Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

Tech Tip #41

The holidays are here, and we're sure everyone is out shopping or online.  Since it is the season of giving , we thought it would be nice for the IT Department to share  good websites that can offer some great deals on computers, electronics, accessories , and etc.

www.buy.com

www.newegg.com

www.tigerdirect.com

The Web has plenty more to offer than just the few above,  but we find that in some occasions they have deals that are real hard to pass up.

If you are looking for reviews and advice, these are great resources:

http://reviews.cnet.com   

www.consumerreports.org/cro/electronics-computers/index.htm

Have a nice holiday!

Tech Tip #40

I am sure everyone wished they had more room on their computer's desktop.  Well, laptop users can easily plug in an external monitor to extend  viewing capabilities.   This Feature is called Extended Desktop.  Extended Desktop mode allows you to display a document or application across multiple monitors or use each monitor to display a different document or application.  

1.       Connect an external monitor to your VGA port on your laptop

2.       Right click on your desktop and select  “Graphic” properties 

3.       Change your operating Mode to Extended Desktop ,  Win XP -  check the box     Extend my windows desktop onto this monitor"

4.       If you performed this correctly, your primary monitor should still be the same, and your external monitor should just have your desktop without icons.

Some Tips while in extended Desktop Mode:

• Your mouse can move from one desktop to another by going to the edge of one monitor
• Your external monitor can be a projector, flat screen, or television
• Applications can be dragged between either screen as you would drag them around one screen

Happy Computing!

A New Way to Learn It!

Learn It Systems has created a virtual training site available to all employees.  The goal in mind was to have a place where all new hires can go to get the training they need in all areas of the company.  As a variety of new videos are to be created, all employees are encouraged to log in periodically.  


Here is a message from VP of Technoloy, Russell Lum, announcing the launch of the site:

"We are officially announcing the release of our new Virtual Training site!  Within the site you can view short flash videos about different topics from each of the core departments.  There is also a downloadable resources repository on the site for additional related materials.  This site is the result of a collaboration from IT and HR with a representative from each of the departments participating in it’s design and content.

ITS TIME TO LEARN - VIRTUALLY!

HOW TO LOGIN?

Visit The Site (http://training.learnitsystems.net)  NO WWW

All Learn It employees with aLearn It email address already have access!  Username: the username is your firstname.lastname Password: is your assigned Learn It email password. Don’t Remember your pass word?Click Forgot Password!

Training Is Now On Demand!

Short 3 to 5 minute videos allow you to learn about key topics in detail in minutes!  No more trying to understand over a bad phone connection or follow along in a time consuming webinar going over all the topics! Complex concepts are explained quickly with video and you can follow along while logged into other systems!"

LOGIN TO TRAINING TODAY:

http://training.learnitsystems.net

Meet VP of Business Development, Matt!

Learn It Systems would like to welcome VP of Business Development, Matt Stringer!  Here is a message from President and CEO, Michael Maloney, welcoming Matt to our team.


"Please join me in welcoming Matt Stringer to Learn It Systems as the Vice President of Business Development.  Matt will lead our business development strategy efforts and will use a consultative team selling approach to identify new markets and business opportunities nationally, across all lines of business. Matt will be working closely with our field organization to develop non-SES sales strategies in each of our regional markets.

Matt is joining Learn It Systems from Progressus Therapy. Progressus is the nation’s leading provider of school-based Speech Language Pathology, Occupational and Physical Therapy services and solutions with revenues of $45M annually. As the Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Matt was responsible for all aspects of the company’s sales and marketing strategies including business development, client management, as well as the recruiting and marketing teams.

Matt has a long career in the education industry with progressive sales and marketing roles with Catapult Learning, Calvert Education Services, and Mindsurf Networks. While at Catapult, Matt reported directly to the CEO where he was the Vice President of Sales and Marketing leading a team of 18 direct reports to $100M+ in revenues annually. Matt has extensive experience leading inside and outside teams to uncover and close new business opportunities.

I am excited to have Matt on the Learn It team and I know his solid industry knowledge and experience will bring many new opportunities to the organization as we continue to diversify our suite of services.  

Matt currently resides in Tampa, FL with his wife Jane and their son and daughter.  Matt will be traveling extensively for the next few months and will be relocating to Baltimore in the spring.

Please join in wishing Matt the best in his new role.

Best,

Michael"

Learn It Welcomes COO, Ebbie!

We'd like to welcome COO, Ebbie Parsons, III to the Learn It team!  Here is a message from our President & CEO, Michael Maloney, announcing Ebbie's hire.  

"Team,

I’m very excited to announce the appointment of Dr. Ebbie Parsons, III as COO of Learn It Systems.  Ebbie Parsons, III brings to Learn It Systems more than 10 years of operations leadership experience across both the public and private sector.  In his new role as Chief Operating Officer, Ebbie will be overseeing program operations, Education Quality, and Business Development. 

Prior to joining Learn It Systems, Ebbie served as Chief Operating Officer of Mosaica Education, one of the world’s premiere education management companies. While at Mosaica, Ebbie had management oversight of more than 2,000 employees worldwide and was directly responsible for operating over 90 schools across the United States and Asia.  Before joining Mosaica, Ebbie spent most of his career at Fortune 500 companies but chose to leave a promising corporate career to help reform K-12 education from the top down. Ebbie’s big break into educational leadership came as part of the prestigious Broad Residency Program in Urban Education, sponsored by the Eli & Edythe Broad Foundation.  While a Broad Resident, Ebbie served as Acting Chief Operating Officer of Hartford Public Schools, the largest school district in the state of Connecticut, directing a staff of over 400 employees across 7 different departments.

Since his time as a Broad Resident, Ebbie has made it his personal mission to improve the institution of education and he has proudly impacted the lives of more than 75,000 children around the world while delivering unprecedented business results to the organizations in which he has served. A true testament to his passion for education, Ebbie recently completed his Ed.D. in Educational and Organizational Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to his Doctorate, Ebbie earned an MBA from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota and a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from the Florida A&M – Florida State University College of Engineering.  Ebbie also studied at Harvard University, where he earned an Executive Certificate in Performance Management.

Ebbie currently resides in Atlanta, GA with his wife Ayana. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with family and friends, attending sporting events, and traveling internationally.

Please join me in welcoming Ebbie to the organization."

Michael Maloney

President & CEO

Learn It Systems

Team Retreat 2012

The Online Team, Kory and Marc,
present their SWOT Analysis

On Tuesday, November 8th, the departments under Legal and Government Affairs (aka Team Wolf) spent the day at their yearly Team Retreat.  It was held at the Loyola Center in Timonium, and the team was ready to go at 8:30 a.m. to work on strategic plans for the upcoming year.

Each team presented status summaries of their plans developed last December and their department's current SWOT analysis.  After breaking for lunch, each department moved into separate break-out rooms to develop a new strategic plan for 2012, which was then presented to the entire group.

After a full day of analyzing and planning, Team Wolf continued its retreat with a team building event located at Red Zone.  Breaking into two teams, instant strategizing and competitive natures came out of everyone during a game of laser tag.  Alphonza's (Regional Education Quality Manager) team took the victory, and everyone huddled at the score board to look at the stats.  Completely pumped from the fun "Capture The Flag" version of tag, a rematch (with the addition of President & CEO, Michael) immediately took place, resulting in a tie with Kory's (Online Program Manager) team's win.

Calling it even, Team Wolf gathered in a room to enjoy some dinner before departing home for the evening.  Raquel (VP of Legal & Government Affairs) lead a successful and fun team retreat, and we all thank her for getting us out of the office to strategize and bond with our fellow colleagues.

Departments that participated:

• Education
• Legal
• Marketing
• Non-Public
• Online

Newsletters

Fall Newsletter, Issue 1, DC Non-Pub

Summer Program Newsletter, Week 4, St. Thomas, USVI

The Marketing team would like to share some information about the customized newsletter program now available to our field teams.  We have found newsletters to be a successful marketing tool within a few of our regions and programs.  They are a great way to share information with our students' families, instructors, and administrators. 

WHY SEND OUT NEWSLETTERS? 

Newsletters give you an opportunity to:

• Promote Parent Involvement Events
• Submit personalized letters/notes from Area Managers
• Introduce Learn It teachers
• Provide educational tips for parents
• Share calendars and important dates
• Summarize weekly, student activities and projects
• Display program photos

CAN I CUSTOMIZE MY NEWSLETTER?
We have templates that are easy to use and to drop in information. This is what we can customize:

Frequency: 

• We recommend quarterly newsletters, but you can send them monthly, twice a school year, or as often as you wish
• Delivery methods:
  Printed stacks for handing out/mailing on your own, mailers done through the Corporate office (please note this would add cost), electronic files to e-mail
• Content:
  We recommend inserting Area Manager welcome letters, calendars/important dates, event information, educational tips, Learn It teachers biographies, and program pictures.  Of course this is unlimited, and any information you would like to provide can be used. 

Tip:  It is easiest to give us too much information than too little!

HOW DO I GET STARTED? 

Our advice in getting started:

• Develop a plan for when you would like to send home newsletters to your students
• Type up all of the information in a Word document or e-mail (scanned documents do not work well)
• Gather your own photos or let us know what time of imaging you'd like to use
• Gather any testimonials you have received
• Organize upcoming events and give us the details.  We can also include pictures of marketing materials on newsletters. 
• Contact us EARLY.  Newsletters are time sensitive and need to be distributed quickly.  Keep in mind that we are working on newsletters and other marketing efforts at the same time. 
• Give us all of your ideas!

The photos above are a few examples to give you an idea of what has been used out in the field.  These examples are from our most recent newsletters that have been used for Learn It's U.S. Virgin Island Summer Schoolhouse program on St. Thomas and St. Croix and our Non-Public Services program in Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. 

TO SUM IT ALL UP...
We in the Marketing Department know no two newsletters are the same and can work with you to develop a plan that works for your region or program. 

Take a look at the newsletters we have already created, start compiling the information you want to share, and contact the Marketing Department to discuss the next steps.

Weekly Tech Tips Debut

The LIS IT department sends out useful and user friendly tech tips to its employees on a weekly basis.  We, in the Marketing department, like the tech tips so much that we decided to share these on our blog for everyone to see.  We'd like to thank IT Manager, Chad Kornick, for sending us these.  They don't go unnoticed, and we appreciate all of this fantastic information!


Each week we will be posting the new tech tip we receive.  Check back frequently for these handy tips and to learn something new!

Tech Tip  #39

Want a quick way to see your windows calendar?

It is real simple.  LEFT click the time on your desktop.  This will bring up Windows Calendar and allow you to scroll through the months.

For those Outlook users, a quick way to get to your Outlook calendar is to hit  CTRL + 2 .   

CTRL + N  will create a new calendar entry as well.    

This is a great shortcut to create a new entry for contacts, notes, new mail messages, new tasks, and etc. This will save you a lot of time instead of fumbling around with your mouse.

Learn It is Ready for the 2011-2012 School Year!

Learn It is excited for the 2011-2012 school year, even though it is getting off to a messy start with hurricane Irene!

Fallen tree in Marketing Manager,
Troy's, neighborhood

Hurricane Irene hit the Baltimore area Saturday, August 27th with strong wind gusts and heavy rain.  Many residents and offices have fallen trees and are without power.  Thought Irene left her mark on us, no injuries or serious damage has been reported within our Learn It family.  


The Corporate office is still without power, leaving employees to work from home today.  This, however, is not stopping us from gearing up for the new school year!  




What has Learn It been up to this summer?


• The Marketing team has been providing regions with fresh, new flyers and print materials 
• The Data and Education team has been submitting End of Year reports showcasing last year's success and growth
•  HR has been working with Corporate departments to provide exciting, new training videos for new hires


Just to name a few!


We are also pleased to welcome our 2011-2012 Cristo Rey Jesuit High School interns!  Starting on September 6, the Corporate office will have students assisting all departments to further their education and plan for their future.  Take the time to introduce yourself, and make them feel like part of our team. 


We are glad to have India Lamb return to our office, and we will have three new students joining us. 


The work schedule is as follows:


-Monday: Tyshae Jones, sophomore
Tyshae is a friendly and helpful lady who worked in the medical field last school year where she always received solid evaluations from her supervisors.


-Tuesday: India Lamb, senior
India provided great value to our team last year and has been working hard all summer.  She is excited to get back into the office to better the lives of children. 


-Wednesday: Lakeshia Holmes, freshman
Lakeshia is an outgoing and charismatic young lady who describes herself as optimistic, determined, and fun-loving.  She enjoys swimming, shopping, soccer, and computers.  Longterm, she is interested in a career as  a nurse or working with children.


-Thursday: Stephanie Gandara, freshman
Stephanie describes herself as hardworking, organized, and funny.  She enjoys taking care of kids and pets and likes to draw and play basketball.  She is interested in a career in law.


-Friday: Rotation Day


If you would like a copy of Cristo Rey's Corporate Internship Program school year calendar, please contact Kerry in Marketing.


Stay safe today and we hope to see everyone back into the office tomorrow!  We also hope students enjoy their last, summer day!  


We are ready to LIVE IT, LOVE IT, LEARN IT!

Scripps National Spelling Bee Recap

Robbie Palmisano comes in 42nd at the Scripp's National Spelling Bee!

The stellar stage at the 
Scripps National Spelling Bee 2011.
The Learn It Marketing team digs the design!

The Scripp's National Spelling Bee was held last week at the Gaylord Hotel & Convention Center in Washington, D.C.  Learn It's sponsored participant, Robbie Palmisano, competed along with eight other students from Maryland and did a tremendous job!  He represented his school, Hereford Middle School, as participant #100.




After taking a written spelling test and spelling two words in the preliminary rounds, Robbie tied for 42nd place, just missing the televised Bee by one point.  Out of a total of 274 participants, this is a great accomplishment.  














The buzz about Robbie:
• This was his second year participating in the Scripps National Spelling Bee
• He spelled both of his words in the preliminary rounds correctly: 
  1st word:  jacquard

  2nd word: blitzkrieg

• Robbie has NEVER spelled a word incorrectly on stage (at school, regionally, and nationally)

Profile:

Robbie is 14 years old and enjoys playing basketball for his school team. He won a district- and county-wide free throw shooting tournament and qualified for the state finals. He plays trumpet and is a member of his school’s award-winning jazz band. Robbie loves math competitions and competes with his school’s Mathcounts team, which advanced to the state finals two years in a row. In his free time, Robbie enjoys playing golf, video games and chess. He also likes to build with Legos and spend time outside with his dog Shylo. Robbie has participated in the 2010 Scripps National Spelling Bee two years in a row.     

He will attend Hereford High School this Fall.

The Learn It team congratulates Robbie and is proud of his accomplishments!  Way to go!

Great work, Cristo Rey interns!

Learn It would like to thank all of our Cristo Rey interns for their hard work this year!

This is Learn It's second year participating in Cristo Rey Jesuit High School's internship program.  Each year, we have had four interns (one from each grade level) spend one day a week with us on a rotating schedule.  The students helped out tremendously in the Operations and Marketing department with print production, shipping, and data entry.  They were also exposed to other areas of the company as they assisted HR, Accounting, Payroll, and IT with administrative tasks.  The internship program gives students the opportunity to gain experience working in a professional environment and to decide which career path to pursue.  Our interns do not walk away with pay checks; instead, their pay goes directly towards their college education.  


We enjoyed working with all of our interns this year, and they provided a lot of value to our Learn It team. Thank you for all of your hard work and positive attitudes!  


Monday, May 23, was our senior's, Dion Smith, last day, and the company congratulated him with a pot luck lunch.  Dion has been with us these past two school years, and he was a pleasure to work with.  He graduates from Cristo Rey on June 18, and all of us at Learn It wish him the best!

Marketing Manager (Troy Laur), Sr. Director of HR (Leigh Hannan), 
Production Assistant (Nathan Livengood), Marketing Coordinator (Kerry Prisel), 
Intern (Dion Smith), EQ Consultant (Jerrelle Francois), 
and President and CEO (Michael Maloney)

It Beegins today!

Today is the first day of the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.!


Friday morning, our Marketing Manager and Executive Assistant, Troy Laur and Meghan Myers Stella, attended a celebration for our sponsored Baltimore Bee winner, Robbie Palmisano.  It was held at Robbie's school, Hereford Middle School.  Students and teachers gathered around to wish Robbie good luck at the Scripps National Spelling Bee, and delicious cake was served to start out the school day!  


The Bee officially began this morning at 8:00 a.m., where all participants partook in the written 25-word Round One Test.  


The following is a detailed description of the Bee's agenda for the next couple of days:

BEE '11

Tuesday, May 31

All 275 spellers take the written 25-word Round One Test during the Assembly, which begins at 8:00 a.m. Spellers sit in assigned seats at tables in the center front section of the Maryland Ballroom and all other individuals sit in unreserved seats on a first-come, first-served basis. 


The pronouncer, Dr. Jacques Bailly, recites the first word, followed by any alternate pronunciations, the part of speech, origin, definition and its use in a sentence. He repeats the word and information, pauses for 30 seconds, then proceeds on to the next word. After the 25 words have been given, Dr. Bailly will recite each word once in order from 1 to 25 with no word information.


Each word is worth one point and all 25 spellings will count toward each speller's Preliminaries score.

Wednesday, June 1

All 275 spellers participate in Rounds Two and Three onstage between 8:00 a.m. and 5:15 p.m. EDT.


For each correct spelling offered by a speller in Rounds Two and Three, the speller earns three points that count toward his Preliminaries score. It is possible for a speller to earn up to 31 points in the Preliminaries: 25 points on the Round One Test plus 3 points for a correct spelling in Round Two plus 3 points for a correct spelling in Round Three.

Immediately after the conclusion of Round Three, Bee officials determine semifinalists in accordance with Rule 4. The spellers whose Preliminaries scores are higher than the Preliminaries scores of at least 225 other spellers will be named semifinalists. No more than 50 spellers will qualify for the Semifinals. 

Thursday, June 2

Semifinalists compete onstage between 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. EDT. In general, a speller is out of the competition once he misspells.


Championship Finalists compete onstage beginning at 8:30 p.m. EDT. In general, a speller is out of the competition once he misspells except for circumstances addressed in Rule 12.




We will keep you posted on Robbie's progress!  We are confident he is going to do very well.  Good luck, Robbie!

Channel 2 News Interviews Baltimore Bee Winner

Channel 2 News interviewed Baltimore Bee winner, Robbie Palmisano, about his victory and preparations for the Scripps National Spelling Bee coming up at the end of May!

This will be Robbie's second year participating in Scripps National Spelling Bee.  Watch the interview to hear about the support behind him and his dedicated study habits.  The spelling bee will be held May 31 - June 2 in Washington, DC.  Further information will be given out closer to the end of the month.  Portions of the bee will be broadcasted live on TV and online.

Let's show our support for Robbie and cheer him on!

Click here to Watch Robbie's Interview

Take the Pledge!

Free after school tutoring is at risk, and there is something you can do about it!

The SES program is in danger of being eliminated from our schools, and we need to hear from you in hopes to save it!  Families need all the help they can get for enhancing their children's educational success, and now you can take the pledge to lend a hand.  Stand up for free after school tutoring and let your voice be heard.  Parents, tutors, and children from across the nation have shared their messages of support.  It's time to join them.


Click here to take the pledge!  

Baltimore Bee Recap

Learn It Systems hosted the Baltimore Bee Saturday, March 12, 2011.

Robbie Palmisano of Hereford Middle School was the 2011 Baltimore Spelling Bee champion. The event lasted from 10:00am-1:30pm and was held earlier today (Saturday, March 12, 2011) at Towson University.  This is Robbie's second year in a row winning the Bee.  He was last year's Baltimore Bee champion and thus will be making his second trip to Washington, DC in June to represent the greater Baltimore region in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. 

Robbie's winning word was: Execration - meaning the act of cursing or denouncing.

The 1st and 2nd place participants from this year were also the 1st and 2nd place participants from last year's Baltimore Spelling Bee.  Overall, this year's Bee lasted 33 rounds with the final two spellers completing 25 consecutive rounds against one another before the winner was crowned. 

The students ages range from 3^rd grade (8-9yo) to 8^th grade (13yo).  These students come from Public, Private, Charter and Home schools in Baltimore City and County.  All students in the Baltimore Bee won their school spelling bee which qualified them for participation in this event.

 

The results of the Bee are as follows:

 

1st Place- Robbie Palmisano, 8th grade, Hereford Middle School, from Phoenix, MD

2nd Place- Elizabeth Bernatowicz, 7th grade, Masters Academy, from Freeland, MD

3rd Place- Ashon Carwell, 6th grade, Woodhome Elementary/Middle School, from Baltimore, MD

 

Learn It Systems would like to congratulate all participants for their tremendous efforts and doing a great job representing their individual schools.  

A couple of interesting notes about the 2011 Baltimore Spelling Bee:

 

1. The Bee was the 6th Annual Baltimore Spelling Bee held at Stephens Hall on the campus of Towson University

 

2.  This years judges were Councilman Bill Henry, 4th District, Baltimore City Council and Tina Nelson, Baltimore County Public Schools.  Additionally, Councilman William P. Welch provided the schools with Commendations and warm regards to this year's 60 participants.

 

3. The Bee is sponsored by Learn It Systems in partnership with Towson University

 

4. Towson University has hosted the Bee for the past four years

 

5. Learn It Systems is an educational services company based in Baltimore, MD that provides research-based reading and math tutoring services to struggling students in Baltimore City, County and in 27 other states across the United States and in Puerto Rico and U.S.V.I.