April 6th, 2011 by Robin Green

Have you ever considered LMS training in herbal medicine? Herbal medicine refers to the use of plants for medical purposes. This means not only the treatment and prevention of disease, but the promotion of healthy lives and resolving health problems before they have an impact on one’s quality of life. Herbal medicine education trains aspiring herbalists to practice using plants as remedies, something that in many countries is a common practice that many people already know through tradition.

Medical systems like Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine depend on herbalists to treat patients. However, in the U.S., herbal medicines often come from North American and European plants.

All kinds of health professions, from herbalists to naturopathic medics to chiropractors make use of herbal medicinal solutions in their practices. As the herbalist industry grows and more and more people seek natural alternatives to pharmaceutical ones, an increasing number of people are seeking education in this growing field. LMS online programs are often a convenient and low-cost solution for aspiring herbalists.

In the U.S., herbalist medicine is widely varied. It can include someone who grows herbs, “wildcrafts” or picks herbs, manufactures herbal products, teaches or counsels on herbal medicine, or supplements, as I already mentioned, another profession such as nutrition or naturapathic medicine.

What can you expect in an LMS herbalist medicine course, or a university herbal medicine program? Herbalist medicine training typically includes courses on botany and plant identification, human physiology, pharmacology, biochemistry, and the history and philosophy of herbalism. It may also include issues of professional practice.

What are the career opportunities for LMS herbalism students? Herbal medicine practitioners who have completed LMS training can expect a welcoming market. With an increasing number of studies on the benefits of herbalism and the spreading of scientific data showing the results of such medicinal practices, interest in herbal medicine and therapy has grown world-wide.

What are a few of the careers that an LMS herbalism student can train for? Careers include owning a retail store, counseling about herbal products and uses, growing herbs to sell to manufacturers, and operating small-scale manufacturing companies which produce herbal products. Most herbalists are self-employed.

Teaching is another great option for herbalists, and are abailable through many alternative medicine colleges. Some herbalists also work for the kinds of businesses mentioned above. To discover these job opportunities, check out online forums, attend conferences of professional herbalist groups, or get to know herbalists in your area. In other words, network. These positions are rarely included through the traditional sources like the classified ad section of your local newspaper.

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March 30th, 2011 by Robin Green

Recently I wrote about asking your employer for more training, an extra online LMS course, or a raise. I talked about how women are statistically less likely to approach their bosses about a raise, and when they do so, they are viewed more negatively than when men do the same thing. But whether you’re a man or a woman who has hesitated about requesting funds for work-related education, you might be unsure about how to go about broaching the subject to your boss.

In this dog-eat-dog world, I think it’s an apt metaphor to think of your boss as your master and you as–if you will–his dog. If you can condescend to consider yourself as such for a moment, let’s imagine you want your master to throw you a bone. The bone represents a raise, an LMS online course, or any other such request. How do you get him to do throw it to you? He’s reading the paper; he’s watching a football game; he’s on his phone. He’s a busy man. The bone might not even be in his line of vision. Maybe it’s under the blue sofa, well within your own line of sight. In any case, think about it. What are the odds that he is going to take notice of your lingering around the blue sofa, immediately understand your wishes, and stoop down to scoop it out for you? Slim to none.

What’s the solution? You’ve got to paw it out yourself and present it to him. Only by doing so is there a chance that he’ll catch your drift and throw you the bone. It’s probably simply not occurred to him to do this, and ultimately, if you present it to him and the conditions are right (we’ll get to those in a moment), then it only takes him a second to chuck it out for you. It ultimately doesn’t affect him all that much, and if he thinks you deserve it, then the matter is settled. In the end you’ll be a better dog for getting some exercise and fun, and everyone wins.

Now, the conditions have to be right, and you have to do some research (yes, we are leaving the dog metaphor behind for a moment). First, consult with people who have held similar positions or work with companies with similar goods and services. Whether you’re asking for a raise or online training, this will help you get a sense of what you can expect, and what’s out there.

Second, timing is another critical condition for approaching your boss about LMS education or a raise. There is such a thing as bad timing for asking your boss for a raise or course; for example, when your company is going through a substantial financial loss. Good timing would be during an annual performance review. This is akin to the difference between trying to get your master to throw you a bone during a fight with his girlfriend versus doing so when he is filling your dish or giving you attention.

Lastly, specifically if you’re asking for a raise, be sure to state the amount you want (after research). Don’t be the first to offer a number; deflect the question if necessary. Finally, don’t provide the amount of your previous salary. After all, it is not relevant to your next salary, given the change of circumstances and the position.

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March 24th, 2011 by Robin Green

Would you like to make yourself more relevant at work or simply improve your skills, but you aren’t sure how? This is a problem many people (including myself) face when it comes to maximizing their potential and letting their skills shine. It often has to do with personality traits such as shyness or aversion to attention, or simply not wanting to put yourself in the spotlight.

Perhaps just the idea of talking to your employer about the possibility of picking up a course teaching some work-related skill makes you feel slightly nauseous.

Sometimes it requires the encouragement of a coworker or a friend to approach your boss about possible improvements, courses you are interested in taking whose costs you hope your employers will cover, or LMS online training which you can complete at home in your free time.

Women especially have a difficult time approaching their boss for salary raises or training and LMS courses. Several recent studies, including a 2010 study in the U.S. of gender in the workplace, show that when asking for a salary raise, women are much weaker than men, and less likely to even state their case to their employer. And since classes that are paid for by an employer basically mean a raise in pay, even if they are work related, the same applies for LMS courses and other work-related education.

I once decided to take a Spanish language class offered at a university location near my workplace. I knew that other employees were taking language classes, since our organization was an international one which holds meetings held in various languages, but it never even occurred to me to ask my boss if my course could be covered until a coworker brought up the possibility.

Still, it took me a few days (cutting it close to the sign-up deadline for the course) to approach my boss about it. I waited until we were alone sitting at lunch, and felt my face turn beet-red as I explained my plans and stated my inquiry. He said he would look into it, and I receive my answer days later, affirmative. I was ecstatic, but noted regretfully that without the encouragement and easy confidence of my (male) coworker, I never would have asked in the first place, and would have ended up covering the costs of my language course, which come to about 1/8 the amount of my salary.

Moral of the story? Whether you’re a shy male or female, getting over your hesitation can pay off, and it can also help fatten up your ego so that next time you need to approach your employer about something–whether it’s LMS course-related or about another work-related topic–it won’t be as painful.

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March 16th, 2011 by Robin Green

As I wrote in a recent post, LMS certifications in wedding planning are on the rise due to an increasing interest in customized weddings.

How many times have you been to a particularly unique or creative wedding? Or flipped through a Facebook album (perhaps of someone you don’t even know directly) of a wedding that caught your attention?

Customized, creative weddings are all the rage and more and more soon-to-be-married couples have their own wedding ideas that they would like help fleshing out. Many also don’t have a specific idea, but would like some help figuring out what their perfect wedding would be. This is where wedding planners come in, and the reason why LMS wedding planning certification is an increasingly popular endeavor in the U.S..

One example of a customized wedding I recently attended was what I’ll call a “green wedding”. It took place near Burlington, Vermont, on a hill with a beautiful view. At the reception, all plates and cutlery were compostable. Drinks were organic and their provenance was local breweries and wineries. The food was mouth-wateringly delicious, and the pig they roasted came from a local organic farm which uses free range and humane practices. Actually, local and organic were two characteristics applicable nearly to everything, from the table clothes to the fruits and vegetables. Wedding favors for the guests, pots of oregano, basil and other herbs, also served simply and beautifully as the table centerpieces.

During the ceremony, the bride and groom’s spiritual beliefs were written into their vows, and their attire was symbolic as well, straying purposely from the traditional white gown and tuxedo. In short, everything was customized and in line with the bride and groom’s beliefs.

My friend, the bride, is now considering an LMS certification in wedding planning—or creating an LMS course herself, since she now has the experience of planning her own wedding under her belt. In fact, her then fiancé had twisted an ankle during an ultimate frisbee match the week before, leaving my friend in charge of instructing the wedding help and calling most of the shots concerning the details.

Wedding planning, the affair of managing, coordinating and planning a wedding, is something that people are increasingly paying for in order to truly enjoy a non-stressful wedding. Although my friend claims she enjoyed her wedding, she also admits she was totally overwhelmed with all the details, and was happy when it ended.
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March 9th, 2011 by Robin Green

Have you ever thought about taking or creating an LMS certification course in wedding planning?

At a wedding I helped set up last summer, I remember talking to people who had planned their own weddings. During the setup they felt a strong desire to give their advice and suggestions. They said that after planning such a challenging and time-consuming logistical and symbolic event, they were eager to share their knowledge.

It’s knowledge that very few people, except wedding planners or LMS wedding planning certification creators, ever use again.

Throughout history and socio-economic classes, weddings have traditionally been a special event that people are willing to invest in perfecting.

Across the world, weddings have mushroomed to a multi-billion dollar industry. Each year in the U.S., there are around 2.5 million weddings, and none of them exactly the same.

In an age when people’s interests, tastes and spiritual beliefs are increasingly varied, it takes a great deal of time, thought and energy to plan the perfect wedding. More and more people seek personalized, customizable weddings, but don’t want to be in charge of the logistics, wedding invitations, clothing, music, reception, bachelor and bachelorette parties, ceremony, and all the other details involved in making the wedding a perfect event.

Therefore, more couples are seeking assistance in making their wedding dreams come true, and therefore the professional wedding planning industry, along with LMS online training and in-person certification courses, is growing rapidly.

Just as there are as many tastes and styles as there are different kinds of people under the sun, there are endless ways in which a wedding can be conducted. A wedding planner is a professional with expertise, an LMS wedding planning certification, or just a strong reputation and great ideas who helps plan and organize weddings according to the wishes of the soon-to-be-married.

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March 2nd, 2011 by Robin Green

For both educators and LMS course creators, the effectiveness of your material will depend on how organically you’re able to work in the essential repetition that builds on itself.

As I’ve written about previously, repetition and memorization are the basic building blocks of knowledge. My history teacher used to say, “You can’t make up an empty mind.” I remember recalling this phrase in a college classroom where one particular professor sat back and allowed student dialogue to rule the classroom (a pedagogical approach that’s increasingly popular in humanities departments). I wanted to hear what my professor knew; I wanted to get the basic building blocks of the course material before we were to do any group discussion.

I wouldn’t have minded having to memorize a few facts, ingest a few critical texts or novels (it was a literature class), in order to then climb the “skill ladder” at a swifter speed. And indeed, that is the fastest way to climb any skill ladder—with repetition and transforms the unknown into the known.

The problem is, how can LMS course creators or educators design material that includes repetition without losing students’ interest?

Learning, after all, is seldom its own reward. Even if you’ve put together the most exciting and intellectually stimulating LMS course ever made, the point of taking your course is the new skill or knowledge hoped to be gained—not the joy of learning in itself. Both children and adults learn for different motivations—children for stickers and shining report cards, and adults for the practical new skill that they’ll be obtaining. So the best way to include repetition is to create activities and learning sessions which allow students to immediately put into hands-on practice what they’ve learned.

The more repetition/practice your course includes, the more confidence students gain, not only in their own abilities, but in the ability of the course to effectively weave in repetition that enables them to climb the skill ladder.

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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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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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