February 23rd, 2011 by Robin Green

In designing online training or other adult LMS courseware, close your eyes and remember the last time you really learned something. When was the last time you dug your nails into learning something complicated, be it a work-related LMS course or a more personal endeavor, like learning to play the guitar?

If nothing comes to mind right away, try to recall learning how to drive. It’s something most of us have at least vague memories of, and perhaps a few moments in particular. I myself remember almost all of it (how could I forget?). The thrill, the sense of possibility and anticipation of new experiences—and, inevitably, the frustrations.

Luckily, my mother was a good sport (and apparently enjoyed living dangerously) and took me out driving. She suffered months and months of practice. I remember panicking at intersections, cutting drivers off, and being told to take it slow, relax, over and over.

The very first time I got behind a wheel, my father took me to an abandoned lot and we drove in circle after circle. I remember thinking as I tried to maneuver around cones while practicing parellel parking: I am never going to be able to do this. And indeed, it took me quite a while to learn to drive.

Like driving or any other skill, everyone learns at their own pace. But none of us is born with the ability to drive or play the guitar, and that’s where pedagogical strategies enter into play—and your own knowledge and expertise as an LMS course creator. Repetition and practice may be the only ways for knowledge to be truly digested in LMS online training. The challenge lies in working repetition into your course in an effective and engaging fashion.

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Coggno.com offers world-class LMS features and benefits.

February 20th, 2011 by Robin Green

More companies are looking toward online training as a way to increase the effectiveness of their human resources departments. It is necessary for companies to ascertain their human resources departments are fully trained in order for them to provide the services that are necessary for the companies they service. The application of the process of assessment solutions will help guarantee you effectively maximize your company’s human resources department. In order to teach your human resources employees how to utilize assessment solutions to their benefit participation in online training courses is a necessary first step.

Using assessment solutions will allow human resources professionals to choose the right candidates for open positions using a variety of structured systems. The criteria that is part of these assessment solutions allows you to use testing procedures in order to determine which applicants are the best for the position in which they are interested in addition to evaluating their ability to be a productive part of your company’s business model. There is a definite need to engage in new technology and deviate from the old methods that involve reviewing resumes, interviews, background checks and other similar criteria. That doesn’t mean this methods are not effective, but they are not enough for human resources professionals to effectively assess the suitability of candidates.

Unlike the old assessment methods the modern systems take many other factors into account such as testing for skills and abilities, assessments of behavior and personality, structured interviews that provide necessary assessments and simulations and many more. These assessment solutions will allow you to implement skills and abilities tests during the screening stage, and since they provide immediate results, human resources employees will spend less time and resources while they are attempting to recruit new employees.

Not only are assessment solutions perfect for recruiting and hiring new employees, but they are also excellent tools for assessing training and developmental needs of a company’s existing employees. These assessments can help the company determine whether there is a need for online training in order to bring those employees in line with the company’s needs and expectations. This knowledge will help the human resources department as well as department managers develop online training courses that will be beneficial to the needs of the company while also expanding the knowledge base of all employees so they are better able to meet company goals and missions.

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Coggno.com offers premier online education world wide.

February 16th, 2011 by Robin Green

As educators, it’s easy to bemoan and criticize the trend of short attention spans in the digital generation. As a language teacher, for example, it’s like pulling teeth to coax students students unwilling to perform repetitious drilling.

Memorization and rote learning, of course, gets a bad rap. For years repetition has been deemed an inadequate teaching technique.

However, memorization is still a highly valuable teaching and study practice. Some examples are typing, playing the piano, and learning an alphabet, a language, or the multiplication tables. None of these skills could be learned without the use of repetition, memorization, and “rote learning”.

In learning a language, repetition is essential. After all, a new word often isn’t registered into the brain until it’s been repeated about 15 times.

We educators need to respond to changing times in a proactive way. We can’t go back in time or change students’ behaviors. Instead, it’s time to take the efforts to adapt the multimedia, quick-paced digital generation.

Blended learning techniques involving audio and visual tools are an absolute must. A learning management system (LMS) is one big tool that offers many possibilities for educators and subject matter experts interested in designing a dynamic course that caters to our tech-savvy youth.

However, even if you don’t use an LMS or incorporate online learning into your classroom, you can still tap into the audio and visual pedagogical tools on your own. Make a podcast that students can listen to on their ride home, or on their way to work. Create a video of your classroom, encouraging students to participate.

There are many ways, using an LMS or not, to adapt to the digital generation’s ways, rather than simply lamenting them.

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Coggno.com is a leading provider of high-quality learning management system.

February 13th, 2011 by Robin Green

The simple and basic power cycles (Brayton Cycle, Otto Cycle and Diesel Cycle), power cycle components/processes (compression, combustion and expansion) and compressible flow components (nozzle, diffuser and thrust) are presented in this course material.  In the presented power cycles, power cycle components/process and compressible flow components analysis, air is used as the working fluid.

For each power cycle, the thermal efficiency derivation is presented with a simple mathematical approach.  Also, for each power cycle, a T - s diagram and cycle major performance trends (thermal efficiency, specific power output and power output) are plotted in a few figures as a function of compression ratio, turbine inlet temperature and/or final combustion temperature, working fluid mass flow rate and both isentropic compression and expansion efficiency.  It should be noted that this course material does not deal with costs (capital, operational or maintenance).

For compression and expansion, the technical performance of mentioned power cycle components/processes for ideal and real operation is presented with a given relationship between pressure and temperature and compression and expansion efficiency.

Complete combustion with and without heat loss is presented.  Six different fuels (carbon, hydrogen, sulfur, coal, oil and gas) react with air as the oxidant at different stoichiometry values (stoichiometry => 1) and oxidant inlet temperature values.

Reactants and combustion products enthalpy values change with an increase in the temperature and such enthalpy values are presented in a plot where one can notice fuel higher heating value (HHV) and flame temperature definitions.  Physical properties of basic combustion reactants and products are presented in an enthalpy vs temperature plot.

The combustion technical performance at stoichiometry => 1 conditions is presented knowing the enthalpy values for combustion reactants and products, given as a function of temperature.  Combustion products composition on both weight and mole basis is given in tabular form and plotted in a few figures. Also, flame temperature, oxidant to fuel ratio and fuel higher heating value (HHV) are presented in tabular form and plotted in a few figures.  The provided output data and plots allow one to determine the major combustion performance laws and trends.

The technical performance of compressible flow components (subsonic nozzle, diffuser and thrust) is presented with a given relationship between pressure and temperature as a function of Mach Number and isentropic nozzle and diffuser efficiency.

The compressible flow components T - s diagrams and their major performance trends (stagnation over static temperature and pressure) are plotted in a few figures as a function of the Mach Number.

In this course material, the student gets familiar with the simple and basic power cycles and power cycle components/processes, compressible flow components and their T - s and h - T diagrams, ideal vs real operation and major performance trends.

Get familiar with basic energy conversion engineering assumptions and equations by taking the Energy Conversion Ideal vs Real Operation Analysis Webinar on the Coggno online training marketplace.

February 9th, 2011 by Robin Green

As the internet generation is bombarded with newer and newer ways to distract itself, we can’t really get a clear picture of all the consequences they’re having on young people’s learning systems. But one outcome is plain to anyone who spends time in any classroom, whether it’s 100% face-to-face or LMS-supplemented: shorter attention spans.

Studies show that the digital generation is less willing to read long texts, perform repetitious exercises, and memorize basic information needed to advance in any learning system, LMS or otherwise.

One problem is that this tech-savvy generation expects instant gratification, and therefore is quicker to lose confidence when faced with challenges. When success is not immediately obtained, students are quicker to lose the confidence required to see a difficult task through to completion.

And with cell phones and smartphones, students are easily distracted on a moment-to-moment basis. Many teachers are forced to create phone rules in the classroom, such as maintaining cell phones on the desk top in clear sight. However, many students get around these rules by bringing two phones to school, one active and one inactive, and hiding the one they use in their coats or in their desks.

More and more young people are admit to an adversion to reading anything but bite-sized information. We have, in effect, a generation of nonreaders.

However, one thing is still true: students are motivated to learn when what they’re learning is valuable to them, and/or seems relevant to their lives. How can these trends be mitigated or even capitalized on with the use of LMS, online training, and other educational technology?

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Coggno.com is a leading provider of high-quality LMS.

February 6th, 2011 by Robin Green

The ideal, simple and basic power cycles (Carnot Cycle, Brayton Cycle, Otto Cycle and Diesel Cycle), ideal power cycle components/processes (compression, combustion and expansion) and ideal compressible flow components (subsonic nozzle, diffuser and thrust) are presented in this course material.

When dealing with power cycles two different approaches are taken with respect to the working fluid.  For Carnot Cycle and Brayton Cycle, air argon, helium and nitrogen are considered as the working fluid.  For Otto Cycle and Diesel Cycle, only air is used as the working fluid.

When dealing with power cycle components/processes (compression and expansion) and compressible flow (nozzle, diffuser and thrust), air, argon, helium and nitrogen are used as the working fluid.

When dealing with combustion, six different fuels (carbon, hydrogen, sulfur, coal, oil and gas) react with air and oxygen enriched air as the oxidant at different stoichiometry values (stoichiometry => 1) and oxidant inlet temperature values.

For each power cycle thermal efficiency derivation is presented with a simple mathematical approach.  Also, for each power cycle, a T - s diagram and power cycle major performance trends (thermal efficiency, specific power output, power output, combustion products composition on weight and mole basis, specific fuel consumption and stoichiometry) are plotted in a few figures as a function of compression ratio, turbine inlet temperature and/or final combustion temperature and working fluid mass flow rate.  It should be noted that this course material does not deal with costs (capital, operational or maintenance).

For compression and expansion, the technical performance of mentioned power cycle components/processes is presented with a given relationship between pressure and temperature.  While for combustion, the technical performance at stoichiometry => 1 conditions is presented knowing the enthalpy values for combustion reactants and products, given as a function of temperature.  This course material provides the compression and expansion T - s diagrams and their major performance trends plotted in a few figures as a function of compression and expansion pressure ratio and working fluid mass flow rate.  For each combustion case considered, combustion products composition on both weight and mole basis is given in tabular form and plotted in a few figures.  Also, flame temperature, stoichiometric oxidant to fuel ratio and fuel higher heating value (HHV) are presented in tabular form and plotted in a few figures.  The provided output data and plots allow one to determine the major combustion performance laws and trends.

For subsonic nozzle, diffuser and thrust, the technical performance of mentioned compressible flow components is presented with a given relationship between pressure and temperature as a function of Mach Number.  This course provides the compressible flow components T - s diagrams and their major performance trends (stagnation over static temperature and pressure) are plotted in a few figures as a function of the Mach Number.

In this course material, the student gets familiar with the ideal simple and basic power cycles, power cycle components/processes and compressible flow components and their T - s and h - T diagrams, operation and major performance trends.

Learn more about advance energy conversion analysis by taking the online training course on the Coggno Training Marketplace.

February 2nd, 2011 by Robin Green

Perhaps you own your own business which has nothing to do with web design. If so, you already understand the value of web design skills. This is because you’ve probably spent a pretty penny on web designers to design your site for you, as well as to maintain it.

Each time you want to announce news, a new product, or any other topic on your website, you have to contact your web designer, and write another check.

Why not learn those skills yourself? Why not design, maintain and update your own company website?

Not enough people who consider themselves “non-tech-savvy” are taking advantage of online LMS web design courses which could save their companies thousands of dollars. Intensive online courses in Dreamweaver and other web design editing and management tools are quick and affordable, and allow learners to go at their own pace.

Some online courses include online classrooms, which include threaded messaging systems through which students may interact with each other. Each class, instructors post lectures and reading material, as well as hands-on activities such as simulations and web design practice tasks for students to complete on their own. If you run into problems, the discussion forums are a great space for discussing topics, beyond communication with the instructor.

LMS web design courses often have no specific meeting time, which allow learners to attend class according to their own free time. However, combined with the threaded forum format, interaction with other participants and online support are still possible.

Consider an introductory web design class hosted on an LMS platform. Designing your own beautiful website may be the first step to reaching your organizational goals and cutting out large costs.

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Coggno.com is a leading provider of world-class online training.