App Fusion: Farewell, Terrence Wing

As many of you know by now, Terrence Wing passed away on Thursday, December 1, 2011, following a heart attack suffered while exercising. Terrence, whose App Fusion column has appeared monthly in Learning Solutions Magazine since January 2011, was well-known and loved by many in the training, eLearning, and technology fields.

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He was perhaps most visible as a speaker at eLearning Guild conferences over the last two years, and on eLearnChat and podcasts with Rick Zanotti. Terrence had been elected to serve as the 2012 President of the Los Angeles Chapter of ASTD. His memorial service will take place on Sunday, December 11, 2011 and he will be buried with full military honors on Monday, December 12. 2011. Details as to locations and times of services and funeral are on the LA-ASTD page (http://www.astdla.org/)

Tributes to Terrence Wing

We received Terrence’s December column the day before he passed away. It is pure Terrence, intended to help learning practitioners find apps that will make their jobs simpler, easier or more productive. We have invited some of the people who knew Terrence Wing well and whose work he influenced to contribute a paragraph about him. These tributes follow this introduction, and Terrence’s final column follows the tributes.

From David Holcombe, Co-Founder and CEO, The eLearning Guild

In my role at the eLearning Guild, and in similar previous roles, I have had the opportunity to work with literally hundreds of our industry’s leaders and leading thinkers. Over the last 25 years I have seen many come and go. New leaders regularly emerge and in some cases their stars shine bright for a long time. Terrence was a bright star who was passionate about, and actively engaged in, helping our industry grow to exciting new levels of success. His mission was to share his knowledge and passion with everyone he met. But what sticks with me the most is that he was one of the most perpetually positive people I ever met. His bright smile and warm and affable style reeled you in and always made you feel welcome and appreciated.  Terrence was indeed one of the brightest stars in our industry – and were it not for his untimely passing, I believe his star would have continued to shine brightly for years to come.  I mourn our loss … but at the same time I take solace in the belief that the example he set – the path he walked – will be followed by others. He will always shine bright in our memory.

From Brent Schlenker, Emerging Technologies Analyst at The eLearning Guild

Like everyone else in the eLearning community, I was shocked by the news of Terrence's untimely death.  My condolences to everyone in the Wing family and all those friends who knew him.  Terrence was an enthusiastic advocate for social media and learning.  Over the last few days since his passing I've come to see how incredibly powerful social media truly is.  Many in the community, myself included, met and connected with Terrence mostly, if not entirely, online.  I would then see him at conferences a couple times a year and we would chat like we'd known each other our entire lives.  It was easy to do with Terrence because of his warm engaging smile.  He will be greatly missed in our community, but thankfully, because of the technology he embraced, the lessons he taught us will live on.  

From Gina Schreck, President & Chief Hooligan at SynapseConnecting

I first met Terrence at an ASTD Second Life event that I was facilitating.  (That’s Terrence on my right).  We connected on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, as good networkers do, and I learned quickly that he was as generous and kind as he was brilliant! 

I loved that Terrence was a insatiable learner — diving in, exploring, and sharing knowledge of new technology tools with everyone around him. Terrence was a connector; always introducing people who he knew needed to meet. I had the pleasure of meeting Terrence at regular meet ups in Second Life (that’s him with the shades on in the PopCorn bowl as we immersed ourselves in an innovation exercise), as well as in person a few times at ASTD events.  My fondest memory will be the time I had dinner with him and his beautiful wife, Marie, in San Diego last year. 

Farewell My Friend…I will see you in Third Life!

From Michelle Lentz, Training & Instructional Design, Social Media Strategy & Marketing

Terrence met me before I met him. He participated in one of my early concurrent sessions on Twitter in Learning and he'd yet to tweet. That changed quickly, and Terrence often shared that I'm the one who taught him Twitter. But really, I have learned so much from Terrence in the time I've known him. He has been there for me, particularly recently, as both a colleague and a friend. I have met few people as kind or as giving as Terrence. He'd rearrange his schedule for you if need be, check on you if he knew you were down, and he always had a mammoth smile, guaranteed to brighten your day. Professionally, I watched him go from the "guy who didn't know Twitter" to someone to whom I would turn for my own social media ideas and advice.

Terrence was always thinking creatively and out of the box. He was also open to challenging the norms and considering the ideas of others. He was a good friend to me, and for that I will always be thankful. Terrence came to everything with a yearning to learn, a joyful smile, a resolute compass, and an open hand. With his presence he inscribed a belief, a compassion, and a nourishment for knowledge. His departure from our industry will be felt by many.

From Joe Ganci, President of Dazzle Technologies Corporation

At every conference where I've spoken and where I knew Terrence would also be speaking, I sought him out. It wouldn't take long for me to find him, unless he found me first. His smile filled the room, his eyes shined with friendliness and intelligence, and he was almost always surrounded by his fans, including me. He was so generous with his time and with his knowledge.

An advocate of social media, Terrence was exemplary in accentuating the word social. His personality came through in all he did. I will miss him and I will be sad not to see him at every conference I attend. I will always try to emulate his kindness and passion, his strength, his humility and his willingness to help others.  

From Patti Shank, President of Learning Peaks LLC

It was easy to learn from and with Terrence. He had an amazing way of making the new and daunting feel like it didn’t need to be scary. I remember how he explained to trainers and instructional designers who were new to technology how social media would provide them with benefits that they always wanted so the opportunities were well worth the challenges. And those listening were nodding their heads as he spoke. And Terrence didn’t just tell, he showed. Terrence not only convinced others about the power of collaboration, he lived it in how he worked with others.

It was incredibly easy to be engaged by who Terrence was as a person, as he had a thousand watt smile and he was as kind, compassionate, and real as his smile was extraordinary. A recent Facebook conversation about seeing a homeless person in a Starbucks who was having difficulty breathing said so much about Terrence. Everyone else walked around this homeless man as if he didn’t exist. Not Terrence. Terrance called an ambulance and tried to get him into a more comfortable position while waiting for the ambulance to arrive. Terrence asked on Facebook how people could have not seen that he needed help. His friends wondered with him.

I talked to Terrence at length at DevLearn 11 about a situation that bothered us both quite a bit and we agreed to try to solve it if we could. We talked about slaying some dragons together in 2012 and I was looking forward to working with him. But I noticed that he wasn’t on Skype the last three weeks and was concerned about him. And my heart aches that he is gone. It aches more for his family. Love is the most precious thing we have and losing it the hardest of all.

I’m glad to have known him and will miss him.

The Last App Fusion: 50 Apps for the Learning Pro

Not only has technology changed life for your learners but it’s changed life for you, the Learning Professional. Performance gaps are now being addressed with the words, “There’s an app for that.”

As this technology gets better, faster, and more accessible, the way we conduct business as Learning Professionals will and has evolved alongside. Here are 50 Apps for the Android, iPhone, iPad and Windows Phone 7 that every learning professional should have, or at least be aware of.

Each App fits into a category. There are five categories: Productivity, Social, Lifestyle, Information, and Media. Table 1 shows all 50 Apps in their respective categories and availability by device (Android, iPhone, iPad, and Windows Phone 7).

PRODUCTIVITY

Productivity Apps are those apps that help you manage professional information like business cards, dictations, notes, etc.

SOCIAL

Social Apps help you manage your professional and personal networks. They help you increase these networks and build strong relationships with the professionals, acquaintances, friends, and family in your life.

LIFESTYLE

Lifestyle Apps help you manage your life and health. A healthy Learning Professional is a happy Learning Professional. These apps include exercise and diet monitoring, entertainment, and other apps that just make life simpler.

INFORMATION

Information Apps help you to curate and manage the enormous amount of information that is thrown at you every day. These apps curate news, weather, social updates, and more.

MEDIA

Media Apps help you to produce media. They include apps that enhance photos, create drawings and paintings, record audio, and more. Many of these are fantastic for eLearning development.

Apple and Android wear the size of their App markets like a badge of honor. With the Windows Phone 7 coming on the market, the race will get even more intense. Try out a few of these Apps and comment below on your findings. Some of them cost a few dollars but most are free. Also comment about your favorite Apps, especially those not on this list.

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