Paula Weisflock announces publication of Transforming Venus'

PORT PERRY, Ontario (PRWEB) August 07, 2017

Designed to be both educational and inspirational, Paula Weisflock's new book "Transforming Venus: How to Get Unstuck and Let Your Inner Goddess out to Play" (published by Balboa Press) offers tools to assist women with issues that are holding them back from attaining the life they "deeply desire and deserve." It is a book designed for women in mid-life who are ready to "shake off their mind-numbing inertia and reignite their hearts, heads, and souls with the passion and joy they have been missing for so long."

"There are many stuck Goddesses out there; women who feel a disconnect between what their life looks like and what they want it to look like," Weisflock says. "Women are realizing they missed out on some valuable learning in their life. By their very nature, they nurtured others; they instilled compassion in others; they taught goals and values to others but they did not put the same effort into their own self development in these areas."

"Transforming Venus" is a personal-growth guide designed to support women who feel that they are running out of time and aids them in discovering what they want to do with the rest of their lives. The book combines researched facts with 18 true-life stories and covers obstacles women face on their journey to a full life. The book discusses lack of self-esteem and gaining self-confidence, blame and forgiveness, looking within, spirituality, dreams, goal setting, mindset and how changing things can help one succeed, providing the tools to do so.

"Transforming Venus"By Paula WeisflockHardcover | 6 x 9 in | 262 pages | ISBN 9781504376518Softcover | 6 x 9 in | 262 pages | ISBN 9781504376495E-Book | 262 pages | ISBN 9781504376501Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About the AuthorPaula Weisflock is a mentor, entrepreneur, educator, facilitator and author, as well as a certified Infinite Possibilities Trainer, trained by founder Mike Dooley. Embracing mid-life with a passion, she completed back-to-back university degrees on either side of age 50. Her most treasured role is as the "chief positivity officer" for her company, Transforming Venus. Weisflock is also the founder of the Goddess Academy, an online educational program for women where her goals are to educate, inspire and empower women to achieve their full potential.

Balboa Press, a division of Hay House, Inc. a leading provider in publishing products that specialize in self-help and the mind, body, and spirit genres. Through an alliance with indie book publishing leader Author Solutions, LLC, authors benefit from the leadership of Hay House Publishing and the speed-to-market advantages of the self-publishing model. For more information, visit balboapress.com. To start publishing your book with Balboa Press, call 877-407-4847 today. For the latest, follow @balboapress on Twitter.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/TransformingVenus/PaulaWeisflock/prweb14577557.htm

Excerpt from:
New Self-Help Book Offers Tools To Help Women To Attain The Life They Want - Benzinga

Educational technology is "the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate technological processes and resources".[1]

Educational technology is the use of both physical hardware and educational theoretics. It encompasses several domains, including learning theory, computer-based training, online learning, and, where mobile technologies are used, m-learning.[2] Accordingly, there are several discrete aspects to describing the intellectual and technical development of educational technology:

An educational technologist is someone who is trained in the field of educational technology. Educational technologists try to analyze, design, develop, implement and evaluate process and tools to enhance learning.[3] While the term educational technologist is used primarily in the United States, learning technologist is synonymous and used in the UK[4] as well as Canada.

Richey defined educational technology as "the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using and managing appropriate technological processes and resources".[5] The Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) denoted instructional technology as "the theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation of processes and resources for learning".[6][7][8] As such, educational technology refers to all valid and reliable applied education sciences, such as equipment, as well as processes and procedures that are derived from scientific research, and in a given context may refer to theoretical, algorithmic or heuristic processes: it does not necessarily imply physical technology. Educational technology is the process of integrating technology into education in a positive manner that promotes a more diverse learning environment and a way for students to learn how to use technology as well as their common assignments

Given this definition, educational technology is an inclusive term for both the material tools and the theoretical foundations for supporting learning and teaching. Educational technology is not restricted to high technology.[9] Education technology is anything that enhances classroom learning in the utilization of blended or online learning.[10]

However, modern electronic educational technology is an important part of society today.[11] Educational technology encompasses e-learning, instructional technology, information and communication technology (ICT) in education, EdTech, learning technology, multimedia learning, technology-enhanced learning (TEL), computer-based instruction (CBI), computer managed instruction, computer-based training (CBT), computer-assisted instruction or computer-aided instruction (CAI),[12] internet-based training (IBT), flexible learning, web-based training (WBT), online education, digital educational collaboration, distributed learning, computer-mediated communication, cyber-learning, and multi-modal instruction, virtual education, personal learning environments, networked learning, virtual learning environments (VLE) (which are also called learning platforms), m-learning, ubiquitous learning and digital education.

Each of these numerous terms has had its advocates, who point up potential distinctive features.[13] However, many terms and concepts in educational technology have been defined nebulously; for example, Fiedler's review of the literature found a complete lack agreement of the components of a personal learning environment.[14] Moreover, Moore saw these terminologies as emphasizing particular features such as digitization approaches, components or delivery methods rather than being fundamentally dissimilar in concept or principle.[13] For example, m-learning emphasizes mobility, which allows for altered timing, location, accessibility and context of learning;[15] nevertheless, its purpose and conceptual principles are those of educational technology.[13]

In practice, as technology has advanced, the particular "narrowly defined" terminological aspect that was initially emphasized by name has blended into the general field of educational technology.[13] Initially, "virtual learning" as narrowly defined in a semantic sense implied entering an environmental simulation within a virtual world,[16][17] for example in treating posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).[18][19] In practice, a "virtual education course" refers to any instructional course in which all, or at least a significant portion, is delivered by the Internet. "Virtual" is used in that broader way to describe a course that is not taught in a classroom face-to-face but through a substitute mode that can conceptually be associated "virtually" with classroom teaching, which means that people do not have to go to the physical classroom to learn. Accordingly, virtual education refers to a form of distance learning in which course content is delivered by various methods such as course management applications, multimedia resources, and videoconferencing.[20]

As a further example, ubiquitous learning emphasizes an omnipresent learning milieu.[21] Educational content, pervasively embedded in objects, is all around the learner, who may not even be conscious of the learning process: students may not have to do anything in order to learn, they just have to be there.[21][22] The combination of adaptive learning, using an individualized interface and materials, which accommodate to an individual, who thus receives personally differentiated instruction, with ubiquitous access to digital resources and learning opportunities in a range of places and at various times, has been termed smart learning.[23][24][25] Smart learning is a component of the smart city concept.[26][27]

Helping people learn in ways that are easier, faster, surer, or less expensive can be traced back to the emergence of very early tools, such as paintings on cave walls.[28][29] Various types of abacus have been used. Writing slates and blackboards have been used for at least a millennium.[30] From their introduction, books and pamphlets have held a prominent role in education. From the early twentieth century, duplicating machines such as the mimeograph and Gestetner stencil devices were used to produce short copy runs (typically 1050 copies) for classroom or home use. The use of media for instructional purposes is generally traced back to the first decade of the 20th century[31] with the introduction of educational films (1900s) and Sidney Pressey's mechanical teaching machines (1920s). The first all multiple choice, large-scale assessment was the Army Alpha, used to assess the intelligence and more specifically the aptitudes of World War I military recruits. Further large-scale use of technologies was employed in training soldiers during and after WWII using films and other mediated materials, such as overhead projectors. The concept of hypertext is traced to the description of memex by Vannevar Bush in 1945.

Slide projectors were widely used during the 1950s in educational institutional settings. Cuisenaire rods were devised in the 1920s and saw widespread use from the late 1950s.

In 1960, the University of Illinois initiated a classroom system based in linked computer terminals where students could access informational resources on a particular course while listening to the lectures that were recorded via some form of remotely linked device like a television or audio device.[32]

In the mid 1960s Stanford University psychology professors Patrick Suppes and Richard C. Atkinson experimented with using computers to teach arithmetic and spelling via Teletypes to elementary school students in the Palo Alto Unified School District in California.[33][34] Stanford's Education Program for Gifted Youth is descended from those early experiments.

In 1971, Ivan Illich published a hugely influential book called, Deschooling Society, in which he envisioned "learning webs" as a model for people to network the learning they needed. The 1970s and 1980s saw notable contributions in computer-based learning by Murray Turoff and Starr Roxanne Hiltz at the New Jersey Institute of Technology[35] as well as developments at the University of Guelph in Canada.[36] In the UK, the Council for Educational Technology supported the use of educational technology, in particular administering the government's National Development Programme in Computer Aided Learning[37] (197377) and the Microelectronics Education Programme (198086).

By the mid-1980s, accessing course content became possible at many college libraries. In computer-based training (CBT) or computer-based learning (CBL), the learning interaction was between the student and computer drills or micro-world simulations.

Digitized communication and networking in education started in the mid-1980s. Educational institutions began to take advantage of the new medium by offering distance learning courses using computer networking for information. Early e-learning systems, based on computer-based learning/training often replicated autocratic teaching styles whereby the role of the e-learning system was assumed to be for transferring knowledge, as opposed to systems developed later based on computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL), which encouraged the shared development of knowledge.

Videoconferencing was an important forerunner to the educational technologies known today. This work was especially popular with museum education. Even in recent years, videoconferencing has risen in popularity to reach over 20,000 students across the United States and Canada in 20082009. Disadvantages of this form of educational technology are readily apparent: image and sound quality is often grainy or pixelated; videoconferencing requires setting up a type of mini-television studio within the museum for broadcast, space becomes an issue; and specialised equipment is required for both the provider and the participant.[38]

The Open University in Britain[36] and the University of British Columbia (where Web CT, now incorporated into Blackboard Inc., was first developed) began a revolution of using the Internet to deliver learning,[39] making heavy use of web-based training, online distance learning and online discussion between students.[40] Practitioners such as Harasim (1995)[41] put heavy emphasis on the use of learning networks.

With the advent of World Wide Web in the 1990s, teachers embarked on the method using emerging technologies to employ multi-object oriented sites, which are text-based online virtual reality systems, to create course websites along with simple sets of instructions for its students.

Text book publishers also explored ways to utilize both the Internet and CD ROM technology as an extension to traditional learning. In 1994, Simon and Schuster was the one of first to pioneer in this area, launching the New Media Group through its then Higher-Ed subsidiary Prentice Hall. Among the New Media Group's members was future MP3 Newswire publisher Richard Menta, whose key project was the Guest Lecture Series. This series was the first successful delivery of online video lectures to universities.[42] The inaugural lecture was streamed in December 1996 with Harvard physics professor Dr. Eric Mazur presenting on Peer Instruction.[43]

By 1994, the first online high school had been founded. In 1997, Graziadei described criteria for evaluating products and developing technology-based courses that include being portable, replicable, scalable, affordable, and having a high probability of long-term cost-effectiveness.[44]

Improved Internet functionality enabled new schemes of communication with multimedia or webcams. The National Center for Education Statistics estimate the number of K-12 students enrolled in online distance learning programs increased by 65 percent from 2002 to 2005, with greater flexibility, ease of communication between teacher and student, and quick lecture and assignment feedback.

According to a 2008 study conducted by the U.S Department of Education, during the 20062007 academic year about 66% of postsecondary public and private schools participating in student financial aid programs offered some distance learning courses; records show 77% of enrollment in for-credit courses with an online component.[45] In 2008, the Council of Europe passed a statement endorsing e-learning's potential to drive equality and education improvements across the EU.[46]

Computer-mediated communication (CMC) is between learners and instructors, mediated by the computer. In contrast, CBT/CBL usually means individualized (self-study) learning, while CMC involves educator/tutor facilitation and requires scenarization of flexible learning activities. In addition, modern ICT provides education with tools for sustaining learning communities and associated knowledge management tasks.

Students growing up in this digital age have extensive exposure to a variety of media.[47][48] Major high-tech companies such as Google, Verizon and Microsoft have funded schools to provide them the ability to teach their students through technology, in the hope that this would lead to improved student performance.[49]

2015 was the first year that private nonprofit organizations enrolled more online students than for-profits, although public universities still enrolled the highest number of online students. In the fall of 2015, more than 6 million students enrolled in at least one online course.[50]

Various pedagogical perspectives or learning theories may be considered in designing and interacting with educational technology. E-learning theory examines these approaches. These theoretical perspectives are grouped into three main theoretical schools or philosophical frameworks: behaviorism, cognitivism and constructivism.

This theoretical framework was developed in the early 20th century based on animal learning experiments by Ivan Pavlov, Edward Thorndike, Edward C. Tolman, Clark L. Hull, and B.F. Skinner. Many psychologists used these results to develop theories of human learning, but modern educators generally see behaviorism as one aspect of a holistic synthesis. Teaching in behaviorism has been linked to training, emphasizing the animal learning experiments. Since behaviorism consists of the view of teaching people how to something with rewards and punishments, it is related to training people.[51]

B.F. Skinner wrote extensively on improvements of teaching based on his functional analysis of verbal behavior[52][53] and wrote "The Technology of Teaching",[54][55] an attempt to dispel the myths underlying contemporary education as well as promote his system he called programmed instruction. Ogden Lindsley developed a learning system, named Celeration, that was based on behavior analysis but that substantially differed from Keller's and Skinner's models.

Cognitive science underwent significant change in the 1960s and 1970s. While retaining the empirical framework of behaviorism, cognitive psychology theories look beyond behavior to explain brain-based learning by considering how human memory works to promote learning. The Atkinson-Shiffrin memory model and Baddeley's working memory model were established as theoretical frameworks. Computer Science and Information Technology have had a major influence on Cognitive Science theory. The Cognitive concepts of working memory (formerly known as short term memory) and long term memory have been facilitated by research and technology from the field of Computer Science. Another major influence on the field of Cognitive Science is Noam Chomsky. Today researchers are concentrating on topics like cognitive load, information processing and media psychology. These theoretical perspectives influence instructional design.[56]

Educational psychologists distinguish between several types of constructivism: individual (or psychological) constructivism, such as Piaget's theory of cognitive development, and social constructivism. This form of constructivism has a primary focus on how learners construct their own meaning from new information, as they interact with reality and with other learners who bring different perspectives. Constructivist learning environments require students to use their prior knowledge and experiences to formulate new, related, and/or adaptive concepts in learning (Termos, 2012[57]). Under this framework the role of the teacher becomes that of a facilitator, providing guidance so that learners can construct their own knowledge. Constructivist educators must make sure that the prior learning experiences are appropriate and related to the concepts being taught. Jonassen (1997) suggests "well-structured" learning environments are useful for novice learners and that "ill-structured" environments are only useful for more advanced learners. Educators utilizing a constructivist perspective may emphasize an active learning environment that may incorporate learner centered problem-based learning, project-based learning, and inquiry-based learning, ideally involving real-world scenarios, in which students are actively engaged in critical thinking activities. An illustrative discussion and example can be found in the 1980s deployment of constructivist cognitive learning in computer literacy, which involved programming as an instrument of learning.[58]:224LOGO, a programming language, embodied an attempt to integrate Piagetan ideas with computers and technology.[58][59] Initially there were broad, hopeful claims, including "perhaps the most controversial claim" that it would "improve general problem-solving skills" across disciplines.[58]:238 However, LOGO programming skills did not consistently yield cognitive benefits.[58]:238 It was "not as concrete" as advocates claimed, it privileged "one form of reasoning over all others," and it was difficult to apply the thinking activity to non-LOGO-based activities.[60] By the late 1980s, LOGO and other similar programming languages had lost their novelty and dominance and were gradually de-emphasized amid criticisms.[61]

The extent to which e-learning assists or replaces other learning and teaching approaches is variable, ranging on a continuum from none to fully online distance learning.[62][63] A variety of descriptive terms have been employed (somewhat inconsistently) to categorize the extent to which technology is used. For example, 'hybrid learning' or 'blended learning' may refer to classroom aids and laptops, or may refer to approaches in which traditional classroom time is reduced but not eliminated, and is replaced with some online learning.[64][65][66] 'Distributed learning' may describe either the e-learning component of a hybrid approach, or fully online distance learning environments.[62]

E-learning may either be synchronous or asynchronous. Synchronous learning occurs in real-time, with all participants interacting at the same time, while asynchronous learning is self-paced and allows participants to engage in the exchange of ideas or information without the dependency of other participants involvement at the same time.

Synchronous learning refers to the exchange of ideas and information with one or more participants during the same period. Examples are face-to-face discussion, online real-time live teacher instruction and feedback, Skype conversations, and chat rooms or virtual classrooms where everyone is online and working collaboratively at the same time. Since students are working collaboratively, synchronized learning helps students create an open mind because they have to listen and learn from their peers. Synchronized learning fosters online awareness and improves many students' writing skills.[67]

Asynchronous learning may use technologies such as email, blogs, wikis, and discussion boards, as well as web-supported textbooks,[68]hypertext documents, audio[69] video courses, and social networking using web 2.0. At the professional educational level, training may include virtual operating rooms. Asynchronous learning is beneficial for students who have health problems or who have child care responsibilities. They have the opportunity to complete their work in a low stress environment and within a more flexible time frame.[40] In asynchronous online courses, students proceed at their own pace. If they need to listen to a lecture a second time, or think about a question for a while, they may do so without fearing that they will hold back the rest of the class. Through online courses, students can earn their diplomas more quickly, or repeat failed courses without the embarrassment of being in a class with younger students. Students have access to an incredible variety of enrichment courses in online learning, and can participate in college courses, internships, sports, or work and still graduate with their class.

Computer-based training (CBT) refers to self-paced learning activities delivered on a computer or handheld device such as a tablet or smartphone. CBT initially delivered content via CD-ROM, and typically presented content linearly, much like reading an online book or manual. For this reason, CBT is often used to teach static processes, such as using software or completing mathematical equations. Computer-based training is conceptually similar to web-based training (WBT) which are delivered via Internet using a web browser.

Assessing learning in a CBT is often by assessments that can be easily scored by a computer such as multiple choice questions, drag-and-drop, radio button, simulation or other interactive means. Assessments are easily scored and recorded via online software, providing immediate end-user feedback and completion status. Users are often able to print completion records in the form of certificates.

CBTs provide learning stimulus beyond traditional learning methodology from textbook, manual, or classroom-based instruction. CBTs can be a good alternative to printed learning materials since rich media, including videos or animations, can be embedded to enhance the learning.

Help, CBTs pose some learning challenges. Typically, the creation of effective CBTs requires enormous resources. The software for developing CBTs (such as Flash or Adobe Director) is often more complex than a subject matter expert or teacher is able to use. The lack of human interaction can limit both the type of content that can be presented and the type of assessment that can be performed, and may need supplementation with online discussion or other interactive elements.

Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) uses instructional methods designed to encourage or require students to work together on learning tasks, allowing social learning. CSCL is similar in concept to the terminology, "e-learning 2.0"[70] and "networked collaborative learning" (NCL).[71] With Web 2.0 advances, sharing information between multiple people in a network has become much easier and use has increased.[72]:1[73] One of the main reasons for its usage states that it is "a breeding ground for creative and engaging educational endeavors."[72]:2 Learning takes place through conversations about content and grounded interaction about problems and actions. This collaborative learning differs from instruction in which the instructor is the principal source of knowledge and skills. The neologism "e-learning 1.0" refers to direct instruction used in early computer-based learning and training systems (CBL). In contrast to that linear delivery of content, often directly from the instructor's material, CSCL uses social software such as blogs, social media, wikis, podcasts, cloud-based document portals (such as Google Docs and Dropbox), and discussion groups and virtual worlds such as Second Life.[74] This phenomenon has been referred to as Long Tail Learning.[75] Advocates of social learning claim that one of the best ways to learn something is to teach it to others.[75] Social networks have been used to foster online learning communities around subjects as diverse as test preparation and language education.[76]mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) is the use of handheld computers or cell phones to assist in language learning.

Collaborative apps allow students and teachers to interact while studying. An example is MathChat, which allows cooperative problem solving and answer feedback.[77] Some apps can also provide an opportunity to revise or learn new topics independently in a simulated classroom environment. A popular example is Khan Academy,[78] which offers material in math, biology, chemistry, economics, art history and many others. It has the advantage of blending learning styles as the app offers many videos for visual and auditory learners, as well as exercises and tasks to solve for the kinesthetic learners. Other apps are designed after games, which provide a fun way to revise. When the experience is enjoyable the students become more engaged. Games also usually come with a sense of progression, which can help keep students motivated and consistent while trying to improve. Examples of educational games are Dragon Box, Mind Snacks, Code Spells and many more.[79]

Classroom 2.0 refers to online multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) that connect schools across geographical frontiers. Known as "eTwinning", computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) allows learners in one school to communicate with learners in another that they would not get to know otherwise,[80][81] enhancing educational outcomes[citation needed] and cultural integration. Examples of classroom 2.0 applications are Blogger and Skype.[82]

Further, many researchers distinguish between collaborative and cooperative approaches to group learning. For example, Roschelle and Teasley (1995) argue that "cooperation is accomplished by the division of labour among participants, as an activity where each person is responsible for a portion of the problem solving", in contrast with collaboration that involves the "mutual engagement of participants in a coordinated effort to solve the problem together."[83]

This is an instructional strategy in which computer-assisted teaching is integrated with classroom instruction. Students are given basic essential instruction, such as lectures, before class instead of during class. This frees up classroom time for teachers to more actively engage with learners.[84]

Educational media and tools can be used for:

Numerous types of physical technology are currently used:[85][86] digital cameras, video cameras, interactive whiteboard tools, document cameras, electronic media, and LCD projectors. Combinations of these techniques include blogs, collaborative software, ePortfolios, and virtual classrooms.

Radio offers a synchronous educational vehicle, while streaming audio over the internet with webcasts and podcasts can be asynchronous. Classroom microphones, often wireless, can enable learners and educators to interact more clearly.

Video technology[87] has included VHS tapes and DVDs, as well as on-demand and synchronous methods with digital video via server or web-based options such as streamed video from YouTube, Teacher Tube, Skype, Adobe Connect, and webcams. Telecommuting can connect with speakers and other experts. Interactive digital video games are being used at K-12 and higher education institutions.[88]

Collaborative learning is a group-based learning approach in which learners are mutually engaged in a coordinated fashion to achieve a learning goal or complete a learning task. With recent developments in smartphone technology, the processing powers and storage capabilities of modern mobiles allow for advanced development and use of apps. Many app developers and education experts have been exploring smartphone and tablet apps as a medium for collaborative learning.

Computers and tablets enable learners and educators to access websites as well as programs such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, PDF files, and images. Many mobile devices support m-learning.

Mobile devices such as clickers and smartphones can be used for interactive audience response feedback.[89] Mobile learning can provide performance support for checking the time, setting reminders, retrieving worksheets, and instruction manuals.[90][91]

OpenCourseWare (OCW) gives free public access to information used in undergraduate and graduate programs. Participating institutions are MIT,[92][93] Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Michigan.[94]

Google Classroom allows instructors to create, administer, and grade assignments. While Google Classroom ultimately strives to create a paperless learning environment, there are many different types of learner; a learning environment like the one that Google Classroom projects does not work for everyone.[citation needed]

Group webpages, blogs, wikis, and Twitter allow learners and educators to post thoughts, ideas, and comments on a website in an interactive learning environment.[95][96][97]Social networking sites are virtual communities for people interested in a particular subject to communicate by voice, chat, instant message, video conference, or blogs.[98] The National School Boards Association found that 96% of students with online access have used social networking technologies, and more than 50% talk online about schoolwork. Social networking encourages collaboration and engagement[99] and can be a motivational tool for self-efficacy amongst students.[100] Every student has his or her own learning requirements, and a Web 2.0 educational framework provides enough resources, learning styles, communication tools and flexibility to accommodate this diversity.[101]

Webcams and webcasting have enabled creation of virtual classrooms and virtual learning environment.[102] Webcams are also being used to counter plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty that might occur in an e-learning environment.

There are three types of whiteboards.[103] The initial whiteboards, analogous to blackboards, date from the late 1950s. The term whiteboard is also used metaphorically to refer to virtual whiteboards in which computer software applications simulate whiteboards by allowing writing or drawing. This is a common feature of groupware for virtual meeting, collaboration, and instant messaging. Interactive whiteboards allow learners and instructors to write on the touch screen. The screen markup can be on either a blank whiteboard or any computer screen content. Depending on permission settings, this visual learning can be interactive and participatory, including writing and manipulating images on the interactive whiteboard.[103]

Screencasting allows users to share their screens directly from their browser and make the video available online so that other viewers can stream the video directly.[104] The presenter thus has the ability to show their ideas and flow of thoughts rather than simply explain them as simple text content. In combination with audio and video, the educator can mimic the one-on-one experience of the classroom. Learners have an ability to pause and rewind, to review at their own pace, something a classroom cannot always offer.

A virtual learning environment (VLE), also known as a learning platform, simulates a virtual classroom or meetings by simultaneously mixing several communication technologies. For example, web conferencing software such as GoToTraining, WebEx Training or Adobe Connect enables students and instructors to communicate with each other via webcam, microphone, and real-time chatting in a group setting. Participants can raise hands, answer polls or take tests. Students are able to whiteboard and screencast when given rights by the instructor, who sets permission levels for text notes, microphone rights and mouse control.[105]

A virtual classroom provides the opportunity for students to receive direct instruction from a qualified teacher in an interactive environment. Learners can have direct and immediate access to their instructor for instant feedback and direction. The virtual classroom provides a structured schedule of classes, which can be helpful for students who may find the freedom of asynchronous learning to be overwhelming. In addition, the virtual classroom provides a social learning environment that replicates the traditional "brick and mortar" classroom. Most virtual classroom applications provide a recording feature. Each class is recorded and stored on a server, which allows for instant playback of any class over the course of the school year. This can be extremely useful for students to retrieve missed material or review concepts for an upcoming exam. Parents and auditors have the conceptual ability to monitor any classroom to ensure that they are satisfied with the education the learner is receiving.

In higher education especially, a virtual learning environment (VLE) is sometimes combined with a management information system (MIS) to create a managed learning environment, in which all aspects of a course are handled through a consistent user interface throughout the institution. Physical universities and newer online-only colleges offer select academic degrees and certificate programs via the Internet. Some programs require students to attend some campus classes or orientations, but many are delivered completely online. Several universities offer online student support services, such as online advising and registration, e-counseling, online textbook purchases, student governments and student newspapers.

Augmented reality (AR) provides students and teachers the opportunity to create layers of digital information, that includes both virtual world and real world elements, to interact with in real time. There are already a variety of apps which offer a lot of variations and possibilities.

Media psychology involves the application of theories in psychology to media and is a growing specialty in learning and educational technology.

E-learning authoring tools are software or online services that enable users to create courses, simulations, or other educational experiences. These tools typically support conventional, presentation-like courses, and may enable screen recording, multimedia, interactivity, quizzes, and non-linear or adaptive approaches.[106] An example of an e-learning authoring tools is Adobe Captivate.

Typing software allows users to practice their typing skills. Some of these programs include Typing Instructor, Typing Master, and Mavis Beacon Keyboarding Kidz.

A learning management system (LMS) is software used for delivering, tracking and managing training and education. For example, an LMS tracks attendance, time on task, and student progress. Educators can post announcements, grade assignments, check on course activity, and participate in class discussions. Students can submit their work, read and respond to discussion questions, and take quizzes.[95] An LMS may allow teachers, administrators, students, and permitted additional parties (such as parents if appropriate) to track various metrics. LMSs range from systems for managing training/educational records to software for distributing courses over the Internet and offering features for online collaboration. The creation and maintenance of comprehensive learning content requires substantial initial and ongoing investments of human labor. Effective translation into other languages and cultural contexts requires even more investment by knowledgeable personnel.[107]

Internet-based learning management systems include Canvas, Blackboard Inc. and Moodle. These types of LMS allow educators to run a learning system partially or fully online, asynchronously or synchronously. Blackboard can be used for K-12 education, Higher Education, Business, and Government collaboration.[108]Moodle is a free-to-download Open Source Course Management System that provides blended learning opportunities as well as platforms for distance learning courses.[109]Eliademy is a free cloud-based Course Management System that provides blended learning opportunities as well as platforms for distance learning courses.

A learning content management system (LCMS) is software for author content (courses, reusable content objects). An LCMS may be solely dedicated to producing and publishing content that is hosted on an LMS, or it can host the content itself. The Aviation Industry Computer-Based Training Committee (AICC) specification provides support for content that is hosted separately from the LMS.

A recent trend in LCMSs is to address this issue through crowdsourcing (cf.SlideWiki[110]).

Computer-aided assessment (e-assessment) ranges from automated multiple-choice tests to more sophisticated systems. With some systems, feedback can be geared towards a student's specific mistakes or the computer can navigate the student through a series of questions adapting to what the student appears to have learned or not learned. Formative assessment sifts out the incorrect answers, and these questions are then explained by the teacher. The learner then practices with slight variations of the sifted out questions. The process is completed by summative assessment using a new set of questions that only cover the topics previously taught.

An electronic performance support system (EPSS) is, according to Barry Raybould, "a computer-based system that improves worker productivity by providing on-the-job access to integrated information, advice, and learning experiences".[111] Gloria Gery defines it as "an integrated electronic environment that is available to and easily accessible by each employee and is structured to provide immediate, individualized on-line access to the full range of information, software, guidance, advice and assistance, data, images, tools, and assessment and monitoring systems to permit job performance with minimal support and intervention by others".[112][113]

A training management system or training resource management system is a software designed to optimize instructor-led training management. Similar to an enterprise resource planning (ERP), it is a back office tool which aims at streamlining every aspect of the training process: planning (training plan and budget forecasting), logistics (scheduling and resource management), financials (cost tracking, profitability), reporting, and sales for for-profit training providers.[114] For example, a training management system can be used to schedule instructors, venues and equipment through graphical agendas, optimize resource utilization, create a training plan and track remaining budgets, generate reports and share data between different teams.

While training management systems focus on managing instructor-led training, they can complete an LMS. In this situation, an LMS will manage e-learning delivery and assessment, while a training management system will manage ILT and back-office budget planning, logistic and reporting.[115]

Content and design architecture issues include pedagogy and learning object re-use. One approach looks at five aspects:[116]

Pedagogical elements are defined as structures or units of educational material. They are the educational content that is to be delivered. These units are independent of format, meaning that although the unit may be delivered in various ways, the pedagogical structures themselves are not the textbook, web page, video conference, Podcast, lesson, assignment, multiple choice question, quiz, discussion group or a case study, all of which are possible methods of delivery.

Much effort has been put into the technical reuse of electronically based teaching materials and in particular creating or re-using learning objects. These are self-contained units that are properly tagged with keywords, or other metadata, and often stored in an XML file format. Creating a course requires putting together a sequence of learning objects. There are both proprietary and open, non-commercial and commercial, peer-reviewed repositories of learning objects such as the Merlot repository. Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) is a collection of standards and specifications that applies to certain web-based e-learning. Other specifications such as Schools Framework[citation needed] allow for the transporting of learning objects, or for categorizing metadata (LOM).

Various forms of electronic media are a feature of preschool life.[117] Although parents report a positive experience, the impact of such use has not been systematically assessed.[117]

The age when a given child might start using a particular technology such as a cellphone or computer might depend on matching a technological resource to the recipient's developmental capabilities, such as the age-anticipated stages labeled by Swiss psychologist, Jean Piaget.[118] Parameters, such as age-appropriateness, coherence with sought-after values, and concurrent entertainment and educational aspects, have been suggested for choosing media.[119]

E-learning is utilized by public K12 schools in the United States as well as private schools. Some e-learning environments take place in a traditional classroom, others allow students to attend classes from home or other locations. There are several states that are utilizing virtual school platforms for e-learning across the country that continue to increase. For example: Digital technology is becoming increasingly commonplace in K-12 education, and many researchers argue that it will save money and transform schools into more effective institutions.[120] With technology having such a heavy influence in our society it is no doubt that schools are looking into technology to teach students. Meanwhile, despite the debate over the effectiveness of computerized education, all-online K-12 schools are proliferating nationwide, and enrollment in online courses is soaring.[120] Technology can make anyone's life much easier and it is proven that it can help students in an effective way. But in the digitized world of 21st-century education, computers are increasingly taking on the teachers' role.[120] Computers can now "hear" students speak, for example, correct their pronunciation and evaluate their progress over time, says Michael L. Kamil, a professor emeritus at the Stanford University School of Education.[120] Many experts claim that digital education is the future. "If we want our kids to be prepared for life after school in the 21st century, we need to consider technology a basic element of public education," said New York's Deputy Chancellor of EducationJohn White.[120] And many schools are making it a requirement to take an online class. Digital learning has been getting a boost in localities across the nation this year.[120] For example, Idaho became the first state to require high-school students to complete two or more online courses to receive a diploma.[120] It is no doubt that digital education is increasing in our educational system.Virtual school enables students to log into synchronous learning or asynchronous learning courses anywhere there is an internet connection.

E-learning is increasingly being utilized by students who may not want to go to traditional brick and mortar schools due to severe allergies or other medical issues, fear of school violence and school bullying and students whose parents would like to homeschool but do not feel qualified.[121] Online schools create a haven for students to receive a quality education while almost completely avoiding these common problems. Online charter schools also often are not limited by location, income level or class size in the way brick and mortar charter schools are.[122]

E-learning also has been rising as a supplement to the traditional classroom. Students with special talents or interests outside of the available curricula use e-learning to advance their skills or exceed grade restrictions.[123] Some online institutions connect students with instructors via web conference technology to form a digital classroom.

National private schools are also available online. These provide the benefits of e-learning to students in states where charter online schools are not available. They also may allow students greater flexibility and exemption from state testing.

Virtual education in K-12 schooling often refers to virtual schools, and in higher education to virtual universities. Virtual schools are "cybercharter schools"[124] with innovative administrative models and course delivery technology.[124]

Online college course enrollment has seen a 29% increase in enrollment with nearly one third of all college students, or an estimated 6.7 million students are currently enrolled in online classes.[125][126] In 2009, 44 percent of post-secondary students in the USA were taking some or all of their courses online, which was projected to rise to 81 percent by 2014.[127]

Although a large proportion of for-profit higher education institutions now offer online classes, only about half of private, non-profit schools do so. Private institutions may become more involved with on-line presentations as the costs decrease. Properly trained staff must also be hired to work with students online.[128] These staff members need to understand the content area, and also be highly trained in the use of the computer and Internet. Online education is rapidly increasing, and online doctoral programs have even developed at leading research universities.[129]

Although massive open online courses (MOOCs) may have limitations that preclude them from fully replacing college education,[130] such programs have significantly expanded. MIT, Stanford and Princeton University offer classes to a global audience, but not for college credit.[131] University-level programs, like edX founded by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, offer wide range of disciplines at no charge, while others permit students to audit a course at no charge but require a small fee for accreditation. MOOCs have not had a significant impact on higher education and declined after the initial expansion, but are expected to remain in some form.[132]

Private organizations also offer classes, such as Udacity, with free computer science classes, and Khan Academy, with over 3,900 free micro-lectures available via YouTube. Distributed open collaborative course (DOCC) sees itself as a counter-movement to MOOC, emphasizing decentralized teaching.[133]University of the People is a non-profit accredited online university. Coursera offers online courses. According to Fortune magazine, over a million people worldwide have enrolled in free online courses.[134]

Companies with spread out distribution chains use e-learning for staff training and development and to bring customers information about the latest product developments. Continuing professional development (CPD) can deliver regulatory compliance updates and staff development of valuable workplace skills. For effectiveness and competitive learning performance, scoring systems are designed to give live feedback on decision-making in complex (mobile) learning scenarios.[135]

There is an important need for recent, reliable, and high-quality health information to be made available to the public as well as in summarized form for public health providers.[136] Providers have indicated the need for automatic notification of the latest research, a single searchable portal of information, and access to grey literature.[137] The Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Library is funded by the U.S. Maternal and Child Health Bureau to screen the latest research and develop automatic notifications to providers through the MCH Alert. Another application in public health is the development of mHealth (use of mobile telecommunication and multimedia into global public health). MHealth has been used to promote prenatal and newborn services, with positive outcomes. In addition, "Health systems have implemented mHealth programs to facilitate emergency medical responses, point-of-care support, health promotion and data collection."[138] In low and middle income countries, mHealth is most frequently used as one-way text messages or phone reminders to promote treatment adherence and gather data.[139]

There has also been a growing interest in e-learning as a beneficial educational method for students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). With the growing popularity in e-learning among K-12 and higher education, the opportunity to take online classes is becoming increasingly important for students of all ages.[140] However, students with ADHD and special needs face different learning demands compared to the typical developing learner. This is especially significant considering the dramatic rise in ADHD diagnoses in the last decade among both children and adults.[141] Compared to the traditional face-to-face classroom, e-learning and virtual classrooms require a higher level of executive functions, which is the primary deficit associated with ADHD.[142] Although ADHD is not specifically named in the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, students with ADHD who have symptoms that interfere with their learning or ability may be eligible for assistive technology. Some examples of the resources that may help interest students and adults with ADHD consist of, computer software, brain games, timers, calendars, voice recognition devices, screen magnifiers, and talking books.[143]

Wolf lists 12 executive function skills necessary for students to succeed in postsecondary education: plan, set goals, organize, initiate, sustain attention/effort, flexibility, monitor, use feedback, structure, manage time, manage materials, and follow through.[144] These skills, along with strong independent and self-regulated learning, are especially pronounced in the online environment and as many ADHD students suffer from a deficit in one or more of these executive functions, this presents a significant challenge and accessibility barrier to the current e-learning approach.[145][146]

Some have noted that current e-learning models are moving towards applying a constructivism learning theory[147] that emphasizes a learner-centered environment[148] and postulates that everyone has the ability to construct their own knowledge and meaning through a process of problem solving and discovery.[149] However, some principles of constructivism may not be appropriate for ADHD learners; these principles include active learning, self-monitoring, motivation, and strong focus.[147]

Despite the limitations, students with special needs, including ADHD, have expressed an overall enthusiasm for e-learning and have identified a number e-learning benefits, including: availability of online course notes, materials and additional resources; the ability to work at an independent pace and spend extra time formulating thoughtful responses in class discussions; help in understanding course lecture/content; ability to review lectures multiple times; and enhanced access to and communication with the course instructor.[145][150]

The design of e-learning platforms in ways that enable universal access has received attention from several directions, including the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). WAI provides universal formatting standards for websites so they can remain accessible to people with disabilities. For example, developing or adopting e-learning material can enable accessibility for people with visual impairment.[151][152] The Perkins School for the Blind offers learning resources tailored for the visually impaired, including webcasts, webinars, downloadable science activities, and an online library that has access to over 40,000 resource materials on blindness and deaf blindness.[153]

Online education may appear to be a promising alternative for students with physical and sensory disabilities because they get to work at their own pace and in their own home. However, not all online programs are equal when it comes to their resources for students with disabilities. Students with disabilities who wish to enroll in online education must either be able to advocate for themselves and their own rights or have a person who is willing to advocate for them. The American with Disabilities Act states that online programs must provide appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities, but has not specifically defined what that means. "Once students with disabilities are accepted into an online program, they should prepare to be direct and open about what they need to succeed, experts say" (Haynie).[154]

Educational technology, particularly in online learning environments, can allow students to use real identity, pseudonym, or anonymous identity during classroom communication. Advantages in anonymizing race, age, and gender are increased student participation[155] and increased cross-cultural communication.[156] Risks include increased cyberbullying, and aggressive or hostile language.[156][157][158]

Effective technology use deploys multiple evidence-based strategies concurrently (e.g. adaptive content, frequent testing, immediate feedback, etc.), as do effective teachers.[159] Using computers or other forms of technology can give students practice on core content and skills while the teacher can work with others, conduct assessments, or perform other tasks.[159][160] Through the use of educational technology, education is able to be individualized for each student allowing for better differentiation and allowing students to work for mastery at their own pace.[161]

Modern educational technology can improve access to education, including full degree programs.[162] It enables better integration for non-full-time students, particularly in continuing education,[162] and improved interactions between students and instructors.[163] Learning material can be used for long distance learning and are accessible to a wider audience.[164] Course materials are easy to access.[165] In 2010, 70.3% of American family households had access to the internet.[166] In 2013, according to Canadian Radio Television and Telecommunications Commission Canada, 79% of homes have access to the internet.[167] Students can access and engage with numerous online resources at home. Using online resources such as Khan Academy or TED Talks can help students spend more time on specific aspects of what they may be learning in school, but at home. Schools like MIT have made certain course materials free online.[168] Although some aspects of a classroom setting are missed by using these resources, they are helpful tools to add additional support to the educational system. The necessity to pay for transport to the educational facility is removed.

Students appreciate the convenience of e-learning, but report greater engagement in face-to-face learning environments.[169]

According to James Kulik, who studies the effectiveness of computers used for instruction, students usually learn more in less time when receiving computer-based instruction and they like classes more and develop more positive attitudes toward computers in computer-based classes.[170] Students can independently solve problems.[163] There are no intrinsic age-based restrictions on difficulty level, i.e. students can go at their own pace. Students editing their written work on word processors improve the quality of their writing. According to some studies, the students are better at critiquing and editing written work that is exchanged over a computer network with students they know.[165] Studies completed in "computer intensive" settings found increases in student-centric, cooperative and higher order learning, writing skills, problem solving, and using technology.[171] In addition, attitudes toward technology as a learning tool by parents, students and teachers are also improved.

Employers' acceptance of online education has risen over time.[172] More than 50% of human resource managers SHRM surveyed for an August 2010 report said that if two candidates with the same level of experience were applying for a job, it would not have any kind of effect whether the candidate's obtained degree was acquired through an online or a traditional school. Seventy-nine percent said they had employed a candidate with an online degree in the past 12 months. However 66% said candidates who get degrees online were not seen as positively as a job applicant with traditional degrees.[172]

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AGFC, Press Release , KTHV 8:53 AM. CDT August 07, 2017

CREDIT: KTHV

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (August 7, 2017) Boaters looking for a Boating Education course near them now have the option to take the complete course and test online, from the comfort of their own home.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has offered an online course option for many years, but participants were required to print a certificate at home and go to a testing site near them to complete their test. Thanks to recent legislation, the requirement of a proctored, in-person exam has been lifted to make it easier for people to get on Arkansass waters and stay safe while doing so.

If you pass the test, you will receive a temporary voucher to print until your permanent card arrives in the mail, said Alex Hinson, AGFC Boating Education coordinator. The online option is administered by Kalkomey, who handles boating and hunter education for many states, and is customized to fit Arkansass boating laws.

While convenient, the online option does cost a small fee. Kalkomey collects $24.50 for the online course.The AGFC still offers, and recommends, free in-person classes for boater education. Classes last a six hours, which can be completed in two nights or a full day, depending on the course scheduled.

I personally feel that people get a lot more out of the in-person classes, especially younger students, Hinson said. Theres just more opportunity to have questions answered and clear up anything that a person might be confused about. But the new option is definitely more convenient.

Anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 1986 and of legal age to operate a motorboat or sailboat, must have successfully completed an approved boating education course and carry proof while operating a motorboat or sailboat on Arkansas waters. To operate a motorboat powered by an engine of 10 horsepower or more, a person must be 12 or older, or be under the direct supervision of a person at least 18. To operate a personal watercraft, a person must be 16 or older, be 12 to 15 years old and under the direct supervision of someone at least 18. People younger than 12 may only operate a personal watercraft while under the direct supervision of someone at least 21.

Visit http://www.agfc.com/boatered for more information about Boater Education in Arkansas.

2017 KTHV-TV

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Program is Designed for Professionals of All Levels of a Healthcare Organization Interested in Advancing Their Careers

IRVINE, CA--(Marketwired - Aug 7, 2017) - The rise in both demand and the cost of healthcare delivery are contributing to the growing need for lean healthcare-focused offerings. The University of California, Irvine Division of Continuing Education (DCE) announced today a new online Lean Healthcare Specialization Program. Lean thinking has been increasingly embraced in healthcare environments because of its emphasis on rapid and continuous results in improving access and the patient experience through decreasing and controlling costs, reducing errors and increasing employee service and productivity. Consequently, there is now a growing demand for healthcare practitioners who can more effectively apply lean to create and manage change and sustain improvement.

The fully online Lean Healthcare Specialization will serve as a means of acquiring, applying and demonstrating competency in the application of lean principles and practices. Designed for professionals at all levels of a healthcare organization who wish to advance their careers or enhance their current credentials, the specialization will focus on the knowledge and practical skills required to design, deploy and mature a robust lean capability to successfully lead change in the way healthcare services need to be managed and delivered in the 21st century.

"Leaders in today's organizations are turning to lean to ensure their competitive edge, but there still exists a shortage of lean practitioners who can successfully apply the universal philosophies and practices to their unique circumstances in today's complex and changing healthcare environment." said Nokteh Taheri, Ed.D., Program Manager at UC Irvine Division of Continuing Education. "Through the Lean Healthcare Specialization at UC Irvine Division of Continuing Education, participants will build the skill base needed to sustain performance improvement."

Lean Healthcare Specialization participants will learn new applications of lean concepts, such as agile project development, PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act), and Scrum methodology, and will be exposed to the continuing expansion of lean in the age of big data and information. Examples and case studies from healthcare settings will be used, and course exercises, as well as the final capstone experience, will require application of the concepts to the participant's own organization.

The four required courses offered include:

For more information about the Lean Healthcare Specialization or to register for the "Lean Concepts and Enablers in Healthcare" course, please visit here or call (949) 824-9427.

About UCI Division of Continuing Education: The University of California, Irvine Division of Continuing Education (DCE) provides lifelong learning opportunities to thousands of students worldwide each year - fulfilling the school's 60-year curriculum platform to connect degree programs to the world of work and achievement after graduation. The Division offers a broad range of certificate programs, specialized studies, and sequential courses to local, regional and global markets through online, on-campus and on-site delivery. A leader in the open education movement, the Division offers free Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) and content through the UCI Open initiative. For more information about UCI Division of Continuing Education, visit here.

About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UCI is the youngest member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. The campus has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UCI has more than 28,000 students and offers 192 degree programs. Located in one of the world's safest and most economically vibrant communities, it's Orange County's second-largest employer, contributing $4.8 billion annually to the local economy.

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UC Irvine Division of Continuing Education Announces New Online Lean Healthcare Specialization Offering - Benzinga

The online course was offered this summer at SHS. Offering the class during the summer had another benefit. With so many students looking to Youth Options and other early post-secondary options, this gave the SHS seniors a chance to get one of their required classes completed early.

The Consumer Education course is usually offered over a full semester as a half-credit course. In the summer course, the students met with teacher Jen Sutton once each week over the six-week run of the class. The students were responsible for classroom work on their own every other weekday.

Sutton said incoming seniors were surveyed for "out-of-the-box" instruction ideas.

"We found kids were really interested," Sutton said of the idea for an online course.

She said students were interested in getting a required class completed, and getting experience with an online course, considering that more and more post-secondary courses are offering online options.

Sutton said 21 students signed up for the course and 19 of them were able to complete all the coursework successfully. She said by meeting once a week, she was able to keep tabs on the progress each student was making. She was also available for any questions from students, allowing the students to work through the new challenges of their first online class.

SHS Principal Shannon Donnelly said Sutton deserves credit for offering a progressive idea to broaden her students' opportunities.

"She was very passionate about trying to find an innovative way for students to master the standards in her class and allow students to experience taking an online class. We discussed the importance of students learning how to manage their time and to experience the autonomy of learning the material on their time, when they are ready to learn it, which fits beautifully with many of the personalized learning philosophies that we are bringing to the Somerset High School," Donnelly said.

This class is also the starting salvo in a restructuring of the approach for summer school.

"The creation of Jen's class also led us to have bigger conversations within the building about how we can reevaluate our summer school programming for our high school students as traditionally that time has only been used for remedial work. Moving forward we will be offering additional credit-bearing classes in the summer so students can open up more time in their schedule during the school year to take more classes (electives, AP classes, College in the Schools, etc.) that many students cannot take now with our current structure," Donnelly said.

Sutton said the Consumer Education course had to be restructured so it would work in the new format, compared to daily meetings with the students. She said she went back to the standards on what needed to be accomplished in the classes. The course ended with each student making a presentation on their results from the class. The course is designed to help students understand the financial responsibilities they will face after they graduate from high school.

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SHS begins offering online courses - Richmond-News

A new biography of James Rose explores his difficult brilliance.

Words! Can we ever untangle them? reads James Roses opening salvo in Pencil Points. Appearing in the definitive journal of modernist design thought, the landscape designers 1939 essay rejects preconceived ideas of formal or informal design and makes the case for an organic and materials-based approachan argument approaching revelation at a time when Beaux-Arts methodologies held sway.

Reading the text today, Roses words cut through the decades, carrying with them equal doses of wit, creativity, and frustration with the status quo. An uncompromising designer from his time in and out of Harvard (he was expelled in 1937, later returned but never graduated) to his death in 1991, Rose is the subject of the latest volume of the Masters of Modern Landscape Design series published in association with the Library of American Landscape History and the University of Georgia Press. Its the first biography dedicated to the landscape architect, who although a prolific writer throughout his career and author of four of his own books, has yet to receive the kind of canonical recognition bestowed on his Harvard classmates Garrett Eckbo and Dan Kiley.

As director of the James Rose Center for Landscape Architectural Research and Designa nonprofit located at Roses Ridgewood, New Jersey, homethe books author, Dean Cardasis, FASLA, is well-placed to untangle the competing forces of Roses career. Few of Roses works survive in their original form, and a spare eight are presented as illustrated case studiesa fraction of the more than 80 projects produced in his lifetime. Much of the book is devoted to advocating for Roses achievements while trying to account for the designers disillusionment with the culture of postwar landscape architecture and his eventual self-imposed exile to suburban New Jersey. Although these two threads are not in opposition, they do place a strain on the narrative, suggesting a portrait of a man whose increasing radicalism over the course of decadesfrom modernism to ad hoc material sensibilities to environmentalismcontributed to his own isolation. He was a rebels rebel from the start, an incisive critic destined to follow his own path, Cardasis says.

Early in the prologue for the book, Cardasis describes his first encounter with a 76-year-old Rose (just a couple years before his death). The passage is clearly loving, but also disconcerting. A disheveled and mismatched Rose steps out of a rusty, egg-yolk-colored 1970s VW van, and Cardasis writes: An incredibly long, almost wizard-like straw hat grazed his shoulders and shaded his face. As he looked up I could see he was wearing glasses, but one frame was empty, and the remaining one held a tinted sunglass lens. In that instant I had my first silent lesson from the iconoclastic modern landscape architect James Rose: Have no preconceptions.

A view nearly without boundaries from inside to out at Roses house in Ridgewood, New Jersey. From Progressive Architecture (1954).

Its from this point that a revolutionary must be nudged into the historical fold. The task isnt easy, though it is most successful early in Roses biography. Cardasis, unpacking Roses interest in modernism, finds parallels in the spare poetry of William Carlos Williams and the easy spatial flow of Rudolph Schindlers Kings Road house, which serves as a precedent for Roses home in Ridgewood. In both projects, the use of outdoor rooms and landscape features illustrates Roses maxim that landscape design falls somewhere between architecture and sculpture.

Indeed, Roses own writings referenced modern artists such as Pablo Picasso and the Russian constructivist Naum Gabo. Rose even wrote that a Georges Braque still life and Kurt Schwitterss Rubbish Construction are interesting suggestions for gardens. The book describes that fascination with collage and assemblage, tracking it through Roses work, where it appears initially in the model Rose made of his future home while in the navy, the materials scavenged from around his military station, or in the scrap metal fountains he improvised in the 1960s and 1970s. The author continues this line of argument to suggest Roses use of recycled railroad ties and asphaltused for the steps and terraces of the Averett Garden and House in Columbus, Georgia (1959)as an example of Roses affinity for found objects.

But later, as modernism gave way to countercultural influences, it is harder to pin Rose down. Cardasis chronicles the designers withdrawal from mainstream landscape architecture and, more generally, American culture, citing a growing aversion to the impact of postwar suburban development on the existing landscape as the cause. He quotes from Roses 1958 book Creative Gardens as evidence: The recipe is simple: first, spoil the land by slicing it in particles that will bring the most dollars, add any house that has sufficient selling gimmicks to each slice, and garnish with landscaping.

Perhaps as a respite, Rose began traveling regularly to Japan and eventually began practicing Zen Buddhism. He went to Japan in 1960, and that started a love affair with the country that went on for his whole life, Cardasis told me by phone. Rose found inspiration in the Eastern tradition, especially in the attitudes to the natural world.

Rose and a carpenter confer during roof garden construction in 1970. Courtesy James Rose Center.

Given Roses then-radical understanding of landscape architecture as an integration of spatial and natural conditions, the banal blanketing of suburban conventions across the United States would surely account for his retreat; however, Rose was not alone in his critique. Other writers, designers, and artists of the period shared his early environmentalist stirrings, so it is strange to find few references, especially given the wealth of parallels drawn in support of Roses embrace of modernism. The book makes brief and tantalizing allusion to significant countercultural figures: Timothy Leary (Rose apparently dropped LSD with him but wondered what the fuss was all about) and Alan Watts (Rose studied with him but then renounced Wattss teachings). It would seem that his cantankerous personality instigated isolation as much as his ideology.

The biography doesnt hide that Rose was gay, though the narrative doesnt put emphasis on the designers sexuality as an overt source of his outsiderness. As you know, Rose lived in a time when being gay was extremely difficult, and I can only imagine how that influenced his life and work, Cardasis said in an e-mail. Because of this and in deference to his expressed wishes not to belabor the fact, I did not explore the issue further than a simple reference to his sexuality in the book. More (or less), I thought, would be inappropriate. The result of this tact, however, is that the biography seems a bit closetedthe queerness in Roses methods left for others to explore at a later time.

Despite his iconoclasm, there were moments that suggest possible connections between Rose and other practitioners. For the 1960 issue of Progressive Architecture, the editors asked Rose, Lawrence Halprin, and Karl Linnthe environmentalist, activist, and pioneer of urban gardeningto review each others work. Roses Macht Garden and House in Baltimore from 1956 was subject to strong critique by the others for its expressiveness, particularly what was termed the incessant angled terraces. While Cardasis characterizes the grouping of designers as something the magazine cooked up, as if it were a bit of a stunt, there was clearly editorial intent here to make alignments between three landscape architects operating outside the conventional mien, with anticipatory ties to social and ecological movements. As Roses work reenters the canon, more research is needed to better situate it historically.

Eleanore Pettersen, the architect for the Paley house, brought Rose on to design the garden. The site was a rocky, sloping woodland. Drawn by R. Hruby (1994); Courtesy James Rose Center.

Did Rose deliberately push away his contemporaries and potential allies? Its likely. He was never shy about getting into arguments with clients, but he also had his defenders. In the 1970s and 1980s, he collaborated with the architect Eleanore Pettersen on some 30 projects. In addition to sharing his design sensibilities in terms of fluid relationships between inside and outside, she often acted as Roses advocate, especially when he put off clients and building officials. There seems to be more to explore here between the iconoclastic designer and his champion. Pettersen apprenticed with Frank Lloyd Wright and was the first woman architect to start her own practice in New Jersey in the early 1950s. One cant help but wonder why someone who probably had to fight against social norms throughout her career would willingly stand up for the volatile Rose. The answer in the biography points again to Roses possessing an irascible genius, the nature of which compelled others to be forbearing. This was a period of his practice when he would meditate in the morning and then go build improvisationally on site without drawings. Pettersen, interviewed in 1992, is quoted in the biography simply telling clients: It will be worth it.

Justification for that value is elusive and impressionistic. Because of that lack of documentation, the James Rose foundation has a limited record of projects to refer to for backup. Although he published regularly early in his career, writing essays and three books from the 1930s through the 1960s, Roses pace slowed afterward, and he published his last book, The Heavenly Environment: A Landscape Drama in Three Acts with a Backstage Interlude, in 1987. Ultimately, it is Roses own home, now the James Rose Center for Landscape Architectural Research and Design, that serves as an interpretative text for understanding the work: handmade, iterative, and as quixotic as its author, with courtyards, roof gardens, and a Zendo, each in various states of repair.

The biography puts forth a belief that understanding Roses later oeuvre comes mostly through understanding his singular methodology. Words are left behind to untangle. You can feel it when you go to the site, Cardasis says. As you move through, the garden seems as if it could go on forever. There was no plan as an approach; he just moved through, adjusting things to make people aware of their connectedness to things larger than themselves.

Mimi Zeiger is a critic and curator based in Los Angeles.

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TRACES OF SELF-EXILE - Landscape Architecture Magazine

Together with Vlad Tenev, second-generation American Baiju Bhatt founded the stock brokerage service Robinhood, which lets users trade public stocks from their mobile devices without paying a commission or maintaining a minimum balance. Their app has over 2 million users. Baiju started Robinhood, his third company with Vlad, when he was just 27. Heres how he works.

Location: Palo Alto, CACurrent gig: Robinhood Co-Founder and Co-CEOOne word that best describes how you work: Scientifically.Current mobile device: iPhone 6SCurrent computer: A 2013 MacBook Pro that is covered in stickers

Im an only child and the son of two immigrants; my parents moved to the United States when my father was accepted to a PhD program in theoretical physics at University of Huntsville Alabama. I grew up in a small townPoquoson, VAand went to school at Stanford, following in my dads footsteps to study physics. In college, I met Vlad Tenev, who at the time was a long-haired, string-bean kid with a quirky sense of humor and a penchant for late-night games of chess. The two of us would become the best of friends and go on to co-create two companies in New York together before starting Robinhood in California.

My ballpoint pen and my Moleskine notebook.

Its pretty simple: an external monitor and my laptop.

I run outside almost every day of the week. Ill usually step out during lunch for an hour-long jog around the neighborhoods of Palo Alto and through Stanford campus. It helps me clear my head and put all the things Ive been thinking about back together in creative ways. Also, by the time I get back, Im energetic and generally feeling awesome.

I use the Notes Mac app. Its simple and gets the job done!

I have always had strong willpower. Over the years, Ive overcome challenges when Ive set my mind to them, which has proven especially relevant as Ive created Robinhood and grown as a leader.

A personal but very important example comes from my childhood. As a kid, I had always struggled with being overweight. When I was a sophomore in high school, I decided I wanted to change that once and for all. That spring, I started exercising every single day, and by the time I started junior year, I had lost nearly 70 pounds. I looked and felt like a completely different person.

Lately Ive really liked the new Arcade Fire tracks, Everything Now and Creature Comfort. Im usually listening to music while I work, though mostly instrumental stuff since its difficult for me to hear lyrics and write or read at the same time. A few albums on heavy rotation are Moon Safari by Air & Selected Ambient Works 85-92 by Aphex Twin. Oh, and for a fun fact: In college I played guitar in a jazz/funk band and I DJed under the moniker Thelonious Moustache.

Last week I read a graphic novel called Head Lopper which just has awesome artwork. Last month I took a trip to Japan and read The Way of Zen by Alan Watts. That was fantastic too.

I spend so much of my time either using technology or thinking about building technology, so I like to spend my free time on old-fashioned, analog activities. Two of my favorite ways to recharge include going for long walks in the forests behind Stanford and playing cards with my friends.

Im usually out of bed by 7AM. I like beating the Bay Area traffic by getting into the office early, plus I get at least an hour most mornings to work on personal projects before Im pulled into meetings.

Alexander Hamilton

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you havent found it yet, keep looking. Dont settle. As with all matters of the heart, youll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Dont settle. Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement Speech 2005

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

The How I Work series asks heroes, experts, and flat-out productive people to share their shortcuts, workspaces, routines, and more. Have someone you want to see featured, or questions you think we should ask? Email Nick.

Read more:
I'm Baiju Bhatt, Robinhood CEO, and This Is How I Work - Lifehacker

The last thousand people who live on Houston's streets are the hardest to help. Franccessa Osho shows why

By Hunter Atkins

In June, just outside Minute Maid Park, Oluwabusayo Franccessca Osho lived in a tent.

In June, just outside Minute Maid Park, Oluwabusayo Franccessca...

Inside her tent, she looked into a mirror and saw a superstar. She turned her face, pursed her lips and narrowed her stare. Oluwabusayo Franccessa Osho shimmied with delight.

Outside, at the corner of Preston and Hamilton, across from Minute Maid Park, thousands of baseball fans glanced at the gray tent. Then they kept walking.

Most never saw the small, lithe woman with Bantu knots and onyx skin.

Osho immigrated to the United States from Nigeria, leaving behind a stable family. In Nigeria, she had earned a college degree in international studies, and in Maryland, she studied nursing. But she also had visions of becoming a supermodel posing for magazines, promoting global brands and entertaining television audiences.

Instead, she wound up in Houston, homeless for the better part of two years. In recent months, as the city implemented ordinances that banned panhandling and prohibited tents like hers, she repeatedly declined offers from outreach groups that hoped to help her off the streets.

Houston has nearly 60 percent fewer homeless people than it did five years ago, thanks to an expansion of emergency housing. But the estimated 1,000 who remain on the city's streets are the most difficult to help.

There in her tent, Osho kept a modeling career on her mind and a roll of toilet paper atop a Bible. She embodied the problem the city faces: What to do with someone who needs assistance but refuses to accept it?

She was fed up with outreach services. Basic housing was not enough. She wanted the glamorous life that she had envisioned when she came to this country.

"I don't have to give up on my dreams," Osho said.

They were bound up in a man she referred to as her fianc, Jonathan. She said she did not need help because Jonathan would be getting them a place soon.

"He will take care of me."

Thousands of Astros fans have walked past Osho's tent.

Thousands of Astros fans have walked past Osho's tent.

'Always watches me'

From the other side of Preston, a crosswalk camera shaped like a pupil kept an eye on Osho's tent. The heightened security around the ballpark was one of the reasons she had settled by Minute Maid Park in December.

She did not care for baseball, but the fanfare could raise her spirits.

"It's nice," she said. "It's good to win something."

Once the season started in April, ballgame crowds trundled past her. Sometimes drivers, pedestrians and ballpark security guards gave her things.

She was comfortable in her tent. Her tiny world. Everything within reach. A blanket patterned with peace symbols. Mountain Dew. Ramen. A pink backpack of clothes, including slim dresses.

She rigged a mirror over a small foldout chair like a makeshift vanity and filled soda bottles with lotion. She used baby wipes to stay clean.

Cutouts of natural landscapes and hair models decorated the tent walls. "I look at a beautiful model because I want to be the face of something," she said.

When feeling trustful, Osho showed her bright intellect and spirit. She cackled, giggled and squeaked like a dolphin at play. Court records list her as 5 feet tall, 90 pounds and 29 years old.

She said she is 31, but she looked half that age. Often she acted like a teenager, too. She said she wanted a phone because "I just want to update my profile picture."

Later, after she got a phone, she kept the mesh tent flap zipped shut and her earbuds in. She listened to Ariana Grande songs about love.

Those songs reminded her of Jonathan. She said he texted her, checked on her, sent her money and promoted her modeling portfolio.

He was romantic, she said. She reached into her backpack for a red candy apple. In her reedy fingers, it looked the size of a grapefruit. Jonathan gave it to her, she said, because it symbolized her beauty.

She made him gifts, too. She filled a heart-shaped notepad with love notes. She designed tank tops with messages for him, breaking apart bracelets, removing the stitches from clothes and cutting out letters from a fuzzy scarf to get the materials. She set aside one special tank top to wear for him on June 20, her birthday.

Jonathan had multiple jobs, she explained. He was a musician. He also worked surveillance for the police.

If she wanted something from Jonathan, she stared into the camera across the street and shouted for it. "Jonathan, he always watches me on camera," she said.

Why would Jonathan let her sleep on a sidewalk?

Osho said he was saving up to buy them an apartment.

"Just a young couple trying to make it," she said.

Using scrap materials, Osho made a special tank top to celebrate her birthday.

Using scrap materials, Osho made a special tank top to celebrate...

"No one can stop me"

To read this article in one of Houston's most-spoken languages, click on the button below.

"I came from a good home," Osho said.

She grew up with two sisters in a dusty, motorbike-buzzing city in Osun State, more than three hours north of Lagos. Her parents divorced when she was 9, and she gravitated toward her father, Chief Samson, who works for the postal service.

She fell in love with American entertainment. She watched "E! News," "The Ellen Degeneres Show" and anything with models. She listened to Top 40 country.

She said she applied for a visa in 2008 and won the green-card lottery in 2011. Her father had relatives who lived in Waldorf, Md., so he paid for Osho's plane ticket there. He supported her goals, however lofty, with the expectation that she would earn a nursing degree at the College of Southern Maryland.

"Nigeria isn't really enough for me to show the world the talent that I have," she said. "In America, they won't take you for granted."

Waldorf is not exactly Hollywood: Her first job was at Taco Bell.

It was no place for a supermodel, and her manager recognized that. She lasted six weeks.

On campus, she glided around in elaborate outfits. Wigs and weaves of all colors and styles. Glistening eye shadow lacquered on and accentuated by eyeliner wings. Butterfly earrings larger than her hands. Furs.

On her birthdays, she wore a tiara and pearls with pink clothes to match the icing on cookie cakes that she bought for herself. In a photo, she posed with a cake and made a look of surprise.

"I practically was her only friend," said Raquel Ortiz.

After Osho's first semester, her focus on academics waned, but her dreams of modeling remained.

"She wanted me to take pictures of her everywhere," Ortiz said.

In 2014, Osho parted with the school and broke off from her relatives. She moved into a shelter.

After a year there, she said, she wanted a change of scenery. "I just decided that no matter how, even if I didn't have money, to come to Texas," Osho said. "No one can stop me."

Perhaps not coincidentally, in August 2015, Maryland police had a warrant out for her arrest on trespassing charges.

Supporters at a church bought her a Greyhound ticket. After two days on the bus, Osho exited at Houston's Main Street.

She did not have a plan. But she did know one thing about the city.

On Tuesday nights in Maryland, she had watched Houston's Lakewood Church on TV. The megachurch's sermons and choir reminded her of the services in Nigeria.

In September, after a month in Houston, Osho asked a good Samaritan to take her to a Sunday service at Lakewood. There, she spotted Jonathan in the front row. She was four rows back. He turned, she said, and looked her way.

She attended Sunday services for a few more weeks, moving one row closer and then another. Jonathan made eye contact with her, she said.

Later, anyone who got to know Osho would hear her speak about Jonathan, the fianc she said watched out for her. But she almost never mentioned his full name: Jonathan Osteen.

As in, the son of Lakewood's multi-millionaire televangelist pastor Joel Osteen.

Jonathan Osteen, the recent University of Texas grad. Jonathan Osteen, the teen heartthrob who leads Lakewood Church's band.

Inside the tent.

Inside the tent.

'Glimmer of lucidity'

The events that landed Osho in a tent by the ballpark in December 2016 included a brief stay with the good Samaritan, a longer stretch at the Star of Hope shelter for women, two attacks by homeless men and two misdemeanors for trespassing, one of which led to 38 days in Harris County Jail.

She liked jail. She got to shower there.

"I always think that jail is horrible, disgusting, scary, but when I get to jail, I'm like, oh my God, so much better than sleeping outside," she said. "They even have TV!"

She addressed her violent encounters with more gravity. She said she was throttled while sleeping by the Theater Center and left bleeding from a punch to the forehead. In another tussle, a drunk at a bus stop split open her lip, leaving a scar on her gums.

She said she fought off both men rabidly. She aimed for their eyes and genitals.

Trauma and homelessness go together, experts say. Each can cause the other.Chronic homelessness tends to hardwire effects of the trauma.

When Osho checked into the Star of Hope, no one expected her to change overnight. The shelter recommends committing 18 months to its long-term facility for rehabilitation and job placement.

"It's not easy to restore mental stability when you're living on the streets," said Eva Thibaudeau, the director of programs at Coalition for the Homeless.

But Osho chafed at Star of Hope. She complained about the food. She hated the mats she was given for sleeping on the crowded shelter's floor. She left after six weeks.

She considered the chance to live freely worth braving the risks under U.S. 59. She did not feel vulnerable, she said: Jonathan looked after her. He was a protector and provider. She said he gave her the tent.

For months after Osho cozied up on the corner, various homeless organizations and the Houston Police Department's Homeless Outreach Team talked with her consistently. They were hoping for a "glimmer of lucidity," Thibaudeau said - a moment when Osho might be persuaded to leave the streets.

Jonathan complicated that. Osho refused services because, she said, she had him.

"She has these moments of great lucidity," said Sgt. Steve Wick, who works on the Homeless Outreach Team. "But then whenever it gets to really progressing with her, it gets difficult."

The police Homeless Outreach Team had "dozens" of engagements with Osho, Wick said. Kenneth Eakins, a Star of Hope case manager, estimated he met with her 65 times, sometimes four or five times in one day.

"It's like, 'Where's Jonathan?'" Eakins said, with his palms raised.

"He is real," Osho said.

But a call to Lakewood Church confirmed what outreach workers had long suspected.

Jonathan Osteen has never met Osho, said Andre Davis, a church spokesperson. Jonathan Osteen does not recall seeing Osho at services and does not know anything about her.

In May, Osho bought a cell phone.

In May, Osho bought a cell phone.

Facebook fantasies

From 6,500 miles away, Osho's family kept track of her through Facebook.

She posted images of wedding outfits and babies. By 2016, she showed off a fianc to complete the picture. She put up his music videos. She called him the "love of my life."

Her Facebook world went dormant in October 2016, a couple of months before she began living in her tent outside Minute Maid Park.

"I don't want to be telling my parents that I'm homeless," Osho said. "When I get back on my feet, and I have a house, they will see my beautiful house on Skype."

She could not bear explaining the truth. She slept in a tent that leaked during frequent storms and baked in the Texas heat. She urinated in Tupperware and defecated in shopping bags. When motivated to get up, she disposed of her waste in a trash can. Other times she just reached out and flung it into a sewer drain.

Her father thought she was engaged to be married.

"Initially she was with my cousin," he said over the phone, "but she left to be on her own."

According to Osho's younger sister, Victoria, Osho did not choose to leave their relative's house in Maryland, but he kicked her out at his wife's behest.

Regardless of what made Osho homeless, her family in Nigeria could not find a way to help, and they stopped trying when she said she rebounded in Houston. They were oblivious to her destitution.

"She's totally in sound mind while in Nigeria," said Victoria, when informed of her sister's whereabouts. "I guess (the) constant disappointment made her lose it."

After a stint in housing, Osho has returned to the same spot outside Minute Maid. But she's discarded her tent and sleeps unsheltered now.

After a stint in housing, Osho has returned to the same spot...

Not hopeless

Read more from the original source:
The woman who sleeps across from Minute Maid Park - Houston Chronicle

Denise Sautters CantonRep.com staff writer

Ida Mae Graves of Canton, 94, is on the move.

It isn't always easy for the woman who uses a walker to get around, but Mark Jones is making it easier for her.

"My mother raised us to keep moving," she said. "I don't know why, but I keep doing it, and it is working for me. I feel good."

Her method of movement nowadays is chair yoga, a practice of modified yoga poses with participants seated in a chair instead of on a mat.

"This practice is about balance," said Mark Jones of Canton, who specializes in both mat and chair practices. "It is good for people with specific conditions such as multiple sclerosis, vertigo really, it is for everybody, but primarily for those who have a lack or mobility, balance or ability to stand for any length of time. Like mat yoga, chair yoga provides participants with core strength, good stretch, improved muscle tone, better breathing habits, stress relief and a sense of well-being."

Angela Caster, 70, and Jean Flitcraft, 82, both of Canton, can attest to the benefits of chair yoga.

"I can bend over without falling," said Flitcraft. "I was getting to be a couch potato before I started taking chair yoga. But, now, my balance is so much better, and my body feels so much better now and I have only been doing this not even a year yet."

Caster said she is much more relaxed now, and her knees no longer hurt like they did before.

"I've taken the class for the past four years and I feel so much better than I did before," she said, noting that because of the benefits she's able to work part time at the Meyers Lake YMCA, where she takes her classes.

Flitcraft also takes classes at the Meyers Lake Y, taught by Krysten Neal of Canton. Graves follows Jones at The Regency, where she is a resident.

"We've taught chair yoga here for the past 4 years," said Neal, explaining the program was certified by Silver Sneakers, a fitness program for those 65 and older that is available through numerous insurance companies. "This is a modified yoga program, seated and standing, for older adults who are basically either fit or sedentary that have had some rehabilitation and want to start back into exercise. It is also good for their mental and emotional state, if they are having trouble sleeping or with stress and anxiety."

Neal, 52, is a fan of mat yoga for herself, but really is not a student of the discipline. Most of her yoga education has been through the Silver Sneakers program.

"I've done it on my own here and there but never have been a real student of yoga," she said. "I do like mat yoga, but I do this to help my students breathe better and get their balance."

Jones' parents got him to the mat.

"When I was 42, I began the practice of yoga immediately upon seeing my then-77-year-old mother who had been practicing yoga for more than 30 years swoop easily into a full forward bend to pick up a kitten. I remember committing at that moment to whatever it would take to earn such gracefulness at 77. That was 14 years ago. Today, I have a whole new respect for the practice."

He received his 500-hour level of Brahmrishi Yoga Teacher Training Certification in 2016 and is registered with Yoga Alliance, a nonprofit organization that promotes and supports the teaching of yoga.

He teaches yoga full time now, at numerous locations, including The Regency, Mercy Medical Center and The Danbury.

"The brain runs the show, " he said. "Every movement comes from the brain, so we are using the body to access and quiet the brain. Basically, yoga maintains the body."

Reach Denise at 330-580-8321 or denise.sautters@cantonrep.com. On Twitter:@dsauttersREP

See the original post:
Chair yoga helps Stark County seniors increase mobility, stability - Massillon Independent

When I was growing up there were certain things that boys did and other things reserved for girls. Boy sports included boxing, basketball, and football. Girl sportsWell, girls werent encouraged to engage in sports at all. They were the pretty cheer leaders who did back flips when we scored a touchdown. They were the ones we hoped to score with after the game if we were good enough, strong, enough, fast enough, tall enough, and handsome enough.

But, to paraphrase Bob Dylan, The times are a changing, big time. Now women are doing all the sports that were once reserved for men. In addition to female basketball players and footballers, we now have women boxers like Laila Ali, daughter of Muhammad Ali, and Regina Halmich, who popularized female boxing in Europe. We have mixed-martial artists like Amanda Nunez, Holly Holm and Ronda Rousey.

While women have been breaking through the barriers that have kept them out, men are slower to break through the barriers that have kept them from enjoying and benefitting from healthy activities such as Zumba and Yoga, which in my town, continue to be predominantly practiced by women.

I go to Zumba classes twice a week. I love the Latin music and I get a great workout that keeps me fit. There are additional benefits as I wrote inSix Sex Trends From My Zumba Class.I also go to Yoga classes, which I also enjoy and get great benefit from attending. My wife, Carlin, has taught Yoga classes for many years. It took me awhile to try them out. I had accepted the stereotype that men go to the gym. Women do yoga.

But now I find they are a super good work out. The classes I attend still have mostly women in them, but hey, hanging out with a lot of hot, sweaty women, isnt too bad. I mean, someone has to do it.

Here are some great reasons to do Yoga:

Staying flexible is good at any age, but as I get older, its become increasingly important. A lot of my men friends are stiff and move like old men. I like the feeling of ease I receive.

We all want to keep breathing and insure our hearts are healthy. The American Heart Association recommends Yoga. Hand in hand with leading a heart-healthy lifestyle, it really is possible for a yoga-based model to help prevent or reverse heart disease, saysM. Mala Cunningham, Ph.D.,counseling psychologist and founder of Cardiac Yoga.

I love to play racquetball and my buddy, Ian, is a golfer. With those activities, the spine tends to consistently turn in one direction. Yoga helps balance us out, using postures that keep the spine supple.

In a study by theJournal of Alternative Medicine, overweight men who practiced yogalost four pounds in 10 days.Yoga lowers levels of cortisol, the stress hormone that prompts your body to collect belly fat.

Theres nothing more miserable than back pain and nothing that will ruin your sex life faster. Like most guys I know, I spend a lot of time sitting on my butt in front of a computer. Muscles get tight and shorten and chronic back pain is the result. Yoga not only alleviates lower back pain but also helps with fibromyalgia, osteoporosis, and other kinds of chronic pain.

Yoga uses a combination of physical poses, controlled breathing, and relaxation techniques that have been shown to lower blood pressure and heart rate, both of which help modulate the stress response. Its been proven that yoga can also help withanxietyanddepression.

Ill admit it. Ill try anything that can improve my sex life. Both increased libido and improved sexual performance have been linked to regular yoga practice. In a 2010 study of men ages 24 to 60, yoga was shown toimprove all domains of sexual function in men. The breathing techniques and concentration taught in yoga can help men better channel their sexual energy.

Meet the Men Dedicated to Helping Guys Become Healthier, Happier, and Sexier

Louis dOrigny loved mathematics, but the immense pressures of university life, were stressing him out. He turned to yoga to help improve his physical and emotional strength. After graduating in 2013, he followed the well-trodden path of his predecessors and went to work in banking. But he continued to practice yoga and found it a massive support in becoming a success in the business world.

But he became increasingly disillusioned with the finance world:

I wanted to create something to inspire men to embrace their individuality and be the best that they could be.

During a yoga class in London in September 2014, Louis had the idea that he could create better yoga clothes for men than the offerings currently on the market. Diving in, head first, Louis put all of his time and energy into building OHMME. Whats the deal with the name? I asked. I mixed the yoga mantra sound AUM with the French word for man HOMME to make a brand which is yoga focused and solely for men.

Starting a business alone is very hard, and 18-hour days are not uncommon. Louis uses yoga as a way to calm his mind and maintain focus on the important issues in the business. He also partnered with a fellow yoga enthusiast named Jonty.

Jonty Hikmet was a shy boy growing up in North West London. I had all the usual allergies and ailments as everyone else; Colds in the winter, hay fever in the summer and stomach issues as well, he told me. But in my early 20s I started to align myself more with health. He earned a degree in Business Management, but instead of going to work in an accountancy firm, Jonty moved to Buenos Aires to teach English. Not being able to resist a new experience, he discovered yoga. He later returned to London.

Louis and Jonty met through an Ashtanga yoga class that they both regularly attended in Central London. Here they noticed they were the only guys in the class, and they bonded over wanting to be able encourage guys to get involved in yoga practice. They shared a passion for yoga, business, and helping men break through the stereotypes that have kept men from being all that they can be.

They explained:

We are currently theonlymens yoga brand, created to make men feel that its normal and O.K. to do yoga. This is the only business designed by guys that do yoga,for guys that do not, to encourage them to take up the practice, for their health, fitness and wellness.

Ive been trying out their yoga pants and shorts and I love them for all kinds of movement activities. Theyre extremely well made and super comfortable.

Louis and Jonty take seriously author Sam Keens challenge that The radical vision of the future rests on the belief that the logic that determines either our survival or our destruction is simple:

We use Bluesign fabrics, they told me, which means all of our clothes reduce our collective carbon footprint as much as possible. We use the best fabric technology like recycled plastic bottles which uses 35-55% less energy than making new polyester.

If all that wasnt a reason to check out OHMME, they are offering my readers a 10% discount valid until August 31st2017 with the code M3NALIV3, to use at checkout! Cometake a lookand check them out. Ive been wearing theWarrior I Yoga ShortsandDharma Graphite Pants(which are super well-made and comfortable) depending on what Im doing. But check out their whole line of great clotheshere, take advantage of their special offer today, and let us know what you think.

Be healthy, happy, and sexy, my friends.

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This article originally appeared on Men Alive

Photo credit: Getty Images

The rest is here:
7 Reasons Men Should Do Yoga - The Good Men Project (blog)