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Behind the Build: Autocomplete in the Code Editor

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Behind the Build: Autocomplete in the Code Editor

A common misconception people have about learning to code is that it requires a lot of memorization. The truth is that developers are constantly looking up documentation and taking advantage of tools like autocomplete and ChatGPT so they can code faster and more efficiently.

We recently added autocomplete to the code editor in our learning environment (the interactive platform you see in our courses and paths) to give you a more realistic coding experience. “Autocomplete is a basic need for developers,” says Chirag Makkar, Senior Software Engineer at Codecademy who worked on this project. “As developers, we want to have autocomplete from day one, right in wherever we are coding,”

Currently, autocomplete is available in courses on HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. When you start typing code in our integrated development environment (aka IDE), suggestions will pop up that you can select and keep chugging along.

Learn something new for free

If your goal is to get hired on a tech team or build projects independently, you’re going to use an IDE or code editor. “We want to keep our learning environment at par with what is happening in the industry,” says Vidyadhar Patil, Product Manager at Codecademy. Using autocomplete as you learn to code won’t just make the coding process smoother and less frustrating, it’ll also help prepare you for your tech career by emulating the real-world environment while you learn.

Read on to hear how Chirag and Vidyadhar worked together to add autocomplete to select courses and paths. Want to learn more about the new features we’re developing to support your learning journey? Check out more Behind the Build blogs to get an inside look at how our engineering teams make learning to code easier, more rewarding, and fun for you.

The project: Add an autocomplete feature to the code editor in our learning environment.

The learning environment is “the most complicated part of the Codecademy ecosystem,” Chirag says. There were a few key steps that our engineers took to add this new feature:

  • Upgrade the code editor that powers the learning environment
  • Enable autocomplete
  • Implement learner feedback and improve the UI/UX

Investigation and roadmapping

Chirag: “The underlying code editor that we had been using for our learning environment, Monaco Editor built by Microsoft, had not been upgraded for a few years. Upgrading the version had been low-hanging fruit for quite some time and it was the first project that our team took on. One of the benefits we got while upgrading that version is that we could now harness the power of autocomplete for languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Autocomplete is a great thing to have, so we thought, why not just release it? So, that’s how we based the idea, and the curriculum team came on board with that as well.

In real life, whenever developers are developing a web application or coding to build something, they would want to use a code editor that would already have those autocomplete features built in. We think of autocomplete as a more realistic way of learning — not like you need to memorize specific keywords, grammar, and syntax because there can be hundreds and thousands of keywords. Moreover, you might not be restricted to just one language or technology; you might be learning various libraries and technologies.”

We think of autocomplete as a more realistic way of learning.

Chirag Makkar

Senior Software Engineer at Codecademy

Implementation

Chirag: “The whole Monaco Editor upgrade was a big chunk of the project, and it took a couple of months. The language that we use in the learning environment is TypeScript and the framework is React. Since we were working at the very architectural level of the learning environment by just upgrading the editor, it enabled us to make a lot of modifications to many features that the previous version of Monaco didn’t have.

At the core level, autocomplete was already there for us with the new version of Monaco — we just had to enable it. The thing that we had to develop was when to show it and how people discover it. So, the UI/UX around that and the experimentation took us a few weeks before we actually launched it for everyone.”

Troubleshooting

Chirag: “Once we are working at this scale, changing anything has a lot of impact. We couldn’t break even one line of code before we roll it out, because that ruins the whole learning experience.

I remember we had just released the new version of Monaco, with the autocomplete turned off, and we were at the office for a team meetup. After completing dinner, all our Slacks were just going off. Someone eventually opened Slack and we realized, ‘Okay, something is broken.’ So, we had to roll that whole thing back. A couple of days later, we pushed it again — there were a lot of learnings there.”

Vidyadhar: “There were two major problems with the initial coach mark [a UI message that guides users through new product updates]. The first problem was that it was getting in the way; it was covering a good amount of real estate on the learner’s screen in the learning environment. The reason for that is because of variable display sizes that learners use. For people who use a small display size, the size of the coach mark was not adaptable. Consequently, they were not able to figure out how to escape the modal, the pop-up. So that was a major problem.

This is what the coach mark looked like before we received feedback.
Here’s how we made the coach mark less obtrusive.

Other than that, I think there was a minor improvement that we made, which was to point the coach mark to the tools menu. This was just to indicate that learners can find the autocomplete toggle ON/OFF option in that area.”

Ship

Vidyadhar: “Within a single day, we got a huge response, which gave us confidence that, yes, this feature actually works. And this is something that learners want, and we would want to scale it up.”

Chirag: “When we saw the intent was really positive. We were all like, We’ve done a great job. So that was I think the best reward for it.”

Retrospective

Vidyadhar: “When we asked learners for feedback, we saw that around 85% of the learners were satisfied with having the autocomplete feature enabled in their learning environment. There were significant reasons that they stated: they say that it saves time, it avoids repetition, and it helps with learning and remembering. People benchmark it with other industry standard code editors, which is one of the primary reasons we wanted to bring this feature onto our learning environment as well.”

Snaps

Chirag: “The LE is a shared application with a lot of teams. So, one aspect that I learned on this project was collaborating between teams, getting those code reviews done. Software Engineer II Akshay Deshmukh started off the whole update individually before our team was formed. Huge snaps to him.”

Vidyadhar: “Huge shout out to Chirag and Akshay — these are the people and the brains behind this feature.”

Conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

Do You Ever Host or Attend Sleepovers?

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Do You Ever Host or Attend Sleepovers?

Have you ever slept over at a friend’s house? Have you ever hosted a sleepover? Are sleepovers popular with you and your friends? What do your parents think about them?

In “Sweetie, I’ll Be Back at 2 A.M.,” Erin Sagen writes about different approaches to the classic sleepover. The article begins:

Brianna Michaud’s ’90s childhood was filled with sleepovers at friends’ houses. Her mother sometimes came inside the house and chatted with the parents for a few minutes, but sensitive topics like bodily autonomy, gun safety or technology use — except for the rule that she not watch anything rated PG-13 or higher — weren’t the kinds of things discussed.

“It was a different time,” Ms. Michaud, now 35, said.

It may come as no surprise that parents are experiencing more anxiety in general these days. There is an increased awareness of issues like sexual abuse and gun violence, said Christy Keating, a licensed parenting coach based in the Seattle area. Almost half of parents in the U.S. describe themselves as overprotective, according to Pew research published last year.

And perhaps no scenario tests a parent’s vigilance more than the prospect of allowing their child to sleep at another family’s home. For some parents, one solution to this is the “sleepunder” — also called a “lateover” — where children come to play, but they don’t stay to sleep.

Qarniz F. Armstrong, a mother of three children, ages 12, 14 and 20, has never allowed her children to spend a night away from her, even with other family members. She does, however, want her kids to have normal childhood experiences, so she has settled on letting them attend parties if she can bring them home at bedtime — even if that means 2 or 3 in the morning. Considering the alternative — saying no altogether — Ms. Armstrong, who is 43 and lives in Murrieta, Calif., feels this is “a good compromise.”

Her oldest, Mecca, has a different point of view. Although he believes his parents were looking out for his best interests, he said, “I was definitely feeling left out a lot.” He remembers begging his mother for two hours when he was 15 years old to let him attend an overnight, but she said no. By that point, the invites had been drying up, and he “really did not want to be the one kid who had to go early.”

That was perhaps the hardest, loneliest part: not necessarily being picked up early, but being the only kid who was. “I would have felt better if other kids’ parents did the same thing,” he said.

The article also includes a take on sleepovers from a professor of family psychology:

But what do children potentially lose by not spending the night elsewhere? “Sleepovers are a pretty normative part of U.S. kid culture,” said Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan, a professor of family psychology at Ohio State University, “and they give children an opportunity for real independence.” In her own experience, being exposed to different lifestyles and customs in her friends’ homes growing up inspired a lifelong passion for studying how families function and their ripple effects on society.

Sleepovers can be fun and beneficial for children, but parents get something out of it, too: a free night off from your child if they stay until morning. “It’s a great way to trade babysitting,” Ms. Keating said. “And a great way for connection to other families.”

The trick, Dr. Schoppe-Sullivan said, is to try to strike a balance where one is cautious but not overprotective. “Parents who are overly cautious” with sleepovers, she said, “are usually overly cautious to other things,” and that can cause anxiety problems for children who are forbidden to take age-appropriate risks and therefore build a healthy sense of resilience and autonomy.

Students, read the entire article and then tell us:

  • What do you think about these ideas for alternatives to a traditional sleepover? Have you experienced any of them?

  • How important do you think sleepovers are to bonding with friends? What other activities come to mind when you think about formative experiences in your friendships?

  • Is there anything you wish parents understood better about letting their children socialize? Do you think there is an ideal age at which children should be allowed to go to sleepovers (or sleepunders or lateovers), see movies unchaperoned, eat in a restaurant with friends and so on?

  • Do you think your parents consider themselves overprotective? How have they dealt with allowing you to go out with friends, visit the homes of families they don’t know well or navigate social media without their guidance?

  • Does your family have any rules meant to keep you safe and minimize anxiety (theirs and perhaps yours, as well) when it comes to spending time with friends? Do you ever have conflicts about the rules or are you pretty much on the same page as your parents?

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.

Find more Student Opinion questions here. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate these prompts into your classroom.

Unlock Your Potential: Explore the World of Martial Arts With Alison’s Free Online Courses

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Unlock Your Potential: Explore the World of Martial Arts With Alison’s Free Online Courses

What do former US president Barack Obama, Russian leader Vladimir Putin and actor Jennifer Anniston have in common? They are among an estimated 350 million people worldwide who share expertise in one of the world’s oldest disciplines – martial arts. These are proven to offer a myriad of benefits, from enhancing cardiovascular health to improving strength, flexibility, and mental well-being. 

At Alison, where we specialise in skills development and offer free online courses, we believe in empowering our community of learners in unexpected ways. Join our growing community by signing up for a free account and exploring our range of martial arts courses, from basic Self-defence for Beginners to The Foundations of Capoeira to Wing-Chun and Chi Sao. Our expert instructors include movie stuntman, Taekwondo and Karate black belt Chuck Johnson, as well as Wing-Chun Kung Fu supremo Dragon Sifu.

Our Guide to 6 of the Best Martial Arts

But before you dive into our courses, let’s delve into the fascinating world of martial arts. While many associate martial arts with China or Japan, similar physical combat styles can be traced back to Greece and India over two thousand years ago. Curious about the best martial art for you? Read on for our guide to the top 6, including MMA, Muay Thai, Taekwondo, Wing Chun, Jiu-Jitsu and Krav Maga. Each has its unique techniques and advantages, catering to different preferences and goals. 

MMA

Set to outstrip boxing for popularity, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), as the name suggests, combines elements of judo, jujitsu, karate, Capoeira, Muay Thai and other martial arts with boxing and wrestling. Matches feature a mix of striking, grappling and ground fighting. It’s not for the faint-hearted, or for newcomers to martial arts; however, Bollywood actor Tiger Shroff is living proof that it need not damage one’s appearance.

Muay Thai

Also known as Thai Boxing, Muay Thai is dubbed the ‘Art of 8 limbs’ because of its eight-point contact, which differentiates it from karate and boxing. It’s a stand-up sport involving punching and striking using fists, knees, elbows and shins. Hollywood actor Ryan Gosling and Bollywood star Akshay Kumar are among the millions of people who practise Muay Thai to keep fit.

Taekwondo

This is a little different. The art of fist and foot! While incorporating elements of Shotokan karate, Taekwondo was developed in Korea and incorporates high kicks, jumping, spinning kicks and fast kicks. ‘Vampire Slayer’ actor Sarah Michelle Gellar and singer Willie Nelson are among the celebrities who have achieved black belts in the sport, while self-defence expert Chuck Johnson holds a Master’s rank in Olympic Taekwondo and incorporates many of its techniques into his free self-defence courses.

Wing Chun

A form of Kung Fu originating in southern China, Wing Chun was brought to the world by Ip Man, whose pupils included Bruce Lee. Rapid strikes target the opponent’s weak areas, and low kicks disrupt their balance. Wing Chun reportedly takes less time to master than other martial arts. Our Wing Chun instructor, Dragon Sifu, incorporates fitness training into his lessons to ensure his pupils are truly fighting fit! Dragon Sifu also teaches the Basics of Chi Sao, a Wing Chun Kung Fu training drill that aims to develop reflexes, sensitivity and close-quarter combat skills.

Jiu-Jitsu

Jiu-Jitsu is also widely known as ‘human chess’ as it exercises both the body and the mind, using techniques employed by ancient Japanese warriors on the battlefield. One of the most widely practised martial arts, Jiu-Jitsu, includes standing and ground positions and involves the use of throws, joint locks, pins and immobilisations. Bollywood star Deepika Padukone mastered the art for her role in the film ‘Chandni Chowk to China’.

Krav Maga

While not strictly a martial art, Krav Maga incorporates techniques from boxing, judo, and wrestling for practical self-defence in the face of life-threatening situations, even against armed or multiple attackers. Enrol in Basics of Krav Maga Self-Defense and in just a few short hours, instructor Chuck Johnson, former bodyguard to Jackie Chan, can teach you techniques that could literally save your life.

There is much more to martial arts than combat skills and self-defence. They are proven to enhance cardiovascular health, improve strength and flexibility and boost balance and coordination. The mental and emotional benefits include improved focus, concentration and memory function, lower stress levels and overall wellbeing. 

So if you want to keep up with Khloe Kardashian or ‘Snatch’ director Guy Ritchie’s skillset, join Alison’s martial arts community and unlock your potential. Our free courses include:

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to develop valuable skills while having fun. Sign up and begin your martial arts training today!

Word of the Day: klaxon

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Word of the Day: klaxon

The word klaxon has appeared in four articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on June 14 in “He Was a Revolutionary at the Birth of a Nation. Does Anyone Care?” by Alex Traub:

Shortly thereafter, the headliner, a Bangladeshi American rapper named Anik Khan, paused between songs. He announced a special guest: someone who had grown up in a village, recited poetry in front of thousands, started a successful business, enjoyed the services of a personal driver — and then left it all behind to become a driver for other people while living in a one-bedroom apartment with six people in Queens.

“If it’s OK,” Anik said, “I’d love to bring out my father to do one of his poems.”

To the sound of a blaring klaxon and shrieks from the crowd, Mr. Khan emerged. Anik was sporting cornrows and an unbuttoned short-sleeve shirt; his father wore pointed slippers, a white kurta and a green shawl with golden trim. Turning toward the hip-hop fans, Golam folded his hands in the traditional South Asian sign of respect.

Can you correctly use the word klaxon in a sentence?

Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.

If you want a better idea of how klaxon can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com. You can also visit this guide to learn how to use IPA symbols to show how different words are pronounced.

If you enjoy this daily challenge, try our vocabulary quizzes.

Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.

The Word of the Day is provided by Vocabulary.com. Learn more and see usage examples across a range of subjects in the Vocabulary.com Dictionary. See every Word of the Day in this column.

When is Retrieval Practice Most Efficient?

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When is Retrieval Practice Most Efficient?

Participants spent less time doing their practice tests when they were multiple choice than when they were short answer, and because performance was about the same, multiple choice self-testing was shown to be the better choice when participant-controlled. But again, participants didn’t score as high when they dropped items after getting them right. On average, participants had to do 3 practice trials to get one right when they were in control, but it took about 7.4 times for participants to get a question right 5 times. And in the participant-controlled condition, they only spent about 10s per item, vs. 29s in the experimenter-controlled condition. That’s a lot more time spent self-testing when they were trying to answer them right 5 times!

The researchers calculated this by looking at “gains per minute” – that is, how much higher was performance on the final test for every minute spent working. On the final multiple choice test, the folks who controlled their own study gained 17% per minute of studying, while the folks who had to get questions right 5 times only had 7% gains per minute of studying. Wow.

Takeaway

What does this all mean? It’s not as simple as saying that one way of self-testing is better than another. What’s great about this study is that they didn’t simply look at final performance and conclude that the experimenter-controlled condition was better. Instead, they considered competing demands. Yes, long-term retention matters. It’s our goal as educators. But time matters too. We have a lot on our plates, a lot of material to get through, a lot of different activities we’d like to do to improve learning. Students have a lot on their plates too – multiple classes to study for, extracurriculars, relationships, life.

My takeaways from this study are that :

  1. Retrieval practice is effective!

  2. If you’re strapped for time, don’t sacrifice the retrieval practice, but maybe just keep working until you can recall everything once.

  3. If you have extra time, it’s not a bad idea to redo the questions you got right a few more times so you can make some extra gains.

Some States Have Removed Trump From the Ballot. Is This a Good Thing for Democracy?

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Some States Have Removed Trump From the Ballot. Is This a Good Thing for Democracy?

The primaries to choose the Republican Party’s nominee for the presidential race are underway. Former President Donald J. Trump already has one important win under his belt: a landslide victory in the Iowa caucuses. The New Hampshire primary is up next.

But as the primaries proceed, important constitutional questions loom in the background. Officials in Maine and Colorado have determined that based on the 14th Amendment the former president has engaged in insurrection and is therefore disqualified from being on the primary ballots in those states. Now the Supreme Court is poised to weigh in.

What do you think should happen? Should Mr. Trump, the current front-runner, be allowed to run for president? Or, did he disqualify himself because he incited an insurrection with his actions leading up to the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol?

In the article “Would Keeping Trump Off the Ballot Hurt or Help Democracy?” The Times explains why this issue is so complicated for many:

As the top elections official in Washington State, Steve Hobbs says he is troubled by the threat former President Donald J. Trump poses to democracy and fears the prospect of his return to power. But he also worries that recent decisions in Maine and Colorado to bar Mr. Trump from presidential primary ballots there could backfire, further eroding Americans’ fraying faith in U.S. elections.

“Removing him from the ballot would, on its face value, seem very anti-democratic,” said Mr. Hobbs, a Democrat who is in his first term as secretary of state. Then he added a critical caveat: “But so is trying to overthrow your country.”

Mr. Hobbs’s misgivings reflect deep divisions and unease among elected officials, democracy experts and voters over how to handle Mr. Trump’s campaign to reclaim the presidency four years after he went to extraordinary lengths in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election. While some, like Mr. Hobbs, think it best that voters settle the matter, others say that Mr. Trump’s efforts require accountability and should be legally disqualifying.

Here is the relevant language in the 14th Amendment, which was written after the Civil War:

No person shall be a senator or representative in Congress, or elector of president and vice president, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

In “The Supreme Court Should Overturn the Colorado Ruling Unanimously,” Samuel Moyn, a professor of law at Yale, writes in favor of keeping Mr. Trump on the ballot:

When Donald Trump appeals the Colorado decision disqualifying him from the ballot in that state’s Republican primary, the Supreme Court should overturn the ruling unanimously.

Like many of my fellow liberals, I would love to live in a country where Americans had never elected Mr. Trump — let alone sided with him by the millions in his claims that he won an election he lost, and that he did nothing wrong afterward. But nobody lives in that America. For all the power the institution has arrogated, the Supreme Court cannot bring that fantasy into being. To bar Mr. Trump from the ballot now would be the wrong way to show him to the exits of the political system, after all these years of strife.

Some aspects of American election law are perfectly clear — like the rule that prohibits candidates from becoming president before they turn 35 — but many others are invitations to judges to resolve uncertainty as they see fit, based in part on their own politics. Take Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which blocks insurrectionists from running for office, a provision originally aimed at former Confederates in the wake of the Civil War. There may well be some instances in which the very survival of a democratic regime is at stake if noxious candidates or parties are not banned, as in West Germany after World War II. But in this case, what Section 3 requires is far from straightforward. Keeping Mr. Trump off the ballot could put democracy at more risk rather than less.

On the other hand, in “If Trump Is Not an Insurrectionist, What Is He?” the columnist Jamelle Bouie argues that Mr. Trump should be disqualified for running for president:

There is a real question of whether this attempt to protect American democracy — by removing a would-be authoritarian from the ballot — is itself a threat to American democracy. Will proponents and supporters of the 14th Amendment option effectively destroy the village in order to save it?

It may seem obvious, but we should remember that Trump is not an ordinary political figure. And try as some commentators might, there is no amount of smoke one could create — through strained counterfactuals, dire warnings of a slippery slope or outright dismissal of the events that make the Trump of 2024 a figure very different from the Trump of 2020 — that can obscure or occlude this basic fact.

In 2020, President Trump went to the voting public of the United States and asked for another four years in office. By 51 percent to 47 percent, the voting public of the United States said no. More important, Trump lost the Electoral College, 306 to 232, meaning there were enough of those voters in just the right states to deny him a second term.

The people decided. And Trump said, in so many words, that he didn’t care. What followed, according to the final report of the House select committee on Jan. 6, was an effort to overturn the result of the election.

Students, read the articles and Opinion essays and then tell us:

  • What is your reaction to the decisions in Colorado and Maine that have found Mr. Trump ineligible to be on those states’ primary ballots? Why?

  • Challenges to Donald Trump’s appearance on the ballot have been filed in more than 30 states, but many have been dismissed. As of Jan. 12, there were active challenges in at least 19 states, including lawsuits and formal complaints to election officials. What is your reaction to the campaigns to have Mr. Trump removed from the ballot?

  • Do you think removing Mr. Trump from the presidential ballot would strengthen American democracy, or hurt it? Do you agree more with Steve Hobbs, who thinks it’s best that voters settle the matter, or with Jamelle Bouie, who thinks that Mr. Trump disqualified himself by using the power of his office to try to overturn constitutional government in the United States? Why?

  • Do you think the 14th Amendment prohibits Mr. Trump from running for president because of his actions leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol? Why or why not?

  • Mr. Trump currently faces 91 criminal charges, including several that address his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and obstruct the certification of the electoral vote, but these cases have not yet gone to trial. Do you think the outcomes of these trials matter in deciding whether Mr. Trump should be disqualified from running for president? Why or why not?

  • What do you think the Supreme Court will say on this issue? How would you rule if you were a justice?

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.

Find more Student Opinion questions here. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate these prompts into your classroom.

Happy Puppy

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Happy Puppy

Use your imagination to write the opening of a short story or poem inspired by this A.I.-created illustration — or tell us about a memory from your own life that this image makes you think of.

Post your piece in the comments, then read the related article to learn more.

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.

Find more Picture Prompts here.

Twelve Google and IBM Professional Certificates on Coursera receive ECTS credit recommendations

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Twelve Google and IBM Professional Certificates on Coursera receive ECTS credit recommendations

FIBAA certification paves the way for higher education institutions across 49 member nations to award credit for job-relevant credentials

By Jeff Maggioncalda, Coursera CEO 

As the job market becomes more competitive, universities and employers are turning to online learning to help graduates fill in any skills gaps. However, the diverse standards of different countries can make it difficult to recognize these online qualifications. This presents a challenge for governments and institutions who are striving to achieve consistent recognition for non-traditional credentials, online education, or time spent studying abroad.

Today, Coursera is excited to announce that the Foundation for International Business Administration Accreditation (FIBAA) has certified 12 Professional Certificates from Google and IBM, with European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) credit recommendations available exclusively on Coursera. Now, ministries, higher education institutions, and students can accept and transfer university credit for eligible industry micro-credentials on Coursera at institutions across 49 member nations in the ECC/Bologna process. This cross-sector initiative represents a major step toward establishing a global ecosystem for credit recognition of online learning and industry micro-credentials. 

Google
Google Data Analytics7 ECTS
Google Project Management 6 ECTS
Google IT Support 5 ECTS
Digital Marketing and E-Commerce7 ECTS
Google UX Design9 ECTS
Google IT Automation5 ECTS
IBM
IBM Data Engineering8 ECTS
IBM Data Science6 ECTS
IBM Cybersecurity Analyst4 ECTS
IBM Data Analyst with Excel and R4 ECTS
IBM Data Analyst6 ECTS
IBM Full Stack Software Developer6 ECTS

“Industry micro-credentials offer individuals of varied backgrounds a clear path to future career readiness, and FIBAA certification provides certainty to stakeholders that each Professional Certificate is a quality-assured education and training programme,” said Diane Freiberger, FIBAA Managing Director. “This certification simplifies credit recognition for higher education institutions, increases employer trust in the skills of applicants, and reassures learners that their educational investment will be recognized.” 

ECTS certifications by FIBAA help learners earn academic credit for courses completed outside of academic institutions by evaluating the quality and creditworthiness of non-traditional content. For ministries and higher education institutions, the recognition of ECTS credits for industry micro-credentials makes it easier to offer ‘career electives’ that count as credit towards a college degree and prepare students for jobs when they graduate. For individual learners taking Professional Certificates on Coursera, ECTS credit recommendations remove barriers to earn credit for prior learning should they decide to pursue a degree later on. 

Entry-level Professional Certificates on Coursera, designed by leading global companies to prepare students without prior work experience for in-demand digital jobs in fields such as data science, cybersecurity, and UX design, have been certified by FIBAA and are recommended for recognition of the following ECTS credits: 

“We’re proud that the Google Career Certificates are now certified for ECTS credits,” said Amanda Brophy, Director, Grow with Google. “This is a significant step forward to ensure that global learners can obtain credit while learning job-ready skills for growing fields like cybersecurity and data analytics. We’re excited that more students can increase their career prospects by learning from experts at Google while pursuing a degree.”

“Earning ECTS credit recommendations for IBM Professional Certificates on Coursera signifies our dedication to maintaining high-quality education standards and empowering individuals to secure their careers with globally-recognized qualifications,” said Leon Katsnelson, Director & CTO, IBM Skills Network. “The collaboration between industry and academia, exemplified by our FIBAA approval, allows learners to not only obtain job-ready credentials but also use their learning to progress toward a degree, bridging the gap between education and industry needs.”

Higher education must collaborate with industry to meet the rapidly changing needs of employers and students, and industry micro-credentials with ECTS credits are a simple and easy way to do that. Coursera is committed to partnering with leading institutions and credit recognition agencies like FIBAA to close the higher education and workforce gap and provide flexible and accessible ways for learners to seek credit for their online learning investments. 

Learn more about ECTS Credit Recommendations on Coursera here and ACE Credit Recommendations on Coursera here. For more information about Coursera for Campus, visit coursera.org/campus.

Word of the Day: kowtow

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Word of the Day: kowtow

The word kowtow has appeared in 10 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Nov. 16 in “Every Star Wants a Documentary Now. But Is It Just P.R.?” by Calum Marsh:

“This is the thing. I know people go, ‘Oh, his company was involved,’” Stevens said. “But they honestly wanted to tell the best, most honest story. They didn’t want to do a branded Beckham piece.” Stevens said that while he was initially skeptical of making the film under the aegis of Beckham’s company, having no interest in “puffy bio-pieces,” he agreed on the condition that he retain final cut and that Beckham would be willing to “get into some uncomfortable territory.”

“The key was to stay true to my vision and not kowtow to their vision,” Stevens said. “The shocking thing, and the beautiful thing, was that they were really trusting.”

Can you correctly use the word kowtow in a sentence?

Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.

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Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.

The Word of the Day is provided by Vocabulary.com. Learn more and see usage examples across a range of subjects in the Vocabulary.com Dictionary. See every Word of the Day in this column.

Buying a Learning System – Dread

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Buying a Learning System – Dread

Dread.

It’s not a typical word that comes up when you decide to purchase whatever type of learning system, whether it is an LMS, LXP, Learning Platform, Talent Development Platform, Employee Dev Platform (a tiny market, but it exists), or whatever a vendor spins their learning system as.

Yet it is there.

Dread. In the states, a recent poll found that 64% of Americans see 2024 as dreed. Since they didn’t call me (not that I would ever answer the phone, nor do I have a landline), it still came off as a surprising number. Oh, this is why I ignore polls in general – because what age bracket has a landline, picks up the phone on a random number, and reads e-mails that offer refunds if you send them money? They always ask – do you think this is a scam?

Regardless of the number of respondents who see 2024 as the Year of Dread, I feel it myself. And I bet you do, too. 

Dread is there when you are in the first, second, third, and all the other stages of purchasing whatever type of learning system.

The First Stage

Finding Out – Exploratory

Exploring and understanding use cases. Having to talk (ugh) to people in various departments, maybe plant locations, workers – whether it is frontline (diskless), blue-collar (which some people see differently than frontline), office workers – distributors/partners, and whomever else is in order.

Perhaps you did a gap analysis before you even got there (I always did, and I recommend it). The benefit is that it reduces the time of conducting interviews with all various departments. And I won’t even go to the committees – which is another nightmare (it is easy, though, to steer them to what you want – again, I’ve done it multiple times). 

Those interviews. Do you know what questions to ask? Do you know how to listen and follow up? Do you go script, or do you extract? Do you hire someone to do it for you? Do they know what they are doing? Have they been in that same spot? Then you have those stakeholders. Even the pushy ones. The ones that make your life miserable. Yep, those interviews. Managers who do not buy in. CEOs who buy in unless it is an employee in the plant or manufacturing site or at the retail location. Then nah, you can’t train them, with this learning, whatever you want to buy.

It’s enough to give anyone a sense of dread. Yet, it is needed. People often will ask their external audiences what they want – which, while it sounds good in practice, isn’t a need – you were hired to run the training – not them. And even with internal, you will get everything all over the map. The content piece is relevant for external. Whether or not they want a storefront or a user interface that says happy days are here again – not.

Stage Two

Creating the RFP document

These are the typical routes people go when creating the RFP (BTW, save time, use my template that said)

  • Put in 90% that every vendor already has – but you are unaware. I hear it all the time – no vendor has this – and then I say, about 200 plus do. I understand why the “we need this” is listed, under the assumption nobody has it – but when you do the due diligence first and see the demo with your already pre-existing template – you can now remove said template and reduce it OR not use one (I did the latter quite a bit, but yeah, it’s not for everyone – I respect that).
  • Take all that information people gave you and put it all in the RFP without making sure that it isn’t redundant, or redundant using different vocabulary, or really needed. There is no filter – which should be you. 
  • Take all that information, extract, reduce, review and if it truly aligns to what is needed – since you are the expert in L&D or Training – and not them – you place it in the RFP. Trust me, most people forgot what they gave you, plus you can always say, “Yeah, great idea, it is on our roadmap in the future, since we had to focus on specifics with our budget.” I mean the future could be a decade from now.
  • Write an RFP that is massive in size. Use case? Yes – go detailed – no ambiguity. Even if you think – oh they will know this – assume they won’t. You have a specific tech stack – an HRIS and payroll separate and some tech product that is this or that and so on – list it. Again, don’t just say we may add it or not. It is better to know if it is doable, even if you do not start with it, then get the surprise later. Identify the number of users you see using the system in a given year. If you plan on rolling it slowly out – with X number, say it. If you plan to roll out with a stage of X, but then by Q3, a larger audience says it. Going entire company – give the total number of the user base. Vendors love to say active, sounds great – but again, unless they bill monthly, then they are not staring at your actual active numbers. Do you need hundreds of questions about security and privacy? No. Do you need to have questions about their financial stability? Doubtful, unless you are large enough, where you are required to see their books. Otherwise, everyone will say they are financially well off, even if, privately, they are on the market. Need to see references? Come on. Do you think they are giving you references who hate or have issues with the system? Nope. 

That’s a lot of dread right there. Nobody loves or likes creating an RFP/RFI or whatever you do. It is not a fun experience, which is why that intern seems reliable, and hey, they can type in text, so what will it hurt?

Stage Three

The search 

Often, folks go a few ways – do extensive due diligence, (FindAnLMS can help) and talk to the vendor. Schedule the demo. RFP has already been created, but they hold off sending it, until they decide whether to move forward or not. This scenario is rare. It should, though, be the only scenario you do. It is the one that will get you the right system, and not one you regret ten minutes after you sign that contract.

Do a cursory search. Find a few systems of interest. Create an RFP/RFI or similar document. Send to the vendors. 

If the cursory only focuses you typing into Bard, DuckDuckGo, ChatGPT or Bing, top 10 systems, not only will you run into all types of sites including such as Trust Radius (which I never trust), many will be affiliate sites (without you realizing it). The internet these days are filled with affiliate sites, which are the worst. Unless you find Chris, the expert of cave dwelling and travel, tell you here are the best learning systems to buy – and you shake your head and agree.

Listen to some folks on LinkedIn who tell you system X or Y. RFP created. Blast to the vendors. 

The cursory search is a failure. Listening to folks on LinkedIn who have never gone through the process, nor has the experience, nor has the specific use cases or case you have, nor the audience, nor the budget, and the list goes on. 

You tie all that into the due diligence part for the initial search. 

The benefit of seeing a demo first, with your RFP in hand – and not the vendors’ is that you can ask to see what you want rather than rely on them saying they have it when, in fact, they may not, or they have a workaround. This, again, is another reason: people pick the wrong system because they believe that anything the vendor says they have in that RFP must be true. I mean, who would mislead you?

Stage Four – or it may be your three

Talk to the vendor’s salesperson

They seek to qualify you. Honestly, if you are breathing and have the user base, they will accept you, including whether you are internal – L&D or external. Exceptions: you contact a vendor that only does customer training. How do you know? It’s always on their website, front and center. But you ignore that, contact them, and say you need a system for internal use – your employees. They won’t take you – or at least they shouldn’t. I know of one vendor who does anyway, then says they are customer training only.

Most systems are a combination – they accept both internal and external users. So, if your use case is mainly internal, but you also have external partners, they will likely be a good fit – especially if the core use is internal. A customer training system will take employees, but only if the main audience – the larger numbers – are external, and the internal is maybe 100 or 150 or so (using this example – the external to start is 5,000 or 10,000 or even 2,500).

Anyway, you talk to the salesperson. They ask questions. You respond. They always want to know your budget. You decline (I recommend this). Blah, blah, and more blah.

You say you want to see a demo. They will usually ask you to send over your use case – which you just explained to them. You say okay. And when is that demo?

Then, when it’s near demo time, they call you (they should) and ask what you want to see. Be specific. If you’re not sure – and you want to see it all – but will pivot throughout the session, tell them.

Stage Five

I want to tell you that I experience Stage Five a lot when I talk to vendors, even now. It is DREAD at its highest level because frustration becomes an art. I love the line, “If you need to jump in and ask a question, go ahead.” Because 60% of the time, they ignore you and continue to rumble on – and your brain has turned off – “Hey, I never knew my pen is also a pencil.”

The Pitch Deck

The worst. We are talking about a lot of information that can be sent ahead and you can read it on your own. They just read it for you, like you cannot read or think independently.
Do I care you have clients in Mongolia? (No offense to my readers in Mongolia)

Do I care if you have X number of users using your system daily? Do I care that you are showing me well-known or known names on a list that have nothing to do with me – my industry? Do I care about seeing quotes from folks who love your system? Do I care that you provide a bunch of information early on about your system or other dribble that isn’t relevant because I am interested specifically in seeing the system – not you talking about a deck your marketing or sales team or a combined entity has created.
Seriously, I always tell vendors to send me the deck ahead of time, and if I have questions, I will send them before we talk. I get about 50% who do it. This list below is some of the stuff I have heard from vendors who show me the pitch deck (even if I want to get to the demo)

  • But blah blah (name withheld) spent all this time working on this – just a few more (then it takes another 30 minutes and limits the time to see the system)
  • It is just a few more slides (When I ask if we can move to the demo and send me the deck) – The few more aren’t like three – it is always a lot – Hey, look, I can turn off my camera and mute!
  • We will send you the slide deck after the presentation – I rarely see it.
  • I understand what you are asking, but we want to show you more (Hey, I don’t care)

My favorite is still the “they spent all this time,” because the quote came from the CEO, who was on the call. 

When I see that “who’s who” is using their system – and again, it is names that grab your eyeballs – I always ask, is that system the only system in that company? It is rare – with those big names, but it does happen. OR I ask in conjunction with that question – what department or area are you in? For example, the vendor could be the vendor for the European side of sales training. OR the vendor for customer service.
You would be surprised how many of these sales folks, including high-level execs, have no idea.

I will hear, “Well, many of these companies have many systems,” – okay, great – so just say it, rather than having me pull teeth out to ask you. I love the “we are very transparent,” which isn’t entirely transparent if I have to ask you precisely because it is not on your list.
And yes, I get vendors who say they will get back to me, and I hear nothing back. The majority of the people on these calls are senior execs, even CEOs or COOs.
That is DREAD. Thus if you think, does this happen to anyone else? YES!

Stage Six

The Demo

Assuming the person reached out ahead of time to ask what you want to see (as noted earlier), that’s a good sign. You will get salespeople who do not do this. That is a bad sign.

The demo can bring excitement and DREAD, especially if the “you can stop me at any time thing” is ignored. I’ve seen C-Level or senior execs take control of the demo, and they ignore it. Or it is clear they are going on a script, and thus, when you try to pivot to something else, they say yes but continue down their path.

I always recommend pivoting to see if they are on a script. It’s easy to do. Some vendors will have a sales consultant, technical consultant, or solutions consultant drive (i.e., they are driving the demo and answering questions) handle it.

It can either be amazing (I’ve seen a few) or a disaster – because they know some things, not other things – which is fine, and then when you ask the salesperson to find out, they never respond. It isn’t the solutions consultant’s fault – it’s the salesperson’s fault.

I’ve seen where the salesperson has zero clue, and the solutions consultant knows more. Bad sign. Why have you, the salesperson, been the one to land this deal when your solutions person saves you in many ways? It’s like tipping. Your server stinks; the person who gets refills and cleans off the table is superior, but the tip goes to the server. You know what I am talking about!

DREAD plus one. I have no problem if the salesperson doesn’t know the answer to my question. Still, I expect them to find out (which they always say they will) and then get back to me with the answer or the person I can speak with to find out the answer. I can’t believe the number of salespeople who never do, and I can’t understand why you didn’t go with them.

Now, with generative AI, if it can be even worse, it happens frequently. Trust me – you – the salesperson, talk to a Gen AI expert and say, “I have a client who asked me these questions I do not know the answer to. Can you talk to them or provide me the answers and offer to talk to them?” How hard is that?
With Gen-AI, it is rare to find a salesperson who really knows the industry, let alone the LLM they are using and other acceptable items—just the basics. In the time I’ve been talking to vendors who have Gen AI, and it is not the CEO or CPO (head of product who has the in-depth knowledge) I can count on my fingers – one hand who knows it OR connects me to someone who will.

Stage Seven

Negotiations and Pricing

It will be DREAD if you do not relish in negotiations. If you are a person who is not fully familiar with how the industry’s pricing really works (and not them telling you), this will lead to DREAD when you are stuck in a contract and want out.

If you are familiar, can negotiate and are unaware that everything pricing wise always comes down to the final number in the proposal, which you might miss because of the spin – DREAD will come later.

If you do everything right, procurement comes along, wipes it all out, and picks the cheapest, which solves nothing, but it’s cheap – the DREAD early on is there.

If you deal with a committee that thinks they know more than you or those wonderful member committees you must go to when working in an association, you must defend why you want this vendor – and they have zero clue on what you are talking about. That is DREAD.

OR someone on the committee heard of system Y as ideal because another association has it, OR their buddy who works for XYTS has it. You realize this will be a battle that leads to DREAD.

Getting the deal done in the end is DREAD.

Dealing with their support, if it ends up being awful, leads to DREAD.

Bottom Line

Buying an LMS, LXP, Learning Platform, a combo LMS/LXP platform or whatever spin a vendor comes up with for a learning system, may lead at some point to DREAD.

I’ve been there. I still deal with it, when I represent clients who need a learning system.

Whereas you expect Euphoria, what you get instead

And wish you never would ever see,

Is

“Feel free to ask me any question.”

I promise I won’t get back to you.

E-Learning 24/7

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