When my clients are looking to become successful, they usually choose a path and go for it.  The take lots of action and go go go.

The one key they all seem to miss before they come to me is that in order to be successful, people need to know who you are, they need to know that your good at what you do.

The quickest way to get this is to associate yourself with someone who is known and who is considered great at what they do.  You can do this in the way of Joint Venture with them or to ask them how they did it and just copy them!

Google Docs is great and certainly has achieved its fair share of fans and positive press (Wired Campus, SquaredPeg) in higher education. Not only does it benefit from high name recognition and a very familiar interface, but it saves faculty from the tedious cycle of downloading and uploading MS Word docs. One of the few features where I find MS Word still wins, though, is when it comes to annotations. Periodically, I want to use the scribble or arrow tool to call a student’s attention to something in their draft (e.g., recommend organizational revisions) and MSW’s tools for doing this are quite handy. I’d love to see the big G add this sometime in the not-too-distant future.

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Google_Docs, Microsoft, Word

STOP PRESS – AN INVITATION

Party Party Party

ONLINE DISTANCE EDUCATION

US study finds  ‘blended’ learning

benefits compared to classroom

Even when used by itself, online learning appears to offer a modest advantage over conventional classroom instruction, according to the US Department of Education’s  recently published

Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies.

The study was based on a systematic search of the research literature from 1996 through July 2008  which identified more than 1000 empirical studies of online learning.

Analysts screened these studies to find those that (a) contrasted an online to a face-to-face condition, (b) measured student learning outcomes, (c) used a rigorous research design, and (d) provided adequate information to calculate an effect size.

Meta-analysis of the 51 screened results, mainly for undergraduate and older students, not elementary or secondary learners, found that, on average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction but did not demonstrate that online learning is superior as a medium.

The difference between student outcomes for online and face-to-face classes—measured as the difference between treatment and control means, divided by the pooled standard deviation—was larger in those studies contrasting conditions that blended elements of online and face-to-face instruction with conditions taught entirely face-to-face, they said.

Noting that these blended conditions often included additional learning time and instructional elements not received by students in control conditions, the analysts said, the finding suggested that the positive effects associated with blended learning should not be attributed to the media, per se.

But the fact that  blended instruction had been more effective, provided a rationale for the effort required to design and implement blended approaches.

The key findings included:

• Students who took all or part of their class online performed better, on average, than those taking the same course through traditional face-to-face instruction.
• Instruction combining online and face-to-face elements had a larger advantage relative to purely face-to-face instruction than did purely online instruction.
• Studies in which learners in the online condition spent more time on task than students in the face-to-face condition found a greater benefit for online learning.
• Most of the variations in the way in which different studies implemented online learning did not affect student learning outcomes significantly.
• The effectiveness of online learning approaches appears quite broad across different content and learner types.
• Blended and purely online learning conditions implemented within a single study generally result in similar student learning outcomes.
• Elements such as video or online quizzes did not appear to influence the amount that students learn in online classes.
• Online learning can be enhanced by giving learners control of their interactions with media and prompting learner reflection.
• Providing guidance for learning for groups of students appears less successful than does using such mechanisms with individual learners.

Full report PDF here.

Online education picture: courtesy Trinity International University, Florida

These blog posts on The Wired Classroom had the most traffic during the last 30 days:

• SMART Board Classes
• June 09 Global Nomads Group Videoconferences
• Motivate Students with Activboard Lessons
• Teaching Higher Order Thinking Skills in Elementary Classrooms with Spreadsheets
• iPhone and iPod Touch in classrooms

I can’t find who wrote this but I think it fits perfectly well in the business world:
————————————-

I am at my best with the wind in my face,
When overcoming the challenge, with pace.
The pace that requires more effort, more strength.
But once gained momentum endures with great length.
It’s easy to sit back, placid and calm
Comfort is only a relative balm.
It seems an advantage, better than strife,
but is dulled by stagnation, stifling life.
Progress needs movement, energy, drive,
No chance for improvement if you do not strive.
Nothing’s for nothing: cause and effect.
That which you work for, you’ve more chance to get.
So give me the wind, let it blow in my face,
the more I confront, the more strength I’ll embrace.
Steps are not mounted, nor challenges overcome.
Without certain courage or effort be done.

I saw this and thought it was a nice follow up from what I was talking about in my last entry!

To “let go” does not mean to stop caring, it means I can’t do it for someone else.
To “let go” is not to cut myself off, it’s the realization I can’t control another.
To “let go” is not to enable, but to allow learning from natural consequences.
To “let go” is not to try to change or blame another, it’s to make the most of myself.
To “let go” is not to care for, but to care about.
To “let go” is not to fix, but to be supportive.
To “let go” is not to judge, but to allow another to be a human being.
To “let go” is not to be in the middle arranging all the outcomes, but to allow others
to effect their destinies.
To “let go” is not to be protective, it’s to permit another to face reality.
To “let go” is not to deny, but to accept.
To “let go” is not to nag, scold, or argue, but instead to search out my own
shortcomings and correct them.
To “let go” is not to adjust everything to my desires, but to take each day as it
comes, and cherish myself in it.
To “let go” is not to criticize and regulate anybody, but to try to become what I
dream I can be.
To “let go” is not to regret the past, but to grow and live for the future.
To “let go” is not to lose power, but to be open to the power within.
To “let go” is to fear less, and love more.

The discipline of writing something down is first step in achieving it.
Lots of people are afraid of writing their goals on paper because they feel
“What if I don’t reach them and they are on the page for everyone to see”
“What happens if other people see them full stop!”

I believe in putting my goals on the notice board beside me each and reading them out loud each and every day. This helps me get in the zone and stay 100% focused on what I need to achieve each day.

Try it! Coaches tend not to do it even though they know the power of it!

This summer I’m teaching a technical writing class and as I’ve done in previous semesters with this online class, I’m using a wiki. One of the collaborative writing assignments is an FAQ and although I don’t require them to use the class wiki for this particular assignment, I encourage them to do so (and for any other similar sort of group work).

In order to get some sense of the collaborative dynamics, I ask them to write a reflection memo that they usually submit a day or two after they’ve submitted the assignment. Today while I was reading their reflection memos I noticed an interesting pattern: heavy reliance on email. They describe how they used email to exchange drafts, delegate responsibilities, and coordinate other related project management details. Now on its face, this doesn’t seem all that remarkable, but rather entirely predictable; however, with this particular class, I aim to make the wiki a more central feature. And even though I’ve posted various materials that describe the ways in which wikis typically work better than email for group projects, their memos document a gravitation towards that ol’ stand-by.

In mulling over this hesitation to adopt the wiki as their workspace, a couple of thoughts come to mind. Maybe it’s not just out of habit, but also an anxiety of working on projects in a more public space. Working in the wiki not only makes their group processes available to the members, but the other students in the class as well. Another speculation is that they perceive it as another kind of LMS or stratified space that should be managed and maintained by me, the instructor. Or maybe it’s just inertia: email works well enough and the evidence for migrating to a wiki needs to be more dramatically displayed when they’ve got busy schedules and a myriad of responsibilities.

I had a great experience today providing leadership training to a non-profit organization.  Although the distance to get to my client’s office was not unheard of, they agreed to use a Webinar format. (A special thank you to Project Kindle!!!)   So, for the first time I presented a module session on Communication including an Extended DISC assessment for each participant.   The application I used allowed for Webcam, VOIP, whiteboard, chat room, PowerPoint Slide capability, etc.  Really all the features and more than some of the bigger companies out there.  Think WebEx and Go To Meeting.

If you are interested in taking a look at this application, I am supplying you with a link.  There subscription fees are great – Free to start with and no limit on the amount of time you can access this free service.  However, if you would like to upgrade you can do so starting at approximately $10/mo. Not bad.

So, If you are looking for a way to collaborate with clients or staff, look into VYEW.  I think you will be happily surprised.  You may find some kinks, but hang with them.  They get back to you to answer your questions, want your feedback and are always looking for ways to improve their product.

www.vyew.com