THINKING!So, when you prepare your curriculum, learning environment, or course content, do you develop everything yourself (Me, Myself and I)? Or are you good at using whatever you can find? Or perhaps you combine the best of both worlds to mash-up amazing learning experiences for your students.So, what is your secret recipe to constructing effective learning content and activities?To succeed today and increasingly in the future (unless you know and can do everything!) being a chef-minded thinker will be crucial.Actually, if you think about it, being a Chef-minded thinker (unless you have assistants) might not be the ideal analogy for developing learning content and activities in today's disruptive inter-galactic information flowing world. If the future's information flow and rapid change becomes as disruptive as I am imagining right now, we would most likely need an army of self-directed and motivated students (learners) to collaborate and co-create learning environments and experiences to stay intact with the learning domain we are facilitating and learning (Already dizzy, just thinking about it!).I suppose, the history of KuKu land would not be so affected, but most learning domains will, so we better change our mindset or...ICEL 2009 On December 1st and 2nd, I attended the 2nd International Conference of e-Learning hosted by UiTM (in cooperation with AKEPT and MEIPTA as joint organizers). The theme was:Go Online! Go Mobile! It was a great opportunity to discover some of the learning innovations going on in Malaysia. Also, they had a couple of great keynote speakers in Marc J. Rosenberg and Lucifer Chu, and finally a great opportunity to network and exchange some thoughts and ideas.Besides that, I experimented with using Twitter to take learning notes, and share my discoveries and thoughts beyond the walls of the conference (check the tweets for 1-2 Dec.). By the time the conference was over, I had swooshed out 140+ tweets of ideas, frustrations, reflections, distractions, and resources (URLs).I suppose I have a long way to go before I master the art of tweeting an event, but it certainly kept me awake throughout the conference. Also, since you only have 140 characters for each tweet, it forces you to be more concise and precise with the words you choose (Not like here!). Though, I have to admit that on certain tweets, it just spilled over to the next one. I am still learning.Also, while I was tweeting away, others (from who-knows-where!) joined in, and added their reflections and suggestions. And then you have those tweets that spark a bit of incidental learning, which is often fun and enriching.Finally, learning notes does not look neat in Twitter (at least mine don't!), but then again I hardly ever recap such things (Do you?). But the act of reflecting and taking notes certainly stimulates the brain to learn (and stay awake!).So, what did I learn? Here are the highlights..."Educators are terrible managers of technology!"- Marc J. Rosenberg MARC J. ROSENBERGHis keynote was entitled 'Beyond E-Learning', and it was great to see him in action, and learn lessons from his vast experience in education and e-learning. I suppose the moment of shock and joy came when one of his slides showed a screenshot of my 'E-Learning in Malaysia' blog (why not ZaidLearn?).He was basically showing some of his Malaysian e-learning discoveries since his arrival, and that included one of my blogs (Yep, if you search 'e-learning Malaysia' it is No.1 on the list, including when you click 'I'm Feeling Lucky'). Anyway, it was a nice surprise, and free promotion, so thanks for that.So, what did I learn from this e-learning gladiator. His e-learning definition was alright:"The use of internet technologies to deliver a broad array of anytime, anywhere solutions that enhance knowledge and performance"In a learning shell, Rosenberg emphasized to look beyond formal online education. He argued that we need to also infuse performance support, information repositories, communities of practice, access to experts/expertise (online), simulation/games, etc. to enhance and enrich our and students' learning experiences. He argued that we need to look beyond the 'course centric' view to the 'knowledge centric' view of learning domains, arguing also that we need to look beyond the LMS to manage it all (Amen to that!).In the future, the focus will increasingly move from instruction to information (access), course scarcity to information abundance, learning center to workplace, learning management to knowledge management, classes to communities, teaching to coaching and collaboration, authoring to blogging, documents to wikis, presentations to podcasts, push to pull, course catalogs to information repositories, and so on.Yes, he also said that educators are terrible managers of technology! And I certainly can testify to that (Though, there are exceptions)! However, Rosenberg also said that the classroom will never go away, but that we need utilize our learning time with students more effectively, changing the classroom into a center for inquiry, discovery, activities, team collaboration, engagement, etc.In addition, he talked about the new learning paradigm, which he has coined 'Learning 2.0' (learning using a fusion of formal and informal learning tools and approaches to facilitate effective and update-to-date learning).Some of today's challenges include using wrong content, ignoring pedagogy and instructional design, and too much focus, or too little focus on technology. Also, to make e-learning work, you need to have the appropriate incentives (value, purpose, relevance, etc), and efficient methods, or the grumpy old professors are going give you trouble (been there!).Also, you need good user support and leadership, and finally you need to have a strategic plan. Well, that is where he comes in, and can perhaps save Malaysian higher education from losing out on the learning possibilities that the learning world really offers us today and increasingly in the future (if we only open our eyes).He is great talker, but taking a deep look into his online presence, he is very much a learning 1.0 type of user (here is my bio, presentations, a few videos, and contact details). Where is his active blog, Twitter space, social bookmarks, etc? Not much activity there (to my knowledge), but I suppose he is too busy to really engage with learning 2.0 tools.In short, Malaysia could do with some of his ideas, but we really need practitioners who practice what they preach, and can facilitate and inspire beyond the babble.The slides Marc Rosenberg shared were not made available online (to my knowledge), but click here for an older presentation found, which includes most of what was shared during this keynote. "Let Your Students Be Teachers!" - Lucifer ChuLUCIFER CHUOh boy, this is a six foot Geek Gamer (referred to as 'Crazy guy'), you just have to see present. This dude comes to present at an International conference wearing a black t-shirt (with 'Proud to be a geek' slogan at the back), jeans, and chilled sneakers. Why should he care anyway! Mr. Chu has become a millionaire by creating Chinese translations of fantasy novels. Using much of the $1 million in royalties from his versions of "The Lord of the Rings," Mr. Chu says he devotes himself to distributing free translations of material from a Massachusetts Institute of Technology Web site (Opensource Opencourseware Prototype System).So, what did I learn from his keynote?He uses videos (mostly available from YouTube) to make a point, he wonders mentally and physically around the hall, while engaging and chatting with the audience (very informal!), and he speaks his mind using visuals (slides) with strikingly few words and large fonts. Pictures speaks louder than words, videos speak larger than pictures, and he speaks loudest of them all! I suppose the moment of truth came when he asked in a joking manner to higher officials at UiTM, why they have blocked YouTube at the campus. The crowd was craving for an answer, but none came (at least loud enough to hear). Anyway, he being himself, kind of joked his way out, and moved on to the next issue.Mr. Chu started of his presentation reflecting briefly the wisdom of 'Art of War', and the importance for educators to know their enemy: Students! He basically wanted to share his understanding and insights of how the X and Y generations think, live, and what motivates them to learn.In the process, he showed several mind-blowing videos (e.g. Did You Know 4.0) to inspire us think beyond our comfort zones, and embrace the new world learning order (Geeks rule the world!). Let's not complain about our students! If you can connect and find the right flavor, surely you can inspire anyone, including inmates (Thriller - 1500+ inmates dance 'Thriller' at a Detention and Rehabilitation Center in Philippines).He also talked a lot about how mobile phones will increasingly have a huge impact on the way we learn, and that we should embrace it to facilitate learning. For example, he looked at Google Latitude (location based service) and QR Code (generator), and asked the audience how we could use this to facilitate learning. He shared with us possibilities, but argued that the educators (not him with a big smile) should figure out how they could use such tools to construct more dynamic learning environments.Mr. Chu, also emphasized that today's youth go online to socialize, compared to the old generation who actually go out to socialize. And finally, he talked about games and game addiction (e.g. Scribblenauts and Brain Age), and argued that we should learn from them instead, and apply some of the success factors to facilitate learning. Have you ever heard about learning addiction or education addiction? Now, that would be a serious problem :)Besides that, he also said that (watching) 'videos' is the only method to make today's students focus on one window (So, use it a lot in class!). Finally and importantly, he argued that teachers should move away from the 'Farmer' mentality to the 'Chef' mentality (discussed above).Mr. Chu sums up his talk with 'Whatever, Whenever, Wherever!', when it comes to learning. Learning follows you, not you follow it. You might also want to check out Mr. Chu's OCW Blog. LOST IN SPACE!The last keynote speaker discussed some of the challenges in online and m-Learning Practice in Malaysia. It explored mostly OUM's e-learning initiatives to make learning more accessible and engaging, including iRadio and the Math Learning e-Resource Center, which is their latest innovation. Interestingly, both projects are open to anyone to explore. In addition, several lecturers at OUM are exploring mobile learning (SMS) and web 2.0 tools like Facebook, YouTube, Blogs, and Twitter to spice up their learning environments, and should be applauded for that. Interestingly, one of their mobile learning projects utilizes SMS to share content nuggets, start forum questions, and provide tips, motivation quotes, and exam/assignment submission schedules.Besides attending the keynote talks, I did attend several paper presentations during the parallel sessions, and there were some sparks here and there, such as one lecturer using Elgg to facilitate a post-graduate course. But overall, it was a shocking and boring learning experience.It was boring, because most presenters I listened to spent too much of their 15 minutes given to talk about e-learning theories and concepts, rather than talk about their contributions, ideas and projects (practice). If you only have 15 minutes to present, why not start with the end (solution and findings), and then speed through the middle and beginning (theory and concepts). Focus on your contribution!It was shocking, because several of the presenters seemed totally out-of-sync with the disruptive learning innovations available today and how today's youth learn (Hopefully Mr. Chu introduction has changed that a little bit). During these two conference days, I heard a lot of who-ha about Learning objects, learning management systems, storyboard templates, instructional design, and of course SCORM.One presenter was talking about developing quality learning content and related that to SCORM, as if SCORM guarantees quality (Absolutely crap!). First, most e-learning authoring tools publish SCORM-compliant content on-the-fly anyway, so who cares. Secondly, what has content quality to do with SCORM? Alright, you want it to be reusable, accessible, interoperable, and durable, and SCORM caters to that and other technical specifications (though not very well), but that is not 'content quality', if you ask me. In other words, you can produce SCORM-compliant content, but your content could still be crap.The essence of quality content, lies in its substance (the way it is articulated and visualized, and the learning activities encapsulating it), not in the technical specifications (SCORM). Though, it is good to have substance quality and SCORM-compliance, but SCORM-compliance is not actually necessary for content to be of quality. YouTube Edu, TED Talks and Academic Earth should ring a bell!So, is SCORM relevant anymore in Higher education? Should we care about it? Unless you need to track every click and test item in a learning object, then don't make SCORM a requirement (or a must have feature!). Why? Because, most of the amazing learning resources for higher education are not SCORM-compliant.Beside the SCORM obsession (some vendors are making a lot of money on that obvious crap!), there was one presenter who was so excited to have a WYSIWYG online content editor in his University's LMS, and insisted that all content development should go through that WYSIWYG window. Perhaps he should explore Prezi and thousands of other possible learning tools, before coming to such a conclusion (shocking!). In short, use a variety of rapid e-learning and web 2.0 tools to develop your content and learning environments.Another presenter seemed frustrated with lecturers' participation in story boarding using an authoring template, which required them to enter or copy paste their content into boxes. Why not instead use a tool which lecturers are familiar with, such as Microsoft PowerPoint or Word?Although, there were some really interesting initiatives (wikis, mobile learning, gaming, blogging, etc.), I felt that several of the presenters seemed totally out-of-sync (perhaps it was acting) with the amazing learning possibilities we have today, and mostly focused on developing CONTENT, CONTENT, CONTENT.MOVING FORWARDSo, how can we (Malaysia) move forward in terms of e-learning, or using digital learning tools to transform the way we learn?First, we have to encourage more academics to read EduBlogs (and follow Twitter streams). Here are 100 featured learning professionals to get you started. It is alright to read e-learning books (free e-books), and published journal articles, but if you want to keep track of the latest disruptive learning innovations and learning ideas, excellent EduBlogs will serve you much better.Secondly, we need to establish informal and formal learning sharing clusters consisting of learning professionals and academics. It could take place online (e.g. webinars and online communities), or through face-to-face gatherings.Finally, we have to look beyond just developing quality content for students, because in the future everyone will have free access to 'World Class' content (already!), whether you are a student or not. Meaning that you need to focus more time on nurturing the ability to construct relevant and engaging learning activities and environments for your students.The future living and working environments will require you to master the art of thinking, doing, mashing-up, innovating, connecting, networking, communicating, collaborating and learning. People will not be interested in what courses you took, but what you know, what you can do, and your ideas to innovate and make things happen.In a sentence, we need to lifelong learn, embrace change, be adaptable/flexible, think innovativelly, and continuously explore and discover. However, to do that, Universities need to allocate educators more time to explore and discover each learning domain they facilitate (Business aside!). If not, we will end up having educators that are out-of-sync with their learning domains (experienced that!). As a result, it will be more effective to learn outside the University system.It is already happening! And unless we innovate, adapt and change fast, our Universities will face extinction much faster than we realize. Universities will still be around, but which sane learner would want to go there, unless they simply want the paper qualification(s). Again, let's get together and transform! It can be done, but time is running out (drama!) :)

"Strange as it may seem, no amount of learning can cure stupidity, and formal education positively fortifies it."- Stephen Vizinczey Actually, as you learn and acquire knowledge and skills, your ego might amplify your confidence, ignorance and pride, which again could hinder you from going beyond what you have already learned. You become stubborn to try new ideas and approaches, because you have reached a level whereby you are comfortable with what you are doing, and it works perfectly fine to you.After all these years of exploring and settling down with your own style, certainly you don't want to risk exploring new ideas, and perhaps making a fool of yourself. If you have reached such a stage in life or at work, it is perhaps time to rethink yourself. I am kind of referring to myself, too...REFLECTING BACK Since middle 2007, I have posted exactly 360 posts (including this one), and I suppose it is time to reflect back, and share with you a list of those posts that are probably the best from ZaidLearn. So, if you like ZaidLearn or new to it, I suppose this list would be an excellent starting point. Previously, I created a master list and stories collection, but this time around it will include the best of the best, according to my own little formula, which is certainly not scientific.After more than 2 years of blogging, including studying other learning blogs, I have come to realize that producing 'hit sensations' is not that difficult. If you really want to generate a lot of hits fast, start talking about celebrity trash, controversy, politics, making big bucks, gaming, cars, hate, religion, race, naughty stuff, etc. If you are reasonably smart you can become a 'Britney' hits sensation in no time (please don't be upset! she can't sing!).What about education? Tough! What about Higher Education? Are you ____! However, if you do create relevant monster lists of this and that, you can still be a hits sensation reasonably quickly. Also, many people can benefit from your efforts to summarize the best resources out there into juicy lists. I did that a lot in 2007 and 2008, and a few times in 2009. During the process I discovered and learned plenty, and visitors discovered and learned, and seemed to repay back by returning, referring, tweeting, bookmarking, etc. Great!However, these days there are so many juicy lists around, and excellent educational bloggers that can swoosh them in no time. So, I am not going to feel guilty about focusing more time on sharing my deep thoughts about learning and education (and posting 1-2 times a month) instead, although my hit rate might be affected. So what!It has been fun, but life must go on. Interestingly, since ZaidLearn started, it has had visitors from 199 countries and 8,387 cities, which just shows how interconnected our world is today. I thought that there were only 195 countries in the world, but according to Google Analytics there seems to be more than 200. Google has always been innovative, so why not here, too.ZaidLearn has connected me to many learning professionals around the world, and has been an amazingly enriching learning experience beyond any lecture, tutorial, assignment, project or exam could ever achieve. But, what has been most thrilling, is the conversations sparked from some of my blog posts, which have been conversed in other blogs and sites, and sometimes beyond English in the form of German, Polish, Finnish, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Italian, etc. Luckily, Google language tools has helped me interpret and learn from these interesting conversations.During this enriching learning process of blogging, I have even angered and insulted female bloggers (unintentionally), slammed CEOs and learning tools, hurt Moodle fans, and even published an e-book consisting of juicy blog posts from ZaidLearn (+119,000 hits!), but that is something to expect if you are really honest about what you think.In short, ZaidLearn has been a wonderful learning adventure, and below are a juicy selection of the best blog posts from ZaidLearn.THE BEST FROM ZAIDLEARNThe Very Best From ZaidLearnView more presentations from Zaid Alsagoff.1) 1st E-Book69 Learning Adventures in 6 Galaxies (E-book)A collection of 69 learning nuggets (articles) from ZaidLearn compiled into an ebook. This ebook is divided into six learning galaxies (or themes), which are: Learning, Teaching, Stories, Free e-Learning Tools, Free Learning Content and Free EduGames.2) Learning & FacilitationForget Photoshop, PowerPoint 2010 Rocks for AHA-G! Using Twitter to Transform the Classroom! RT01- Closed Book Exams Could Even Kill George the Jungle! The Real Way to Download-Convert-Insert YouTube Videos into PowerPoint!Using Twitter to Amplify Connective Learning and Sharing at ICEL 2010My Most Satisfying PowerPoint Animation!Join the #moodlewish Twitter Stream! Facebook for Learning? Boleh! My Estonian TED(dy) Talk - Creativity and ZaidLearn!The Secret Recipe to Delivering World Class Lectures Use Bloom's Taxonomy Wheel for Writing Learning OutcomesDo you have problems writing learning outcomes/objectives for your content or courses? Or more specifically, do you have trouble finding the right ACTION VERBS to describe what you want your students to achieve from the course, module, topic or unit? Try Bloom's taxonomy wheel(s).Moodle is an Airport, Not a Total Solution!If you ask me, Moodle is a good meeting place (airport or space station), or a starting point where we get together to discuss and share ideas, before taking off using both inbuilt and integrated learning tools to experience engaging and enriching learning adventures beyond any single VLE can provide.The Finnish Education System Rocks! Why?This article (post) explores some of the secrets behind the world class Finnish education system.Drop-By-Learning (DBL)Today, educators seem busier than ever juggling teaching, research, and administration, and by providing them a drop-by-learning option, it will hopefully enable and motivate more educators to learn the skills needed to facilitate effective learning in the 21st century.Go Online! Go Mobile! Lost in Space! Coaching Critical Thinking To Think Creatively!"I very much enjoyed this article, a longish description of how the author (Zaid Alsagoff) revamped a critical thinking course. It wasn't so much the content of the article (though as someone who has taught critical thinking dozens of times I had an inherent interest). Rather, what interested me was the storytelling, the way the author let me into his thinking process. This isn't the sort of article that requires you to agree or disagree with it; we are clearly and entertainingly being told what was done, and why. Would he do it differently next time? Still, we can compare the thinking with our own, compare the process with our own - and that's exactly what I did, and why I enjoyed it. Be sure to click on the slide shows in Slideshare, such as this one." - Stephen DownesTeaching HabitsIn this 5-part series, I reflect specific teaching habits that inspire students out of learning. Is that possible? Here we go:Part 1 - Whiteboard And I Are One!Part 2 - I Have Bragging Rights, Because I Am …Part 3 - Is PowerPoint Evil?Part 4 - No Stupid Questions! I am Serious!Part 5 - Show Up to Throw Up! 21st Century Thinking?E-Learning 2.0 Workshop (Stephen Downes)"It would be pretty hard to write a more comprehensive (and kind) summary of my workshop than this by Zaid Ali Alsagoff, who deserves by thanks for acting as my videographer and assistant during the strenuous two-day event. What I like about this post was that the lessons were 'meta' - not so much the bits about web 2.0 technology discussed during the session, but rather about the attitude and perspective on teaching their deployment represents. In my own mind, what we accomplished was best represented in two photos, this one at the beginning of the first day, where everything was ordered and proper, and this one near the end of the second day, where real learning was happening." - Stephen DownesLearning Notes From an E-Learning 2.0 Implementation WorkshopThe main objective of this hands-on practical workshop was to develop an understanding of the implementation and application of e-learning technologies within an institution of higher education. Also, it explored several web 2.0 technologies that participants could use to develop a collaborative online learning space.Salman Khan Uses Microsoft Paint to Inspire LearningCrashing The Workshop To Capture A Great Learning Moment!10 Secrets To Great Teaching (SlideShare presentation with audio narration)2 Juicy Ways to Insert YouTube Videos into PowerPoint3) Resource ListsA Free Learning Tool for Every Learning Problem?A collection of the best free learning tools using a Q&A approach. It has proven to be the most popular post on this blog, and has been featured in more than a hundred blogs and sites around the world. Also, you might want to check out the delicious version, which includes more tools, but does not filter them out using a Q&A approach post.University Learning = OCW + OER = FREE!A compilation of 250+ University learning related OpenCourseWare (OCW) and Open Educational Resources (OER).99 Free EduGames to Spice Up Your Course!99 FREE EduGames (Educational Games) that sounds and looks interesting for Higher Education.101 Free Learning ToolsA SlideShare presentation exploring 101 excellent free learning tools to facilitate learning and teaching (+40,000 hits!).The Best EDU Blogs on the Planet!Check out this collection (of lists) of edublogs that will inspire you beyond your learning imagination.The Juiciest Learning Professionals on Twitter?The main reason for assembling this list is to help people looking for top learning professionals on Twitter.A Growing List of Free Learning Tutorial Sites!A simple raw list of links to EXCELLENT SITES (with short descriptions) that have or link to tutorials that explore learning tools and online learning.Amazing Free e-Learning eBooks CollectionA collection of free e-Learning ebooks.Free Screencasting Tools For Tony!"Toast! Cut! Cam! Jing! Flow! Wink! You name it, they record it!" A list of free tools to create screencasts (screen-recording or capturing everything happening on the screen).Any Free Hosted CMS or LMS? (Yes, Obama Says!)A few free hosted LMS that you might want to explore, before considering investing hardcore money on a commercial alternative.Any Free Online Survey/Polling Tools?More than a dozen FREE online survey/polling tools.50 Web 2.0 Ways to Tell a Story (Alan Levine)Alan Levine reviews lessons learned in exploring 50 web sites (tools) for creating content via slideshows, timelines, media mixers, comic strips, and presentation makers.Do You Want To Learn English As A Second Language (ESL)?A list of interesting ESL resources that I have discovered until now, and most of them are free. Whether you want ESL content for your IPod, or you want to do an online quiz to test your knowledge, trust me, there are enough resources to last you a few life times (and more).The King Kong List For Free Medical Online Resources!A juicy collection of free medical resources, games and courses that you might want to use for your personal learning, or embed in your course/training/program as supplementary or core resources to enrich the students' learning experiences.Your Top 10 Videos (That Inspire Us To Rethink The Way We Learn)?My current top 10 list of videos that inspire us to rethink the way we learn and educate. This post also encourages others to list and share their top 10 favorite videos that inspire us to rethink the way we learn and educate in the 21st century.Is Boltelicious Keyboard Skills Required To Facilitate Online Effectively?To improve the success of any e-learning or online facilitation initiative, I believe it is vital that educators (and students) have good keyboard and typing skills (say at least 30+ words per minute), so that they can efficiently answer e-mails, forum posts, chat sessions, develop content, projects, assignments, and so on. This post include several free learning tools to improve your keyboard/typing skills.4) Fun!iTunes U Services For ALL! Join the #itunesuwish... Warren Buffett's MBA Talk Vs Evolution of DanceFrom Public Speaking Class To CEO Of GoogleHow Do You Motivate Staff? (Steve Ballmer)The World Is Flat 3.0 (Thomas Friedman)Scivee And The Origin Of 'Yes We Can!'Blackle And My Inspirational Sandcastle Adventure!The Secret - Get 100.000+ Followers On Twitter In 24 Hours! TWIT Outshines Twitter In 2013!Yep, this is basically the outline to my 2nd E-Book. Just need to add an introduction and conclusion and it is ready to be published to the world (or whoever is interested!). It is certainly an enhancement to the first one (filtering out really crap, adding it with better crap!).Finally, what learning tool should I use to publish it (Scribd again)? Wouldn't it be cool, if we could simply add the blog post links, and on-the-fly an e-book will be generated, which we could then edit, add, and fine tune further. Do such publishing tools exist? Any suggestions?

"Content is King, but Context is the Kingdom."- Tony O’DriscollWHY ME? Thanks Karl Kapp and Tony O’Driscoll for inviting me to participate in a Blog Book Tour to discuss their new book "Learning in 3D: Adding a New Dimension to Enterprise Learning and Collaboration" and be part of a global discussion regarding learning in virtual worlds and 3D learning spaces (Facebook Group). How could I say no! Actually, I am kind of embarrassed, because I was even invited as one of the special guest, but then after looking at all the learning giants that have already shared their reviews and comments, I feel kind of: I am not worthy, but thanks!Forget you, What about the book? Now we're talking!So, why would anyone spoil a 3D virtual world with some serious learning? Have you heard of the term ‘Serious Games’? Only some nutty dude would come up with such a dreadful term for educational games. Back to 3D, I mean if you ask any sane dude, he would 'rightfully' (or wrongfully) argue that Second Life is dreadful and lame. No game-play, no fun! Just people walking around, flying a bit, teleporting, chatting, and then sitting down to watch some dude talk/sing/dance you to sleep.What do teachers do besides sitting around tables and talk in Second Life. Your thinking, what (that is not what I want)?TRUTH When it comes to 3D learning, virtual worlds, and Second Life, I am simply a ______! I have tried it, and every time I have promised myself to build something there and explore its possibilities... Reality check! Never happened! My computer specs (graphic card) and network just spoils the fun (Second Life, is there a light version?). That is one of the reasons I liked Google Lively, but Google probably realized that it was too costly and no hope, so they pulled the plug (Google Goggles here I come!).HOPEHowever, when you have amazing learning dudes like Karl and Tony around to inspire you with real ideas and stories on how to transform a lame 3D world into a 3D learning adventure, there is hope. I have to admit that I have showed Tony's video entitled "Virtual Social Worlds and the Future of Learning" (7 Sensibilities) in most of my presentations during the last couple of years.So, what is so special about this ‘Learning in 3D’ book? Well, I suppose the previous bloggers on the tour have dissected it too many ways to mention here, so I am thinking...I had the opportunity to read this book in 3 countries (Malaysia, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia) as I traveled, and between countries on flights using my IPhone. I read the chapters according to some funny fuzzy logic (1,9,2,4,3,5,7,8,6) without any special plan, and the whole learning experience was captivating and enriching. Alright, I would have preferred to read it on an ‘IPad’ with interactive teleports to Second life, but Apple is not ready to launch that learning device yet (and my wallet is not so sure either!).THE BOOK?So, what about the book? I thought I had it covered!This is what I liked about it:It tells you what, why, when, where, how, and provides a whole chapter (6) exploring numerous real success stories in using virtual worlds or 3D learning spaces beyond sitting around tables. The chapters flow beautifully from possibilities and today’s learning needs, to providing an easy-to-understand implementation framework supported by real examples, and then gives us a glimpse of how the future learning world is unfolding or going to unfold (as the Japanese say ‘ Innovate or Die’).Although, I read the book in a weird flow (fuzzy logic), it was easy to make sense of what I read, as the authors have used simple language and minimized the jargons (at least to me). As the authors say, "…this book can be summarized in ten simple words: Progress, Problems, Possibilities, Principles, Archetypes, Examples, Processes, Adoption, Rules and Future."My favorite chapters are 6, 5, and 4, which provide a ‘Blueprint’ to get one started with building 3D learning spaces that meet our learning objectives and needs. Especially useful, is the eleven 'Learning Archetypes' that form the so called basic building blocks for creating 3D learning experiences. The eleven learning archetypes include role play, scavenger hunt, guided tour, operational application and conceptual orienteering. In a 3D shell, these chapters (and book) provide an excellent framework to get one started.The final three (3) chapters explore what lies ahead for 3D Learning, and you might wonder what that may be. Not revealing! Just get the book :)Though, at times when reading the book, you feel as if 3D learning is the ultimate future of learning, but I am pretty convinced that the 2D and 1D and 0 D are still going to be needed as much as 3D in the future, so we should not get too carried away with the new immersive 3D bells and whistles, even though they could be used to facilitate the most amazing learning experiences.FUTUREIf you ask me, I am looking beyond Second Life, and reflecting what a Third Life would look like. Well, you certainly won’t be using the mouse, keyboard or joystick like now. I would actually argue that it won’t really be immersive until these three navigation tools are immersed into the 3D or augmented learning world (or immersed into the physical world). Project Natal is a glimpse of what to expect in the near future. In short, you become the joystick.Also, building our 3D learning spaces to fulfill our learning outcomes and needs will become increasingly easier to accomplish in the near future. There will be more templates and ready-made labs/devices to use-on-the-spot, without needing to invest in designers and programmers to make it happen. In other words, there will be purpose-built 3D Learning spaces for any knowledge or learning domain one could think of, ready to be used, requiring just a tiny learning curve to adopt or adapt. If they are already there (and kind of free!), please share them in the comments section (PLEASE!), especially anything to do with medical education.The present and future learning possibilities are amazing, and Tony and Karl has provided us with tons of 3D learning juice, and a very useful framework to get us started. So, that is it! As my last 3 weeks have been super hectic (Learning adventure in Saudi Arabia), I didn’t have enough time to really sit down and reflect this book as much as it deserves, so I am certainly going to revisit it again and again…I was thinking of continuing here, but my 3rd baby is Insha-Allah coming soon (in the next few days hopefully), and I am looking forward to focus more on the good old physical world in the coming months, spending hopefully more quality time with my family and kids. When the 3rd baby has settled down (say 6 months), I will hopefully take up more time to explore deeper into the immersive 3D learning world. Until then, the physical world is my main immersive 5D learning adventure :)Let's end this post with Karl Kapp's inspiring Learning in 3D presentation:Learning in 3DView more presentations from kkapp.

"No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated and disciplined." ~Harry E. FosdickMEDTUTOR?MedTutor is an online tutoring site for medical students and young doctors in Internal Medicine. The mastermind behind the MedTutor is Dr. Vela Menon, MD (Faculty of Medicine, International Medical University, Malaysia).This project is still very much a work-in-progress, but then again that should not stop us from exploring it and providing some constructive feedback.EXPLORATIONThe first time I visited the MedTutor site, it was kind of refreshing, because the homepage is light-and-easy, and not overloaded with all sorts of links, text and images. One image, a sizzling quote, latest reflections from Dr. Vela Menon, and of course a site menu with links to other site resources and activities.MedTutor is built using Wikidot (free and commercial version), which is a decent wiki tool that allows you easily to create web pages and invite others to participate in the development.If you are thinking of embarking on creating a website together with a group, there are several other tools you might also want to consider, including Google Sites (cool!), Wikispaces, and Wetpaint.Alright, let's get back to MedTutor and explore some of the site menu links. In the "Materia Non Medica" (Does this mean 'Non-medical material?) section, you will find a small collection of links to sites and articles that explore all sorts of stuff (e.g. The secret of doing a great job. Need that!). My favorite section is the 'Learning Bytes' one, where you will find some short and mind boggling case studies and Q&A activities (check out the Cardiac Arrest activity to get a taste). In the 'Journal Club" section, clinically relevant questions are asked based on publications in journals.Interestingly, Dr. Vela is using MedTutor to facilitate learning activities (Renal and Diabetes modules) with his students. He invites (not forces!) them to register and participate, and for conducting online quizzes, he is using QuizStar. QuizStar enables you to create online quizzes for your students, disseminate quizzes to students, automatically grade quizzes, and view the quiz results online (here are 12 more free tools to create online quizzes).In the 'IMU 10 semester' section, Dr. Vela has creatively used MedTutor (a wiki) for students to submit their case summaries about patients seen in the ward, clinic or during your on-call hours. Also, please check out the Learning Issues area, where he reviews students' submission and provides constructive feedback. If you look carefully, you will notice that he does not use the 'YOU ARE RIGHT/WRONG' approach, but instead triggers relevant questions for the students to reflect deeper on their findings and actions. In short, his approach is inline with MedTutor's slogan: 'LEARNING TO THINK'.Finally, he has created a MedTutor Facebook Page, which he uses to share, interact, and keep students (and fans) updated with the latest happenings in MedTutor and beyond (96 fans! Oops, 97! Just became one!).MOVING FORWARDDr. Vela was not born with an IPhone or IPad in his hand, and is a self-professed digital immigrant. Also, he was not instructed by the top management to develop MedTutor. I suppose his passion for education, and exploring ways to facilitate more effective and convenient learning drove him to conceptualize and build MedTutor. It is a great start, and a remarkable effort taking into consideration his background. Also, it just shows that today's (mostly free) learning tools available online (start here!) can empower anyone to create online learning environments, as long as one is willing to invest some exploration time to make it happen. Yes, he did struggle a lot initially building MedTutor, but can learning and building online learning environments be exciting without some form of struggle?Having said that, what could Dr. Vela do to enhance MedTutor further? Firstly, for case summary submissions and online quizzes, IMU E-Learning Portal (Moodle) could perhaps handle these two learning activities more efficiently. For case summary submissions, Moodle Assignment module could do a pretty good job, although the e-mail notification function might not always work the way we want. One could always post a selection of case summaries (with your comments for learning purposes) in MedTutor later (instead of all), if the students permit. As for online quizzes, Moodle's Quiz module is quite solid, especially in terms of features (e.g. Item analysis). Also, you can create questions quite efficiently using Notepad (add pictures and mathematical jumbo after upload, if any). Moodle is not perfect, but if used wisely it could solve some of our needs to conduct online learning activities in an organized and efficient manner.Secondly, I would strongly recommend adding a blog to MedTutor to keep students updated with his reflections and things going on in the medical world. While the wiki is excellent for creating web pages and collaborative activities, it might not be the best tool for sharing explorations and discoveries as we learn. Instead, we could perhaps use a blog to provide an space for sharing and exploring experiences, knowledge, skills, ideas and resources with the readers. For such things, blogs are ideal (self-organizing: latest first, tagging, categories, etc.).If you ask me, I would argue that blogging is one of the best ways to facilitate personal learning and reflection. Also, if we think on a larger scale, blogging when used for educational or learning purposes, is an ideal e-portfolio tool. It provides you with an excellent environment to integrate and reflect what you have discovered, experienced, created and learned. Also, it enables anyone to provide feedback in the comments section (unless disabled) on your own thoughts and reflections (peer-review). And if categories and tagging is used appropriately, one will have little trouble navigating and finding relevant information as the blog evolves.As for which blogging tool to use, I would personally recommend Blogger, because it is user-friendly and feature rich. WordPress fans are going to disagree, but now that Blogger allows you to create 'Pages', too, why would you want to use WordPress (especially the free version)? Anyway, it is a personal choice, and if you start off with Blogger and then decide to switch to WordPress later, you can always import whatever you have done in Blogger with just a few clicks (So, no worries there!).Beside a blog, I would also recommend to add a Twitter stream to share your quick thoughts, questions, ideas, and resources as you learn. While you might only have time to blog a few times a month, you could use Twitter more often to connect, update, share, engage and facilitate learning conversations on a more regular basis without too much effort (short 140 character messages). Of course, one could just update using the Facebook page (Wall), but with Twitter you will have many more possibilities to facilitate interactive social learning environments with those micro-messages (Looking for a starting point? Click here).These are just two examples (or tools) on how one could connect and engage more students to learn and interact with MedTutor on a regular basis. In addition, it would be great if there were more resource links on the site, especially to relevant medical videos found on the web, and (bla,bla,bla)...So... Today, educators are empowered with so many possibilities to build online content and activities (where to start?). Besides building content and learning environments, we should not be afraid to use Open Educational Resources to reuse/remix/mash-up/adapt learning content. If the content is already out there and meets most of the learning requirements and is free-to-use (please use me!), we should not hesitate to use it to enhance the learning environment (though, selling the content would be a problem). Instead, we can then focus more on building interactive learning environments, connecting with students, creating content that does not exist (instead of the imaginary paraphrasing of existing content to avoid plagiarism, which strictly speaking is plagiarism!), and having more time to do research. Then again, it takes time to discover gems in this growing galaxy of learning resources (e.g. medical resources).It is a challenge we all have to face sooner or later. Dr. Vela has managed with MedTutor to blend a bit of both, and it will be interesting to see how it evolves.If you are interested in contacting Dr. Vela regarding MedTutor, use this e-mail address: medtutorwikidot@gmail.comLets' support and promote MedTutor! Why not build our own website exploring our learning area of interest? Yes, why not! :)IMPORTANT NOTICELaunching a new blog soon exploring e-Learning at IMU (International Medical University) and how we can enhance learning using technology (still kind of crap. Give it a month, and perhaps it will get yummier). ZaidLearn has been quiet this year, and will probably be reasonably quiet until 2011 as I will be focusing more on work and family (new baby, meaning 3 kids). Though, I will post relevant and juicy posts from IMU E-Learning blog on Zaidlearn, too. In short, I will be working more in the name of IMU than ZaidLearn. But, you could always follow both blogs, as I believe they will both be engaging, relevant and fun :)

DOWNLOAD Articulate & MP3 versions (ZIP format)Slideshare version (include audio)CONFERENCEPart 1On Sunday evening (11/04/2010), I got this interesting e-mail from Marko Puusaar...Great! But he forgot to tell me when (which he did in the next e-mail), and after checking the website, I realized my short talk was scheduled on 16th of April (anytime between 4pm - 6pm Malaysian time). Luckily (this time around), I am supposed to present online and not in Estonia.And then I was thinking, what should I talk about? This is an International e-Learning Conference in Estonia, entitled: E-Learning - A Serious Game. My 15-minute talk (during a parallel session) needs to explore the theme: Searching for Inspiration."Creative and "out of the box" thinking is a valuable asset for everyone. During this two hour TEDx style session we will try to see what inspires us and how does it make us creative even in the most limited situations and environments? Speakers from all over the World will share their experiences about being creative and free of limitations."Yes, I certainly need some quick inspiration, that is for sure! But, then on Monday evening I got a spark of inspiration to talk about Creativity and how I have tried to infuse some of it into my blogging adventure at ZaidLearn. If you think about it, it was ZaidLearn that got me into trouble (in a positive way), so why not use it to perhaps get me out of it.By Tuesday early afternoon, the presentation slides were finalized, and then another spark of inspiration just popped into my mind (and luckily it was inline with my KPI).Instead of conducting a live talk, why not record the talk using Articulate, and then they can watch the presentation whenever they want. And by doing so, I can instead spend more time to interact with the participants to share ideas and experiences.By Wednesday (14/04) morning, my Articulate presentation was completed and sent to Marko Puusaar (links above). Also, I published the podcast version (MP3) using Articulate, so that they have access to both formats. We all know how Steve Jobs feels about 'Flash' content :)Then, I uploaded the PowerPoint slides and audio to Slideshare to create a 'slidecast', and here you can enjoy (or bore) yourself with my so called TED(dy) talk, entitled 'Creativity and ZaidLearn':Creativity & ZaidLearnView more presentations from Zaid Alsagoff.Part 2Here is the breakdown of the parallel session (full programme) I participated in:Searching for Inspiration16th April 2010 11:30 - 13:3011:30 -Moving Windmills: The William Kamkwamba Story (video)- 6 min11:40 - Zaid Ali Alsagoff - Creativitiy and ZaidLearn12:10 - Richard St. John's 8 secrets of Success (video) - (video) 4 min12:20 - Erkki Pung - Creativity and inspiration in the design world12:40 - To be updated!13:00 - Jüri Vilipõld - Teaching programming through games by using Scratch13:10 - Ken Robinson says schools kill Creativity - (video) 20 min13:30 - We are doneAn action-pact 2 hours session, including three (3) inspiring videos (links above). Here is a screen shot from the parallel session (small group) from my Skype view:Luckily, they watched a recorded (Articulate) session, because the audio connection was not too good, and the video buffered consistently (meaning the screen-sharing option would have been a disaster!). Though, I have to admit it is more stressful watching people watch me talk than actually doing a live talk. After the talk, we had a Q&A session via Skype (only one question: What do you think is the future of Blogging?). Then I watched the rest of the parallel session through my Skype view. The other two (2) presenters were very interesting.REFLECTIONOf course, it is always tough listening to our own voice (unless we are used to it!). However, listening to our own voice talking about our own work is even more difficult. I have always preferred to talk about other people's achievements and innovations. So, listening to myself talking 20 minutes about my blog, was really tough. The picture above, basically sums up how I felt during the parallel session.Anyway, I enjoyed the whole learning process. In addition, I should keep in mind that this 22-minute Articulate presentation (from slide conceptualization to publishing, including no audio script) was developed in roughly 10 hours (working hours!), so I can't complain too much. Also, the learning experience has inspired me with tons of new ideas on how I can improve further.Meaning, you will hopefully see many more audio narrated presentations and screencasts here on ZaidLearn in 2010, as I explore my voice tone, pitch, clarity...Finally, Thanks to the Estonian e-Learning Development Center for giving me this opportunity, and of course a big thanks to Marko who discovered ZaidLearn and Zaid. Without his connection this would not have happened :)

Click here to view the Articulate versionDOWNLOADMP3 and Articulate Version (Unzip before viewing)Slideshare VersionLEARNING SESSIONThis week's learning session explored Facebook and how we can use it to facilitate learning. As expected, thanks to the juicy topic 'Facebook', we had a full house (e-learning lab, I mean!). Only 25 were allowed to register, but we ended up with 32 participants, which just illustrates that Facebook is an interesting topic.For those of you who missed the learning session, here is the slidecast version from SlideShare:Facebook For Learning? Boleh!View more presentations from Zaid Alsagoff.LET'S DO IT!Based on our recent poll the majority of both Academic staff (66.7) and students (67.8) that participated think that IMU should use Facebook for e-learning.But, where to start?To get your Facebook social learning space moving, why not for starters create a 'Facebook Group' (especially if you want to have a closed group)?STEP-BY-STEPHere are two screencast tutorials exploring how to create a Facebook Group and how we could use it to facilitate learning:Part 1 - Creating a 'Facebook Group' Part 2 - Exploring Facebook Group FeaturesBut...Why not combine Moodle (E-learning Portal) and Facebook to facilitate online learning environments that sizzles :)REFLECTIONIf you are wondering how long it took to record the narration (audio) for the 'Facebook for Learning? Boleh!' presentation (41 min) and the two (2) screencast tutorials (5 x 2 min = 10 min), it took actually a whole day. I started 9.30 am in the morning, and completed all recordings by 7.30 pm in the evening. If we minus the lunch break and prayers, I probably spent 7.5 working hours to record the above.The toughest part was recording the 2 screencasts, because I initially had no clue of what to record or say, and I didn't finish them before 4 pm. I used Screenr (a free tool) to develop the two screencasts, and it is a very user-friendly tool to record anything happening on your screen (other screencasting tools).Though, Screenr has three (3) major minus points. One, is that you are limited to recording 5 minute sessions (perhaps positive in terms of instructional design and forcing you to be more precise and concise), and that can get annoying if you are recording and just cannot make the 5 minute time-line. If you listen carefully, you will notice this on both the screencasts I recorded. I had to also re-record twice, because I just missed the time line. I suppose I need to chunk it up more in the future, and perhaps use an audio script.Now, that leads us to the 2nd minus point, which is that you cannot edit what you have recorded. Meaning basically that you have to perfect your recording, or keep on recording until you are satisfied. Post-editing, ability to zoom, adding annotations, and desktop version (offline) would be great, but I suspect Articulate is saving that for the commercial version in the near future. Let's hope I am wrong :)Thirdly, you cannot record another screencast, while you are uploading and publishing the first one (please correct me if I am wrong!). And if you have a slow connection, now that gets annoying! There should be a feature allowing you to record another screencast, while waiting for the first one to be uploaded. Now that would be useful!But, besides that Screenr is great. Alright, let's move on! As for recording audio for the presentation slides used during our Facebook workshop, I used Articulate. Since the slides were ready, and I had some idea what to say (no audio script though, which is obvious!), so I managed to record the narration for the presentation (including adding animations and annotations) in roughly three (3) hours. Meaning, it took roughly 4.4 times longer to record, compared to the presentation's actual length (41 min). Not bad, but certainly I would love to do it faster. Practice, Reflect, Improve, Practice, Practice...Besides publishing the Articulate version, I published the podcast version, and extracted the audio, which was uploaded and synchronized to the SlideShare version, to create a screencast. Finally, I uploaded both the MP3 and Articulate version (Zip format) to the Internet Archive enabling anyone to download both formats and explore them further offline.A quicker approach would be to simply video record the workshop and dump the recording on the web. The approach I took was certainly more exhaustive than simply video recording the workshop, but in the long run this approach could perhaps add more value (learning) and spark more interest to whoever is exploring.What do you think? :)

How Does Your Brain Understand What Your Ear Hears? Answer: Learn GeneticsNot sure if that was correct, but the two (2) links or resources above are certainly worth exploring. I just came across a very interesting blog post by Jeffery Goldman exploring e-Learning and Games in Healthcare, and from there I extracted some very interesting resources, and mashed them up with some other Medical online resources discovered earlier...172 Interactive Health TutorialsIf you haven't seen this amazingly healthy resource repository yet, it is about time! Just CLICK HERE to access 172 interactive health education resources (might have increased since I counted!) from the Patient Education Institute. Using animated graphics each tutorial explains a procedure or condition in easy-to-read language. You can also listen to the tutorials, and access the text summaries. Not bad!NOTE: These tutorials require a special Flash plug-in, version 8 or above. If you do not have Flash, you will be prompted to obtain a free download of the software before you start the tutorial.To get a taste of what I mean, here are 10 relevant interactive health tutorials (from the 172) to get you going and excited:Back Pain - How to Prevent (Need that one!)H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu)Breast CancerMigraine HeadacheDiabetes - IntroductionHIV and AIDSMalariaCT Scan (CAT Scan)Managing StressExercising for a Healthy LifeHowever, please keep in mind the terms of use if you are planning to share some of these tutorials with your students. In short, these tutorials can solely be used for our personal education... To be on the safe side, just link them to the repository page, and avoid deep linking, which the Patient Education Institute is terrified of.Oops, I might have broken the law here, but if so, please correct me.32 EDUGAMESNow, what about free EduGames (Educational Games) related to Medicine and health (without needing to worry about deep linking)?Here is a sizzling collection of free EduGames related to health, medicine and life (more EduGames!):Deep Brain StimulationHelp Dr. Vanessa Mei cut, probe and drill her way to helping her patient cope with a movement disorder through brain surgery!AIDtoCHILDRENThe game will help to expand your vocabulary and help children in need while doing so. For every correct answer they will donate .25 cents to children in need.Re-MissionUnderstand cancer better and develop a positive attitude toward defeating it.WFP FoodforceUnderstand world hunger and efforts to alleviate it.The POD GameDispense drugs and medical advice to people during an emergency. Using this game, you can enhance your efforts to teach staff and volunteers to work efficiently and sensitively with the public to maximize throughput in times of crisis.Blood TypingIn this game you have to blood type each patient and give them a blood transfusion.Virtual Hip Surgery - Total Hip Replacement SurgeryTake on the role of the Surgeon throughout a hip replacement surgery!Virtual Knee Surgery - Total Knee ReplacementTake on the role of the Surgeon throughout a total knee replacement surgery.The Ear PagesSound is caused by changes of pressure in the air that is transformed into nerve impulses in the inner ear. Explore "The Ear Pages" and collect the snail shaped symbols to gain points in the quiz!NANOSWARMThe NANOSWARM’s story is set in the year 2030 — a time when there is no war, no crime and no hunger. The reader meets five teenagers interning at MECHS, the world’s leading research center. Each struggles with MECHS’ stringent diet and exercise requirements. Scientists there are on the verge of eradicating all disease when a mysterious infection becomes an epidemic. After one of the interns is stricken, the other teens pilot a miniaturized vessel inside his body to discover the source of outbreak.Immune AttackAn educational video game that introduces basic concepts of human immunology to high school and entry-level college students. It aims to excite students about the subject, while also illuminating general principles and detailed concepts of immunology.The Immune System DefenderIlya Mechnikov, inserted a thorn into a larva and noticed strange cells gathering around the thorn. The cells were eating any foreign substances entering the ruptured skin (devouring cells). Play the game to learn more!Whack TB (Tuberculosis)There are almost 9 million new cases of TB each year; about 500,000 of these cases are resistant to the best TB drugs available to fight them. Play this game and learn more about fighting TB!" From the Families USA Global Health Initiative.Escape from DiabIs a serious videogame adventure in healthy eating and exercise. It puts players inside a sci-fi action and adventure where healthy lifestyle choices are the keys to winning.The Incredible Adventures of the Amazing Food DetectiveThere has been a mysterious outbreak of unhealthy habits among kids, and we need to solve these cases. All junior food detectives will get secret training on how to eat right and exercise. Have fun playing the game!The Food Detectives Fight BAC!The game gives kids a fun way to learn about foodborne illness. From New Mexico State University.Snacktown SmackdownIn this game, the player takes on the identity of a Kid Wisdom "agent" in a race to save the town from the evil Mayor's plans. After gathering healthy snacks for ammo and traversing a treacherous playground, the player must battle three possessed vending machines.FatworldA video game about the politics of nutrition. It explores the relationships between obesity, nutrition, and socioeconomics in the contemporary U.S.WaterBusters!A game to teach tips for water conservation around the home.EnergyvilleIt’s up to you to provide enough power to meet the energy demands of your city’s 3.9 million people while keeping them prosperous, secure, and living in a clean environment. The implications of the energy decisions you make today for your city in 2015 are based on the current lifestyles and the projected energy demands and costs for developed countries throughout North America, Europe and Asia.ElectroCityElectroCity is a new online computer game that lets players manage their own virtual towns and cities. It teaches players about energy, sustainability and environmental management in New Zealand.Ayiti - The Cost of LifeWhat is it like to live in poverty? Find out now in this challenging role playing game in which you take responsibility for a family of five in rural Haiti. From UNICEF with Microsoft support.Stop DisastersThe online game aims at teaching people on how to build safer villages and cities against disasters. Multiple languages. Good teacher resources.Real Life SimulationsThat let you experience life as, for example, a peasant farmer in Bangladesh, a factory worker in Brazil, a policeman in Nigeria, a lawyer in the US, or a computer operator in Poland, among others.3rd World FarmerIt aims at simulating the real-world mechanisms that cause and sustain poverty in 3rd World countries. In the game, the player gets to manage an African farm, and is soon confronted with the often difficult choices that poverty and conflict necessitate.Climate ChallengeA game where you are president of the European Nations. You must tackle climate change and stay popular enough with the voters to remain in office.Global Warming InteractiveIs a web based multi-user educational game which explores the relationship of global warming to economic, political and science policy decisions (intended for the high school user).Quest AtlantisHelp students understand social studies, environmental concerns, current events, and scientific standards.Deliver The Net GameRace the sun and hand out as many insecticide-treated bed nets as you can to African families. The more nets you deliver - before the mosquitoes come out - the more lives you save.HarpoonedHarpooned is a free game for Windows. It is a Cetacean Research Simulator, where you play the role of a Japanese scientist performing research on whales around Antarctica.WolfQuestLearn about wolf ecology by living the life of a wild wolf in Yellowstone National Park. Play alone or with friends in on-line multiplayer missions, explore the wilderness, hunt elk, and encounter stranger wolves in your quest to find a mate.FreeRiceGive free rice to hungry people by playing a simple game that increases your knowledge (vocabulary, language, maths, geography, chemistry, etc). For each answer you get right, they donate 10 grains of rice through the UN World Food Program to help end hunger.These e-learning resources (above) should keep us busy for a while, learning healthier ways of life, and hopefully the EduGames can offload some of the information overload :)

Click image to view the visualized #moodlewish story clearlyPLEASE WISH UP!Do you feel that Moodle needs improvement in some areas? Or perhaps don't like some of its features? Then why not make your voice heard in 14o characters, using the #moodlewish hashtag.Trust me, Moodlers (or developers) around the world will be following this one with hawk eyes as we Moodle users voice our thoughts, ideas, suggestions and frustrations.If you are a real Moodle die-hard fan, perhaps you should use the Moodle Tracker to give more detailed and constructive suggestions (including screenshots) for improvement. But let's face it, 99% of the suggestions and frustrations will never bother going there, but if you are interested, why not.So, having a dedicated hashtag in #moodlewish will hopefully provide a more convenient venue for all Moodle users to share ideas and suggestions (or those that use Twitter!), and for developers to make these sparks of ideas become a reality.WHY?I have to admit I have a Love-Hate relationship with Moodle. For sure Moodle has given me a lot of great learning memories over the years, but it has also given me nightmares and headaches, too. But sadly, over the last couple of years, I have felt that Moodle in a way has lost a bit of focus on especially its core features such as the file(s) upload, sharing links, chat, forum, quiz, assignment, course page editing, etc.I suppose it has been difficult to keep up with all the innovations going on in purpose-built tools out there such as Facebook, Scribd, Ning (become commercial! Annoying!), SlideShare, Elgg, Youtube, and Blackboard (Just kidding about the last one :)). For example, wouldn't it be great if Moodle enabled us to share resource links (URLs) and videos as efficiently and smoothly as what the Facebook Wall allows us to (watch screencast below).Or be able to upload files as dynamically as what Scribd enables us to do. Or create dynamic online learning networks and communities as Elgg and Ning enables us to. You might argue that we could always integrate all these tools with Moodle using widgets or integration modules. True! But, if even Moodle's core features are becoming a frustration and burden, then why bother using Moodle at all. Anyway, I have written a post about Moodle being an Airport, so I will leave it at that.In short, we are using Moodle at our University and would love to continue to use it for another decade if possible. Hopefully, the #moodlewish tag will provide an additional value added stream to Moodle developers and users around the world.TRUE STORYLets' close this post with a short true story:I met a Moodle certified trainer the other day, and I told him about how easy it was to share links on Facebook, and guess what he replied (summarized)?"Can Facebook do this and that, and this and that. Facebook is new! Moodle is free and open source... (and became very defensive)."It is great to be a fan, supporter and promoter, but should we get emotional about that? Instead, we should learn from them, and do better!Moodle is the Apple of Open Source, and we simply want to be better than any other learning tools out there. No excuses, especially with the core learning features. There are too many amazing people working on Moodle to let that happen. Let's hope Moodle 2.0 delivers, but I am still not too convinced (I suppose I set a bit high standards!).SourceWhy not have a couple of Moodle professionals dedicated to tracking down all valuable feedback and suggestions appearing in blogs, tweets, wikis, YouTube, etc....hashtags... and adding the filtered juice (not censored!) to the tracker proactively. I hope this is already happening...Read All About It!'Facebook Vs Moodle - Sharing Links' Screencast Featured on Screenr Homepage (from 13th to 27th May, 2010)#Moodlewish no more "turn editing on" Moodle vs. the Google Docs’ FormThanks for the suggestion, but instead of creating a new post, I will post it here (below)! Here is the comment (full discussion) that Joseph Thibault is referring to:"Dear Tomaz Lasic, Thanks for reminding me how Moodle gives a ‘DAMN’ about that. I do understand that we need to consider any changes in context of the whole project, and that we need to take care of the disabled (accessibility) and security. No disagreement whatsoever there. I can also sense that some might be thinking, "This guy is so ungrateful and annoying! Moodle is open source and free, who the….". Yes, I am a devil’s advocate, and perhaps being a bit provocative (in a Tom & Jerry way) too. But, having said that, I am simply being honest and sharing some of things that I think Moodle should improve.Of course, some of the things that I am emphasizing is hard to swallow, as Moodle is (could be argued) and has (always) been known for being user-friendly and very easy to learn and implement (with a strong foundation in constructive mambo-jumbo). Yes, I also have strong interest (and passion) for Moodle to work really well, as the University I am working in now, is using it a lot for e-learning activities. But, as I said earlier (using different words), Moodle needs to wake up to the new world order of innovation, usability, and free learning tools (including hosting). Let me share with you all some interesting Moodle observations and experiences. Earlier this year, I visited 8 Universities in Saudi Arabia, and many of them had explored Moodle, but over time they had lost interest due to terrible experiences piloting it, especially with managing the server(s), database, and back-end (looking for Moodle services opportunity, then that is a potential goldmine). Interestingly (or sadly), more and more Universities in Saudi Arabia are adopting Blackboard. Yes, Moodle is easy to install, but very difficult to manage when the concurrent usage increases (above say 100). Moodle experts and developers would argue against this (No, it is easy!), but that is not the case when you communicate with the grass roots. Since, I have struggled dealing with all the back-end issues myself (or my staff, since I am not really the technical guy!), too I can testify that managing Moodle back-end is not as easy and straight-forward as some might say. So, having a reliable wizard to guide on managing Moodle back-end and concurrent users would do miracles on that front. However, what has really troubled me the last few years is the lack usability improvements of the core features that say 90% of all users would use or explore in Moodle (editing course page, uploading files, Linking, forum, chat, quizzes, assignments, etc). Earlier today, I had a discussion with a faculty representative about how complicated it was developing quizzes in Moodle’s online quiz editor (forever scrolling, clicking and too many boxes!). He insisted that I teach them only how to use notepad (Aiken format) to get the job done. But then again, what about images, symbols, feedback and the other stuff you need to include (medical university!). Yeah, create all the questions in notepad, and then upload, and then add images and symbols were necessary. But… I tried once an Excel template version, but it was unusable. What if there was a Word quiz template, which could extract images and symbols on-the-fly (XML) during upload. Any such feature or option? I also get complaints about scrolling and click wars to upload notes, links, create assignments, etc. In a way, the current version we are using (1.9 something), is disabling especially older faculty staff (45+ years) to get on board (easily), because too many steps are needed to getting basic stuff done (e.g. uploading notes).All this might sound new and strange to some Moodle fans and developers out there. But if it does, perhaps you should spend some more time exploring and reflecting learning tools beyond the LMSs (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Blogger, Google Docs, etc), and pick up some great ideas.Having said that, we don’t expect all our wishes to happen overnight, but we do expect them at least to be considered, or know that Moodle developers are aware of them and working towards finding a solution. If Ajax does not work (accessibility and security), I am sure there are other ways to simplify the processes of doing things. The golden rule in usability ‘Less is more’ (just made that golden rule up, but it makes sense).We live in a tough and complicated world today. Even for things that are free, people can blast, be demanding, and expect miracles. It is not easy, and for that fact I admire all of you. Just remember to pinch your egos when criticism hurts (be receptive and welcome them with open arms in creative ways). It is tough, especially for me, as I am always pinching myself. Not easy :( But then again, life without a struggle would be really boring :) Cheers!"Lovely!I remember in 2004, I was in shock-and-awe after exploring Moodle for the first time. Let's together bring back that feeling soon :)

CLICK HERE to discover IMU E-Learning on Facebook!WHAT?Facebook will be one of the main tools that we (IMU E-Learning) use to connect and share our e-learning adventures and stories as we explore, learn, share, facilitate and reflect together with IMU (International Medical University) educators, staff, and students regarding the amazing learning possibilities we have today.As we are in the early stages of exploring social media (social networking, wikis, blogs, podcasts, Twitter, etc.) for learning at IMU, we hope that by openly sharing our learning stories, we will increasingly encourage more to participate and share. More and more universities or educational institutions around the world are exploring social media for learning, and we hope that our experiences shared can benefit others out there, especially new comers. Also, we do hope that this sharing initiative will lead to more connections and discussions with educators and students at IMU and beyond.We have so much to learn, and by sharing and connecting with great people like you, we can learn faster and more effectively using our collective intelligence, or wisdom of the crowds (Oops, a few big words!).Some might argue that you lose your competitive (e-learning) edge by being open and willing to share. I would argue that if you want to be leader in any field, you have to share your work and efforts, and be open to feedback and criticism. If you reflect and act upon these nuggets of feedback and criticism, you are probably going to improve faster than sticking to the old paradigm emphasizing indirectly that 'Hoarding Learning (knowledge, competencies and skills) is Power!'.It should be 'Sharing Learning is Power'. Not much can be done alone, but it is amazing what we can do together collectively.INGREDIENTSWe are using the Facebook Page feature to share our e-learning adventures and stories. Here you will find the following tabs (sections):The WallEnjoy the learning stream, and please share your ideas, feedback (Like!) and comments, too.BlogHere you can get easily access all the learning stories and resources explored on IMU E-Learning blog.DiscussionsHere you can participate and share your thoughts and ideas on how we can improve learning at IMU, or anything related to learning, facilitation, creativity, innovation, etc.VideoFor now we will mostly upload screencasts exploring the different learning tools explored during the workshops, and discuss how we could use them for developing more sizzling learning environments or content.PicturesPictures from all e-learning related events and workshops. So, if you have attended one, we might have caught a nice picture of you learning, or perhaps ______ :)LinksResource links (URL) to amazing learning resources from around the world. Most of these amazing learning resource links are shared through IMU E-Learning blog, which collects and tries to make sense of them via refreshing resource collections.IMU E-Learning Facebook Page is still very much under construction, so you can probably expect some interesting surprises as we explore and discover further.MOVING ON!Currently, most of the learning stories and resources shared on the Facebook Page are from the e-learning team, but we are working with several lecturers to share their learning stories, and will soon be encouraging several students to share their learning stories, too.We are also working on a website (using Google Sites) entitled the 'Learning Innovation Lab', which will enable...(still under construction). For this social media learning sharing initiative we will be mostly using technology that is free and reasonably easy-to-use, meaning that anyone interested in doing something similar (or better!) to what we are doing, can do that without needing worry too much about hardware, software and hosting budgets (big zero!). Though, you would require time to do it, but if you see the value and have the passion, you will most likely find the time.The good thing today, is that we have so many learning tools and possibilities to potentially use to facilitate learning. The sad thing is that due to that fact, many of us are obviously facing information (and tools) overload, and are clueless where to start.In a learning shell, how do we use emerging (and old) learning tools to facilitate sizzling learning environments? How do we use learning tools and open educational resources to nurture students to ask deeper and more reflective questions, master their learning areas, think more creatively and innovatively, discover their passion, and eventually inspire them to become, or achieve their ultimate dreams (even the impossible)?Let's explore the possibilities together :)

Here is a screencast exploring my most satisfying PowerPoint animation experience:Not bad! Though, I haven't played around much with innovating my PowerPoint animation skills since 2008, so I have a lot of catching up to do! Tom ______ (guess who?) please help me out here.What about you? Do you have any 'orgasmic' PowerPoint animation experience to share? I mean a PowerPoint animation that you created for something, and you ended with being really satisfied with it. Why not share your own 'Most Satisfying PowerPoint Animation'?Telling your story via a screencast (e.g. Screenr) would be cool, but a comment would also make my day :)