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I’m sure you’ve had the experience of finding money in a pair of jeans and the “wow” sensation that comes from the unexpected surprise. That’s what this issue is all about and I hope you have that feeling after reading the February 2021 Logically Speaking. For nearly 40 years, our instructional design team has continually enhanced the CHOICE framework and added many elements to it that, well, make it work so well. Enjoy learning more about all the good stuff you may not have known you get from CHOICE!
Jim Gabalski
Vice President, Logical Operations
If you have any feedback or suggestions, please reply to this email. To read recent issues, click here.
In this issue:
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It’s Not Just a Book! Everything You “Just Get” with CHOICE Curriculum
by Nancy Curtis, VP, Content
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 It’s a simple shortcut many of us inside Logical Operations take to refer to the product we publish as “a book.” I admit I’ve used this terminology myself when convenient!
But I often take a minute to remind myself that the CHOICE instructional materials we design offer so much more. Here are some of the high-value features and components you’ll benefit from when you order a CHOICE “book” from Logical Operations:
- Our unique integrated Instructor Edition, with all Student Manual content included, and pagination consistent between the two editions. E features that benefit you include:
- Marginal instructor notes to guide and support presentation.
- Activity responses inline with activity content – no flipping pages! (Students see suggested answers in a back-of-book Solutions section.)
- Instructor preface with a courseware orientation, setup guide, timing and flow suggestions, and planners to map out your own presentation strategy.
- Digital delivery of teaching slides through the CHOICE platform. Because we provide these in PowerPoint format, you can modify, adjust, enhance, and tailor slide decks to make them your own.
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Student self-check assessments through CHOICE.
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Staged data files and code examples to support our tested, scripted, no-fail activities. (And if you don’t want to set up your own on-premise, technical environments, check out our LogicalLAB virtual-lab offering!)
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Digital Checklists, available on CHOICE and on our mobile app, for just-in-time job-task support linked to the course’s instructional objectives.
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LearnTO and Spotlight media assets to enhance and extend the learning experience.
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The evergreen CHOICE delivery platform; for any given product number, your CHOICE instance will remain up to date for any revisions or refreshes for the life of that individual product.
We are proud to know that when you order an LO curriculum product, you get everything you need for a great learning experience for you and your students.
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LO at the Forefront: A Powerhouse in Curriculum Design
by Nancy Curtis, VP, Content
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As I look back on Logical Operations’ nearly four decades in the field, I realize that we have been at the forefront of every significant movement in adult technology training. These experiences have all combined to inform our sophisticated and field-tested CHOICE instructional model. Here’s a review of some of those key moments in LO history!
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 The original or “classic” Logical Operations was founded in 1982 as a computer-training company. Coming only one year after the release of the IBM PC and the subsequent explosion of office computing technology, LO was on the vanguard of the creation of the technology-training industry itself. Instructor-led training is bred in our bones!
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In 1985, just three years later, LO also helped create the technical instructional-publishing industry from scratch, with the release of some of the first generic technology curriculum available anywhere in the world. Our current CEO, Bill Rosenthal, was a driving force behind the expansion into curriculum publishing that continues to this day.
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In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, operating as Ziff-Davis Education and then as Element K, the company was an innovator in:
- Standards and practices for self-paced e-learning materials for professional use.
- XML-based, single-source instructional authoring.
- LMS-hosted, digital content delivery.
- A structured, repeatable, evidence-based, expert-informed instructional design approach, the genesis of today’s CHOICE curriculum model.
- After Bill re-launched the Logical Operations brand in 2012, LO’s CHOICE digital-delivery platform again led the way in support of VILT, asynchronous ILT, and other emerging dimensions of the Modern Classroom.
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With our latest innovation, the creation of our sister company, CertNexus, we are again leading the way by being the first to develop and deliver certifications specifically targeted to address emerging technologies in today’s business landscape.
As you can see, our experience and expertise run deep; we’ve been leaders in every major innovation in the technology-training landscape for the last 39 years, and we continually feed back what we’ve learned into our product designs and features.
We’ve invented several major industries, and I’m sure we aren’t done yet. What’s the next stage in our journey? I don’t know, but we’re excited to have you along with us. Let’s find out together!
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Masterskill and GISA Launch Data Science Learning Path in South Africa
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Masterskill, founded in 1995, is one of South Africa’s leading providers of IT and business educational content and services to training centers, tertiary education institutions, and corporate organizations. Through strategic partnerships, Masterskill delivers the latest courses, technologies, and examinations to their partners.
 One of Masterskill's top training partners is The Graduate Institute of South Africa (GISA), a training institution that offers quality education to students across three locations in Johannesburg, Braamfontein, and Polokwane. GISA is accredited by the QCTO, MICT SETA, ICB, CIMA, and has been in operation for over 7 years.
Through their partnership with Masterskill, GISA recently had great success with Logical Operations’ Data Science Learning Path, with 53 students to date following the data analyst track that includes training on Microsoft Excel, Power BI, and Tableau. The Data Analyst Learning Path prepares students with the skills required for in-demand data jobs. Students were able to build upon the knowledge gained in each course to advance their skills and prepare for in-demand data jobs.
Data analysis requires that individuals be proficient in working with Microsoft Excel, Power BI, and Tableau. The Logical Operations CHOICE data analyst curriculum provided optimum learner experience and exposure on all three data analysis tools, which is what made the Logical Operations solution attractive for GISA and its students.
GISA sees that data science is critical for all industries and useful to all career paths, and data analysts are therefore required for the well-being of organizations. GISA sees a high demand for data analysts continuing to grow in the coming years. With the Data Analyst Learning Path in place, GISA is well equipped to meet the demand for the prosperity of modern businesses. To learn more about GISA, visit https://www.thegisa.co.za/.
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| What Are Students Saying About the Data Analyst Learning Path? |
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"I found the data analysis course by GISA to be very enjoyable, well thought out, and supplemented with a lot of consideration towards the learners' needs. The course provided additional support material on the Masterskill Logical Operations CHOICE platform. The platform itself was well designed and easy to navigate between the different modules. I appreciated that the course allowed for evaluation of the content both theoretically and practically; it allowed me to see if I understood the software and was able to use that knowledge to perform actions if only given a task to complete."
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Latest Product Highlights
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Content Revisions
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Logical Operations revises student and instructor materials based on technical changes, customer feedback, and our own assessment of necessary changes. The revision notes for the most recent updates are below as well as posted on the new Content Revisions page. Use this page as a resource to quickly access and view all revision details for any of our recent course updates.
093063 - Cisco® Solutions: Implementation and Administration (CCNA 200-301)
For the 1.1 revision, released February 2021, the lab launch paths and course content have been updated to align with the most recent version of the Boson NetSim CCNA 200-301 lab package.
091151 - Microsoft® Excel ® for Office 365™ or Office 2019: Dashboards
For revision 1.01, released February 2021, the course title has been updated to clarify the applicable software environments. The course material itself did not change.
095212 - Microsoft® Power BI®: Data Analysis Professional (Second Edition)
For revision 1.1, released January 2021, updates were made to the course to reflect changes in Microsoft terminology and exam changes.
095211 - Microsoft® Power BI®: Data Analysis Practitioner (Second Edition)
For revision 1.1, released January 2021, updates were made to the course to reflect changes in Microsoft terminology.
Reminder: When viewing a product on the store, check the Revision Information tab to see the summary description of the most recent revision for that product at any time.
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Putting the LO Instructor Resources to Work
by Jon O'Keefe, Technology Education Jedi
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Logical Operations Instructor Editions (IEs) are one of the greatest assets an instructor can have when it comes to preparing and delivering a course. In this article, I will take you through all the additional assets that an instructor gets when they use an LO IE, and help you make sure you are getting your maximum value out of your LO courseware.
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Facilitator’s Guide: Every LO Instructor Edition comes with free access to our Logical Operations Facilitator’s Guide. This guide has helpful tips and tricks for delivering Logical Operations courseware, utilizing our LO CHOICE platform.
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Additional Resource Icons: LO Instructor Editions share the same pagination as the LO Student Manuals, but each Instructor Edition comes loaded with additional instructor suggestions for content delivery, managing learner interactions and progress, applicable spots to provide additional content and engage your learners, and areas where your students might get stuck. The resource icons can help any instructor key the course and identify trouble spots, prepare for student questions, and ready themselves appropriately for the course.
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Classroom Setup Instructions: The LO Instructor Edition is the only edition of the courseware where you can find detailed instructions on setting up a classroom environment. Technical specifications and necessary downloads are only listed in the IE. If you are going to be setting up the classroom for your students, whether in person or virtual, you will need the IE.
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Presentation Planners: The LO Instructor Edition gives you two different presentation planners. First, we lay out a recommended timeline for each lesson and break based on multiple test classes that we use before publishing the book. If you are following along with the recommended timeline for the class, these will guide you through a successful day of instruction making sure students get enough classroom and break time. Second, we provide a blank presentation planner for educators to use if they would like. This allows any educator to quickly adjust the timings they are using on the fly and help them conduct the course over any number of sessions or days.
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Mastery Builders (available in both IEs and SMs): If you have students who finish their activities faster than others, or you end up teaching an advanced class and want to offer them additional activities to work on, the LO Instructor Editions and Student Manuals often have additional activities for students to work through in the back of the book. This means that an instructor can spend less time creating their own activities, and more time prepping for the delivery of the class.
As you can see, instructors who are only teaching from Student Manuals are missing out on some very valuable resources. Logical Operations Instructor Editions are designed with the busy instructor in mind; the additional instructor assets will not only help you save time, but will help you deliver the best class experience for your students.
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CustomCHOICE: All the Benefits of CHOICE Curriculum, Tailored to Your Students' Needs
by Andrea Montanarella, Manager, Custom Production
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 The CustomCHOICE Department has been around since the early 1990s. In that time, our product has evolved from the traditional “textbook” to a robust printed or digital manual accompanied by digital assets to support various learning styles and today’s classroom settings. Digital assets include your own platform URL, a modular, customized courseware manual, data files, your logo on the cover, and much, much more.
A CustomCHOICE experience will provide you all the same components as the mainline CHOICE instructional product. You’ll get all the benefits of the rigorous and proven Logical Operations instructional design approach, plus access to the full package of CHOICE product components that you can then tailor as you see fit. We developed CustomCHOICE over the years to support the ever-changing demands of businesses, training centers, and students by allowing you to select a module or modules from one course or multiple courses. This allows LO to customize the content for you to fill skill gaps and meet clients’ and students’ learning objectives and learning styles.
For more information on how to customize our materials to meet your needs, contact me directly for a personalized demo, via email at cprint@logicaloperations.com or phone at 1-800-456-4677 option 4. I look forward to discussing how our CustomCHOICE solutions can help your business!
Andrea Montanarella
Manager, Custom Production
cprint@logicaloperations.com
1-800-456-4677—Option 4 | Direct: 585-350-7014
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Bill Rosenthal
CEO
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How We Survived Two Industrial Revolutions, Two Financial Crises, and an Ongoing Global Pandemic
A conversation with Bill Rosenthal, CEO, Logical Operations
1. What is the secret to Logical Operations' longevity?
 Listen to Bill's audio response here >
That’s a great question. Simply said, I operate my businesses under a kind of short goal or saying, which is "to have fun and make money”. And I think that applies to everybody—me, the staff, customers—everybody associated with the business. Because I think when you’re having fun, you’re advancing your career personally, you’re enjoying your time at work, you’re enjoying working with other people, be it working with other people within your company or working with people in different companies. And making money is achieving personal success. I think we’ve been around for over 35 years because we’re really focused on creating a work environment that works for our people and creating products and services that the people who use it feel good about using, and it creates a good work environment for themselves. Along the way we make some money, because of course everyone wants to have some sort of reward—there is the intrinsic reward of having fun and enjoying your work environment, and then there is the extrinsic reward of getting money, which helps you live your life and do other things. So I think at the end of the day, we’ve never lost sight of that fact. If we focus on the people, both who work for us and the people we serve, and we’re creating good products and services in an environment that’s good, we’re going to stick around.
2. What technology do you see changing the world? What are the big technological macro-drivers?
Listen to Bill's audio response here >
The biggest technology that changes the world and that I think will continue to change the world, is the same technology that changed the world thousands of years ago. And it’s the ability for people to communicate. I really believe that a lot of what drives technology and a lot of what people are adopting and using it, is their ability to better communicate with other people. In the early days, papyrus and reeds allowed you to communicate with people that lived near you, but maybe not in your house, and to share stories and save them, and then over time those became the Gutenberg printing press and now you’re looking at things like the Internet. I really believe that all the things that we use today, think about the most popular technology—the Internet, telephones, YouTube, social media, even electric cars—they’re all driven by this fundamental desire to better communicate and to better interact with the world around us. And so as I think about what the future is, and what we want to stay focused on is the question of “what are those tools that are enabling that communicative position to happen?”. To happen better, to happen faster, to happen cheaper. And that’s where you get to. If I think back, Logical Operations’ very first products were how to manage your DOS, how to build spreadsheets and documents. And what was the point of spreadsheets and documents? To share information, to communicate with other people. Fast forward to today, to the 6,000+ products in our catalog, and at its core, virtually every one is about helping other people communicate with other people. We really stay focused on that, and so far that has worked for us.
3. What is your vision for the future of LO?
Listen to Bill's audio response here >
Along the same lines as the previous question—as the ability of people to communicate changes, we're going to change along with it. We’re not a one-trick pony. Our founding, over 35 years ago, was about helping people leverage technology to make their lives better. That fundamental vision hasn’t changed. We’re not about making the best word processing training, or making training for spreadsheets that works better and easier than everyone else. It’s ultimately about identifying technologies that help people better interact with their world and help them be happier and more successful, make more money, get the next job—whatever those things are. We’ll gravitate towards those and build products and services in that mode. And I think that’s going to serve us for a long time.
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