Interview with David Falzani, SMF - Corgi "Big Bark" Award

Mentoring is vital for the future of innovation as it relates to leadership, management, engineering, and new technologies. While technology is marked by ongoing change and a focus on the future, a recognition of the past vis-a-vis experience and lessons learned is invaluable. This is where mentorship become a focal point. Welcome to an interview with David Falzani, who dedicates a large portion of his time to Sainsbury Management Fellows' Society, which provides educational scholarship and career development for aspiring young engineers. 

What is your name and your relation to career development?

David Falzani, CEO of business consultancy, Polaris Associates, and President of the Sainsbury Management Fellows’ Society (SMF), a charity that provides educational scholarships and career development for aspiring young engineers.  I was a beneficiary of an SMF scholarship.  I am also a Visiting Professor at Nottingham Business School (NUBS).  NUBS is a centre of excellence in the development of enterprise and entrepreneurial skills, innovation and understanding the commercialisation of research.  I teach about the value to the economy of hi-tech wealth-creating industries and modern manufacturing, and how they can extract value from engineering and technology.  I share my experience of steering entrepreneurial businesses through the development of ambitious business and marketing strategies.  I aim to give students an insight into the challenges faced by a new business, from raising investment to scaling up an operation.

 

David Falzani, President, Sainsbury Management Fellows' Society

What is the importance of interdisciplinary education?

The world is an increasingly interconnected place.  Consequently business problems, and their solutions, are becoming increasingly interconnected too.  For example, today, every organisation is an information business and data is the most valuable asset to the operation.  The ability to interpret and understand data and information in a business context is a major benefit because it creates opportunities to add value to a business and thus its performance and success. To achieve more elegant and effective business solutions, we need better ways to handle higher levels of complexity.  The best way this can be delivered is through broader approaches to problems, rather than through the traditional single ‘silo’ disciplines.

That’s where SMFs’ philosophy and scholarship scheme comes in.  The Society promotes the benefits of a combined business and engineering education to help improve the performance of the UK economy.  We believe that by equipping engineers – experts in understanding how to best apply technology – with business knowledge and experience, they can use their mix of skills to build new products and services that enhance business performance more rapidly and ultimately improve both the UK economy and people’s lives.

What is the SMF programme?

SMF aims to improve the economic performance of UK engineering, manufacturing and construction businesses.  This is achieved by providing highly motivated professional engineers with MBA scholarships to undertake a first-class business education in an international setting.  This helps them to embark on leadership roles in business with a high level of confidence.

Through its scholarship programme, SMF enables professional engineers to add business, finance and marketing expertise to the diverse skills gained through their engineering training and qualifications.  SMF awards £300,000 worth of MBA scholarships each year to engineers with exceptional education qualifications and leadership potential.  SMF has already awarded £7m worth of scholarships.

An award of £30,000 each is made to 10 successful applicants annually so they can do a full-time MBA course.  The Award is given on condition that the candidate obtains a place at one of the 12 business schools (in Europe and USA) that participate in the SMF programme, which is administered by the Royal Academy of Engineering. 

Candidates must be UK citizens normally domiciled in the United Kingdom.  Candidates should ideally have a first or upper second class honours degree in an engineering subject and have Chartered Engineer status or be making substantial progress towards it.  Given SMFs’ goal of getting more engineers into business leadership positions, candidates must have the potential and ambition to achieve senior management responsibility early in their career.  To learn more about applying for an SMF scholarship click here.

 On graduation, scholarship awardees become Fellows of the Sainsbury Management Fellows’ Society and gain access to an impressive network of professional contacts and activities including networking events, the opportunity to participate in special projects such as round table debates that are important to the UK economy (e.g. Energy Round Table), publications, career advice and mentoring from within the SMF network and from external captains of industry.  They can also participate in the SMF LinkedIn Group Engineers in Business.

There are now 300 Fellows – 10 of these are studying for their MBA degree currently.  Nearly 90% are employed in industry or services to industry and 70% of these are based in the UK or work for UK firms.  Sixty Fellows are entrepreneurs and own and manage their own enterprises.   Some of these recipients have already gone on to create new businesses worth in excess of £500m, whilst others have helped further develop some of the UK’s largest corporations, creating economic wealth and providing jobs for many thousands.

 Who is Lord Sainsbury?

Lord Sainsbury is the founder of the Sainsbury Management Fellows’ Society.  You will know him better as David Sainsbury, former businessman and politician – he was the Minister of Science and Innovation from 1998 to  2006.  Now a life peer, he sits in the House of Lords as a member of the Labour Party.

In the 1980s, David Sainsbury (now Lord Sainsbury of Turville) felt that there should be more people in the boardrooms of British industry who have both the knowledge of how things are made and effective management skills.  By contrast, he found that many overseas companies, particularly those in Japan and Germany, were succeeding because their senior executives and boards included qualified engineers.  To help bring about a change in business culture in the UK, in 1987 Lord Sainsbury set up the Sainsbury Management Fellowship scheme to develop UK engineers for future leadership roles in commerce and industry.

How can engineers improve the performance of companies?

SMFs (and other professional engineers who also have high calibre business degrees and real life business experience) have a unique combination of technological and commercial knowledge and experience that makes them particularly suited to strategic decision making processes.

Yet, historically, professional engineers have not been seen as a natural choice to sit on boards of blue-chip companies, however, things are changing.  Business leaders are starting to recognise that once equipped with the essential financial, marketing and leadership skills, professional engineers have a myriad of talents that help businesses grow faster.  A professional engineer’s ability to span both the technological and business spheres enables him or her to help in the rapid commercialisation of new products and technologies.  While there are many facets to the successful launch of a new technology or product, the speed of commercialisation can be the difference between success and failure – the faster a new technology or product can be brought to market, the more benefit a company and its shareholders will reap.

SMFs can take a view on internal and external factors that influence business that a director without an engineering background may not take because they start from different perspectives.

SMF has produced a downloadable publication Re-engineering the Board to Manage Risk and Maximise Growth, which explains the transferrable skills that engineers bring to business. 

A Strategy for Disruptive Technologies

New technologies create opportunities. They can also destroy your business in the blink of an eye, and leave you without the resources needed to land on your feet. 

Waves of disruptive technologies have been distinguishing features of industrial revolutions, and we can trace typical responses to them by taking a look at the first European industrial revolution. An early knee-jerk reaction was to burn down factories and pass laws that did not admit the importation of new technologies such as, say, mechanical felt-making. The goal was to protect jobs by blocking labor-saving technologies. 

However, establishing walls of tariffs and blocking the implementation of new technologies did not work. English Luddites found that all their efforts did were to strengthen the position of the low-cost offshore competitors, who manufactured felt hats using the new processes in other countries, thereby destroying markets for high-cost felt hats made by hand in England. Banning the import of machine-made felt hats did not work, either. It simply created an underground economy and a black market for smuggled in new, stylish, high-quality, yet inexpensive machine-made felt hats. 

Another approach, which involved confiscating the intellectual property of innovators and declaring it a “public good” and property of the state did not work, either. Nor did imposing high taxes on royalties or profits made from new technologies work to protect against disruptive technologies.  Instead, the innovators simply left to work in more hospitable environments where they were able to receive royalties and to implement their new processes and equipment without a huge penalty.  

Clearly, blocking or attempting to neutralize the impact of new technologies does not work.

So, what can you do if you’re in an organization that is facing potential disruption? In point of fact, all organizations are vulnerable, so it is important to have a strategy in place. 

Here are five steps to take to develop a strategy for disruptive technology, innovations, and processes.

1.  Identify potential areas of disruptive change that will affect your organization’s core business:

a.  new technologies

b.  new processes

c.  new services

d.  new ways of organizing your business

2.  Describe what it is about your core business that is unique and valuable; explain why your customers choose your products and services, and then explain what you might do to disrupt yourself to create a new product that supplants your existing one. (Think like your competitors).  Where is your “extendable core”? 

3.  Identify the group that will hang onto your existing core products and services to the bitter end.  How can you build and enhance their experience? 

4.  Detail the steps and investment required to develop a parallel product that will capture the market that would go to a disruptive product (technology or service). How will you develop both at the same time and keep from cannibalizing your existing market, but at the same time beat your competition (which seeks to capture your market by introducing a disruption) at their own game?

5.  Describe the team you’ll develop to effectively develop the new parallel products, and how they will behave in complementary ways that will cross-market products, without confusing the public or muddying your brand identity/identities.

The goal is not to resist or block change. Nor is it desirable to disavow your entire heritage and legacy line. Instead, strengthen your legacy core while you bring a new line into existence and compete head-to-head with the innovative / disruptive new products or services.

Useful References

Raynor,  M. (2011). The Innovator’s Manifesto: Deliberate Disruption for Transformational Growth. NY: Random House. 

Wessel, M. and C. M. Christensen (2012). Surviving disruption. Harvard Business Review. December 2012: 56-65.

Interview with Janhavi Padture, Harbinger: Innovators in E-Learning Series

Understanding the needs that organizations have for eLearning is challenging, not only due to the rate of change of technology and the high level of uncertainty, but also because of emerging opportunities for careers and new industry directions. Companies and individuals who are in the front lines in satisfying needs are well positioned to provide important insights about the directions of change and opportunities. Welcome to an interview with Janhavi Padture, Harbinger Knowledge Products.

1.  What is your name and your relation to elearning?
Janhavi Padture, VP Strategy & Business Development at Harbinger Knowledge Products, Inc. Harbinger Knowledge Products is recognized as a global leader in interactivity solutions for knowledge-sharing applications including learning, presentation and web development. It is a part of Harbinger Group, which serves customers in over 60 countries through its offices in Pune (India), Redmond (WA, USA), Pleasanton (CA, USA) and through its partner network worldwide. Our flagship product Raptivity is a unique one of a kind interactivity builder that helps eLearning developers to easily create engaging interactions for their online courses.

Explorative Immersive Learning: Interactive Exercise

2.  What do you think are some of the issues that currently concern elearning program developers?
One of the challenges is technology! It is evolving at lightning speed. In today’s day and age eLearning developers are faced with an overwhelming number of technology choices for creating their courses. Would it make sense for them to switch over to HTML5 or continue to support both Flash and HTML5? What devices should they support and how to deal with the differences? How to optimally design for the various devices? Should they bite the bullet and be early adopters of Tin Can or is it too early? And many more questions like this. The difficult thing is that often the choice is not always clear.

Secondly, It may sound cliché but I truly believe that even though the economy is on a rebound in theory, most of the training departments are wary and applying a conservative approach to eLearning spending and development, which means most eLearning developers are still dealing with the “do more with less” challenge. And in this situation, even though developers realize that interactivity is critical to effective learning, unfortunately find that it is also the most compromised aspect because it can be time consuming and expensive. But many eLearning developers have come to rely on Raptivity to help address this problem. Raptivity is a tool that helps make interactivity creation quick, easy and affordable. Moreover since Raptivity keeps up with new technology users can rest assured that they will be able to rely on Raptivity for many of the desired aspects like HTML5 or multi-device support or even Tin Can

Guided Demo

3.  What is Raptivity and how does it work?
Raptivity is a rapid interactivity building tool that helps educators and trainers of today to add the most essential and critical element of learning, which is interactivity. Raptivity houses a library of over 180 easily customizable interactions which enable you to create effective interactive learning content without any programming. The versatility that each Raptivity interaction brings forth by helping achieve multiple learning objectives makes life easy for course designers. It’s wide range of interactions covering categories like games, simulations, presentation aids, visual aids, brain teasers and assessments, allow course designers to effortlessly select an interactivity to cater to any learning style. Depending upon how interactive and engaging you want to make your courses, you can select and customize an interaction that will help you achieve the learning objective. Whether it is games based learning, role based simulations, character based learning or explorative learning, Raptivity is the one solution to all your interactivity needs.

4. Please provide two or three examples of how Raptivity has been used  
[Here is the link to the case studies that we have published. This shows the work by some of Raptivity users.

Brainteasers: Learn and Try using Drag-Drop-Sort

5. Describe plans for future developments in Raptivity.
There are a lot of new and exciting new developments that are happening on the Raptivity side. For one, Raptivity now supports AS3. This is part of our ongoing effort to make sure that we keep up with latest developments in technology. It will also ensure better compatibility and integration with other tools like Captivate that now produce AS3 output. Hence this was a much awaited feature for many customers and we are happy that we delivered on the promise. At the same time Raptivity will also continue to provide the AS2 publishing output option for use the legacy courses built using older generation tools that do not support AS3. Another thing to look ahead to is the conversion of the complete library of 180+ interactions to HTML5. Currently more than 2/3rd of the library already supports HTML5, including all games and simulations. By the end of the year, users can expect the remaining interactions to also support HTML5.

Raptivity also recently announced an annual licensing option for customers who wish to purchase Raptivity, but would rather pay annually from their recurring budget than get the perpetual license by paying full cost upfront. With the annual licensing model, Raptivity allows you to deliver high quality interactive learning experience to your learners while also staying within your budget.

6.  What is your philosophy of education in a multi-platform BYOD world?
The philosophy is simple… In a multi-platform BYOD world, learners are predisposed to being easily distracted and also have shorter attention spans, so it has become even more critical to ensure that the learning modules are engaging and interactive. Interactivity helps keep the learner engaged, thus producing better learning outcomes. Research has proven engagement and enjoyment has a direct correlation to learning and performance. So whether it is eLearning, mLearning or a combination, eLearning developers need to make sure they plan for and incorporate meaningful interactivity in their online courses or training modules. The type of interactivity to incorporate will vary depending on the situation, whether it is effective use of media in its simplest form, to including simulations and games in a more advanced situation. The flexibility of media allows teachers to readily and easily meet individualized learning needs. Moreover, using devices that they are comfortable and familiar with, empowers students to take greater charge of their learning which makes them eager and engaged learners!

7.  What are two or three books that you'd recommend.
“Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead”, by Sheryl Sandberg
“Telling Ain’t Training” 2nd edition by Harold D. Stolovich and Erica J. Keeps
“The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses” by Eric Reis

*****
Thank you, Janhavi! 

Corgi happiness! We loved this interview! 

*****
OF NOTE
Strategic Decision-Making: An Online Course
Free preview (OpenCourseWare version // instructor-led course & certification available via AAPG).

Innovators in E-Learning Series: Interview with Paige Johnson, Intel Education Strategist

The appropriate use of educational technology can be challenging, particularly in a time of rapid change and disruptive technologies. It can be difficult to find the best fit and to select the correct technology for a college, university, school, or organization. Further, while many feel they're in a constant game of "catch up," others are excited about the road ahead, and are looking at ways that technology is being used in other uses and industries can be applied to education.

Welcome to an interview with Paige Johnson, Intel Education Strategist (@IntelK12Edu), who matches the educational need with the appropriate technology.

Paige Johnson, Intel Education Strategist

1. What is your name and relation to e-learning and technology-facilitated learning?
My name is Paige Johnson and I’m Intel’s K-12 education strategist. My goal is to ensure schools get the return on their technology investments in terms of students’ achievement and performance.

2. What constitutes today's "technology-rich classroom" and what are some of the “must-haves”?
The most important thing in a technology-rich classroom is a great teacher. You can have the best resources in the world, but without an inspired, innovative educator you won’t get excellent learning outcomes. One new form factor that is coming out now is called a 2-in-1; it’s a notebook when you need it and a tablet when you want it. These devices are still a little expensive for schools, but look for them to come down in price in the coming year. A lot of these devices will have full pen enablement so students can accurately make diagrams, concept maps and write out complex mathematical equations. I also think you will see a lot of work in the adaptive learning space in the next few years. Right now, most “adaptive learning” products use very structured data. For example, a student answers a question and is shuttled to appropriate content. With the advent of tools that allow for analysis of unstructured data, such as information on where a student is looking on a screen or if the student shows signs of frustration or boredom, it will be possible to create a truly personalized experience for students. This trend is moving quickly in healthcare and retail, so you can expect similar trends to get picked up in education, as well.

In today’s classroom, I’m a big supporter of using blended learning environments to support learning. A great teacher with access to a blended learning environment can tap into student passions in new ways. The blended platform allows teachers to spend more energy and time on learning and less on classroom management. Intel invested in an Intel Teach Elements course to help educators think about using blended learning in their classroom. This free resource can be found at intel.com/teachers.

3.  How does technology help today's teachers achieve their learning goals?
Technology in schools can help support deeper learning and bring the world into a teacher’s classroom. The Internet now allows students to have access to complex data systems that previously were only available to professionals. Educators also need to rethink their instruction in order to get the most out of their investments. For example, requiring educators to be more self-directed in their learning and shifting assessment by seeking performance-based evidence of understanding will help students prepare to be college and career ready.

4. How does the technology-rich classroom help teachers teach to the tests the students must take? 
Student achievement on tests is tied to deep conceptual understanding of content. Technology can be a platform that allows teachers to design meaningful instruction for students. One thing I think many districts are struggling with right now is ensuring equal ubiquitous access to technology for all students. I work closely with Project RED,   a research-driven organization that focuses on successful technology implementation in districts. The Project RED research has shown that schools that implement a 1:1 student-computer ratio, for example, outperform other schools in terms of academic achievement and financial benefits. However, the Project RED research shows access is not enough. If your students are just reading e-books or playing on apps that don’t require them to gain a deeper understanding of core curricular content, then you won’t get the most out of your investment. This is why Intel supports a site called the K12 Blueprint, because research shows that careful planning, great professional development and strong implementation support does result in better student achievement, reduced disciplinary actions and higher graduation rates.

5. What are a few examples or specific cases of students feeling more engaged thanks to technology in the classroom? 
One example I like to talk about is the implementation of 1:1, project-based learning in San Diego’s Del Sur Elementary School. Megan Power, a kindergarten teacher, participated in a pilot program where each of her students was given their own laptop in an effort to personalize their learning. Megan took advantage of this technology and taught her students how to write by creating blogs. This video shows hows Megan’s kindergartners collaborating with one another, engaging with the technology, and most importantly, being excited about learning.

Another example of a school we work with closely is Crellin Elementary School in the rural town of Oakland, Maryland. This school is an Intel School of Distinction award winner for its support of math learning. The school’s principal, Dana McCauley, has worked with teachers to bring real-world projects in support of math learning. The school’s achievements have been showcased by PBS as a model for STEM education in rural schools. You can see a short video on the work at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otGnt1tuTLY.

7. What is your personal teaching and learning philosophy?
Learning is a lifelong endeavor. I recently went to a conference about technology integration in the classroom and met Sister Angela, a 79-year-old nun who was there to learn how to better use technology in her classroom. As you might guess, she struggled with the technology. But, whenever someone asked her why she wasn’t retired or why she even came to the event, she would say: “The day I stop learning will be the day I lay down and die.” Learning to use technology was by no means easy to Sister Angela, but she knew it was important for her to learn so she could better engage with her students while modeling life-long learning in her own work.

Strategic Decision-Making and Current Problems: An Online Course

Technological breakthroughs which have enabled companies to recover oil and gas that was previously unrecoverable have transformed the U.S. energy industry, and have helped lower dependence on imported oil. Some economists have predicted energy independence by 2020 (Citigroup, 2013, Energy 2020: North America, the New Middle East?). We can already see a change: in 2005, the U.S. imported 60% of its oil, while in 2012, only 40% was imported (U.S. Energy Information Administration, August 2013, http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/steo/pdf/steo_full.pdf).

Understanding the opportunities and gaining knowledge of the multiple challenges that accompany the goal of sustainable expansion of oil and gas supplies (via exploration, production, transportation) and the appropriate / effective use of new technologies are vital. To that end, here is a course which one can take (open courseware), or receive certification and credit in an instructor-led e-learning setting (AAPG -- American Association of Petroleum Geologists). It can also apply toward an MBA with an emphasis in Energy Leadership (Texas A&M Texarkana). For information contact snash@aapg.org 

Energy Strategy, Technology, and Current Issues in the Oil Industry

Energy Overview / Current Issues in Energy

Learning Objectives: 
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to list current issues that can impact growth and sustainability of oil and gas ventures. They will also be able to explain the reasons for the potential problems, and evaluate possible solutions. 

Who Should Take this Course?
This course will help energy professionals, investors, geoscientists, engineers, business owners, managers, and service providers a clear view of many of the issues that accompany the rapid expansion of oil and gas supplies. It will place them within a strategic context that will help identify specific opportunities, and also places where changes can be made.

Overview:
The future of oil and gas ventures is complex due to a number of challenges facing the industry. Although demand for oil and gas remains high, especially in the new giants, India and China, complications have emerged, particularly in the U.S., where the “shale revolution” has resulted in an oversupply of natural gas, and plunging natural gas prices. In the meantime, lack of infrastructure in some of the major plays (the Bakken in North Dakota, the Eagle Ford in south Texas), has made it necessary to employ expensive methods of transporting liquids-rich petroleum such as hauling via truck and rail, vs. pipelines. Further, the lack of natural gas processing and transportation infrastructure (gathering systems, pipelines, compressors, conditioning) has made it difficult to get natural gas to market. Water management remains a challenge as well, particularly in times of drought and public sensitivity to environmental issues.

At the same time, enormous opportunities abound, primarily due to the emergence of transformational technologies, which have allowed previously unproductive and unproducible resources to be exploited. Further, new technologies are making it possible to return to mature fields and to recover oil and gas that has been left behind.

In order to make strategic decisions in all industries, it is very important to have an understanding of the issues facing the energy sector. 

Course Units (Issues):  

Select four issues, click on the links for access to the readings and course materials. Then read the materials and respond to the Guiding Questions by writing responses. Support your ideas with information from the readings and also by conducting your own research using reliable sources. 
1.  Current oil and gas exploration / production efforts hampered by insufficient cash / undercapitalization.

2.  Skyrocketing costs in energy technology. 

3.  Environmental challenges.

4.  Shortages of qualified personnel.

5. Bubble Economies and Carbon Economies / Fire sales and “vulturing”.

6. Alternative Energies: Easy-to-find, cheap-to-produce oil no longer exists.

7. Health and safety issues are increasingly complicated. 

8. “Green” energy must combine with oil and gas.

9. Geopolitical power shuffles.

10-11. Non-renewables are “dirty” and difficult; Renewables are expensive. 

12.  Global outlook: Sustained, worldwide growth. 


*********************
Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.
- 2013 -

Mind-Mapping and E-Learning: Interview with Yvonne Wu, MindMaple

Mind-mapping software has been used very successfully in courses where creativity and idea generation are critical, and where one might wish to discover (or uncover) connections and patterns. Mind-mapping can be conducted independently or collaboratively; the collaborations can be synchronous or asynchronous. Mind-mapping software is often very helpful and can be used in conjunction with elearning courses as well as in tasks and projects. MindMaple, a mind mapping software in both Windows and IOS operating systems, is unique in its flexibility and suitability for many different users, ages, and levels.

MindMaple.com Mind-Mapping Software

 Welcome to an interview with Yvonne Wu, MindMaple.

1.  What is your name and relation to e-learning?
My name is Yvonne Wu and I’m a member of the marketing team of MindMaple. I want to share my belief with all the educators and the readers of e-learning blog that the concept of mind mapping techniques can support or even enhance the education in many ways.

2.  What is MindMaple?  How does it work?
A mind map is a diagram that grows and elaborates around a central word, phrase or concept. Starting from a central topic, we add subtopics or subcategories to branch out the map; at the same time grow the ideas.

Mind map visually organizes your thoughts on the same surface. It’s like visualizing the thoughts in your brain that people can easily see and understand with one glance and be on the same page with you.

When the concept of mind mapping marries technology, voila! Here comes MindMaple! MindMaple, a mind mapping software works as a tool to optimize skill of mind mapping with technology. Teaching and learning then become more creative and interactive.

3.  Please describe three innovative uses of MindMaple in elearning for K-12, college, and professional development

in e-learning for K-12

•    Optimized the integration of left and right brain.
Our left brain majorly is in charge of tasks that are more analytic and logical; while our right brain processes most of the non-verbal tasks that require more creativity and imagination. Mind mapping is a useful technique integrating the functions of both left and right brain in the thinking process; while MindMaple, optimizes such skill with technology. It allows you to think logically; while at the same time retains or even boosts your creativity.

•    Stimulated curiosity and encouraged children to think outside of the box:
The motivation of learning starts from curiosity. Teaching and learning with mind mapping software is interactive which helps children to increase the brain activity and to remain curious.

•    Increased interest of learning for students with learning disability:
MindMaple allows teachers to add images, video clip, or to color code the map. This makes teaching lectures more interactive and can help students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Color coding and the nature of mind map that communicate with less word but more visual material can lower the learning barrier for students who have Dyslexia problem.

elearning for college
•    Making presentation more convincing: Either the lectures in class or student performing presentations for their projects, MindMaple visualize communication, which not only make the presentation more interactive, but also more convincing.

•    Planning and scheduling with MindMaple to enhance task management: Schools and teachers can use MindMaple to design the teaching plan, syllabus or school event planning. Task manager function in MindMaple also allows students or teachers to set up deadlines, to keep tracking task progress, or to distribute the resource and budget for better task management. 

•    Organizing ideas and thoughts: Mind mapping software enables students and teachers to think outside of the box; while keeping all ideas visually organized.  MindMaple can be an incredible asset in regards to learning and teaching in a creative, more efficient way. Teachers can use MindMaple for brainstorming sessions. Students can use it for notes taking and studying.


 elearning for professional development
•    When it comes to project management, MindMaple is extremely helpful organizing ideas and tasks with the functions of scheduling and task progress tracking. Project managers and event planners use MindMaple to plan and keep track of multiple projects with deadline.

•    Visual design related professions will find MindMaple helpful in the brainstorm stage. You plant the ideas, let MindMaple help it grow!

•    Journalists can not only use MindMaple to brainstorm and generate articles, but also to plan and schedule the editorial calendar of publication.

4.  What are some of the features that make MindMaple effective in the elearning space? 
•    Real-time collaborative function enables users to work on the same mind map at the same time. It helps the teamwork aspect of learning.

•    Task manager: including human resource allocation, task progress monitoring  and deadline scheduling.

•    Usability: MindMaple simplifies but amplify the whole mind mapping concept with the ease of usability. Our user friendly interface lower the barrier to access the idea of mind mapping. For example, with touch screen interface, users can easily create a mind map on their iPad by simply tapping a topic and draw out from existing topic; just like drawing a map with your hand!

5.  How might MindMaple be used for writing courses (essays, plus creative writing)? -- I'm thinking specifically of the invention stage.
Mind mapping is a skill that grows and elaborates from one central idea or statement. This technique can seamlessly integrate with the process of writing. The central concept will be the topic or the thesis statement of an article. The next subtopic of the central topic stands for points that support the thesis statement. 

6.  Can you recommend three books?

•    The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter--And How to Make the Most of Them Now
•    Creating Magic: Enhance Your Life With Creativity
•    Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

Thanks for the interview! MindMaple strives to contribute in education by introducing this helpful mind mapping software. If there is any further questions, or if anyone would like to know more about MindMaple, feel free to reach out to me at Yvonne@mindmaple.com. Any suggestion on how we can help more in teaching and learning is appreciate as well!

Portfolios in Training and Development E-Learning

Portfolios can be extremely effective in training and professional development, and are quite easy to implement in asynchronous e-learning, especially when access is limited, and it’s necessary to show the progress of one’s learning or skill-building over time.  Learning management systems such as the open-source Moodle can accommodate both asynchronous and synchronous (“live”) learning and are ideal for both individual and collaborative portfolios.

Portfolios can be used to show individual progress, which can be very motivating because it utilizes cognitive scaffolding and employs a building block approach.

Individual portfolios can also demonstrate how an individual achieves learning objectives, and helps target where performance is optimal, and where it can be improved.

            Process-focus

            Iterative

            Incremental changes / modifications

            Reflective knowledge

            Adaptive

            Evolutionary

            Critical thinking skills

Collaborative portfolios are very effective for the following:

            Sharing ideas

            Knowledge transfer

            Skill building

            Team-building

            Critical thinking skills

            SWOT analyses

            Strategic planning

Simple Solution

In the simplest form, an organization can put together a link to a Sharepoint or Document Exchange portal where individuals can log in and share their files with each other, and then comment.  A simple solution would also be to incorporate Google Drive, and to use Google Docs for portfolios.

LMS Solutions

It’s very easy to utilize elements with typical learning management systems.

Moodle

Moodle offers a wide array of modules and, as it is open source, it offers a number of advantages with respect to adding modules and features. There are a number of low-cost hosting solutions.

Portfolio module. For example, Moodle 2.5  accommodates portfolios in a number of ways. Once the site administrator has enabled portfolios, the user can export a cluster of files into a portfolio that automatically saves into a file archive or Google Docs / GoogleDrive.

Workshop Module. Or, alternatively, you can use the Workshop module to develop spaces where a wide variety of files and activities can be housed and shared.

Forum Module. Another approach could be to use a Forum module to create a discussion board, and allow learners to post their activities that they will then pull together into a portfolio. In a final “display”, the learner can post the documents that constitute the portfolio.

Certificate Module. A nice feature of Moodle is that you can also use the Certificate module to generate a certificate once the portfolio has been completed, and the requirements for successful completion have been satisfied.

For more directions, ideas, check out Moodle for Training and Professional Development just released by Packt Publishing.  

Blackboard

Blackboard offers a number of ways to develop and display portfolios.

Discussion.  The first, and perhaps most inclusive and encouraging of group interaction is the Discussion Board. Keep in mind that Discussion Boards can be open to the entire class, or can consist of subsets and groups within the course.

Collaboration. In addition to having the public display and interaction via the Discussion Board, it’s also possible to set up small collaboration groups using the Collaboration tool.

Journal. In addition, for individual portfolios, the Journals tool can be employed, and a student can create a set of journals. While most people associate Blackboard with higher education elearning, Blackboard has prepackaged solutions for small to medium businesses (under 200 users) and associations. In fact, Blackboard’s ProSites “lite” LMS could be ideal for small-scale use of portfolios for specific association programs.

Desire2Learn (D2L)

Desire2Learn (D2L) has similar capabilities, but one may have to be a bit more creative. For example, it does not have a Portfolio tool, as does Moodle.

Dropbox

However, it’s possible to create a Dropbox that acts as a repository for the different drafts. Because many files can be uploaded to the same Dropbox, it’s easy to manage. The Dropbox can then be associated with Grades (the gradebook).  Rubrics can be associated with Grades, which makes it simple to evaluate different aspects of the portfolio.

Rubrics

In D2L, Rubrics have both Properties and Levels and Criteria. (I’m capitalizing these items because they are categories of tools found in D2L and are accessed through the tab marked “Edit Course.” Of course, Discussions (the discussion board) allows display and peer review of items in the portfolio.  It is easy to set up Groups and Sections for collaborative activities.

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