Search for:

New Online Maths Resource for Leaving Certificate Students

mathsGreat to see Galway Education Centre and Athenry Maths Academy linking up with online learning company ALISON, to launch a free interactive maths resource. Targeted at students of the Leaving Certificate (L.C.) maths curriculum, it covers ‘strand one’ of the L.C. Project Maths Syllabus – probability and statistics.

The online course offering is free to access and includes video lectures with interactive lessons from tutors and teachers. It is anticipated that if students find the resource valuable, then the remaining four strands of the syllabus will be available later in 2013.

Congratulations to all concerned! To access the maths resource, visit http://alison.com/maths/.

 

MOOCs of Interest!

Online MOOC If you are interested in learning some new skills (or brushing up on existing ones) this springtime, check out the range of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) available from providers in the USA and Australia. Starting with one of the best known MOOC platforms Coursera, some interesting offerings include:

Human Computer Interaction – started on March 31st and provided by Stanford University

An Introduction to Interactive Programming in Python – starting April 15th and provided by Rice University

Introduction to Data Science – starting May 1st and provided by University of Washington

One of the latest MOOC platforms to join the virtual learning world comes from Australia. Check out Open2Study to participate in courses such as:

Principles of Project Management – starting April 22nd and provided by Polytechnic West

Financial Planning – starting April 22nd and provided by Sydney Institute

And don’t forget the range of courses available at Udacity. There’s never been a better opportunity to learn new skills online!

 

Interactive Design – What’s in Store for 2013

Instructional DesignIf you get a few minutes to spare, check out the Prophets Agency presentation on Slideshare.net titled “ID13: the 2013 trends in Interactive Design”. It presents some interesting facts, such as that 40 billion apps have been downloaded since 2008 (Apple Press Center.) But for those, like CramdenTECH, who are on the lookout for trends that are likely to impact on instructional design, it makes for very welcome reading! This quote from Richard Cracroft is a new favourite of ours:

“I have learned an important principle: simple things work, often to our dumbfounded surprise, for we tend to distrust the simple and strive for the complex.”

In CramdenTECH we’ve learned that in eLearning, the focus should be on delivering quality content with consistent service delivery, not on the technology that is used to provide the experience. Hence, we prefer the term “technology-enabled learning”. Or, to quote Jeff Bezos:

“People don’t want gadgets, they want services“

Some thoughts on Aging!

Old age and leadership are not mutually exclusive. Indeed, advances in modern medicine, coupled with a better knowledge of fitness and diet, means that we can expect to live longer than our parents generation. Therefore, in the next few years, the concept of “retirement age” may be consigned to history, as people choose to work on into old age. Should “not retiring” at 65  years or 70 years become the norm, interesting predicaments for older CEO’s that do not wish to relinquish their positions will arise. It will certainly create a predicament for the organisations that they lead. A healthy turnover of senior management can be important in helping an organisation to grow at an accelerated rate. Hence, it is not the age of the CEO that will matter, but rather the length of time she or he has been in the main leadership position in the company.

Some interesting views on aging:

“You must not pity me because my sixtieth year finds me still astonished. To be astonished is one of the surest ways of not growing old too quickly.” by Colette

“One starts to get young at the age 60 and then it’s too late.” by Pablo Picasso

“Age is something that doesn’t matter, unless you are a cheese.” by Luis BUÑUEL

Hear, Hear!

Tackling the Skills Gap

In recent days, EU budget negotiations in Brussels has resulted in €6 billion euro being earmarked to tackle youth unemployment. This is welcome news, considering the reported skills gap in the technology sector, which is expected to see 700,000 job vacancies across the EU by 2015.

EU officials are also hoping to increase employment among older women. Currently there are 22 million women between the ages of 50 and 64 years who are unemployed in Europe.

It is to be hoped that a meaningful portion of the EU training and skills development budget will be allocated to blended learning provision!

Why do Business Start-ups Fail?

SONY DSCWhat can we learn from the experiences of promoters whose enterprises have failed? Not nearly as much as going through the experience of business failure ourselves. Business failure can challenge a person’s self esteem, job prospects, family relationships and above all else, confidence to try again. But the flip side of failure is a new found understanding of what it takes to succeed. From failure we can learn what it is that we personally need to do to become a successful entrepreneur.

CramdenTECH shares the following experience based insights. Developing a start-up into a commercially sustainable company requires at least three things:

  • a business model that reflects what clients/customers actually need, rather than what the promoters are interested in delivering
  • a steady flow of cash even when the business is not yet profitable. Hence, the revenues have to keep on growing
  • a network of contacts that can help “open doors” for the promoters and provide them with a little extra “luck” when they need it!

It’s a practical recipe for success and just one perspective from an entrepreneurs journey of lifelong learning!