A new year, a new blog.

Happy New Year 2007!

I hereby officially retire my old blog, which was mostly focused on business. The stuff I was tracking and commenting on just doesn't jazz me anymore to the point where I feel compelled to blog them (though I still have interest in the subjects).

My new blog, well, it will be something more focused on me and who I am and what interests me and what I think -- and not caring what anyone else thinks about that. More of a personal journal.

What I've come to recognize is how much my inner self has changed these last few years. I lost my sister a little over 2 years ago, and her final 18 months were pretty painful, so I find that who I was 4 years ago is a lifetime different than who I am today. What mattered to me then means little to me now. I haven't really figured out what matters to me now, but I feel like I am continuing to shed my old skin. Eventually, the new one will emerge.

I have always liked new years, because they represent new beginnings. There is something symbolic in a new calendar year that always resonates with me.

For the couple of months I have been thinking about what the next year means to me. It's not clear, but it's coming into focus.

This year is about health.

This year is about travel. Not so much doing, but laying foundations for travel in 2008. I have begun planning a trip to Europe, maybe a month, maybe two. But where do I want to go, what do I want to see, what type of experience do I want? These are the questions I've begun to explore and will shape my inner world in 2007.

The first focus - health - is deeply connected to the second focus - travel. I've pushed my luck on my health and it's time to get real with myself -- and I'm not going to be able to travel well, or freely, if I don't have my health. It's all interconnected.

Support Roberta Westwood in the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure.

I am participating in the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure, on Sunday, October 2, 2005, and I am asking for your support.

I will be walking in memory of my sister, Carol Leigh McCarron. Carol Leigh fought for 19 years, most bravely through the last 2 years of her life, and touched many. We lost Carol Leigh on October 12, 2004. She is sadly but fondly remembered every day.

I am one of more than 170,000 participants who will all be walking or running on October 2. The money I raise will go to fund breast cancer research, education and awareness programs across the country.
I need your support because with it, the Foundation can continue to fund the research and programs that are helping improve the quality of life for families touched by breast cancer.

Donating online is quick, easy and secure! You can pay by VISA, MasterCard or American Express. Within 20 minutes, you will receive a tax receipt for any donation that has been successfully received.
To donate click here https://www.cibcrunforthecure.com/html/p.asp?t=1212544&l=1

If you are interested in participating in this year's Run, there is always room for one more! The event takes place in more than 40 communities across Canada. You can search for Run locations by visiting www.cbcf.org.

Thank you. I appreciate your support!
Roberta Westwood

Interesting story in Information Week today on blogging: Blogging About Work? Play Nice. This one tells the story of 27 employees who were fired for making negative blog posts about their employer (AAA in California) in a public blog.

To quote the author, Patricia Keefe:

Simply put, corporate HR and legal departments have been caught napping on this one. Even among companies that actively encourage employees to blog, most of them, as recently as six months ago, lacked blogging guidelines for their employees.

Keefe goes on to explore the issues, and does a good job.

Free downloadable books

My slightly stale and inactive blog... my perspectives on life must be changing, this isn't drawing me the same way it did before, but perhaps I shall reinvent or... ?

Anyways, here's something cool:

Elliott Masie has put together a free downloadable Digital Book, based on your "confessions" of the problems and challenges that keep you awake:
"What Keeps YOU Up at Night?".

He did another one last year, "701 E-Learning Tips".

Tsunami Locator - www.tsunamilocator.com

Happy New Year. Though it's a subdued one. So hard to be celebratory while the recovery effort for the devastating tsunami disaster continues...

I've been helping out a bit online, to help the work of groups that are helping to locate missing persons, though I am awed by the efforts of those who are doing more than I. But every bit makes a difference, and it helps to do something.

Through this process, I've compiled this list of resources to support the work of Locators Online and others searching for missing persons as a result of the devastating tsunami. It's online at Tsunami Locator (www.tsunamilocator.com).

Take care, and wishes for healing and peace in the world.
Roberta

Note added August 11/05: I've since taken this site down, but glad to have made a difference for a period. In truth, as I look back now, this probably had more to do with my own sense of helplessness and the desire just to 'do' something - a common urge during grief. This has been my story throughout my life in general since losing my sister, and am only now beginning to see how powerfully it's impacted me.

Tsunami: you can help with just your telephone

LOCATORS ONLINE (www.locators-online.org) urgently
needs volunteers who can dial international numbers.
If you have access to a phone where you can dial an
international number, or have a satellite phone,
please email david@locators-online.org

Back to blogging

I've had a long break from blogging, it's been a tough year, and my focus has been elsewhere. For those of you who read this blog, my sister that I mention in my previous post, Carol Leigh, passed away in October. Thank you to all who have given me support, and to all who make efforts to support breast cancer research.

Roberta

Run For The Cure sponsors welcome!

I'm participating in the CIBC Run for the Cure in support of breast cancer again this year on October 3rd. I'll be walking for my sister, Carol Leigh McCarron.

If you are interested in supporting me, just click here (you can also learn a bit more about my sister there).

Thanks in advance for any and all support!
Roberta

new stuff on blogs and learning

Found some new stuff today on blogs...

How to use weblogs to create engaging learning experiences

ASTD presentations on orientation

Stumbled across a couple of ASTD conference presentations on new employee orientation:

I'll Take Orientation For $100! Or, Keeping Employees Out of Jeopardy. It's from the City of Peoria (I don't know where that is!) and it's for a new employee reception concept.

On Location: Moving New Employee Orientation From Ordinary to EXTRAordinary - this one is from Harley-Davidson Financial Services. Looks like a couple little gems in this one...

ASTD handouts are now online

The ASTD conference handouts are now available free online.

A couple articles by me on blogging

I realized today that I have been remiss on putting links to the pair of articles I wrote on blogging here... so, anyways, here they are:

Blogged for Business
I wrote these as a 2-part series, and this is the first on; it looks at blogs in corporate communications in general

Blogged for Learning
Here's the second one, which is what I'm really interested in, blogs in a the learning context

Free Stephen Covey articles online

Also found this page of free articles by Stephen Covey , looks like some good ones.... Ironically, most of them appear to be 10 or so years old. But his stuff lives on...

Cool T&D Programs Assessment Tool

I stumbled across this neat tool tonight, "Training and Development Programs Assessment: A Survey for Managers" - it's a free and pretty fast self-assessment for training managers/leaders, from the Jack Phillips Center for Research. 30 good questions.

Save Counterspin

Calling all Canadians.... CBC Newsworld is cancelling Counterspin, one of the absolutely best programs on TV. Counterspin was provocative, engaging, balanced, open, edgy and simply great! I usually thinks the CBC does a good job at making programming decisions, but this one stinks. Here's the story.

There is an online petition you can sign to bring it back, please take a minute to sign it.

Roberta

Note added May 22nd: I was pleasantly surprised to get a reply from the CBC Ombudsman on the email I sent. Actually, I sent it to just about every CBC contact I could stir up, so they all got a reply. Also heard back from the Counterspin producers, they are getting lots of similiar feedback.

Moi in Globe and Mail article on virtual conferences

Was quoted today in the Globe and Mail in this article, "Mix and mingle over the Internet - Virtual conferences can be easier, more convenient way to network, gain industry knowledge than face-to-face events" by Sandra Mingail.

I am a big fan of virtual conferences... here's a piece I wrote on the same subject: "Virtual Conferences: An Online Learning Tool". I love 'em!

New article on online surveys

There's a new article on Learning Circuits this morning, Web Survey Guidelines. This is so good to see, as there aren't enough articles on this topic.

Here's a link to an article I wrote awhile back on the topic, it does have a few other links coming off it.

That new bug in my computer

You know it's time for a break when: you notice that your computer is acting weird, cursor keeps flying across the screen at high speed, oh oh, what's that, I have the best virus protection possible, backup entire system (leave client project waiting), update virus definitions (they weren't out of date), run full scan (even though it's done nightly automatically), everything seems fine....

Next day, reading a website, and notice it happening again....... look down and see it's how my arm just touches the spacebar of my new keyboard/wrist guard when I'm not paying attention!

Life's a blast, isn't it?

How to Take a Long Working Vacation

Stumbled across an interesting article, "How to Take a Long Working Vacation" on PC World. While I'd rather slip onto a beach and take a total mental break, sometimes that's just not possible as a consultant. And the idea of intentionally planning to get awhile without turning work off is an option I have often considered. Because so much of my work is online now, this is becoming a more viable option. This article has good tips.

Also led me to:
Iomega storage online
Mobile Computing: Backup Strategies for the Road

Ah, "Space Tourist Plans Working Vacation", not quite my cup of tea, but intriguing....

Demo and slides on social networks

Good item included in this morning's elearning post:
ReferralWeb
This is not a new site, but well worth a visit if you are exploring social networks. The PPT slides are especially useful in understanding the theory and the need for social network analysis. "The ReferralWeb system lets you search and explore social networks - the networks of friends, colleagues, and co-workers - that exist on the WWW. It lets you find trusted information from trusted experts, who are likely to help because they are friends of your friends!"
http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/kautz/referralweb/

Webinar on "onboarding" on March 25

Learned today about this free webinar on March 25, "On-Boarding: It's Not Just Orientation Anymore". The speaker is Joyce L. Gioia, co-author of: Lean and Meaningful: A New Culture for Corporate America. Sounds interesting, I've signed up.

Macromedia Declares March "Free Web Conferencing Month"

I thought this was pretty cool, and have just signed up:

San Francisco—March 1, 2004—Macromedia (Nasdaq: MACR) today announced that Macromedia will offer free Breeze web conferencing for the month of March. Starting on March 1, users in North America can sign up for free web conferencing via Breeze that will be available for the duration of the month. The account will allow a user to host free online meetings with up to five participants on the Macromedia hosted system. The offer is limited to the first 500 customers to sign up for an account. To sign up for a free account for the month of March, visit www.macromedia.com/go/meetfree.

Join me for a free presentation and online forum in March on online orientation

The University in Calgary here in Canada runs an ongoing best practices in e-learning series, with a few presentations every month. These are free to view and to participate in the discussion forums.

For the month of March, I am hosting one of the presentations, "Online Orientation: Trends, Blends and Design Strategies". I invite you to view the presentation and participate in the discussions:
http://elearn.ucalgary.ca/showcase/presentations_monthly/pres_westwood.html

TechLearn 2004 Handouts are available

The handouts from the 2004 ASTD TechLearn Conference are now available, free online to all. Almost the next best thing to being there.

Have only poked around a bit so far, but was pleased to see Allison Rosset's handouts, I've seen her speak before, this is a good update. I like her "chills and thrills".

Refreshing tips for getting the most out of conference breakouts

Jay Cross has done a nice piece in one of his blogs on getting the most out of conference breakouts; as usual, from Jay, it's refreshing. I love how he always says what he's thinking. His thoughts start out with some interesting observations being on the receiving end of level 1 evaluations (hmm... why is some of this familiar?), and concludes with some good thoughts for future consideration. Should be required reading for all conference delegates, LOL...

Somewhere I have an article that I wrote on getting the most out of a conference, I don't think I've ever posted it somewhere, will have to get it up on my articles website soon - and I'll be sure to add a link to this bit from Jay's blog.

CSS and learner control

I was pleasantly surprised to see a new article in Learning Circuits called CSS Your Way to Learner Control . This is a cool article, as it contains a link to a course page that you can modify the appearance of, by using the radio controls at the top. Waaayyyy cool!

I had not even fathomed CSS in the realm of using it to give the learner control over their learning space. What a paradigm shift.

Via this article, I also discovered the W3C Core Styles, 8 free CSS style sheets that are free and designed for non-developers to customize look and feel. Again, it's kind of cool, as you can try them all out.

Man oh man, this idea of CSS and learner controls is going to have my brain going now... I gotta learn more about how this is used....

NASAGA's first online conference

NASAGA - the North American Simulation and Gaming Association is doing it's first NASAGA Online Conference March 10-12, 2004. You don't have to go anywhere, it's conducted entirely online. Speakers include Thiagi, Clark Aldrich, Mark Prensky and Jennifer Hofmann, all of whose work I follow. Two new folks to me are Marie Jasinski and Bernie Dekovan. Should be a good event.

One great thing is that NASAGA is using iCohere - my favourite tool for this type of event. I've attended a number of iCohere online conferences and they are great (click for article). And I am delighted to be able to finally attend a NASAGA event!

Great Chevalier session

Back to my blog again, off and on, up and down, it's like a stream of consciousness that periodically fades in and out...

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a full-day workshop with Roger Chevalier of ISPI International. The session was here in Vancouver, which was a rare opportunity. There are some great post-workshop resources here.

One of my biggest learnings / ah ha's was that Level 1 (Reaction) evaluation can provide misleading information; I've always known and believed that it was not enough, but by way of example, Roger shared that it can provide some invalid data - a definite ah ha moment. The example he used was of an instructor who got the lowest Level 1 evaluations from learners, but the highest Level 4 (Results) results... He was keeping his class late for application activities (hence, the better results), so the class didn't really like it - but they did learn. And, with reframing of how he set up the evening session, his Level 1 ratings did increase. This was a brilliant example.

Other ah ha's:
- more of a reminder than an ah ha for me was an example of how classroom time was cut by 1/3 through the addition of job aids (complicated task, only occassionally done, provide a job aid rather than training); I'll put that lens on again
- a reinforcement of how valuable role playing is -- I got caught in my own comfort of understanding theory and - like most people in the workshop - saw where I went wrong only when we applied our questioning in a large role play (gee, it's always good to be sitting in the learner's seat!)
- the process (and sequence) of behaviour engineering questioning: information, resources, incentives, motives, capacity, knowledge and skills -- and if you don't pay attention to one it will bite you
- plus the accompanying performance improvement leverage model (things earliest on this list have high impact + low cost; things at the end of the list have low impact + high cost); again, great reinforcement and good examples to deepen my learning
- the Hawthorne effect reminder as it relates to evaluation of learning and performance improvement

I also liked how Roger applied force field analysis to performance analysis. I first learned about force field analysis in a marketing context, and haven't reallly seen it applied well in a performance context before today. I'll use this for sure.

A favourite quote from Roger: "training is our drug of choice"

Also learned that the famous "if you can't measure it, you can't manage it" that has been attributed to many people was actually first said way back in in 1902 (though not sure by who).

Recycle that ol' computer

There are tons of old computers sitting in cupboards and basements around the world... and tons of non-profits desparately needing technology. More often than not, those old computers are perfectly good, they just aren't the latest and greatest.

Today TechSoup has posted some great resources in response to the new-age-old question of, "What do I do with my old computer?". Good stuff.

Webinar on doing online surveys on Feb. 4

Interesting webinar in a couple weeks, on Feb. 4th. The host organization is Training Magazine. The session is part of its Excellence in Practice series, and the title is Conducting Effective Employee Surveys. Here's the info sign up details.

I do quite a bit of work on online surveys, so I am always interested in learning more. I've also written a bit on this, here's an article I did, it's got a few interesting resources in it.

Maybe I'll see you there.