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Our 2024-25 Student Contest Calendar

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Ten challenges that invite teenagers to engage, experiment, reflect and create — via writing, photography, audio, video and more.

Word of the Day: defector

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This word has appeared in 38 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year. Can you use it in a sentence?

Sustainable Dining at Cotolettafs: Honoring Italy’s Culinary Heritage with Ethical Practices

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Sustainable Dining at Cotolettafs: Honoring Italy’s Culinary Heritage with Ethical Practices

Cotolettafs is not only dedicated to serving exceptional Italian cuisine but also committed to sustainable practices that respect the environment and support local communities. Situated in [Location], this renowned restaurant exemplifies how culinary excellence can be achieved while prioritizing ethical sourcing and responsible consumption.

From Farm to Table: Ethical Sourcing and Local Partnerships

At www.cotolettafs.com, sustainability begins with the sourcing of ingredients. The restaurant partners with local farmers, fishermen, and artisanal producers who share a commitment to sustainable practices. Fresh vegetables are sourced from nearby organic farms, ensuring that seasonal produce is not only flavorful but also minimizes environmental impact through reduced transportation. Seafood selections adhere to sustainable fishing practices, supporting marine conservation efforts and preserving ocean biodiversity.

Promoting Biodiversity: Embracing Local and Seasonal Ingredients

Cotolettafs celebrates Italy’s rich culinary heritage by prioritizing local and seasonal ingredients in its menu. From heirloom tomatoes grown in nearby vineyards to fragrant herbs harvested from the restaurant’s own garden, each ingredient reflects a dedication to preserving biodiversity and supporting agricultural traditions. By embracing the flavors of the season, Cotolettafs ensures that every dish is a tribute to Italy’s diverse landscapes and culinary diversity.

Reducing Food Waste: Innovation in the Kitchen

In addition to ethical sourcing, Cotolettafs takes proactive measure to minimize food waste within its operations. The restaurant’s chefs employ innovative techniques to utilize every part of the ingredient, from root to stem, ensuring that nothing goes to waste. Excess food is donated to local charities or repurposed into creative dishes that surprise and delight diners, showcasing the kitchen’s commitment to sustainability and culinary ingenuity.

Environmental Stewardship: Eco-Friendly Practices

Beyond the kitchen, Cotolettafs implements eco-friendly practices throughout its operations to reduce environmental footprint. The restaurant uses energy-efficient appliances, implements recycling programs, and prioritizes reusable and biodegradable packaging materials. Water conservation measures are also in place, with efforts to minimize water usage and promote responsible stewardship of this precious resource.

Community Engagement: Supporting Local Initiatives

Cotolettafs is deeply rooted in the local community, actively engaging in initiatives that support social responsibility and community development. The restaurant sponsors local events, participates in fundraisers for charitable causes, and collaborates with educational institutions to promote culinary arts and sustainability. By nurturing these partnerships, Cotolettafs strives to make a positive impact beyond its dining tables, fostering a stronger and more resilient community.

Conclusion: A Commitment to Excellence and Sustainability

In conclusion, Cotolettafs embodies the principles of excellence and sustainability in every aspect of its operations. From ethical ingredient sourcing to innovative culinary practices and community engagement, the restaurant sets a standard for responsible dining that honors Italy’s culinary heritage while safeguarding the planet for future generations. Join us at Cotolettafs, where dining sustainably is not just a choice but a celebration of Italy’s natural bounty and cultural legacy.

Project management is everywhere—but what does it mean?

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Project management is everywhere—but what does it mean?

This week we are talking about another highly transferable technical skill: project management.

We talked about project management when we discussed high-income skills, but as the term shows up more frequently during the job search, it’s worth spending a bit more time clarifying what it means. Depending on the context, “project management” can refer to either a career path or a skill set.

As a career path, project management refers to roles that guide projects from their earliest ideation stages through post-execution assessments. Associated job titles are project manager or program manager, with ‘coordinator’ titles typically indicating early-career roles and ‘director’ titles signifying more advanced roles. Another similar role could be product manager.

Naturally, people who work in project management are expected to have strong project management skills. However, this skill set is also highly desired across several career areas, including engineering, IT, business management and operations, human resources, finance, sales, marketing, hospitality, research, and the list goes on.

That’s right: project management, as a skill, is highly transferable.

That’s because project management is essentially a package of technical and workplace skills, many of which are in-demand in their own right. Put together, these skills describe someone who is able to start, execute, and complete assignments. Here are some:

  • Planning
  • Scheduling
  • Budgeting
  • Problem solving
  • Communication
  • Collaboration
  • Adaptability
  • Risk management

Having strong project management skills means that you are able to use many or all of these skills in concert with one another in order to move a project or a goal forward. To apply these skills to your field, think about the types of projects people in your field work on and what they need in order to succeed.

How can you build your project management skills?

You likely already have experience using at least some of these skills in an educational or professional setting. If you’ve ever completed a project, you have project management skills.

To strengthen your overall project management skills, acknowledge your strengths, then focus on enhancing the individual skills that you have less experience with. This way, if you’re discussing a project during an interview and your interviewer asks how you budgeted project funds, rather than just saying you haven’t worked on a project with a budget, you can supplement your answer with the work you’ve done in order to prepare yourself for future projects with budgets.

Here are some courses on Coursera to explore skills that fall under the project management umbrella:

Or if you want to build a more cohesive set of skills, try UC Irvine’s Project Management Principles and Practices Specialization or University of Illinois’s Business Value and Project Management Specialization.

Google’s Project Management: Professional Certificate and University of Colorado Boulder’s Project Management Specialization are also great options, however those are more geared toward learners who want to pursue a career in project management.

Finally, if several of these programs sound interesting to you, consider signing up for a Coursera Plus subscription, which gives you unlimited access to over 7,000 courses, projects, and certificate programs.

That’s all for this week. Before you go, tell us in the comments: What big projects are you working on right now?

ROI of Learning: How to Convince Your Board to Invest

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ROI of Learning: How to Convince Your Board to Invest

ROI (Return on Investment) quantifies the gains from a specific action or investment. Learning or training ROI measures the financial impact of learning and training initiatives. For instance, if your organisation invests $100 in your learning strategy and it leads to a $200 return, your learning ROI would be 200% (2:1). 

ROI can be used to justify the expense of a training course, compare one training course to another, and help establish training within an organisation. It’s a simple way to track training effectiveness and measure the value the learning helped create. Use past data metrics and projections to demonstrate the benefits of investing in learning. Highlighting the ROI your organisation will gain from upgraded technology can turn the prospective debate in your favour.

By calculating the learning ROI, you can demonstrate the impact of recommended learning initiatives and help shift the board’s perception from L&D (learning and development) being a cost centre to a revenue generator. You can drive home the point that ROI isn’t just about monetary profit; it can also refer to time saved or improved work quality. Suppose training reduces a task’s time by half for a team of 10 employees; that’s 520 hours saved annually!

However, measuring L&D ROI comes with its share of challenges. Quantifying intangible benefits such as improved employee performance can be difficult. In addition, your L&D strategies must align with business outcomes for effective measurement. Real-world instances where training positively impacted productivity, engagement, competency, and leadership can turn the tide in favour of optimal investment in learning and training initiatives. 

Provide your board with examples of successful corporate L&D programmes demonstrating how L&D strategies contribute to employee engagement, motivation, and overall organisational success.

Name of CompanyApproachImpact
YelpEveryone takes on stretch roles, which encourages personal growth and mentoringFosters an engaged workforce and facilitates internal promotions
PixarOffers required and optional training classes for different disciplinesEmployees continuously develop their skills and stay aligned with industry trends
AirbnbHosts “Fireside Chats” to emphasise learning, knowledge, and sharingA culture of continuous learning and professional development
EarlsThe “Visions + Goals” initiative helps employees create life visions and communicate personal goalsEmployees are empowered to be their best selves
EtsyFocus on personalised learning paths, allowing employees to tailor their developmentA thriving culture of creativity and skill-building

Applying the findings from L&D case studies to your organisation involves a strategic approach. Tailor the steps to your organisation’s unique needs and context:

  • Assessing Current L&D Initiatives – Objectively evaluate existing training programmes and their effectiveness and alignment with organisational goals to identify gaps or areas for improvement.
  • Setting Clear Objectives – Define specific goals for L&D initiatives: Are you aiming to improve productivity, reduce turnover, reduce business operational costs, or enhance customer satisfaction?
  • Collecting Data – Gather relevant data before and after training interventions using productivity metrics, employee engagement scores, or financial performance indicators.
  • Calculating ROI – Use the ROI formula: ROI = Net Benefits / Training Costs x 100. Net benefits include tangible (for example, increased revenue) and intangible gains (for example, improved employee morale).
  • Presenting to Decision-MakersCreate a compelling business case. Highlight how L&D investments directly impact financial outcomes. Use case studies and industry benchmarks to support your argument.
  • Improving Continuously – Review and adjust L&D strategies regularly based on feedback and results. Stay informed about industry trends and best practices.

Remember, when presenting to your board, emphasise financial gains and non-monetary benefits.

Despite the inevitable roadblocks your board will throw up, you can convince them to invest in tried-and-tested learning and training programs such as Alison’s Free Learning Management System (LMS)

Key points to consider include the fact that Alison provides certificate programmes that can officially recognise learners’ achievements. Integrating these certificates into your LMS can motivate your employees to complete courses and gain CPD-accredited certificates, potentially leading to improved performance and career growth.

In addition, our Free LMS provides analytics and reporting capabilities to track your learners’ progress and engagement. The resultant insights can help you assess the effectiveness of Alison’s courses within your LMS and make data-driven decisions to optimise your organisation’s learning experience.

Besides, Alison’s learning pathways and course recommendations can guide your employees on a learning journey aligned with their career aspirations. Integrating these pathways into your LMS can promote continuous learning and skill development, improving employee retention and performance.

Furthermore, utilising Alison’s Free LMS can significantly reduce training expenses compared to in-house training. It allows you to create courses, store and replicate training materials, quickly distribute them, and host training sessions and recordings that can be revisited whenever necessary. You can thereby eliminate the need to pay instructors to give the same lesson multiple times.

Finally, not only does Alison’s LMS come to you free of charge, but it can also save you equally valuable time and improve productivity. It enables efficient onboarding, automates administrative tasks, provides anytime learning accessibility, and allows quick access to information, reducing the time and resources required for training delivery and administration.

Suppose your board needs further evidence about how your proposed action plan will result in noteworthy cost savings. In that case, you can show them how Alison’s Free LMS eliminates expensive implementation fees compared to other LMS platforms. The resultant reduction in expenses allows your organisation to allocate precious resources toward meaningful training initiatives rather than administrative overheads.

Alison provides access to over 5,000 free courses covering various topics, from hard skills like technology to soft skills development. When you join our learning community,  these high-quality courses can help your organisation save the costs of creating its own training content or purchasing expensive third-party courses.

The Free LMS allows your organisation to onboard an unlimited number of employees onto the platform at no additional cost, ensuring equitable access to training resources for all team members without incurring exorbitant per-user fees, leading to substantial cost savings.

Investing in employee development through Alison’s Free LMS can improve employee retention. By upskilling and reskilling its employees, your organisation can reduce the costs associated with high turnover, such as recruitment, onboarding, and lost productivity.  

Quantifying and presenting estimated cost savings can help you strategically demonstrate the ROI of investing in Alison’s Free LMS. Use the key metrics below to calculate L&D ROI:  

1. User Engagement Metrics

  • Login Frequency: Monitor how often your employees log into the LMS to access courses and resources. Higher login rates indicate greater engagement and perceived value of the platform.
  • Course Completion Rates: Track the percentage of your employees who complete assigned courses. Strong competition rates suggest the content is engaging and relevant to their needs.

2. Learning Outcomes

  • Assessment Scores: Evaluate your learners’ knowledge gains through pre- and post-course assessments. Improved scores demonstrate the effectiveness of Alison’s courses in building skills.
  • Skill Acquisition Rates: Monitor the rate at which your employees acquire and apply new skills on the job. This review directly links the LMS to performance improvements.

3. Operational Efficiency

  • Time Savings: Quantify the time your employees save through on-demand access to training, reduced time spent in the classroom, and streamlined administrative processes.
  • Reduction in Support Tickets: Track the number of support tickets related to training issues. A decrease indicates the LMS is intuitive and reduces the burden on your L&D team.

4. Financial Metrics

  • Training Cost Savings: Calculate the savings from reduced instructor fees, travel expenses, and physical materials by leveraging Alison’s free courses.
  • Improved Employee Retention: Estimate the cost savings from reduced turnover and rehiring expenses due to better employee engagement and career growth opportunities provided by the LMS.

Adopting this data-driven approach will help you build a compelling case for investing in L&D to support your organisation’s training goals. With improved employee performance, engagement, and retention a very likely ROI, your board will be convinced that it would be a wise investment for your organisation. 

Word of the Day: exacting

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This word has appeared in 265 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year. Can you use it in a sentence?

‘A Voice Can Change You’: The Week 5 Winner of Our Summer Reading Contest

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In her 90-second video, Annie Ma, 14, explains how an essay by the singer Dessa hit home for her.

The far-reaching applications of an Executive MSc in Innovation and Entrepreneurship

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The far-reaching applications of an Executive MSc in Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Nicolas is an airline pilot and a consultant for aviation and educational companies. Working internationally across multiple career fields in roles where innovation and entrepreneurship are key, Nicolas recently chose to advance his skills by earning the Executive MSc in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from HEC Paris on Coursera. Since HEC Paris is known for having the #1 Business School in Europe thanks to its ranking from the Financial Times, Nicolas could be sure he was pursuing an impressive education and credential—and soon, in the program, he’d connect with professionals on other continents and discover concepts that span industries.

From the very first moment that Nicolas begins talking about his time with HEC Paris on Coursera, it’s clear he’s happy with the decision he’s made for himself and proud of the difference he’s making in his life. Starting with the reputation of the school from which he’s earned his degree, Nicolas declares, “It is an HEC Paris degree, one of the best business schools in the world.” Then, while discussing what sets the program apart, Nicolas observes, “It does cover all the topics from an MBA, but with more content in both innovation and entrepreneurship.” He also notes, “It is not very expensive compared to diplomas from the same kind of world-class business schools.”

Turning his attention to the student experience, Nicolas explains, “It is a 100% online degree, which means it is suitable with a professional and a family life.” He adds that, “Coursera is a very user-friendly platform. It is easy to use it to learn.” With this flexibility and accessibility, Nicolas found what many learners look for in an online program—and because of the prominence of HEC Paris and the Coursera platform, Nicolas could go above and beyond by connecting with peers and alumni around the globe before and after graduation.

With mentorship from business leaders, students in the program do a team project that requires them to form a start-up company that can attract business developers and investors. Several of these projects have become real-life companies. For Nicolas, the project was an opportunity to work with others on a global level, as his team included members from Turkey, Botswana, Canada, and Switzerland. Ultimately, it was one of the countless ways he enjoyed the diverse perspectives that are consistently part of the student experience. He tells us, “The network is huge. I remember, in my cohort, we were something like 40 nationalities. Now, I can call New York, Tokyo, London, Zurich—and this is wonderful.”

Providing even more insight on how past, present, and future students can get the most out of their relationship with HEC Paris, Nicolas points out a lot of the resources that are available. Among those he mentions are the alumni association, as well as conferences and other networking events. He also offers the HEC Foundation as an example, which helps fund certain projects at the university.

Today, while working internationally as both a pilot and consultant, Nicolas is applying what he’s learned from HEC Paris in more than one career field. He confidently states, “You learn how to work and how to be efficient. Like, for example, I use the ‘deep work’ concept I have discovered in the school. Every morning, with my mobile phone off, I work three hours on my projects. Full of energy, you achieve a lot.” He then reveals, “You also learn how to dare and to be very solution-oriented. What is the problem and what are the solutions. HEC Paris helps you to go one step further every day.”

After all that Nicolas has shared, it’s inspiring to hear him sum everything up by saying, “I feel so lucky to be an HEC graduate. This is where projects start, as well as human relationships for life. Thanks to the HEC Paris [degree], I have been Development Director of an aviation [enterprise], Crew Resource Management Trainer for an airline, and I have developed my consulting activities.” Nicolas is in great company too, as he’s joined a multitude of HEC Paris alumni succeeding in their own industries. If Nicolas has inspired you to take the same degree path for your career, check out the Executive MSc in Innovation and Entrepreneurship today.

Word of the Day: revue

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This word has appeared in 52 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year. Can you use it in a sentence?

Level Up Your Look! Free Instagram Highlight Covers

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Level Up Your Look! Free Instagram Highlight Covers

Ready to instantly elevate your Instagram profile with a touch of sophistication? Download these Free Instagram Highlight Covers! These 12 simple and stylish icons in trendy navy and beige are perfect for anyone looking to add a touch of class to their Instagram presence. Plus, they were designed to work seamlessly with our stunning Allie WordPress premade theme!

Love the clean lines and modern aesthetic? Check out the Allie theme to create a completely cohesive brand identity across your website and Instagram.

Click for Live Demo

12 Free Instagram Highlight Covers

Embrace a modern aesthetic! This set of 12 free Instagram Highlight Covers features a clean and simple design with a trendy color palette of beige and navy. Find the perfect icons to categorize your highlights, including classics like hearts, stars, and flowers, alongside functional icons like a shop symbol and a hashtag. It’s everything you need to create a cohesive and visually appealing Instagram profile!

(Bonus Tip! Want to achieve a truly cohesive brand identity across your website and Instagram? Check out our stunning Allie premade design! These highlight covers were created specifically to complement the Allie theme, offering a seamless look.)

Ready to unlock the full potential of your Instagram profile?

For Personal Use Only.


What do you think? We’d love to hear your thoughts on these free Instagram Highlight Covers! Let us know in the comments below what kind of icons you found most helpful, or if there are any specific ones you’d love to see added in the future.


If you are looking for more Freebies, make sure to check our freebies library



Have a color request? Let us know in the comments below!

We’re always looking for ways to help you elevate your brand. Maybe you have a specific color scheme in mind for your highlight covers, or perhaps there’s a certain icon you’d love to see added to the collection. Share your thoughts!

And hey, if you love the clean and modern aesthetic of these highlight covers, you’ll definitely want to check out our Allie WordPress premade theme! It’s designed to seamlessly match these icons, allowing you to create a completely cohesive brand identity across your website and Instagram.

Ready to show off your stunning new highlight covers? Don’t forget to tag us on Instagram at @designerblogs! We can’t wait to see how you use them to elevate your profile.