SlideShare versionSlideBoom versionPDF version (64 MB)Text-based OER List101 OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES (OER)...Is another 'Visualized Link Collection' (or link visualization) to spice up our learning and teaching. If you prefer a less graphical version, all the OER or free resources visualized can be found in the text-based OER List, which even includes more resources for us to explore. I have to warn that the visualized OER collection might give you a 'information overload' kind of learning experience. Perhaps, the best thing is to swoosh through first, and then explore it in details to find something interesting. Actually, the best thing now is for me to shut up, and let you explore the 101 OER for yourself. Here we go:101 Open Educational ResourcesView SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: oer opencourseware)A WHOLE NEW MIND!You might be wondering why I bother taking the effort to visualize a bunch of juicy links. After doing four collections, I have come to realize that I am using 'A Whole New Mind' more effectively. Okay, I am just playing around with last year's buzz phrase and book by Dan Pink. But I did read this book recently, and I have to say that I have a long way to really grasp and nurture the kind of senses (skills, behaviors, competencies, attitudes, beliefs, etc.) required for the 'Conceptual Age' (at least that is what he calls it). But by increasingly nurturing both our left and right directed brains (One brain! I think!) we can evolve into more productive innovators, empathizers, problem solvers, designers, story tellers, bla, bla, you name it (Be creative!)... Why only three dots? Lets' add a couple more, and play with the colors and sizes ..... (Is this an innovation or what!).Did you watch and listen to Oprah Winfrey's 2008 Stanford Commencement Address (30 min)? An interesting and inspiring speech! Though, what really got me thinking was not the three magic lessons in life, but that she talked about the conceptual age and promoted Dan Pink's A Whole New Mind book (Yeah, every graduate got one copy, too. Now, that is cheap, but creative marketing!).So, what is the fuss about this book? Let me ask you three questions:What are the three major future trends in the global business economy?What are the three crucial questions we need to ask to succeed in any business?What are the six essential senses needed to succeed in the future? Let me see: 3 trends + 3 questions = 6 senses. Is that correct?Let's say you don't want or have time to read this book, here are a few brainless reflections to these three questions (Source):But, first you need to know that Dan Pink outlines four major 'ages':Agricultural Age (farmers)Industrial Age (factory workers)Information Age (knowledge workers)Conceptual Age (creators and empathizers)In short, we Asians should stop babbling about becoming knowledge workers, and swoosh towards becoming innovators and empathizers. If we can swoosh our left-directed brains with the right side, we will be amazing. We are already hardworking and have stored tons of facts in our brains, and by nurturing our creative mind, we can actually use all this stored fuel (knowledge) to innovate and become greener. Game on! Are we up to the challenge? Wake up! Get up! Don't give up the fight (I mean learning adventure)!Question 1 - What are the three major future trends in the global business economy?Abundance (consumers have too many choices, nothing is scarce)Asia (everything that can be outsourced, is) andAutomation (computerization, robots, technology, processes) Yes, even creativity will eventually be outsourced to Asia (I am not joking!). Today, you can even find 1-2 year old kids being sent to brain development programs such as Shichida method to stimulate their creative senses. Amazingly, you will even find mothers and fathers worried that their 2 year old kids are not progressing well (If no progress, I will change school/method!). Some are even nurturing their future kids in the wombs with brain exercises and Mozart. Never mind that Einstein could not speak until he was four. It will be interesting to see how these super geniuses will evolve into becoming the Asian Einsteins. Give the kids a break, and let them play (at least until they are 3) :)Question 2 - What are the three crucial questions we need to ask to succeed in any business?Can someone overseas do it cheaper?Can a computer do it faster?Is what I'm offering in demand in an age of abundance?Think about it! Yes, Yes, No, and you are in big trouble. Post it on your business wall, or it might collapse!Question 3 -What are the six essential senses needed to succeed in the future (Source)? "When these three questions above are present (question 2's questions), creativity becomes the competitive difference that can differentiate commodities. Pink outlines six essential senses:Design - Moving beyond function to engage the senseStory - Narrative added to products and services - not just argument. Best of the six senses.Symphony - Adding invention and big picture thinking (not just detail focus).Empathy - Going beyond logic and engaging emotion and intuition.Play - Bringing humor and light-heartedness to business and products.Meaning - Immaterial feelings and values of products."Educational point(form)-of-view:Next time we design a course, we should do our best to simplify the complexity (not the other way around!), and engage students to learn beyond memorization (Is thinking and doing aloud?).Also, we should not just stimulate the logical mind, but instead mash-up the boring stuff with stories (real stories, real people, happening in the real world! The Y-generation especially, loves the reality thingy!). If you are lazy, just link them to real case-studies or stories that you believe are relevant to the student's learning and course. There are tons of them on the web. If you cannot find them, be creative. Why just reflect real stories, why not act them out in class (offline or online), or convert them into a learning game on-the-fly. Have you ever wondered why you can watch a movie for 2 hours without trouble, but fall asleep within minutes during a lecture. On both occasions the learner is simply watching and listening. Why?If symphony makes no sense (another sweet jargon like blue ocean), think synthesis (Another jargon, but I suppose you are familiar with it). Yes, we need to nurture the students ability to synthesize (in addition to analyzing), or the ability to see relationships, patterns, connections and linkages from multiple sources. In short, big picture thinking or or making sense of many sources, and then putting them together in new and innovative ways. How do we do that? Think! Spice up your students learning with short videos, pictures, quotes, jokes, stories, etc. that challenge and provoke them to think. It should only take you a few minutes to find something on the net to spice up your teaching and learning space a bit. Show some empathy to how boring your lectures/tutorials might actually be. Imagine how you like to learn? Not surprisingly we often don't like to be taught, but we love to learn. Empower and engage your students to participate in the learning adventure. They might do a better job than us (teaching their own learning). Yes, there is no harm with a bit of play, or having fun while learning or teaching. Why not spice up the learning events with a bit of humor and engaging activities. Take your course seriously! Take your students seriously! Take your curriculum seriously! But, don't take yourself too seriously! When you loosen up, students will probably join you, and learning will be more fun and engaging. We mostly know this, but we somehow forget when reality creeps in.Finally, we need to find meaning in what we facilitate and teach. Students should know why they are learning whatever they are learning. Especially the Y(Why)-generation wants to know 'Why', or why bother! Oh, that makes sense! Now, I know why it is important to know this! I can use this knowledge to...! Why learn something which has no meaning to me? Or why teach something that has no meaning to the students? These things are not obvious, but if we can persuade and make sense to them why they are learning this and that, I suppose they will be more actively embracing it with their thinking minds.That was a few brainless (or right-directed!) reflections.Overall, Dan Pink's A Whole New Mind is a conceptual age mind awakening book, which I don't regret spending my time and money on. I really enjoyed his conversational light and easy writing style, which engaged both my logical and emotional mind. Did you know that he was previously a speechwriter to Al Gore? Now, you do!See, my right and left brains (hemispheres) are processing at the same time, and things are getting messy (order vs thinking flow!). Stop!I got one more collection to visualize (wait and see!), and then I will hopefully begin a journey of deep reflection (yeah right!) on how we can use the different web 2.0 technologies (e.g. blogging, wikis, podcasting, RSS, social bookmarking) to facilitate effective learning.I am still learning (a lot!) :)

SlideShare Version5-Part Link Visualization SeriesPDF Version (21 MB)"And then you take a look at Spaces, there is this great innovation that came out of nowhere. We have the number one blogging site in the world because of the innovation that's there." - Steve BallmerAfter spending the last year (Since July 2007) blogging about learning and connecting with great edubloggers (and educators), I can't think of another learning tool that has been so enriching in facilitating my own learning and enabling me to make sense of the amazing learning innovations popping up everywhere. Blogging is a wonderful tool to capture and reflect your learning, and share your thoughts and ideas to the world (or whoever is interested).Since there are more than 112 million blogs (tracked by Technorati) out there, surely we are going to struggle a bit to find juicy educational blogs or EduBlogs (if that is what we are looking for!). However, since I have found a few really juicy ones, why not share them with you in a visually attractive manner? So, if your logical mind is not triggered to explore, perhaps your right (or creative) mind will assist you. If you haven't slammed their blog URLs in your RSS reader already, you might enjoy this final (for now!) link visualized presentation. Nope, this time around no quick links. Let's enjoy my effort to stimulate your learning and connect you to new windows (beyond Microsoft) of learning.25 EDUBLOGSHere 25 EduBlogs that will assist you to keep track of the present and future of learning, teaching, content and technology:25 EduBlogs You Simply Don’t Want to Miss!To be honest, I could have easily added another 100 super duper EduBlogs, but I believe these 25 are enough to get you started on a learning journey that will probably connect (Connectivism!) you to a world of learning that perhaps you did not know exist. I suppose some of you are already familiar with most of the ones I have selected. If you have other great EduBlogs to suggest, please feel free to add them in the comment section. I would surely like to discover a few more juicy EduBlogs that can inspire my learning further.RECAP - LINK VISUALIZATION SERIESHere are the other four (4) link visualizations again (if you missed any): 101 Free Learning Tools 101 Open Educational Resources101 Free EduGamesAmazing Free e-Learning Ebooks CollectionClick here to discover the 5-part link visualization series and my other SlideShare presentations in one place.This link visualization series has basically sucked out approximately 80% of the wonderful learning resources found in my first ebook. So, if you missed it, or don't feel like reading or searching it for juicy learning resources, this 5-part series could do wonders.On the positive note, I will at last be taking a real holiday to hopefully reflect life and enjoy the remaining days of this wonderful month of Ramadan (fasting month), so I will probably not be blogging for the next 2-3 weeks. In the meantime enjoy the hundreds of learning resources found in this 5-part series, and have fun exploring other EduBlogs :)

SlideShare VersionSlideBoom PresentationPDF Version (31 MB)Text Version (Delicious)"Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus" - John GrayMALE DOMINATED LISTSometimes in life you begin to wonder if that really makes sense. Thanks to Stephen Downes, Janet Clarey discovered my 25 Edublogs presentation, and then pointed brilliantly out that 22 of the 25 listed are men. In a nut shell, it kind of added fuel to a discussion about "women, blogging, representation, respect, recognition, and readership" (my own intepretation) that was taking place at the Brandon Hall Research Innovations in Learning Conference (Sep 25-26, 2008).To get a clearer picture of what I am talking about, I strongly recommend that you read all the comments. I found it especially interesting to read about how women themselves reasoned why women edubloggers perhaps don't get the respect, recognition and appreciation that they really deserve. You will find all sorts of reasons in the comments section and it has also continued in blogs elsewhere (e.g. Michele Martin and Cammy Bean). It is kind of interesting, so I will leave it for you to explore and reflect that. I believe for my part, I have added enough fuel to the discussion, and have other ideas on how to make a difference. But first...CLARIFICATIONSI just want to make a few important points about my link visualization presentations. First, none of my visual collections are rankings or top this and that. They are simply resources, tools or people that I find interesting and useful, and would like to recommend to others. If my collections were really rankings (e.g. the top 25 EduBlogs), certainly I would not reveal the No. 1 ranked first (unless I was an idiot). What an anti-climax would that be?Though, I can't blame some people out there in the twitter or blogging world for billing it as a Top 25 EduBlogs list, because when you see that Stephen Downes is the first one to be mentioned in the EduBlogs list (with a No. 1 tag), you might assume it is. I think I should have made this clear in the presentation to avoid such interpretations. I simply use numbering, so that viewers know where they are, and how much they have covered. And I like to start and end a collection with a bang to get that first and last impression effect. In short, not ranking, just numbering.Finally, besides stimulating my right-brain, I am driven to create these visualized lists, because this way of sharing stuff is proving to be more effective than any other method that I have tried. For example, my 101 Free Learning Tools presentation has now been embedded or mentioned in more than a hundred sites and viewed 15600+ times (in less than 2 months!). These presentations might not make it efficient and convenient to access the links, but they seem to attract more visitors and feedback from around the world. Anyway, to solve that problem, we should provide both a text-based and visual list. Anyway, the coming visual list will be the last (for a while), as I want to reflect deeper on certain learning or e-learning issues in the coming months (2 posts a month, I predict).WOMEN EDUBLOGGERSThanks to Janet Clarey's great 22-3 discovery, I have taken on another learning mission to explore more women edubloggers and below is my discoveries in a visually stimulating manner.27 Inspiring Women EdubloggersYes, it is a lesson learned. I have learned a lot! I have discovered some amazing blogs (from Venus). Overall, women edubloggers seem to discuss more personal stuff, but as long as it is linked to some form of learning, I am all ears. Sometimes we need to get personal to be effective in our professional life. We are all humans (at least those that read blogs), and showing a bit of cracks in our personal life enables others to relate to us more. We might not get a journal publication with our personal stories, but we might manage to motivate and engage more readers or learners to learn and think. The mashup of logic, facts, emotion, visuals and stories can engage and inspire a person to learn, so why not utilize these tools, if you are doing it for noble purposes.Instead of breaking recommendation lists apart, perhaps it is time to celebrate and promote our own discoveries. If you ask me, Edublogs (both male and female) don't get enough attention, appreciation, recognition, respect or readership they deserve in the media, or by the educational community at large (period!). Maybe it is because edublogs in general are not stimulating or entertaining enough, or maybe it is also because we don't do enough to promote our own kind beyond our small little learning communities.Anyway, I do hope that one day edublogs are as widely read as political and celebrity blogs are today. Never mind the celebrity and political life, but it would be great if more educators around the world are awaken to the amazing learning possibilities that this online world is already providing us. Let's hope for the sake of our kids, we don't wake up too late.I am still learning :)

PhotoFuniaVia HongkiatSelect an EffectSelect Your PhotoHere We Go!Seriously, it is that simple! Alright, PhotoFunia needs to add more juicy templates to really get me super excited. But it is a good start.Then you might ask (after testing it), "But how did you that?" My answer: PowerPoint 2007 and Paint!As I realize that I will be hyper busy with workshops and presentations for at least one month, I will have little time to really sit down and write long (boring) blog posts. But instead, I will be posting 1-2 amazingly short learning nuggets every week that explore things that really give me learning goose bumps. This photo magic tool is exciting, but they need to add more cool templates. As that is probably the easy part, expect more to come soon :)

MathwayVia John EvansMathway solves our math problems with step-by-step explanations. It is for students, parents, and teachers, and covers the following math subjects:Basic MathPre-AlgebraAlgebraLinear AlgebraTrigonometryPrecalculusCalculusIn addition, it also provides Graphing and Glossary definitions.I love the fact that it not only gives us the results, but teaches us the process step-by-step, too. Although, results are important, it is only when we master the process that we can really apply what we learn to other problems, scenarios and contexts. If we understand the process we can use the knowledge, skills and competencies learned to create new value added ideas, processes, services and products.Isn't that what we want our students' to able to master in the era of learning, creativity, innovation and invention? :)

Link to P2PU "The Peer 2 Peer University is an online community of open study groups for short university-level courses. Think of it as online book clubs for open educational resources. The P2PU helps you navigate the wealth of open education materials that are out there, creates small groups of motivated learners, and supports the design and facilitation of courses. Students and tutors get recognition for their work, and we are building pathways to formal credit as well.Find out more about what P2PU courses look like, and consider creating your own."Oh boy, this project looks interesting! Though, you got to be patient, because you can't sign up for any courses before early 2009. In the meantime, you can join the mailing list, and be part of the fun before the big launch.LEARNING STRATEGY?P2PU learning experience is based on interaction between peers in small communities. They will offer scheduled "courses" that run for 6 weeks covering university-level topics. Learning takes place in small groups of 8-14 students. Each course package contains the syllabus, study materials and a schedule. Courses are designed by someone with expert knowledge, a "sense-maker", and facilitated by a "class tutors" who is familiar with the content, and can support the group of students...bla, bla.In a nutshell, we can complete the courses faster than usual, enjoy small learning groups, and that makes a lot of learning sense to me.I think eventually I will have to join and be part of this potentially great learning adventure. And it is wonderful that there happens to be at least one passionate Norwegian Viking (Stian Håklev) behind the scenes. You need real passion, will and support to enable such projects to succeed, and it looks like they have already established a strong team. In short, let's explore :)

Delicious VersionDiigo Version"Imagination is more important than knowledge..."Albert EinsteinIMAGINATION!WOW! Dear President Obama, thank you so much for your support and encouragement. I am literally flattered to get your recognition and appreciation for my historical achievement. "Zaid, I have been a fan of your site, ever since you discovered my little secret. Your discovery led me to your work, and I have been following ever since."Sometimes I wonder where I get my imagination from! Nurturing our imagination is a critical learning tool to facilitate creativity, innovation and invention (perhaps the most important!). Imagination is an amazing visualization tool, and many people apply this to improve their abilities and skills in the real world. For example, great footballers (soccer players) often use their imagination to visualize how they might score before a game, and it often helps them to make the right decision when the real opportunity comes along.However, imagination is also important to our mental health and happiness. When we were kids, we could have lots of fun with ourselves using our amazing imagination. I remember scoring the winning goal in the FIFA world cup final, slam dunking Shaq in his face, running the 100 meters in 4 seconds, winning Wimbledon without picking up a tennis racket, beating Mike Tyson in the first round, fighting aliens in galaxy Gaga, etc.But then when we grow older our imagination and dreams seem to fade away, and the real world hits in. We come to realize that perhaps we will not be able to achieve such remarkable things that our imagination inspired us with when we were young. Our urge to greatness (Freud), or urge to feel important (Carnegie) in the real world becomes a burden, which leads many into depression, and some to mental hospitals... (Enjoy your imagination!)I will continue this interesting 'Imagination' stuff in another post, but now let's get back to...POWERLINKSI am glad to announce that my PowerLink collection has smashed (or broken) the 1000-barrier. In other words, the PowerLink collection consists now of more than 1000 links (or URLs). If you are looking for juicy learning resources, I strongly recommend (Isn't this shameless self promotion!) that you subscribe to one of my PowerLink collections (Delicious or Diigo). Currently, there are 130+ delicious users already subscribing to the delicious collection. It is called 'fans' there, which I find kind of annoying. 'Followers' would probably sound more appropriate. Perhaps they could let us change the term to whatever word we like. Now that would be cool!Though, you don't need to be a delicious or Diigo user to subscribe. Instead, one can for example copy/paste the link (e.g. http://delicious.com/zaidlearn) into an RSS Newsreader (e.g. Google Reader) and swoosh you will get the latest updates as I discover. Better yet, if you think that I discover a lot of rubbish, and only want to for example subscribe to the new learning tools I discover, you can subscribe to a particular tag (http://delicious.com/zaidlearn/Tools). Here are three tags that might be interesting to subscribe to:Learning Tools (200+)EduGames(100+)EduBlogs (70+)But, why subscribe to ZaidLearn's PowerLinks? Excellent point! Actually, there are many other great link collectors out there (Hint: check my delicious network for a few) with more links and fans (I mean followers!) than me (by a couple of miles!). In other words, you should subscribe to them, too.So, why I am sharing all this with you. Actually, I want you to enjoy all the great learning resources I discover, which might not be reflected on this blog. Although, one can post daily updates from delicious or Diigo, I prefer not to, due to some funny mind boggling preferences. Also, one can actually find the latest updates on the right side column of this blog (somewhere there!), but that might not be so clear to most readers.So, can you please answer the question? Alright, my PowerLink strategy is not to index and collect everything under the sun. Google does a great job at that. Coming to think of it, my PowerLink strategy is similar to how Warren Buffett might invest into a stock or company (Buffettology). In other words, when I look at a learning resource, I ask a few critical questions, and if they fail to meet them, I am not going to add them. For example, if I can't imagine visiting the link in a few years time, I will not add them to my PowerLink collection.For example, there is no problem in indexing a few thousand learning tools, but how many of them would you really want to use? So, instead I only index those tools that I find useful, or really get me excited (and are FREE as far as I know!). For experts in the field that might sound annoying (they might want the full list), but for new comers it is often a blessing (or curse if you miss out) in disguise (No time!). It all depends! You might want to call it ZaidLearn approved learning resources. Nope, that didn't sound good.Anyway, one way or the other, I do hope the PowerLink collection helps people out there. If it does, I am happy!PRESIDENT?Finally, I have decided to run for the President of the United States in 2012. "Have you gone pot! You are a foreigner, it is impossible! Even worse, you are a Muslim! They would...!" You got a good point there, but it is nice to imagine sometimes, what if? I firmly believe I could have done a better job than Bush (mark my words!). But, let's hope that President Obama is a positive change for America and the rest of the world. "He is not the President yet!" Can you imagine Palin becoming the President of United States? "You mean MCaine!" Is that any better? :)

ArabicPodMadinah ArabicLearn Arabic (speak7)Babel - ArabicArabic.orgArabic is the mother tongue to over 225 million people in Africa and Asia, and there are as many as 246 million non-native speakers (source). Arabic is spoken throughout the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Mauritania, and Chad. In short, learning a bit of Arabic makes whole lot of sense, whether you are doing it for religious, social or business purposes.LEARN ARABIC FOR FREE?Here are five (5) learning spaces to get you started:ArabicPodThis website created by Mohamed Moshaya and Ehab Saleh is dedicated to providing innovative and effective methods for learning Arabic. They use web 2.0 technologies such as podcasts, videos, games, etc. to provide a rich learning experience. Although, they only launched recently (March 2008), their free online lessons have been downloaded more than a million times. You will really enjoy their podcasts, which involves two guys having an engaging chat while learning Arabic (Thumbs up!). I also like that one can rate and provide comments to each podcast, which again facilitates learning conversations and continuous improvement. All of their audio podcasts can be freely listened to and downloaded. For most of the other content, there is a subscription fee which is setup to cover the costs of running the website. I hope that some noble investor will come in soon to cover the costs, so that we all can enjoy the rest for free. Madinah ArabicThis free site has been designed to teach the Arabic language inspired by one of the most popular courses being used today - the Madinah Book Series by Dr. V. Abdur Rahim which is used by Madinah University to teach English speaking students the Arabic language. This course will eventually contain (under development) everything an individual needs to learn the Arabic Language (Classical and Modern Standard) from complete beginner to advanced level. If you prefer a straight-to-the-point kind of course (efficient learning!), you have found it right here. I don't mind that the audio provided is being chunked to phrases and words, but it would be wonderful if we could also download the full lesson in one MP3 file (conveniently access lessons on our IPods and Mp3 players). But, besides that it is a splendid and noble initiative.Babel - ArabicThis is an online course in Arabic. It teaches you basic sentences, how to write, how to count and introduces Arabic grammar. All with sounds! This course will teach you about 400 of the most common words in Arabic. All lessons are the product of cooperation between an Arab native and a non-Arab who have managed to learn the language.Learn Arabic (speak7)Learn Arabic for free, their lessons are available to anyone who wants to speak Arabic, from grammar, vocabulary, expressions, phrases and more.Arabic.orgHere you can learn the basics in Arabic language, and they also offer professional Arabic translation and calligraphy services. Interestingly, this Arabic owned small firm is located in New York City (of all places). They want to create an online site devoted to Arabic. It will be interesting to see how this evolves. They should also consider offering Arabic courses on ITunes (free and commercial versions).Whether you are 10 or 72 years-old, I suppose you might find one of these four learning opportunities a useful starting point to learn the basics in Arabic. I like the variety of approaches each initiative has taken to facilitate learning. Some people might want to learn through learning conversations (e.g. ArabicPod), while others might want to learn efficiently in a book-style format with audio support (e.g. Madinah Arabic). Either way, these five learning initiatives provides us with different approaches to satisfy different learning styles. Why not use all four to get us started?Finally, click here if you want to learn Arabic in less than 9-minutes (video). WOW!Do you have any better suggestions to learn Arabic online for free? I am still a beginner :)

Free Screencasting Tools List (Updated)Tony Karrer's blog"Toast! Cut! Cam! Jing! Flow! Wink! You name it, they record it!""...I'm now back to searching for a free tool that works to create screencasts that I can use for my blog. I don't do it very often, so it needs to be free. The best thing would be if I could also do it while recording voice from myself and someone else. In other words a screen sharing tool with voice and screen recording. And it needs to be low cost or free."- Tony Karrer Here we go, Tony:FlowgramA new communications platform that lets anyone package and share anything on the internet. A flowgram combines the advantages of slide presentations and screencasts with an interactive user experience that fully exploits the fact that almost all the information we might ever need is already on the web. Using the zero download Flowgram Maker, creators can assemble and annotate web pages, photographs, videos etc on any topic, and add a voice narrative which provides context, emotion and consistency.FreeScreencastRECORD your screen, UPLOAD, and SHARE online with ease! JingSnap a picture of anything on your desktop. Record a video of what you do, or what you see, Instantly uploaded. Share in email, IM, or blogs.WebinariaCreate and share software demos online with their screen recording/ screencast software.ScreenToasterIs a free online screen recorder, enabling you to record your screen activity, publish the video on the Internet, and stream the recorded video in Flash.WebKutIs an AIR application that allows you to capture web pages, or parts of them in a very simple way. It provides you 3 capture options: the entire page, the current view, or only a selection.CamStudioEnables you to record all screen and audio activity on your computer and create industry-standard AVI video files and using its built-in SWF Producer can turn those AVIs into bandwidth-friendly Streaming Flash videos (SWFs) .WinkA Tutorial and Presentation creation software, primarily aimed at creating tutorials on how to use software (like a tutor for MS-Word/Excel etc).Tony is already using Jing, which means that there are another seven for him to explore. Hm, I am pretty sure that Tony is familiar with most of the tools suggested here, but are you?Have fun exploring free screencasting tools! If you got any other free cool screencasting software to suggest, show me the URL. And then...As a result of this wonderful learning conversation (comments) and exploration (adventure), we have discovered several more free screencasting tools, which are:Screencast-O-MaticIs a Java-based application that anyone can use to create screencasts of their screen with no additional software to download. Without even registering to the site, you can record anything that happens on your screen just by setting the capture size, choose if you want audio included, and click go. When done, you can publish the screencast online or download it in .mov format. Free to use.uTIPuRecord and share your screen in a video. You get unlimited public video sharing, 250MB private video sharing, and you can upload directly from TipCam.Capture Fox - Firefox Add-onYou can capture your screen and record your voice to make screencasts (tutorials, e-lessons, etc.).oRipa Screen RecorderIs a handy tool to record your Windows desktop activities in real time and save it as a video file. oRipa Screen Recorder also captures anything you can hear on your PC, such as, music and talking through the PC's microphone.ISU (I Show You)Is a free software for Windows platforms that enables you to easily record a sequence of operations in real-time as you perform them on your screen. After the screencasting session ends, you can edit your recording by drawing on it, adding notes, or recording a voice over narration. When done, you can send it to your friends via email, messenger or any other application.DebutIs a free screen capturing software for Windows that anyone can use to capture video or still images from any device. The setup comes in just 400kb and, after you install it, you can capture any part of your screen, or even capture videos from a webcam. You can export the video in any format and save the screenshots in JPG format. Debut is completely free to download and use.AviScreenIs an application for capturing screen activity (ScreenCast) in the form of AVI video or images. Beside the usual options defining the capture area, AviScreen has a unique feature called "follow the cursor". Using this mode you can produce a video or image of relatively small dimensions while covering all mouse activity over the whole screen area.And if that is not enough, Nico Canali De Rossi and Luigi Canali De Rossi (aka Robin Good) has done a great job in comparing many of these screencasting tools mentioned above (comparison table), enabling us hopefully to make a wiser and quicker choice. In addition, as a result of exploring their great post (2nd November), I discovered another interesting tool called Tablefy. This tool enables people to easily publish and compare their data online (dynamic comparison tables). The irony of this whole learning adventure is that their post was published a few days earlier than mine (27nd October, 2008) , meaning if I had found it earlier, it would have saved me...But then again, we might have missed out on some of the screencasting tools not mentioned yet in their post.In short, learning and discovering together and apart makes a screencasting lot of sense :)

SlideShare VersionSlideBoom VersionPDF Version (77 MB)IMETC EventFIRST KEYNOTEOn this coming Wednesday (5th November), I will hopefully be giving my first keynote presentation at the 2nd International Malaysian Educational Technology Convention (IMETC). If things go as planned, I will be the first speaker at the event, which should generate some big butterflies in my stomach. But strangely enough, I am actually looking forward to it (at least for now!). And currently my biggest worry is to be able to discuss (in human understandable way!) my 100+ slides within the one hour given. Now, that is a challenge! Hopefully, I will be able to say the things I want to say."Rehearse and use a script, please!" Good idea, but I wan't it to have a natural flow (A learning conversation with the audience and myself), so no script, except for the slides (Though, if I was a President I would use one!). I hope my ideas and reflections will be free flowing guided by the spicy slides. It will be an interesting experiment, which will be revealed in Part 2. Also, Part 2 (next post) will discuss and reflect all the things I would have learned during this 3-day learning adventure. No, I am not yet ready for any live UStream show!PRESENTATION SLIDESIn the keynote presentation, I will first discuss a bit about how my first ebook entitled '69 Learning Adventures in 6 Galaxies' came to life. Then, I will explore some learning or thinking skills we need to nurture in students and ourselves to be successful in today's fast evolving innovation world. I will also look at some of the educational challenges we might face, and explore a case study on how I revamped a critical thinking course. Finally, I will look at some possibilities and conclude the learning overload session. In short, we are all probably going to get dizzy (learning overload!) one way or the other. Anyway, here are the slides to enjoy before the actual event:69 Learning Adventures in 6 GalaxiesInterestingly, the slides have already been featured on SlideShare homepage (within 3 hours upon upload). So, at least the slides seems to be a bit interesting. Let's hope the actual keynote presentation also turns out to be interesting, engaging and useful to those attending the event.I suppose after all my past workshops and 20-minute presentations (taken a 2-year break from that!), I kind of look forward to this great opportunity to talk for one hour (or less) to a bunch of people about the things I have learned over the last few years. And for that, I am truly grateful to God (Allah) and would like to also thank the organizers for giving me this opportunity. Thank you so much!Until part 2, have fun trying to make sense of my slides. If they don't make sense, perhaps you could invite me to give a talk. Though, I would prefer if I was given 2 hours. Meaning, we will have approximately one hour to discuss, reflect and learn together. Now, that is where the real learning will take place :)

Keynote - SlideShare VersionKeynote - PDF Version (77 MB)IMETC EventSmart Education: Converging Technology, Pedagogy and Content"One of the things that really delights me in this field is seeing people who have taken to these new technologies and new approaches achieving genuine success. I've seen it a number of times with colleagues I almost envy, so widespread is their impact and their reach (every time I feel a twang of competitiveness, I remind myself that I already have a great career, I don't need another, so I can celebrate someone else finding success in the marketplace). Anyhow, now I am seeing it again as Zaid Ali Alsagoff gives his first (no doubt of many) keynotes. Zaid joined me for my two-day session in Malaysia earlier this year and was a huge asset as we led a group of educators though numerous web 2.0 technologies. His slide shows and resource lists have been receiving acclaim, and that's what his talk is based on." - Stephen Downes"ZaidLearn has been an active blogger, focusing on open learning and open tools. Great to see he is giving (has given) his first keynote address to a Malaysian conference. As Stephen Downes states, it’s great to see people achieving genuine success in the pursuit of new tools/approaches in education. Congrats Zaid!" - George SiemensWOW! Again, WOW! Thanks Stephen Downes, George Siemens, Ismael Peña-López, Clayton Wright, Helge Scherlund, Mohamed Amine Chatti, Dr. Gordon, etc. for the best wishes and for believing that I would do well. I don't know if I want to celebrate or cry, but surely this kind of support and belief in me should boost my confidence and ego (and hits to my blog).Also, I do hope that Stephen is right that this was my first of many keynotes to come, because...SELF-ASSESSMENTI FAILED to:Manage my time (although I finished on time)!Explore all the 100+ slides (Mission Impossible, which I predicted earlier)!Say all the things I wanted to say (Only 45%)!So, should I have rehearsed more? I suppose. Should I have used a detailed script? No way! I prefer not using a detailed script (beyond the slides), because then I say and learn new things while I am giving the talk (Did I just say that? WOW! Oh, that didn't sound right! Let's try again!). Also, by not using (or following) a detailed script, you have more flexibility to adapt or connect to the mood and learning needs of the audience. In short, I prefer talking rather than reading to the audience. I suppose one can memorize detailed scripts, but unless we can act like movie stars, I am not sure that is the best way to connect with the audience.Anyway, on a POSITIVE NOTE I believe I managed to connect with many of the participants and smash in a few critical points, especially regarding what kind of learning skills we need to nurture in our students. In addition, I didn't see any one falling asleep during my keynote, which is positive. But then again, I was the first speaker at the whole event, so you would expect people to be fresh and awake. Based on some feedback and comments from others, my keynote was light, entertaining, informative, useful, and inspiring (according to Richard Lowe who missed it, but had been informed so. Well, that is what he told me.).Interestingly, I signed three (3) autographs after my keynote, which is roughly two (2) more than during my whole failed football (soccer) career. It was rather embarrassing, because my handwriting is really horrible (left-handed squabble), and you would think that even a five year old could come up with a more professionally looking autograph. It was a ‘What, are you kidding me?' kind of experience.In conclusion, I would say that it could have gone better, but it could also have gone worse. So, Al-Hamdulilla I can sit back and enjoy the memories with a flat 'B'. But, I do hope I will get more chances Insha-Allah in the future (I enjoyed it very much!). Also, I have come to realize that 20-minute presentations are not my cup of tea anymore. Though, I will have to learn how to say what I want within an hour or so, because I doubt I will ever get more than that during future conferences or conventions (Yeah, who wants to listen beyond that anyway?). I just need to be more precise and concise, while I entertain and inspire (I wish!).Enough about my subjective self-assessment (Me, Myself and I)! Let's talk about...LEARNINGThe great thing about speaking first is that after you are done, you can focus on learning, discussions, and networking without any worries. And that is what I did, from start to finish. There were presentations on educational gaming, pedagogical agents, project-based learning, problem-based learning, 3D animation, ICT training for teachers, smart use of multimedia technology, distance learner’s readiness, Net generation, using drama to teach fasting, and much more. I suppose the presentation that touched me most, was the 'smart use of multimedia technology to highlight the plight of Orang Kanaq - Malaysia's most endangered ethnic group of Orang Asli (YouTube video)'. Let's make a difference!Though, I would have loved to see more presentations (research) on educational blogging, wikis, social bookmarking, podcasting, virtual worlds, and open educational resources. Hopefully, we will see more of this in the coming years.I truly enjoyed the other keynote speakers, especially Prof. Richard Lowe’s wonderful talk on educational graphics or graphicacy, and Toh Han-Son (who was nicknamed the handsome Korean) keynote on Google applications for education. He is actually Malaysian (Chinese) as far as I know.What I liked about Professor Richard Lowe’s keynote was how he simplified the idea on creating pedagogical sound educational graphics. An ideal educational graphic should be easy to understand and stimulating (motivating) to the mind. Interestingly, he reminded us that in a content development team, it is ultimately the Instructional Designer (ID) who is responsible for the pedagogy (instructional design) of the graphics. Sometimes, we take for granted that the subject matter expert (SME) or graphic designer is able to construct an instructionally sound graphic (wishful thinking!). Also, he reminded us that we need to educate students on how to analyze and understand educational graphics (beyond the entertainment value). As we are overwhelmed with graphics, animations, movies and other visuals from an increasingly visual learning world, I suppose we need to eventually include courses (or topics) for students to explore educational graphics, so that they can maximize their learning from them.Toh Han-Son (Hanson), currently Google’s only consultant in Malaysia gave a mind-awakening presentation about Google applications for education (Gmail Calendar, Calendar, Docs, Sites, etc.), and I was surprised to learn that everything he was offering was totally free (including customization of the Gmail address to the University’s unique address). Microsoft, how do you beat that?Luckily, I got the chance to chat for more than one hour (after dinner) with Toh Han-Son, and the MBA Graduate from Oxford did not disappoint. I soon realized that this left-handed humble, but eager-to-learn, intelligent, sharp and determined dude is certainly more appropriate for Google than me. No contest! In short, Google got the right man :)Besides that, I joined Richard Lowe’s short adventure to find a rubber tree and visit the beach in Kuantan. Well, I also had my own agenda, which was to buy some Keropok (dried fish that we fry). Dr. Arif and his wife (Dr. Rosnaini) were the perfect hosts and in the end we found one single rubber tree out there somewhere. I would probably need a GPS for rubber trees to relocate it again. Although, there was no rubber to see, Richard was thrilled anyway. I love his attitude to learn and enjoy these small magical moments.For me, visiting the beach was certainly the biggest thrill in this short 2-hour learning adventure. I really enjoyed the cows, especially the one that strolled alone on the beach. It looked so relaxed walking by itself on the beach. Actually, everyone looked so relaxed, and no one really seemed to care where that cow was going (everyone was enjoying and minding their own business). I suppose the cow was having its afternoon stroll on the beach. It was both an amazing and weird moment to treasure!Finally, I was surprised to learn that many were really pleased that a Keynote Speaker would participate from the start to the end of the convention. Believe it or not, I got applause from the remaining participants before the closing ceremony thanks to the entertaining announcer (picture), who brought it up. He (Abdul Aziz) has an amazing ability to create jokes-on-the-fly, and say things that touches both our logic and emotions in a meaningful way.So, if you are a Keynote speaker and have the time, stay around to learn, discuss and show your support. It means a lot to the organizer and the other participants.In a nutshell, I learned a lot and made some great connections! Hopefully, they will evolve into dynamic collaborations that will transform the Malaysian learning space over time. Why not?And again, I would like to thank everyone involved that made the convention and my stay a learning adventure to treasure. Terima Kasih!LEARNING INNOVATION LABTwo (2) days after returning from the convention, I got a fuzzy new idea about a ‘Learning Innovation Lab’ that could transform the learning landscape in Malaysia (and beyond) by 2011. I believe this could be the project that could facilitate my second hedgehog goal, which is to do my PhD. I have been searching for a PhD research topic that I would never get bored of, which can be implemented while researching, and would have meaning beyond the 3-5 years it would take to acquire a PhD.Let’s say it is my second and third hedgehog goal smacked together. So, even if I don’t achieve my PhD for it, this project will have value beyond it.So, what is the ‘Learning Innovation Lab’? To be honest, it is still in liquid form in my head, but I can tell you that to implement this project I probably don’t need money to invest in software or hardware at least, and it will be influenced by Connectivism (one way or the other). It will utilize a network of existing and future technologies to facilitate a transformational learning space that infuse collaborative learning, thinking, teaching/facilitation, learning tools and open educational resources beyond the course paradigm. The learning networks and nuggets will be fluid and organic, facilitated by passionate learners and educators. The way it is facilitated will be as dynamic as Google’s search algorithms, which practically change every day. In other words, It is always exploring, learning, reflecting, adapting and innovating.To facilitate disruptive or transformational learning innovations (instead of just incremental ones), this learning innovation lab I predict will be mostly facilitated by dynamic and motivated PhD, Masters and Bachelor students around the country (and perhaps around the world) who are inspired to transform the way we learn and think.I might be dreaming "Yes, We Can!", but that is a dream I am not afraid of failing (or spending my research time on). Failure will be one of the key elements that nurture disruptive learning innovations that are necessary to facilitate the impact I am imagining right now. Anyway, my idea is still fluid, and I might even have to change the title, because I noticed (via Google) that a Dr. Redmond has used the term 'Learning Innovation Lab' already (2004). Anyway, the title can easily be changed later if any problems, but the key here is the idea, which is still a work in progress.I hope to conceptualize the ‘Learning Innovation Lab’ soon, and let’s hope there will eventually be PhD scholarship opportunities to support it. It might sound like many ongoing projects already out there, and it probably is in many ways. As the whole world is engrossed in revamping learning systems, this learning innovation Lab will continuously try to make sense of these initiatives, and will mostly use collective/connective human intelligence to nurture learning environments that not only have substance, but attract those that we struggle to involve and inspire. Now, if we can attract, involve and inspire beyond the already self-motivated/directed learners, I would argue that this future lab is a success. Now, that is a challenge that hopefully leads to a PhD, too!On Saturday, I will be traveling to Saudi Arabia for another learning adventure (Part 3), and will be taking a one-month break from blogging until 24th December.Though, I will probably still be updating Zaidlearn’s Delicious learning space, while I am engrossed and busy learning in Saudi Arabia (and conceptualizing the future lab).Finally, I didn’t get into this education business to have personal glory (although, nice to the ego!), but to play my little role in transforming the way we learn and think, enabling us to fulfill our dreams of facilitating a cleaner (Al-Gore are you reading?) and better world. Whether I can achieve that or anything, God (Allah) only knows :)

First, I would like to wish all Muslim readers a belated Eid Mubarak (Eid-al-Adha), and a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year for readers celebrating those events.2008Some people might be wondering, "how come ZaidLearn has been so quiet for more than a month (since 10th November)?". Partially, it is because I have been busy reflecting since then about this year and how to move forward in 2009. Also, since my last post I have conducted two e-learning workshops in Saudi Arabia (17-19 and 22-23 November), had a spiritual journey (Umrah), a two week terrible flu experience (but Insha-Allah a cleansing one), and delivered a lecture on critical thinking at the Ministry Of Health Malaysia Tutor's Conference, besides work and family pleasure.Although, the online learning adventures have brought me joy and some success, I can't say that of my last learning adventures in the physical world. Somehow, they have been way below what I had envisioned (a real wake-up call!). Though, I was really impressed and humbled by the amazing hospitality and kindness I received in Saudi Arabia (Thank you so much!). Everyone, from the Director to the hotel driver were simply amazing. Although, the workshops didn't work out as well as I had hoped, I do hope that they benefited from them in one way or the other. Yes, those two workshops (3+2 days) with a Umrah smacked in between was really exhausting (of course my fault!). I am for sure not planning to try something like that again (at least not as a one-man show!). Hm, on the last day of the second workshop, my brain simply malfunctioned. At one stage, I was babbling things that weren't making any sense at all. Oh I forgot, I was even interviewed by one of the Saudi TV Channels on the second day of this adventure. 10.00 pm local time, no make-up, 5-hour jet lag, meaning 3.00 am Malaysian time. In other words, I must have looked really tired! In short, I have produced a laundry list of things that I could have done better (or have avoided).Then a couple of days ago (21/12), I conducted a lecture about critical thinking at the Ministry Of Health Malaysia Tutor's Conference in Kuantan. Again, it was another speedy energetic inter-galactic infusion-of-confusion kind of delivery. In short, it was a mess (from a learning point-of-view), but hopefully they benefited from the slides and some of the points I made. Though, I would like thank and congratulate the hosts for their hospitality, caring and understanding. One of the organizers even apologized to me on behalf of some of the tutors who fell asleep during the lecture.Whether it was the dinner (just before the lecture), their long journeys to the event that day (from all over Malaysia), or my confusing lecture that was to blame is something that could be debated, but surely it has changed my plan and hedgehog goals for 2009.To sum up 2008, I would say that the ZaidLearn online learning adventure has been quite successful (No mood to discuss it, but you can Google 'zaidlearn' to figure it out), but the worldly adventures have been rather a big question-mark (lectures, workshops and work)!To transform this big question mark (failure!) into success, will be my major hedgehog goal for 2009. So, the Learning Innovation Lab and PhD adventure (unless I can align it with this hedgehog goal) will be put on hold. This time it is personal!So, what is my hedgehog goal for the near future?THE ZAIDLEARN METHODWhy me? Why now? But, then again, everything happens for a reason, and hopefully this is the case here. I am still learning (the hard way! As usual!). But then again, no point crying about it. I suppose the best thing to do, is to zoom in on the problem (me!) and transform it into a learning opportunity. So, after a couple of shaky learning adventures I have decided to dedicate 2009 to mastering the art of simplifying ideas (or content) and inspiring people to learn. Some might argue that people can only inspire themselves to learn. So, if that is the case, I need to master the art of triggering people to inspire themselves to learn. But first, I need to trigger myself to inspire myself to learn.By the end of 2009, this learning journey (or approach) will hopefully be known as the ZaidLearn Method (Simplify Ideas, Inspire People!). I am not sure if I can get a PhD on that (unless I complexify the simplifying!), but hopefully I will increasingly be able to simplify my ideas (and content), and connect with learners in new and inspiring ways, as I learn.I was thinking, what if I could learn how to simplify content like the Zen, and inspire people like Obama. What if I could apply this to... Not everything can be learned (nature vs nurture!), but we will never know unless we challenge ourselves beyond thinking about it!For years, people have been telling me to focus, and perhaps now I have found an area that at last excites me to focus (for a longer period than a few hours!), besides the personal mind enforcement kind of approach. If I am not mistaken, I wrote somewhere about doing a PhD entitled 'The Lecture' some time back (here it is!). I suppose now this prediction might even come true. Well, not perhaps the PhD part, but the journey to mastering the art of lecturing. This time it is about survival!2009 here I come! Only God (Allah) knows where that will end! But, at least the hunger to learn is back in me. Yes, I am back, hopefully on the right track :)

The Khan AcademyKhan Academy YouTube ChannelVia Helge ScherlundTHE KHAN ACADEMYSalman Khan (Sal) founded the Khan Academy with the hope of using technology to foster new learning models. The Khan Academy is a not-for-profit organization with the mission of providing a high quality education to anyone, anywhere. They currently have 700+ videos (growing fast!) on YouTube covering everything from basic arithmetic and algebra to differential equations, physics, and finance which have been recorded by Salman Khan.SALMAN KHANHe is currently the portfolio manager of a fund based in Menlo Park, CA. Sal received his MBA from Harvard Business School where he was president of the student body. He also holds a Masters in electrical engineering and computer science, a BS in electrical engineering and computer science, and a BS in mathematics from MIT where he was president of the the Class of 1998. While at MIT, Sal was the recipient of the Eloranta Fellowship which he used to develop web-based math software for children with ADHD. He was also an MCAT instructor for the Princeton Review and volunteered teaching gifted 4th and 7th graders at the Devotion School in Brookline, MA (Source).SIMPLIFYSal knows his stuff (pretty well!), and has a great ability to simplify what he teaches using story telling with a laid-back approach (conversational style). As far as I know, his formula to create learning content is quite unique:Microsoft Paint is his blackboard (Who needs PowerPoint?), which he uses to draw and illustrate step-by-step what he is explaining.He records the narrated lessons using a screen recording software (Here are a few free ones!).When recorded (and edited), he uploads his recordings to YouTube (YouTube Channel).Then he links his recordings or lessons to The Khan Academy website, which indexes the hundreds of videos as he likes.No real cost required (excluding his website), except his precious time. I suppose he figured out that instead of teaching a few people here and there (again and again), he could educate the world (doing it once!).Alright, he is not going to get A+ for graphics, but I would give A+ for creativity, pedagogy, passion, knowledge sharing, and efficient development. How many educators have produced 700+ videos (x10 = 7000 minutes/60 = 116.6 Hours), or more than 116 hours of e-learning content in a couple of years?Yes, I also love the way he has chunked most of his videos into digestible 8-12 minute lessons, which are perfect for learning-on-the-fly.INSPIREIt is inspiring to see Sal share his amazing knowledge to the world in such a creative and efficient way. I suppose he deserves an Oscar for knowledge sharing :)Here in Malaysia and Singapore, parents spend millions (if not billions of) dollars on tuition for their kids to score great grades. What if we could inspire geniuses here who have a knack of simplifying content to do similar kind of initiatives. By doing so, we can level the field a bit more and enable perhaps some of those who couldn't afford tuition to have a chance to compete and do better. Well, you still need a computer device and Internet (unless the content is downloaded), but it would still be a great start.In other words, we don't actually need to spend millions to produce quality e-learning content and learning experiences. With today's free web 2.0 technology, we could do it practically with no significant initial cost (except for our time).For example, we could use Google Sites to develop our website, free screen-recording (casting) software to capture our lessons, and use YouTube to upload our content (or perhaps Google Video, if our videos are longer than 10 minutes). If we are developing PowerPoint presentations, we could use SlideShare (and link uploaded audio, which can be synchronized with the slides. Audio upload alternative: Internet Archive). Another PowerPoint (convert-to-Flash) upload alternative would be SlideBoom, which also captures the PowerPoint animations.These are just a few possibilities of many we can use to share our knowledge and skills to the world. I suppose the biggest struggle today would be to find the time to do it (and the appropriate tool(s) to use) :(On a positive note, Sal has found the time and his work is inspiring. He fits well with my new learning motto (and adventure):Simplify Ideas, Inspire People! :)

In the last post, we looked at how Salman Khan inspired us with his creative usage of Microsoft Paint to educate our learning minds.Since we are on the Microsoft Paint topic, here are a few mash-up graphics that I developed in the past (between 2007 Aug - 2008 Feb) using a combination of PowerPoint, clip art, images and Microsoft Paint.YouTube is an amazing learning space (although a lot of junk!). I suppose I am a bit weird (No joke there!)!There is too much knowledge out there to capture and digest, but you could learn a few tricks from Tom Kuhlmann.Stephen Downes is doing a great job synthesizing the online learning WWW (from cats, too!), but I suppose he could learn a few tricks from Yoda.Don't be afraid, the world is not flat. Even if it was, it was certainly not Thomas L. Friedman that discovered that first! It was...Obama, Obama, Obama, Obama... If I write Obama one more time, I might get thousands of more accidental hits. Is it that easy?In short, I am just having some fun looking back at some of the nutty mash-ups that I visualized in context to past articles and posts. So, I suppose if you haven't read the posts related to the mash-up graphics above, you might not get the point (if any?). If you are interested in reading those posts related to the graphics above, have fun finding them :)In the next post, I will explore 10 more of my past mash-up graphics. Then I will begin my learning mission for 2009. What was that again? :)

Wiki-version - A Growing List of Free Learning Tutorial SitesI was thinking the other day, why not create 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. Here is my initial list, but I am quite sure there are many more great resource sites out there. So, if you have anyone to share, please post them in the comments section and I will add them. Ops, shouldn't we be using a Wiki for this kind of activity (Collaborative list creation)? Click here, if you want to add using the wiki-version.Here is the initial quick list:Learning 2.0 ProgrammeThis blog has been set-up as part of PLCMC's Learning 2.0 project to encourage staff to experiment and learn about the new and emerging technologies that are reshaping the context of information on the Internet today.An Introduction to Social Learning(Jane Hart)Provides you with a practical approach to getting started with using social media for both formal and informal learning - either in the form of best-of-breed stand-alone tools or in an integrated suite of social media tools.ELearning T4T (WikiEducator)eLearning Training for Teachers is a project node for the collaborative development of "just-in-time" tutorials to help educators implement eLearning successfully.WebTools4u2useThe purpose of this website is to provide a place for K-12 school library media specialists to learn a little more about web tools that can be used to improve and enhance school library media programs and services, to see examples of how they can be used, and to share success stories and creative ideas about how to use and integrate them. Hundreds of free and inexpensive web tools are available for school library media specialists to use that can make us more productive, valued, and, perhaps, more competitive.Paul's E-Learning ResourcesThis E-learning resources website is developed and maintained by Paul Andrews (Learning Technologist). On this site you will find his favourite links to free on-line services that allow you to provide your students with enhanced learning opportunities which you can then embed into, or link from, your school/college/university's website, course blog or VLE/MLE.iLearn technology (Kelly Tenkely)Is an edublog dedicated to giving teachers practical tips for integrating technology into the classroom.Resource Kit for Creative Communities (e-Learning)In this resource kit, community organisations can find helpful online guidance, ideas and tools for developing and facilitating e-learning in communities and regions. The kit includes suggestions and options on the why and how of e-learning. You'll find guidance on low cost tools and technologies, as well as ideas and stories to help you get started.Teacher Training Videos (Russell Stannard)These videos were created for teachers to help them to incorporate technology into their teaching. Just click and a video will open and take you through how to use that technology. These videos are for any teachers or lecturers, indeed for anyone interested in learning how to use the technologies.WonderHowToHand-selects and curates the best instructional videos from over 1,700 websites. It is your one-stop shop to browse, search, or network your way through the world of free video tutorials.EduTubeIs a educational video search platform with an main aim to organize the best educational video content on the Internet. All content on EduTube is moderated and only relevant, educational content is permitted.Multimedia Training VideosA series of free learning videos (by Russell Stannard and Savraj Matharu) that explore Flash, Director and Photoshop.ItrainOnline Multimedia Training Kit Is a growing collection of "workshop kits" for face-to-face training. The materials use a standard set of templates, and offer building blocks for trainers to build their own courses.Teachers TVis a digital channel for everyone who works in schools. Their programmes cover every subject in the curriculum, all key stages and every professional role - from teaching assistant to headteacher. You can watch us on digital cable and satellite and programmes are also available anytime, on-demand and for free on this website. TeacherTubeIts main goal is to provides an online community for sharing instructional videos. Here you will find more than 54,000 videos covering all sorts of subjects.ALISONFree Interactive Workplace Skills Courseware including Touch Typing Skills, European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL), British Computer Society (BCS) Unit E, Financial Literacy and e-CitizenThe Moodle AcademyIs designed to be a drop in centre for you to reinforce your Moodle skills. While we are thinking Moodle, we might want to check out Using Moodle 2nd Edition, which is the second edtion of the O'Reilly book "Using Moodle" by Jason Cole and Helen Foster. Moodle TutorialsOps, can't get Moodle out of my head! Check out this collection of 2 Minute Moodles - an attempt to simplify and show how to use a range of Moodle features. The tutorials try not to assume too much previous knowledge and are presented for the pragmatical and not necessarily tech-savy users (Moodle purists please excuse).Drupal in Education Open book (hosted by e-Learning Institute)An open resource started by Bryan Ollendyke at the e-Learning Institute to talk about Drupal's place in education. Has a great CMS matrix comparing different CMS technologies that can all be used for education / e-learning. It is a living resource and has contributions from several PSU Drupal'ers though it's open to contribution from any / everyone. Good if you are interested in getting into Drupal for Education.Google Apps TrainingThe Google Apps interactive tutorial provides clear audio and text directions and practice exercises for using six Google products; email, calendar, talk, docs, sites, and start page.Go-2-SchoolA great resource for learning Google SketchUp and Google Earth.W3SchoolsHere you will find all the Web-building tutorials you need, from basic HTML and XHTML to advanced XML, SQL, Database, Multimedia and WAP.EdumaxEdumax is an online learning website that provides free lessons on topics from personal development to computer programming.TechTutorialsA directory containing thousands of free tutorials for IT professionals, hobbyists, and home users.14 hours of Free E-Learning Strategy TutorialsBryan Chapman, Chief Learning Strategist at Chapman Alliance does regular webinars on e-learning strategies. He posts these for free use from his website. They are a little bit hidden. You have to scroll down the page to find them. NOTE: Because many of the webinars are vendor sponsored, you may have to add your information before watching them, but they are absolutely free.Contributors:Clayton WrightMitch WeisburghBryan ChapmanZaid Ali AlsagoffLet's build a great collection together (wiki-version)! Let's use our collective findings to help others discover these great learning tutorial sites :)

Link to Academic EarthFAQsWHAT?Academic Earth is an educational video website with the goal of enhancing the usability and expanding the awareness of OER, focusing first on video lectures.MISSION?Giving everyone on earth access to a world class education.OBJECTIVES?Centralizing the best video resources from multiple sources into one easy-to-search hub. Applying the latest best practices in usability and design.Integrating crowd-sourcing and wiki tools so users can enhance the experience for future users (these features to come).WOW!Currently, there are over fifteen hundred videos from MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale there. As they are adding more every day, you can imagine the rest! Also, many lectures are grouped into courses, providing us added convenience to access. In addition, when the "Download to iPod" option appears you can download a QuickTime version of the lecture (click on the "Download to iPod" link and select "Save Target As..." or the equivalent for your browser).Yes, they even allow you to grade (A, B, C, D) the lectures, which is quite cool. Lecturers are graded instead of learners or students. Wouldn't that be a cool school? We learn, no grades except for grading our lecturers. In other words, students can relax and learn, while lecturers get stressed out with their grades (for their lecturing ability). Though, I suppose they could add a comment feature to each lecture, enabling us to give our 23 cents when wanted or needed.The interface is soothing and it is easy to find stuff (Playlist, Subjects, Universities and Instructors). Besides the normal embed and share feature, we are also provided with a 'Citation Info' feature, which makes it extremely easy for us to reference our lecture discoveries (replicate!). Interestingly, a 'Feedback' option follows us everywhere we go, indirectly reminding us of their eagerness to get feedback and improve further.If I was allowed to grade this site, I would give it a delicious A. Surely, one of the best lecture finding sites (or lecture aggregators) I have ever visited :)

The SciTech JournalWHAT?The SciTech Journal is a richly informative project, which attempts to answer various questions arising in the common man's mind relating to science and technological phenomena.WHAT HAPPENED?Good question! Alright, before I get back to the cool SciTech thingy, you might be wondering what happened to ZaidLearn for the last couple of months (zero posts!). To be honest, I have taken some time off to think (2 1/2 month sabbatical thinking leave) and reflect about life and how I can contribute in this amazing Universe (after a tough 6-months of growing up. Mild terms!). To cut it short, I am leaving my existing e-learning job, and am now exploring possibilities of working in another learning organization. Yes, if I can do my PhD at this new organization (where that may be) that would be a big plus. But then again, I am still searching for that 'UgA UgA' idea that I can imagine spending 3-5 years exploring. Yes, I would also love to facilitate a light and easy 'Learning Innovation Lab', which explores technologies (in a connective sense) and tries to make sense of them in terms of learning and teaching. Alright, let's get back to SciTech thingy!QUESTIONSWe all have questions, and often we have them dangling in our minds for days, weeks, months, and even years (not to mention a life time). I am not sure if the SciTech Journal can answer all of our difficult questions, but it does try to answer questions we might have asked here and there, but never really taken the time to explore further (or even 'Google' ).Have you ever wondered...Why the entire surface of a plane is not painted over?Why ants touch each other’s heads when they meet?Why flock of birds fly in ‘V’ formation?Why birds don’t fall down from its perch during the sleep?Why races are run in anticlockwise direction?Why we yawn and whether it is infectious?Why do tears come in eyes when crying or after much laughter?Why hair color becomes white in old age?These are just a few of the questions that are explored in this growing juicy repository of Q&A using a scientific mindset or hat. Also, I love the fact ('opinion' according to scientific terms!) that each post (or answer) is easy-to-understand without tons of scientific mambo jumbo jargon (that even aliens might have difficulties to decipher). Ops, I forgot to mention the author, who is Darshan Chande (his Twitter).Please stop reading this post (NOW!), and have fun reading the The SciTech Journal. Also, I do hope it will eventually answer why monkeys eat bananas. Hopefully, it is more scientific than the WikiAnswers's version (Google it!) :)

A person who speaks two languages is bilingual...A person who speaks three languages is trilingual...A person who speaks four or more languages is multilingual.What is a person who speaks one language? Answer (Tip: Click the link and scroll down)WHAT?Speak English as a second language? Why a second language? Why not a third language? Or perhaps a fourth language? For some language gurus it might be the 15th language that they learn. In short, it depends (Easy way out!). I know the phrase, "speak English as a Second Language" (ESL) is a figure of speech (or something up there), but it just sounds funny to me, especially when I reflect the joke above. For many Americans, British (and Japanese) this phrase might sound perfectly fine, especially if they only speak one language. But for others (or me), it is just plain funny.I suppose it sounds better than learning "English as a Foreign Language (EFL)". What about learning English as an alternative language. Nah! That doesn't sound right either! If you have any suggestions, please comment. It would be fun to socially brainstorm a better solution to this highly important term issue. We certainly don't want to confuse people embracing English as a second language. Ops, I mean third, fourth, or whatever!THINKING During my 2 months plus thinking leave I was considering becoming an 'English Teacher' for a couple of years (Actually, I still am), but then when I began revising my English grammar, I was simply .......Are you serious, did I learn that before. Gerunds! WOW! Not to mention 'Past Perfect Continuous'! The more '+ing' it gets, the longer the jargon phrase gets! I am really enjoying revising grammar and will surely work on my prepositions, but I am beginning to question whether I could teach someone in the future grammar or not (effectively). Perhaps, teaching something about 'Nouns' should be alright. 'Adjectives' are also cool, but 'Adverbs' become tricky. And then you have all the different contexts, which might transform a word to this and that. It is verb here, but not here. Oh man!I suppose if I ever began teaching English, I would facilitate it by skipping grammar through scribbling, babbling and chatting, again, again, fused with modeling and feedback until it makes sense (who's sense? Got a point there!). As for grammar (if any), I would only teach them the very basics needed to construct a sentence that makes sense (who's sense? Alright, I get it!).Give me another six months of learning English Grammar, Writing, Speaking and Listening skills, and I am ready to teach ESL. Although, I currently don't have any appropriate qualifications, I suppose if I do one day acquire a CELTA or two, I can Mind Your Language with my students.LEARNING GALORE!What really struck me while I was searching for ESL online resources, was the amazing amount of options that we have. 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). Wow! Are you kidding me! Then I found another bomb (not that kind of one)! Wow! It was one ESL learning orgasm after another. Below is a list of interesting ESL resources that I have discovered until now, and most of them are free. Keep in mind, this might just be the tip of the iceberg. If you get to the end of this post, I will reveal the ultimate ESL resource collection (to my limited exploration!). Have fun with this raw list (with some really juicy ones first):Dave's ESL CafeThe site looks a bit messy and it probably applies perhaps some outdated scripts and tools, but if you look beyond the cosmetics, you will find an amazing ocean of ESL resources. Also, it is a great meeting place for ESL teachers and students (check the forums) . If I end up as an ESL teacher one day, Dave would certainly be my 'knowledge sharing' role model. Thumbs up!BBC Learning EnglishIs a resource for people who want to learn British English. It has material for both students and teachers, including video and audio clips. It also has links to improve your business English, with bilingual support for Spanish and Portuguese speakers. A great site to Learn English. It is BBC for crying out loud! ESL PodIs run by a team of experienced English as a Second Language professors with over 30 years of high school, adult, and university ESL teaching experience. Dr. Lucy Tse writes scripts and story ideas for the podcasts, and records many of the dialogs and stories. The host for the podcast is Dr. Jeff McQuillan, who helps read the scripts and provides explanations for them. EnglishSpeak.comIs a free and award winning new system for learning to speak English. The program contains lessons that give special attention to English pronunciation and everyday language. With over 100 lessons, Englishspeak.com provides a large amount of audio content. Users have access to two different speeds of playback for each item.ESL Kingdomwas established and is run by a small team of multi-national ESL professionals who have drawn on decades of experience teaching in Asia, Europe and North America to create the materials available for use in your lessons. English BabyEnglish lessons to help you study ESL. Practice English with English Chat and English forums. Find Friends and penpals in different countries, test your English vocabulary with our vocab quiz, and check your English grammar and English slang. English to goEnglish lessons, Learn English, Teach English, Lesson plans, ESL resources, ESL reading. One of the world’s leading providers of English training resources delivered via the Internet. Their resources are used by more than 55,000 teachers in 190 countries reaching over one million students worldwide.PodCardsPodCards are audio postcards that you can download to your iPod. They contain information about a particular town or city from different countries around the world or biographies of famous people or events that make these places famous.EnglishMeetingA resource with audio and video for ESL (English for Second Language) students and teachers worldwide. languagecaster.comThe idea behind this site is simple. By listening, reading and writing about something you enjoy - football - you can improve your English language skills. Follow the Premier League in England, and the big football stories from around the world while learning English. Why didn't I think of something like that!ELTgames.com100 activities written by professional ESL/ELT writers. No downloading PDFs - just choose, print and go. Quick and easy to use, even over a dial-up connection. LEO NetworkFor over 10 years Learn English has been the free and independent web site for EFL/ESL learners and teachers. With over 2 million visitors a month, it must be doing something right. Learn EnglishThis site is for elementary and intermediate learners of English. You can study grammar or vocabulary topics and try one of the 400 exercises and language games. English PageFree online English lessons & ESL / EFL resources. EnglishCafeAn English learning community for the global professional. It is an evolving culture of English learners and experts, where people help each other navigate our rapidly changing world through use of a common language. Bee OasisAt BeeOasis you can enjoy many stories without a dictionary at a level just right for you. Learning English without a dictionary. That is interesting! Exam EnglishThis web site is for people studying for an English language exam. These pages contain free online practice tests for the most important international ESL/EFL exams: IELTS, TOEFL, and the Cambridge ESOL exams such as CPE, CAE, FCE, and PET. You can also find out information about the different exams.ESL Business NewsA weekly podcast of international business news read in slow, clear English. Listen to the podcast and follow along in the accompanying script. Yossarian the GrammarianA whole bunch of excellent video tutorials exploring grammar and sentence construction. You have to watch this great teacher get down to business simplifying gerunds and who knows what. To be honest, he seems a bit frustrated with all the hopeless ESL or English teachers out there. Hopefully other English teachers are watching. One minus point though, I believe he could have used simpler examples (phrases and sentences) to make his points clearer.podcastsinenglish.comAll podcasts are free for language learners and teachers, but only members receive the learning English worksheets, vocabulary tasks, webquests and transcripts. English Listening Practice for English LearnersYou will find good stories for listening practice on almost every page of this site. English Teacher John ShowAn easy-to-understand English learning podcast site, which features grammar, idioms, pronunciation, topics and more. ESL Learning PodThis site was put together to help you learn English. It provides free podcasts and learning materials for you to practice and improve your English language skills. The English DeskPractise your English listening skills by listening to the episodes first without reading the text. The Word NerdsIs a podcast about language and language change. It has been published on the Internet since March 21, 2005. Originally published every week, it now appears once every two to three weeks. Lingofeeds - English for Professional PurposesIs dedicated to providing niche-specific English learning materials for professional purposes. Launching June 2009. UGoEigoIt offers two video podcast series to help you learn English pronunciation: "English Sounds" and "Functional Phrases". Each lesson shows a close-up of the mouth saying the target sounds and words. Pronunciation PowerPronunciation Power teaches you how to use the 52 sounds necessary to say all 540,000 English words. Commercial, but still worth a buck, I suppose. Free English and Spelling LessonsBy Mikie Metric. This site uses American English rules of spelling and grammar . Essay Punch - An Interactive Writing TutorialThe site provides online interactive exercises that guide users step by step through pre-writing, writing, organizing, editing, rewriting, and publishing. GlobalEnglishImproving business English communication skills of global companies. Founded in 1997, GlobalEnglish has become the leading provider of online learning and support for business English communication. They offer a scalable, on-demand solution that helps employees improve their ability to communicate effectively in English and enables companies to succeed in the global marketplace. YouTube Channel - English TutorialsShakespeare, Grammar, Composition... English at your fingertips! check out writing essays, what Hamlet really means, and all the strange quirks of verbs... anything you need in school. Studio 4 LearningStudio 4 Networks provides award-winning lifestyle and educational programming delivered on-demand over cable television, satellite, and the Internet. EnglishcasterIs for both students and educators: EFL, ESL, TESOL, TEFL. You can listen to, rate, review and submit podcasts, as well as other English study resources. Tech ELT BlogThis blog began life for everyone taking the CELTA course at International House Barcelona, but is also intended to be of interest to anyone wanting to use technology in English Language Teaching. ESL-to-goIn today’s fast-paced world of e-mail, instant messenger, on-line classes and blogs "ESL TO GO" was born. This is a blog to help ESL students. The English BlogInternet resources, reviews, news, tips and trivia for learners and teachers of English. Business English PodBusiness English Pod provides MP3 and video podcast ESL lessons for intermediate and advanced business English learners. Each business English podcast lesson is focused on a particular workplace English skill (meetings, presentations, telephoning, negotiating, socializing, travel, conversation etc.) and language function (clarifying, disagreeing, questioning, expressing opinions, persuasion etc.). Activities for ESL/EFL Students (English Study)Quizzes, tests, exercises and puzzles to help you learn English as a Second Language (ESL). This project of The Internet TESL Journal (iteslj.org) has thousands of contributions by many teachers. Learn English Online with English4TodayHundreds of grammar and vocabulary resources, online courses, IELTS, Business English, and Writing courses, video English lessons, podcasts, downloadable software. Entry WSU ESL Help DeskThis virtual help desk is designed to help ESL (English as Second Language) students and their instructors at Washington State University (and you). Curricular Resources in English as a Second LanguageHere are a number of links to Internet sites which contain information and/or other links related to Language Arts. You may also find useful information (e.g., various foreign language dictionaries) in their collection of Reference Materials. Common Errors in EnglishWilliam, James Co. has published a book based on this site titled Common Errors in English Usage. It contains most of the contents of the Web version (as of the date of publication) plus more detailed discussion of many of the entries simply listed under "More Errors." Since the site will remain online for free use, why should you buy a copy? Could point!FoxLingoA language tool that gives you easy access to sites in foreign languages. It is the first meta-translator, linked to thirty-six free online translators, enabling you to translate between fifty languages in over 1,500 different language pairs. Foxlingo has been downloaded over two million times by people all over the world. MeGlobeIs a web-based instant messenger client with realtime translation into 14+ languages. This Jabber-powered tool lets folks chat interlingually. If you ask me to recommend the ultimate mambo jumbo list or collection of ESL resources (if you have a couple of weeks to explore!), it would have to be Dave's ESL Cafe's Web Resource list. Here you will find more than 3000 links (URLs) to English related learning resources from A-Z. Amazing! In addition, you might want to explore the Top ESL Websites, which is another wonderful collection. Have fun learning English as a second language. I mean third, or ... simply have fun ' Learning English' :)

YouTube EDUVia Jeff Cobb"YouTube has aggregated all of the videos from its college and university partners - including luminaries like Stanford, Harvard, and Dartmouth - in one place: YouTube EDU. Good news for lifelong learners." - Jeff CobbSOME THOUGHTSAlright, in the Edublogs sphere this is old news (3 weeks old!), but I do hope that readers of this blog who don't know, know now. I am still trying to catch up with all the new learning juice flowing through the online Universe (Need another 3-4 weeks!).I suppose after watching other sites aggregate or organize University/College lectures or videos (e.g. Academic Earth ), Google came to their (ad) sense, and created their own dashboard or web page where we can access all the educational channels from one space. From this dashboard one can find video lectures from the directory, 'YouTube Edu' specific search, most viewed and most subscribed options. Though, I didn't see a Latest 'YouTube Edu' videos option. Also, it would be cool if it totaled up all and provided one figure (e.g. 150 000) specifying how many EDU videos there are. Actually, it would be even cooler if it was an animated counter, counting up instead of down.In general, I just hope that more educators and students discover this amazing collection of lectures, and find ways to use them for their learning enrichment. Have fun discovering YouTube EDU :)

WHATIt is Friday night, and after a long week of work and thinking (about the future), I am going to have some fun using my imagination to predict the future evolution of the blog (in a light sense). While the blog might have been the ultimate online personal publishing tool a few years back, I suppose the flavor of 2009 is micro-blogging with Twitter in the lead, sweeping through every corner of the world. 10 million+ users now and growing fast. Expect it to reach 50 million+ users by year end.While you require time and effort to maintain a blog (many never reach the second post), you can't say that of micro-blogging. So, why are micro-blogging tools such as Twitter growing in popularity around the world so fast?WHY TWITTER?"Simplicity has played an important role in Twitter's success. People are eager to connect with other people and Twitter makes that simple. Twitter asks one question, "What are you doing?" Answers must be under 140 characters in length and can be sent via mobile texting, instant message, or the web (answered by Twitter)..."Easy to register, easy to learn, easy to connect, easy to write, easy to converse, easy to share, easy to socialize, easy to follow, easy to promote (yourself and your company), easy to message, easy, easy, etc. Seriously, you can have so much fun with so little effort. How do you beat that?TWIT MANIA IN 2013!So, what comes after Twitter or micro-blogging? Molecular blogging? While 140 characters might sound simple, short, easy, and cool today, I predict that we might see tools breaking the barrier further, so here is my solution or idea. Let's just call it TWIT. Not twit (meaning wise!) :)As time passes by, Twitter will loose its trendy edge and people will explore other simpler and easier tools, and eventually Twitter will be seen as a long-winded way to express oneself compared to the new revolution in town. what?Yes, we are talking about 'TWIT' and the year is 2013. People are still fond of blogging and Twitter, but TWIT has taken the world by storm. People are fed up of knowing what others are doing (who cares what you eat for breakfast?), and who has the time to write a sentence or 140 characters.With TWIT you must say what you want within 3 words or 33 characters ('Just Do It'). TWIT asks one question, "What do you think?" And you better be concise and short, or the world won't be following and watching/reading/listening what you have to say. It is really up to you whether you want to post your answer using video, audio, graphics, or text (the tool can detect the words in all modes). Whatever mode you use, you are limited to 33 characters (or 3 words). It's easy, challenging and fun at the same time.People simply love it, and by November 2013, TWIT users has smashed the billion mark. Whether you are on your IPhone Flex or old PC, TWIT users are TWITing an average of 20.5 messages a day. You want to buy a ZaidPhone, and within one search you have 1 million TWIT reflections of what people think about it. And by that time, TWIT uses an intelligent synonym analyzer and a semantic babble doodle to make humanly sense of all these short reflections via a patterned 3D visualization synthesizer (what the h......l is that!).So, what do people love about TWIT? People want to know what others think about this and that, and they love quick trigger answers (Much like headers or slogans). With TWIT you can find out within seconds what millions think about anything you can imagine summarized with a few words. It is amazing!While Twitter users have thousands of followers, popular TWIT users have often millions of followers . Obama was asked, what is your secret weapon to win the 2013 election? And his answer was "TWIT of course!"TIME TO SLEEP!It is getting late, and I am getting sleepy (Nearly 3 am for crying out loud!), and this post needs a break. I need some more time to conceptualize a TWIT that inspires millions. Ops, then comes Rubi on hot wheels. Are the any savvy programmers who are working on a molecular blogging tool right now? Seriously, 140 characters is simply too long to be spicy in 2013. So, will TWIT outshine Twitter in 2013? Time to get back to reality, I mean sleep :)

ccLearnThe Open Education CommunityOPEN EDUCATION"...is the simple and powerful idea that the world’s knowledge is a public good and that technology in general and the Worldwide Web in particular provide an extraordinary opportunity for everyone to share, use, and reuse knowledge." (1)ccLEARNccLearn is a division of Creative Commons dedicated to realizing the full potential of the internet to support open learning and open educational resources. Their mission is to minimize legal, technical, and social barriers to sharing and reuse of educational materials ...moreIn short, they are hosting and facilitating...THE OPEN EDUCATION COMMUNITY"The Open Education community consists of people, institutions, projects, and governmental bodies who are all striving towards similar goals: to positively impact educational access, opportunity, and quality for everyone, everywhere. Here, you can share information of interest to the community, as well as identify and coordinate with peers and collaborators from across this international movement." (2)REFLECTIONCOOL! I even found my blog there (3) as a site to find learning tools (Thanks!). I would surely like to know who posted my blog as a good reference point for tools (not sure if I agree with that)? Of course they are using a Wiki, meaning we can check the history (4). So, now I know it was 'Jane' who posted my blog URL there, but was it her that recommended it, or was it someone else. Who cares! My blog URL is there, and there is no harm in that (great actually!). It was surprising and fun! Thanks for that ego trip :)If you are looking for Open Education Resources (OER) you will probably like the Finding OER section. As mentioned, they are using a wiki to develop the site, meaning you can also contribute without too much hassle. Also, you will find the teachers and learners sections relevant and useful. Whether you want to find, produce, use or join an OER community, you will find something useful and relevant in these sections. But most importantly, they want you to get actively involved and be part of the global OER movement. I suppose the teacher is no longer the main source of knowledge, but just an important resource among many out there. Therefore, being able to navigate and make sense (to the learners) of this growing galaxy of OER is crucial for becoming a great educator and learning facilitator.Finally, I love the website's clean design, lightness and ease-to-navigate. Though, it seems a bit thin in the content department (like most new sites!). But, I suppose as more people discover this community and begin to contribute, the site will truly blossom.If you asked me to TWIT what I think about this Open Education Community initiative, it would be: "About Time!" :)

Directory of Learning Professionals on Twitter (Jane Hart)ZaidLearn's TwitterIMPORTANT NOTICESince I posted this juicy list, Jane Hart has come to her 'Instructional Design' senses, and created an exceptional list of 100 learning professionals that Twitter, which is also based on recommendations by others. Also, she has added links to their blogs and webpages (if any), and designed the list in an organized and stimulating manner. As the list is really juicy, I have decided to endorse and recommend it to others instead of mine (below). For now, I will leave the one I created below as it is. If you are smart, use both lists to build your learning network and connections. So, how do you get to Jane's juicy list? Just CLICK HERE!BEFORE If you are looking for a huge list (1000+), Jane Hart's Twitter directory of learning professionals, is simply amazing. However, some people might want a more filtered list of juicy learning professionals. So, after exploring Jane's amazing list for a couple of hours, I sat down, explored and filtered out all those learning professionals that I would recommend others to follow. No specific criteria was used (e.g. number of followers), except that these learning professionals identified have impacted my learning one way or the other. It was an interesting learning journey...LEARNING PROFESSIONALS?In the coming months, I believe Malaysia and Asia will be hit by the Twitter mania, and I expect one question to be popping up again and again: "Do you have a list of the top learning professionals around the world on Twitter, which we can follow?". The list below, is not ranking, but just numbering to keep track of how many I have identified. Though, I have deliberately added some of the super learning professionals in the first 20 to excite those reading it. This is by no means a static list, and I will update it from time to time. The main reason for assembling this list, is to help people looking for top learning professionals on Twitter. Though, if you are not using Twitter, you can always subscribe to the learning professionals' tweets through RSS. Finally, when you visit a learning professional's Twitter page, you will also find there their blog or site (if any).In short, this list assembled here is to quicken your access to some of the juiciest learning professionals around. Here we go:George Siemens (gsiemens)elearnspace author and consultant, CanadaJane Hart (c4lpt and c4lptnews)Social Media & Learning Consultant and founder of the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies (including the one and only Jane's E-Learning Pick of the Day).Stephen Downes (downes)OLDaily author, researcher, speakerClive Shepherd (cliveshepherd)Consultant specialising in workplace e-learning Tony Karrer (tkarrer)CEO of TechEmpower Elliott Masie (emasie)Is an internationally recognized learning futurist, analyst, researcher and organizer on the critical topics of workforce learning, business collaboration and emerging technologies.Will Richardson (willrich45)weblogg-edWill Thalheimer (willworklearn)Research-based Learning Insights Wesley Fryer (wfryer)Moving at the Speed of Creativity, authorJay Cross (jaycross)Business consultant, author, expert on informal learningCathy Moore (CatMoore)On a mission to save the world from boring corporate e-learning. Jeff Cobb (jtcobb)Mission to Learn blog author and consultant Julie Lindsay (julielindsay)Head of Information Technology and E-Learning, Qatar Academy, Doha and co-founder of Flat Classroom projectKarl Kapp (kkapp)Professor, Instructional Technology/Author, Bloomsburg University, Bloomsburg, PAAlan Levine (cogdog)Instructional TechnologistJudy O'Connell (heyjudeonline)Writing, speaking and consulting on school technology and library issuesJane Bozarth (JaneBozarth)E-Learning Coordinator, AuthorMichele Martin (michelemartin)Web 2.0 for career and professional development, author of the Bamboo Project blogJanet Clarey (jclarey)Researcher in the learning technology space, Brandon HallJohn Connell (JConnell)Education Strategist - Cisco - Emerging MarketsEwan Macintosh (ewanmacintosh)New media, learning and the futureVicki Davis (coolcatteacher)Teacher, blogger, technology geekRobinGood (RobinGood)Hand-picked news, tools and resources for professional web publishersDavid Warlick (dwarlick)30+ year educator, technologist, programmer, author, & public speakerRozhan Idrus (profrozhan)Professor of ODL and TechnogogyZoraini Wati Abas (zoraini)A learning technologist at an open university in Kuala Lumpur, experimenting with emerging technologies - Learning 2.0.Allison Kipta (akipta)Educational technology, elearning, Web 2.0Andrew McAfee (amcafee)Enterprise 2.0 specialist, Harvard Business SchoolBill Brandon (billbrandon)Editor eLearning Guild's Learning Solutions magazineB J Schone (bjschone)Learning Designer from San DiegoBrian Lamb (@brlamb) - Emerging Technologies Discoordinator, Office of Learning Technology, The University of British Columbia Brent Schlenker (bschlenker)Corporate eLearning Consultant Chris Brogan (chrisbrogan)Social media expertChris Penny (chrispenny)Educational Technology Professor and Apple Distinguished Educator, PennsylvaniaClara McCallum (clara_mac)Learning Officer for BBC Scotland LearningCraig Nansen (cnansen)District technology coordinator, Apple Distinguished Educator. STAR Discovery Educator.Collin Kromke (collin_k )Blogger, elearning, Web 2.0, Learning 2.0 Doug Belshaw (dajbelshaw)E-Learning Staff Tutor and History Teacher Dave Cormier (davecormier)Works at edtechtalk, educationbridges and UPEIDolores Reig Hernandez (dreig)T consultant, comunidades, communities, web design, web 2.0, web3.0, web 3.0, e-learning Gavin Dudeney (dudeneyge)Educational Technologist, Barcelona SpainLee Graham (elearning30)Edutainment, Collaboration & Social Learning = Future of eLearning Paul Stewart (elearningnews)eLearning Officer for the Catholic Education Department, AustraliaLucy Gray (elemenous)Technology coach and consultant, Apple Distinguished Educator, Google Certified Teacher Elizabeth (Beth) Holmes (ElizabethHolmes)Education Specialist for 21st Century Teaching and Learning, ENTJ Luis Suarez (elsua)Social Computing Evangelist Grainne Conole (gconole )E-Learning Researcher, OUGabriela Grosseck (ggrosseck)Lecturer at West University of Timisoara Romania.Graham Attwell (GrahamAttwell)Founder of Pontydysgu and Director of ResearchGary Woodill (gwoodill )Director, Research & Analysis, Brandon Hall Harold Jarche (hjarche)Learning 20 Consultant from Canada Satish Talim (IndianGuru)Teacher, Educator, Author, Speaker for Ruby programming at RubyLearning Jeffrey Keefer (JeffreyKeefer)Reflective practice in organizational learning, educational technology, and postmodern society Judi Epcke (jepcke)Educator 2.0. from Classroom teacher to Technology Director to Technology Integration SpecialistJerome Hidalgo (JeromeHidalgo)Concepteur Pédagogique Multimédia (e-Learning Designer) Lyon, FranceJoachim Niemeier (JoachimNiemeier)Enterprise 2.0 specialist, University of StuttgartJoan Vinall Cox (JoanVinallCox)Social Media and Learning Consultant, Canada Jeff Utecht (jutecht)Technology Specialist, Shanghai Kevin Jarrett (kjarrett)K-4 Technology Facilitator/Computer Lab Teacher Lars Hyland (larshyland)Specialist in workplace learning technology and e-learning. Interested in memory and learning research. Liz Davis (lizbdavies)Educator who strongly believes in the power of technologyMalinka Ivanova (malinkaiva)Lecturer, Technical University of SofiaScott McLeod (mcleod)Director, CASTLEMiguel Guhlin (mguhlin)Director of Instructional Technology for a large urban district in TexasMichelle Dodd (michelledodd)Passionate about using games and technology to reengage, develop literacies and make learning fun! Chris Morgan (morgsman)Learning and Development enthusiast, practitioner and thought leader, Romsey HampshireMark Prasatik (mprasatik)Consultant, Learning Strategist, Training Director using informal learning and enterprise 2.0 technology to get better results Mike Wesch (mwesch)Social Anthropologist, University of Kansas Nellie Deutsch (nelliemuller)Educator specializing in leadership, curriculum, and instruction, social networking, and blended learningDavid Wiley (opencontent)Associate Professor of Instructional Psychology and Technology at Brigham Young UniversityPaula White (paulawhite)STAR Discovery Educator, Apple Distinguished Educator Patricia Donaghy (pdonaghy)ICT Teacher, Dublin, Ireland Garr Reynolds (presentationzen)Presentation design guruTony Hirst (psychemedia)Open University, UK Chris Smith (shamblesguru)ICT/Edu Consultant & Digital Nomad, Asia Dean Shareski (shareski)Digital Learning Consultant in Moose Jaw, SK, Canada. Shiv Rajendran (shiv53)Director of Languagelab.com - teaching languages in Second Life since 2005 Todd Gilmore (ToddGilmore)Entrepreneur, Innovation Consultant Jeff O'Hara (zemote)Co-founder of edmodoStian Håklev (houshuang)MA in Higher Ed, OISE/UofT, Toronto. Open access, open learning, peer2peer learning. Martin Ebner (mebner)Researcher: e-Learning, m-Learning and technology enhanced learningIsmael Peña-López (ictlogist)Researcher, lecturer, speaker on the Information Society, ICT4D and the Digital Divide.Susan Sedro (ssedro)Just another EdTech Geek Girl in the tropicsSue Waters (suewaters)Helping others with education, elearning & blogging.Cindy Huggett (cindyhugg)Training and Performance Consultant; Chair of ASTD National Advisors for Chapters (NAC); CPLP; passionate about leadership, learning, and training trainersLynn Marentette (lynnmarentette)School psychologist,consultant, grad studentTracy Hamilton (hamtra)Trying to learn at least one new thing each dayMarcia Conner (marciamarcia)Strategist, Writer, Learner and EducatorCammy Bean (cammybean)eLearning Instructional DesignerRay Schroeder (rayschroeder)UIS Prof Emeritus/Director of Office of Technology Enhanced Learning and Center for Online Learning Research and ServiceChris Betcher (betchaboy)Education, technology and ideasElaine Talbert (etalbert)Secondary languages teacher, principal, now in IT web filter managerDean Groom (deangroom)Head EdTecDev @ Macquarie Uni, Sydney, Author, Blogger, Geek, Air-HeadJohn Larkin (john_larkin)Teaching history, teaching technology, teaching teachers here, there, everywhere...Tomaz Lasic (lasic)Teacher, ed-tech t(h)inker, and Moodle fanJulian Ridden (moodleman)Moodle evangalist, ICT integrator, trainer and presenter all in a single package!Allisun eLearns (allisunelearns)eLearning and Moodle enthusiast; aspiring instructional designer; M.S. Ed in Online Teaching and Learning student.Maryna Badenhorst (marynabadenhors)Teaching and Learning CoachRanelle Maltas (ranellem)Technology trainer and support for the faculty/staff of UNLGreg - elearning (Dr_elearning)Working on creating engaging interactive e-learning modulesBritt Watwood (bwatwood)Online Learning Specialist at Virginia Commonwealth UniversityMark Drapeau (cheeky_geeky)Biological scientist working on defense policy and researchingsocial tools for government useChris Pirillo (chrispirillo)A media-friendly geek who produces content and catalyzes communities. Tech Expert for CNN.com.John Pederson (ijohnpedersen)Building the educational network around the networkIan Usher (iusher)BucksCC's E-Learning Co-ordinator, moodle, Adobe Education LeaderJennifer Maddrell (JenM)EdTech Weekly presenterJudy Brown (judyb)Mobile Learning ConsultantKarl Fisch (karlfisch)Educator and author of The Fischbowl blogLee Lefever (leelefever)CommonCraft video producerMichelle Gallen (michellegallen)Ireland-based e-learning consultant and instructional designerAaron Silvers (mrch0mp3rs)On the SCORM Technical Working Group and LETSI, Learning ConsultantKim Cofino (mscofino)21st Century Literacy Specialist at the International School Bangkok, ThailandMartin Weller (mweller)Professor of Educational Technology at the OUSteve Hargadon (stevehargadon)Educational TechnologistTheo Kuechel (theokk)Technologies for Learning, Archives - Collections, Open Educational Resources, Music and other social activities....Graeme Boxwell (LearningTech1)Learning Technologist at the City of Sunderland CollegeNeil Lasher (Neillasher)e-Learning development specialist and Instructional Design coachJosh Bersin (Josh_Bersin)Corporate Talent, HR, and Learning Analyst and CEO of research and advisory services firm Bersin & Associates.Olavur Ellefsen (olavur)Founder of Simprentis - developer of learning simulations and provider of team-based education and training to oil and gasRay Jimenez (RayJimenez)CEO of Vignettes for Training, Inc. author 3-Minute e-Learning and Scenario-based LearningEdrie Greer (explorelearn)Learning/performance consultant, explorer, devil's advocate, media developer, nature lover, eclectically curious gal. Proud owner of 2 Belgian TervurensYuri Quintana (yuriquintana)e-health, e-learning, innovation, web 2.0, Internet social networks, global causes, global healthRJ Jacquez (rjacquez)Adobe Evangelist for eLearning and Technical Communication. All about Innovative Technologies, Social Media Adobe in general, Family and Helping othersJay Lambert (LambertJay)CEO, Integrated Learning Services (e-learning)Manish Mohan (manishmo)Collaborative and Informal Learning, Management, Performance enhancement, Entrepreneurship, Technology, Amateur photographyHall Davidson (HallDavidson)Blogs, speaks, works with teacher network for Discovery (the Discovery Educator Network. Hopeless ed tech geek since '73.Again, I have to thank Jane Hart for her amazing directory, because without it, it would be a real headache finding the learning professionals I have assembled above. Thank you so much!OTHER LISTS?Here are other interesting lists of learning professionals on Twitter (as I discover):Indian Learning Professionals on Twitter100 Educators on Twitter to FollowTop … ELT (English Language Teachers) To Follow On TwitterFinally, if you think you are a super learning professional and believe you should be on this list, please comment or shoot me an e-mail. The list can always grow (or shrink) :)

WOU's Summary of My Talke-Learning Talk (Slideshare)eBook - 69 Learning Adventures in 6 GalaxiesWHY WOU?I was invited to spend two days at Wawasan Open University (WOU) to meet some of the key people there and share ideas about e-learning and so on. It was a thrill to interact with everyone from the Vice Chancellor to the driver. After spending two days exploring WOU, its' slogan 'The people's University' is increasingly making sense ...about WOUBesides having fun interacting and sharing ideas with the people of WOU, I am still amazed with WOU's unique campus buildings, which truly demonstrates the fusion of old and modern construction. The picture above should give you a good indication of what I mean.In short, I enjoyed the learning adventure, and learned some valuable lessons on the way (hopefully vice verse) :)E-LEARNING TALKIn addition, I gave a 90 minute full-steam e-learning talk exploring some of the e-learning 2.0 (or web 2.0 technologies) tools, and discussed how they could be used to infuse a more social, collaborative and dynamic online learning environment. Yes, we even explored connectivism, and how we can use a network of diverse technologies to facilitate online learning.Why, bla, bla, bla, ... Here are the slides (on SlideShare):E-Learning TalkView more presentations from zaid.REFLECTIONThis time around, I slimmed down the participants' slide-intake from 100+ to 73, and was able to cover what I wanted to share (I am still learning!). We managed to even watch 4 short videos during the 90 minute e-learning roller coaster (which ended up with the '5-Minute University' video!). I am sure many were overwhelmed, but at least they got some idea what e-learning 2.0 is all about (before we have to deal with e-Learning 3.0! Don't we love such buzz words!).Besides talking about e-learning 2.0, I promoted again my eBook and blog. If you look at the stats above, you will notice that Malaysia is not the top country visitor to my blog (sadly enough!), and can only muster a fifth place. However, we should be proud that we are higher positioned than Singapore at least (this time around!).On a positive note, people from 185 countries, or 5,786 cities around the world have discovered ZaidLearn one way or the other (over the last 12 months). This just shows how interconnected the world is today. Amazing!Yes, believe it or not, I have even connected with a remarkable guy from Gaza Strip (Palestine), who is exploring 'learning 2.0' with 12-15 year old kids. He is even planning to write a book about e-learning 2.0 in Arabic. Couldn't CNN or BCC cover such positive stories, besides the depressing ones. Again, amazing!Oops, I need to pack, I am going on holiday to ... :)

SclipoFeatures Video About SclipoWHAT?Sclipo is a Social Learning Network for continuing education that offers apps for e-Learning (course manager, knowledge manager, webcam-based web classroom for live online teaching, etc.) integrated with social features. At Sclipo, any member can teach and learn, enabling informal or social learning online. Sclipo is for formal & informal teachers that find traditional eLearning (Moodle, Blackboard, etc.) solutions too complex and costly.FEATURES?Sclipo's principal social learning features:Academy & ProfileEvery member has an Academy and a Profile. The Academy is the space where a member teaches through educational apps like Courses, Library or Live Web Classes. The Profile (connected to Facebook) serves to socialize with people of common educational interests.CoursesThis app allows members to create and post courses they teach online through Sclipo, face-to-face or blended.LibraryThe Library is to store, manage and share educational content in any format - videos, documents, presentations, spreadsheets, etc.Live Web ClassesAllows to teach up to 100 students live through webcam, whiteboard and a document presenter. Students can participate actively through audio, video and chat. Teachers can present any document from their library. No downloads needed.PaymentsTeachers can charge students for their courses and web classes. Students pay teachers directly through PayPal.Facebook ConnectAllows to easily establish connections and publish a members activities (eg, post a course) to Facebook.Most features are free, some are for Premium Members, like Payments and the private Web Classroom (a public Web Classroom is free to use). Premium Members pay a flat fee. REFLECTIONThe interface design, ease-to-navigate and layout is 'Smokey' (meaning cool, fresh, and soothing to the eye and mind). I love the Learn-Socialize-Teach formula (categories) and features that go with it. Don't be lazy, check it out!In contrast to other social learning network sites (e.g. Ning), Sclipo provides an embedded virtual classroom tool enabling educators to conduct live online (web) classes with up to 100 students at a time. Though, you need to pay if you want your online class to be a private one. Now, that I don't like and this might turn educators off from using it initially before getting hooked. But, then again they got to make a living. Another twist; why not allow two (2) private classes for free every month :)Also, I believe Sclipo's virtual classroom tool (Live Web Class) needs to be more flexible (e.g. be able to resize interface feature components), and add several more useful features before educators and learners can express themselves more effectively. Perhaps they should benchmark this tool with other free (or partially free) virtual classroom options such as DimDim (can be installed on your own server) and WiZiQ (a free hosted virtual classroom). I have given some hints in the graphic above.Finally, instead of using Sclipo, we could use Elgg, Facebook or Ning, as an alternative option to create social learning networks. Also, we could mash-up Elgg with Moodle and DimDim or WiZiQ. However, to do that it would most likely require at least one technical dude to configure and manage the back end.Yeah, perhaps we should give Sclipo a chance, because it has managed to mash-up formal (courses) and social (and informal) learning in a unique, stimulating, engaging and effective manner.Enough bla, bla, bla. why not explore it yourself :)Latest News (15th May)"All members can now use their private live web classroom for free. (Before, only the public web classroom was free.) At this point, the only difference between Premium and Non-Premium members is that Premium can charge their students. Students pay teachers directly." - Gregor Gimmy (CEO, Sclipo)It seems like they listen to our frustrations. Cool! Got any other suggestions or complaints? :)