m-learning tools – Page 3 – TechCommGeekMom

Ready to learn tech comm or instructional design in 2015? Check these out…

Posted on January 9, 2015January 9, 2015 by TechCommGeekMom

It's all about the learning, after all. — It’s all about the learning, after all.

Thanks to Jonathon Colman for bringing a new certificate program in Content Strategy at the University of Washington to my attention. As a result, the list for the Tech Comm Educational Resources on the TechCommGeekMom ID/TC Education page has been updated!

As I mentioned in my last post, I’m going to be taking some coursework in the new year. How about you? Need to spruce up some skills? Check out the TechCommGeekMom ID/TC Education page for resources (click the links in this post or the tab above) of various degrees and certificates available that I’ve collected over the past two or three years.

If you know of a program that’s not listed on my lists, or if there’s a link that needs updating on my lists, please let me know! I’d like to keep this as updated as I can, and I’ll be able to do so with your support!

Go ahead…go learn something this year!

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Stage 2 of non-pudding brain: It’s official. I’m a student again.

Posted on January 8, 2015January 8, 2015 by TechCommGeekMom

"Ah, glad to see that you are working on stretching your intelligence, TechCommGeekMom. Now, when you are done, you can help me with this equation on this board..." --The 12th Doctor — “Ah, glad to see that you are working on using your intelligence, TechCommGeekMom, and not becoming a pudding brain like the rest of your human race. Now, when you are done, you can help me with this equation on this blackboard…”
–The 12th Doctor

As I stated in my last post about my resolution not to be a pudding brain in 2015, and understanding that in order to get ahead in the next year, I need to learn something, and learn something new. It’s been mentioned before that content marketing is the skill emerging most in content strategy jobs, and so I need to make myself eligible to get on that bandwagon. I have a strong customer service/client services background, and my career has steered me into content strategy, but what I lack is a basic understanding of marketing, especially digital marketing.

I looked at many programs, and there are a LOT of good ones out there. During my process, I needed to figure out what would give me the most bang for my buck in the shortest amount of time, so that I could hit the ground running even while I was in the midst of my coursework. It would be best if it was online and part-time, obviously, since I’m still working full-time for the moment. (My contract doesn’t expire until the end of April.) I also looked carefully at curriculums to see what topics would be covered that would satisfy the gaps that I think need filling in my skill set.

After discussing the options with my husband, who reviewed some of the choices I had narrowed my list down to, I can now say that yes, I am officially a student again. I have registered to take the Mini-MBA certification coursework in Digital Marketing at Rutgers University. It starts at the end of this month, and finishes by the time my contract ends. It covers several topics that I have some familiarity with, but not enough experience or actual training of any kind.

I’m excited to start classes. I’m fortunate that an online version of this coursework was available, and being a veteran online student, this is ideal. I find that I actually do much better in an online format than a classroom format. Online learning isn’t for everybody, and I’m a person who enjoys listening to classroom lectures, but find it very difficult to take notes during one. (Hey, it’s hard for me to take notes or write social media posts during presentation events–why do you think I learned to type so fast?) My brain is a little slow to process and summarize concepts quickly then write them down, so online learning is usually great because if there is a video or audio recording, I can rewind the recording if I didn’t catch something, or take my time reviewing slide presentations. Online discussions can be as animated as live conversations. I’ve often found that online class discussion threads are great writing exercises as they force you to truly think and strategize what you want to say in a way that encourages plain language and clarity to all readers.

The other thing I’m excited about with this class is that the online format is for MOBILE!! Part of the tuition goes towards a new iPad to deliver the coursework (or you can get a discount on the tuition if you already have an iPad, like I did). I tried to use my iPad when I could during grad school, and it helped when I would try to get papers done during my lunch hour, or review information on the go. This time, it’s different. Everything is being delivered to a mobile device, so it’s automatically going to all be on mobile. So, I’m looking forward to seeing how that works out. I’m still an iPad aficianado, and have often promoted the use of iPads and tablets as learning tools (look for early TechCommGeekMom articles about the topic), so now’s my chance to do it myself!

So, I’ve made my first big, bold move for the year. Pudding brain will be erased, and some new information and skills will be attained in order to better my chances in the job market later this year. This is how I chose to invest in myself this year. Conferences are still good, and I’m not knocking them, but when I am done with this, I will have a small credential that will boost my resume. Maybe I’ll get to a conference later this year, but in the meantime, this will be my educational focus. This is part of the mini-reinvention of myself. I might end up in another straightforward content strategy/web publishing job later, but having these additional skills can only help, not hurt me. I’m glad I have my husband’s support in this (he’s going to be a weekend and weeknight widower again for a short time), and I’m hoping that the tech comm community will support me in this endeavor as well.

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My 2015 New Year’s Resolution: Don’t Be a Pudding Brain

Posted on January 3, 2015 by TechCommGeekMom

There's hope for you yet, TechCommGeekMom, if you are deciding not to be a pudding brain like the rest of the humans. — There’s hope for you yet, TechCommGeekMom, if you are deciding not to be a pudding brain like the rest of the humans. — The 12th Doctor (Who)

Now that it’s the start of the new year, it’s time to make some resolutions–or at least set some goals. While I’ll be continuing my eternal quest to lose weight, it also means it’s time to start seriously thinking about what I need to do professionally in the coming year. Since I now know my contract has an end date, I need to figure out a plan. I’ve given presentations on the subject of how to get a tech comm job these days, and I know I’ve had to go back and follow my own advice. One of my big pieces of advice has been to learn something that can help you gain a new skill, or update an old one. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Lynda.com course refreshing your InDesign skills or learning Framemaker, or learning more about…well, anything that can help you find a job as technology advancements continue to speed by us.

During the last few weeks, I’ve started to look and see what kind of jobs are available, and think about tech comm trends to help me figure out what my next move might be. It’s different for each person, obviously, based on interests and skills, but learning something new can’t hurt, that’s for sure. I’m a person who believes I always have something to learn, and heaven knows, even after a Masters degree and some experience under my belt now, I feel I still have a LOT to learn still.

I still don’t have a clear path as to what I’ll be doing when my contract ends, but I think I’ve figured out something that will hopefully provide either some direction, or at least provide me with some new skills that will help me somehow.

One of the biggest trends I’ve continually heard about in the last year is that content marketing is the big thing that content strategists need to be pursuing. I have a strong background in customer/client services, so I have a good understanding of the importance of post-purchase content for goods and services. The perspective needed to create content for content marketing is something I have–it’s rather logical for me, really. And I’ve seen more content marketing jobs listed in my area…which is good. Well, almost good. It’s not good because in the end, I don’t have any real marketing background. There are a few skills that I sorely lack. I understand what some of these skills involve, but not enough to truly say I have enough experience to apply for a position.

So, after researching several options and having several conversations with my husband about it, I decided to register for a mini-MBA program in digital marketing that starts at the end of this month (January 2015). The curriculum includes sessions covering several topics that were in my personal checklist of subjects I wanted to learn to get ahead, and the structure of a 12-week online program from an accredited school meets my learning needs (personalized e-learning!). I sent in my registration form online tonight, and I’m probably going to get a phone call for the program to get further details to become fully registered, but the first step has been taken.

So, this is how I’m investing in myself to better my chances in finding a position when my current contract ends. The program ends around the same time as my contract, so the timing couldn’t be better. I haven’t decided if and how I will still break out on my own after the contract, but I figure whether I become an independent contractor or get a full-time job, these new digital marketing skills will come in handy either way.

I’ve taken a step forward. It’s always that first step that’s the hardest to take, but it had to be made. I’m sure there will be a few more first steps in whatever this new direction will be, and I’ll be sure to report them. But it’s that very first one that can be the most difficult. It’s now been made. I’ve got support in my decision at home, so that helps immensely. Time will tell if it’s a correct decision. I think it is. I’ve got nothing to lose but time and money, and a lot to gain with new information to learn. It’s an opportunity to diminish my chances of being a pudding brain.

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Weight Loss is all about content strategy. No, really.

Posted on August 25, 2014 by TechCommGeekMom

Fear not, TechCommGeekMom readers, I am still here!

I have had an incredibly busy summer. While some places might have a slow-down during the summer, my summer cranked up instead! I’ve been so mentally exhausted by the end of the day that writing or even curating content has been just out of the question. The good news about that work-related mental exhaustion is that most of what I’ve had to do this summer was truly dig into some content strategy with several clients at work, so at least it’s been productive. I’ve now found a free moment while on vacation to see if I can catch up a little bit here.

One of the things I’ve been working on this summer is myself. I’ve been really unhappy with my health, more specifically, my weight. Anyone who has met me knows that I’m a “fluffy mama”, as my son says. It’s been finally time to do something about it, so I’ve been really concentrating on that. I’m fortunate that among those who support my weight loss efforts of eating better and exercising are several of my STC/tech comm friends, which makes it that much easier to bear. At this writing, I’ve lost over twenty pounds this summer (although it doesn’t look like I’ve lost an ounce), and I’m eating very differently (a lot less!) and exercising by walking long distances and by using my stair-elliptical machine like a crazy woman.

One of the things I figured out early on in this change in my lifestyle was that it really is all about content strategy. Yes, weight loss and getting healthy really is all about content strategy. No, really, it is. Let me explain.

The first thing that makes me align weight loss with content strategy is counting calories. Counting calories is like doing an inventory assessment of your content. You have to look at how much food you are eating, and see if you are eating too much, or eating too little. In my case, I was eating too much. I had to learn to cut back, and start doing word counts–I mean, count calories. Part of that assessment also involves figuring out what content can stay, and what needs to go. I figured out that having Ben and Jerry’s Chocolate Therapy Ice Cream had to go, but small amounts of chocolate frozen yogurt could stay. Choosing the right content is part of the process. Yes, I can still have chocolate, but I have to make different choices of which food items would fit into my eating plan. Counting calories is also like keeping within a budget. One is allotted a certain number of calories, and if you go over the allotment, then you have to answer for it. You can balance that budget with cost-cutting measures like exercise, which gives you an opportunity to show what works with your content and what doesn’t work. What foods are providing energy and which ones aren’t? Which ones enhance your calories counts, and which ones don’t? What is providing positive results or negative results? Which tactics are helping you reach your weight loss goal, and which ones are making the process more difficult?

Every single day for the last few months has been a daily task of doing an inventory assessment, keeping within a budget, figuring out the right content that should go into my body, and what would be the best content to make my weight loss work. Managing this content will need to be done on a continual basis until I reach my weight goal (about 65 pounds from now) and proper maintenance of this balance content will always have to be adjusted even once I reach my weight goal, to make sure that the content will help support whatever status my system needs in the future.

Doesn’t it all sound familiar?

Even if you aren’t watching your weight, look at your own health as a content strategy project. You’ll find the similarities in the process amazingly similar. You’ll also find that the content you put in and edit will improve, just like it does when you are writing and editing content.

(For those who are curious, I’m using FitBit and the My Fitness Pal apps to help me assess my daily stats. Call them my personal Google Analytics. If you want to follow my progress or support each other in health goals, let me now and we can connect!)

What do you think?

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Is it a tech toy or an investment?

Posted on April 16, 2014April 16, 2014 by TechCommGeekMom

When the one-day opportunity to order Google Glass came up recently, I jumped on it. I had tried on Marta Rauch‘s pair a couple months ago, and had seen her presentations about it, and fell in love with them. This was wearable technology I could use, as far as I was concerned! I was able to order the Glass I wanted, and was very excited about it…until I told my husband. I didn’t tell him how much it cost, but I did tell him that I bought them. He totally flipped out, but not in a good way. He felt that whatever I did spend on them, it was too much money for a “toy”. I’m earning some good money now, and I felt it was an investment–I’d like to explore how they are used, and how technical communication and m-learning would be part of the wearable technology experience for myself. But no. I cancelled the order, as he had a good point about the cost being too high. Even so, I’m really sad about missing out on this opportunity.

Financial considerations aside, it got me thinking about technological “toys”, and what’s truly a “toy” versus adopting early technology, albeit at a high price initially. I’ve heard Neil Perlin talk about how he had some of the earliest portable computers around–nothing like the laptops of today–that cost a small fortune even by today’s standards. Sure, it’s outdated and obsolete technology now, but so are a lot of other technologies that were around just a few years ago. Children today don’t know what a Walkman is, or that telephones used to actually have a cord and you actually used a dial mechanism to connect your phone to another phone. Heck, pay phones are pretty much obsolete now. What did people think when the first iPhone or the first flip phone came out? Those are obsolete now, too. So, sure, perhaps Google Glass is a very expensive “toy”, but how does anyone know if perhaps I was really an early adopter and I’d be ahead of the curve for knowing how to make it work and use it for practical reasons if I had actually gotten one?

I remember when I got my first iPad–it was an iPad 2. I had saved up, and asked anyone who was going to be getting me a gift for my birthday, holidays, etc. to give me gift cards to Best Buy so I could purchase it. I was so thrilled when I got it, and my husband thought that was a waste of money. He insisted that I already had a laptop, and didn’t need an iPad, that again–it was just a toy. I insisted that yes, there were “toy” elements to it, but I considered it “computing lite”, where I could do many tasks that I normally do, but the ones that didn’t necessarily need my laptop to be powered up. Then, about a year later, I was fortunate enough to win an iPad3 so I could upgrade. My husband had insisted that I sell my old one, but for all his moaning that I should get rid of it, guess who’s been using it for almost two years now? Yep, him. It’s still a little bit of a “toy” to him, but he’s a news junkie, and he loves to read different news sources and some light research on it when he’s not using his desktop (nope, he doesn’t even own a laptop). So, it’s not going anywhere. My iPad has gone with me all over the country–on vacation, to conferences, and has entertained me when I don’t need to be in front of my laptop. I’ve gotten my money’s worth out of mine multi-fold. And yet…I feel like this is the same situation.

Of the emerging techologies that are coming out, whether they are wearables or something else, what do you think is a tech “toy” and what do you think could be the next big thing, or a step towards the next big thing? 3-D printers and Google Glass have my attention–I would love to own both of them. What has your attention? Add your thoughts to the comments below.