Don’t Burst my Happy Bubble
I was recently asked what my 2018 resolutions are. My response: I have no resolutions per say, rather affirmations or reaffirmations. I would like to reaffirm areas in my life that provide continued growth and development, and this…
Our Muppet Selves- Velsoft Revisioned
It's time to play the music It's time to light the lights It's time to meet the Muppets on the Velsoft Muppet Show tonight... I wasn’t sure what to write about this week until I was checking my…
7 Tips on Using Humor in the Classroom
Are you naturally funny or part comedian? If not, don't despair! You don't need these traits to inject classroom humor into your training. Using the following guidelines can help you to see humor in the everyday things that…
Workplace Harassment Quick Reference Guide
Politicians, CEOs, actors, TV hosts and others have been recently forced to resign over harassment allegations. This points out just how broken our workplaces have been -- how we've allowed improper behavior to lurk in what should be…
Refresh: It’s all new (again)
What have I learned since coming on board with the Velsoft team a few months ago? I now know what a learning management system is, why search engine optimization is important, and a little bit about marketing. I…
Velsoft’s MicroLearning HipChat Experiment
My interest in Microlearning led me to consider ways that could be used to deliver these nuggets of training. At Velsoft, we use HipChat to communicate as a company (All Velsoft), groups (Marketing, Managers, Production) and promote events…
Working with Slack Teams
An excerpt from Velsoft’s new course Slack for Business, which focuses on Working with Slack Teams. Once you have set up your Slack account and created a team, you are ready to start working with your team. Inviting Members…
Donald Schon: How Professionals Think In Action
Donald Schon, in his influential books Educating the Reflective Practitioner and The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think In Action, argues that we need to look at how adults learn in practice. He introduces the notions of ‘knowing-in-action’, ‘reflecting-in-action’…
Icebreaker: Cup Challenge
The Cup Challenge Icebreaker is an excellent way to form a connection between your participants and see that working together is better than working alone when trying to generate ideas. This is an especially good icebreaker for a…
9 plus 1 Things I Learned About eLearning in 2017
I'm always amazed by the fact that I continue to learn something new every day. I remember being told that the best way to learn is to teach. I would add that a great way to learn about…
Velsoft’s New Year’s Resolutions Revealed
Six Velsoftians were willing to put their New Year's Resolutions out there. Congratulations! You now have a chance to be in the less than 10 per cent of people who are successful in keeping their resolutions! To increase…
The Buzz Around Slack
When I first heard of Slack, I have to admit I didn’t understand why such an application was needed. In my experience at several different workplaces, dealing with communication on different platforms hadn’t been cumbersome or overwhelming, which…
Making Your Business Better: Why you need a strategic plan
According to the Business Development Bank of Canada, many entrepreneurs avoid strategic planning because it’s intimidating or they think it’s too difficult. But the financial institution — which focuses on helping to create and develop strong small- and…
Happy Holidays All!
Happy Holidays! Some are just beginning their holidays, while others are just finishing up theirs. I thought this week I’d find out what each Velsoftian wants most for Christmas. Keith- Free babysitter Carol- Foot rest so her feet…
A new look and 9 reasons to welcome change
“This is a new year. A new beginning. And things will change.” ― Taylor Swift At Velsoft, we’ve taken these words from award-winning singer-songwriter Taylor Swift to heart. And as 2018 is set to begin, we’ve altered the appearance of…
Six Tips To Building Good Workplace Relationships
Good workplace relationships are an important aspect of becoming successful at work, allowing you to build a broad coalition of support within an organization. Here are a few tips to building good workplace relationships: Be nice to everybody…
Holiday Stress Management Quick Reference Guide
The holidays are a wonderful, happy, special time of year. But any holiday, whether it’s Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa, can throw off your routine. This Holiday Stress Management Quick Reference Guide will help you to put a de-stressing plan in…
Seven Essentials for any Training Follow-Up Program
Following up is an extremely important part of any training program. How this is approached will determine the effectiveness of a training program. Many courses are designed to familiarize or train employees in a new program or method…
Jean’s Free Christmas Trees Adventure
Every year Jim (CEO) invites Velsoft staff and families to view the New Glasgow Christmas Parade from the ‘Wall of Windows’ on the second floor of the lavish Velsoft Head Office. These windows look directly down on the…
Microsoft Office 365 Focus on Delve
An excerpt from Velsoft’s new course Microsoft 365 Part 2 focusing on Delve. What is Delve? Delve provides quick, easy access to documents, people, conversations, and activities linked to your user account. Users will only see documents they…
Roger Simon: Teaching Against the Grain
In Teaching Against the Grain Roger Simon explores the horizon of possibility. Simon has us looking at a vision of the future rooted in our own present, through our curricular practice. Further he is saying that our curricular practice is…
An eLearning Assessment for Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy
An eLearning Assessment for Remembering Level of Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy Imagine that you have covered an introduction to Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy (as seen below) and want to assess whether the participants remember which subdomains correspond to which verbs…
Knowledge is Power: 10 things every new business owner should learn
Starting a new business can be a risky venture. However, you can minimize those risks and maximize your success by investing some time into learning. Here are the top 10 things that the Velsoft team thinks every new business…
The Velsoft Palatial Head Office Orchestra
This week, with the assistance of Carol (Senior Editor), I set out to create a Velsoft Orchestra based on the personalities that typically play the orchestral instruments. The idea came when I was reading an article by Zoran Mihajlovski…
Digital Citizenship Focus on Digital Commerce
In her blog Digital Citizenship: Are You a Practitioner, Carol Dunn pointed out that “Learning how to be a good digital citizen is necessary for navigating through this world of technology — which includes email and online shopping…
Bloom’s Taxonomy – Still ‘Bloom’ing After All These Years
Discovering Bloom's Taxonomy When I first started teaching at our local Community College I was asked to teach a summer course in ‘Test and Measurement’ to a class of 25 new teachers at our provincial teacher’s college. It…
The 3 Sentence Icebreaker- Realizing Connections
The 3 Sentence Icebreaker is an excellent way to have your participants feel a connection to each other. Relationships are built on realizing common connections. This is an especially good icebreaker for a group of people that do…
Digital citizenship: Are you a practitioner?
While I was working as a newspaper reporter, a colleague shared this story relating to digital citizenship with me. She was attending a town council meeting and another reporter received a call on his mobile phone. Without leaving…
Ringtones- What’s Yours and What Does It Say About You
This week I surveyed the Velsoftians to find out what ringtones were on their phones and why (Thank you for the idea Sandra!). Here are the responses: Dave (Account Manager) - Old fashioned ring with a phone buzz…
Lest we Forget
Whether you are celebrating Armistice Day, Veterans Day, Remembrance Day or one of the many other national observances, November 11th is a special day to reflect on the sacrifices made by the brave people who defended and continue to…