Can you find Hungary on a map? What else do you know about this European country with nearly 10 million people?
Does Prayer Have Any Place in Public Schools?
In the landmark case Engel v. Vitale in 1962, the Supreme Court ruled that school-sponsored prayer in public schools violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment — breaching the constitutional wall of separation between church and state.
Do you think prayer has any place in public, state-financed schools? Why or why not?
On April 25, the Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of Joseph Kennedy, a football coach at a public high school in Washington State, who was told by the school board that he could no longer offer prayers on the 50-yard line after games.
In “Coach’s Prayers Prompt Supreme Court Test of Religious Freedom,” published before the arguments before the Supreme Court, Adam Liptak writes about the case and its potential implications for society:
BREMERTON, Wash. — Joseph Kennedy, who used to be an assistant coach for a high school football team near Seattle, pointed to the spot on the 50-yard line where he would take a knee and offer prayers after games.
He was wearing a Bremerton Knights jacket and squinting in the drizzling morning rain, and he repeated a promise he had made to God when he became a coach.
“I will give you the glory after every game, win or lose,” he said, adding that the setting mattered: “It just made sense to do it on the field of battle.”
Coaching was his calling, he said. But after the school board in Bremerton, Wash., told him to stop mixing football and faith on the field, he left the job and sued, with lower courts rejecting his argument that the board had violated his First Amendment rights.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case on Monday, and there is good reason to think that its newly expanded conservative majority will not only rule in Mr. Kennedy’s favor but also make a major statement about the role religion may play in public life. The court’s decision, expected by June, could revise earlier understandings about when prayer is permitted in public schools, the rights of government employees and what counts as pressuring students to participate in religious activities.
The two sides offer starkly different accounts of what happened and what is at stake. To hear Mr. Kennedy tell it, he sought only to offer a brief, silent and solitary prayer little different from saying grace before a meal in the school cafeteria. From the school board’s perspective, the public nature of his prayers and his stature as a leader and role model meant that students felt forced to participate, whatever their religion and whether they wanted to or not.
The community in Bremerton appeared to be largely sympathetic to Mr. Kennedy, who is gregarious, playful and popular. But the school board’s Supreme Court brief suggested that some residents opposed to prayer on the football field may have hesitated to speak out given the strong feelings the issue has produced.
“District administrators received threats and hate mail,” the brief said. “Strangers confronted and screamed obscenities at the head coach, who feared for his safety.”
Rachel Laser, the president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which represents the school board, said, “What we’re focused on is the religious freedom of students.”
“Going to the 50-yard line directly after the game when you’re the coach, with the students assuming they’re supposed to gather with the coach, and praying at that time puts pressure on kids to join,” she said.
Mr. Liptak provides some constitutional background on prayer in public school:
Over the last 60 years, the Supreme Court has rejected prayer in public schools, at least when it was officially required or part of a formal ceremony like a high school graduation. As recently as 2000, the court ruled that organized prayers led by students at high school football games violated the First Amendment’s prohibition of government establishment of religion.
“The delivery of a pregame prayer has the improper effect of coercing those present to participate in an act of religious worship,” Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the majority.
Mr. Kennedy’s lawyers said those school prayer precedents were not relevant because they involved government speech. Rather, they said, the core question in Mr. Kennedy’s case is whether government employees give up their rights to free speech and the free exercise of religion at the workplace.
The school district, its lawyers responded, was entitled to require Mr. Kennedy to stop praying as he had. “Regardless of whether Kennedy’s very public speech was official, the district could regulate it,” the school district’s Supreme Court brief said. “His prayer practice wrested control from the district over the district’s own events, interfered with students’ religious freedom and subjected the district to substantial litigation risks.”
The sweep of the Supreme Court’s decision may turn on which side’s characterization of the facts it accepts. But even a modest ruling in Mr. Kennedy’s favor, saying that his private, solitary prayer was protected even if it took place in public and at least tacitly invited students to participate, would represent a sea change in the court’s approach to the role religion may play in public schools.
Students, read the entire article, then tell us:
Does prayer have any place in school? Why or why not? How do you think we should navigate the tension between individuals’ First Amendment right to freely exercise their religious beliefs and the separation between church and state? How do your own religious views shape your opinion?
What is your reaction to the case of Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, which is now before the Supreme Court? What do you see as the most important facts in the case?
Do you think the Bremerton School District violated Mr. Kennedy’s First Amendment rights? Or was the board entitled to require that its employees refrain from public prayer if students were likely to feel coerced into participating? Which arguments presented in the article did you find most persuasive? Which less so? Why?
How would you rule if you were one of the nine Supreme Court justices? How do you think they will rule? What impact do you think the ruling will have on the role of religion in public schools?
What questions do you have about the case or the constitutional law around it?
For more information and resources on the question of prayer in public schools, see ProCon.org, the mission of which is to “promote civility, critical thinking, education and informed citizenship by presenting the pro and con arguments to debatable issues in a straightforward, nonpartisan, freely accessible way.”
Introducing Coursera’s 2022 Outstanding Achievement Award Winners
Over the last 10 years, Coursera has flourished because of the passion and dedication of our partners and customers. We honor all of our partners and customers, who inspire us every day with their commitment to our shared vision of a world where anyone, anywhere, can transform their life through learning.
We are delighted to present Coursera’s 2022 Outstanding Achievement Awards at our 10th annual Coursera Conference on May 5th. This year’s awards celebrate the exceptional partners, course teams, and customers that make powerful learning experiences a reality.
Without further ado, here are our 2022 award winners — leaders in the future of work and learning:
Career Transformation Award
This award is given to the instructor, course team, or partner whose career-focused learners are experiencing the highest rates of success for achieving their goals.
This year the award goes to the UX Design Professional Certificate by Google.
This certificate takes learners with no background in the field through all the fundamental skills they need to become a UX designer. Impressively, more than 2,000 learners have reported getting a new job as an outcome of completing this Certificate. The team at Google integrated career advice and recommendations directly into the course content, making the material not only applicable to a new career but also enabling learners to gain the new UX Design role they desired.
Congratulations to everyone at Google who worked on this UX Design Certificate program!
Learner’s First Award
The Learners First Award goes to the course that maintains the highest learner rating on the platform launched in the last calendar year.
This year’s winner is A Bridge to the World: Korean Language for Beginners, a course offered by Sungkyunkwan University.
This course grew immensely in popularity and attracted a large number of learners from India, Vietnam, the United States, the Philippines, Thailand, Mexico, and Egypt. More than 20,000 learners flocked to this course in 2021 alone, bolstering their already strong course rating to 4.84 out of 5.
Congratulations to the team at Sungkyunkwan University!
Innovation Award
The Innovation Award is given to the partner and course that has successfully piloted new features, released a piece of cutting-edge content on the platform, and combines industry and university expertise.
The winner of this award is The Data Structures and Algorithms Specialization by the University of Colorado Boulder.
This course provides a pathway into CU Boulder’s innovative degree program. Instructors used nicely-scaffolded Jupyter Notebooks to test learners’ understanding frequently, implementing Coursera’s new nbgrader functionality for faster custom grading and more robust feedback provided to learners. Without having to wait for the next cohort, learners can dive right into this degree-level content with hands-on coding projects. With more than 10,000 individuals enrolled and an average rating of 4.7, this CU Boulder Specialization erases traditional application processes to a Master’s degree and leads with the learning instead.
Congratulations to the CU Boulder team that made these courses a reality!
Talent Transformation Award
This award recognizes the business that has helped its employees achieve extraordinary success and career growth through the power of online learning.
This year the Talent Transformation Award goes to Capgemini.
Capgemini is one of the world’s leaders in consulting, digital transformation, and engineering services, and in 2020 they partnered with Coursera to launch an in-house learning organization called Capgemini University. More than 216,000 Capgemini learners have joined the program globally and are demonstrating critical skills across a number of areas including professional services, technology consulting, cloud adoption and Data and AI.
Capgemini’s passionate and dedicated Learning and Development team sets the gold standard for corporate learning strategy, with their commitment to progress forging innovations and pushing Coursera to become better, as well.
Congratulations to the learning and development team at Capgemini!
Campus Transformation Award
This award is given to the top institution that has contributed significantly to the growth, adoption, and scale of learning to benefit developing economies, regions, or communities by improving access to student education at scale.
The award this year goes to Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management (GITAM).
GITAM’s mission is to pursue education as a means to social and economic advancement. This is why partnering with Coursera was a perfect fit for them. The blended learning approach and integrated courses empowered over 20,000 students across three campuses and nine departments during the height of COVID-19 pandemic. In total, GITAM achieved nearly 400,000 enrollments, 700,000 learning hours, and 250,000 course completions. Students continue to experience career impact after completion, and over 80 percent of student learners say they would recommend Coursera to their juniors.
Congratulations, Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management!
Government Innovation Award
This award recognizes a public sector program – in partnership with Coursera – that is delivering substantial value to a local economy, its employers and their citizens by improving the employability and prosperity of their workforce.
This year the Government Innovation Award goes to the New York State Department Labor.
In 2020, the New York State Department of Labor approached Coursera with an urgent mission to serve ‘unemployed citizens’ impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. New York’s leadership needed to rapidly deploy an accessible training solution to serve those communities hardest hit by the shutdown, with a goal of providing access to health and wellness training, foundational skills, technical certifications and job readiness training. Together, New York and Coursera have served over 120,000 citizens, who have invested approximately 1-million hours, and completed over 1-million skill assessments, in their pursuit of a more sustainable living wage.
In 2022, the program was expanded to also fund the upskilling and reskilling efforts of ‘part time’ citizens seeking a full time position, or salaried career.
Congratulations New York, for this innovative approach to your workforce development!
Thank you to all of the partners and customers who continue to serve the world through learning – and a special congratulations to our award winners. Our 100 million learners and all of us at Coursera are honored to work with you!
Watch the on-demand ceremony of Coursera’s 2022 Outstanding Achievement Awards.
Word of the Day: draconian
The word draconian has appeared in 146 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Feb. 18 in “You Asked, We Answered: How Can You Get a Better Night’s Sleep?” by Joanne Chen:
We received an overwhelming response to our call for sleep questions—more than a hundred (and counting). Surprisingly, the vast majority weren’t about falling asleep, but about staying asleep. And many readers wanted advice on how to get to bed when there’s still so much to do (and watch on Netflix).
… You might also try scheduling your emails for just before or after dinner, and setting up an end time for that. That way, you’re less likely to get sucked in too late. It’s better to stay off devices as you get closer to bedtime, anyway. I always like to remind myself, too, how much clearer my head will be at 7 a.m. after a decent night’s sleep—and how I’ll get twice as much done, twice as well, if I just tackle my task in the morning. If you want to be draconian about it, you could set your Wi-Fi to shut off at a certain time.
Daily Word Challenge
Can you correctly use the word draconian in a sentence?
Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.
Then, read some of the other sentences students have submitted and use the “Recommend” button to vote for two original sentences that stand out to you.
If you want a better idea of how draconian can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.
If you enjoy this daily challenge, try one of our monthly vocabulary challenges.
Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.
Lesson of the Day: ‘A Day In the Life of the Ballet Dancer and Choreographer James Whiteside’
This lesson is a part of our Accessible Activities feature, which aims to welcome a wider variety of learners to our site and to The Times in general. Learn more and tell us what you think here.
Lesson Overview
Featured Article: “A Day In the Life of the Ballet Dancer and Choreographer James Whiteside” by Arden Fanning Andrew with photographs and video by Melody Melamed
James Whiteside is a principal dancer at the American Ballet Theater in New York City. In this lesson, you will follow Mr. Whiteside, via photographs and videos, through a day in his life as a dancer. Then, you will write your own “day in the life” — either for yourself, or for someone whose career you admire.
Warm-Up
What do you know about what it’s like to be a professional dancer? Before you find out what Mr. Whiteside’s day is like, watch at least two minutes of his performance in “Beauty and the Beast,” for which he was both a dancer and a choreographer:
Then, make some predictions:
How might a ballet dancer prepare for a performance?
What special equipment might he or she need?
What might a dancer’s daily schedule look like?
What do you think would be exciting about this kind of work? What would be challenging?
What questions would you ask Mr. Whiteside about his routine if you could?
Vocabulary
The article includes vocabulary that you might be unfamiliar with. Look at the list below and see how many words you can define and use in a sentence.
1. aesthetic
2. nowadays
3. favor
4. luxury
5. choreograph
6. achieve
7. rupture
8. revoke
9. hyperventilate
10. contractually
You can learn about and review the meanings of all of the words using this Vocabulary.com study guide.
Note: You will also encounter some vocabulary related to ballet and classical music, such as pointe shoe, tutu, adagio, pirouette and fondu. You can find the meaning of those words in the American Ballet Theater’s dictionary.
Questions for Writing and Discussion
Read the article, also available as a PDF, then answer the following questions:
1. How does Mr. Whiteside define his personal style? How would you describe yours?
2. When did Mr. Whiteside begins his training as a dancer?
3. What are the elements of a dance class at American Ballet Theater?
4. What does Mr. Whiteside mean when he says “his life is his body”? What does he do to take care of his body?
5. Write a numbered list that summarizes the steps in Mr. Whiteside’s day. Include at least five things he did.
6. Was there anything about Mr. Whiteside’s daily routine that surprised you?
Going Further
Option 1: Write About a Day in Your Life.
You might not be a professional dancer, but your day is still unique and special.
Look at the question 5 in the section above where you summarized Mr. Whiteside’s day. Using this same structure, write about a typical day in your life. Here are some prompts to help you structure your writing:
What is the first thing you do in the morning? How do you get ready for school?
How do you get to school? What do you do when you arrive? What classes do you have during the day?
What do you do after school? How do you wind down or relax each evening?
Option 2: Research a Day in the Life of Someone in a Career That Interests You.
You just learned about what an average day is like for a professional dancer. What is your dream job or career? What do you know about the daily responsibilities and tasks of that job?
Spend some time researching your dream job. Be sure to answer the following questions:
What does a person in this job need to know to be successful? What education, skills, talent or expertise might be necessary?
Who is someone who is successfully doing this job? Learn about three tasks that person does on daily basis.
What is one step you could take today to get closer to that career? For example, could you interview someone currently working in the field? Can you apply for an internship or take a specialized class?
Finally, share your findings with your peers by creating a slide show, one-pager or poster with facts about this job. You can make your project visually appealing by including photographs, drawings or quotes from people who are in this profession.
Want more Lessons of the Day? You can find them all here.
How Do You Silence Your Inner Critic?
Do you ever hear a voice in your head telling you that you are no good or that says to give up what you’re doing?
In “How to Quiet Your Inner Critic,” Grant Snider, a cartoonist, author and illustrator, presents a humorous visual story about that voice and how to silence it:
Students, read the entire comic, then tell us:
Are you your own worst critic? Do you find yourself saying things like “You’re no good” or “Why bother?” when you try to do something? If so, how does it affect your daily life and efforts?
What do you think is the meaning or message of the illustrated story by Mr. Snider? What can you learn from it?
What kinds of things does your inner critic give you a hard time about? Your writing? Your athletic abilities? Your appearance?
The person in the drawing above finally yells “You’re imaginary!” to drive away her inner critic. What strategies do you use to give yourself a confidence boost?
Does your inner voice ever give you praise or encouragement? Do you have any advice for other young people about how to better appreciate their own talents and efforts?
Want more writing prompts? You can find all of our questions in our Student Opinion column. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate them into your classroom.
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.
Teenagers in The Times: April 2022
Here is the April edition of Teenagers in The Times, a roundup of the news and feature stories about young people that have recently appeared across sections of NYTimes.com. We publish a new edition on the first Thursday of each month.
For ideas about how to use Teenagers in The Times with your students, please see our lesson plan and special activity sheet, both of which can be used with this or any other edition.
_________
Education
_________
Science, Health, Technology and Sports
‘It’s Life or Death’: The Mental Health Crisis Among U.S. Teens
Depression, self-harm and suicide are rising among American adolescents. For one 13-year-old, the despair was almost too much to take.
Worried Sick: A Journey Into the Anxious Teenage Mind
Why are so many American teenagers feeling anxious, depressed and even suicidal? Our video looks at the science behind the teen mental health crisis.
Teenagers Report Growing Anxiety. Maybe That’s Rational.
“America has been a stressful place lately,” writes the author of this Opinion essay.
How to Raise Kids Who Make Good Decisions
“Parents seem to be freaking out over everything their kids see, read and do,” writes the author of this Opinion essay.
College Gymnastics Championships Get All-Around Lift of Lee’s Gold
Sunisa Lee, who won the all-around gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics last year, is competing for Auburn in the N.C.A.A. championships. Yet the field is so tough, she finished second in the collegiate all-around.
The Future of Tennis, Carlos Alcaraz, Has Arrived
The 18-year-old Spaniard recently aced two significant American tournaments, reaching the semifinals at Indian Wells and winning the Miami Open.
Reader’s Mailbag – You Ask, I Answer
For those of you old enough to remember, you used to wait for the mail to arrive and there would be a lot of letters. Apply for a job? Go thru the newspaper’s Wanted Ads, check out the gig, circle it, then send them a letter. Most of the time, unless you lived in a large city, you would get the national papers or bigger city papers to look for said job. The idea of using the Internet to find a job, well it just wasn’t available. Even we the net started (consumer wise), people continued to look for a job thru the newspaper.
The mail. Sending letters, actually writing them, or typing them (via this thing called a typewriter or if lucky a word processor) was the way to go. I remember my first dot matrix printer with the dual floppy disk CPU. Typing letters was quite fast.
We seem to have forgotten about those days. Just as we have forgotten about the Pony Express, the sending of messages via the telegraph or that it took more than a month to get a message across the pond.
It’s a good thing we have e-mail. The idea of sending a letter, typing or writing it out no less with an actual signature, would make your new hires in their early 20’s, scream in horror.
That’s until they get to 40, and the next way will be sending messages via the Alexa chip implant.
Unto the Q/A, where readers submitted questions via social media and direct, albeit no letters.
Q: You constantly mention “learning systems” rather than an LMS, LXP or Learning Platform. Why?
Q: We are looking at a talent management system, but are wondering if that qualifies under a learning system?
A: I put the two of these questions together since they cover the term I use called Learning Systems. With the number of systems that are appearing, I felt the term “learning systems” would be more applicable as an umbrella term. That is to say, that the “type” of system slides under the umbrella, which represents the various systems. As systems become more and more ubiquitous, the idea of say, an LMS being vastly different than an LXP is becoming debatable based on the system. On top of that, there are vendors out there who change the type of system, repetitively. One vendor called their system for the longest time a “micro-learning platform”. Now? They call it something else. Another vendor calls their system nearly every keyword for SEO purposes (you can see it on their web site). Too much confusion for folks who want to buy a system. I am constantly updating the types that exist, which would be covered under learning systems.
Here they are (as of May 2022)
- LMS – Learning Management System – Don’t buy into the spin they were created or are still mainly used for compliance – both are not true. Nor that they are traditional or legacy, again not true. They are still the most dominant player in the industry, and many are cutting edge (and more than 10 yrs old).
- LXP – Learning Experience Platform. I hate the “coined term” for it, because there are vendors out there who have no idea what constitutes an LXP, but call their system that or their system has that capability, because people are now asking for it. Plus there are a lot of consumers who are unsure what an LXP is, and thus try to compare them to a system that may be specifically a Learning Platform. This type is slowly becoming wrapped with the LMS or a LP.
- Learning Platform – The second most common learning system type out there. There are vendors who refer to their system as a learning platform, or anti-LMS or not an LMS, but have the standard features of one. If someone spins they are a micro-learning platform, they slide under here. For the record, every system out there can do micro-learning, and have been able to, since 2000. If someone says they are a training management system but go beyond scheduling (the core and key feature), well, they have no clue what a training management system really is, but they go into this bucket. A true training management system is someone like Training Orchestra (in case you are wondering). Upskillng platforms or skill focused platforms, slide under here as well. Mobile Learning platforms are in here too and Adaptive learning platforms as well.
- TXP – Talent Development plus LXP. Learning is the core component here, not talent development (which folks confuse with talent management – they are not the same thing). However, talent development – opportunities, career mapping, content tied to job roles (as a key piece) with a full skills library and job role for that matter would be. LXP – the standards that exist for it, and lots of resources (most fee-based) constitute this segment. EdCast is a TXP, and so is Degreed. Although EdCast will equally note they are an LXP. Degreed? Nope, they will mention they are an upskilling platform. It will be interesting to see how the acquisition of EdCast by Cornerstone plays out, in terms of where EdCast will fall into – i.e. stay TXP or something else.
- Mentoring/Coaching platforms – Newest segment type.
Talent Management and/or Performance Management only side under a learning system if Learning is the core component and capability. If the system pushes more HR related capabilities such as succession planning, career development (not the same as career mapping), recruiting (starting to appear), then they are not a learning system. TMs are being seen more frequently in an HCM, either as a module or a component. If a system pitches themselves as workforce development, they are entering HCM territory. Think this way, where is the R&D $$$ and focus going? Into Learning? Learning System. Not into learning but into other functions geared towards HR? Not a learning system.
Q: Our company has 1,345 employees. We are finding learning system vendors who are not interested in us, because of our employee size. Is this a common practice?
A: Yes and No. Overwhelmingly the industry uses “bands – ranges” pricing and user bases, so your employee size isn’t a factor – that is to say, you will have a lot of vendors to select from. However, there are vendors who will openly tell you (which I appreciate) that they have a minimum user base size, and that you do not qualify. Then there are those who won’t tell you, but simply decline or ignore your RFP.
Personally, I don’t get it. The thinking behind this strategy is the presumption that a larger user base equates to a higher budget, but that just isn’t true. I once had a client with 6,500 end-users (active) and their budget was 30,000 dollars. Oh they were a Fortune 500 company. On the flip side, I worked at a company that had a bit over 1,200 employees and my budget was $815,000 dollars. I even know of companies who have a very large budget but will look to systems that are far under that budget.
I can get the premise if you say have under 500 end-users, and the vendor has a minimum of 1,000 – they usually will take you, but just slide you under the band – so you pay as though it is 1,000 using the line, “up to”.
The minimum requirement of 5,000 (the most common of the number base angle) is a bad business decision. You could end up losing a great client because of it, you could lose deals due to it, and you are betting that this will drive higher sales constantly far more so, than the lesser base. Vendors who go specifically this route, have not fared well long-term. They have all ended up being acquired due to their sales numbers – stagnation and poor new sales, and way too many missed opportunities – it always backfires.
Q: I read on LinkedIn that you have a new solution called content hub, what is it and where can I find it?
A: The Content Hub is a new site that will contain a wealth of materials, resources, templates and other items that I have created for folks. The newest Learning System template is on there as we speak, as well as my Top 10 Learning System Report for 2022 (free to view and download), which I posted to kick off the Content Hub. The Hub is free, the content that exists in there is free too. This is the link to The Content Hub.
I plan to add two new resources each week.
The Hub does require you to provide your e-mail address – company, business wise, (it does not accept Gmail, Yahoo and similar), only for security purposes (dual authentication is on the horizon). I will not spam you. Nor contact you.
I am also going to be adding a section which contains marketing materials from learning system vendors which you can view and download. This section is designed to inform and provide additional information to aid in the decision making process for these systems, rather than having to sign up to download their case study for example which means lead gen angle. This section does not mean these are the systems that I recommend or not recommend, think of it more so as a library – with free check out.
Q: This maybe a dumb question, but what does enterprise mean?
A: There are no dumb questions, and thank you for asking a question, I am sure a lot of folks are curious about because vendors push it everywhere thinking everyone knows what it means. Enterprise is a term coined for Legacy Systems (the irony don’t you think – legacy/traditional and a term that still plays there). At one time, during Legacy days it referred to any entity that had a minimum of 10,000 end-users.
Those days are gone. Now it means whatever the vendor wants it to mean, which it comes to the number of end-users (active). Personally, with SaaS it shouldn’t even be used, but that’s for another day. Anyway, the most common “band” that a vendor sees as Enterprise is a minimum of 2,500 to 5,000 active end-users, with 5,000 to 10,000 as the second most popular band.
However, there are vendors who say anything above 1,000 is Enterprise, and I am seeing a few systems return to the 10,000 min as Enterprise.
What I think happens quite a bit is that, someone says we have a lot of Enterprise clients, and you consider yourselves an Enterprise with 3,000 people. Thus the assumption will be that they have a lot of clients your size and higher. The truth of the matter may be completely opposite.
This is why I always ask a vendor what do they consider Enterprise – in terms of the minimum number of active users. I have found vendors who retort back what do you mean – which isn’t a good sign – because they themselves have no idea.
BTW another legacy term for the old days is “Extended Enterprise”. The current term they should be using is customer education or multi-tenant.
Q: Do you think a vendor will ever accept bitcoin as a way to buy their system?
A: I hope not, but never underestimate what a learning system vendor or any e-learning vendor will do when it comes to cryptocurrency. At the basics it makes for nice marketing and PR. For me though I think it is very risky. Plus, it’s difficult to say you care about the environment, and ignore that cryptocurrency has a large climate footprint due to the data mining and computers needed for it. It’s so bad that China has forbidden data mining in their country.
Bottom Line
I selected a few of the many questions I received over the past two months. Thank you to everyone.
And lastly to the person who wondered if I think that there will be another learning systems that will be acquired in 2022, the answer is a firm – yes.
E-Learning 24/7
JOB BURNOUT
Are you able to work well under extreme pressure? This is a question you will almost certainly be asked during an interview for a job you applied for. Workplace pressure varies depending on the job, but most workplace pressure can lead to stress and negatively impact workers’ health. However, in some cases, the source of the stress may not be within the organization where you work.
I once worked for years in a financial institution, primarily in the front office, and as customer service representatives, we were always reminded to leave any worries we were carrying from home at the office door before entering and then pick them up again on our way home.
I recall watching a documentary about a medical doctor who was summoned from his home to attend to an emergency involving a small child in desperate need of a major operation to save his life. The father of the sick child was enraged with the doctor because he was a few minutes late. Although the Doctor was eventually able to save the child’s life, the father of the sick child was unaware that the Doctor was at the burial ceremony of his own child when he was summoned. The Doctor later explained this to him, and he was amazed at the Doctor’s kindness, as well as his ability to perform his duty despite his loss.
The examples above demonstrate that everyone experiences stress at some point in their lives, whether it is external and unrelated to work or internal and related to work, but the combination of both is common.
Although employees face a variety of stressors, a good employer will be able to identify when an employee’s stress is internal (job-related). Workers should also be able to identify what the stressor is and where it is coming from in order to nip it in the bud before it gets out of hand.
Job burnout refers to job-related stress that has gone unaddressed for an extended period of time and has negatively impacted the worker’s physical and emotional state.
Because there will be a derailment in the worker’s behavior, the signs of job burnout are always visible for all to see. These signs are as follows:
– Feeling fatigued frequently at work, even with the smallest effort or task.
– Feeling tired may not always indicate burnout, but when a worker is constantly exhausted, it is time to investigate the source of the exhaustion
– Becoming irritated and snapping at others at will. Being touchy and distancing yourself from tasks, looking for a shortcut to completing tasks at work, bending and breaking set rules and procedures at work, always results in costly mistakes
– Difficulty concentrating.
– Dissatisfied with your professional accomplishments.
– Having trouble staying motivated at work.
– Abusing food or drugs to alleviate exhaustion.
– Constant headaches or other physical ailments at work, but feeling better when not at work.
– Been preoccupied and worried about a task to the point where your sleep has been disrupted.
– Feeling inadequate, having low morale, low self-esteem, and feeling inefficient and incapable of performing a task that was previously a piece of cake.
who is experiencing job burnout will exhibit two or more of the signs listed above, and if not addressed, the situation may deteriorate into a mental health problem.
Why do people get tired of their jobs? Some of the reasons are as follows:
- You are not given the opportunity to have a say in job-related decisions, which means you are only to be seen and not heard. You are only to do as you are told, regardless of the circumstances.
- Uncomfortable at work due to a lack of understanding of what your superiors expect of you.
- Feeling isolated at work due to a lack of social support. Feeling out of place, unnoticed, and isolated.
- Having bullies as superiors or coworkers and being the victim of bullying.
- When you are expected to perform multiple tasks at the same time, or when you are required to report to more superiors than necessary in order to complete your task, and these superiors have conflicting expectations.
- You struggle to balance your work and family life; you lack a social life because you are constantly working and never have time for anything or anyone else.
If you notice any of the signs of job burnout, it is best to address it as soon as possible because it can be very serious; the measures to consider are as follows:
The first step is to identify the burnout symptoms; this will allow you to give the problem a proper name. It’s like having a headache with malaria as the underlying cause, and the headache is just a sign that something is wrong with your system. Stress is a significant symptom.
Once you’ve identified the symptom, develop a plan for dealing with it. Begin by speaking with a colleague or your superior; unfortunately, most employers don’t recognize the signs of burnout and may dismiss the victims as lazy. In this case, you might want to talk to some of your coworkers who are going through the same thing so you can all come up with a plan or solution together. You may eventually need to speak with your employer so that this is handled together, as the issue will eventually affect the organization’s turnover.
If you work alone and do not report to anyone, you can easily evaluate the situation and come up with solutions. These solutions may not be instant, but they may be small changes over time that show that you are making progress.
“Burnout is nature’s way of telling you you’ve been going through the motions your soul has departed.” — Sam Keen
Sources
https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-prevent-and-cope-with-job-burnout-11611696061
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/burnout/art-20046642
MONDAY BLUES
Aloha, Friday! Thanks God its Friday (TGIF)! These are common greetings on the last day of the workweek. More of this is because, after putting in long hours of work during the week, most people look forward to the weekend to relax, some to rest, and others to spend time with families and engage in activities other than work.
Depending on how you spent the weekend, Monday is either a day to return to work strong after resting all weekend or a day to return to work dragging and feeling like the weekend was too short if you still have some hangover from the weekend.
Whatever the case, it has been discovered that Mondays are the most dreaded days of the week for workers all over the world. Monday is said to be derived from the Latin word Mondalious, which translates to “return to bed.” Could this be why Mondays are so dreaded?
Monday blues is a dreadful feeling that occurs at the start of a workweek; it is more similar to lamenting the passing of the weekend.
Every worker experiences Monday blues; even the best and most motivated employees experience them at times.
Some of the reasons listed below explain why Mondays are regarded as the most difficult workday of the week.
- You have two days to do whatever you want, including the freedom to get up whenever you want, move around, visit friends, and so on. You discovered on Monday morning that you no longer had that freedom.
- The transition from the weekend to the workweek appears to be very short, which could be due to a very busy weekend that leaves you feeling as if you haven’t rested at all. What happened to the weekend?
- For some people, transitioning is a difficult task; this makes Mondays difficult because they have to transition from the weekend to the workweek while also being anxious about what the week holds, which is usually unknown. Some people might eventually blend in, but not on Mondays.
- Some people suffer from Monday blues as a result of a poor work-life balance. This is especially true for workaholics who spend their entire week working without breaks and with nothing to look forward to over the weekend, no plans for the weekend, which has a negative impact on their bodies and minds.
- Monday blues can also be caused by a lack of emotional and physical preparation for the workweek.
- Another cause of Monday blues could be a dislike for the job you do. Some people do not enjoy their jobs; they only work to get the resources they need to pay their bills, so they look forward to the weekend when they can relax and breathe.
Some people’s Monday blues fade as the day progresses, whereas for others, the blues last until the next day before they can get a grip on themselves and get to work.
Here are some ideas to help you deal with Monday blues:
– Every person experiences Monday blues for different reasons; find out what yours is; after all, once the cause is identified, the solution is closer. This way, you’ll be able to quickly get to the solution and feel better about Mondays.
– When making plans for the weekend, make sure one of them is how to start the next week. Planning your workweek ahead of time will help you start strong on Mondays. Workweek planning is best done on Sundays because it is the day before Monday and gives the impression that Monday is a continuation of Sunday.
– Start reducing weekend parties and get more rest, especially on Sunday. Lack of rest and fewer sleep hours can lead to anxiety, so it is recommended to get more sleep, especially on Sunday, so you wake up relaxed and refreshed on Monday.
– Having a morning routine that you look forward to allows you to start each day with excitement, so go ahead and plan an exciting start for each day, including Monday. Your plan could be to drink a cup of coffee or tea every morning before work, to meditate every morning, and so on. The plan should be something you enjoy doing and look forward to doing each morning.
– Put on your best outfit on Mondays; it will not only hide your blues, but it will also attract compliments from your coworkers, and compliments can make you feel better.
– Make it a habit to smile every day, whether it’s Monday or not; a smile is free therapy and contagious. Imagine arriving at work feeling down and being greeted with a smile from your coworkers. It makes you feel welcomed. Give a smile to get a smile in return.
– Change your way of thinking about Mondays. Remember that each day has twenty-four hours, and Mondays are no exception. If you can think in this way, you will be able to see Mondays as just another day of the week, not as a special occasion.
– You don’t have to wait until the end of the week to enjoy your work week. You can create a better way to enjoy your job, to enjoy what you are doing at any given time, to make every day count, and to take things one day at a time. Every day, add some fun to your work, create a beautiful work environment for yourself, get some flowers for your table, and organize your work tools in beautiful packages.
“Honestly, I never really understood the glorification of Fridays and weekends. I don’t want to build a life and career where I spent five days a week waiting for the weekend. No! I want to enjoy my life and don’t wish any weekday away. I want each day to matter to me, in some way, even if it’s a small tiny way. I love my life. Everyday. That’s the spirit we should convey all around us.”- Akilnathan Logeswaran
Sources
https://www.glamour.com/story/youll-never-get-the-monday-blues-again-after-you-read-this
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-mondays-hard-psychologically_l_5fb0375ac5b68baab0fcbf8c
