Enzo Silva's MicroBlog

Mowing the Lawn Can Help with Productivity

Proven fact: mowing the lawn can make you focus on what matter and increase productivity.

Well, maybe the research might not point to mowing the lawn exactly but activities that have nothing to do with work help ease your mind, get it off of work and manage stress levels (see Weinberg, Sutherland & Cooper, 2010) . It is perhaps when you're away from the desk that the best creative ideas come. Like when you're taking a shower, that epiphany-soaked shower (pun anyone?).

I recently bought a riding lawn mower. Living the Southeast of the US (Georgia), there is a lot of yard work to be done. I got tired of pushing the push-mower for hours in a row. Well, in reality, I just thought riding a riding mower would be fun. Surprise: indeed!

Aside from hobbies and mindless work, fitness programs and exercises should also be seen as a priority at the workplace, as a way to increase productivity, decrease illness-related absenteeism, diminish the effects of stress on employees, along with several other benefits (Theobald, & Cooper, 2011). Working remotely, I have to say it is a challenge to stay focused on fitness and wellness.

It feels good to say I work at a company that gets it. At SuccessFactors not only do leaders invest in performance management, learning and development, but they seek innovative ways to increase employee happiness and productivity such as the Keas gamified fitness program that has employees cooperate and compete in teams for points, badges, and goods for completing fitness and wellness-related tasks at the office, gym, at home, or wherever they may be. Not only is the program a good example of (simple behavioral) game mechanics applied to the workplace, but it is also a great way to have remote employees bond outside of work.

We need to see learners as whole human beings, not just "students". Their wellness and health matters. It can make or break a learner's disposition to learn and apply what they learned. It can influence employee productivity.
Now, let me go back to my weekend. Take the previously mentioned (and much needed, especially after yard work) shower, and can think of not only one but several creative (I'll let my boss be the judge of that) ideas for work this week.

PS.: Ironically, I guess this week the mindless tasks involved in yard work didn't help with keeping my mind off of work, writing, tweeting while on the lawn mower... I'll try again next week...

References

Theobald, T., & Cooper, C. (2011). Doing the right thing: the importance of wellbeing in the workplace. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Weinberg, A., Sutherland, V.J., Cooper, C.L. (2010). Organizational stress management. Palgrave MacMillan.

Original Article

[INFOGRAPHIC] - Gamers Get Girls - A Comparison Between Dating Sites and Games

Infographics are a relatively new fad. But a good fad: what's not to like about just the right amount of graphics coupled with just the right amount of textual information and data, all wrapped in a beautiful typographical, visual package? Isn't that what us in Education strive for: helping others understand and make use of information in practical and engaging ways?

Here's a fun example a colleague suggested I post here, developed by OnlineUniversity.

Created by: Online University

Original Article

I Pledge to Unattend Conferences from Now on

I just came back from an amazing conference with amazing speakers, meet-ups, panels, free food and drinks, crazy people on the streets, advertisement anywhere (people's bodies, trucks, pedicabs, projected on walls), forward thinking people who want to change the world, and those who want to make a big splashing releasing their new product, people with ideas, people with the money to fund the ideas, people with the guts to build or tear down ideas... people from all over the world.

SWSX Interactive.

Yet, what do many do (myself included), go from session to session with a feeling that "you're missing something" if you don't go to every single one of them. A strange feeling of lack of connection if you don't go to every hip party (and there are quite a few).

The truth is that the most interesting and meaningful connections don't come from a photo with a famous speaker, or the number of interesting sessions you attended. The interesting conversations happen in the places you are normally too busy or bitter to notice: in line for free food, bumping into people in the hall ways.

So, next time I attend a conference, even more so then now, I will not complain about standing in line, I'll engage in even more conversations with those around me. I will consciously not complain about people bumping into me as they rush to another session: I will just take advantage of that bump to strike a conversation.

Conversation is the key to connecting forging meaningful relationships. Instead of counting the amount of good sessions you attended, enjoy the fulfilling conversations you had during the event.

That's what I'll do. I'll unattend my next conference.

Original Article

I Pledge to Unattend Conferences from Now on

I just came back from an amazing conference with amazing speakers, meet-ups, panels, free food and drinks, crazy people on the streets, advertisement anywhere (people's bodies, trucks, pedicabs, projected on walls), forward thinking people who want to change the world, and those who want to make a big splashing releasing their new product, people with ideas, people with the money to fund the ideas, people with the guts to build or tear down ideas... people from all over the world.

SWSX Interactive.

Yet, what do many do (myself included), go from session to session with a feeling that "you're missing something" if you don't go to every single one of them. A strange feeling of lack of connection if you don't go to every hip party (and there are quite a few).

The truth is that the most interesting and meaningful connections don't come from a photo with a famous speaker, or the number of interesting sessions you attended. The interesting conversations happen in the places you are normally too busy or bitter to notice: in line for free food, bumping into people in the hall ways.

So, next time I attend a conference, even more so then now, I will not complain about standing in line, I'll engage in even more conversations with those around me. I will consciously not complain about people bumping into me as they rush to another session: I will just take advantage of that bump to strike a conversation.

Conversation is the key to connecting forging meaningful relationships. Instead of counting the amount of good sessions you attended, enjoy the fulfilling conversations you had during the event.

That's what I'll do. I'll unattend my next conference.

Original Article

The end of assessment as we know it

"The concept of a job is going away" (Bersin, 2012) and so should the concept of assessment. At least assessment as we know it. Or the assessment forms that we dearly esteem.

The truth is, most educators teach to assess. Yes, the end goal of the learning experience is to prepare learners to succeed in the assessment. Does anyone else see something wrong with this picture?

Take, for instance, the idea of knowledge in the new Capitalism and how communities of practice are key to helping employees understand the whole company process of which they are part, adapt to fast-changing technologies, markets and work environments, share knowledge and encourage one another. Our role as leaders is to create communities of practice around a goal or interest, and help them generate explicit knowledge from the mostly tacit, extensive, distributed and disperse knowledge shared in the communities (Gee, 2000).  Whether we want it or not, whether we (leaders, educators) create them or not, these learners will find ways to connect to their peers in communities of practice. We can choose start them, participate in them, facilitate the knowledge sharing, eve intersperse "educational content" (I mean that in a formal sense of the word, being it synchronous sessions with a facilitator, guided discussions, group activities, etc.). So, how can we measure success in complex and interactive learning communities?

The work "practice" in "community of practice" is key in identifying assessments that would be authentic to the learners of the 21st century.

• Assessment has to be authentic to the activities they do on the job. Practical. Ask learners to create  a product that related to the goal of the learning experience/community. A sales community/course could, for instance, be assessed on mock sales pitch presentations they create individually or in teams.
• Assessment can to go beyond the finite notion of a single event. What if the learners that just created a pitch could reuse that for a real encounter with a customer? What if an activity in a technical System Administration community is to create a script that performs a certain task on an Operating System, and, after being assessed positively, feedback provided by peers and facilitator, that script could be then used in the real world by the learner on his/her day-to-day job?
• Also, assessment has to be part of learning, not the end goal of it. Why make it a boring quiz when it can be a simulation in which the learners put to practice what they shared and discussed during the course of the community?
• Let members of the community assess one another. Most online community platforms have discussion boards, badges, and other ways of giving kudos to other users.
• Allow self-reflection. "Did you achieve the goal? Did you successfully sell product X to customer Y? What defines "success" to you? What would you have done differently?"
• Let the assessment be fun. Have a competition in teams of who performs the task "better" producing a "better" final product, to be assessed by a judge or the community itself.

There are so many form of alternative assessment (NCLRC, 2000), why are we still so dependent on the omniscient LMS as the most used form of accountability in traditional courses?

We are in the 21st century, yet still defining success with ancient measurements...

A Couple of References

Bersin, J., 2012. The End of a Job as We Know It. Forbes Magazine. Retrieved January 20, 2012 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2012/01/31/the-end-of-a-job-as-we-know...>

Gee, JP., 2000.  Communities of practice in the new capitalism. J Learn Sci.

National Capital Language Resource Center (2000). Assessing Learning: Alternative Assessment. Washington DC.

Original Article

The end of assessment as we know it

"The concept of a job is going away" (Bersin, 2012) and so should the concept of assessment. At least assessment as we know it. Or the assessment forms that we dearly esteem.

The truth is, most educators teach to assess. Yes, the end goal of the learning experience is to prepare learners to succeed in the assessment. Does anyone else see something wrong with this picture?

Take, for instance, the idea of knowledge in the new Capitalism and how communities of practice are key to helping employees understand the whole company process of which they are part, adapt to fast-changing technologies, markets and work environments, share knowledge and encourage one another. Our role as leaders is to create communities of practice around a goal or interest, and help them generate explicit knowledge from the mostly tacit, extensive, distributed and disperse knowledge shared in the communities (Gee, 2000).  Whether we want it or not, whether we (leaders, educators) create them or not, these learners will find ways to connect to their peers in communities of practice. We can choose start them, participate in them, facilitate the knowledge sharing, eve intersperse "educational content" (I mean that in a formal sense of the word, being it synchronous sessions with a facilitator, guided discussions, group activities, etc.). So, how can we measure success in complex and interactive learning communities?

The word "practice" in "community of practice" is key in identifying assessments that would be authentic to the learners of the 21st century.

• Assessment has to be authentic to the activities they do on the job. Practical. Ask learners to create  a product that related to the goal of the learning experience/community. A sales community/course could, for instance, be assessed on mock sales pitch presentations they create individually or in teams.
• Assessment can to go beyond the finite notion of a single event. What if the learners that just created a pitch could reuse that for a real encounter with a customer? What if an activity in a technical System Administration community is to create a script that performs a certain task on an Operating System, and, after being assessed positively, feedback provided by peers and facilitator, that script could be then used in the real world by the learner on his/her day-to-day job?
• Also, assessment has to be part of learning, not the end goal of it. Why make it a boring quiz when it can be a simulation in which the learners put to practice what they shared and discussed during the course of the community?
• Let members of the community assess one another. Most online community platforms have discussion boards, badges, and other ways of giving kudos to other users.
• Allow self-reflection. "Did you achieve the goal? Did you successfully sell product X to customer Y? What defines "success" to you? What would you have done differently?"
• Let the assessment be fun. Have a competition in teams of who performs the task "better" producing a "better" final product, to be assessed by a judge or the community itself.

There are so many form of alternative assessment (NCLRC, 2000), why are we still so dependent on the omniscient LMS as the most used form of accountability in traditional courses?

We are in the 21st century, yet still defining success with ancient measurements...

A Couple of References

Bersin, J., 2012. The End of a Job as We Know It. Forbes Magazine. Retrieved January 20, 2012 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2012/01/31/the-end-of-a-job-as-we-know...>

Gee, JP., 2000.  Communities of practice in the new capitalism. J Learn Sci.

National Capital Language Resource Center (2000). Assessing Learning: Alternative Assessment. Washington DC.

Original Article

The Case for App Stores

Apple has changed the way consumers expect to get access to applications, especially mobile applications, with the creation of its iOS App Store and then the Mac App Store. There are several advantages for the use of app stores that might outweigh its most apparent disadvantage: the possibility of creating walled gardens which allow customers to only purchase and update their applications via the app store. This also maximizes the possibility of censorship, as has been the case for various developers that tried to sell applications that were questionably suspended or rejected by Apple. However, if implemented well, and provided the right access rights to developers and consumers, the concept of an app store has several advantages, of which I'll highlight a few:

• Centralized Application Access: Let's face it, people like comfort. They like to be able to find the things they want (in this case mobile and/or desktop applications) easily and quickly. The app store becomes then a one stop shop for customer needs. Take this to an individual company's level and you have a central location for application delivery that you can point customers to and have them find just the application they need from your portfolio.
• Centralized Updates: With centralized access comes "push" updates. The goal here is also to make it easy and quick for customers to have the latest version of a company's applications (and/or developer applications that work with a company's services or devices). This also ensure compatibility amongst customers' applications and server side services, as well as compatibility between different customers' applications in case of apps using for collaboration. The concept of an app store ensures everyone has access to the latest version of your content anytime.
• Centralized Security Control: Since the enterprise has at least some control over the applications and other content that is distributed through its app store, it can more safely guard the security, policies, and access to apps and content. Isn't this just what most companies complain about when users ask them "why can't we use this or that device at work?"

Notice that I purposely repeat the word "centralized" as it's key to the concept of app stores, and denotes its main advantage over a discentralized distribution of applications.

SalesForce AppExchange

SalesForce, for instance, has its own application marketplace called AppExchange where users can access cloud business applications centrally. One interesting thing about SalesForce's app store is that it allows third party  developers to publish applications there and make them available to existing SalesForce customers. Also, it allows customers to post a custom app development request and Force.com developers can access the job posting on the AppExchange Developer Marketplace, the customer can choose the developer that best fits the requirements for the job based on rating and skills. Of course, the customer will also rate the developer after the work is done as well, so the community can make sure they only choose the best developers, and so developers drive for best results every time.

Cisco's AppHQ Cius

Cisco created its own app store called AppHQ for their business-oriented Android App, the Cius. AppHQ lets companies create their own customized app stores with differentiated licensing and distribution control of content and apps as well as a custom storefront. From their AppHQ information page, once can find the following highlights:

• Easy Application Discovery and Search
• Enterprise Wide Application Purchase and Distribution
• Application Bulk Purchases
• License Management
• User and Group Management
• Application Evaluation, and Life Cycle Management
• Private Branding and Customization
• Internal Application Hosting Mechanism
• Application Usage and Reporting
• Rating and Reviews Management

Some examples of custom app stores and related services

If you're interested in starting your own company's custom app store, here are some services that could be worth investigating further:

• MobileIron Enterprise Storefront
• Apperian
• Partnerpedia
• Apps2Market 

As a side note, Apple offers app volume purchasing for companies that want to purchase and distribute applications for their employees via they B2B service.

If you're interested in finding out more about custom app stores, their advantages and disadvantages, and use cases, start by reading "Private app stores: does your company need its own?" by Jon Brodkin (2011) on Ars Technica.

Does your company or institution need its own app store for your (and third party developer) apps and contents such as applications and ebooks?

Original Article

Gamifying Learning

If you google "gamify", "gamification" or "gamifying", you will find several entries with this relatively new trend on the Web (the term is normally related to Web design and marketing).

I just wrote a short chapter on the "Learning Perspectives: 2010", Gamifying Learning with Social Gaming Mechanics. This is a topic that intrigues me as an instructional designer.

A quick definition of gamification is to bring game mechanics to services that aren't exactly games in order to increase user/costumer engagement, adoption and loyalty to a brand. According to Stephanie Schwab, gamification can be described as:

• Make it fun and exciting to be part of a community
• Reward audiences for participation
• Encourage pass-along and recommendations
• Build loyalty and sales through repeat visits and purchases

This new trend has been gaining momentum in the social Web, and publishers can now get access to resources and plugins that help them gamify their websites. Two examples of such services are:

• Badgeville - This service offers widgets and APIs to integrate on a website that enable rewards, badges and reputation based on pre-determined user actions (e.g. commenting on posts on your blog, uploading user-generated content, etc.).
• Nitro by BunchBall - This sophisticated gamification system offers an array of features, including the ability to create challenges, adopt leveling, offer badges and virtual goods, implement a leaderboard, and more. All based on user participation on your website which can be fully monitored via an administration and analytics tool offered by the company.
• BigDoor Quick Gamification Plugin for Wordpress - blog visitors can check in to your blog, post comments and perform other user actions to gain virtual rewards and points. Badgeville also offers analytics tools as well as integration with other social media services such as Facebook and Twitter.

Nigel Whiteoak has several blog posts about the topic of gamification here.

Stephanie Schwab has curated several resources about gamification here.

Here is Amy Jo Kim's "Putting Fun in Functional - Applying Game Mechanics into Functional Software"

Beware, however, that just adding badges and points does NOT imply you are turning whatever your experience you create into a game. As clearly stated by the game design studio Hide&Seek, a game goes being rewards, it has a set of goals and makes achieving them "interestingly hard" for the player, badges and points are just a way to show them keep track of what they've achieved.

I also recommend Ian Bogost's post "Gamification is Bullshit" which brings attention to the dangers in this "gamification movement" as it tends to disregard other important elements of game mechanics and tends to focus on extrinsic motivators and rewards alone.

How can we apply game mechanics to Education? Do you have examples to share?

Original Article

Gamifying Learning

If you google "gamify", "gamification" or "gamifying", you will find several entries with this relatively new trend on the Web (the term is normally related to Web design and marketing).

I just wrote a short chapter on the "Learning Perspectives: 2010", Gamifying Learning with Social Gaming Mechanics. This is a topic that intrigues me as an instructional designer.

A quick definition of gamification is to bring game mechanics to services that aren't exactly games in order to increase user/costumer engagement, adoption and loyalty to a brand. According to Stephanie Schwab, gamification can be described as:

• Make it fun and exciting to be part of a community
• Reward audiences for participation
• Encourage pass-along and recommendations
• Build loyalty and sales through repeat visits and purchases

This new trend has been gaining momentum in the social Web, and publishers can now get access to resources and plugins that help them gamify their websites. Two examples of such services are:

• Badgeville - This service offers widgets and APIs to integrate on a website that enable rewards, badges and reputation based on pre-determined user actions (e.g. commenting on posts on your blog, uploading user-generated content, etc.).
• Nitro by BunchBall - This sophisticated gamification system offers an array of features, including the ability to create challenges, adopt leveling, offer badges and virtual goods, implement a leaderboard, and more. All based on user participation on your website which can be fully monitored via an administration and analytics tool offered by the company.
• BigDoor Quick Gamification Plugin for Wordpress - blog visitors can check in to your blog, post comments and perform other user actions to gain virtual rewards and points. Badgeville also offers analytics tools as well as integration with other social media services such as Facebook and Twitter.

Nigel Whiteoak has several blog posts about the topic of gamification here.

Stephanie Schwab has curated several resources about gamification here.

Here is Amy Jo Kim's "Putting Fun in Functional - Applying Game Mechanics into Functional Software"

Beware, however, that just adding badges and points does NOT imply you are turning whatever your experience you create into a game. As clearly stated by the game design studio Hide&Seek, a game goes being rewards, it has a set of goals and makes achieving them "interestingly hard" for the player, badges and points are just a way to show them keep track of what they've achieved.

I also recommend Ian Bogost's post "Gamification is Bullshit" which brings attention to the dangers in this "gamification movement" as it tends to disregard other important elements of game mechanics and tends to focus on extrinsic motivators and rewards alone.

How can we apply game mechanics to Education? Do you have examples to share?

Original Article

iBooks Author for Mac

Apple changes the publishing business once again. Sure there are other formats and authoring tools which are supported in iBooks, but this is different: an application that fits tightly in the Apple ecosystem, and as is normally the case with Apple products, simple.

Apple unveiled this new tool in their Apple Education event in NYC. Here are some highlights and features:

Integration with other Apple products and workflow

Template gallery

Drag-and-drop editing

Embedding and customization of elements such as galleries

Support for JavaScript

Support for HTML5

iPad simulator/preview

Accessibility support

Support for widgets

Apple says on their website:

Available free on the Mac App store, iBooks Author is an amazing new app that allows anyone to create beautiful Multi-Touch textbooks â€" and just about any other kind of book â€" for iPad. With galleries, video, interactive diagrams, 3D objects, and more, these books bring content to life in ways the printed page never could.

Did I say it is free of charge on the Mac App Store?

This application should facilitate the process for creating custom interactive eBooks that play well, natively, in Apple (and perhaps other) devices. Now all one needs is creativity...

One of the sources: The Official Apple Website, and TheNextWeb.

Original Article