Tag Archives: e-learning resources

Improve Your Business With FastCourse Learning Series

September 6, 2013Featured, Teaching Tips & Strategiescourse management software, e-learning resources, FastCourse Learning Series, Labyrinth Learninglablearning

Microsoft Office has set the standard for desktop publishing. It would be considered rare if a business doesn’t use at least one MS Office program as a part of their day-to-day processes. It’s great when employees have Microsoft certifications, but have you checked the years on those certifications lately?

How can you determine whether or not your employees are on the same page in terms of their MS Office knowledge? Time passes quickly and a failure to keep up with evolving software changes can mean your employees’ skills are lagging.

Our Labyrinth Learning training materials include a FastCourse series that is just the thing for office-wide training updates. Each FastCourse text is designed for instructor-led courses for one day or less. Teach one or combine them for a multi-day course to keep your employees up to date on the latest Microsoft innovations and software changes.

FastCourse materials are available for Microsoft Office 2007 and 2010 currently while the 2013 texts will be released in October covering the following applications:

Word
Access
Excel
PowerPoint
Outlook

Courses are available in three levels — so that you can choose the one that fits your employees’ needs or combine all three to provide complete coverage. All texts include a full set of instructor support materials.

Please contact Labyrinth Learning to learn more about how to strengthen your Microsoft Office training with FastCourse texts.

Engaging and Understanding Introverts in the Classroom

August 27, 2013Featured, Teaching Tips & Strategiese-learning resources, Labyrinth Learning, teaching tipslablearning

There are two types of students served well by traditional teaching methodology: those who can sit quietly and in a contained manner for eight hours a day, and those who are extroverted enough to comfortably participate, demonstrating their proficiency on a constant basis. In her book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Won’t Stop Talking, author Susan Cain discusses the challenges introverts face in a society, and education system, that celebrates extroverts.

In fact, Cain states the celebration of introverts begins in the classroom, which is why teachers should pay attention and consider whether or not they are instructing introverts in a manner than benefits the students.

Engaging and Understanding Introverts — *Source: Shutterstock*

Neatoday.org points out that not only should teachers refrain from intentionally drawing an introverted student out, there are methods for honing an introvert’s strengths in order to maximize their classroom experience. Things teacher should considering include:

Take it easy on the group work. Make sure your lesson plans strike a balance between individual and group lessons; introverts prefer to work autonomously.
Try pairs. Introverts do better sharing their ideas with a single individual. It is much less daunting than sharing with a group.
Use social media. Tweeting responses/comments to questions is much easier than sharing them out loud.
Make use of good technology in the classroom. Interactive technology allows introverts to interact with new materials, and complete measurable assessments, in a format that’s comfortable for them.

Contact Labyrinth Learning to find out about computer software, textbooks and course management systems that make instructing introverts more effective.

Take Advantage of the Web: Best Free Resources for Teachers

August 24, 2013Featured, Teaching Tips & Strategiese-learning resources, Labyrinth Learning, teaching tips, teaching tips for online course instructorslablearning

Prior to the internet, teachers relied on conferences and snail mail to tap into new teaching resources for ideas and materials. Now, an afternoon perusing the web provides a wealth of information and free downloads that will reinvigorate your lessons while adhering to both state and national standards.

Here are some of our favorite teaching resources:

National Science Digital Library. The NSDL has resources and materials for teachers from K through 12, as well as college. You can stay up to date on the latest and greatest advances in math and science, and download lesson plans and activities, including iTunes multimedia files.

FREE. The Federal Registry for Education Excellence offers – you guessed it – FREE materials pertaining to every subject under the sun, from music to physics. You can browse by topic but we recommend subscribing to their RSS feed so you know when new resources become available.

TeAchnology. The TeAchnology website is home to more than 9000 free teacher resources, including worksheets, lesson plans, rubrics, and the ever important “Time Savers.”

Teachers’ Domain. The website Teachers’ Domain compiles free digital media and resources from public broadcasting stations across the country. It also allows teachers to set up individual profiles from which they can share lesson plans and ideas that worked for their classes. Materials and lesson ideas can be searched for by individual states’, national, or core standard requirements.

You can also stop by the Labyrinth Learning website. Our textbooks and course management systems make it easy to incorporate technology into your classroom.

Turning Education On Its Head: The Flipped Classroom Model

August 21, 2013Featurede-learning resources, Labyrinth Learning, teaching tips, teaching tips for online course instructorslablearning

The flipped classroom model is gaining popularity across the country. It’s the ultimate merging of technology and education, requiring the use of computers, videos and presentation software, in addition to traditional teacher-student classroom instruction.

Here’s how it works:

Teachers use programs like PowerPoint to create lectures. These presentations can be as creative as teachers want to make them, including video links and live links to supplemental resources. Teachers also have the option of recording themselves giving lectures and posting the videos on YouTube, or embedding them within their PowerPoint presentations. These lectures are all hosted online, where students can access them remotely.

Rather than coming to school to listen to a lecture and then do homework, students are required to access lessons beforehand. This gives them the opportunity to listen, read, and tap resources at their own pace. or to re-watch something over and over again. Students can use online portals to chat with other students and/or the instructor, regarding observations, questions, or comments. When they arrive to class, the instructor can begin the class by answering any remaining questions and utilize the rest of the class time by doing activities and hands-on work to reinforce the lesson’s key points.

The flipped classroom model allows students to have access to lessons and materials 24/7, and increases their efficiency and productivity in class.

Contact Labyrinth Learning to learn more about our wide range of products, including Course Management Systems, that include internet hosted software and supplemental learning resources for your flipped classroom.

Video: Enhancing Classroom Education

August 11, 2013Featured, Teaching Tips & Strategiese-learning resources, Labyrinth Learning, video educationlablearning

Videos can be a powerful addition to your “Technology Education” toolbox. This is especially true for your visual learners, for whom oral lectures or written notes may not be enough to truly convey the nuances of a particular lesson. While videos are often used at the lower levels, they are usually undervalued at the community college or adult education level.

Here are ways you can use videos to enhance your classroom education.

Embed into your lecture. If you use PowerPoint or another slide presentation program, videos can easily be embedded into your slides, to highlight certain points in your lecture, or provide a how-to lesson. For example, a lesson on a historical figure can be enhanced with a documentary showing the way people lived during that period, allowing students to form a more realistic image as they read.

Supplement the textbook. Videos bring textbook lessons to life. At Labyrinth Learning, our textbooks and online learning resources incorporate videos on a regular basis. They help visual learners to see the instructions or tasks from their perspective on the screen, which can help them to better understand how to utilize a particular skill.

Subtitles. You can enhance your use of videos by selecting the subtitles to be displayed. This helps to reinforce the words students are hearing, and ensures your hearing-impaired students aren’t missing out on valuable information. They can also help to keep students anchored in the experience.

Contact Labyrinth Learning to find programs and videos to enhance technology education in your classroom.

Photo Source: Shutterstock

The Hidden Benefits of LMS

August 1, 2013Featured, Teaching Tips & Strategiescourse management software, e-learning resources, Labyrinth Learning, learning management systems, teaching tips for computer instructors, teaching tips for online course instructors, tips for teaching computer skillslablearning

Learning management systems (LMS) are becoming increasingly popular. From community college courses to corporate training programs, there are multiple benefits to using an LMS, including these 6 highlighted by the Training Zone:

Comprehensive management. From email text reminders to full course management, a good learning management system takes a holistic approach, including sign-in sheets and certification.
Simple reports. Your reporting shouldn’t have to be complex. Whether it’s remembering upcoming certificate expiration dates or handling compliance issues, an LMS should be set up so simple, easy-to-access reports are delivered right to a manager’s inbox.
Department training expenses. At a single glance, managers should be able to see which funds are being allocated to each department to better facilitate the training budget.
Meet your regulatory requirements. Regulations and compliance continue to become ever more complicated. An LMS can help to eliminate human error. Even complex healthcare and financial industry regulations and compliance can be managed using a good LMS.
Empower Employees. No need to schedule mass training sessions or a month of Saturdays to keep certifications, training, and compliance up-to-date. Your employees can navigate the LMS on their own clock in order to meet deadlines and keep their education and training current.
Say goodbye to IT nightmares. A good LMS will be web-based or hosted by the LMS provider, meaning you can allocate costly IT management costs elsewhere.

Is your institution using a Learning Management System? Browse Labyrinth Learning’s selection of learning solutions that easily integrate with your LMS.

MOOCs Role in Today’s Community Colleges

June 24, 2013Featuredassessing student performance, course management software, e-learning resources, Labyrinth Learning, teaching tips for online course instructorslablearning

Community college MOOCs, or Massive Open Online Courses, are being scrutinized as more community colleges strive to meet the needs of their students while managing significant budget cuts. The online publication Community College Week recently published an article titled, “Survey: Community Colleges Remain Wary of MOOCs,” summarizing the results of a recent survey regarding MOOCs and their role in community colleges.

Here are two survey findings we feel are particularly interesting.

Completion rates of MOOCs are low. While completion of MOOCs may be low, students who participate in traditional distance learning methods seem to do just fine, “The gap between distance learning and face-to-face student completion rates has significantly narrowed.” This tells us that distance learning is doing something right, and MOOCs need to find the right combination of learning materials and method before their completion gaps will catch up.

Learning materials matter. The key to student success, whether it be face-to-face or online, is directly related to, “…course quality and design, faculty training and preparation, course assessment, and improvements in student readiness and retention.” The materials we create here at Labyrinth Learning are designed to do just that. Our textbook and eLearning tools incorporate self-paced, hands-on learning strategies, effective assessments, and ample resources for students and instructors.

Labyrinth Learning textbooks and online resources are designed for both face to face and MOOC environments. Contact Labyrinth Learning to learn more.

Photo Source: Shutterstock

Divide for Disadvantaged College Students Continues to Grow

June 20, 2013Featuredassessing student performance, e-learning resources, Labyrinth Learninglablearning

The divide for disadvantaged students at community colleges continues to widen. Reasons for this are complex. However, if one were pressed to define the problem it boils down to resources. “Government funding skews toward universities with more advantaged students, due in part to research support and tax breaks,” says Paul Fain in his article, Equity Gaps Widen, published on InsideHigherEd.com.

Students attending community colleges have far fewer resources than their four-year college counterparts. And, because community colleges are more affordable, a larger sector of their student populations are from underprivileged backgrounds. So, what are the resources that community college students lack?

Per student costs. When you eliminate the higher cost of on-campus housing and faculty research funding typically found at 4-year institutions, 2-year colleges are able to spend about $5,000 per student. That figure is doubled to $10,000 at public research colleges, and quadrupled to $20,000 at most private research colleges.

Access to learning resources. While a community college is able to supply a moderate amount of technology for students and their learning process, students often have to rely on their own technology to complete online courses, write papers, do research, etc. Most large universities provide a more ample supply of technology for students, even though the general student population comes from more affluent backgrounds, and already has access to technology at home.

As a company that prioritizes streamlining the learning process, Labyrinth Learning is hopeful that emerging reports on existing disparities will help to shift to create a more equitable funding solution.

Photo Source: Shutterstock

Excel Makes Quick Work for Your Accounting Needs

June 13, 2013Featurede-learning resources, Excel keyboard shortcuts, Labyrinth Learninglablearning

It’s easy to get comfortable in a work routine, but that doesn’t mean the routine is efficient. This is why it’s important for management personnel to encourage the accounting team to keep up to date in accounting software and programming updates. For example, the shortcuts available in the new Microsoft Excel 2013 software can up your company’s accounting game and make quicker work of your day-to-day procedures. Here are some Excel shortcuts that can help.

Select an entire table. Ctrl+Shift+Space Bar. This handy shortcut allows you to select all of the data in an Excel table so the it can be quickly copy/pasted/manipulated elsewhere. This won’t work if one of the active cells is outside of the specified range.
Formula reconnaissance. New to a set of data and aren’t quite sure which cells are linked to which formulas? You can click into formulated cell, and press Ctrl+Shift+{ and the linked cells will be highlighted, giving you a deeper understanding of the unfamiliar data.
Mouse-free Selection Extend. Tired of selecting an the accurate spreadsheet selection only to bump a key or mouse and have it disappear? Then you’ll love the keyboard shortcut for extended selections: F8. Hit the F8 button on your keyboard, then use the directional arrows to click left to right, and up or down, to select the appropriate cells. You can’t go wrong.

The best way to learn Microsoft Excel 2013 shortcuts is to host a company-wide training seminar using Labyrinth Learning’s FastCourse Series for the serious professional. Contact Labyrinth Learning today.