Creating a Learning Culture has chapters on strategy, practice, and technology demonstrate how to achieve immediate lasting results by encouraging curiosity and learning at all levels of the organization. Profiles of organizations (including General Motors, Home Depot, and WD-40 Company) using learning-focused approaches, accompany leading-edge research into how and why people best work together when learning as they work. This book is intended for business leaders and educators seeking innovative approaches to cultural transformation, with learning at the center of their corporate strategy.

Open courses backed by learning research.

The U.S. Department of Education is currently engaged in the process of creating plans for the future of education in America. As part of this process, it is working with leaders in the field to develop a National Educational Technology Plan (NETP) "to provide a vision for how information and communication technologies can help transform American education."

Candace Thille, Director of The Open Learning Initiative (OLI) at Carnegie Mellon, is honored to be a part of the Technical Working Group developing the plan. The Technical Working Group is chaired by Jim Shelton (Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement) and Mike Smith (Senior Counselor to Secretary of Education).

Please visit http://edtechfuture.org/ to read about the plan being developed and give your input.

The Chronicle of Higher Education posted a follow-up to their article "Obama's Great Course Giveaway" titled "Obama Course-Giveaway Backlash?" From the article :

"The Obama administration has yet to release many details of its online course plan, one small piece of a sweeping community-college assistance package. But officials have repeatedly cited Carnegie Mellon University's Open Learning Initiative as a potential model. The project builds software-enhanced online courses that track students' progress and provide them with feedback on problems. If the courses are used in combination with instructors, they can feed information to professors about where students are struggling."

Open courses backed by learning research are available for use by instructors, academic students and independent learners. Self learners can get free materials, activities and assessments for self-guided learning. Instructors can offer these courses to students. And academic students can use these interactive courses to earn credits at your school or university.

Open & Free Courses Include:

• Engineering Statics
• Statistics
• Causal and Statistical Reasoning
• Modern Biology
• Chemistry
• Economics
• French
• Logic & Proofs
• Physics
• Empirical Research Methods
• Computational Discrete Mathematics
• Visual Communication Design

Open Learning Initiative http://oli.web.cmu.edu/openlearning/

Science and math are integral to all jobs these days...whether it is basic budgeting, measuring results or analyzing data to make better decisions.  Girls and women have shied away from math and science courses for a variety of reasons that are mostly cultural. They lived down to our expectations...but research is finding that girls can excel at both math and science -- and bring a fresh perspective to careers that use those analysis skills.

And the environmental movement needs women's fresh perspectives!

To give girls a jumpstart on environmentally friendly careers, the "Green Jobs for Girls in the Future" program at West Virginia University at Parkersburg, and will encourage young women to take classes in science, technology, engineering and math to help prepare them for future careers.

"This is an opportunity for young girls to learn about something new, to try something different," said community representative Sarah Townsend. "They need to understand, you need to work hard and you need a lot of encouragement."

More than 200 students in grades 6-8 are expected to attend the event

"The whole point is to encourage and enable girls to go into career areas of math and science," said Wendy Tuck, executive director of the Volunteer Action Center. "We also want them to think about jobs that can support them and their families."

The day-long event is scheduled for Oct. 16, 2009 at West Virginia University at Parkersburg and will feature about 20 career stations that will explore different ecologically friendly jobs and the math and science required for them.

The 15-20 speakers will be community volunteers, professionals and role-models who will explain their professions and the steps necessary to succeed in those fields.

The program will be funded through a $7,000 grant from the American Association of University Women and will be supplemented by funds from WVU-P, the Volunteer Action Center and Wood County Schools. The total cost of the "Green Jobs for Girls in the Future" will be about $19,000. "That money mostly will pay for transportation, food and material costs," Tuck said.

For more information on the "Green Jobs for Girls in the Future" career day, contact the Volunteer Action Center at (304) 424-3457.