CONGRATULATIONS!Congratulations Obama! Don't blame it on Obama for getting the award (Though, he could reject it, but why should he?). I have always thought that Norwegians (or their government to be fair!) are peace loving people (I am 50% Norwegian and reasonably peaceful, too!), but very naive in dealing with peace efforts and conflicts around world. And I am still puzzled with the wisdom of Obama getting it so soon. If he lives up to his vision and mission, no doubt he should get the award, but give him some time to earn it the right way.Also, we must not forget that he is the 'Commander in Chief' of the deadliest army since the 2nd World War, which has blasted several countries back to the Stone Age. Yes, let's not forget he is still at war in two countries, and things might not blossom into peace as soon as we might hope. If you know anything about Afghans (I do!), they will never surrender until the US Army is out of there. Hopefully, they will eventually learn from the mistakes the Soviet Union dudes did last time. But, the way they are going at it, it certainly does not look like it.Anyway, let's hope that the 'Nobel Peace Prize' selection committee had an inch of wisdom behind the selection, and thought by giving Obama this award, it would remind him throughout his President-hood that peace is the only way forward, and that going to war with such a title is simply not acceptable. Just wondering, once you become a Nobel Peace Prize winner, can you lose it?Let's forget politics, and return to the learning juice! ZAIDSWOOSH ROCKS!If you haven't noticed, I launched another blog a few weeks back (Why?). Except for Stephen Downes (who ironically referred to it as ZaidLearn) and a few others, it has hardly picked up any attention in the Blogosphere. But, that is cool! For those of you who missed out on ZaidSwoosh until now, here are the first 30 stunning posts from it:Welcome & Why!99 Free EduGames to Spice Up Your Course! 99 Awesome Firefox Add-ons for EducatorsNobel Prize Winners Video Lecture Search Engine 50 Terrific Twitter Tutorials for Teachers LearnTrends 2009 - Free Online Conference (November 17-19) 2009 ALT conference - 11 Mind Awakening Video Lectures Right Here!Free Internet LibrariesThe Learning Footprint Calculator Zenhabits Comments Section is Brilliantly Annoying! Wiggio Just a Little Bit! The Google Acquisition & Investment Map Join The eLearning Network (eLN)! Twitter Handbook for Teachers Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online LearningTrendsmap - Your Glocal Twitter Trends Forecast How Web-Savvy Edupunks Are Transforming American Higher Education The E-Learning Debate at The Oxford Union100 Free Ivy-League Lectures You Shouldn't MissChange the Way You Think About Everything Seven Skills Students Need for Their Future A Pocket University (or iTunesU at Oxford University) Web 2.0 - Cool Tools for SchoolsDomo Animate - Create Cartoons About Your Learning! 100 Best Blogs for Tech-Savvy Teachers Why Not? Now, That is a Sizzling Lecture! Did You Know This Did You Know! 3 Free e-Learning Courses Run by Otago Polytechnic (New Zealand) Insidious Pedagogy: How Course Management Systems Affect TeachingAcademia 2.0 - Be Relevant-Engaging-Fun!In short, ZaidSwoosh is dedicated to sharing juicy learning resources and ideas in daily 'swoosh' chunks (1-3 short posts every working day).I like to keep ZaidLearn for more 'article' like posts (1000 - 5000 words, the boring stuff!), whereby I reflect (80%) and add some spice or fun (20%). However, with ZaidSwoosh, it will be 80% juice and fun, and then 20% reflection. So, those used to ZaidLearn and long juicy boring stuff, will continue to have it that way.As for those of you who want to experience the juiciest stuff I discover on a daily basis, then ZaidSwoosh is worth subscribing to. How do I find time to 'SWOOSH' blog? I don't smoke, meaning I should be healthier and can use my puff-breaks to swoosh some learning juice instead.So, what so special about this ZaidSwoosh? Until you have tried, you will never know :)

I hated every minute of training, but I said, "Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion." - Muhammad Ali PROBLEMHave you ever...Attended a Training/Workshop (T/W) session where you learned everything except what you really came for?Attended a T/W session where the facilitator spoke/illustrated too fast?Left during a T/W session, because you had to attend to other urgent matters?Missed a T/W session, because it was scheduled at an inappropriate time? Fallen asleep during a T/W session because it was utterly boring and irrelevant to you?Been overloaded with too many new things to remember anything relevant.Felt that the T/W session was a total waste of time!And we could go on, but let's move on to...ALTERNATIVESYes, it is frustrating attending or participating in T/W sessions that are not tailored to exactly what we really want or need to learn, especially if our time is really precious (which is the case for most educators!). On the other hand, it is quite difficult to tailor T/W sessions to meet all the requirements and expectations by all the participants, especially if the group size is substantial (say 25-40 participants), or consist of participants of diverse learning fields and backgrounds.But, let's face it T/W sessions or large lectures are quite efficient methods in disseminating information and knowledge. But are they really effective in facilitating relevant or authentic learning?Assume that for example we want to train educators (teachers and lecturers) to use new learning tools, apply instructional design principles, master online facilitation methods, and rapid e-learning skills. What could we do besides the typical scheduled T/W sessions mostly tailored for larger groups (15-40 participants)?For starters, developing user manuals or content development standards and guidelines would probably be high on the list. Let's create these guidelines, and hope that educators would actually use their precious time to actually read, reflect and practice all the super tricks and tips we share. DREAM ON!You certainly need to develop (or reuse) manuals and guidelines that includes best practices, tips and tricks (including quick reference guides), but that alone will not transform educators into rapid e-learning pro's. Unless you can make these learning aids really short and super intuitive, many educators would probably never go beyond the attractive front-page cover (alright they will scan through the table of contents!).Besides manuals and guides, we could develop online FAQs, which are searchable, allows comments, suggestions, ratings and rankings, etc. Now surely that would help, and it probably will. But again, how many educators actually use FAQs to improve their teaching and learning skills?What about experts systems or know-it-all 3D avatar chat bots? Cool, but unless they are really smart and not insulting to human intelligence, though... If we could simply feed it with content, and it could synthesize and come up with the most appropriate suggestions, now that would be really efficient and useful. Any really good artificial intelligence 3D talking teacher tools to suggest? Why not screencast or record everything an educator might want to learn? Now that would be really efficient way to disseminate skills training, and perhaps it could turn out to be effective. Record once for everyone at any time (Try Screenr!). Cool! I love learning through screencasting sessions, but unless the tutorial developer is reasonably good at it, it can sometimes get really annoying.Say I want to learn how to 'bold' some text, but then have to go through a 5-minute step-by-step video tutorial, now that would be really annoying. It is just like calling an automated customer service system, which will take you on a roller-coaster ride for 5 minutes to get you where you want to go. If we could actually talk to a real person instead, it would probably take us 5 seconds! Also, unless the video tutorial has a comment section, or is linked to a Q&A forum, how is it going answer the next question to clarify this and that.As it might take a life time to screencast everything an educator might want to learn, we should perhaps instead (or in addition) use a web-conferencing tool such as Adobe Connect (educational pricing is reasonable) or DimDim (open source and free) to conduct live online tutorials, whereby we interact and do exactly the things that educators might want to learn. Better yet, we could record and archive these online tutorials as learning content. You want to learn this, watch this recorded learning session. Wow! But then again, some educators will never bother or find the time to gobble through a short or long recorded online tutorial to find what they want to learn.Besides these alternatives discussed, we could facilitate online forums, join learning communities, immerse our learning into Second Life, use wikis and blogs, reuse/link to free learning tutorials, etc. until we go blue, but some educators still want to learn the art of using technology to facilitate learning through face-to-face learning. So, let's deal with it!DROP-BY-LEARNING (DBL)So, in the coming months, we at IMU (or the e-learning department) will be introducing something I refer to as Drop-By-Learning. It is not very different from just-in-time-learning (often used in relation to corporate learning), so I suppose it is not an innovation, except for perhaps the way we will approach it.Besides the scheduled weekly 1-hour e-learning sessions (exploring new learning methods and tools), major e-learning workshops and our juicy Learning Innovation Lab (interactive online learning resource/discussion space organized according to learning tools and methods), we will select one day a week (rotating the days), whereby our educators can drop-by to learn exactly what they want in small learning nuggets. Of course, we don't know everything, so we will provide a learning nuggets laundry list of all the things that they can learn from us. In addition, they can always suggest new learning nuggets to include. If we don't know and cannot learn within a reasonable time, we can always link them to a free online tutorial out there (if any).To avoid us wasting time, and educators dropping by at the same time, we will encourage them to e-mail or call us to book a learning nugget session (5-30 minutes). As our e-learning team is rather small (currently only 4 staff catering to around 200 educators), and have tons of other tasks to deal with besides training, we need to be efficient with our time.Yes, we also manage the virtual learning environment (Moodle), facilitate content development, do research into new learning tools and approaches (more practical, less paper!), and involved in several e-learning projects blossoming here and there at IMU. We are enjoying the e-learning passion blossoming at IMU, but let's hope we can manage the increasing workload. I am predicting an e-learning exploration tsunami at IMU over the next 12 months (can feel it!). So, we kind of got our hands tied down hard in a stimulating and motivating way.To make the drop-by-learning sessions really near to my desk, and to avoid all this booking computer labs time-consuming nonsense, it is set up closely, approximately 3.5 meters from my desk. A notebook with a projector and small whiteboard will be ready for action at any moment.Of course, it would be cool to drop-by the educator's place to facilitate learning nuggets, but at IMU we have adopted an interdisciplinary open learning cluster approach, whereby most educators do not have their own rooms, but sit in open clusters (cubicles) to facilitate open learning and sharing. So, having dudes like me going to educators and making some noise (kind of loud!), might not be appreciated by others, who are not requesting for drop-by-learning.If a small group wants to come for a learning nugget session, we have 5 learning spots (at the moment only comfortable chairs) ready for action. Also, we provide free candy to stimulate the brain (something like Google in small chunks!), and have set up a dartboard within striking distance, should they be stressed or lack focus.This is certainly not an efficient approach to facilitate new learning and facilitation skills and methods, but when we soon add drop-by-learning webinars (using Adobe Connect or DimDim), we can slowly facilitate a more effective learning environment, whereby educators at IMU learn..Exactly What they WantHow they Want When they Want Wherever they Want Today, educators seem busier than ever juggling teaching, research, and administration, and by providing them a drop-by-learning option, it will hopefully enable and motivate more educators to learn the skills needed to facilitate effective learning in the 21st century. Can drop-by-learning be implemented effectively? ...Until we have tried, we will never really know :)P.S. This article and approach is still under construction, but nice to share as it learns (from you) and improves. So, please share your valuable thoughts and ideas. Thank you :)

No, it is not an Airport! It is more like a space station! If you ask a true learning professional, he or she will probably articulate Moodle as a virtual learning environment (VLE), or course management system (CMS), or worst case a learning management system (LMS). Whatever Moodle is, in this post Moodle is an 'Airport' (figurative speech that is!).However, I am not going to spend the rest of this post proving the 'Airport' theory, but I will share some of my experiences and ideas on how we can get the best from Moodle, and not fall into the pitfalls (that I have faced over the years). As for the 'Airport' visualization, I will leave that to your creative imagination of reading between the lines. Let's begin!MOODLE IS NOT... A total online campus management solution for your University. If you are planning to use Moodle as a total online learning solution covering everything from online course registration, semester results generation, intelligent class scheduling, to alumni management, you are going struggle no matter how many Moodle plug-ins you discover and use. Instead, explore using other online tools out there (or perhaps let your team develop the tools necessary), which can be integrated with Moodle providing all the needs your online campus management system requires.An excellent content development tool. In a nutshell, use it for uploading, managing and tracking your content, but please use other web 2.0 or rapid e-learning development tools to develop engaging and inspiring multimedia learning content. Although, you can create some simple web-pages, a crappy online book, who-ha podcasts, and a few other stuff using 3rd party Moodle plug-ins, many other content development tools out there can do a much better job than Moodle. No question about that! Since Moodle supports ZIP file upload and the SCORM mambo-jumbo, your options are pretty good to use practically any content development tool out there.A concurrent users' king! I have felt it, and I have heard from every corner of the world that Moodle increasingly becomes a pain when the concurrent users size increases (say 60 or more!). I have heard and read that people have solved this problem, but again and again the number one complaint about Moodle is that they struggle to deal with scalability and large concurrent user sessions (e.g. 200 students doing online quiz at the same time). So, what is the problem? Is it the CPU or RAM specs issue, perhaps its' the network, database, or even a combination of things mentioned, or what? Click here for a white paper (PDF) from Moodlerooms to help you deal with it. But, Moodle should really simplify and be creative about informing and guiding Moodle administrators on how to deal with the concurrent users issue. If there was a wizard embedded in Moodle dealing with this issue, I would be really happy. Any other suggestions?A web 2.0 sensation. I suppose Moodle 2.0 will be pretty good, but let's face it, purpose-built web 2.0 alternatives (e.g. Wikispaces) are worth considering before you get lost in Moodle's crappy blogging, wiki, etc. tools. They are usable, but no match for the real deals out there. Click here, to get some saucy tips on whether to use Moodle's embedded Web 2.0 tools, or go for the purpose-built web 2.0 alternatives. Yes, you might want to also check out Jane Hart's amazing list of +3000 potential learning tools to facilitate your learning environment. Finally, ZaidLearn's filtered down learning tools list, might be a good starting point. In short, Moodle is an Airport, not a total solution!WHY MOODLE ROCKS?Although, Moodle sounds quite bad until now (in this post), it is certainly better than most other Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) tools that I have tried over the years. If you need a tool to facilitate your online course and learning environment, Blackboard is certainly out, unless they have dramatically improved since the last time I tried it (2008). Anyway, Blackboard is a commercial tool, and you certainly don't want to get into a mess spending tons of money, getting confused with all their product options, and finally ending up buying exactly what you don't need. A-Z, Blackboard is not my cup of VLE.Sakai with its Java code and messy interface is out (unless I got some Java dudes to mess it up further!), no matter how many features they have. Angel? Looked at it once, and that is it. There are tons of other VLE tools you might want to explore, so perhaps you should use EduTools to assist you to get the right alternative or combination that meets your unique learning requirements and needs. EduTools is a pretty good free course management system comparison and selection tool to use, compared to the commercial alternatives that Brandon Hall and Bersin provide (last resort, if EduTools fails!).If you are looking for a free hosted VLE (or LMS) alternative, CLICK HERE! If you are conducting your own little programs or courses, then a free hosted VLE might be worthwhile, but I would not recommend Universities or Colleges to adopt such tools on a large scale, because of the what-if scenario (collapses, becomes commercial, system failure, New Pro-version, etc).Though, no matter how frustrated I have been with Moodle over the years, compared to other VLE tools, Moodle simply rocks (based on my experiences).So, what is so special about Moodle?First, the Moodle community is worldwide and nearly as fanatical as the Apple mafia. You will find fanatical Moodle fans and support (including excellent documentation and facilitation tips) wherever you practically go in the world, and that is really a major plus. And often the greatest fans, are actually the educators themselves. Ironically, educators are often the ones that make the most noise when it comes to using other VLE tools (e.g. Blackboard).I believe the main reason, is that Moodle is easy-to-learn, easy-to-teach, easy-to-build and easy-to-use. Also, its embedded constructivist learning framework, and excellent set of basic learning tools are really powerful reasons for using Moodle.Personally, I really like Moodle's:Quiz Engine Developing quiz questions in Notepad and reviewing the results using the 'Item Analysis' tool.CalendarAll your learning activities and events (if added) is directly visible and automatically linkable from the calendar, making it easier to see how active your upcoming week or month will be.GlossaryOnce I used the Glossary tool to develop a search engine, which enabled users easily to search 100+ Courseware down to the topic level (Now, you might instead want to use Google Custom Search). It also allows people to comment and suggest entries, and even configure your glossary to become FAQs, Encyclopedia, Entry List, etc. Not bad!TrackingIt generates complete and summarized reports on the students' progress, results, and utilization of Moodle. Although, it is not perfect, it gives you quickly an idea of students usage patterns, and whether they are really trying or not. The same applies to educators, too. Yeah, administrators can easily find out, whether the educators are really trying or not to explore Moodle. I have experienced educators who complain about using Moodle, without ever logging in.Peer-LearningIt allows you to customize your rubrics (Scales), comments and rating scales features for many of the Moodle tools, including Workshop, Forum and Glossary. To facilitate deep learning you got to include a lot of reflection, peer-learning and (role) modeling, and Moodle has that intuitively embedded in many places (without many really realizing it!). Besides these five basic giants above, the forum, questionnaire and assignment tools are also really useful and powerful.Also, it is really easy to customize, design, and restructure courses in Moodle to meet our basic learning needs. Some educators get the thrill out of making their course homepage more attractive with some mind stimulating images.Moodle courses only show what lecturers are using, so you don't get all those juicy buttons (e.g. quiz) that are totally empty when clicked. You can structure course content and activities according to the course outline, making it super easy for students to zoom in on what they want. Yes, you can edit, delete or move the course resources and activities straight from the course page, without needing to go to another webpage. Just click 'Turn Editing on'.But I suppose what really makes Moodle super juicy and the defacto VLE, is that it can easily be integrated with so many other types of relevant learning tools, which include web-conferencing tools (e.g. DimDim), learning activity management system (e.g. LAMS), anti-plagiarism software (e.g. TurnItIn), 3D virtual worlds (e.g. Sloodle), and much more. As Moodle is used by millions of people around the world, you will find many really cool web 2.0 learning tools that have developed integration modules for Moodle (which makes totally sense).However, how you implement Moodle depends a lot on your needs, requirements, available resources, and importantly who will actually be using it. So, tailoring your 'Moodle Airport' requires you to re-examine the learning context and sufficient human/financial/technical resources at your disposal. It is tough, but with Moodle you have many unique and valuable possibilities.So, are you now realizing why Moodle is really an Airport, and not a total learning solution.If you ask me, Moodle is a good meeting place (airport or space station), or a starting point where we get together to discuss and share ideas, before taking off using both inbuilt and integrated learning tools to experience engaging and enriching learning adventures beyond any single VLE can provide.But then Joseph Thibault (in the comments section) crushes my Airport analogy, by saying, "...that "starting point" is probably the best. It's like a hub, where teachers can tie in all their other resources (and track their students use of them). That's the real value."First, I was crushed by this valuable reflection, but then I was inspired to synthesize this latest reflection of the Airport analogy, into the "Airport-Hub" analogy. Lovely!Finally, I have come to realize that the more I use Moodle (although increasingly discovering weaknesses and areas to improve), the more I love it, the more I want to use it, and importantly the more I want to promote it to educators and people around the world.Until a more cost-effective, user-friendly, web 2.o friendly, and feature rich VLE for higher education pops-up, Moodle is probably the best way to go. Yep, if I want to fly, I would certainly prefer flying from a Moodle airport hub. What about Elgg? :)

"Students who ask better questions, are independent learners, deep thinkers and ethical leaders of the future" - NTU's Greatest AchievementWHY GO?Alright, the actual title for the 2-day workshop was:E-Learning Implementation and Web 2.0 Technologiesin the Higher Education SectorThe main objective of this hands-on practical workshop was to develop an understanding of the implementation and application of e-learning technologies within an institution of higher education. Also, it explored several web 2.0 technologies that participants could use to develop a collaborative online learning space.The hands-on workshop was held at a nice computer lab (24 participants) at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). It was organized by AKEPT, UPM and Nanyang Technological University (NTU). The first 1/2 day, Assoc. Prof. Daniel Tan (Director, Centre for Educational Development) explored Nanyang Technological University's (NTU) e-learning story from its inception in 1998 (using TopClass!) until today's 'University 2.0' (4.5 MB, .ppt. 2008 version only).The remaining 1 1/2 days was allocated for Lance Larkin to explore the web 2.0 world for educational purposes.This workshop was actually more intended for academics new to e-learning, rather than learning freaks like me. However, the reason I decided to attend (free invitation) was mainly to listen and learn from Daniel Tan's decade long experience at NTU, and of course to connect, learn and network with participants attending. Also, I was pretty curious to see how Lance Larkin conducted a web 2.0 hands-on workshop.To make a web 2.0 point, I actually used Twitter throughout the workshop to share relevant or interesting resources discussed during the learning sessions. Interestingly, during the process I did have a couple of short related Twitter debates with some strangers out there. It is always fun to get some WordPress fanatics going, by slamming it head-on against Blogger!As I will next reflect more deeply lessons learned during the workshop, I will not post the tweets stream here (if interested, just check the 23-24th November tweets). Let's begin...NTU'S E-LEARNING WISDOMOr perhaps more correctly, Daniel Tan's wisdom acquired during his decade long implementation of e-learning at NTU. What I love about this guy (since 2005), is that he so receptive to learn, and has an amazing sense to spot and neutralize any form of inefficiency to the process of doing anything you can imagine.He is not so IT-Savvy (admits he is a one-finger typing educator), but he is exceptionally learning-savvy and proactive, and his stream of ideas and leadership is to my understanding the secret recipe that has propelled NTU to become the higher education benchmark for e-learning in Singapore and perhaps South-East Asia. When you have an army of around 50 staff, and probably get unlimited funding from the Singapore Government, and then top that with a dynamic, learning-savvy and proactive hands-on leader like Daniel, you are very likely to have some form of success.Here are some of the useful things I learned from Daniel's 1/2 day talk (Usually, I would be sleeping by 50 minutes, but not this time around):What NTU Did Not Do:Provide incentives and penalties to get academics on board with e-learning. I suppose if you do succeed using such an approach, it is going to be very costly, and if you don't succeed it will be very painful (for you and the educators!), unless you use non-tangible carrots and sticks. Anyway, if academics believe in your e-learning strategy, they see (or envisions) it benefit the students' learning that is a good enough incentive to put in a few extra hours needed to make it work. That is, if you are a passionate educator that really gets satisfaction from facilitating students to get AHA moments.Develop an in-house customized system (NTU uses Blackboard as their airport). Though, they did develop AcuLearn for recording lectures on-the-fly (synchronized with the slides), and a few other tools, including the award winning eUreka that enables you to create collaborative online learning spaces for projects. However, what Daniel actually meant here, is that for the main virtual learning environment (or LMS) they decided to go for a commercial solution instead (and ended up with Blackboard). At that time (2000) Moodle was nowhere to be seen, but I am quite confident they would choose Moodle over Blackboard, if they had to make that decision today. Perhaps, you should read Moodle is an Airport... if you are considering using Moodle, or not.Anyway, he didn't talk much about how great Blackboard was, but instead talked about other learning tools they were using to facilitate engaging and collaborative learning. Besides AcuLearn and eUreka, he was extremely excited about using LAMS to create sequenced learning activities to facilitate the learning process. Whatever learning tool we plan to use, we should consider using NTU's evaluation criterion for selection, which is: 1. Ease-of-Use 2. Positive User Feedback 3. Performance Issues 4. Integration with Student Information System 5. Compliance with Standards In other words, if it is not user-friendly, and you practically need to read a 20-page user guide to learn it, it isn't going to work with most Professors, no matter how many amazing features it has.Allow the Center for Educational Development (CED) to lead the e-Learning implementations. Instead, they let the academics lead the way, but of course sprinkle ideas, energy, training and support to make sure things move forward.Change the way professors teach. Try that and you are for sure doomed. Instead NTU's CED facilitates e-learning using a step-by-step professor-centric evolutionary process, based on the 20:80 rule (minimal effort, maximum impact). In his own words: multipliers, self-help, useful and user-friendly environment, and extenzifications (record lectures and make them available online 24/7. No additional work for lecturers, besides doing what they usually do).Daniel Tan spent a lot of time sharing with us NTU's UniWood (eLecture) project, which is to record lectures and make them easily available online 24/7. They use AcuLearn (in-house developed tool, but has now evolved into a company) to synchronize the videos with the presentation slides, and then publish the lectures online. In a way, he was also marketing this tool (kind of annoying! But it is NTU's baby, so understandable!), and was perhaps too bias to all its strengths, leaving out some of its weaknesses compared to potential competitors (Articulate, Adobe Connect/Presenter, Tandberg, etc). For example, the AcuLearn presentation interface, file size output (compression), user-flexibility, viewing options, is really a big question mark (compared to others!).However, we should learn from how they manage the lecture recording process, which is certainly mind-blowing and unique to me (at least!).Who records these lectures? STUDENTS! Every class must appoint a few students to carry out these activities. If I heard correctly, they don't even get paid (FREE!), but they do get some community services points (or some form of points! Wow!). Anyway, their efforts do benefit many students using these lectures, so I suppose that is an intrinsic incentive, too. To ensure that the post-editing of recorded lectures goes smoothly, each lecture hall has 2 PCs, enabling one group to finalize the editing, while another group can start recording the next lecture.Most eLectures are available for online viewing within minutes (or done within 24 hours). They also have an amazing server farm and delivery network to make everything run according to plan (supporting 30,000+ students).To understand the magnitude of this UniWood project, just imagine they have 40 recording locations at a time (40 lectures simultaneously), roughly 8 hours per day (=320 hours). By the time they reach 2 semesters (20,800 hours per semester!), we are talking about 41,600 hours of eLectures. I would love to know, how many hours of eLectures they have archived over the years.Now, imagine if NTU made all these eLectures available for free to mankind. MIT OpenCourseware would look like a smurf, if we measured in terms of size (But then again, it is really about quality!). Alright, we would also have 10+ updated versions of many lectures!So, do students watch these eLectures? Many times! The notes provided says rate-of-reuse per lecture is on the average 38.14, he said something like 76 (I assume it is 76 clicks, including slide jumping clicks within a lecture). Whatever it is, NTU students seem to be hungry learners, or totally obsessed mastering 100% of the eLecture to ensure they pass the exam.Finally, do students now still attend Face-to-Face lectures? Yes, just as much as before (attendance is not compulsory). So, based on these findings, lecturers don't need to worry about empty lecture halls. So, why do students still come? Well, it is a great place to meet up with students and have some fun, while listening to the good old lecture (according to Daniel).Besides this, Daniel talked about other e-learning tools and implementations (blogs, Online discussions, online assessment, web conferencing, etc.), but not too exciting to babble about it here.So, what is Daniel Tan thinking of doing next? He and his CED army are working on an experimental concept...SIGMA MODEL: TEACH LESS, LEARN MOREEffective learning via integrated 3-in-1 practice module of: Live + recorded lecture review for knowledge learningDiscussion/forum/virtual tutorial for opportunity to formulate and articulate deep questionsSelf eAssessment for multiple timely feedbackAs a concept, based on my brief introduction from Daniel, it offers nothing new to effectifizing learning (now that sounds cool!), but I would be more interested to see how it is implemented, and what kind of learning techniques and tools they use to facilitate the students to think deeper and wider. Also, 'Sigma' works well for producing chocolate (done that!), but I doubt whether it is the right term to use in relation to learning and the complexity of the human brain.Finally, Daniel summed up his presentation by emphasizing that we need to look at education and learning from three (3) quality dimensions, which are:Content - Usually not an issue!Teaching Process - You have taught them, but have they learnt?Student's (self-directed) Learning Process - They need to master 21st century learning skills and infuse lifelong learning habits to succeed now and in the future.Amen to that!JOHN LARKIN'S LEARNING WORLD!What can I say? John Larkin is an extremely nice guy who loves teaching. I suppose we all connected with him in a nice way, and I am pretty sure many of the participants learned quite a lot from his vast experience in e-learning and web 2.0 technologies (Certainly a learning gladiator).As for me, I have to admit I was a bit disappointed with 1 1/2 day hands-on web 2.0 workshop. But, I suppose that has something to do with that I conduct similar kind of learning activities at my University (and beyond when invited), and by so, have probably much higher expectations than I should.Having said that, I did have fun at last exploring WordPress (to the bone), which I have kind of ignored since I got hooked on Blogger. Alright, you can create 'Pages' (beside posts) in WordPress, which you cannot in Blogger (please add this, and I will never again consider WordPress). Also, WordPress has many more features to do the 'monkey dance,' but if you introduce Baby Boomers (or older) to blogging, I would recommend Blogger for starters. Blogger is a much easier tool to learn and teach. WordPress fanatics will probably disagree here, but if so, prove me wrong. However, if lecturers decide to switch (or upgrade) to WordPress, they can always import all their posts from Blogger, so that should not be an issue.In short, if you are a beginner, start with Blogger. If you want more (novice and expert), migrate to WordPress. However, if you want to use WordPress to create your website (and a beginner), perhaps you should consider using Google Sites instead. Then you can embed, RSS or link your blog to your site.Beside blogging, Lance Larkin explored Wikis (PBworks), Widgets (Widget box, Google Gadgets, and Spring Widgets), RSS, Google Reader, and Posterous.I believe he should have chosen another Wiki tool for the hands-on, because PBworks is clumsy and complicated to learn (especially inserting widgets). PBworks has also now become too commercial, and it even makes it difficult to find the free version from the homepage!I tried to recommend Wikispaces, Wetpaint or Google Sites instead during the workshop, without much success. Interestingly, Lance Larkin realized during the hands-on that PBworks has lost it (for now). What to do?Overall, I believe both did a good job, and again I am pretty sure they will be conducting more workshops in Malaysia in the near future. Good luck!AREAS TO IMPROVEWell, if that is the case, here are some recommendations and tips to ensure that future workshops are even more useful, dynamic and collaborative. I suppose the following reflections are more directed towards me to ensure that I learn and improve my own workshops. If others can benefit, then cool, too!Here we go:Web 2.0 Implementation WorkshopSuch a workshop should at least include blogging, micro-blogging (Twitter), wikis, RSS, social bookmarking, podcasting, social learning/networking (e.g. Ning or Elgg), Image/Video galleries, and Virtual Worlds (e.g. Second Life). Of course during a 2-day workshop we would have no time for hands-on on all, but we should spend some time on each, so that participants are more aware of the possibilities, and how these tools can be used to facilitate teaching and learning.Learning Sharing SessionDuring such workshops, there should be a 1-2 hour slot where participants share their e-learning and web 2.0 experiences with the workshop group. As a facilitator or a participant I would love to know what kind of learning tools and approaches that have been adopted by the institutions where other participants work (what, process, findings). Also, I would like to know what kind of learning tools each participants use or have explored, and their experiences using them. For example, everyone could be given a 5-minute slot (or less) to present their e-learning experiences (in an informal way). Some facilitators ask participants to fill-up a form asking similar questions, so that they can gauge the knowledge and skill level of each participants, and by doing so, they can tailor, contextualize and customize their workshop further. Though, forms can get annoying, but giving each participant time to share their experiences could do wonders. Besides it enabling you to tailor your workshop, you can identify possible participants to assist you (if you do not have an assistant) during the workshop.Assessment and FunAlthough, most of these workshops are 'Certificate of Attendance', which is fine, but a bit of assessment does no harm. For example, one could have 2-4 hours slot (or more), where participants break into groups (3-5) and are required to use different web 2.0 tools (of their own selection) to create an online collaborative learning presence. By the end of the hands-on learning session, each group is required to present their achievements and struggles. By doing so, participants will probably become less sleepy, more active, and learn more (in a competitive and fun way!). Also, the facilitator will be able to see whether participants have really learned anything. Game on!What I have reflected above is nothing new, or rocket science, but I am pretty sure it would improve any hands-on workshop if contextualized appropriately. The best way to learn any tool (or anything) is to mess around with it, learn from best practices and experts, discuss it, reflect it and keep on practicing until you go...I still got a lot to learn :)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PURPOSE OF A LECTURE?InspireInfluenceInformOn the 24th May 2010, Prof. K. Ramnarayan (Vice Chancellor of Manipal University) conducted an inspiring lecture entitled 'The Vanishing Art of Lecturing' at the International Medical University (IMU), Bukit Jalil (Main Campus).To cut the story short, let's enjoy and reflect this amazing and inspiring lecture below, chunked into three (3) parts:PART IPART IIPART IIITo summarize in his own words, lectures should be:LivelyEducativeCreativeThought (provoking)UnderstandableRelevantEnjoyableLet's scrutinize and reflect his lecture a couple of times (or more), and then ask ourselves, "How can I be more inspiring uncovering what I am covering in a more exciting manner..."Click here, to discover and enjoy IMU's inspiring e-Learning stream on Facebook :)

Join the #itunesuwish twitter stream for change!WHAT?"...iTunes U is a free service available to qualifying two- and four-year accredited, degree-granting, public or private colleges and universities in the United States, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and United Kingdom. Universities and Colleges must enter into an iTunes U Service Agreement before being eligible to use the iTunes U service. Apple reserves the right to determine eligibility. (Source)"WHAT ABOUT US?Yes, the rest of the world!!!! Do, I need to mention another 175 countries. Why should applying for iTunes U services be discriminated based on country. It is simply insulting!!!! I took it with a pinch of insult in 2009 (explored possibilities), and hoped that eventually iTunes would open up their free services to Universities beyond those 21 countries, but until today (June 2010), nothing seem to have changed (please correct me, if I am wrong!).But let's be positive! We are talking about iTunes U and the legend Steve Jobs here, so let's hope they will change for the better, and really carry out the democratization of expertise and learning beyond this little world of 21.Stephen Downes, thanks for sharing...#itunesuwishTo help them realize our frustration and learning needs (to share, too!), let's spread our wishes using social media (Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.) to change iTunes U insulting application requirements based on country. Perhaps our crowd intelligence and initiative can speed up the process for enabling... iTunes U services FREE for ALL! Let's make a difference, join the #itunesuwish for change :)Latest News06/16/2010 - iTunes U Distribution Limited (Open Education News)06/14/2010 - iTunes U Services For ALL! Join the #itunesuwish... (OLDaily, Stephen Downes)

WHAT?I will be attending the 5th International Conference on e-Learning (ICEL 2010) at the Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia, 12-13 July 2010. No, I won't be presenting any paper or Keynote (I wish!!!), but instead I will be sharing my discoveries, reflections, and ideas during these two, hopefully explosively enriching, inspiring and encapsulating learning days.HOW?Last year, I attended an interesting e-learning conference, and used Twitter to capture my learning notes. It was an awesome and valuable learning experience! Not only did Twitter capture my learning notes, it also enabled me to spiral off to spontaneous and enriching learning conversations with others out there in the Twitter world.So, I will hopefully be doing the same tweet thing this time around, too. But, wait a minute! Let's make it a bit more interesting...and create a Twitter hashtag for the whole conference (unofficial one!) and invite others to join this intelligent collaborative and connective learning sharing stream. What do you think?Anyway, whatever you think, I will be learning away using the #icel5 hashtag during this conference.If you are confused on how to use or follow the #icel5 hashtag, please watch this video tutorial:Tools mentioned in the video tutorial:TwitterMonitterPLEASE JOIN!So, if you are there, and going to Twitter your own little twitter learning stream, let's join forces and have some fun with #icel5. Think about it for a second (or a minute)! Imagine, everyone out there (whoever that may be) interested to discover and learn something from this conference, can enjoy at least one inspiring #icel5 learning sharing stream contributed by you and me. I am 99% confirmed, but are you?IF YOU ARE THERE, PLEASE JOIN... #icel5 ...CLICK HERE TO VIEW PART II - #ICEL5 RESULTS & FINDINGS

"If only one person knows it, nobody knows it!" - Ludwig Wittgenstein#ICEL5I have already written a post about the story behind this Twitter experiment, but if you missed it, here is a visually stimulating clarification:If the picture above makes no sense, then perhaps you can find some time to watch this 5-minute video tutorial:Besides this, I would like to highlight that if you are an active Twitter user, Monitter might not be the ideal tool to monitor/track a word, phrase or hashtag (e.g. #icel5). Instead, you might as well use the 'Search' function in Twitter, and then save the search, which you can follow.Another tool you might want to consider (among several) is TweetDeck, which provides you a host of excellent features to track whatever you want, and also enables conveniently to update your own Twitter world. If you are using an IPhone, you are probably going to love the TweetDeck application.Alright, so did the #icel5 learning stream idea work?THANK YOU!But, before going into that, I would like to thank everyone involved with the 5th International Conference on e-Learning (ICEL 2010) for making it a sizzling learning adventure (Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia 12-13 July 2010).Also, I would like to give a special thanks to Prof. Rozhan M. Idrus (Conference Chair) for inviting me personally, and making it a memorable and exciting learning adventure throughout, starting from Japanese sushi to promoting my blog (Say no more!).In addition, Frashad Shah deserves a big thank you for picking me up from the airport and making my trip to the hotel smooth and easy. Yes, he will be joining IMU e-Learning team next month, and I am sure we can fuse our brain waves to innovate and inspire our University's e-learning ambition to new heights. Can't wait!Besides this, Sue Nugus (Organizer), Issham Ismail (Programme Chair), David M. Kennedy (Keynote Speaker), Laura Czerniewicz (Keynote Speaker), Brant Knutzen (Best Speaker and Swimmer!!!), and Ben Archer (Best Twitter #icel5 user, heads down!) were amazing. In addition, I got to tickle Philip Balcaen's 'Critical Thinking' brain a bit, which was kind of fun.There were around 100 participants from 19 countries that attended, and that certainly made it more exciting. I probably chatted with at least 60% of the participants, and learned too much to babble it here...!Click here to view the ICEL 2010 Photo Gallery...SO, DID #ICEL5 WORK?Out of around 100 participants at the conference, only nine (9) joined (including me) or shared tweets using the #icel5 hashtag. I believe many in the audience were kind of new to Twitter (or were clueless). Prof. Rozhan Idrus did a great job in promoting the #icel5 hashtag (and my blog) during his opening speech.However, next time we should perhaps facilitate a 10-15 minute Twitter tutorial (unless everyone is already using Twitter) to get more participants involved.Here is a sizzling visual illustration of all the people that contributed to the #icel5 learning stream:If you notice, you will actually notice that around 30 people (3 times more!!!) from the Twitter world (gray icons) also contributed to the #icel5 learning stream, one way or the other. Did we invite them to join? Of course not! They probably saw some interesting tweets while following our tweets, and then simply gave us their piece of mind, or retweeted interesting stuff here and there. Interestingly, a few of the tweets were even translated into Spanish (example).So, was it a success?Difficult question to answer! Below is a bird's eye view of all the #icel5 tweets (230+) shared over the 2-day e-learning conference:Cool graphic, but I want to review and learn something from these 230+ #icel5 tweets; Not just bells and whistles (and a octopus!)? No, problem! Here we go:#ICEL5 Learning Stream Not, bad! Surely, it could have been more participation, but overall it did generate some really interesting connections, ideas, reflections and resources. From a personal learning point-of-view, tweeting kept me busy thinking and pondering throughout the conference. I only felt sleepy towards the end of the whole conference. Usually, you will see me practically sleeping before the 2nd speakers is done (unless the presenter is awesome!).So, what did I learn?10 LEARNING NUGGETSHere are 10 interesting things I learned during this e-learning conference:Paul was right!Yeah, Paul the octopus (above) guessed 8 out of 8 matches during the 2010 World Cup, but would he have predicted that we would start an e-learning conference four hours after the World Cup final. What were they thinking? Luckily, I managed to survive the first day, thanks to a bit of yoga breathing exercises and a 1000 ml Vitamin C tablet.IPhone is a sizzling mobile learning device!Alright, I am surely going to pursue an IPad once the price goes down a bit, but the IPhone is not a bad alternative. I did actually bring along my notebook, but it was never used, because I was able to do all the necessary learning and sharing activities using my IPhone. For example, I used the IPhone to tweet, take pictures (upload them using Twitpic), reply e-mail, read online newspapers, play games, listen to podcasts, search, moodle, etc.Might not make the British swimming team for 2012 Olympics!I got hooked on swimming last year (2009), and have ever since been swimming 2-3 times week. For the sake of fun, I have set an audacious goal (Nothing is impossible) to make the British swimming team for the 2012 Olympics. And I thought I was on track (seriously!), but then I got into a 50 meter freestyle race with David Kennedy (Australia) and Brant Knutzen (USA) at the hotel (Equatorial). They were going to race (for fun), and I thought why not test my ability against these two 50+ year old dudes. This should be easy, right? I went all out, but within 25 meters, Brant 'Phelps' Knutzen was propelling his feet past my face, and I was crushed as badly as England was against Germany during the 2010 World Cup. I suppose I'm kind of British after all! Anyway, I am not targeting to make the sprint team, but instead I will go for the ultimate manhood test: 15oo meters. The world record is around 14.35 min. and I am currently capable of 36.53 min. (was 50 min in April, 2010). It looks bad, but I still got two (2) more years to go. Yes, I am certainly British :)Mahoodle could rock!What? You get a Mahoodle, when you mash-up Mahara with Moodle. In pedagogical terms, you combine these two tools to facilitate both teacher (Moodle) and student centred (Mahara) learning, according to David Kennedy. It looks promising, and if you want to know more, just CLICK HERE.Free Internet Access is a Fundamental Human Right!Actually, I have been babbling about this before, but after listening to presenters from several so called 'developing countries' it would simply be amazing if we could make Internet as easy to access as National radio and TV channels. Or think of it as a Digital Democracy, whereby not only do we have a right to vote, but also a right to free access to the Internet, or learning resources around the world (Explore Laura's reflective Keynote: Digital Native in a New Era: Apartheid or democracy). Why not? Within five (5) years, I believe the world will be fully wired, but will it be a better one (or more learning friendly)? With an accessible free global network, we might be able to do some amazing things together. What do you think?Resistance to E-Learning is still Global!You would think that lecturers in countries like England and Australia would not be so resistant and negative to implementing e-learning at their learning institutions. But, the truth is that it is probably as common there, as it is here in Malaysia. But then again, if they have been exposed to crappy e-learning content and environments, how can we blame them (or us)? So, who do we inspire first to adopt e-learning, the students or the lecturers? Do we really need e-learning? Perhaps, we should just call it LEARNING. What do you think? I got some great ideas (I think), but let's discuss them in another post.Highly interactive discussions through small learning groups!In the past we wanted to use self-paced e-learning to train millions at a time. But, today we are increasingly realizing the power of learning through small groups, whether online or offline. Brant Knutzen discovered through his research that 4-5 members per group is ideal for facilitating dynamic online discussions in terms of getting more responses and replies. Any thing to add?Be PREPARED! Seriously, be prepared!Besides listening to some amazing keynotes and paper presentations, there were a few that made me wonder...What were you thinking? For example, one presenter shared her findings exploring Mobile learning with 20 students, by simply showing a table with 20 rows of raw data (comments by students). And she summed up that most of the participating students didn't like mobile learning. Interestingly, a person sitting next to me, summed up within seconds that 70% of the students didn't like mobile learning, by simply looking at the table. Worse yet, when I asked her what kind of mobile devices these 20 students were using during the research, she couldn't even answer that question accurately, and fumbled... 'I think... Worse yet, when you look at the first student's comment in the table, it basically noted that the student had no Internet coverage. I mean, who would enjoy mobile learning without Internet access. Worse yet, the presenter was an Associate Professor, and you would expect that if you have reached that level, you would have at least an analytical or scientific mindset, but I suppose that is not necessarily the case. In short, if you are going to present anything, be prepared, and try to explore all possible scenarios and questions for whatever you are researching. If you question yourself and what you are doing, it is not so difficult. Oops, I might be wrong!Prezi is not so great after all!Interestingly, three (3) of the presentations I attended used Prezi to present their story or research. Yes, it is really cool, trendy, and you kind of get swooshed away with no slides and amazing zoom-in-and-out elevations through a big learning map, or may I say a Picasso painting. However, after viewing a few Prezi presentations, you kind of get bored with it (They all look the same, just like PowerPoint!). Well, I do. And one presenter summed it up nicely, by saying, 'It is a real headache developing one" (if I heard it correctly!). Whatever tool you use, the bottom line is substance. If you have substance, then design makes sense. But design without substance, is a joke. But, if you have both substance and design, then WOW! And I would argue that PowerPoint (2010) is a more complete tool (including picture editing) to sizzle. I know, Apple dudes are going to scream, 'Keynote'... Whatever! It is fun experimenting with tools like Prezi, but until they have real Power, like PowerPoint 2010, then forget it. I am not joking!Mobile Learning is the FUTURE!Period...! We should not ignore this, but instead embrace the amazing possibilities to reach out to billions of people out there around the world. I used my IPhone for all my learning and sharing activities during this 2-day e-learning conference, and it was simply an amazing tool for learning. I am now dreaming of an IPad, and imagine students not needing to carry a heavy bag full of books, and having instead an A4-sized learning device enabling them to read, interact, play and connect with learners all over the world. What are we waiting for?CONCLUSIONIn conclusion, I have to admit I didn't learn so many new things during this conference. I suppose when you subscribe to OLDaily and RSS most of the top learning professionals around the world that is a difficult prospect and mission.But then again learning is so much more than simply learning new knowledge and following trends, whether it Web 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 or 10.0. Looking back, I am really excited to have connected with some amazing learning professionals, and hopefully I can continue to learn from and interact with these geniuses.Finally, you can say what you want about Twitter, but for me, it rocks for learning! Why? It rocks, because it empowers me to connect, interact, and learn from people all over the world. And using a hashtag (#) to connect and collectively think (out loud) makes it even more convenient and dynamic. What do you think? Any better alternative (besides a Facebook wall!)? :)LATEST NEWS: #ICEL5Experiencia usando Twitter para ampliar el aprendizaje conectivo y colaborativo

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school."- Albert Einstein"See, here's the thing, though. I don't want 99 mind mapping resources, tools, and tips. I want one. That works. Really well. "- Stephen DownesCLUELESS?To cut the crap short, and get to the point... It is amazing how many educators (that I have crossed path with) until today (Yes, already 2010!), who are clueless or know little about the amazing world of Open Educational Resources (OER)/Open Courseware (OCW) and learning tools. There are probably many reasons for that, so I am not going to go into that.But, what I find even more shocking and troubling is educators who are also clueless about the amazing learning possibilities (tools and resources) within their own field/area/specialization/learning domain. I just hope you are not one of them.No doubt we can't know and do everything, and there will always be new tools and resources blazing through in an ever growing global learning sharing stream. But, we should have some idea, or be open to explore new and innovative learning possibilities within our learning domain(s), because our students deserve it (or they will eventually desert us...).WHAT TO DO?So, how can we motivate or inspire educators to find and explore these new learning possibilities?Peer pressure? Peer recommendation? Now, we are getting closer (I think!). Of course mambo jumbo lists are useful (e.g. OER), but for a busy educator it might be.... No time for that! Stephen Downes's quote above makes sense!But, what if we filtered out the juiciest learning resources and tools, and stamped our validation for use (or recommendation). Now, that would be interesting, wouldn't it? Instead of 1000, 100, it is narrowed down to digestible portions (unless you are Takeru Kobayashi!).To set a digestible portion criteria, we could use the magical number of seven, but I am going to suggest no more than 10 for whatever... Anyway, we don't have to be too rigid on such things, but just be reminded that Less is often more (especially for learning). Look who's talking :)For example, I am looking for excellent resources or tools to explore critical thinking, where to start? I know Stephen Downes is facilitating a Critical Literacies Online Course, and has published a widely used 'Guide to the Logical Fallacies'. So, wouldn't it be great to have a juicy Top 10 (or anything less, or perhaps a bit more!) list of excellent critical thinking resources recommended by Stephen Downes as a starting point.Of course, there are many more sites to explore, but having a great starting point validated or recommended by an expert won't harm anyone (would it?).So, let's think bigger! What if more experts shared their filtered and recommended learning resource lists for their particular specializations or areas. Imagine great contextualized learning start points for Psychology, Medicine, Biology, Law, English, Creative thinking, critical thinking...(perhaps a bit more micro) you name it. Now, wouldn't that be useful?MY TOP 10 LEARNING SITES FOR PERSONAL LEARNINGHere are 10 amazing learning resources to explore for personal learning, especially if you are into e-learning and learning (Not ranking, just numbering): EinzteinA wonderful starting point to find free online courses with a bit of spice from top Universities. Also, the Academic Porthole is a great starting point, as it also includes OER guides to several learning domains.iTunes U Here you can find more than 250,000 free lectures, videos, films, and other resources from many of the top Universities around the world. Since I am using an IPhone (and IPod), it is such a wonderful resource to feed me with recorded lectures for my long traffic jams every working day.YouTube EDU and Academic EarthYouTube has aggregated all of the videos from its college and university partners - including luminaries like Stanford, Harvard, and Dartmouth - in one place. 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. Since most of its resources are aggregated from YouTube, I have mashed both into one. Also, you can even grade the lectures (A to F) on Academic Earth. Cool!TED TalksHundreds of inspiring talks by the some of the most innovative and amazing thinkers and doers the world has to offer. And 95.5% of these talks are 20 minutes or shorter, meaning they are perfect for mobile learning. How on earth can we ignore such a resource (after discovering it)?OLDaily (Stephen Downes)If you are looking for the latest news, trends, reflections, etc. in the (online) learning world, Stephen Downes is the ultimate synthesizer (that I have come across) of what is going on. I love the way he reflects and extracts the essence (or what he finds interesting) of all the articles, sites, tools, resources, etc. he discovers in his daily online newsletter (excluding weekends!). You might also want to also check out his homepage to discover all the other stuff he is doing, including his other excellent reflective blog (Half an Hour) and video recordings of all his presentations. While talking about Stephen Downes, we cannot ignore George Siemens and his elearnspace. He is the mastermind (together with Stephen Downes) behind Connectivism, the only learning theory that makes sense in the online learning world. His reflections and ramblings will keep you updated with e-learning, knowledge management, networks, technology, community development, and corporate learning.Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies (Jane Hart)If you want to find or know more about learning tools and how to use them to facilitate online learning that sizzles, then this site will serve you amazingly well. Jane's E-Learning Pick of the Day is awesomely useful, and you won't be disappointed with her Tools Directory and Top Tools for Learning 2010. In addition, I love the fact that she provides us with a weekly round-up of the new learning tools added to the tools directory. Besides that you just have to check out her social media guides: Introduction to social media for learningSocial Media for Workplace LearningHow to use Twitter for Social LearningHow to use Facebook for Social LearningThese social media guides are simply a goldmine for anyone who is clueless, or wants to learn how to implement social learning in their teaching and learning environments. Also, don't miss her 100 Featured Learning Professionals, which will provide you with information, inspiration and/or interaction on a range of educational and workplace learning topics from around the world - via their blog, on Twitter or on other social networks. A life time worth of learning!The Rapid eLearning Blog (Tom Kuhlmann)When you think about improving your rapid e-Learning, instructional design, PowerPoint or graphic creation skills, Tom Kuhlmann's Rapid eLearning blog provides you with a lot of great advice, tips, examples and short-cuts. Also, don't forget to get his free elearning ebook while you’re there. In short, this blog is easily my favorite 'Rapid e-Learning' learning blog! No doubt about that!ELearningLearning (Tony Karrer)It is not really a list, but an amazing aggregator of excellent workplace or corporate learning blogs and posts filtered out by Tony Karrer. Just subscribe to this one, and you are basically subscribing to tons of great corporate or workplace learning blogs out there. Actually, it is a blog post repository in itself, and you will find the indexing, Monthly top featured posts, best from.., etc. very exciting (Well at least I did!). It uses the Browse My Stuff technology to create this topic hub. Topic Hubs are sites that aggregates content from a variety of sources, organizes that content around keywords in the topic domain, and supports both manual and social curation of that content.Kapp Notes (Karl Kapp)If you want a blog that explores 3D learning, Second Life and learning games in general, this blog is certainly one of the best that I have come across.iLearn technology (Kelly Tenkely)This blog is dedicated to giving teachers practical tips for integrating technology into the classroom. The learning stories are short, sweet and digestible. Perfect for the busy educator. Kelly you rock!Besides these awesome learning sites, there are tons of other outstanding bloggers, sites, tutorials, learning games and tools to explore, but having a good starting, or knowing what sites that consume most of my online learning time should not be any harm.YOUR TOP 10 LEARNING SITES FOR _________?Alright, that was my top 10 learning sites for personal learning. What about you? Do you have any amazing sites to share from your learning domain? If you are interested to participate, simply share your Top 10 list through your blog, or using any learning tool convenient for you. Then, either blast me a comment with a URL to your list, or perhaps tweet the URL to the list using the following Twitter hashtag: #T10LSIf many of you want to participate, I will setup a wiki (using Google Sites), whereby we all can collaborate to build. Actually, it would have been cool if someone like Jane Hart could use her magic to create something similar to the Top Tools for Learning 2010 for learning sites. Now, that would be awesome!If no one is interested, too bad! At least you can enjoy my top 10 (personal) learning sites list above. Perhaps, whatever I have said, already exists. What do you think? :)

Welcome to ZaidLearn's Learning World! What?WORLD CLASS LEARNING Don't we all hate to hear the overused 'World Class' becoming statement, which probably is an ambition of too many Universities and Colleges to mention here. The truth be told, if there is no real criteria set, or any benchmark standard reference point(s), then anyone can be 'World Class'. I am World Class! No big deal!Having said that, if we want to access 'World Class' (Oops, did it again!) learning resources, no need to join an University for that (if that is all you are getting!). Here is a good (overwhelming) starting point to access awesome learning resources to graduate as a 'World Class' (Last time!) self-learner.CLICK HERE!And while you are at it, please join the Free Learning movement (and get your Free Learning badge): WOW! If that was overwhelming, here are a few ZaidLearn resources I would recommend to explore first:My Top 10 Personal Learning SitesBest EduBlogs on the Planet!Juicy Tutorial SitesThe Very Best from ZaidLearnNow, the learning resource overload is hopefully not too much. However, if learning was only a CONTENT-CENTRIC DIGESTION process (anyone feeling guilty, please reflect and change now!), then we might as well close down all Universities tomorrow. Today, anyone can with a decent Internet access experience amazing lectures and learning resources from many of the top Universities around the world. Please explore the links shared above (if not already), because then you will really understand what I mean.EXPLORING, DOING, REFLECTING & SHARINGHowever, consuming and digesting learning resources is only one important part of the learning cycle. In the 21st century we are expected to do much more than just 'KNOWING'. As I have discussed this before, I am not going to dwell too much more about that here.However, I am going to unscientifically state that the FEEDBACK component of the learning process cycle is probably the most critical aspect for any learner to reach their true potential. Luckily, we all have a lifelong internal feedback system telling us this and that, but sadly not always 100% reliable (although, we might think so!). But if we continuously practice deep (or shallow) reflection on our learning and actions it should speed up the process for us to become more self-aware, knowledgeable and innovative. But that alone even with access to amazing learning resources, is probably not sufficient to maximize our true potential. In short, we also need learning networks (George Siemens are you reading!), and constructive and inspiring feedback to truly reach our potential in the 21st century.Just remember that constructive feedback should be PRECISE, meaning:P — Positive and practicalR - RelevantE — Evidence-basedC — ConstructiveI — Immediate/informalS — SpecificE — EncouragingClick Here to explore the details for each component, if that is unclear. If you are an educator/lecturer/trainer/teacher/etc., and you only give your students grades consisting of numbers or letters (e.g. 50% or B+) without much constructive feedback...Well, if that is the case, you can be automated now or very soon. If you are a real expert you will survive, but if you are not, then who really needs you?LEARNING NETWORKS Using RSS Readers, Twitter, Facebook, Blogging, Wikis, YouTube, Foursquare, search... Learning Tools we can practically connect with any person or community around the world without too much effort. And if we are really brave, we can ask them questions and even challenge their views and eventually join the global learning stream.'Knowledge is Power' was great for the 20th century, but in the 21st century 'Sharing (Juicy) Knowledge is Power'. The more juice you share, the more powerful you become in the learning network. I just need to mention Stephen Downes, George Siemens and Jane Hart to justify that statement (Not justified, but a strong point).But more importantly, when you share, explore or discuss your learning with people out there, you are actually amplifying your learning curve. First, the act of sharing (except for 100% replication) requires you to reflect on what you have learned, and then you need synthesize those things that was meaningful to you, and explore how to do that in a simplified way (using Learning Tools), so that others can grasp what you are trying to say. Then, hopefully you get feedback on your reflections, and it evolves into a learning conversation. You and all those involved in the learning conversation (passive or active) benefits and goes beyond (or behind) the initial exploration.If you are looking for interesting learning networks out there to explore, here are 20 Social Networks for Lifelong Learners.I always joke that some academics like to complexify things that are often inherently simple (if we think about it). Anyway, how are you going to get a PhD without complexifying your thesis? I need to get back to this question in 2012.INSPIRING FEEDBACKAlthough, I am intrinsically motivated to learn (a habit already), I have to admit that inspiring feedback does amplify my mission to learn and share. And in general learned from experience and observation, many of us do a terrible job in providing positive and inspirational feedback to our students. Those little sparks of inspirational feedback (that are reasonably PRECISE) can sometimes inspire students to really reach their potential, or get those AHA-moments that lead them to meaningful changes in the way they think and act.However, sometimes giving negative feedback can spark the total opposite in a student...And when you are slammed online it can even hurt more. Here are a few personal examples, I actually really enjoyed (although painful initially) and learned a whole lot from (But I am probably not that normal!):"WOW……….what a pompous comment to make and though I wish to give you the benefit of the doubt — WOW, you really put that in print?? Honestly, I am speechless and that does not happen often...." - JenW She was right, and I have learned since then... I think!"...if this blog is what passes for education science, then education science is the study of making Powerpoint presentations. Throw in a few weeks time with STATA and a year long study of some highly obscure, sparse clusters and you can call yourself an econometrician. Draw a completely insane conclusion from the final graphs, and you're a full fledged economist!..." - revprezTo conclude this after visiting my blog and writing your (132 words) comment within a span of 17 minutes (refer to the discussion time) is that education science? I arrest my case! But, I agree that I am not into too much education science. Let's face it, inspiring learning and teaching is a fusion of art and science."You are likely a warm and sincere human being but having one’s heart in the proverbial right place is of little value if one’s head is not on straight (no matter how popular). Your presentation didn’t inform me how to inspire (so, it was unoriginal), it didn’t tell me where to explore (so, it was misguided), it gave no examples of emotionally relevancy (so, my logical ’New Brain,’ as per by Renvoise and Morin, was ignored), it failed to compare positive vs. negative challenges and criticism (so, it was just abusive), it didn’t tell me what to do when I failed (so, it left me simply continuing to fail, but somehow perversely proud of my failures), and it gave me a slew of quotes either incorrect or taken out of context (so, making it clear you don’t believe facts should ever interfere with one’s fun), it’s motivation seemed like but wishful thinking (so, I tried wishing it away, but it instead became a perfect symbol for today’s failing educational system, all fluff with no meat), and it gave no brainstorming tips to help innovate (so, it ended up being popular just for its ’truthiness’). A far better ten ’secrets’ would have been System Theory, skills (and more skills), extrospection, strategic planning, leadership, organizational memory, student learning contract, cultural literacy, No Child Left Behind, as well as effective hero, scientist, and change agent building. This presentation and its popularity (just like your loved movie, The Secret) may be why Marva Collins (described in The Marva Collins Story movie) said, ’People still believe in the tradition of dedicated, self-sacrificing school teachers. They don’t know how the profession has changed... what was once the poor man’s burden had become everyone’s.’ No real secret there, huh? ...Bla, bla, bla (809 words)" - Jim MaginnisSimply great feedback for learning. I am really honored that someone of Jim Maginnis stature would actually get emotionally frustrated and spend so much time on giving me all this constructive feedback, which I am truly grateful for. And I do agree that this "10 Secrets to Great Teaching" slidecast is certainly no master piece. Actually, I developed it within 2 working days (including the slides) as I was exploring Adobe presenter, and then I made it available via SlideShare. So, I accept and agree 98.5 % of what he said. Finally, Jim Maginnis if you want your ideas and slides to be appreciated and viewed by more, remember the golden rule: 'Less is often More'. I admire your work, but it is 'information overload' on rocks, and too scientific to be inspired. No hard feelings, just being honest.I have gotten a few more interesting slams, but mostly I have experienced a lot of inspiring feedback and comments from some of the most interesting people in my learning world, and let's brag some of them here:STEPHEN DOWNES"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 DownesWOW! Thanks, but I still only have one Keynote under my belt... (Need help here)! Inspiringly, I have actually appeared on OLDaily more than 20 times, and that is something I am honored and humbled by. From a learning point-of-view, means that I have gotten 20+ inspiring (positive and negative) feedback nuggets from him, which I have reflected and learned from. In addition, I assisted him during his e-Learning 2.0 workshop in Malaysia, and that was truly an amazing learning adventure. In short, he has provided me more valuable and inspiring feedback than any other lecturer I had during my University and College days. Cost? A BIG Juicy ZERO (except for time)!GEORGE SIEMENS"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 Siemens"Last month, Zaid compiled a list of top 25 edubloggers. The weighting was male-centric (22-3). He has now corrected the omission with a new list of top 27 female bloggers. Nicely done." - George SiemensJANE HART100 Featured Learning Professionals in 2009KARL KAPP"...Zaid does some amazing work on this blog, especially in terms of visuals..." - Karl KappBRYAN CHAPMAN"...He has the uncanny ability to find useful tools, services, etc. that are mostly free and readily available on the web...." - Bryan ChapmanMICHELE MARTIN"...Thanks to Zaid's willingness to create his list of 27 Women Edubloggers, we also had an opportunity to find new people to add to our own feed readers. This learning loop wouldn't have occurred, though, if Zaid had not been open to the learning process. He could have chosen to see the discussion as an attack and then become defensive and closed to alternative options. Instead, he showed the courage of the true learner and used our observations as a springboard to expanding his own thinking--and ours as well..." - Michele MartinJOSEPH THIBAULT"...He showcases a video to illustrate the issue at hand, which I believe does a great job, not to show that one is better than the other, but rather to show that there may be easier ways to achieve the same end result..." - Joseph ThibaultRead All About It!'Facebook Vs Moodle - Sharing Links' Screencast Featured on Screenr Homepage (from 13th to 27th May, 2010)#Moodlewish no more "turn editing on" Moodle vs. the Google Docs’ FormJOSEPH HART "This promising new weblog by Zaid Ali Alsagoff is devoted to open learning resources around the world; Zaid is located in Malaysia. His blog is especially valuable for its extensive listing of links to bloggers who write about eLearning and its multiple links to Learning Tools, eLearning sites, OpenCourseWare sites, University Podcasts, and Learning Repositories..." - Joseph HartJANE PARK"One of my must-read blogs on technology and education, ZaidLearn has been rating various learning tools since July of last year..." - Jane ParkJEFF COBB"Either way, I highly recommend joining Zaid on his intergalactic learning adventure!" - Jeff CobbTOM HANSON"...Zaid's blog caught our attention for a number of reasons. First and foremost, Zaid uses a measuring stick called learning juice to categorize materials that serve to inspire readers of specific materials. Second Zaid consistently searches the net for interesting web sites related to technology and learning so his blog features a number of compilation posts listing the latest sites worth visiting.At the same time, what has always been critical for this writer is the amount of reflection Zaid puts into the role of teacher. He constantly reviews his own practices to determine the impact he is having on his students making him an outstanding role model for those aspiring to the profession... (A long review)..." - Tom HansonERIC A. TREMBLAY"Sounds like a bit of a gimmick title right? Well, it’s not. It’s a free eBook by Zaid Ali Alsagoff... He’s assembled a very easily readable eBook that covers six major topics (aka Galaxies!): Learning, Teaching, Stories, Free e-Learning Tools, Free Learning Content and Free EduGames. In conjunction with his blog called Zaidlearn, it provides a nice set of resources for the practitioner who is in "knowledge seeker" mode." - Eric A. TremblaySTIAN HÅKLEV"Zaid Ali Alsagoff, who has an intriguing Norwegian connection, has carved out a neat niche in the edublogger community, providing colorful and interesting slideshows on different topics, whether it be Web 2.0 educational tools, lists of edubloggers, or other resource collections. He has even published a book, called 69 learning adventures in 6 galaxies, available for free online..." - Stian HåklevGRAHAM GLASS"...I particularly appreciate his belief that sites like ours are the beginning of a new era in education, where free learning systems, open resources and community involvement will change the way we teach and learn." - Graham GlassTOM KUHLMANN"....If you have your own blog, do like Zaid did. He linked to this series and showed some before and after images. It’s also a great way to share your own tips and tricks..." - Tom KuhlmannWYNN WILLIAMSON"...Two other excellent, regularly updated and substantive educational blogs are Oculture and Zaid Learn." - Wynn WilliamsonPATRICIA DONAGHY"...First came across this site thanks to a reference on Zaid’s blog, which has lots of other interesting posts regarding free resources." - Patricia DonaghyBARTOSZ SOKOLINSKI"ZaidLearn: Animacja w PowerPointcie... sami zobaczcie | PowerPoint Animation! Take a look..." - Bartosz SokolinskiKEE MAN"...This is perhaps one of the best blogs that provide reviews and tips on e-learning tools..." - Kee ManJAMIE LITTLEFIELDZaidLearn is included in The Ultimate Self-Education Reading List... (Awesomely cool!) - Jamie LittlefieldGORDON LOCKHART"...in a well-balanced presentation edu-pioneer Zaid Alsagoff weighs up the pros and cons of using Facebook for social learning and concludes it certainly CAN be used..." - Gordon LockhartANTONIO FINI"...Zaid Ali Alsagoff, avendo recentemente seguito un seminario sull’argomento, ha realizzato uno dei suoi documentatissimi post, nel quale ha incluso un confronto con un altro big dell’educazione mondiale (Singapore) e soprattutto ha cercato di sintetizzare i motivi del successo scolastico del paese nordico..." - Antonio FiniMAGGIE VERSTER"...With the new Facebook features that allows for groups and fan pages (cutting out the necessity of being forced to befriend weirdoes), I am ready to wander back and give it another go using this little PowerPoint as inspiration..." - Maggie VersterJOCHEN ROBES"Ein sehr persönlicher, aber gelungener (und unterhaltsamer!) Versuch, den Erfolg des finnischen Bildungssystems zu beschreiben. Zaid Ali Alsagoff hat einen Seminarbesuch zum Anlass genommen, über Finnland, Norwegen, Singapur und Malaysia nachzudenken und verschiedene bildungspolitische Ansätze zu vergleichen. Seinen abschließenden Vorschlägen stimme ich auch aus der Ferne gerne zu..." - Jochen RobesJOHN LANG"I found the information excerpted below and the balance of the post The Secret Recipe to Delivering World Class Lectures potentially useful and insightful..." - John LangExperiencia usando Twitter para ampliar el aprendizaje conectivo y colaborativoWOW! If I had got that kind of inspiring feedback when I was a student, I would be having lunch with Obama right now. Let's give him a tinker...But thinking about it, I was actually a very naughty and noisy student the first 9 years (primary and secondary school), and in College and University I got by lectures through sleeping. Once a lecturer threatened to kick me out of class, if didn't stop sleeping. Did it work? Actually, it worked for that course, but I slept with my eyes open.In other words, I probably would not have deserved any inspirational sparks to inspire me to change the world (Actually, changing ourselves is tough enough!). What to do? I suppose I am a reasonably late bloomer.YOU ARE AWESOME!I have come to realize the GOD has given me a great potential and hopefully as I grow older and wiser (I hope) it will benefit more and more people out there for the better (if worse, please ignore me). And more importantly, I have increasingly realized that all of us have tremendous potentials (Yes, plural!) and a bit of constructive and inspiring feedback from others could do wonders. If no one inspires you, better yet, use your inner-voice (internal feedback system) to inspire yourself. It works for life, if you use it.For more details regarding self-improvement you could explore dudes like Anthony Robbins, but let's face it...Anthony Robbins is an extremely gifted, charming and intelligent 7-foot Hulk (or 6.5 or something), so no wonder he believes in 'Unlimited Power'. We ordinary people here, perhaps we should start by saying..." I AM AWESOME!" If you don't think so, please watch this video...You are AWESOME or not? I think so :)

HOW DO YOU...1. DOWNLOAD YouTube videos?2. CONVERT YouTube videos into a format supported by PowerPoint?3. INSERT YouTube videos into PowerPoint (and run it offline smoothly)?Since I am always asked those three (3) questions above, why not screencast it once for ALL! This screencast explores these questions:(Click here to download this screencast)TOOLS?Tools recommended:RealPlayer - Downloading videos from YouTube and Converting them into other formats (e.g. wmv).Format Factory - Converting videos to any other video format you can imagine.If you are using PowerPoint 2003 (or 2010) no worries, because inserting videos into PowerPoint is as easy as toasting...Insert > Movies and Sounds > Movie from File (2003)...You might also want to check out my previous article entitled 2 Juicy Ways to Insert YouTube Videos into PowerPoint, but I believe the tips shared above is even juicier. Trust me!Finally, if you have a cooler or more efficient way of doing it for free, please share it with us. Now that would be AWESOME :)

"If we want real change in the students' learning mindset, just rethink and transform our assessment model(s) to become more authentic and relevant... It is that simple! Changing the rest (e.g. curriculum) is easy, except changing the mindset of a seasoned lecturer stuck in the 20th century factory paradigm. However, the impossible is possible, right?" - Zaid Ali Alsagoff RT-SERIESThis article is the first of a series exploring my thoughts and experiences on what I think is wrong with Higher Education in Malaysia (and beyond), and how we can actually transform it to be more relevant without too much effort. 'RT' refers to Rethink and Transform.As for how many episodes this RT-Series will include, I have no idea at this moment (fuzzily exploring and sharing). Let's just see how it goes as we explore different aspects of the current education systems/methods/approaches/etc. commonly being applied in Higher education. Also, I have for sure not reached that intellectual level that I am stuck with my opinion and ideas (not moulded yet!), so please challenge me on every aspect if you can (find time!). By the time you challenge my reflections, I might have already changed my mind. In other words, these posts are just snapshots of what I was thinking at the time of writing, and my ego will hopefully not allow me to be stuck in one direction, if my intellect has been convinced otherwise.Importantly, I am not going to refer to particular Universities, but instead focus on what I have experienced, observed, read, discussed, learned, and reflected over the last 15 years. Let's face it, you will find great lecturers and courses in all Universities, but you will also find crap in every University (including Harvard!). The best Universities have the least crap (if that is a measure of excellence)! What I mean by crap, well that will be explored in the RT-series in the coming weeks and months, as I reflect out loud what I am honestly thinking.As for now...Lets cut the babble crap, and explore assessment and specifically closed book exams, which I believe is that ultimate weapons of mass destruction to inspiring, innovative and lifelong learning. WHY CLOSED BOOK EXAMS?But before I start slamming closed book exams, let's reflect why we still keep on using them, even though many of us know that they have some potentially series side effects to authentic learning and constructive learning habits.Here are a few pointers for why using closed book exams makes sense: Administratively convenient and efficientYou can stuff hundreds (even thousands) into examination halls at the same time (if you have the facilities) and get it over within a short period (e.g. 2-hour exam). If you are using multiple choice questions (closed-ended questions), better yet you don't even have to correct them, as the system will basically do everything for you (including item analysis), whether online or using scanners. What other assessment method can be done as efficiently as exams? Usually, at least 60% (mid-term = 20%, Final exam = 40%) of the total course marks are assigned for closed book exams, which is still widely practiced for Diploma, Bachelor and Master programme courses. In terms of efficient assessment administration, exams are the Holy Grail for assessing students (but not necessarily the most effective method!).Final Result (Summative)We want to know at the end of the course, whether students have fulfilled the learning outcomes set (according to Bloom's taxonomy) and then reward them with a grade based on what they answer. This makes sense, if final exams really measure what they are supposed to.CoverageYou can cover the essential components of the course curriculum with (mid-term or final) exams, and especially if you are using multiple choice exams, you can basically cover every chapter in the book. Now, that is awesome! Isn't it?Reliable and ObjectiveExams results are often predictable and you can be quite objective, especially if you are using closed-ended questions. A-scoring students will mostly get 'A', B-scoring students will mostly get 'B', and F-scoring students will mostly get 'F'. Now that is what I call consistency or perhaps a self-fulfilling prophecy... Not sure! But exams are certainly a good indicator whether the students are hard-working and academically inclined, just like IQ tests measure your intelligence. Wait a second! Could both be reliable, objective but not really valid and relevant. What do you think?Knowing If you are doing an open-book exam, we don't really know that you know. But if you are only using a pen(cil), eraser (sometimes calculator) and paper, you are on your own, and what you answer is what you know. In short, you can replicate what the lecturer or learning outcome wants without any additional tools. Isn't that great, you can vomit out what you have learned exactly the same way it was learned (or memorized), and then if the lecturer is kind you might score an 'A' by just memorizing the course PowerPoint slides (Been there, done that!). Whether you understand the concept or idea is secondary, as long as you can write out the answer. What matters is what you wrote in the exams, not what you actually understand, right? If both are achieved then great, but if not, you are still going to get an A, because the exam script is evidence enough to prove that you know your stuff. What more do you need to prove?Yes for Quantitative SubjectsFor subjects that are infused with a lot of mathematical and scientific formulas, it makes sense to use closed book exams. Using pen(cil) and paper (and scientific calculator) is an authentic way (or close to) for assessing such type of learning areas. Don't you think so?Alright, I could point out a few more reasons why closed book exams are still being used, but let's now instead focus on why exams or more specifically why closed book exams could kill...Alright, let's leave George the Jungle out of this discussion...WHY NOT?If you were asked to retake all the (mid-term and final) exams you took during your University days, would you be able to do as well as you did?Looking back at my Bachelor (Psychology) and Masters (IT Management) programmes (mostly mid-term = 20%, Final = 40%), I can safely say that I would probably fail 80-90% of those exams, if I had taken them today. Forget about scoring 'A' and 'B' (and some 'C'), I would literally fail most of the exams! So, what did those closed book exams actually measure?"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." - Albert EinsteinUntil today, I am still clueless to that question. Though, we should not necessarily blame the exam format itself, because it is the lecturers who set the questions for the exam, right? what do you think?The best answer I can think of is SNAPSHOT. Most closed book exams that I have experienced measure what I have memorized or understood before the exam (temporary memory), but does not necessarily measure what I know (long-term memory) or can do now. So, what is the point of allocating say 60% of the course evaluation on something so shallow and trivial (snapshot learning). Is it because education is a business, and it makes sense from that point-of-view, or is it perhaps because we simply don't know better? Please, enlighten me!Universities around the world do tons of research related on teaching and learning, but how much of that output has been used to transform education. Educational science as a tool for transforming education is probably as influential as Bart Simpson's mood swings. So, what to do?Let's put educational science aside, and let's use our common sense and experiences to reflect why closed book exams should be history for most courses or subjects. Perhaps stimulating the logical and affectionate mind (left and right brain!) can transform change, or perhaps our old ways are so ingrained in our ego, it is simply impossible to change. Impossible is possible!Here are three (3) more reasons for why closed book exams should be benched (substituted):CrammingIf 60% of your grade is allocated for exams (40% for coursework), I can guarantee you that many students will schedule their learning to cramming before exams, and produce great snapshot learning experiences. Although, I am a great fan of PowerPoint for teaching, I am not sure it is the ultimate tool for learning (no matter how detailed your slides are!). I have seen (and even practiced for boring subjects) students depend on the course PowerPoint slides for everything, and worse yet, managed to score 'A' by simply memorizing the slides (without understanding). Some students can actually graduate from a Bachelor programme without reading a single course related book. Isn't that cool? Yes, until the graduated student goes for his first job interview, and realize he just wasted 4-5 years of his life learning Nothing (Stephen Hawking, we were created from Nothing and the Laws of Science...Yeah, why not use your right brain for crying out loud!). Although, we should not blame the exam format, because it is the lecturers who set the questions. However, closed book exams seem to often encourage consciously and unconsciously cramming and gear students towards scoring rather than learning. Who cares what you learn, as long as you get 'A', right?Closed Book Exam = Authentic Learning?If you are asked to deal with a problem, find an answer, make a decision, or perhaps solve a mystery, don't you use whatever tool legally (hopefully!) possible to master it (picture above)? When you are working, does your boss give you a work related challenge, and then asks you to use no tools except a pen(cil) and paper? Of course not (at least most of the times)!But, why do we conduct closed book exams, if it is totally against common sense to finding an answer. Worse yet, closed book exams subconsciously teach us to not look beyond our crammed brain of knowledge to find an answer. I always find it amusing when newly hired staff gets stress and close-to-nervous breakdowns, when their boss give them a challenge beyond what they have learned, without a book or PowerPoint slide to save their day.In the 21st century, we have Zorro-bytes to store information, and the Wolfram|Alpha, Google Squared or Answer.com (etc.) to memorize and summarize, so that we can instead focus on applying our knowledge and skills to solve problems, make better decisions and be more creative and innovative about how we do things.I know it is tougher to set questions for open-book exams (or any tool exam!), but at least we will be encouraging healthy learning habits from day one, so that students' habitize to think beyond and use whatever tool appropriate to answer the question. That is how it works in the real world, so let's simulate that! Why not?Measuring the Right Stuff?It depends, but mostly from my experience with (Bachelors and Masters) closed book exams is terribly frustrating experiences. Obviously! But, what annoys me more is that closed book exams using especially just pen(cil) and paper hardly measure what they are supposed to. For example, I am doing a course exploring Business Leadership, and then 60% of my grade is based on what I write and tick in two (2) exams. It is obviously administratively convenient to measure that way, but shouldn't most of my grade be based on how I do in learning activities that are closer to the real thing (authentic), rather than ticks and a few paragraphs of synthesized memory? Yes, I am a great business leader if I can score A in that subject.SUBSTITUTE?So, what should closed book exams be substituted with to ensure more authentic and relevant learning?Today, we have amazing possibilities to facilitate learning and assessment environments that sizzle, and I will explore some of these in RT02... Coming soon (after a couple of pending articles). But, what is important for now, is to realize that closed book exams should be benched for good (for most courses), and that we need to explore other assessment methods to transform the way we learn and assess. If we continue to stick with our old ways of assessing, we will soon be irrelevant, including the necessity to have a degree to get a decent job. Have you noticed that organizations and companies are increasingly skeptical to graduates' knowledge and skills (specialization), communication/language/leadership/teamwork skills, etc. I seriously don't blame them.Well, that is what I think! But, what about you, what do you think? Let's together explore the future of learning and assessment. I can change, you can change, we can change! Impossible is possible, so let's think that we can do it. If others can't, we can :)

Click here to watch the animation videoHOW DID YOU DO THAT?I used xtranormal to create the animation (above) by simply writing the dialogue script (text only! Seriously!). The whole production process (thinking and writing the script) took me around 30 minutes only. Now, that is what we want from awesome learning tools; Minimal effort, amazing output! Though, xtranormal has a commercial version (besides the free features) with even more sizzling juice, and that _____ me off :(PLENK 2010?PLENK stands for Personal Learning Environments and Knowledge Networks. This Massive Open Online (thinking) Course is facilitated by Stephen Downes, George Siemens, Dave Cormier and Rita Kop. More than 1500 persons have already registered. The course will last until 21st November, so you can still join and experience inspiring and useful information overload on rocks!Click here to know more about PLENK 2010 and register.My PLENK mashup on PLENK 2010 home page. WOW!MY PLENK 2010 REFLECTIONS?Over the next nine (9) weeks this post will be continuously littered with my reflections as I learn week-by-week (One mega post, instead of 9-10 small ones! Between 4000-6000 words for sure!), but for now I am too busy engrossed learning and making noise beyond this blog.But, before scanning my reflections, here are the most juicy collaborative reflections of PLENK2010. Yes, you can find that in the weekly webinars, which include the facilitators (Stephen, George, Dave & Rita), invited speakers, and active participants (recorded webinars): Introductory Session - How this Course Works (10 September 2010)Researchers' SIG Meeting (10 September 2010)Week 1 Wednesday Discussion (15 September 2010)Week 1: Friday Discussion (17 September 2010)Week 2: Martin Weller (22 September 2010)Week 2: Facilitator Discussion (24 September 2010)Week 3: Janet Clarey (29 September 2010)Week 3: Facilitator Discussion (1 October 2010)Week 4: George Siemens - Complex Knowledge & PLE/Ns (6 October 2010)Week 4: Facilitator Discussion (8 October 2010)Week 5: Helene Fournier (13 October 2010) Week 5: Facilitator Session (15 October 2010)Week 6: Will Richardson (20 October 2010)Week 6: Facilitator Session (22 October 2010)Week 7: Maria Andersen (27 October 2010)Week 7: Facilitator Session (29 October 2010)Week 8: Facilitator Session (3 November 2010)Week 8: Harold Jarche (5 November 2010)Week 9: Wendy Drexler (10 November 2010)Week 10: Facilitator Discussion (12 November 2010)Week 10: Seb Fiedler (17 November 2010)Week 10: Moderater Session (19 November 2010)Actually, due to time differences and sleepiness I have missed all the live sessions, but the great thing about webinars (or using tools like Elluminate) is that they can be recorded easily and archived for later viewing. So, in that sense I have managed to watch and reflect most of these recorded sessions, and they have certainly enriched my ideas and opinions about learning and moving forward. Seriously interesting, so don't skip the recorded webinars above! WEEK 1: A TOUR OF PLEs & PLNs The first week of PLENK 2010 was an explosive and inspiring discussion flow of ideas and thoughts from the participants (and facilitators); exploring what is a Personal Learning Network (PLN), or should I say Personal Learning Environment (PLE). Here is the reading materials shared to 'trigger' off this explosive discussion (#plenk2010, Daily [Sep 12-18], Paper.li Daily and Blog feeds list):EDUCAUSE: 7 Things you should know about PLE's (.pdf) Learning Networks in Practice (.pdf) Personal Learning Environments: Challenging the dominant design of educational systems (.pdf) Developing Personal Learning Networks for Open and Social Learning (.pdf) Scott Leslie's Mother of All PLE Diagram CompilationsThe Design and Development of a Personal Learning EnvironmentFive points about PLEs and PLNs - Dave Cormier (Blog post)Stephen Downes: Personal Learning Environments (Video)However, as the discussion raged on, it turned out initially to be a battle for whether PLN or PLE is the appropriate term to describe our self-assembled/constructed learning environment/network using a variety of learning tools. Of course from a semantic, theoretical, or academic point-of-view such discussions are extremely exciting, but many (based on my understanding) seemed to be more interested in exploring the 'HOW' rather the 'WHAT' and 'WHY', which we will eventually do later in this course (I think), based on the course outline.As from a learning point-of-view exploring what a PLN or PLE is, and the potential differences helps (hopefully) the learning group come to some sort of agreement or understanding (reference point) of what we are actually talking about, as we progress in the course. Also, it was great to explore how participants articulated their own original and personal ideas and thoughts of what a PLE/N is to them.As the discussion raged on, I discovered that PLN originated from USA, and PLE originated from Europe (somewhere!), and that PLN indicated 'Active', while PLE on the other hand indicated a more 'Passive' role, and therefore PLN is perhaps a more appropriate term to use (Nice with brains and perception!). Also, PLN emphasizes more on our online (or offline) network of people, while PLE is more focused on the usage of learning tools. Soon, some argued that the terms PLN or PLE (and lifeless visual snapshot diagrams) were not appropriate, and that perhaps 'Lifestream' with real-time flowing diagrams was more appropriate (Whatever!).As the discussion raged on, obviously someone would argue that 'P' or Personal did not make sense for our mostly shared Learning Networks/Environments. Usually, we like to keep our Personal stuff (e.g. life) private and perhaps only share a bit (on Oprah!). But then it was argued that we needed to understand the difference between 'Personal' Learning E/N from 'Personal Learning' E/N, and as Socratic intellectuals that makes totally sense! In short, maybe we should just ditch the 'P' totally, as some people actually pronounce 'P' with a 'B' (my 5-year old son for starters!).So, if no 'P', why not use 'S' standing for Self (or perhaps Social). So, instead of PLE or PLN, let's explore instead SLN or SELF LEARNING NETWORK :Alright, my first diagram of SLN is too abstract, meaningless, and macro to make sense for beginners, but I will work and re-visualize it throughout PLENK 2010, and hopefully it will bloom beyond Bloom's taxonomy (No harm in being a bit ambitious!).Finally, the real challenge for me (and probably for many others) was to access or build the mother of all learning streams, which includes every single learning contribution from all the participants (Forum discussions, blog posts, Twitter, and whatever!). Of course that would be information overload on rocks, but I kind of like that option. Of course, the Stephen Downes Daily updates are awesome, but you have to wait 24-hours for filtered juice. The Paper.li Daily is more attractive than Daily, but until Moodle Forum posts are included in the #PLENK2010 Twitter hashtag, it simply excludes too much.In short, is it possible that all Moodle forum post links are shared through the #PLENK2010 hashtag? The only option I can think of now, is to use my Google Reader to subscribe to #plenk2010, Daily, Blog feeds list, and Moodle forums (RSS) to create my own mother of all learning streams, and enjoy the full stream.Any better solutions?WEEK 2: CONTRASTING PERSONAL LEARNING WITH INSTITUTIONAL LEARNINGReading materials for week 2: PLE's versus LMS: Are PLEs Ready for Prime Time? (Terry Anderson)Open complementing closed - PLE and LMS - why, what for and how? (Panel Discussion)The networked student model for construction of personal learning environments: Balancing teacher control and student autonomy (Wendy Drexler)PLE vs. LMS - disaggregate power, not people (Dave Cormier)Learning or Management Systems? (George Siemens) "Towards an eLearning 2.0 provisioning strategy for universities" (Oskar Casquero et al)The Centralization Dilemma (Martin Weller. free copy is available by following the link toward the end of the post).Web2.0, Personal Learning Environments and the Future of Learning Management Systems (Niall Sclater) I have actually discussed earlier in my blog, why LMS is playing an increasingly less important role in our PLE (without actually using the PLE term):Moodle is an Airport, Not a Total Solution!Join the #moodlewish Twitter Stream! Here is a photographic best answer to contrast LMS with PLE (or Constructivism and Connectivism), inspired by George and Stephen (plagiarism or copyleft?):I am already one week behind (the class geniuses), so I will leave my reflections for week 3, and then perhaps return to week 2 if 'learning time' permits :(I nearly dropped off my seat in surprise and laughter while watching the recorded week 3 webinar with Janet Clarey, as she was not sure what the marshmallow man is doing on the diagram (above)...I thought it was pretty obvious... I am still learning :)WEEK 3: UNDERSTANDING THE NEXT/EXTENDED WEBReading materials for week 3: PLEs and the Extended Web (Rita Kop) Web 3.0: the way forward? (Steve Wheeler) The xWeb (George Siemens) The Next Web (Tim Berners Lee - TED Talk) Whatever! It will always be the 'Next Web' or 'Extended Web'. Web 3.0? Alright, now that gives us some number, so we can perhaps relate to. Semantic Web? Yes, that sounds even more specific and contextualized. Anyway, all these terms kind of mean different things to different experts and ordinary people (like myself). Also, I have never really engrossed myself in defining where a specific tool belongs; whether it is web 1.0 or web 2.0, or web 4.5...who cares!What really matters, is what a particular learning tool can do for us (efficiently, effectively, in an user-friendly manner), or perhaps what we can do for it. For example, only a clown would today train Professors to use 'Dreamweaver' to develop a course website, and then recommend subscribing to a hosting company, so that the website can be uploaded. Or teach Flash MX to develop animations and games. Or even use Photoshop to mashup or create images (PowerPoint 2010 rocks!). Today, we are blessed with an amazing and growing toolkit (or PLE) of possibilities to learn, share and interact with practically anyone in the world (Who has access to the Internet).It is fine to define what level the Internet and learning tools have evolved to, but what really matters is how we use the Internet and learning tools to establish our own PLE, and how we engage and inspire students to create their own little PLEs, so that that they can evolve into independent self-learners for life.WEEK 4: PLE/PLN AND LEARNING THEORIESReading materials for week 4: Cluster and Focus, Surviving week 4 of a MOOC (dave cormier) Review of Elearning Theories, Frameworks, and Models .pdf Learning Theories Learning Theories and Models Theory into Practice: Theory Listing Comparing Connectivism with Other Learning Theories SourceAre learning theories important to know? Good to know, but not necessary to know to become an excellent learner or teacher. If you explore learning theories, you might notice also that learning theories often seem to reflect THE FLAVOR TECHNOLOGY/IES OF THE DAY. And Connectivisim is not an exception, as it seems to be influenced by the emergence of the Internet (connections), social media (networks), and brain science (neural connections). Whether these new technologies and understandings (of the brain) have influenced George Siemens and Stephen Downes thinking consciously or not, I have no clue, but the more I read about their evolving learning theory the more I see connections, or influences they have on their thinking. However, there is nothing wrong with that, it is just an observation (which might be wrong).But does any learning theory conceptualized until today actually describe how we learn? I doubt it! Meaning, Connectivism is the flavor of the day today, but in a few years time another delicious learning theory will pop-up and everyone will get excited again. Although, learning theories don't exactly describe how we learn, they are still important as they guide our thinking about how we learn. As such, I believe all the major learning theories (Behaviourism, Cognitivism, Constructivism & Connectivism) have a place in understanding how we learn, and they may be relevant in their own way as they explore learning knowledge, skills, attitudes and wisdom.In short, NO learning theory conceptualized until today actually describes how we learn, but they are all important to know as they explore how we learn from different angles. We could discuss, 'which learning theory is the most appropriate for our time (perhaps Connectivism), but I find that a waste of time. Why? Because (in my opinion), no learning theory until today really describes how we learn, so instead we should appreciate the nuggets of wisdom in all of them, and use these nuggets of wisdom to facilitate sizzling learning experiences.So, how do we really learn? The process of learning is too complex, dynamic, unique, contextual and amazing to really understand using words and diagrams to explain. Looking forward to the next learning theory! Excited already!WEEK 5: EVALUATING LEARNING IN PLE/NSReading materials for week 5: What can't be measured? (short article, but raises questions about how to measure things such as raising children, love, etc.) Exploring and Defining Influence Evaluating E-learning: A Guide to the Evaluation of E-learning. Graham Attwell (ed.) Online learning and the evaluation of group processes. D. N. Philip, Institute for Knowledge Innovation and Technology OISE/UT, Canada Effective Assessment in a Digital Age. Ros Smith, JISC Connecting Assessment. Clarence Fisher PLE Conference Papers (.pdf): Researching the design and development of a Personal Learning Environment Managing personal learning environments: the voice of the students Personal learning environments: concept or technology? Have you ever heard anyone excited about using and learning through a Learning Management System (LMS). Perhaps initially, but most people kind of get turned off after a few experiences. Why? I am sure there are many reasons for that, but it could be the way it operates, influences, monitors, user-interface design and the way it structures (or controls) learning (objects), which often resembles the factory model (input-process-output), or perhaps like a book. For reading that is fine, but for interacting and collaborative learning? Not so sure!What I am trying badly to say, is that the way systems are designed and used do effect our learning, especially our motivation to learn. For example, I am passionate about writing this blog post (which is open to everyone!), but would I be passionate about posting my reflections in a closed forum (in a LMS), which is only accessible to my teacher and students. Or even worse, I write an assignment using Word, and then it is submitted online to the LMS for only my teacher to review and grade. Worse yet, the teacher is too lazy to provide feedback, except a grade (number or alphabet!). Now that is terrible, but sadly happens often in our Universities around the world.Today, we have so many awesome learning tools to use, and getting stuck in one all conquering (LMS) is not the way to go. LMS today are more like airports, whereby we meet up before using the most appropriate learning tool(s) to collaborate and sizzle learning.In short, we need to find those learning tools that suit us best for learning, and integrate them into our PLE and PLN. Learning is actually really fun, just need to find the right rhythm and tools!WEEK 6: USING PLES SUCCESSFULLY - SKILLS, MINDSETS, AND CRITICAL LITERACIESReading materials for week 6: New Media Literacy in Education (Robin Good, Howard Rheingold) Critical Thinking Resources Some factors to consider when designing semi-autonomous learning environments Speaking in LOL Cats: What literacy means in the digital era WEEK 7: PLE/NS TOOLS - WHAT EXISTS, WHAT IS BEING BUILT?Reading materials for week 7:Handbook of Emerging Technologies for Learning -Tools (.pdf version is available) Weaving a Personal Web: Using online technologies to create customized, connected, and dynamic learning environments, McElvaney? & Berge Patterns of personal learning environments, WilsonPLEF: A conceptual Framework for Mashup Personal Learning Environments, Chatti,Jarke & SpechtHistory of Personal Learning Environments - Wikipedia WEEK 8: PLE/NS AND PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENTReading materials for week 8: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_knowledge_management A weblog case of personal knowledge management (.pdf) Personal Knowledge Management and Wisdom Information Overload and PKMSlideshare presentation - Personal Knowledge Management (Harold Jarche) PKM PLENKView more presentations from Harold Jarche.Oops, I forgot George Siemens! Now, it makes more sense:Great, Harold Jarche has also discovered ZaidLearn's intergalactic gaga PLENK 2010 adventure! Amen :)WEEK 9: PLE/NS IN THE CLASSROOM (PLE/NS AND BLENDED LEARNING)Reading materials for week 9:7th grader's PLEDrexler, W. (2010) The Networked Student Model for construction of personal learning environments: Balancing teacher control and student autonomy, Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 26(3)http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet26/drexler.htmlWEEK 10: CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON PLE/PLN COMING IN A DISTANT FUTURE! Reading materials for week 10:Personal learning environments: concept or technology? (Sebastian Fiedler & Terje Väljataga)What is a PLN? Or, PLE vs. PLN? (Dr. Alec Couros) PLE’s getting fleshed out (conceptually) and COI Model (Terry Anderson)Web 2.0, Personal Learning Environments, and the Future of Learning Management Systems (Niall Sclater) My PLE model is the internet - no more system for me (Dave Cormier)PLE Nominalism?… (George Siemens)Slideshare presentation - The Representative Student (Stephen Downes)The Representative StudentView more presentations from Stephen Downes.Still thinking :)

"Whereas people might spend a long time composing a comment to a blog post or engage in lengthy, in - depth conversation on a discussion board, Twitter invites more in - the - moment interactions. It provides an easy way to maintain connections, share thoughts, or ask for advice." - Jane BozarthBLOG BOOK TOURWhile I was on holiday with my family in Sabah, I got a wonderful surprise tweet message (above) from a famous author called Jane Bozarth. Interestingly, I was picture-tweeting my holiday during that period using TwitPic (on my IPhone). So, perhaps my interesting family or baby photos sparked her to invite me to be part of the blog book tour for her new book entitled 'Social Media for Trainers'. Or perhaps it was Karl Kapp who recommended me, as I was also part of his Blog Book Tour earlier this year with this post: Learning in 3D! Why? How?Whatever sparked her to invite me; I surely didn't need any spark to accept the invitation :)SOCIAL MEDIA FOR TRAINERSIf you already don't know, Jane Bozarth is the author of several relevant and useful e-Learning related books. I have previously explored E-Learning Solutions on a Shoestring and Better than Bullet Points, and you can actually find them in our University library (IMU), too. In short, I was already familiar with her great work before exploring her latest master piece.Her latest book, 'Social Media for Trainers' basically explores in depth the essential social media tools to facilitate sizzling (online) learning environments and experiences, using learning tools such as Twitter, blogs, wikis, Facebook, YouTube, Google Docs, SlideShare, Flickr, etc.What makes her latest book so special (to me) is that it uses a non-jargonized conversational language style, meaning even my mum could understand and enjoy it. The book is not obsessed with showing us where to click, but instead explores how we can use these learning (or social media) tools to enhance and transform our personal and social learning environments. Not only do you get the 'WHY' and 'WHY NOT', you also get tons of excellent stories and tips on how to get started and sizzle your way to sizzling e-learning. Although, the book uses the word 'Trainers' in its title, this book is also a perfect read for anyone involved in education (Period!).To find out more about Jane Bozarth's latest book, visit the Social Media for Trainers Facebook page and/or follow Twitter on @SoMe4Trainers.Having said that, social media has its dark sides, too. But, like most things on planet earth; we can use it to transform, or destroy life. It is really up to us to make that choice (unless we are 'Under 13'). Right?For this post, I am only going to focus on Twitter (Chapter 2), and explore how we can use it to transform our classroom or face-to-face learning. Sometimes you need to infuse learning tools into the classroom for stubborn educators to really see the variety of amazing possibilities such tools could bring to our learning and thinking.Are you ready?TWITTERActually, I should first thank Patricia Donaghy for inspiring me to take up Twitter as a learning tool. THANK YOU! Although, she didn't introduce me to Twitter, she did provide the initial spark needed for me to take this learning tool seriously. I mean seriously, who cares reading tweets where persons are pondering upon whether they should go to the toilet or not, or reading millions of tweets cursing Tiger Woods. Why should I bother reading what people are thinking now, such as reading Paris Hilton's struggle to patent 'That's hot!' It is ridiculous, and for sure a waste of time.TRUE, using Twitter could be a waste of time, but it could also be used to connect and interact with educators and learners from all over the world. Imagine filtering 90 million daily tweets from 145+ million registered users down to who is talking about 'e-learning', or your specific research area. What a wonderful learning stream that would be. And did you know that 25% of the 90 million daily tweets contain links. Meaning people are not only talking crap, but also sharing juicy links, including articles and papers that sometimes even Google can't spot for you.If you are interested to know dozens or even hundreds of ways to use Twitter to learn, teach and interact, these 55 great twitter articles should be a good starting point (I mean starting points!). Besides that, you might want explore my first three (3) journeys to explore Twitter for learning. Here we go:Using Twitter to Amplify Connective Learning and Sharing at ICEL 2010Join the #moodlewish Twitter Stream!iTunes U Services For ALL! Join the #itunesuwish... (Failed project, but fun!)Fine, but how can we use Twitter to spice up classroom learning?Let's focus on that now...TWITTER FOR LEARNING First, you need to make sure that all your students are using, or have a Twitter account. Most students should have little difficulty (especially X, Y and Z generations) with signing up for Twitter by themselves. To avoid any hassles, I would recommend that you specify in your course plan/guide that you will be using Twitter as one of the learning tools for the course.As Twitter is a perfect communication tool for mobile devices (e.g. IPhones, Blackberries, Androids, IPads, smart phones, and notebooks), you only need to ensure a decent Wi-Fi enabled environment, and most, if not all students can participate during a face-to-face learning session. If not, let's imagine and be a bit futuristic, because in 2-3 years time, I believe most students will have some form of Wi-Fi enabled mobile device (Well, at least at Universities in Malaysia). No rocket science required to come that prediction.Secondly, you need to establish a unique hashtag (#) for your course, which will make it easier for your students (and you) to follow and participate in the course conversation. If it becomes really active, it will evolve into one enriching and inspiring learning stream (e.g. #plenk2010). However, some students might prefer getting daily updates in the form of a sizzling self-organized online newspaper. paper.li could do that without you basically doing anything, except for signing up and feeding it your hashtag (e.g. PLENK2010). Awesome!To promote the usage of Twitter and your unique course hashtag (e.g. #plenk2010), you might also want to create a video tutorial (e.g. using Screenr). Here is an example, where I promoted the usage of Twitter during the ICEL 2010 conference using the '#icel5' hashtag:Besides starting and facilitating a Twitter learning stream, you will probably want to capture and archive the evolving learning conversation, which could sadly get lost over time (Done that, been there!). For that, you could for example use Twapper Keeper.If you are too busy or quite IT illiterate, and still want to use Twitter for your course, ask someone from your University/College's e-learning (or educational technology) team to conduct a Twitter session with the students. If they are not capable of that (or lazy), they should (all) be fired on the spot! Learning has evolved since the Courseware development era!!!!Here are a few tips on facilitating the use of Twitter for classroom learning:BEFORE CLASSBefore every Face-to-face learning session you might want to encourage students to ask questions regarding the upcoming topic/module/lesson, or perhaps what kind of expectations they have, or even what they really want to learn, and suggest things to discuss. By doing so, you might get a clearer view of what really matters to students, and as a result your learning session might evolve into a sizzling learning experience. If students prefer sharing and discussing in private, you could use GroupTweet instead of a hashtag (which can be viewed by public). GroupTweet helps groups communicate privately via Twitter.DURING CLASSTwitter is an excellent venue for students to ask the lecturer questions during the learning session, especially if you are in a large lecture hall (200+ students), and the student is a bit shy. To keep track of the flow of questions visually (for everyone to see), you could use Monitter or Hootcourse (or even TweetDeck), which will update as soon as the tweet (question) has been posted.Hootcourse's Classroom Mode feature allows course tweets to show up in real-time on a projected screen.Besides using Twitter for questions, you could even conduct polls (use Twtpoll, Poll Everywhere, or SAP Web 2.0) during the class, and the results can even be displayed live in your PowerPoint presentation (or the web. Yes, even in Keynote, too!). Lecturer's love to ask students, "Do you understand? Is it clear?", and everyone says 'Yes' loudly (or silently with a nod). And the lecturer feels comforted with his masterful lecture. Sadly, the truth might indicate otherwise, and by using a poll, we could more easily gauge whether students understand or not, with some real stats to refer to. We could basically test them directly in class on something, and then if for example the majority is clueless of the right answer, we could revisit that component, and explore simpler ways to explain and inspire them to learn it. Now that is cool for learning!AFTER CLASSWe could ask them to tweet questions after class regarding what they have learned, or related things they would like to be clarified. Also, we should encourage students to answer other students questions, and by providing some incentive for the most active students (e.g. bonus marks, praise, or perhaps a Mars bar), should not be so hard to do. Also, you might want to ask students to provide short comments on how the learning session was, and how it can be improved further. If your ego is receptive to constructive (and destructive) feedback, you are going to win the next 'Best Lecturer Award', trust me! Anyway, we lecturers are noble people, and the reward of experiencing students' learn, or getting those 'AHA' moments are awesome rewards in themselves that even money can't buy (Well, it depends!).These are just a few possibilities for using Twitter to enhance your face-to-face learning sessions, and of course sizzle it beyond the classroom. I hope you realize by now why Twitter is the number one ranked learning tool among learning professionals around the world (Facebook is number 10!).Besides the Twitter apps mentioned above, click here for a comprehensive list of other learning possibilities.THINKING BEYONDHowever, Twitter alone is not going to transform the students' learning experience. If you ask me, we should also encourage students to continuously reflect (deep thinking) their learning in their own personal blog(s) (using Blogger or Wordpress).They should work on course projects using wikis (or collaborative learning tools), such as Google Docs, Google Sites, Wikispaces or Wetpaint. They could use Facebook to set-up and establish learning/interest groups, and promote causes they strongly believe in.All students (and lecturers' of course!) should know, or learn how to use RSS readers (e.g. Google Reader) to enable them to efficiently access relevant information (updates come to you, instead of you needing to visit the actual sites) about what is going on in the world, especially in their learning domains.Besides these essential learning tools, there are many more possibilities to interact with and filter our learning world to be more efficient, effective, interactive and inspiring.Let's explore how we can use Social Media to transform the way we connect, learn, interact, share and facilitate. Today, we have amazing learning possibilities, we just need to (I would say 'MUST') find time to explore them :)