Lead a Fit and Healthy Life
Education
25 Years After Disaster, Keeping the Challenger Spirit Alive
01 year ago
On the morning of Jan. 28, 1986, there was a collective gasp as Americans watched the space shuttle Challenger break apart just 73 seconds after it lifted off from Florida on what was supposed to be a mission of discovery and education.
All seven astronauts died, including Christa McAuliffe, the first teacher chosen to go into space.
via 25 Years After Disaster, Keeping the Challenger Spirit Alive.
Live Webcast: Drive Customer Retention with Social Marketing
01 year ago
This is great exposure for me and the company I work for – K12, Inc and the out of the box thinking we did to create a successful community for our online school families using their software. Register and Attend if you can – Thursday, December 9, 2010!
Drive Customer Retention with Social Marketing.
Learn real-life online community strategies for proactively engaging customers, to boost satisfaction and loyalty.
Increase customer retention with social business:
The choice between business as usual, and social business, was clear for K12 Inc. K12, a leading online curriculum provider with thousands of teachers and tens of thousands of students, chose social business to proactively engage with customers to resolve issues, increase satisfaction, and drive loyalty through a connected, educated community. Rather than trying to rely solely on consumer social tools like Facebook, the company built a community to foster an engaged, loyal customer base and drive sustainable competitive advantage.
When you attend, you’ll hear the insights and best practices that K12 learned when implementing their social business strategy, such as:
- Leveraging social marketing tools to drive customer retention
- Engaging proactively with customers to boost satisfaction and gather feedback
- Driving viral adoption, not just among students, but also a less socially-savvy demographic — their parents
- Thursday, December 9, 2010
- 10:00 AM Pacific / 1:00 PM Eastern
It’s time for an Education Revolution
01 year ago
I am the Community Program Manager for the country’s leading online education provider, K12, Inc. They provide online education options for grades K-12 in many states and internationally via public and private schools. Everyday I get to interact and meet the community of parents who choose this option for their families. It’s one of the most satisfying aspects of my job — getting to hear and see the opportunity and benefit that this provides to many families. I knew next to nothing about online education when I began working here almost 4 years ago. Our company has had tremendous growth — and is really an idea whose time has come! And like many people I know, I had a pre-conceived notion of the type of families that would choose online education. But now, I know that any thoughts I had about the community of families were completely wrong. The truth is — there is no one type of family –there are a ton of reasons why someone would choose this option. I have met them all — and it has opened my mind to what online education has to offer everyone.
With this push for an Education Revolution by Oprah, Bill Gates and other innovative thought leaders – I believe online education’s time has come! It’s an exciting time for all of us — time to change the way we all have thought about education and learning and there is room for everyone that wants to join it.
As a part of my role, I also get to represent the company using social media tools. I am on a team of corporate bloggers that get to share our thoughts and musings directly with those we are helping. How lucky am I? I am a parent with school aged kids. I get to meet other parents and share experiences and also share my personal experience on a national level. Every day I realize how fortunate I am — So here is my latest blog post at k12.com/blog the thinktanK -
Childhood Nutrition a Serious Issue in Schools
01 year ago
Childhood Nutrition a Serious Issue in Schools | Fresh Healthy Vending.
Childhood nutrition plays a very big role in a child’s well being physically, emotionally, mentally and socially. A child who is not properly nourished can have difficulties in focusing with his/her academic performance in school. His/her physical appearance especially those who are overweight can also lead to low self-esteem because they are most likely to be teased or bullied by other children. Children with low-self esteem often have a hard time interacting with other kids which greatly affects their social life.As more cases of obesity increase year by year, schools have been paying more attention to their student’s health. Most schools have been making a big makeover with the food they offer in their ala carte and school vending options. More fruits and vegetables are being offered and less of the fried and greasy foods. Sugared sodas have also been banned in schools. With the joint efforts of schools and the government, children are being educated with what healthy eating can do for them and how it can help them become healthier and better individuals.Aside from offering healthier food choices, schools are also encouraged to provide physical activities for their students. Most students don’t get daily physical education.
About eight percent of elementary schools, 6.4 percent of middle school and only 5.8 percent of high schools have daily physical education each school year. If the school increases physical education even just by having an hour per week, then children will learn more about their health and will know how to take care of their selves better.Parents believe that educating children about exercise and proper nutrition is very important. More physical education means less risk of childhood obesity. The amount of physical education recommended by the federal government per week is five hours.Another way to teach kids about food is by getting the kids involved with planting gardens in schools. Studies show that children who are involved with planting food have higher vegetable intake than children who do not have garden programs in their schools. Growing food also promotes environmental awareness to kids. This activity can be both beneficial for our children’s health and the environment’s health as well.
Snaglearning is an Educational Tool
0K12, Inc is an online education company that serves k-12 students. Working there lets me develop new ideas and products in an emerging market that really impacts actual families. And I am so lucky because I get to talk to the families and interact with them on a daily basis. Connecting with other parents who have the same wishes and hopes for their children as I do for mine. A part of my job involves doing a lot of research on our business and hence when people see me online often — I have to explain it really is a part of my job. When I do find interesting, relevant information that has something to do with either online learning, education, parenting, children, learning or schools – it’s part of my job to send it out to followers or management. How lucky am I that as a part of my job – I get to do what I do when I am not doing my job! So I found this interesting mention in Ted Leonsis’s blog and wanted to share. Learning communities are not only for kids ya know!
SnagLearning is dedicated to presenting high-quality documentary films as educational tools to ignite meaningful discussion within the learning community.
Free Museum Day 2010 on Friday September 25, 2010
01 year ago
September 25, 2010 is…
Museum Day 2010 | Smithsonian.com.
Find a participating museum and plan a family outing!
Museum Day is an annual event hosted by Smithsonian Media in which participating museums across the country open their doors for free to anyone presenting a Museum Day Ticket.
Teaching Girls Programming
21 year ago
Here’s a pic of Hannah and her partner working on a small basic training module on Sunday. I wrote about it last week: Teaching Kids Programming Event. Although I think Hannah was a bit younger than the ideal age to introduce some of the concepts, it did spark some overall interest in programming. One the drive home she asked when she can work with her Daddy on building some stuff on the computer.
I think it is so great that Microsoft and Gen INC TV and Learning Tree International created this event to target young girls and introduce them to programming early. The earlier you show young girls that they can “get” science, math and computer technology, the great chance at success in “hooking” them for future careers.
And I love that they let Hannah go even though she didn’t meet the age target. They were open to seeing how she would take to it… What a great event and I hope to see more of these nationwide!
Way to go Microsoft!
Teens Experiencing Facebook Fatigue
01 year ago
Teens Experiencing Facebook Fatigue [STUDY].
Online gaming site Roiworld surveyed 600 teens ages 13 to 17 in late April and found that teens spend two hours per day online on average, 80% of which is spent using a social network. These same teens are, however, showing signs of “Facebook Fatigue.” Nearly one in five (19%) who have an account no longer visit Facebook or are using it less.
Of the group that are saying goodbye to Facebook (Facebook), 45% have lost interest, 16% are leaving because their parents are there, 14% say there are “too many adults/older people” and 13% are concerned about the privacy of their personal information.
While interest in Facebook may be waning, it’s still the most popular social network among teens — 78% have created a profile and 69% still use it. YouTube (YouTube) ranks second; 64% of teens claim to have a YouTube profile and continue to use the site. MySpace (MySpace) comes in a distant third (41%) and Twitter (Twitter) takes the fourth spot (20%).
It’s going to end up biting us in the ass
01 year ago
Rachael Ray Lobbies Capitol for School Lunch Bill – NYTimes.com.
Instead, she grimaced, leaned in and sounded off about the federal Child Nutrition Act and what she considers to be the government’s stingy reimbursement rates for school lunches. “Ridiculous,” she said.
Rachel Ray also has a non-profit called Yum-o! Check it out for good recipes and ideas to empower kids to develop a healthy relationship with food!
Yum-o!® is a nonprofit organization that empowers kids and their families to develop healthy relationships with food and cooking by teaching families to cook, feeding hungry kids and funding cooking education and scholarships.
Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution
This food revolution is about saving America’s health by changing the way you eat. It’s not just a TV show, it’s a movement for you, your family and your community. If you care about your kids and their future take this revolution and make it your own. Educate yourself about food and cooking. Find out what your child is eating at school. Make only a few small changes and magical things will happen. Switching from processed to fresh food will not only make you feel better but it will add years to your life.
It’s so hard to argue for this stuff in the face of serious budget cuts all over the country in education. Read this article: http://nyti.ms/9sLGYS to understand the extreme measures that some states are having to take to educate our children in the midst of an economic crisis. Asking for changes in nutritional guidelines and assistance costs money too. Money they already don’t have. We are asking people what is more important – kid’s health or their education? The mere fact that we have to even ask that question is mind boggling…they are both important and non-negotiable to our future.
And while you are learning about the shortfalls in education, you turn the page to read about the record profits at banking institutions and oil companies. It’s so hard to fathom that we can’t possibly find the budget dollars to invest in education and health without having to short another important program when we know in the end, the lack of investing in both education and nutrition will come back around and bite us in the ass.
Lack of a quality education =lack of innovation, economic progress, less ability to compete and thrive on a global level (to name a few)
Lack of education about and access of good nutrition = increase in cancer rates, increase in obesity rates, increase in health care needs (to name a few).
Sigh…
