The Climate Desk Looks Ahead to 2021

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December 30, 2020

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Just how tumultuous was 2020 on the climate front? It was a year in which wetlands burned. And beyond the fires that razed South America, Australia and the American West, communities around the world were left reeling from extreme heat, record storms and rising seas. The Times’s Climate desk, with more than a dozen investigative, science, policy and visual journalists, chronicled it all. With 2021 approaching, the Climate editor Hannah Fairfield offered more perspective on what happened, and what lies ahead.

In 2020, we seem to have experienced the beginning of what scientists have been warning about — extreme weather on many fronts and more severe climate-related disasters. You and your team have been covering this all along. But did this year still surprise you?

The year started with fires in Australia, and all year long it seemed as if areas of the globe were aflame, culminating in California’s worst wildfire season and infernos in places that rarely burned. At the same time, there were more major tropical storms in the Atlantic than ever recorded before.

The Climate desk covers all disasters related to climate change, like droughts, wildfires, intense hurricanes and extreme rainfall. The science establishing the direct link between these disasters and the rapid warming of the planet is increasingly clear, but the effects we all saw this year were shocking.

How did that affect coverage?

It was all the more essential that we show readers how different this year was. Because visual storytelling is one of the desk’s strengths, we leaned into that, using data visualizations and mapping, drone photography and video, and interactive design to tell these powerful and very human stories.

Earlier this month, John Branch wrote a lyrical piece about the way many of California’s most beloved and majestic trees — sequoias, redwoods and Joshua trees — were destroyed in the wildfires, and scientists say their survival is threatened as never before. We brought readers the visual evidence of the destruction in a way that no one had before.

2020 was a turning point in many ways, and one of those was the broader realization that the effects of the changing climate are not decades away, they are already here. We can see it all around us. The big question is: How do we make the necessary changes to avoid the worst consequences? It’s absolutely possible. It just takes the will to do it.

Is there a climate issue that, though significant, has yet to fully take hold among the public?

The threat from methane leaking from oil and gas drilling sites is something that we are all only beginning to understand. There are vast amounts of methane — an incredibly potent greenhouse gas — invisible and unchecked, pouring into the atmosphere. In the United States, reporting on these leaks is voluntary by the companies, and the Trump administration has rolled back inspection requirements.

Last year, a climate reporter and a videographer spent weeks in the Permian Basin in Texas using an infrared camera to visually capture the leaks. What they found was astounding. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island cited the reporting on the Senate floor to demand an investigation into industry influence in deregulation.

Satellites that may be able to identify methane leaks are starting to come online, and what they find may be hugely revealing. Oil and gas sites around the world — many of which have been abandoned for decades or more — may be one of the largest unrealized climate threats.

Every year seems to bring its share of dismal climate news. Is there anything that struck you in the past year as a positive, whether it was an innovation or some other development?

Some of the positives from this year were how quickly stories could have impact. One significant visual project we did this year focused on how historical racist housing policies have left a terrible legacy that climate change is now making even worse. Across the nation in the 1930s, federal officials “redlined” certain neighborhoods, marking them as risky investments often solely because residents were Black.

Today, those same neighborhoods are some of the hottest parts of town in the summer. A legacy of disinvestment has left them with fewer trees and lots of heat-trapping pavement. The maps and the data were stark: Some formerly redlined neighborhoods are as much as 12 degrees hotter on average than whiter, wealthier neighborhoods favored for investment in the 1930s. That can mean the difference between an uncomfortably hot day and a deadly hot one.

But because of our story, some of the cities are trying to reverse that. It’s already having a direct impact in Richmond, Va., a city that figured prominently in our reporting. The story was cited by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in a grant it was awarded to plant hundreds of trees in Richmond areas, and Richmond’s mayor unveiled a plan to build five new “green spaces” in hotter areas of the city.

Looking at 2021, what are some of the issues and questions the Climate team will be following closely?

Next year is going to be a huge one for international climate negotiations. Because the 2020 climate summit was canceled, there are big expectations for the next meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, in November 2021. When the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, nearly every country in the world committed to the goal of working together to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius. But the hard work — the really hard work of figuring out how to make those goals happen at an increasingly fast pace — is in the early stages. We’ll be following it.

In a reversal of President Trump’s policies, President-elect Biden plans to re-enter the Paris climate accord and consider climate change part of the leadership of every cabinet position. But he’ll face his own set of challenges. What are some of his biggest?

Mr. Biden’s goal is to get the United States to net zero emissions by 2050. It’s one that other major carbon-emitting countries have also set and that scientists say is necessary to change the current trajectory of warming — basically to flatten the curve.

Right now, the nation is not at all in a position to hit that goal. To reach it, major changes need to happen in the next 10 years. As much as possible needs to become electric: cars, trucks, home and building heating, and big parts of industry. Then, new wind and solar power must be brought online to meet that increased need, and the energy grid needs to grow tremendously to accommodate the new supply. It’s a huge challenge, and the Biden administration will need to figure out how to build the political will to get it done.

A Look Back at 2020 for E-Learning

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onlinefreecourse

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December 30, 2020

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It’s that time of the year, when perspectives from all types of entities are published, reviewing 2020, from insight to best of this or that to why, your local sanitation person continues to leave a trash item in your can, after they supposedly emptied it – a travesty, I say, a travesty.

I always found it disturbing on the number of people who send out those “What we did in X year” reviews. It was odd to see people refer to themselves in 3rd person, as though they are narrators for a holiday documentary. No one ever seems to have misery or suffering. Everything is awesome – which reminds me is that what Facebook is for?

Well, this isn’t going to be on of those “look backs”, nor one where I talk in 3rd let alone fourth person (is there such a thing? If not, I’m the first to announce it).

I will zig back and forth, not staying with the typical linear method so many folks find endearing. You desire that? Hallmark is for you (do people even send them anymore? I’m too e-oriented to know).

I will go thru several areas for e-learning, not just learning systems, although by far, it will be the most, since a lot has happened in 2020.

In the end we can all recognize that 2020, was split from the angle that there was Pre-COVID19 for most of the world, and then COVID19 – and its impact of course is devastating.

From a vendor perspective there was a huge impact, but what was odd, is that some vendors still are living in the past, as though, this is a minor blip, and in 2021, everything will go back as it was – corporate wise that is. Sorry to disappoint – but it won’t.

Then there were vendors who expected a bad year sales wise, but instead found themselves doing far more than they expected – which was due in no small part – because companies now found themselves with remote workforces, and thus needed a learning system NOW. On the flip side, vendors in specific verticals took a big hit sales wise, with numbers that were not surprising given the impact in those said industries – i.e. retail, hospitality including tourism, manufacturing to some extent and so forth.

EdTech by far was huge in sales and in funding (raising). But overall, in my opinion, EdTech also showed all its weaknesses front and center, and way too many vendors were unprepared for the numbers of schools, universities, colleges, etc. that needed a system. I found that of concern, especially when server crashes were constant. It wasn’t just small names either, we are talking well-known vendors who experienced this first hand.

Everything EdTech suffers from, and has for numerous years – in terms of how students learn, showed up, which resulted in really this indignation that online learning or as folks refer to as remote learning is a dud. It is not, and can be quite successful, if we recognize that shoving the classroom online, and instruction in the same manner is e-learning, it is not. It is a syllabus and Zoom or whatever web conferencing solution you are calling a flipped classroom. Synchronous based learning is ineffective – yet a main approach with EdTech, whereas asynchronous is far better, and widely used in Corporate.

In the MOCC world, it continues to be pretty awful in terms of completion rates, although folks still swarm to it as though being free ensures wonderful content.

Two big aggregators of content folks can take, Coursera and Udemy made huge strides and sales. I still wouldn’t use them, but if that is where you see your learning coming from, then go for it. If you are going this route for your customers, trust me, there are far better options.

Authoring tools continued to be a mish-mash, with many continuing to forget what their number one goal truly is – creating content/courses. I know it seems odd. Yet for the SaaS tools, analytics, and offering folks a way to bypass a learning system, as though these tools will more than suffice, shouldn’t be their top, let alone top three objectives. Articulate Rise, is a cloud-based authoring tool, not a hybrid – and will fully admit as so. It is still a work in progress.

SaaS authoring tools, well the ones I think are top-tier, are offering more and more templates than ever before, especially for B2B/B2C such as product training for example. A couple offer exchanges whereas the client, can offer their templates in an area, and other clients can download and use it, at no charge. I wish everyone would do that. I’d love to see it with assets too, but that isn’t yet available.

What I see though in the authoring tool space, as a result of the analytics and sort of hybrid approach (which has been attempted in the past, with SaaS RCATs – Rapid Content Authoring Tools), is that they fall behind in terms of the latest trends in the space – i.e. video editing (beyond the basics, if they offer even that), the full creation of a video course with a table of contents, and so forth. VR is out there, but is it true VR as some would think, the answer is no. Where is AR you might ask? No where. MR? Ha, did you find that Golden ticket yet?

What was equally visible is the continuing gap between top tier and everyone else. Entry into the space is still occurring, but to get to the top tier is extremely difficult. My favorite, albeit from a sad perspective is the authoring tool vendor who didn’t know what ID meant (uh, instructional design). Knowing that people are likely buying that authoring tool, as their authoring tool, should be a sign of concern.

Desktop authoring tools are still out there -and yes, I too, ask why.

A leader, at least in the early 2000s, Lectora is no longer part of Trivantis, because Trivantis the company was sold to eLearning Brothers (where Lectora now sits). A weird twist to this whole saga is that LTUK in Feb 2020 (and I was in attendance, along with many, many others), was that Trivantis’s booth was pushing their VR tool, with zero mention of Lectora. I say no more.

Best Authoring Tool for 2020 – Elucidat – Although the push for big companies, should not dissuade any customer, regardless of size, so the messaging I think is off, plus kill the instant music that plays, please. I am trying to forget the midi auto plays of the 90’s.

Assessment Tools – SaaS is the way to go, and the ones in the market, are either very basic, or they can do the basics and go far beyond to extensive assessment feature sets. I am a personal fan of Questionmark, which is in the latter group, but the UI needs a major update ( I am told it is on their roadmap for 2021). New entrants are coming into the market.

3rd Party Content – This is off-the shelf content by a content provider, and not custom development content, which is where you hire someone to build specific content for you – oh and someone on one of my webinars asked about whether learning system vendors offer custom development, the answer is some do. It is not universal, but yes, some do.

Micro-Learning – Okay, I will say this one last time – micro-learning has been around for more than two decades for online learning. Not two years, over 20 years. Micro only means short, it doesn’t mean good or great, and much of it is in video format, and does not allow you bookmark capabilities, so it is watch it all or hit pause. Oh, and a huge chunk stinks. No value here unless you enjoy seeing someone talking to you in front of what is clearly a green screen.

Vendors continue to push micro-learning as this amazing content approach, some actually push a course that is like 45 minutes long (if you go linear and I have no idea on how they decide that everyone will take 45 minutes to complete the course), but then a chapter which they often call a module or lesson or whatever is 3 minutes in length – whalla, micro-learning.

The most effective way to learn is to a

Ignore time duration – it means nothing. What takes you 10 minutes, may take me 35 minutes.
Go non-linear whereas you can jump around the course/content into different sections and focus on what you need to know, when you need to know it
Tap into your learning style – and yes, the trolls will come saying there isn’t such a thing, and yet, when some of them attended school they preferred to have music blasting while they studied, whereas many folks choose to have it silent. Oh, right, that isn’t a style or preference, it is the way of the Sun God.
Interest drives retention – So regardless of length of content, if you have an interest in it, you will retain the information. And with non-linear you can go back as much as you want as often as you want.

Content in 2020

Aggregators dominate – the top two are Open Sesame which uses machine learning, and GO1. I would add Biz Library as someone most folks are unaware offers aggregation too – An aggregator BTW is a vendor who has multiple content publishers under one roof per se, and then you as a client, either buy an “all you can eat” approach or specific bundles or specific titles, and then it goes into your learning system or whatever you are using for e-learning. I should add, that the end-user does not “buy” this content, you as the client does, and then you provide it to your learner base for free – even your customers (which I recommend, if you are doing B2B/B2C aka extended enterprise)
The content even with content publishers, beyond just aggregators sits on their servers and not say, the learning system. What then occurs is the content gets pushed into the learning system behind the scenes. The days of you – the client – uploading the 3rd party content are long gone. The publishers don’t want you to, plus they can update more frequently – by adding new content.
Never assume that 3rd party content is across the board superior, because it is 3rd party. A lot is just awful. There are a lot of exceptions, but always look first, rather than just buy to add to your learning system.
There is an increase in static content – which is just text on the screen, and maybe a picture or two, and a voice-over narration in the 3rd party content market. This bores learners. I see way too much of this content, and yet, on the flip side, learning interactivity beyond clicking yes or no on some assessment piece, and learning engagement content continues to be low. The reverse should be expected, and yet, the opposite is still in play.

Learning Systems

There has been a lot going on in 2020, that as a result in the case of one market has added serious confusion to consumers – i.e. clients looking at buying a system in this market.

We are talking LXPs here.

In 2020:

Numerous LXPs dropped LXP from their name, and started to refer to themselves as something else, in most cases talent or people development. Even if they offered feature sets that really were not talent management per se, or all TM. The downside to this approach, is trying to have B2B/B2C (aka extended enterprise) market, which they all want.
LXPs continue to add feature sets that are in an LMS, but refuse to call themselves an LMS, as a result there is a huge uptick in consumers confusion, because they believe an LXP is different than an LMS, and do not or unware of the nuances. Thus, this creates another boost in the industry, folks seeking to compare an LXP to an LMS in RFPs or RFIs.
LXPs often will say they are about content – but here is the thing any learning system is about content – because without it, you have an FTP (File Transfer Protocol).

Fun Fact

Any learning system can offer 3rd party content, and many have content marketplaces, so that as a client you can purchase content from a 3rd party publisher (off-the-shelf) and provide it to your learners, just as you can with an LXP. There is ZERO Difference here. Even if you want a publisher that is not in your LXP or LMS, you can still contact that publisher, sign a deal, and have them integrate via an API into your learning system.

The LXP space continues to argue that LMSs are all about formal learning, and they are not. This is what we refer to as “bogus”. I have yet to find one LXP that does not offer or has assigned learning as either an option or part of the system. Assigned learning is formal learning.
Social Learning is not that great. Never buy into the hype – which ramped up to new heights in 2020.
With an LXP you can still offer only compliance and regulatory content. It is not limited to a specific type of learning system.

In 2020, the top learning systems in the LXP market, all have one thing in common – they are offering more feature sets similar to an LMS. They were not selected for that reason, rather it is just a reality of the space as a whole.

So what was new in 2020 for Learning Systems across the board (even in many LXPs too)

A strong push towards job roles with content. Far too strong IMO, as if your remote workforce only cares about having content tied to their job role. Even though data continues to show that the number one reason people leave companies is the lack of personal and professional development, which uh, if it is all job role related, doesn’t align.
Skills continues to drive a lot of content, which wait for it, is tied around the skills needed for the job role. Thus, if you want to acquire skills not related to your job role, you are out of luck. (This is not universal in the systems, and yes, it is dependent solely on the client)
Interests which in 2019, was seen in many LXPs as something an end-user could select, is nearly gone in the space. This gets back to the whole content specifically for your job role, and skills specifically tied around your job role.
LMS vendors added more feature sets around skills development, skill ratings, acquisition of skills, then in 2019. And many added the “Netflix” like look including playlists/channels.
Course catalogs were designed more in the “Netflix” look with the playlist design, although Grid continues to exist.
Learner UI continued to be all over the place, with every vendor saying their system has a modern look, which in reality, isn’t always the case. The trend continued that if a design change was made, it went first Learner side including feature capabilities. The minus is that the administration side which is used a lot trails. Some vendors updated their admin UI/UX, the majority did not.
Video capabilities were below average in the learning systems. This would include auto-transcripts being pulled from the video (not CC mind you), video editing, bookmarking, search tied within the video, video streaming to match bandwidth of your remote learner base.
Mobile took a back seat, as skills dominated.
Social continued to be stagnant. If you are looking for Whatsapp or Facebook Messenger integration capabilities, you can forget about it. Even an Instagram look is nearly impossible, but there are a couple of vendors who have the integration or offer an Instagram look in some manner.

Where they targeted

A huge increase in 2020 for small business/small enterprise – far more than in the past. These are companies/businesses under 999 employees, with many in the 500 range.
B2B/B2C major uptick. The old school term is extended enterprise for those wondering
Enterprise – with vendors putting the number of end-users all over the place. Thus, 301 could be enterprise, 15,000 could be enterprise.
Associations – BTW, this will continue into 2021 more than in 2020, which was higher than 2019, 2018, 2017.
Healthcare and medical care – which is different than healthcare

2020 in the Learning System Space saw

The rise of the Hub – Which is referred to as the ecosystem – everything there, no need to go elsewhere.
The start of adding SaaS authoring tool providers as partners for the learning system to be used as “their authoring tool” for those clients who want a system authoring tool
An increase in 3rd party content providers – including some that were not well-known
LinkedIn Learning as a key 3rd party content provider – why – I am still trying to figure this out, better chance of solving Rubix Cube.
The two big heavyweights for 3rd party off-the-shelf partnership deals with learning system vendors were GO1 (which in a couple of cases, knocked LL as the main 3rd party content provider pushed by the vendor) and Open Sesame. There are plenty of vendors who offer all three, by the way.
A significant push towards L&D, forgetting that Training existed. I would argue this is one reason why the LXP space ended up where it is – because of the whole L&D only focus.

2020 for L&D, Training and others looking to buy a system or purchased one already

There is a lot here to digest, but there are a few items that have stuck out more than others. One of which, that I will note first, is happening far too much in the learning system vendor space, and other e-learning providers too – and is disturbing. I list it under here, because even in the L&D, Training space -whereas folks should know more so than someone running sales, product, hr and other departments would not expect to know, adds only to it.

Why E-Learning was created – This is huge and in 2020 was by far, the worst I’ve seen, especially when you consider, e-learning has been around since the late 90s. I get it, if you are new to your position, but at the same time, there is this thing called the internet, and searching can exist beyond the first page of Google.

Vendors are part of this problem – because I find A LOT who have no idea, and I’m talking founders, and CEOs here, on top of the folks selling the system, i.e. sales people. If they have no idea, and you are unaware, you are basically at their mercy to buy whatever they are selling as the “word”.

E-Learning means online learning. It’s original term was WBT – Web-Based Training, not to confuse it with CBT -Computer based training, which were courses that you take on your computer, often on a CD – but never accessing the internet with your modem.

WBT eliminated that. You accessed courses via the internet and your modem, which is why it was late 90s as speeds significantly improved. The pre-days WBT was not heavily loaded with video, and lots of this and that, because a modem couldn’t handle it – you are taking dial up here, not T1 (which many companies didn’t even have). And thus, CBT wouldn’t work, because nobody could have a 640mb course with a 52K modem (actually top speed was in the 40kbs range).

WBT was created because ILT – face to face on-site, told you nothing. There wasn’t a way to verify that those in attendance of their ILT, actually retained the information, could recall the information, were paying attention, among other items. They were driven by the person overseeing the class, thus self-paced (the term now used) was out of question. If a person couldn’t remember, they paid another fee to attend another on-site session, if it was available. WBT eliminated that. Plus, there was no “wrong answer” or a fear that the instructor will pick you. Nope, gone. If you made a mistake, fine, because it is just you here. You can access 24/7, anytime, anywhere. You can go linear if you want – like ILT does, or go non-linear, which is more effective. You can go back thousands of times to the same chapter or pages, it doesn’t matter.

It can be more interactive and engaging, especially if the developer built in Flash, which you could do a lot in terms of engagement, than say Dazzler Max.

It had nothing to do with compliance or regulatory – ZERO.

E-Learning means online learning – you could access systems in what we refer to today as in the “cloud” and did not have to have the system sitting in your own server room, behind your own firewall. E-Learning did not exist prior to the Internet. The term itself was an umbrella term, e-learning, which meant that a learning system for example, was under e-learning. Assessment tool, authoring tool – under e-learning. Anything you used for your online learning (via access of the net – formally known as WWW – the world wide web).

Today, the term has been morphed into only content, and the actually spelling is e-learning. Not eLearning or elearning.

A Learning System – an LMS was created to house courses and other content, and to provide metrics for the person running L&D or Training to better ascertain what the gaps in learning/training were, what courses or content was needed, and what in the end to find out what folks know and didn’t know. You could have 3rd party content/courses in the system. You could have your own content in the system, built by you or your buddy down the street, and sell it or not sell it. They had social back then too. They were not built for compliance or regulatory or for formal training.

They were built for folks to acquire knowledge. If you as the client wanted to use it for compliance, that was and still is your choice. If you want to provide personal development, sell your own content, etcl – that was and is still your choice. Nobody forces you to do formal learning, nor informal – which you could do then, and still can.

The whole “we don’t know” why e-learning was created nor any clue on WBT, or why a LMS was createed – when it comes to vendor not knowing, is troubling and it was more pronounced then in the past. A key reason – money.

There are and continued to be in 2020, more folks entering the learning system space and other e-learning solutions than ever before, and they enter it for the sales potential, to make money. They do not have the background in knowing anything about e-learning, and rather than spend some time learning about it, they just ignore and go about as though it is the same as any other technology.

This is clearly visible in the second worst thing visible in 2020, the failure to know the difference between L&D and Training, and if you can dig even deeper, the assumption that L&D is the only game in town, and that Training (as a department/division, etc.) does not exist.

I found that many vendors who used L&D repeatedly, or learning and development as their target audience (often saying L&D), had no idea what OD meant – it means organizational development BTW. Folks who run training, usually do not have a background in OD, nor have ever taken an OD class in college nor psychology in the workplace, which some L&D folks have taken or something similar.

Nobody in either space would ever want to work under each other – and the old joke was nobody wants to work under HR. Training and L&D are different. Someone may refer to themselves as director of education, but I tend to find them more along the lines of how training people think, compared to how L&DF folks think (on the whole, there are always exceptions).

Too many learning system vendors, not just in the LXP market, are clearly unaware of the differences, because they will often say L&D, and not Training, nor even mention both in the same sentence. And yet, if you want B2B/B2C, overwhelmingly it will be someone with “Training” in their title (again, there are exceptions with some L&D). Trust me, when I say this – that I talk to training folks all the time, and they often note that they can’t find a learning system for them, because the vendor says L&D or pushes the whole employee message only – forgetting that for associations, B2B/B2C folks do not think “employees” when training customers/clients/partners, etc.

This leads to another trend in 2020, employee-focused messaging. One reader thought “Corporate” meant only employee only, it does not, just as an fyi – it is just what I slide all types of businesses, including the B2B/B2C and associations, non-profits under, compared to EdTech.

Too many vendors in the learning system space who want the customer training segment, push employee-focused or performance support or talent development (which wreaks of employees) as their main messaging.

As a result the system starts to skew heavily towards that same segment. This is fine, if that is your only target, but not a great idea if you want both segments.

Nice knowing you

Acquisitions were at the highest ever in 2020 across the e-learning spectrum. In the learning system space it was higher than ever before, but in the total grand scheme of the entire number of systems, still less than one percent.

Big names were acquired in 2020, some of which you will likely recognize

Skillpill (3rd party content provider) acquired by a private equity firm
Pluralsight acquired by a private equity firm
Meazure Learning (assessment provider) acquired by a private equity firm
Skillsoft (including SumTotal) acquired by a private equity firm, with some shareholders (creditors who received equity following Skillsoft’s exit from bankruptcy

And others who acquired in 2020 (not a full list, but more than enough)

ELMO (out of Australia) acquired webexpenses
eLearning Brothers acquired Trivantis
Learning Technologies Group (LTG) acquired eThink, eCreators and Open LMS (although eThink was acquired by Open LMS, LTG acquired Open LMS)
Docebo acquired Formetris
Instructure (owned by Thoma Bravo) acquired Certica Solutions
Learning Pool acquired Remote Learner
UpGrad (EdTech) acquired Rekrut India and The Gate Academy
QuestionPro (Assessment tool) acquired Care Experience and Enprecis
Kahoot! acquired Drops, and Actimo
Healthstream acquired Change Healthcare, NurseGrid and Shift Wizard
Cornerstone acquired Saba, and Clustree
CourseAvenue acquired Modifly
Course Hero (EdTech) acquired Symbolab
Turnitin (EdTech) acquired Exam Soft
Pluralsight acquired DevelopIntelligence
unacademy (EdTech) acquired Coursavy, Mastree, CodeChef, Kreatryx and PrepLadder
Carnegie Learning acquired Scientific Learning Corporation
Cambium Learning Group acquired Rosetta Stone
BYJU’s (EdTech K-12) acquired Labinapp and WhiteHat Jr.
Rustici (owned by LTG) acquired JCA Solutions
Tutor.com acquired Princeton Review
Bigtincan (Sales Enablement Platform) acquired ClearSlide and Agnitio
Cegos acquired Cresimentum

Bottom Line

I excluded those who raised capital via funding in 2020, simply because there is this perception that vendors who raise capital are far better than those who do not, which just isn’t the case. Vendors raise capital for a lot of different reasons, some of which include reducing debt.

2020 was a banner year. FindAnLMS set new records in terms of end-users (registered signups), and the continued goal of having only the best systems in the world, with all of the best LXPs on the platform, along with 49 of the Top 50 Learning Systems for 2020. And with 2021 just around the corner, the top 10 as well.

For myself, well, the dogs are doing well, thank you for asking. I moved to a whole new area, where you can see Javalinas running amuck in my yard, a few bobcats too, deer and who can forget the roadrunner who finds my spa a wonderful drinking fountain, and now has the quail concurring.

Until 2021 then.

Have a wonderful holiday season.

From Voodoo, Cali and Spirit

And me.

E-Learning 24/7

Lesson of the Day: ‘How We Survive Winter’

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onlinefreecourse

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December 29, 2020

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Lesson of the Day: ‘How We Survive Winter’

Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 1, 2021.

Lesson Overview

Featured Article: “How We Survive Winter” by Elizabeth Dias

This year, the winter solstice arrives in the depths of the coronavirus pandemic. In this article, rich with photographs and evocative winter imagery, we are reminded of the possibilities for hope and renewal at this dark time. In this lesson, you will learn about different beliefs and traditions surrounding winter and the solstice. Then you will use art to reflect on what this winter means to you.

Warm Up

Scroll through the images in the featured article without reading any text. Choose one image that you find interesting and ask yourself these three questions:

What do you notice about this picture?
How do the color, composition and texture affect your experience of the image?
What feeling, word or image comes to mind as you look at the photograph?

As you read the featured article, keep looking closely at the images and consider the ways in which they relate to your experience of the text.

Questions for Writing and Discussion

Read the article, then answer the following questions:

1. How does the language used in the first two paragraphs of the article help to establish the tone? How would you characterize the language and tone in this article?

2. How does the Citizen Potawatomi Nation use winter to document the passage of time and age?

3. What does Robin Wall Kimmerer, a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, mean when she says, “Winter is a teacher of vulnerability”? Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not?

4. According to the article, what are some of the reasons that this winter is one of the hardest? Do you have any personal fears or worries this winter that you would add to the list in the article?

5. Are you familiar with any winter rituals, stories or celebrations that different cultures embrace during the long winter months? Do any of the ones mentioned in the article feel meaningful to you? Are there others that you observe with your family or community?

6. The article discusses the ways that the changing seasons have helped to mark a very different, and often painful, year. How have you marked the passage of time this year? Have you looked to weather or changes in daylight? Or something else?

7. The featured article shared perspectives on winter from people of different backgrounds: an author, a priest, several professors, an astronomer and a plant ecologist. Choose one quotation that felt particularly powerful or meaningful to you and share why you chose it. Does it give you hope or appreciation for winter? Or does it simply affirm fears you have about the winter ahead?

Going Further

Option 1: Find the Smallest Bit of Beauty

Omid Safi, professor of Iranian studies at Duke University, talked about the Iranian tradition of Yalda. At this winter solstice feast, families gather surrounded by candles, eat pomegranates and nuts, and recite poetry. However, Dr. Safi specifies that even if someone could not afford a feast, it is enough to bring a flower to Yalda: “Look for the smallest bit of beauty around you.”

What is the smallest bit of beauty around you? Can you capture it with a photograph or drawing, in a similar way that of the photographers in the featured article? Or can you capture it using words in the form of a poem?

You can find inspiration from the photographs in the article and the depictions of winter traditions. Then look around you: Is there something beautiful that sits near your work space? Outside your window? The smile of a family member?

Whatever it is, capture it either as a photograph, drawing or poem and share it with your classmates by doing a virtual or in-person gallery walk. After seeing your classmates’ work, reflect together on themes you noticed and any images that were particularly powerful.

Option 2: Tell a Story of Winter

The featured article shared many stories and interpretations of the meaning of winter and the solstice. The family of Roy Nageak Sr. has lived in Utqiagvik, Alaska, for hundreds of years. He said that every winter “families would get together and tell these stories of who we are, where we came from,” and they would share “the wisdom and knowledge they have gathered for hundreds and thousands of years in the darkness of the winter.”

Are there stories that have been passed down in your family about winter? Do you share stories of winter adventures, holiday celebrations or traditions? Or has a story been passed down about how someone survived a blizzard or found kindness from a neighbor at a time of need? Maybe your family has a story of how they have learned to cope and thrive during the cold, dark days of winter.

If you have not inherited a story of winter, create your own. What story do you want to hear this winter or would you want to pass down to future generations? It could be a story that uses metaphor or anthropomorphizes a winter object or animal. You can use inspiration from the article and also weave in current themes in your life and lessons you are learning this year.

Whether you choose to share a story passed down in your family or create your own, ensure that your story has a clear beginning, middle and end. Many of the stories in the featured article follow an oral tradition, so you could choose to record the audio of your story or to write it down. If you are recording your story on an Android phone, you can download a free voice recording app like RecForge II or Voice Recorder. For iPhones, you can use the Voice Memos app.

As you develop or rehearse your story, play with language and imagery as Elizabeth Dias did in the featured article. You should revise your story and get feedback from friends or family members. When you feel confident and excited about what you wrote, you can share an excerpt in the comments section of this article. If you are working with an audio recording, you can share your story with your classmates.

About Lesson of the Day

• Find all our Lessons of the Day in this column.
• Teachers, watch our on-demand webinar to learn how to use this feature in your classroom.

Education Empowers A Nation

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December 29, 2020

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Capacity + opportunity = success

A Human right is a pre-state right that can be claimed by every human being as an individual vis-à-vis communities (especially states).

human rights are not provided by the government, but each state must have as its main task the protection of human rights.

biological belonging to mankind is the only criterion that an individual must meet, in order to be able to demand respect for this right.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is published on December 10, 1948, in Paris, by the United Nations. The 26^th article of this declaration states that education is a basic human right for everyone and this right has been detailed in the Convention against Discrimination in Education.

Education Issues

Everyone has the right to education. Education must be free, at least as regards elementary and fundamental education. Elementary education is compulsory. Technical and vocational education must be generalized; access to higher education must be open to everyone on the basis of their merit.

Education should aim for the complete creation of the human being personality and the enhancement of respect for human rights and basic values too. It needs to foster awareness, tolerance and friendship among all nations and all races or religious groups, as well as the development of United Nations activities for the maintenance of peace.

Parents have, as a priority, the right to decide the kind of education to be given to their children.

Education a basic human right. Every human being has the fundamental need of education, just like the needs of freedom, food, housing, health, work, social security … and so forth.

However, here are multiple implications of the right to education:

– Free, compulsory and universal primary education for all.

– A secondary education, including technical and vocational, generalized and made accessible to all by the gradual introduction of free education.

– Higher education made accessible to all, according to individual capacities, by the gradual introduction of free education.

– Basic education for people who have not completed their education.

– Access to vocational training Education of equal quality, guaranteed by minimum quality standards.

– Quality training and equipment for teachers.

– An adequate system of scholarships and suitable material conditions for teaching staff.

– Freedom of choice in education

The barriers of education

We recognize that education is crucial to the community growth of all the priorities of national future and is at the core of the action plan. Haiti, is recognized as an underdeveloped country, where education is a privilege not a right. Thousands of children in households are deprived of school. In the absence of financial resources, it is also difficult to track individuals for access to education. It must establish schools and professional centers for people economically disadvantaged. The government must act in this way. Education is the secret to progress, education is a significant step towards a country’s economic and social growth.

An Educational nation also reduces the risk of juvenile delinquency and reduces the number of juvenile incarceration and deaths. The government must cooperate with international institutions to encourage science and education to identify alternatives in order to promote a global awareness of diplomacy and human rights through individuals and organisations. This project and program must include the ability to learn initiative to inspire and assist children in education, encouraging, mentoring and educating girls, supporting victims of discrimination at work and human rights studies.

Also, Haiti is a country in which the effects of political uncertainty on education are detrimental. In this way, the right to training is not valued because misconception by political leaders and antagonist will discourage or even close for a long time schools and universities. People are exposed to all kind of pressures that discourage students from focusing on their studies. The stress of kidnapping and often, people even get anonymous harassing calls over the phone. In this regards the Haitian education system should also be updated, and online learning approaches should also be used to make accessible teaching and learning.

In order to do that, the country needs to provide power, families need to pay for their internet charges, provide a computer and all the other resources available that students can easily study. In Haiti, it is also important for the organization to learn what human rights are and to know how to defend and promote their rights, training master classes and online courses can be provided

My education, my freedom

Countries have huge challenges to constantly face in order to ensure respect of this human right. For instance, they need to guarantee compulsory and free education for their entire population, eliminate inequalities and disparities in education, fund or subsidise education, establish quality requirements and make promotion of the teaching profession.

As a result, the implications of the right to education, make things really complicated for governments of certain countries, which don’t have resources available to discharge these obligations.

Thousands of million people around the world, with no distinction of age, are still out of school (children and youngsters), illiterate (adults), or lack basic reading and writing skills.

The right to education is a fundamental human right and indispensable for the exercise of other human rights. Quality education is the path to the full development of human beings. It is one of the most powerful tools for lifting socially excluded children and adults out of poverty and facilitating their integration into the society.

With Education, the number of people affected by poverty is subject to decrease. It also enables a reduction of the inequalities suffered by people subject to be discriminated because of their color, origin, religion, sexual orientation and more importantly gender.

Equal opportunities, universal access to education, as well as applied and controlled quality standards are the conditions to be fulfilled for this human right to become a reality for all.

REFERENCES

30_basic_human_rights_list_english.pdf (opseu.org)

International Human Rights Principles | Amnesty International Canada

Universal Declaration of Human Rights | United Nations

Celebrating the Codecademy Community’s wins of 2020

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December 28, 2020

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Celebrating the Codecademy Community’s wins of 2020

Although 2020 has been challenging, we wanted to end the year on a positive note and take a look back at all the things that went well!

Here at Codecademy, there’s nothing we love more than hearing about the amazing things our learners are accomplishing with code. And in 2020 we were absolutely blown away by the awe-inspiring stories shared with us. We’ve heard stories of people that used more time at home as the opportunity to learn a new skill and change careers, stories of students building skills for the future, Codecademy for Teams customers learning to code to advance in their careers, and more.

These are just a few of the many inspiring things our learners achieved with code this year. To check out more 2020 wins — and to share your own — head over to the Codecademy Forums.

Code can be the catalyst.

Some of the biggest wins of the year were the result of starting with a small, bite-sized goal. Ioannis, a Codecademy learner in Greece, shared his inspiring story with us in the Codecademy Forums. “My goal was to start learning a new language and get at least one certificate,” Ioannis shared. In the end he ended up earning 20 certificates!

Outside of earning 20 certificates, Ioannis tells us that his biggest win of 2020 was “being able to think of an idea and build it using knowledge. I learned so much by trying to turn my idea into an actual program, and courses from Codecademy gave me a solid background to achieve it!”

In 2021, Ioannis plans to continue his learning journey. His future plans include completing the Data Scientist Career Path, learning how to make use of Flask or Django by building a website to visualize information and interact with customers, and learning HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Code can reshape.

We met Jessica earlier this month after she shared her amazing career change story. “In the past 11 months,” she wrote on Medium, “I have gone from total tech luddite to functioning junior software engineer.”

🤩 Nervous and excited to share my first article on Medium.
🗞️ Get Started Coding with @Codecademy
🎶 From Classical Singer to Coder in 365 days#100DaysOfCode #WomenInTech https://t.co/Bp4dWRuMhl
— Jessica Nicolet (@jessica_nicolet) December 7, 2020

Jessica started learning with Codecademy in January and, when the pandemic hit, she decided to give learning to code a serious shot. “I decided to really commit to it for the next month. I said if I like it I’ll keep going; if I don’t, that’s fine — and I loved it.”

“I had so many moments where I’d be hitting my head against the wall trying to understand and then I would finally understand and it was so rewarding.” It was those small moments that had the biggest impact and kept Jessica going. What’s Jessica’s goal for 2021? She’s preparing for interviews and looking forward to being hired as a web engineer in the medical or health industry.

Code can reinvent.

Codecademy community member Regina went from working in the classical music world, as a piano teacher to landing a job as a software engineer in 2020. We interviewed her earlier this year and she shared advice for others thinking about making a career change. Check out Regina’s advice in the video below.

Since we last spoke with Regina, she’s taken on a job in Operations at a company called On Deck. She tells us, “My technical background + strong experience with being a previous founder led me to this role and I’m so happy in it!”

“My 2021 goal is to become better at no-code products,” Regina shared. “But everyone knows that having a strong understanding of programming helps you use these powerful tools even better.”

Code can empower.

At the end of November, Michael shared an inspiring post in the Codecademy Community Facebook group. “A year ago, I started on a coding journey with Codecademy. I’ve practiced a little every day for a whole year. I am glad that I signed up for a yearly Codecademy Pro subscription. You’ve given me more confidence in my new skills and have improved my life.”

Code can open doors.

Community member Rosita shared the story of how she became interested in coding in the Codecademy Forums earlier this year:

“About 4 years ago I started a blog about living with cerebral palsy, because I had just quit my bachelor study social work and I didn’t know what to do next. I was getting treatment in a rehabilitation center because of cerebral palsy and found out I couldn’t become a social worker anymore. But I liked blogging and I learned to type blind with just my left hand.”

“Through blogging, I discovered I liked the technical stuff behind my self-hosted WordPress website and in November 2017 I became a free member at Codecademy and started to learn the basics.”

In 2020, when lockdown began, Rosita decided to sign up for Codecademy Pro and really focus on learning. She tells us she decided, “If I don’t invest in myself, I’ll never learn to code.”

Half a year later, Rosita shared a major milestone with the community. “I have found a work experience position! This is similar to an internship because I am on a reintegration trajectory. I am going to work as a front-end developer at a marketing agency.”

Rosita is now working as a front-end developer eight hours a week. In 2021, she tells us, she looks forward to getting even more work experience. “I have achieved a lot this year and I want to continue to do the same next year.”

Code can advance.

Learning code can be an opportunity to get started in a new career, but it can also be an opportunity to advance in the career you’re already in. Back in October, Codecademy community member Anicius shared a post in the Forums about his journey from Technical Consultant to joining the development team at his company.

“After finishing university, I was offered a job at a big software development company. My first work there was as a Technical Consultant, but because I was always fascinated by software development it was the perfect opportunity to learn how everything fits together. In 2020 after COVID-19 hit, we were forced to work from home, so I had more spare time and I have joined Codecademy Pro, which has really changed my life.”

“After 7 months of learning every day here at Codecademy, reading books, and trying my own projects, I was given the opportunity from the head of development to join the development team because they were amazed how much I was able to learn in such a short time.”

Code can bring teams together.

Calli is a Product Manager at Paradox, a Codecademy for Teams customer. She and a group of PMs that she works with started their own coding group at Paradox during the pandemic.

“Having a basic understanding of code and the technical aspects, you’re able to ship higher quality products,” Calli shared with us. “You’re able to think through problems in a different way and have a better understanding of what’s possible.”

“Being able to speak the same language is very helpful [when working with Engineering teams],” Calli says. But that’s not all. The coding group has also given Calli a way to bond with her fellow-PMs during the pandemic. “It’s been super awesome,” she tells us. “It’s kind of that distraction away from everything that’s happening and it’s a good opportunity to get together and have a couple laughs.”

Code can create opportunities.

Bryan was a recipient of a free 3-month Pro membership, donated by new Pro members as part of a campaign in the Spring to help those whose work was affected by COVID-19. Bryan shared in the Forums that the Pro membership has “opened my life to so many opportunities.”

“About 3.5 months ago, I began my web development course path when I found out I was laid off from my Sales career in San Francisco. I really enjoyed solving all the course work and eventually, it came to a point where I could converse with my peers about coding. This led to a minor mentorship with a close friend who is a senior web developer. Next, were ideation meetings and through this whole process, I was able to find something I was passionate about; technology, entrepreneurship, and food.”

In July, Bryan and his partners launched a marketing campaign, got users to their website, and successfully transacted orders. “This is a great feeling, a small win,” Bryan shared. “I know this path isn’t guaranteed, but I know I have more tools in my belt to proceed forward.”

Code can connect.

Here at Codecademy, one of our biggest wins of 2020 was getting to connect with our learners — and watch as you’ve shared your own experiences and advice and inspired one another.

Back in October, Community member Ella shared a reflection on her own 35-day streak. Ella began learning back in the Spring when quarantine began. “Navigating a whole new lifestyle was a challenge to say the least. I ended up being very lucky to have the ability to work from home. With the extra time I gained back from commuting to and from work I knew it was the perfect time to explore taking classes in coding.”

Ella signed up for the 30-day challenge and, in the end, completed a 35-day streak. In her reflection, she shares:

“Overall, my experience has been really positive and fulfilling. I’ve gotten to start the journey of sharpening my skills, connect with people who are also interested in coding and get into a groove of making coding a regular part of my schedule.”

“This is only the beginning and I am truly looking forward to learning so much more. With the skills I learn, I hope to continue infusing them into my current full-time role and work on projects of my own. For anyone just starting out, Codecademy is a great place to call home and get started.”

What was your biggest win of 2020? Head over to the Codecademy Forums and share it with us!

Revisiting the Unseen Corners of the World

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December 28, 2020

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Revisiting the Unseen Corners of the World

At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, with travel restrictions in place worldwide, we launched a new series to help transport you, virtually, to some of our planet’s most beautiful and intriguing places.

This week, after 40 installments, we look back at some of the highlights — from hat-making workshops in Ecuador and the wilds of Alaska to lush Zambian valleys.

A decade ago, the photographer Robert Presutti accompanied a friend to a convent in rural Georgia: the Phoka Nunnery of St. Nino. A nun and two novices had moved to the area years earlier and had begun resurrecting an 11th-century church from its ruins.

Led by the abbess, Elizabeth, the group of three slowly grew, so that by the time Mr. Presutti visited, the convent comprised six nuns and one novice. By then, the church had been completely restored.

Caleb Kenna has worked as a freelance photographer for more than 20 years, traveling Vermont’s back roads, making portraits and capturing the state’s varied landscapes.

Until a few years ago, he hired airplanes to climb skyward and create aerial pictures. Nowadays he uses a drone.

Every year, millions of pilgrims descend on Karbala, a usually quiet desert city in central Iraq, to commemorate the religious holiday of Arbaeen, one of the largest organized gatherings of people in the world. In 2019, when a small group of journalists was invited to attend, the photojournalist Andrea DiCenzo jumped at the chance to go.

The event is a spectacular display of grief, mourning and religious ecstasy. It commemorates the death of one of Shiite Islam’s most important leaders, Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.

“In recent years, Iraqis and Iranians have been joined by hundreds of thousands of religious tourists from a growing number of countries outside the Middle East, including the United Kingdom, Bosnia, Pakistan, Malaysia and Australia.”
Andrea DiCenzo

What’s Going On in This Graph? | Jan. 6, 2021

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December 28, 2020

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What’s Going On in This Graph? | Jan. 6, 2021

Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 1, 2021.

This graph shows the number of essential and frontline workers by occupation and employment sector. The graph appeared elsewhere on NYTimes.com. About 70 percent of workers in the United States have jobs that are considered essential. A subset are considered “frontline” workers, meaning their jobs cannot be performed from home.

After looking closely at the graph above, answer these four questions:

What do you notice?
What do you wonder?

The questions are intended to build on one another, so try to answer them in order.

2. Next, join the conversation online by clicking on the comment button and posting in the box. (Teachers of students younger than 13 are welcome to post their students’ responses.)

3. Below the response box, there is an option for students to click on “Email me when my comment is published.” This sends the link to their response which they can share with their teacher.

4. After you have posted, read what others have said, then respond to someone else by posting a comment. Use the “Reply” button to address that student directly.

On Wednesday, Jan. 6, teachers from our collaborator, the American Statistical Association, will facilitate this discussion from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time.

5. By Friday morning, Jan. 8, we will reveal more information about the graph, including a free link to the article that included this graph, at the bottom of this post. We encourage you to post additional comments based on the article, possibly using statistical terms defined in the Stat Nuggets.

More?

• See all graphs in this series or a slide show of 60 of our favorite graphs.

• View our archives that link to all past releases, organized by topic, graph type and Stat Nugget.

• Learn more about the “Notice and Wonder” teaching strategy and how and why other teachers are using this feature from our on-demand webinar.

• Sign up for our free weekly Learning Network newsletter so you never miss a graph. Graphs are always released by the Friday before the Wednesday live-moderation to give teachers time to plan ahead.

• Go to the American Statistical Association K-12 website, which includes teacher statistics resources, professional development opportunities, and more.

Students 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, 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.

What Are the Greatest Songs of All Time?

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December 25, 2020

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What Are the Greatest Songs of All Time?

Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 1, 2021.

What songs do you consider to be among the greatest of all time? Why?

What do you love or appreciate about these songs? Is it the instrumentation, vocals, lyrics or something else that makes the music so outstanding? Would others echo your opinion, or do you think your choices are unusual?

In “What Are the Greatest 2,020 Songs Ever? Philadelphia Is Deciding,” the New York Times critic Wesley Morris writes about WXPN, a public radio station in Philadelphia that is currently counting down the 2,020 greatest-ever songs, as chosen by listeners:

It’s been a terrible year for experiences — pleasant, frivolous, collective ones, anyway. This countdown is an oasis amid the sands of monotony and worse. I’ve done no dancing at any bar or club (or illegal house party) since mid-February. But there I was in my kitchen Friday night presented with a block of nourishment, wagging my fanny against the cabinet doors as Janelle Monáe’s “Tightrope” led to Robyn’s “Call Your Girlfriend” then the Trammps’ “Disco Inferno” (traditionally, a song that keeps me seated) and “Boogie On Reggae Woman,” the most physically addictive song Stevie Wonder has written, followed by “Highway to Hell,” essential AC/DC that my body treated as if DJ Kool had produced it.
So far, the usual suspects find themselves overrepresented. (It’s a mark of a kind of progress that, at some point, Radiohead had as many songs as Steely Dan and the Who. The station’s site is keeping track.) There’s also been much too much Van Morrison and Moody Blues yet no or not nearly enough Nina Simone, Carly Simon, Alice Coltrane, Patti Smith, Reba McEntire, Madonna, Björk, Tracy Chapman, PJ Harvey, Tori Amos, Hole, Fiona Apple, Shakira, Beyoncé and Erykah Badu. Joni Mitchell currently leads the song count among women.

Mr. Morris offers up some of his own song suggestions, while also analyzing the subjectivity and potential disputation of such a list:

One compelling aspect of this countdown business is philosophical. At 2,000-plus songs, some percentage was probably always going to hew to XPN’s taste. Local acts like the Hooters, Amos Lee and Low Cut Connie are very much here. And believe it or not, “local” extends to Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel, who, as of midday Monday, had almost 30 entries between them. But how would a countdown of the 2,020 greatest songs proceed over at, say, WDAS, where the format is now old-school R&B and “The Steve Harvey Morning Show” anchors the a.m. block? Power 99 used to have a nightly countdown show that one song — Shirley Murdock’s “As We Lay” or Keith Sweat’s “Make It Last Forever” or Prince’s “Adore”— would dominate for what felt like weeks. What would a more epochal undertaking look like? Would WMMR find a way to make inroads there, too?
And what would the same countdown reveal at a similar station in Anchorage or Montgomery or Chicago or the Bay Area? Does it matter that a few corporate behemoths have flattened pop’s palette? Can a chart still quantify local taste? Would an accurate answer prove as vexing as precise electoral polling data, because, in part, we now live on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube? Is this entire process just too random and subjective to be worth continuing?

Students, read the entire article, then tell us:

What belongs on your list of most beloved songs? Is there a common theme or mood they evoke? What, if anything, does your catalog of beloved songs say about you?
Have your musical tastes changed over the years or largely stayed the same? Do you have a love for a specific genre or style? Or do your tastes defy categorization? Why?

Mr. Morris explains that part of what drives a “greatest songs” list is a regional connection. Are there any songs that your hometown or neighborhood has a special connection with?
Are your favorite songs the same as those of your siblings and peers? What about your parents, teachers or other adults? Do you think people of different racial or ethnic backgrounds or from different generations would have strong disagreements about the “best songs of all time?”
What do you think about WXPN’s attempt to compile a list of the greatest songs ever? Are you a fan of such lists? Why, or why not?

About Student Opinion

• Find all our Student Opinion questions in this column.
• Have an idea for a Student Opinion question? Tell us about it.
• Learn more about how to use our free daily writing prompts for remote learning.

Students 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, 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.

Gifts On the Brain

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December 25, 2020

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Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 1, 2021.

What message do you think this image is trying to convey? How does it relate to or comment on society or current events? Can you relate to it personally? What is your opinion of its message?

Tell us in the comments, then read the related Opinion Essay to learn more.

About Picture Prompts

• Find all our Picture Prompts in this column.
• Have an idea for a Picture Prompt? Tell us about it.
• Teachers, discover more ways to teach with our Picture Prompts and learn how to use our free daily writing prompts for remote learning.

Students 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, 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.

Lesson of the Day: ‘‘R’ is for Rohingya: Sesame Street Creates New Muppets for Refugees’

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December 25, 2020

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Lesson of the Day: ‘‘R’ is for Rohingya: Sesame Street Creates New Muppets for Refugees’

Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 1, 2021.

Lesson Overview

Featured Article: “‘R’ is for Rohingya: Sesame Street Creates New Muppets for Refugees”

Sesame Workshop has long sought to champion diversity and social justice. Their newest muppets are 6-year-old twins Noor and Aziz who live in a refugee camp in Bangladesh. Noor and Aziz are Rohingya Muslims who escaped ethnic cleansing in their native Myanmar, but the show also emphasizes that they help around the house, tell stories and love to learn.

In this lesson, you will learn about the situation for refugees in Bangladesh and then delve deeper into the significance of TV programming to support individuals and communities in need.

Warm Up

What do you know about what has been happening in Myanmar to the Rohingya Muslims? Watch this 90-second video created in 2017 by the United Nations.

If you had not heard about the crisis before, what is your reaction to what you learned from the video?
How do you think Sesame Street, and the muppets, could offer support in a crisis like this?Does it surprise you that Sesame Street would be involved in some way? Why or why not?

Now, watch this one-minute video introducing the two new Sesame Street characters:

Based on this video, what you think of these new muppets and the Sesame Street initiative overall? What questions do you have?

Questions for Writing and Discussion

Read the article, then answer the following questions:

1. What are some of the characteristics of the two new muppets?

2. What significance are these new muppets likely to have for Rohingya children?

3. What does the survey conducted by Doctors Without Borders reveal about the experiences of Rohingya people, specifically children, since 2017?

4. How is Sesame Street trying to make the muppets relatable to Rohingya children? What other efforts has Sesame Street made over time to show diverse representation?

5. How did the show creators choose the interests of the main characters? Why did they make them twins?

6. What are some of the realities of life in Rohingya refugee camps that the show is not including?

Going Further

To learn more about the experiences in the Rohingya refugees and to hear stories of some of the families and children, watch this video from NBC.

After you watch, respond to the following questions in class discussion or in writing:

What moments in this news clip stood out for you? Why?
How are the creators attempting to provide social and emotional support and guidance for children through the show?
Do you think there are limitations to the work that Sesame Street is attempting to do? What other forms of support, aid or activism do you think are important?
Are you able to relate to this story in any way? Were there any TV shows, books or movies that were central to your emotional or educational development as a child?

About Lesson of the Day

• Find all our Lessons of the Day in this column.
• Teachers, watch our on-demand webinar to learn how to use this feature in your classroom.

Like this:

Lesson Overview

Warm Up

Questions for Writing and Discussion

Going Further

Option 1: Find the Smallest Bit of Beauty

Option 2: Tell a Story of Winter

Code can be the catalyst.

Code can reshape.

Code can reinvent.

Code can empower.

Code can open doors.

Code can advance.

Code can bring teams together.

Code can create opportunities.

Code can connect.

“In recent years, Iraqis and Iranians have been joined by hundreds of thousands of religious tourists from a growing number of countries outside the Middle East, including the United Kingdom, Bosnia, Pakistan, Malaysia and Australia.”

“On any given trip on the Tshiuetin train, most passengers are regulars. Some are heading to hunting grounds — like Stéphane Lessard, whom I met en route to his friend’s cabin, which he has been frequenting for 17 years.”

“In Zambia, there’s something for everyone. The wildlife viewing in parts of South Luangwa can rival that of most of Africa’s top safari destinations. In Luambe you may literally have an entire park to yourself.”

“Some of the sheep spend their entire lives on these islands, from birth to death. They become the islands. Their sun-bleached bones are entrenched in the earth, embedded in the grassy knolls and wetlands where they once grazed.”

“The coronavirus pandemic has upended educational routines all around the globe, and many schools in Chile have pivoted to remote learning. But rural Chilean schools face particularly difficult challenges.”

Lesson Overview

Warm Up

Questions for Writing and Discussion

Going Further

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