In both our business and personal lives we are learning to do more with less, but how do we know what’s working?

You will not be accomplishing more, if less of what you’re doing is working and we all have only 24 hours in a day and that’s not changing.

I Can Haz Attenshunz and Ingajmentz

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I wanted to share with you a Twitter chat that I will be hosting this Monday, April 4th from 12:30pm ET to 1:30pm ET that I think will be amazing.

The guest is George Siemens and my brief writeup of the scheduled chat is below and don’t forget to use the hashtag #SMCEDU.

I hope you can join us!

Learning and Analytics

George Siemens is at the forefront of defining the concept and promoting the discussion of the relatively recently coined term Learning Analytics.

Learning Analytics has been identified by the 2011 Horizon Report as one of six areas of emerging technology that will have significant impact on higher education over the next one to five years.

George is among the leaders in this emerging field and it’s not hard to see why.  So far this year, he has served as the Conference Chair for the 1st International Conference on Learning Analytics, co-facilitated the massive open courses “Learning and Knowledge Analytics” and “Connectivism and Connective Knowledge” which has drawn world-wide innovative educators to the same table to exchange ideas and knowledge, but most importantly to learn from each other.

The Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute (TEKRI) at Athabasca University which sponsored the 1st International Conference on Learning Analytics referenced their support explaining,

“The growth of data surpasses the ability of organizations to make sense of it. This concern is particularly pronounced in relation to knowledge, teaching, and learning. Learning institutions and corporations make little use of the data learners “throw off” in the process of accessing learning materials, interacting with educators and peers, and creating new content.

In an age where educational institutions are under growing pressure to reduce costs and increase efficiency, analytics promises to be an important lens through which to view and plan for change at course and institutions levels.”

The acronym MOOC, first coined in 2008, is well known by any of his students, many of which are educators.  When George Siemens and Stephen Downes were preparing to begin the online course “Connectivism and Connective Knowledge” they were flooded with over 2000 people worldwide signing up for the free, open course. The massive number of participants prompted a new label for the super-sized course, a MOOC or Massive Online Open Course.  How is the course organized and conducted?  Interestingly, all course content was available through RSS feeds, and learners could participate with their choice of tools: threaded discussions in Moodle, blog posts, Second Life, shared bookmarks, and synchronous online meetings, but participants were invited to use the technology methods they were comfortable with. The participants took their notes, posts, discussions, and reference material to every Web 2.0 and social media technology most of us can imagine.

Most of us as we move toward deciding which social media elements are most helpful and engaging to learners will be interested in learning how to evaluate which measures are most effective. Learn how to look at your social media and teaching from the viewpoint of what the data can tell us.

George Siemens is a strategist and researcher at the Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute at Athabasca University. Formerly, he was the Associate Director, R & D, Learning Technologies Centre at University of Manitoba. He is the founder Complexive Systems Inc., an research and learning lab focused on assisting organizations develop approaches to meet the needs of changing learners, employees, and global education and business environments. Siemens has keynoted and presented at national and international conferences. His publications and personal blogs can be accessed at www.elearnspace.org and www.connectivism.ca.

Featured Guest Article

by Chris Garrett

One of the reasons I love the work that I do is that it helps me be closer to my family.

As with most people who run their own business, there are pressures and challenges involved that can work against family life, especially if you are not careful, but over all when talking to other parents I feel blessed that I can now work in a way that allows me all the family benefits that we enjoy.

I have gone from a job that I found frustrating, working for a marketing agency, a traditional commuting and office job, to having my own consulting business, running online courses, writing, running sites for income such as http://creditcardmatcher.com and blogging with friends on sites like http://promotions.co.uk/blog or for companies like http://cogniview.com – the transition was not easy but well worth the effort and I now love my work.

The best part is as well as being happier in myself, which is always a key ingredient in the recipe for better family life, I now get to see my family more often, in more quality ways.

Some of the ways technology helps me …

1) Time – my time is more productively spent.

The biggest example is sales, or rather the removal of a need to do any sales. Where before I would have to write proposals, travel down to London to pitch, present my pitch, then travel back, now I do not need to do any of that. Customers come to me via the internet, and 99% of them I have never met in person. This is a massive time saving. Just the train journey to London is over two hours one way, when it is on time. By car it is nearly four.

Of course I still travel, but I choose when and how, and it is never to pitch or sell. More… »

by John Haydon

I’m a single dad.

I see my son Thursday through Saturday night and sometimes Sundays. Because of my limited time with him, it’s important that I focus my time with him in the best possible way. But this is not as easy as it sounds.

Managing My Time

In addition to being a Dad, I also run my own business.  I  consult with  non-profits and businesses on how to use social media to get more customers.  There are times when my customer workload keeps me up until 1:00AM.  There are also times when business is slow, but I’m still up late using the inbound marketing strategies that I teach. In either case, I’ve learned some valuable lessons about making my time with my son 100% about him – not Twitter, my Blog or LinkedIn.   I’ve learned these things the hard way, which is how I learn most effectively. These are five lessons that I’ve learned that help me make 100% of the time with my son about him.

Five Time Management Tips That Work

1.  Create High Barriers To Distraction

Sounds simple enough, right?

Not so easy though, as I’m sure you’ve found.

For me, closing the laptop is not enough.  I need to take the darn thing on tuck it way up high above the kitchen cabinet – where it’s really hard for me to get it back down.

This essentially creates a higher barrier for me to even begin to entertain checking email or Twitter.

2.  Work in Short Spurts

On the weekends, if I have to do work, I’ve learned to keep it within short bursts.  This way, the majority of time is spent together – enjoying each other.

Two or three (max) mini work sessions  is what works for me.  My son is almost six – he needs my attention – a lot! More… »

Oh how I love my iPhone…  Let me count the ways….

My iPhone is honestly the next best resource when I don’t have my computer with an internet connection and this interview pretty much lays out my thoughts as to why.

Of course, this is my personal opinion, but there seem to be other iPhoneSpaz’s out there…  and I have found them!

I’m Not The Only iPhoneSpaz!

I also got some input from fellow geeks on twitter so let’s get this started.

“I love my iPhone because it’s unrequited love from afar. No one loves me enough to buy me one. It’s imaginary, fantasy, and folly.”  — Scott Merrick

“Loves her iPhone because it’s so empowering! I can get information about anything and everything and respond in realtime!“  — Gail Mari

“Easy to learn, slick, easy-to-use interface, nice comfortable size, killer potential with addition of multitude of apps.”   — Robert Hruzek

“I can personalize it to exactly what I need and want. As simple or complex as I choose”  — Scott Nelson

“My iphone can do just as much as my computer:  find places to eat, gives pollen count, play games, give directions & it loves me back.”  — Christine K

iPhoneSpaz Interview

Recently, I had a conversation and then an interview with Jamie Grove Mr. iPhoneSpaz himself about my beloved iPhone.

Jamie: First thing’s first… How many apps do you have and what got you hooked?

Vicky: 38 added (non standard icons/applications).

The main thing that got me hooked was flexibility and convenience.

I want to have both the flexibility and convenience of doing many of the same things on my phone that I can do on my computer. When I’m away from my computer, it is very important that I can do some of the same basic tasks that I’m able to complete on my computer. Many times it’s not that I actually ‘want’ to accomplish something, but it is also the piece of mind knowing that there is not something important that I should be attending to that I am missing, which is many times as simple as being able to see my email account.

The other thing that is really convenient is to be able to use time that is many times unuseful (ie.. waiting in the waiting room for a dr.’s appt) to either complete or start small tasks.

This time is no longer unuseful, I can make use of this time to get something done.

Jamie: How has the iPhone changed your life?

Vicky: Owning an iPhone has given me both basic functionality and many additional application options.

Basic functionality like contacts, calendar, Google maps, notes, camera, iPod (music), email, text messaging, web browser combined with add-on’s like WordPress, Facebook, Jott, Linked-In, Twitterfon, Skype, and Evernote.

With the additional applications that are so available on the iPhone, I could offset the additional price of purchasing an iPhone because of the additional functionality. I didn’t by an iPod or a Blackberry, instead I used the funds for these purchases to be able to purchase the iPhone. I also felt confident with the popularity of this particular phone and the number of applications being created that this technology and the appliations would continue to be a platform that developers would continue to both develop new applications and support/update existing applications.

More…

What do you think?

Do you love your iPhone or another phone?  What’s your favorite application or time saving tip?

• Microsoft Word 2007: introduction

• Microsoft PowerPoint 2007: introduction

• Microsoft Excel 2007: introduction

• Writing a high impact business plan

• Build your business identity with a new logo

• How to build your first website

Microsoft® Word 2007: introduction

Word 2007 enables users to create professional-quality documents, such as letters, brochures, newsletters and web pages. In this class, you’ll learn the basics of using Word 2007, and then move on to customizing the Word environment.

You’ll also learn how to create and edit documents, work with graphics, use editing and proofing functions and more.

• Learn the Word 2007 environment and become comfortable manipulating that environment to make workflow more efficient for individual style
• Create documents and edit documents
• Use formatting and page-layout functions
• Use editing and proofing functions
• Create graphics using SmartArt
• Create basic tables and use Quick Tables

More… »