of local results at the top of the search page. When searching for "ramen shops," the search engine pulls in your geographic location and populates the carousel with pictures of restaurants in that genre. Here's a picture of how it looks when doing a search for "ramen shops" in New York City. In addition to showcasing pictures, it also includes a Google map to the business' location when the image is selected. The move is a part of Google's greater effort to make search results more localized and ultimately, more personalized for users. The iPad update, which announced the news on its Google+ page, is only for English-speaking users as of right now. Image via iStockphoto, BartCo
How To Find Hidden Talent For Your Tech Company Scott Rothrock is the co-founder, CTO and president of RemarkableHire, a talent sourcing platform that uses social evidence to help recruiters and hiring managers find and evaluate the best job candidates. Connect with him and the RemarkableHire team on Facebook and Twitter. At companies with tech-focused positions in which advanced skillsets are required to get the job done, top talent is few and far between. To make the talent shortage even more of a challenge, the best of the best aren’t searching for a job, so how do you find them? There are a number of reasons why tech employers should be proactive when it comes to maintaining their current employees and attracting new ones. It can be tough to find real talent hidden among a stack of job applications. Why “We Are Hiring!” As ideal as it would be, your “A” players are not hanging out on job boards all day. Why is this? The good news: Although already employed, these candidates may be open to changing jobs for a better opportunity.
May Day Updates | Tech For a Global Early Childhood Education Wow, Tech for Global Early Childhood Education has really taken flight! I can’t believe it’s already been over a month since I launched it. There have been over 3,850 hits to the site and educators from New Zealand, Japan, Indonesia, Australia, the U.S. and many other countries have visited these pages! What’s New? There are now a number of funding resources on the Ideas to Action page to help teachers find the money or the hardware to provide their students with the technology needed to enable global learning experiences. A few new projects have also been added to the Current Projects page. Collaborate and Share Resources with Other Educators! If you currently use technology in your classroom and know of specific technology tools for teachers or young children to facilitate global learning and exchange, please share them via this Google Form. In addition to the Ideas to Action page, I have heard from some educators that a FAQ section would be helpful. Upcoming Global Events: Like this:
The Secret to Self-Confidence I used to think self-confidence meant I would never have a doubt. When I think a back on this significant experience in my life, I realize that’s not true. In 1997, this I knew… I would leave my corporate job in my 20th year with my employer, in 2004. I made plans to start my own business. I set the foundation, got my environment ready, got my head ready, made lists, took action, and got excited. So many doubts. But in 2004 when it came to make that decision final, that is, put in my notice, it was nearly the most difficult thing I had ever done. This job pays so well and benefits are great, am I sure I can’t make this work? Now not only my job was making me sick, but also deciding whether or not to leave was making me sick! Self-confidence and doubt are not mutually exclusive. It was then I knew there would be no more lists, no more careful analysis or studying of pros and cons. I hadn’t revisited this story in a long time. It is so easy to want a guaranteed outcome. .
The Cloud Will Kill The Resume, And That’s a Good Thing Editor’s note: Chris Rickborn is the COO and co-founder of Unrabble, a hiring software solution for small- to medium-sized businesses, especially startups. You can follow Unrabble at @unrabble. I was recently going through an old banker’s box that I packed up years ago while I was cleaning out my office. Every gadget I found in that box had evolved or been replaced by some new innovation. It baffles me how the lifecycle of so many products and business processes can be extremely short and are so easily disrupted by innovation, yet an individual’s resume is still a one or two page document. Maybe the answer is that the change is actually underway but we just don’t realize it’s happening. There’s no doubt that prospective employers compare the information on your current resume to all the other facts about you floating in the cloud, just as it’s inevitable that your resume will ultimately be replaced by an online profile. I think this indicates a few realities. [image via flickr/bpsusf]
Seven Procrastination-Busting Tips to Use Today It’s human nature to avoid hard work if we can – and it’s no surprise that many people find themselves chatting on social networks, or tackling “easy” work rather than getting on with important projects. If you struggle with procrastination, though, there’s plenty you can do to make it easier to get on with the task at hand. #1: Achieve Quick Wins at the Start of the DayOne of the best ways to beat procrastination is by taking action – straight away. If you tend to start your day by staring at your inbox, or chatting to colleagues, look for a few quick (5 – 10 minute) tasks that you can complete, so you get a sense of instant achievement. These might be: Making that phone call you’ve been putting offSorting out the stack of files that’s threatening to engulf your deskWriting a plan for your big project (see tip #5) … or anything that you can get done and checked off your list quickly. Your to-do list will also keep you on track during the day. Once you’ve got a plan, make a start!