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Instagram Challenges

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Instagram Challenges

For weeks, people have been recreating works of fine art using household items and posting their tableaus on social media, as the example above shows. You can see many more by scrolling through this related article.

But this is far from the only social media challenge going viral right now. With everyone stuck at home, creative competitions involving everything from push-ups to pineapples have taken off.

Which of these challenges have you been most entertained by? Have you taken part in any of them? Have they helped you cope with your boredom or anxiety? How?

How to set up a home office

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How to set up a home office

Following the global lockdown orders to halt the spread of COVID-19, millions of us are now working from home.

However, even before the coronavirus pandemic, working from home was on the rise across the world. The UK saw a 74% leap in homeworking between 2008 and 2018, taking total homeworker numbers to over 1.5 million. 

In the US, census data shows just under 10 million workers, accounting for 7% of the civilian workforce, had access to a “flexible workplace” in 2019. This is up on 5.2% in 2017. 

In Australia, the numbers are even higher. The 3.5 million workers who reported regularly working at home in 2016 accounted for 30% of the workforce. In 2001, the equivalent figure was 20%. 

The pandemic has sped up the pace of this change, with social distancing measures driving huge swathes of the workforce to home offices. With doubts over technical capabilities and productivity seemingly being dispelled, commentators speculate this many engender a long-term shift towards homeworking. (Those doubts may well have already been dispelled by a number of studies).

If this is to become a long-term state of affairs, due to shifted norms or continuing health imperatives, good home office setups will be key. 

Here are some easy tips you can follow to get your home office setup just right.

The ideal home office space is abundant in natural light, separate from your normal living space, comfortable, spacious, and tastefully decorated. If such a space exists in your home, then congratulations, you have the perfect home office space. 

More likely you will be forced to compromise on a couple of things. Many of us will also be looking for space for more than one person to work from home. There will be competition for prime home office real estate. 

Think about which aspects are most important to you, and where in your home you could possibly find them. Spare bedrooms and garages can be repurposed into home offices, if you’re lucky enough to have them. The latter may offer lighting and heating challenges, but a radiator and a “daylight” bulb can make it workable.

Perhaps those used to working remotely in public spaces will prefer to move around their homes with a laptop. For office workers used to remaining at a single workstation, however, it may be better to establish a set place. This can help you maintain work-life balance if you’re unaccustomed to working at home.

If you’re sharing, then assess your different working styles and requirements to find the best compromise. Qualities like quiet, light, or space are prized by some more than others in home offices.

If you’re tight on space, then think about how to set up a home office in corners of bedrooms, living rooms, and kitchens. It may be that you need to take turns with the best home office space. Or you could share – though be wary of the strain to which this could lead.

A key part of your home office setup is making sure that you invest in the necessary equipment. 

Start with office furniture – chiefly, a properly adjustable office chair. Sitting for long periods of the day without proper support can lead to discomfort or even injury. Equally, a work desk set up at a comfortable height should also be a priority. This can help provide a storage solution if your work requires physical equipment or hard copies.

In the US it has been estimated that 1 in 2 adults suffer from musculoskeletal conditions. In the UK, 6.9 million working days were lost due to musculoskeletal disorders over 2018/19. Inadequate office furniture will be responsible for a percentage of these. Don’t add to these statistics. Changing office chairs has been found to have an instant impact.

Remember to get up and move around. If all your meetings have shifted to Zoom or Skype, you may end up glued to your chair all day. Just getting up and stretching can be valuable. You could try a sit-stand desk setup if you like to work standing for parts of the day, though the jury is out on the benefits of these.

The other benefit of having office furniture is that it will allow you to separate work from home. Dining tables and sofas can remain areas of relaxation. 

A good desk setup will also help prevent unnecessary discomfort and help you to work at home effectively.

A laptop docking station is an affordable way to convert a smaller run-around laptop into an ergonomic everyday workstation. 

This will allow you to customise your desk setup to your liking. You can attach larger and multiple monitors to lessen eyestrain and work more efficiently. If your work involves a lot of typing, then a proper ergonomic keyboard may be a worthwhile investment. Working for long stretches at a laptop can be bad for your wrists and hands. Wrist support could also be a useful addition to your desk setup.

If you need to take or make a lot of calls, you could get a comfortable headset. Though with most modern phones and computers equipped with decent microphones and speakers, this is perhaps somewhat less necessary. That is, unless you need to share a workspace with someone (who also shares a home with you). 

If you’re going to be speaking to clients using video call apps, make sure your camera is up to the job. Good webcams are not hard to find if your laptop’s offering is lower spec.

With homeworking becoming more common, it may be that your workplace is willing to contribute to home office equipment. Certainly, you’ll be of more use to them at your well-setup desk, then in bed suffering from a bad back and RSI.

When thinking about how to set up a home office, remember that you’re going to spend eight hours a day there. Home office design is key to ensuring you have a pleasant place to work. 

Perhaps repainting an entire room to a more inspiring colour is a stretch – unless your home office becomes a long-term fixture. More realistically, you could put up some pictures, get some house plants, and arrange a few small desk decorations. 

As well as home office design, think about a few little things that could improve your day-to-day life. A coffee machine or a mini-fridge for drinks, perhaps. Or if you like to listen to music, a small speaker or good headphones. 

For inspiration, you can look at home office designs on places like Pinterest or Instagram. 

One particularly modern imperative of setting up a home office is ensuring compliance with data security protocols. If you are working in the EU or with EU nationals, then this will mean GDPR compliance. 

Hopefully, your employer will have given you some guidelines regarding the handling of personal data. If not, part of setting up your home office should be to have a conversation about this. If you are responsible for junior workers, make sure they are up to speed. 

Many employers already fall short of requirements. It is therefore doubly important to ensure we’re up to scratch when we find ourselves working at home. Read up on what you can legally store, in what form, and how for long. Maintaining good digital behaviour is more important than ever when it comes to staying on top of this.  

If you’re still working with sensitive paper documents, ensure you are able to keep them under lock and key. You may need to invest in a shredder. 

One of the arguments often raised in favour of working from home is that remote employees actually work more hours. One US survey set the figure at 1.4 extra days worked per month.

That may sound like a compelling argument in favour of working at home. In reality, however, it can have repercussions. A UK study carried out during the COVID-19 outbreak found that 50% of those now working at home were struggling to maintain a healthy work-life balance, with 48% reporting working longer or irregular hours.

It can be challenging enough when you work in the same place you live. When that place becomes where you spend your leisure time as well, the difficulties are exacerbated. 

Separating work and free time is very important. Put in place some house rules. Try to eat someplace where work devices are banned (at least during mealtimes). Don’t look at work emails outside of working hours unless strictly necessary. Perhaps while working at home you could un-sync work emails from mobile devices. Limit shoptalk to give yourself (and those with whom you live) a respite. Set a time to finish work, and shut down when it comes around. 

At the same time, minimise distractions while you’re ‘at’ work. Chores, Netflix, and snacks have derailed many a well-intentioned workday.

Try as far as possible to support work-life balance with your home office setup. If you can designate one specific part of your home as a workspace, leave it at the end of the workday. Don’t go back. If this is not possible, put equipment away, or cover it up. It might even help to change clothes when you get ‘home’ after work. 

Your office may be where you live, but you shouldn’t feel like you’re living in your office.

To learn more about healthy home working, explore Coventry University’s course on Work-Life Balance and the Impact of Remote Working.

 

Word + Quiz: chiasmus

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Word + Quiz: chiasmus

: inversion in the second of two parallel phrases

“No one has yet to begin a life who will not end it,” Mary Ruefle writes in “On Beginnings,” the first piece in her collected lectures, “Madness, Rack, and Honey.” It’s more of a lecture on endings, actually: “Not every poem is finished,” but an abandoned poem is not fully a poem, much as a life is not complete until it’s over.

…. The ostensible occasions of Ruefle’s poems are minor: not the funeral, but the bath. They record small moments with sweeping scope, moments in which the speed of thought seems to outpace real time. In the book’s title poem, an “I” and a “Mary” go bogging in rubber boots, among “orchids & mushrooms, mushrooms & orchids”:

There is in my house, she said, a stovelight

that never goes off. And in my car, I said,

there’s a dashlight that never goes off.

What warning has no end and ends without warning?

“Dunce” is full of these linguistic reversals — the chiasmus may be the device that best represents life’s reversal of fortune, our built-in obsolescence ….

How Much Do You Know About Austria?

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How Much Do You Know About Austria?

Can you find Austria on a map? What else do you know about this European nation with a population of nearly 9 million people?

What’s Going On in This Picture? | April 20, 2020

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What’s Going On in This Picture? | April 20, 2020

Students

1. After looking closely at the image above (or at the full-size image), think about these three questions:

2. Next, join the conversation by clicking on the comment button and posting in the box that opens on the right. (Students 13 and older are invited to comment, although teachers of younger students are welcome to post what their students have to say.)

3. After you have posted, try reading back to see what others have said, then respond to someone else by posting another comment. Use the “Reply” button or the @ symbol to address that student directly.

Each Monday, our collaborator, Visual Thinking Strategies, will facilitate a discussion from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time by paraphrasing comments and linking to responses to help students’ understanding go deeper. You might use their responses as models for your own.

4. On Thursday afternoons, we will reveal at the bottom of this post more information about the photo. How does reading the caption and learning its back story help you see the image differently?

What Weaknesses and Strengths About Our World Are Being Exposed by This Pandemic?

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What Weaknesses and Strengths About Our World Are Being Exposed by This Pandemic?

For instance, what problems have you experienced or noticed among your family members, classmates, friends or community? What does your experience of the coronavirus crisis show you about what is lacking in our society?

But also consider the positive things you have observed: What has the past month or two shown you about strengths in the people you know or the institutions or organizations you count on?

Then, consider every aspect of our lives — food, shelter, art, entertainment, education, employment, economics, health care, politics and more — and think about what strengths and weaknesses you have observed or read about in those areas.

For instance, the links below examine numerous weaknesses in our global society that have been exposed by this pandemic:

However other pieces show us hope by illustrating strengths, opportunities or creative thinking:

Students, read one or several of these articles, then tell us:

  • What problems have affected you or someone you know personally? That is, what do you see among your own family, friends, classmates and neighbors that points to an issue our society needs to fix? Perhaps someone you know has lost his or her job or health insurance — or is still working but has to do so without adequate personal protective equipment. Maybe there are items you need and can’t buy, or classmates who can’t go online to do their work right now.

  • What evidence of our strengths — whether through personal, group or institutional generosity, resilience or creative thinking — have you experienced? For example, maybe your community has figured out ways to get food and supplies to elderly neighbors, or someone you know has set up a fund to help those in need, or your church or school has done something to reproduce in-person gatherings online in a way that has been comforting.

  • The pandemic has made many global, national and local societal problems worse. Which of these problems worry you most? What underlying issues, if any, did this crisis make you see more clearly?

  • In crises, there are often opportunities. What do you hope will come out of this that might begin to fix or address the issues in our society that worry you most?

Students 13 and older 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.

Association Learning System Rankings

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Association Learning System Rankings

Welcome, welcome, welcome.  Helping me with today’s post is Voodoo, who is sitting, looking out the window, Spirit who is snoozing by me, and Cali, who is somewhere, no doubt exploring how to dig holes and chase squirrels.  Yes, a very eventful day. Best of all, this home workforce acts as a security company for only dog treats and belly rubs.

I hope wherever you are, you are safe and well.  And if you have any pets, giving them treats and belly rubs.

The Association market is by far, IMO, one of the top three markets, that as a vendor, you should be in.  In the past, I’ve always listed the association mkt within the B2B/Customer Education, because it does fit nicely within.

Now though, I am pulling it from B2B and listing it as a separate entity.

Before diving into the rankings and the explanation on this new approach to rankings, here are some interesting factoids about the association space.

  • There are Professional (which most folks are aware of) and Trade associations.  Trade are businesses, from mom and pops to Fortune500.  Typically for trade, you are providing training (some refer to it as education) to the owners of said businesses, and in many cases it might trickle down to the employees, depending on the type of vertical/industry the trade association is in.  Thus, you provide content for the member – i.e. owner of business,  and often training content for the employees. 

Professional associations are individual people, for example SHRM or ATD, a member is an individual.  However, a professional association may also allow companies to be members too,  and sometimes, there are vendors who are members referred to in the industry as “associate members” (but the vernacular can be different).  This can exist as well in trade too.

  • Depending on the data source the numbers of associations, regardless of size, around the world is at least 336,000 (professional and trade, not including foundations, charitable institutions)
  • The country with the most associations? Japan. 
  • There are associations for pretty much anything you can imagine. For example there is the American Miniature llama Association.
  • Association Management firms are entities that typically oversee smaller associations, not necessarily member wise, rather employee wise.  I was once recruited many years ago, to run training/education at an Association Management firm, who oversaw more than 100 associations. Thus, I’d be responsible for all training/education for each of those associations.
  • If the association has a trade show, typically it is the largest amount of revenue for the year, and will play a key role in the budget for training/education for members.
  • There are exceptions of course.  I once attended a session whereas the speaker was an executive at an association in the financial space.  They have a certification program that if you are in the financial market, you will want.  The amount of money they make, accounts for 98.6% of their total revenue. And it is hundreds of millions of dollars on that certification program alone.  They did not have a trade show.
  • The decision maker in associations is typically two-fold. The key is whomever is overseeing training/education. The other? The Education member committee, which is usually eight or 10 members, who often have various ideas on what system you should go with, and their research can be based on a state chapter, or what someone told them, or they are committed to member education, but are wide open for discussion.

Always remember that the reason the association hired you, is because you as the person running education is supposed to be the expert. Thus, at the end of the day, your job is to convince the member committee that System X is the best system for the association.  I know of some training/education association execs who get steamrolled in the committee discussion, often due to one member of said committee pushing a narrative of another system, and has sway over some of the members.

I can tell you, that this scenario does happen more frequently, than not, but you, can still sway them, after all, if you land the head of the committee to your side, it is easy to get others to move with you.   The ideal is to have your executive director behind you, and to have a few separate meetings with key stakeholders on that committee before the “member committee” meets.

  • There are associations where the executive director is the key decision maker, even though they have a training/education department for members.   Personally, I never understood this angle, after all, if you have some one running that department, and have the knowledge of effective or best types of training/learning, shouldn’t they be the decision maker?  

Rankings for Learning Systems

A new method/approach, that I believe will be very valuable to consumers and vendors alike. 

Ranking Point #1

 I am going to push out on-going rankings of various learning system spaces (i.e. LXP, LMS, Learning Platform, Micro-Learning Platform, Training mgt system), along with individual segments i.e. Top in B2B/Customer Education, Association, Software and so forth. Each ranking section will have a post tied to it, explaining why so and so is high on the current list.

Ranking Point #2

There will be regular updates via LinkedIn (I recommend you follow me, uh, not in person though) to see the quarterly updates on the rankings of the systems in each vertical/industry, plus additional rankings for B2B/Customer Education, Employee-Only, LXP, LMS, etc. 

At the end of Q3 (based on a fiscal calendar year), the top vendors in each of those industry/segments will be placed into a pool, with each one receiving a three-page sheet for them to complete, along with a couple of additional items. 

The final rankings for industry/vertical will appear in Dec. of 2020 – and represent into 2021 (think of it as a special holiday treat).  This will be a list of the top five vendors in each of those verticals/industry.  However, only the top two will be placed into the final pool for best LMS, LXP, SEP, Learning Platform, Skills, Coaching and micro-learning. 

The final pool will lead to the Rankings for the top 10 learning systems for 2021 (published in Jan. of 2021). 

What are the verticals/industry?

That is for another post, because right now we are covering the association market.

Factors that weighed high in the association rankings

As a former exec in the association space, I see a lot of systems that say they target the association market, and in some cases, list some impressive associations, but just because they have those clients, doesn’t mean they are at the top of association space, nor is their system awesome.

You may disagree with what I see as relevant, and that is cool, after all, we are not robots.

  • Multi-Tenant – A must.  And it should be free to your client. Some vendors charge for more than one tenant, which frankly is dumb.  The association is the parent, and each tenant is a child.  Thus, let’s say you have state chapters, and each state wants to have their own access to the system, but not thru the main association view.  This is achievable with child tenants.  The chapter has their own look and feel to the system, and can add their own members and content, but can also get the content that the association provides too.   As the parent, you can see all the children and their data, etc. You can also assign rules and limit what is doable and/or not doable.  A child can only see themselves. 

If you are an international association, you may have it by countries for example, the main is you, each child is a different country, with a different language. It is totally doable.

Let’s say you are an association whereas employees of your association receive training content, as well as your members.

The parent is the association – for members, the child is for employees.   If you have associate members, the members themselves are in the parent, and associate members are a child, and even suppliers could be another child. 

As noted earlier, regarding the child having a different look,  in the multi-tenant, each child must have these capabilities, it is up to the main administrator of the association (parent) to decide what the child administrator can and cannot do. 

  • Robust e-commerce.  Even if you never charge for whatever content you have on the learning system, it is important to have e-commerce, because you just never know.  Too many associations still rely on a separate system for e-commerce because they are unaware that many systems have e-commerce within.   If your system only offers PayPal or Stripe, that is not robust e-commerce.  The e-comm must offer Visa, MasterCard at a minimum.  It must have a subscription capability or (it is on the roadmap), bundling, discount codes, promo codes, are essentials. If the vendor has VAT an added bonus.  

It is true that some associations provide content for free as a member benefit, but I always look for e-commerce, because there are plenty of associations who provide content for free, but charge for a certification program or books or resources, or whatever.  Some systems allow you to add product, t-shirts, etc. to check out.

  • Social and Collaboration is a must. A chat room is so old school, thus having “Groups or Communities” is important.  I always look for a more modern approach.
  • UI/UX is extremely important. As an association, you have one shot when the system goes live to get members not only in it, but to use it often.  If they can’t figure it out on their own, or with the materials you provide them including mini-how to videos (which you should), then they are leaving and not coming back.  Worse, they will tell other members how bad it is and it just snowballs from there. 
  • Content – you have to have a content marketplace, because associations only have so much of their own content, and many are still with paper and videos (VHS anyone?).  If you have a built-in authoring tool that doesn’t weigh, although I know plenty of associations seek that.  Always remember that built-in authoring tool will never be as good as say a Storyline for example, because (the built-in authoring tool) is designed for anyone to create a course, with zero instructional design skills.  I recommend buying a 3rd party authoring tool, ideally SaaS based and using that in conjunction with your system.
  • Mobile with on/off synch app – it is either live now or on the roadmap.  Members are everywhere, mobile is a must.  The more they can do on it, the better.  Taking content is basic.
  • Event management feature sets.  Event management is geared towards webinars, virtual events, vILT, with a waitlist, calendar where folks can see what they registered for, or register within it, receive notifications when they sign up, etc.  Auto-waitlist is ideal.  You can also have seminars with event management, but it is not the same as classroom management which is specifically for ILT – physical location with people attending, and which is not doable at the present time, thus event management is super important
  • Web conferencing integrations – Zoom is hot, so look for that, WebEx, Gotomeeting are the other ones that often appear.  The more the better.
  • APIs to connect to the membership platform the association is using.  Push and Pull data is important.
  • Batch upload of learners – associations can have a lot of folks, nobody wants to do one by one, and typically mid-size and lower size associations are not using an HRIS system or similar.
  • Analytical data and reporting must be solid, ideally strong.  Metrics are extremely important in the association market, especially if you are charging your members for content.  It helps identify what is working and what is not. It is a must for any online certification program especially when it comes time to the assessment.
  • Additional items include certificates and capabilities within, multiple catalogs, skills management capabilities (very new for many vendors who have lived on competencies for far too long), CEUs/CUs with tracking and notifications, instructor feature sets, still geared more so towards ILT, but you can do some vILT stuff.
  • Coaching/Mentoring Components (must be active or on the roadmap)
  • Assessment tool – a must with a quiz bank, and random capability.

Rankings are for Feb-March-April 1st (and yes, I know that begins Q2, but deal with it), oh and for folks who use FindAnLMS, nearly all are on the platform, so you can search and compare system to system.   Top 9, who says it has to be Top 10?

Top Nine Rankings

1. D2L– Very strong system in the association market, but very under the radar.  This is a wonderful system, easy to use, lots of functionality and scored high in my data keys.

2. CourseStage–  Outstanding system, feature rich, easy to use, lots to like, continues to get better every year.

3. Absorb LMS – Extremely robust system with extensive feature set.

4. Docebo – Very good system with a lot to like.  The share and coach component (used to be listed as a module) is really good.  The UI is easy to use and admin side too, although the metrics need to go much further than currently set. 

5. LearnUpon –  Plays quite well in the association market, very nice UI and UX.  Analytical data needs to improve, but nice system.

6. Cornerstone Learning –  Very robust system with multi-tenant capability.  NexGen feature rich. UX can be a bit overwhelming and needs some tweaks, especially on the admin side.

7. Top Class – Hits all the requirements for an association target system.  UI/UX is good.

8. Thinking Cap – Has some very nice coaching capabilities, offers a wide set of features, UI is solid, UX is good.

9. Area9 Rhapsode –  A bit of a different look and feel then I suspect most folks will have ever seen, but it is quite robust and offers a lot for an association that wants to go a different way. 

Just missing the cut  

  • Tovuti –  Seriously under the radar but more that enough to stand on its own.  UI and UX are good, system easy to use and members shouldn’t have a challenge here.  Waitlist is missing feature.
  • Instancy On-Demand – Very nice system.  Under the Radar in the association market.
  • SkillJar – Missing a couple of feature sets, but has potential to do well.
  • Community Brands Wisdom – See Below on my Take

About Community Brands

I know there are plenty of sites that list them as an association LMS leader, but I feel that is somewhat misleading.  Community Brands first and foremost is an association management platform (not the same as a firm in association management). I know plenty of folks who buy it for the association management piece.  They offer a career center, fundraising, background checks, event management (which is very strong), as modules.  They of course have an LMS.   Thus if you are someone who is seeking a complete solution for your membership, rather than piecemeal, it is easy to see why they do well in the association LMS space. They remind me of the days of Legacy systems where folks purchased an ERP (as the key reason) with a set of modules, and then since they needed learning, they bought that too.  The ERP’s main focus was on the platform and depending on module needs, it wasn’t learning.  But they sold a lot of it.  

Wisdom appears in the Top 10 because it you have the event management piece (geared more I feel to ILT, but clearly has to jump more to vILT, in today’s world), and the feature set is solid, but it’s UI needs some improvement.  Taken as a whole with the association management, it works.  Separately, I’m not sold.

Bottom Line

You can check out nearly every system on this list on FindAnLMS, with the exception of Community Brands.  Please note that being on the platform was not used to rank any system higher or not, it had zero bearing.  FindAnLMS’s goal is to bring the best systems in the world (in all verticals/industries) on one platform. 

A learning system is one of the most important solutions for any association, professional or trade, especially today.  Members are going to expect more, and training/education plays a big role in that. 

There are plenty of players in the association market, but what differentiates one from another, may not be recognized upfront.

Until it is too late.

E-Learning 24/7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A software engineer’s review of Coursera

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A software engineer’s review of Coursera

Emmanuel is a recent graduate from Berea College who works at Morgan Stanley as a software engineer. In his own words, he shares how Coursera sparked his love of learning.

My learning journey with Coursera has been a long and fruitful one. It consisted of hours spent trying to figure out Andrew Ng’s labs, redoing various quizzes after 8-hour wait periods, going on the forums to join in conversations, and working on real-world projects like chatbots, recommendation engines, and my first product road map.

Why does Coursera hold a special place in my heart? Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t be able to take courses from top universities or companies like Google. Coursera provides anyone with access to education that used to be reserved for a select few. Coursera democratizes education.

I’ve completed over 100 courses and Specializations on Coursera. Here are a few of my favorites:

Learning on Coursera gives me the opportunity to experiment with subjects that interest me at my own pace. I’m given the chance to tackle topics that might intimidate me in a traditional school setting.

Connecting with the Online Community

One of the things I absolutely love about Coursera is the supportive online community. Most people assume that online courses lack human interaction, but this is not true for for Coursera. With real people reviewing projects and giving authentic feedback, fellow students opening discussions and answering questions in the forums, and course instructors sending out meetup invites and other resources — these things that set Coursera apart. Coursera has brought human interaction to online learning, and that’s what really keeps me coming back here to learn.

A Pathway to the Future

My courses taught me skills that I wouldn’t have learned at my liberal arts college and helped me stand out during the recruitment process. That helped lead me to an MBA.

My certificates allowed me to demonstrate my love of learning and set me apart as a candidate when I applied for jobs. Now, I’m starting my first job at Morgan Stanley as a software engineer!

Through courses from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, I found out about the Future Year Scholars Program. This program helped me get admitted into the MBA degree program with deferred enrollment, which is thrilling! 

I’ve learned a lot on Coursera, but the most important takeaway from this experience was being reintroduced me to a childlike joy of learning where I’m excited whenever I find out I don’t know something. I hope to always be learning.

 

Introducing New Tools and Features as Demand for Online Learning Grows

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Introducing New Tools and Features as Demand for Online Learning Grows

By Shravan Goli, Chief Product Officer

Learners around the world are turning to online learning at this particularly challenging time. Overnight, universities have switched to remote teaching in order to provide academic continuity to their students. In the past month, 5.9 million learners enrolled in courses on Coursera and nearly 2,700 institutions launched Coursera for Campus programs. As the community of online learners and educators grow, we are doubling down on our efforts to serve them with top-quality content, delivered through a high-quality learning experience. Today we’re excited to introduce several new tools and features for our learners and educators. 

Serving our learners

It’s vital that we continue to help learners develop and showcase job-relevant skills. This starts with the right content for specific goals, and support to help learners make progress. 

Matching learners with the right content

With a broad range of courses, Specializations, degrees, and certificates, learners have a lot to choose from on our platform. They should be able to easily discover the most relevant content to develop the skills they need. To help, we’ve introduced:

  • PERSONALIZED BROWSING – Built on machine learning models, this feature ensures learners receive tailored suggestions for the most relevant learning content based on their learning journey so far. 
  • PERSONALIZED HOMEPAGE  – When logged in, learners can resume a course in one click, see personalized recommendations on courses to pursue next, and view the certificates they’ve earned so far. 

Helping learners make progress

We recognize that learning takes time, commitment, and motivation. We’ve continued to improve our in-course help system that provides AI-powered nudges to help learners stay on track. As learners develop skills, it’s important for them to understand their own proficiency relative to their career objectives. We’re excited to introduce: 

  • GOAL SETTING – Once a learner starts a new course, a prompt will appear to create learning goals from the get-go. These goals can be seamlessly synced with Google Calendar and other calendar apps, integrating learning into a daily routine. 
  • SMART REVIEW MATERIAL – This machine learning tool helps unblock learners when they fail a quiz. It serves targeted review material recommendations based on the specific questions they missed, providing learners with a structured path to succeed on the next quiz attempt.
  • LEARNER SKILL TRACKING – This data-driven tool tracks learner skill development, sharing updated competency scores as a learner takes more assessments on Coursera. Through a centralized dashboard, learners can monitor their progress toward career-specific skills and see how their competency scores compare to other professionals on the Coursera platform. 

Serving our partners 

While universities needed to quickly go online due to the disruption from COVID-19, this is also a catalyst for the digital transformation of higher ed. We’re here to support our partners in their efforts to provide online learning at scale with a number of new tools and features. 

Helping educators move online faster

The coronavirus pandemic is forcing global experimentation with remote teaching. We’ve heard from many partners who are looking for tools and resources to provide academic continuity for their students. With these educators in mind, we’ve launched:   

  • Live2Coursera – Thousands of instructors are using Zoom to deliver lectures to millions of students worldwide, and this resource should be turned into a long-term digital asset. Live2Coursera allows seamless integration of these live lectures into a private course. Zoom recordings are added automatically to an instructor’s course as they teach, so they can build a library of content to reuse in future private or open courses. Launching later in 2020.
  • CourseMatch – On the heels of our Coronavirus Response Initiative, which provides universities with free access to Coursera for Campus, we’ve launched CourseMatch: a machine learning solution that automatically matches a university’s on-campus courses to courses in our catalog, enabling institutions to quickly deliver the most relevant online courses to their students. 

Easily create and manage content 

Our partners are dedicated to creating high-quality courses and Specializations for learners everywhere. We’re rolling out a number of new innovations to help partners swiftly create and manage content on our platform:

  • CLOUD IMPORT – Seamlessly import cloud assets directly to the Coursera platform from any publicly available URL and after signing in to a Dropbox or Google Drive account. 
  • ASSESSMENT IMPORT – Efficiently author assessments by importing documents directly to the Coursera platform from Google Docs, Sheets, Microsoft Word, and Excel. Launching later in 2020.
  • QUESTION BANKS – Create a question bank, tagging questions based on objectives and difficulty to efficiently leverage a core set of questions across several assessments. Launching later in 2020.
  • MACHINE-ASSISTED PEER REVIEW – This tool enables grading at scale. Learners struggling to get an assignment peer-graded can have their work automatically assessed by a machine learning model trained on previously peer-graded submissions from the course.  
  • ITEM LINKING – When a partner makes changes to an item in one course, they can apply that change across all linked copies of the item in other courses, increasing content efficiency, consistency, and stackability. Learner quiz grades from an open course will automatically carry over to a degree where that quiz is also used, preventing learners from needing to retake the assessment.
  • CUSTOM ROLES – Managing the roles and permissions associated with a course typically requires the combined efforts of teaching assistants, faculty, and university administrators. Custom Roles provides additional control and flexibility, with partners now able to create new staff roles with any combination of permissions and access. Especially with for-credit content, this offers an additional layer of protection for student privacy. 

Empowering our degree partners with data and APIs

As we work with our partners to bring more top-quality degrees online, we’re also focused on helping our degree partners manage their content more efficiently: 

  • DEGREE APIs – Partners can integrate with Coursera via APIs, enabling a near real-time exchange using standards-based technology. This will start with key operational data for the degree programs and course enrollments, with more APIs set to launch throughout 2020. It will help identify and resolve errors faster, provide increased flexibility for partners to use their own tech stacks, and enable testing both before and after launching content to proactively monitor any issues. 

Our learner and educator community represents a wide range of needs, and we’re committed to responding to those with rapid innovation. No matter where you are in the world, we’re here to help with your teaching and learning goals. Check out our learner and partner communities today. 

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Launching New Content As More Learners Move Online: 2 Degrees, 8 MasterTracks, and 100 Guided Projects

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Launching New Content As More Learners Move Online: 2 Degrees, 8 MasterTracks, and 100 Guided Projects

By Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO Coursera

The profound impact of COVID-19 has forced us to rethink many aspects of our lives. Overnight, the global education system had to find ways to mitigate the impact of more than 1.5 billion students seeing their campuses closed. Since then, it has been heartwarming to witness the heroic efforts of institutions around the world to restore teaching and learning using technology, innovation, and collaboration. We are also grateful for the global response to our Coronavirus Response Initiative that has enabled nearly 2,700 colleges and universities around the world to minimize student disruption using Coursera for Campus. 

Over the past few weeks, our partner community has had a lot to deal with. Yet, their unwavering commitment to launch high-quality content — particularly at a time when learners around the world are relying on online learning to continue their progress — inspires us all. Today, we are excited to announce two new degrees, eight MasterTrack™ Certificates, 100 guided projects, and a number of new product innovations to support learners and partners during this time and beyond. 

New online degrees from top universities

We continue to expand our offering of top-tier degrees to serve learners with the most transformative credential for career mobility. At a time of economic uncertainty and social distancing, learners will find tremendous value in high-quality, affordable degrees from top institutions delivered fully online. The two new online programs are:

  • Master of Science in Population and Health Sciences from the University of Michigan — This public health degree from the No.1 public research university in the US will enable students from around the world to research today’s toughest public health challenges while mastering concepts like data analysis and epidemiological methods through a multidisciplinary curriculum. Applications for the fall 2020 cohort will open at the end of April. 

“Now more than ever we need population health scientists, and our new online Master of Science degree will help us reach and educate passionate learners across the globe.”

– Sharon L.R. Kardia, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Education and Director of Online Programs at the University of Michigan

  • Master of Data Analytics Intelligence* from Universidad de los Andes (Uniandes) — Designed for non-STEM professionals with basic programming knowledge, this Spanish-language degree will train students to become data-driven leaders and decision makers. The curriculum will offer a blend of mathematical modeling, organizational management, and IT. The first cohort is expected to launch by August 2021.

“The current pandemic proves how important meaningful data is in today’s interconnected world. This degree will provide students with the analytical methods and tools needed to interpret large amounts of data to make informed decisions on time.”

– Alfonso Reyes, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at Uniandes.

New MasterTrack™ Certificates provide a pathway to a full degree

For learners who may not be able to commit to a full degree program, especially during this challenging time, MasterTrack™ Certificates on Coursera split Master’s programs into modules so learners can affordably earn a university-issued career credential online within a few months. If a learner is accepted to the full Master’s program, this certificate and accompanying credits typically count toward their degree. Today, we’re announcing eight new MasterTrack™ Certificates from top universities, doubling our portfolio of MasterTracks on the platform: 

  • AI and Machine Learning from Arizona State University — Learners will build foundational AI skills including statistical machine learning, deep learning, and supervised and unsupervised learning to advance their career in the field.
  • Cybersecurity from Arizona State University — This program will focus on essential skills in cybersecurity through the lens of cryptography, software security, network security, and more. 
  • Software Engineering from Arizona State University — Learners will work on real-world projects to apply skills in software development, engineering, computing, and project leadership. 

The three MasterTrack™ Certificates above will provide students with ASU credits and can be used toward ASU’s online Master of Computer Science degree if accepted to the program. 

  • Blockchain Applications from Duke University — Learners will explore how blockchain is revolutionizing financial transactions and develop their own practical applications. Completers of this MasterTrack™ Certificate will be able to accelerate their application to Duke’s Master of Engineering in Financial Technology and will be eligible for a degree scholarship if accepted to the full degree program.
  • Social Work: Practice, Policy, and Research from the University of Michigan — Learners will explore fundamental concepts of social work and social justice through an advanced series of courses from the No. 1 ranked school of social work in the US. This MasterTrack™ Certificate will serve as a pathway to the University of Michigan’s Master of Social Work. 

Guided projects offer hands-on learning opportunities

As the pandemic continues to disrupt on-campus education, students and institutions have been forced to quickly move online. This lack of face-to-face instruction and limited or no access to on-campus labs has resulted in an even more immediate need for hands-on learning in an online environment. Research shows that project-based learning can help learners develop contextually relevant skills, and guided instruction can mimic one-to-one tutoring sessions. 

We’re launching 100 new guided projects that enable learners to gain job-relevant skills in less than two hours without requiring any software installation. A side-by-side interface allows learners to watch visual instructions on one side of the screen while following along on the other side of the screen. Learners can practice high-demand skills with data science tools like TensorFlow, scikit-learn, Plotly, and more. As we continue to build our portfolio, we plan to add guided projects in areas like computer science, business, and personal development. Global companies like Novartis and academic institutions like Manipal Education are already using guided projects to help their learners develop skills of the future.

Platform innovations to serve our learners and educators 

We’ve seen an unprecedented demand on our platform from learners across the globe — enrollments from learners new to Coursera are up 15x when comparing the past 30 days with the same period one year ago. We are accelerating our platform innovations to serve rapidly evolving learner and educator needs, and are excited to announce a number of new tools and features. Most notably, learners can now develop and track new skills with features like goal setting, smart review material, and skill tracking.

Similarly, we are rolling out a number of new tools to help instructors swiftly create and manage content on our platform. Live2Coursera enables instructors to integrate Zoom lecture recordings into private or open courses as they ramp up efforts to produce online content. Our Coronavirus Response Initiative provides impacted universities with free access to our course catalog through Coursera for Campus, but finding the most relevant online courses was still a manual process for faculty and staff. Last week, we launched CourseMatch: a machine learning solution that automatically matches a university’s on-campus courses to courses in our catalog, helping universities go online faster. To enable grading at scale as more instructors teach online, our machine-assisted peer review solution, which will be released later in 2020, uses a machine learning model to automatically assess peer review submissions. 

Learn more about our product innovation efforts in a post by Shravan Goli, our Chief Product Officer.

As education and learning move more rapidly online, it’s more important than ever to continue serving learners with high-impact content and a superior platform experience. We’re honored to work alongside our partners to be a valuable resource for learners and institutions everywhere during this tough time. 

* The online Master of Data Analytics Intelligence from Universidad de los Andes is subject to approval from the Colombian Ministry of Education

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