The World of the Avatar It is fascinating to have the desire to be aware of what is happening in the Universe, our Planet and within the group of souls around us and indeed our very own personal and intimate life. Some individuals have reached this current incarnation and are working their way toward feeling the integration of many levels of illumination. The truth is that we touch all of these areas at a deeper level, and the soul (thoughts and feelings) will determine if we are willing to embrace the experience this time around. In the increasing circles of our growth and awareness, (and I choose to call them circles rather than levels for specific reasons) the very essence of the feeling generated inside of us is calling for a deeper and higher view through our hierarchy of needs as described and recently verified in the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs as he originally taught. No level is lessor or to be belittled and the full integration of these logical categories is completely necessary with both our human and divine natures. None are to be seen as weakness or being lessor but only the next step in our evolution toward a heavenly existence of peace, love, wisdom and self-actualization toward Transcendence to a current Holy Place in our own being. Book Clearly Addresses this thesis: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is as follows and a reminder: Transcendence Self-Actualization Esteem Needs Social Needs Safety Needs Physiological Needs

A major investment in professional development is necessary to ensure the fundamental success of instructors in technology-integrated classrooms and in online courses. However, while traditional models of professional development rely on face-to-face instruction, online methods are also gaining traction-viable means for faculty development. Virtual Mentoring for Teachers: Online Professional Development Practices offers peer-reviewed essays and research reports contributed by an array of scholars and practitioners in the field of instructional technology and online education. It is organized around two primary themes: professional development models for faculty in online environments and understanding e-Learning and best practices in teaching and learning in online environments. The objective of this scholarship is to highlight research-based online professional development programs and best practices models that have been shown to enhance effective teaching and learning in a variety of environments.

This book focuses on the interplay between pedagogy and technology, and their fusion for the advancement of smart learning environments. It discusses various components of this interplay, including learning and assessment paradigms, social factors and policies, emerging technologies, innovative application of mature technologies, transformation of curriculum and teaching behavior, transformation of administration, best infusion practices, and piloting of new ideas. The book provides an archival forum for researchers, academics, practitioners and industry professionals interested and/or engaged in reforming teaching and learning methods by promoting smart learning environments. It also facilitates discussions and constructive dialogue among various stakeholders on the limitations of existing learning environments, the need for reform, innovative uses of emerging pedagogical approaches and technologies, and sharing and promoting best practices, leading to the evolution, design and implementation of smart learning environments.

Mentors are people who make a significant difference to the lives of others, lifting them out of being ordinary and leading them to an almost magical transformation. This book is a comprehensive guide to the intricate world of mentoring in organizational settings. Based on the author’s pioneering research and wide-ranging practice, this book unravels the entire mentoring process, from building the mentor-mentee relationship to the precautions that need to be taken and the ways in which organizational goals can be attained. He also discusses: – The skills of a good mentor – How the mentor’s mind works, and the values and attitudes she/he must have – The mentor’s code of ethics – How to handle tricky situations relating to power, authority, and gender issues – How to set up a successful mentoring scheme in an organization Enriched with actual cases and the experiences of people undergoing mentoring, this book is a powerful tool for understanding and practice.

Leadership literature is dominated by Western paradigms, but what about the lessons of leadership from a cross-cultural perspective? In this highly readable volume, Sy Islam and Gordon B. Schmidt utilise examples from Avatar: The Last Airbender to bring this unique lens of perspective to a range of leadership behaviour themes.

How to Use Mentoring to Drive Maximum Competitive Advantage Techniques and lessons from IBM’s world-class mentoring programs—for every business and HR leader, strategist, Chief Learning Officer, consultant, trainer, and scholar For today’s enterprises, few challenges are as daunting as preparing tomorrow’s leaders. Mentoring is one of the most powerful tools at their disposal. But not all mentoring programs are equally effective, and not all companies have learned how to sustain mentoring. One company has: IBM. Intelligent Mentoring reveals how IBM has done it–and offers specific guidance and best practices you can use to achieve equally powerful results. Intelligent Mentoring shows how IBM has fully integrated a diverse portfolio of formal mentoring initiatives into both talent development and innovation promotion. Whether you’re a business leader, strategist, Chief Learning Officer, training specialist, coach, or consultant, this book presents a state-of-the-art framework for making mentoring work. Drawing on IBM’s experience, the authors demonstrate how to build a diverse portfolio of effective mentoring programs...use mentoring to strengthen organizational intelligence...build sustainable communities of mentors and mentees...promote collaboration across differences... and above all, link mentoring to strategy and use it to sustain competitive advantage. • Use mentoring to develop tomorrow’s world-class business leaders Actionable solutions and best practices from IBM’s breakthrough mentoring program • Embrace mentoring as a high-performance work practice Maximizing, capturing, and communicating the value-added impact of mentoring • Set the right goals for mentoring: then achieve them Utilize mentoring to strengthen organizational learning, improve retention, promote innovation, and more • Use mentoring to solve your organization’s most “wicked” problems How mentoring can help you respond to complex, tangled challenges you’ve never faced before

This thoroughly updated Second Edition of the Handbook of Youth Mentoring presents the only comprehensive synthesis of current theory, research, and practice in the field of youth mentoring. Editors David L. DuBois and Michael J. Karcher gather leading experts in the field to offer critical and informative analyses of the full spectrum of topics that are essential to advancing our understanding of the principles for effective mentoring of young people. This volume includes twenty new chapter topics and eighteen completely revised chapters based on the latest research on these topics. Each chapter has been reviewed by leading practitioners, making this handbook the strongest bridge between research and practice available in the field of youth mentoring.

The world is changing rapidly, and perhaps the most compelling evidence of this change is found in the way people use technology to access services that formerly required an in-person visit. Now, for the first time, a real church with denominational standing is as close as ones computer. In Ministry to the Avatars: Building a Real Church in a Virtual World, author and reverend Dr. Jerold A. Garber shares the transcendent story of First United Church of Christ Second Lifea virtual church designed and built in Second Life, a 3-D virtual world with over thirty-six million individual accounts and over one million active users each month. While it began as an experiment in faith and inclusivity, First UCC SL today has full standing in the Eastern Association of the Southern California Nevada Conference of the United Church of Christ, and it is the first church in a mainline denomination to achieve full standing while owning no physical property. Since its founding, First United Church of Christ Second Life has grown into a multifaceted, vibrant ministry with a 365-day-a-year presence in Second Life, and it is also a member of the Open and Affirming Coalition of the UCC, an association of churches affirming the full inclusions of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered persons in the churchs life and ministry. Come and witness the wonderful things that can be achieved when service to others transcends the boundaries of reality! Visit the First United Church of Christ Second Life website at http://www.firstuccsl.org and Second Lifes 3D virtual world created by Linden Lab at http://www.secondlife.com.

15 “simple but powerful” (The New York Times Book Review) strategies for raising emotionally healthy girls, based on cutting-edge science that explains the modern pressures that make it so difficult for adolescent girls to thrive “This is a brave and important book; the challenging stories—both personal and scientific—will make you think, and, hopefully, act.”—Bruce D. Perry, MD, PhD, New York Times bestselling co-author of What Happened to You? ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, Mashable Anyone caring for girls today knows that our daughters, students, and girls next door are more anxious and more prone to depression and self-harming than ever before. The question that no one has yet been able to credibly answer is Why? Now we have answers. As award-winning writer Donna Jackson Nakazawa deftly explains in Girls on the Brink, new findings reveal that the crisis facing today’s girls is a biologically rooted phenomenon: the earlier onset of puberty mixes badly with the unchecked bloom of social media and cultural misogyny. When this toxic clash occurs during the critical neurodevelopmental window of adolescence, it can alter the female stress-immune response in ways that derail healthy emotional development. But our new understanding of the biology of modern girlhood yields good news, too. Though puberty is a particularly critical and vulnerable period, it is also a time during which the female adolescent brain is highly flexible and responsive to certain kinds of support and scaffolding. Indeed, we know now that a girl’s innate sensitivity to her environment can, with the right conditions, become her superpower. Jackson Nakazawa details the common denominators of such support, shedding new light on the keys to preventing mental health concerns in girls as well as helping those who are already struggling. Drawing on insights from both the latest science and interviews with girls about their adolescent experiences, the author carefully guides adults through fifteen “antidote” strategies to help any teenage girl thrive in the face of stress, including how to nurture the parent-child connection through the rollercoaster of adolescence, core ingredients to building a sense of safety and security for your teenage girl at home, and how to foster the foundations of long-term resilience in our girls so they’re ready to face the world. Neuroprotective and healing, the strategies in Girls on the Brink amount to a new playbook for how we—parents, families, and the human tribe—can secure a healthy emotional inner life for all of our girls.

Centred on five mentoring conversations around SDG-related topics such as quality education, gender equality, climate action and sustainable cities and communities, Mentoring Within and Beyond Academia showcases the link between professional academic development and its impact beyond campus walls.