Do You WordPress? Essential Tips for Top Themes, Plugins, and Tools

Ultralinx lays out how WordPress can be your go to CMS

Going from Print to Digital

Many associations and nonprofits have arrived at the question: do we go fully digital with our marketing and communications. Maybe your organization runs in person events and meetings, or you want to be more green, or if you’ve had a particularly tight year budget wise, making the leap from print to digital can be a…

Confide: Mobile Messaging for the Future

As I was scanning my LinkedIn feed this morning, an article by Jon Steinberg popped up, titled “The Most Frustrating Email in the World.” Now, I don’t know about you, but he had my attention. So I clicked and discovered a fascinating new tool in the process: Confide. This tool allows you to have those…

What an Amazing Future of Ed Tech

I can’t even emphasize how excited this graph makes me.

Engagement & Participation: What’s Your Hook?

I have a secret. Well, I guess (like most things in my world when I get fixated) I have more of an obsession. Top [insert your number here] lists. I think they’re fantastic. Whether it’s incredibly cute animals from Buzzfeed or quotes from my favorite WaPo bloggers, I’m addicted. I’ve found having that kind of title is…

Flipping That Classroom

Beginning this week and continuing through October and November, I’m facilitating a nation-wide series of change management master classes for ICT professionals. I’m excited because we’re trying a flipped classroom approach. At the PCMA Education Conference this summer, I attended a seminar that tried this delivery method. It wasn’t as successful as it could have…

Baking That Perfect Cake (or how to strategically bake in techie goodness)

I love to cook. It’s one of my obsessions. It’s probably no surprise to those that know me, two of my favorite things about cooking are that there’s structure of a recipe, but also the freedom to experiment to get exactly my own personal spin on things. Baking is something quite different. There you have…

Google+ Hangouts go HD

Today in news from TechCrunch, Google announced that their popular Hangout video conferencing system is going HD. Dave Besbris, Vice President of Engineering, also announced more mobile options, an event planning tool to aid you in your holiday fun, and a low-bandwidth access option to stream your video. We have four remote staff, and since we’re…

Using Pinterest and Tumblr to Manage Organizational Culture and Change

What would you say if I asked you if you were using Pinterest as a organizational or change management tool? How about Tumblr? I’m betting common responses range from “That’s for the marketing people” to “Isn’t that for only people who bake/clean/sew/read the current YA thriller too much?” In fact, there’s a Pinterest board called “Human…

Obsession

Just as Mashable facebooks me an infographic telling me that the Internet is ruining my brain, I get an article from SmartBrief saying that student engagement can be increased through the Internet. Emails from colleagues about the way the social media is ruining our lives, and yet building international revolutions and communities cross paths to my…

How Do You Choose to Tell Your Story?

I was struck today by how many avenues we can collaborate, communicate, and connect with each other. People have always thought up unique ways to get their story out. Whether it’s carrier pigeons or cave drawings, telegraphs or Twitter, we have the ability to connect in vast ways. How do you choose to tell your…

Five time zones before breakfast

This morning we held our annual conference volunteer webinar, with attendees joining us from all over the world. My project coordinators facilitated the meeting for the first time and did a great job! These hour long phone/video conferences provides our staff with an opportunity to walk through the process with volunteers who give of their time, at…

Smoke Signals and Program Books

We’ve just finished up the digital guide for my conference. Check it out at http://www.ascd.org/acprogrambook. Like all new babies, it’s been a long road with much collaboration. But it’s awesome…I can’t wait to see how the print version turns out.