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LOOKING FORWARD!Looking forward to visit Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) on 16 December (2014), for the first time. Insya-Allah, my 1-day workshop can inspire a few (or more) UniKL's lecturers to take up the learning transformation challenge. You only need one to spark a transformation.Hmm, I am sure there are already learning transformers at UniKL, so I am also looking forward to discover a few new learning tricks, too. Of course, we will be juggling balls!Yes, I did facilitate the similar workshops with the same title at UNIMAS (26/11) and UKM (29/11).HI!If you are attending this workshop, could you please add your name, picture (optional) and what you think is the ingredients for empowering engaging and effective student learning experiences (in a sentence or two) to the Padlet wall below (Direct link). Just double click/tap to add yourself (no login required). That would simply be awesome! Thanks! Created with PadletWORKSHOPIn this 1-day hands-on workshop, we will explore how to design interactive and engaging student learning experiences using technology. First, we will examine how the brain learns, and then learn a few tricks on how to speed read and curate information in an information overloaded world. After that, we will actively look at how we can transform face-to-face (F2F) learning using the ‘Flipped Classroom’ and ‘Gamification’ methods.  Then, we will explore how we can use social media and web 2.0 to engage students, empower collaborative online learning spaces, and development interactive content. Participants will be engaged throughout the workshop with learning activities, including the gamified group challenge during the afternoon. It will be fun, engaging, and participants will get a taste of how they can use technology to transform the students’ learning process.After this workshop, you will be able to:Discuss how the brain learns.Use at least 3 techniques to increase your reading speed with comprehension.Apply Gagne’s 9 events of instruction to design more engaging learning content and environments.Use web 2.0 tools to design and publish interactive and engaging learning content. Apply Flipped Classroom and Gamification methods to your teaching and learning.Use interactive web tools to engage and assess students during face-to-face learning sessions.Use Social Media to interact and empower students to collaborate online.Key resources:150+ Awesome Learning ToolsBest Quick Reference Guides to Web 2.0Bloom’s Digital Taxonomies!Blended & Flipped Learning: Case Studies in Malaysian Higher Education InstitutionsSLIDESHere we go:re Designing 21st Century Learning Experiences from Zaid Alsagoff In addition, we will also explore Speed Reading briefly during this workshop, and whatever discussed (and much more) is found in this SlideShare presentation: Learning How to Speed Read in an Information Overloaded World from Zaid Alsagoff CHALLENGEInteractive Web Tools (recommended):PadletPoll EverywhereKahootSocrativeContent Development Tools (recommended):PowToonGoAnimateExplain EverythingTouchCast VideoScribeQuizletScreenr Screencast-O-MaticEDPuzzleOffice Mix (for PowerPoint 2013)Social Learning (recommended):WhatsAppTelegramFacebookGoogle DocsBlendSpaceSchoologyBenchmark challenge sample using Blendspace.TOOLSHere is a collection of 150+ awesome learning tools to spice up your learning and teaching. Please use the 'Filter (tags)' to narrow down on the type of tool you are looking for (authoring, quiz, LMS, etc.). Top 100+ Learning Tools on Planet Earth!View more lists from Zaid Ali AlsagoffCan't wait!!! :)

Here are the top items via eLearning Learning. Top Items Communities of Practice Online Education - Introducing the Microlecture Format — Open Education Tips for facilitators in Ning Social vs. Not - Pictorally 50 Practical Tips & Tricks to Build Better E-Learning Desire2Blog: Student Introductions in Online Courses IRIS Model New roles for former trainers Aggregation Types Workplace Learning in 10 Years Manchester United embraces m-learning elearning, strategically M-Learning: Challenges to E-Learning Pro’s Are you playing the role of the Subject Matter Expert instead of the Instructional Designer? Adult Learning in the Workplace - Research Findings Top Keywords PKM eLearning Tools Informal Learning Swish Adobe Captivate Twitter LinkedIn Tools Harbinger Adobe Google Articulate Microsoft eLearning Technology Browse eLearning Content

From all the amazing news Google shared at this year’s I|O conference, to me the biggest one was the availability of the Google Chrome browser for iPad and iPhone. While most Reviewers are focusing on what it can and cannot do on IOs devices, like the fact that it’s 2-3 times slower than Safari (likely because Apple does not provide third party developers access to their Nitro Javascript engine), to me that’s irrelevant. I still immediately made it my mobile web browser of choice. To me, the real killer app is that it allows me to have a singular browsing experience across most of my connected desktop PCs and mobile devices. As we become more and more inseparable with our mobile devices, coupled with the fact that those of us who own multiple devices and desktop computers and laptops, it’s important to build a future where our information follows us wherever we go and regardless of what device(s) we grab and bring with us. I no longer have to use Google extensions like "Chrome to Phone" to send myself pages I’m reading on my desktop and that I’d like to continue reading on my Android device of choice, or email links to articles. With Google Chrome now virtually everywhere, I can now continue browsing where I left off using the "Other Devices" feature, which allows me to get a list of pages that are currently opened in every single one of my PCs and devices where I’m logged in using my Google credentials. Netflix and Whispersync from Amazon are two great examples of this singular watching and reading experiences, respectively. Netflix for example is available virtually everywhere, I can start watching a movie on my PC, pause it, grab my iPad and continue it there and then finish it in my living room later that night. Same thing for reading a book using the Kindle Fire from Amazon and then continue reading on many devices using the Kindle app from Amazon. I realize having this singular computing experience for everything we do today is easier said than done, mainly because most big companies are building their own ecosystems and walled gardens, but kudos to Google for extending the browsing experience through Google Chrome beyond their Android platform. When I think about the future of computing, I envision having my data with me whenever and wherever I go and regardless of what device(s) I grab as I walk out the door. Share your thoughts on what the future of computing looks like to you.

by Jennie Ruby    The answers that follow the guidelines set forth in my article from a few weeks ago are brought to you by Geri Moran. It is very tedious, in my opinion, to type on a flat screen. The blog--even after the extensive upgrade we purchased last quarter--was still slow to load on mobile devices. The most widely accessible option, according to the magazine, is still the print version. The company that provides the fastest downloads is still XYZ. Norman, who arrived at the classroom before the computers were turned on, noticed the change in temperature right away. A more extended listing (see Appendix B) has been compiled by XYZ Press. Note that the representation of the long dash--the em dash--as two hyphens or as "space hyphen space" are only acceptable when the software you are using does not support the standard long dash character. Other respondents had varying opinions on whether the interruptions should be marked with parentheses rather than commas. Here are some additional thoughts on that: On number 3, the words "according to the magazine" are an independent comment on the entire sentence, and they indicate that the magazine is the source of the entire statement. You are not necessarily saying that you agree with the magazine's opinion. If you put those words inside parentheses, then you are making the assertion yourself, and merely citing the magazine as a supporting source. On number 2, it is difficult for me to see how the information about an upgrade could be seen as totally parenthetical and placed in parentheses. It is not merely reference or support material. I think the person who wrote the sentence is expressing outrage, or at least disappointment, that the blog is still slow. The interruption carries a good bit of the point of the sentences, and thus needs emphasis, rather than de-emphasis. To those readers still waiting for more on the who/whom issue, here is an update. Many respondents treated the exercise as a standard challenge rather than giving an opinion. Some said it is not an opinion, but a matter of following a well-established grammar rule. Others agree with me, that this rule is so often broken in spoken English, that following it in written English can result in awkward constructions. Once I untangle all the opinions and calibrate the right/wrong answers, I'll give a full report. In the mean time, more data is needed. Here is the who/whom challenge again. Please answer each one, this time, by indicating the way you most often say it or hear it said, rather than the way you calculate is the right answer by analyzing whether the usage is nominative or objective (subject or verb). What I am trying to get at is whether actual everyday usage follows any logic. Give a try to punctuating the interruptions in the sentences below. Feel free to post your answers as comments below. Who are you giving the scholarship to, after all? Who is that young man in the cap and gown? Who spilled the grape punch on the white carpet? Who are we celebrating here--him or his parents? Who do you think we should elect as the class president? Who did the instructor select as the first to play a recital piece? Who do we want for our soloist at the concert? Who should they give the award to? Who is the party for, anyway? Who's your favorite nephew? *** If you love Jennie's grammar articles, you'll love her classes. Check out some of Jennie's mini courses.

Written by Jessica Batz View and download the webinar slides. View the webinar recording.

CLICK HEREHow do I post on the Wall?Created with PadletThanks for considering to participate! You are awesome anyway!DESIGNING ENGAGING PRESENTATIONSIn this 2-hour workshop (6 April, 2015) at IMU, we explore how to design engaging presentations for e-learning and flipped classroom sessions based on good instructional design practices. In the process, we will explore PowToon, PowerPoint, Gagne’s 9 Events of instruction and other tools to engage students to think, learn and do.After the workshop, participants should be able to:Discuss how the brain learns.Apply ‘Gagne’s 9 events of instruction’ to design effective and engaging presentations.Use PowToon to create short animations (e.g. attention grabber).Design visually attractive slides using PowerPoint.SLIDESHere are the slides: Designing Engaging Presentations at IMU! from Zaid Alsagoff The key to remember is that you can always get better at whatever you are doing, including designing presentations...I am still learning :)

Robert Kennedy recently posted 100 Conversations and Hot Wheels where he addressed one of my 100 Conversation Topics that you can find aggregated on eLearning Learning as 100 Conversations.  He chose to write about how he works differently from 10 years ago … one of my favorite topics.  Some good stuff in his post, but something that caught my eye was: Have my work skills changed? Well, I use different tools now and I think my general approach to things has morphed slightly.  However, I still look to incorporate the "oh that was fun" factor into learning.  As I learn new software and new technologies, in some cases that becomes a bit more difficult.  The video game factor has made it harder to have the "wow" factor in some learning software.  But there are still ways to include some fun still. This is always a good reminder to make sure that while we are moving towards smaller pieces of content, self-directed learning, informal learning support, social learning solutions, etc. - we don't lose one of the aspects that I believe learning professionals often possess.  They know how to make learning fun. It also made me realize that I've not thought a whole lot about social learning and fun.  Do I even need to make it fun?  Isn't it already a kind of fun - interaction and conversation?  But maybe that's me?  What do you think? Is Social Learning Fun? eLearning Technology Browse eLearning Content

by AJ Walther     Want to design something that looks fresh and modern? You may want to consider Flat Design. Flat design is an aesthetic that rids the design of any three dimensional attributes. Generally, drop shadows, gradients, outlines, and textures are avoided. When gradients are used, they subtly fade from one color to a slightly different hue of the same color. It is common to see a heavy reliance on icons and banners with close attention to the color palette and font choice. Many of us are working with shoestring budgets while creating eLearning. This means we are often relegated to the world of free clip art for our eLearning images. Here are a few examples of how clip art images can be reimagined into flat design. For these examples I just used shapes without lines, gradients, or shadows to create new, flat images resembling the original clip art images.    The great thing about flat design is that with careful attention to detail, most anyone can produce their own form of attractive flat design. All of the redesigned clip art images above took very little time, effort, and PowerPoint technical expertise. But, want to know a secret? You could even take an existing clip art image and bend it into your own flat design creation without building anything from scratch. Let's look at an example. Find a clip art image that you like, but that could use a bit of help.   With the image selected, press [ctrl] [shift] [g] on your keyboard twice to ungroup the image.Note: The first time you ungroup, you will be asked if you would like to convert the image to a drawing object. Click yes and then ungroup again.  Select and delete unwanted elements. Here, I deleted each of the black lines.   Working one shape at a time, right-click and select Edit Points to smooth each shape by editing its points. When possible, I like to get rid of as many points as possible and to set the majority of the remaining points as Smooth Points. For this particular image, I also adjusted the point of the tack to be pointier and extended the "metal" part so that the green section overlapped it.   Note: New to editing points? Check out this quick tip here.  Apply your color scheme to the image by selecting each shape individually, right-clicking, and choosing Format Shape.   If you're going for more of a Jony Ive look (a la iPhone's OS), you can take this a bit further by adding a subtle gradient to the shapes.   Integrate the image into your design.   Need some more flat design inspiration? Check out the Flat UI Design site. 

One of the questions I get asked frequently is whether I’d recommend Storyline or Captivate 6 to a company who needs to publish their desktop eLearning specifically for learners to consume it on the iPad. This is an interesting question to answer for so many reasons. First off I think this question is fairly shortsighted because I believe real multi-screen design and deployment of "learning" should go beyond just publishing for iPad consumption. In other words, I don’t believe that you can call having an iPad-only solution a real mLearning strategy. What about other screens, like the iPhone, Android smartphones and tablets, and other devices like the Kindle Fire for example? In fact, according to this "Bring Your Own Device" (BYOD) research, entitled Dispelling Six Myths of Consumerization of IT, which took place in January, 2012, one of the key findings is that personal devices coming into the workplace are broad and diverse and in fact, the most popular consumer device that employees are bringing into the enterprise is not an Apple product, it turns out the single most popular device is the Android phone. One Size does Not Fit All And then there’s the fact that I don’t believe we should literally convert the same exact desktop eLearning to HTML for mobile devices, including the iPad. The experiences between a desktop computer with a mouse and a touch-enabled devices are simply too different. Take a traditional software ‘try-it simulation’ in Captivate 6 that is scored, convert it to HTML5 and then use your finger to try and find the right tap-target and you will see what I mean. It’s very likely that you will fail the assessment and not because you don’t know where to tap, but rather because these simulations are created for the very small and narrow mouse arrow and not for the finger tap, which typically requires about a 30-pixel tap-target. I think the reason why eLearning tools vendors are rushing to market with a "one size fits all" solution for eLearning and mLearning, where the tools are simply converting existing desktop eLearning to HTML5, is because when they asked their customers what they wanted next in their software, for the most part what they heard was "I just want to have my learners access my stuff on the iPad." Having said that, I do understand why people are asking others and me this question and I suppose I also see why eLearning tools vendors are promoting the popular iPad as the device of choice for publishing to in their marketing materials. So for the sake of answering this very specific question, here’s how I see Articulate Storyline and Adobe Captivate 6 addressing this particular need. Both Storyline and Captivate have an HTML5 story, however neither is a very good story. There are many features in both applications that are not carried over when a user publishes to HTML5. You can see the list of things that won’t work in Storyline HERE and for Captivate 6; you can see it HERE and HERE. With all due respect to both of these companies, I think they need to do much better in an upcoming version of their software. When I look at apps entirely created in HTML5, such as Boom Town and Sketchpad (try it on iPad Safari) I think to myself, surely there must be a way to overcome most of the limitations currently listed by these two eLearning vendors. Ok so we all know that for most eLearning tools vendors this is they first foray into the HTML5 world and of course we can expect the next versions to be more thorough when it comes to publishing to HTML5. But what about right now? Answer to this FAQ Here’s how I see it. While both companies have a list of features that are not supported in their HTML5 export, only one company went the extra mile to ensure that their users and their users’ users could fully consume their courses on the iPad. That company is Articulate with Storyline and the Articulate Mobile Player iPad app. You have to admire a company that after assessing the situation of a platform (i.e. HTML5) says, we are not satisfied with the experience we are providing our users, and sets out to build an innovative way to extend that experience. If you have never seen this app in action and you own an iPad, take a look at two screencasts I published a while back on how the process works, and try a sample course using the app I mentioned above. So there you go, that’s how I answer when people ask me about publishing eLearning courses to the iPad. Share your thoughts.