#ecademy

eCademy – Elementor LMS & Online Courses Theme v3.9.1

eCademy – Elementor LMS & Online Courses Theme v3.9.1 Use the following key if required: GPL001122334455AA6677BB8899CC000 The eCademy WP theme coming with Zoom plugin support for live classes. Also, LearnPress offline payment plugin, Yoast SEO, bbPress, and WPML plugins compatibility. The GDPR compliant feature is available in the theme.

It also contains Grading System feature (students learning…

Systems are a strategic pillar of every business, and automation of them is a boon, if well designed. If only I had checked...

Sometimes automation of a business process can make something that is complex and the consuming possible to scale. Automation may make it more consistent as well as faster and more reliable. Done well it is a clear advantage, but done badly?

Ecademy was a UK based social media platform that started long before Facebook or LinkedIn had been born, and it gathered a following in many places…

Twitter tools are changing the way we can use twitter

There are an ever sophisticated set of tools for twitter, and here are some of the behaviours that will risk reducing your follower count of course it all depends what your strategy is - you do have a strategy right? Twitter has certainly changed over the last few years. What used to work to gain followers has changed, and so must our strategy for twitter and other social metworks. Twitter as a marketing tool You DO have a strategy... don't you? Those of us that use twitter as part of our marketing mix will automate. For example, this post was written in a blog, then I have a way of telling my twitter followers about the blog. I don't want to have to tweet or post this type of thing manually. But auto posting must have its limits. If all we do is broadcast OUR stuff then people will soon tune it out - even if they don't unfollow.  Some times its better to have less followers that listen to what you have to say and take action, than having the "ego boost" of watching your fokllower count increase. That is just plain crazy - and in fact the only person you are kidding is yourself! here are a list of behaviours that you should consider checking your own twitter account.

Multiple @s

when more than 50% of your tweets are multiple @ messages  

Nothing but links

having 80% of your tweets with links can be risky, it shows little interaction. also be careful of just rt'ing people

Repeating the same URLs

We all post links, but if you tweet one link more than 20% of the time it just looks like spam - remember to post links to other peoples sites - not just your own!

Posting identical tweets

Repeating a tweet is one thing, doing it so often that it becomes boring is not healthy. It just looks like you have nothing else to say.

App spam

If more than 30% of your tweets are from apps (paper.li, blip, 4sq instragram etc), this shows a potential lack of engagement, and lack of origional content.  

Uses advertising networks

There are people that try to use twitter as an income source, using tools like magpie, ad.ly, adf.ly, mylikes etc will soon turn people off - just avoid them

Uses @spamming apps

There are apps that @message or @mention people. These include fllwrs, followfriday, mvf, commun.it - these tools are aimed to make people think its a personal message but its not. careful use of shuch tools is required.

No activity for over a month

Twitter is about interactions and information - so why follow a person that does not tweet regularly?

Don't interact with anyone

What is the point in being on a social media platform if you are not going to be social. this means talking to people (@messages) engaging with their material (RT'ing) Not engaging is a sure fire way to get unfollowed

Don't follow many

Do you followe people, or just expect people to follow you. If what you have to say is interesting, your should expect more than 30% of people to follow you back

Egg heads

Come on - what is the excuse for not having a good head shot photograph?

All talk all of the time

Do you broadcast or talk WITH people? If you put out over 25 tweets a day that are just talk, no @messages or rt's - then you are at risk of losing peoples interest. Sometimes less is more.

High percentage retweets

If you look at your time line and its 60%+ in retweets, why wouild people follow you? why dont they just follow the people you are retweeting? Don't get me wrong, retweets are great and should be encourages - BUT again not just all the time - have some interaction too.

High percentage quotes

if 40% or more of your tweets are quotes - why bother? quotes are interesting, motivating and often stimulating - but keep them few and far between

Self obsessed

Do you talk about yourself (me, I) A lot of the time? are you selfobsessed? then write a diary of a blog - twitter is not the place for you.

Balanced

The key to successful social media (for those of us that are not celebraties) is to engage, tweet often - but not too often. Engage and talk with people, Share the links to others sites and blogs, not just our own. Now i am not saying that these are hard and fast rules, but from looking at some of the tools available to people to follow and unfollow pweople recently, these seem to be increasingly points of interest. If you want to "stay below the radar" and keep people interested and engaged - then here is the blueprint for success.

How not to make a cold call

Ok I know times are hard for businesses at the moment, but I had an experience on Thursday that was beyond belief. Setting the scene I took a day out the office to help my dad prepare to move - he needs some furniture (wardrobes) built for his new place. So I took a day out the office, had my phone and notepad/ laptop etc with me in case I needed to take a call from a potential client. At around 11am the phone rang, going by the caller ID it was a local number to my office. On answering, the person on the end of the phone said: " Hi. I'm a webdesigner, I see you company listed in xxx local business pages, and don't see a website address. I think I can help you." Now I have never paid or asked to be listed in this publication, so asked if he knew the name of my company - RapidBI he replied. I asked if he had Googled the company before calling - he (honestly) said he had not. Now with a unique name like RapidBI, a site with well over 1000 pages - and this guy had clearly not done any homework. Not even a 1 minute web check. when I said this I heard him take in a deep breath, I then said "If I had any web development needs, one thing is for sure I would not have engaged him if he could not be bothered to do some basic research first". It's tough out there Now I know things are hard for many, many firms at the moment - but not taking just 5 minutes to identify a need, show he was interested in my business and helping me... how many other small businesses are losing business because they "cannot be bothered" to understand the needs of people BEFORE they call? Is this one for Lyndon's 101 mistakes? Lets make this the 101 rule of business, when calling someone cold - PLEASE have some information about them - show you are interested and care about their business, show you are prepared to go beyond the "clock" What do you think - was I too harsh? I suspect he missed the irony of the call and the outcome.

The SAVI approach to learning

1.0: Introduction to the SAVI approach to learning In Accelerated Learning, the acronym 'SAVI' stands for Somatic, Auditory, Visual and Intellectual methods of imparting education. In non-technical terms, it is learning through physical activity, talking and social interaction, listening and watching, and thinking, reflecting (and) analysing respectively. It was developed by the Center for Accelerated Learning. In this article, we propose to deal developments in the background of this concept. 2.0: How SAVI works: Fundamentally, it combines two modes in order to create one primary learning type and consists of four layers.

Layer 1—The connector wherein the connection to learning takes place through tapping the auditory and visual skills of the learners. Layer-2-The Analyser in which the observational and analysing skills of the learners are brought into focus. Layer-3-The Applier wherein the learning takes place through a process of analysing and doing. Layer-4-The Innovator who learns by doing and talking.

3.0: Practical Applications of SAVI: Maxfield (1990) was of the opinion that consciousness, thinking and learning are active through out the body as against the conventional wisdom that it was restricted only to the brain. This implied that the body through its movements is capable of causing attitudes, beliefs, and expectations through the manifestation of physical feelings and reactions which are capable of either enhancing or inhibiting the process of learning. In order to enhance the capacity for learning, he proposed a combination of rational and non-rational methods of learning and the use of a variety of mind-body tools as bio-feedback, meditation, hypnosis and similar auto suggestion techniques all aimed at enable learning through relaxation. One of the important foundations on which the 'Accelerated Learning Theory' has evolved relate to the principle of 'collaborative learning'. In simple terms, this as postulated by Meier, (2000) meant that learning is social in nature and the guiding principle of it should be cooperation rather than competition between the speeds of the learners and the learning processes. It provides a community of support for each and every individual in the facilitation of their learning (Brooks, 1998) and builds on a constructionist conception of knowledge creation, solving of problems and creation of solutions. This is accomplished by pooling in the strengths of variety of intelligences available with the learners in the group and sharing of such knowledge (Drago-Severson et al, 2001). Collaborative learning, in the process, strengthens the relational and emotional lives of the students (Imel, 2002). It is not out of place to mention that we have already pointed out in earlier articles that Howard Gardener had established that each individual possesses at least two strong intelligences and collaborative learning enables them to shine in the most optimal manner. Kasworm (2003) through her research on adult degree completion program had identified three components that are essential if Adult Learning' in an 'Accelerated Learning' environment were to succeed. Firstly, the trainers/teachers would have to assume primarily that adults are competent contributors to the congenial growth of the society. This in other words means that 'Accelerated Learning' works because the learners do not come into the class room with a blank mind, but are there to build on the learning that has already taken place in them. Secondly, adult learning programs take the personal, social, and cultural context of learners seriously. In practice, this means successful 'Accelerated Learning' programs seek a class room environment aligned with the learners' realistic day-to-day world. Thirdly, 'Accelerated Learning' programs in order to be successful build on 'adult identity theories (Baxter, Kegan, 1994) which postulate that an adult's identity depends on a sense of mastery and internally motivated authorship. Adult learning should be distinguished from, say, the learning programs for children, as it has to focus on solving real-life problems. This means that the learning should be based on experience, out of which newer theories are created which again are applied in a new experiential context (Kolb, 1984). It in effect, what we have discussed above as a whole confers innumerable benefits on the learners. They could clarify their values, actualise self-realisation through introspection, understand the self better, monitor, and modify their attitudes. They strengthen inter personal skills, enable experimentation of new ideas and develop positive attitudes through a mechanism of receiving feedback on a concurrent and continual basis in a supportive and secure environment. 4.0: Conclusions; It may be appropriate to conclude this Article with some suggestions for practitioners which they can use gainfully in their training programs. The fundamental requirement for any program to succeed is the realisation on the part of the teacher/trainer that in an 'Accelerated Learning Module' that every one is a learner as well as a teacher. Further, it is their enthusiasm, content expertise, inter-action with the learners with a caring attitude that would go a long way in the fruitful fortification of their sessions. Building up an atmosphere of trust and nurturing relationship, the trainer can encourage the learners to share their goals and experiences. Collaborative learning in effect implies the working together of the group in learning/training programs and this can be achieved if the trainer acts as a bridge in connection the members of the group as a cohesive entity. The trainer should aim and accomplish the goal of holistic learning by controlling even such factors as the arrangement of the class room to using a variety of 'Accelerated Learning Techniques' that draws the varied strengths of 'SAVI'. It goes even beyond that which would encourage the learners to present their learning in ways reflective of their dominant intelligences (Costanzo, 2001) as originally propounded by Howard Gardener in his 'Multiple Intelligence Theory.' The key to success lies in the drawing the learners into active learning, avoid monotony and engage all aspects of the brain-mind-body connection.

Is your bank part of your business or a hindrance

Earlier on this week I was talking to a local businessman who told me that he had just attended an excellent low/no cost workshop on marketing run by his bank. This got me thinking, are banks really interested in the small businesses? Do they take our money for simple processing of transactions, or are they really interested in helping us stay in business? For sure they cannot give 1-2-1 advice on a regular basis (for free and independently anyway), but can they do more? What bank do you have your accounts with, what "additional" support & services do they give, how do they give this and what would you like them to give?