Showing posts with label learning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label learning. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Software Agents to Assist in Distance Learning Environments
Link to article (By Sheung-On Choy, Sin-Chun Ng, and Yiu-Chung Tsang)
"Software agents can act as teaching assistants for distance learning courses by monitoring and managing course activities
...A number of researchers have proposed the development of software agents in teaching and learning situations. Jafari conceptualized three types of software agents to assist teachers and students:
- Digital Teaching Assistant - assists the human teacher in various teaching functions
- Digital Tutor - helps students with specific learning needs
- Digital Secretary - acts as a secretary to assist students and teachers with various logistical and administrative needs"
This paper discusses a successful software agent pilot implementation of the first type in four Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK) distance learning courses. The Digital Teaching Assistant carried out the following tasks:
- "Send alert e-mails to inactive students (those who have not accessed the course Web site for a long period of time). The course coordinator decides the length of the inactive period and instructs the software agent to send the alert e-mails based on the established time.
Send e-mails to inform tutors about inactive students and advise tutors to have proactive consultation with those students. - Send e-mail alerts to those students who have not downloaded a particular piece of course material or who have not read an important piece of course news since it was uploaded to the file server. This helps prevent students from missing information or forgetting to download an important item, such as an assignment file.
- Help the course coordinator keep track of students? progress, and send e-mails to the coordinator and tutors about those students whose performance is at a marginal level.
- Retrieve information from the course timetable and send reminder e-mails to students. For example, it might send a reminder to students five days before an assignment due date and one day before a face-to-face session.
- During the period when assignments are submitted, the agent will monitor the assignment submission status and send e-mails after the due date to those students who have not submitted the assignment. It will also inform the course coordinator and tutors about those students."
In general, these tasks consume a lot of human effort for unintelligent information retrieval and processing, and with an agent such as the one mentioned above a lot of time can be saved on routine tasks, and more time can be spent on more productive activities, such as facilitating a more engaging online learning environment and content development.
A lot of lessons can be learned from this excellent article . Also, with more creativity and research I suppose the software agent can do a lot more stuff to minimize all the routine time wasting stuff most lecturers or facilitators hate to do.
Where is my R&D software agent to do my routine stuff ?
What Happened to E learning and Why
Link to article (PDF) (by The Weatherstation Project)
Link to Learning Alliance (For Higher Education)
"To the dismay of many, e-learnings reality never matched its promise by a long shot. There has been no pedagogical revolution or financial windfall . Fathom and NYOnline are gone; Cardean U and UNext are continuing to undergo makeovers. There has been no real burgeoning of distance educations emerging successes have been limited and owe more to their past market triumphs than to the new technologies. What happened to e-learnings potential? While all innovations make exaggerated claims, why was the forecast for e-learning so far off the mark? This issue of The Landscape sets out to address this question, using research conducted by The Weatherstation Project, a collaborative effort to provide a practical way of estimating e-learnings current and future trajectory."
You have to read this article, as it will look into some of the old predictions and analyze what really happened . There is no doubt e-learning is here to stay, but if it will play more of a supporting role, or a leading role in the process of learning that is a big question. However, at the moment blended or hybrid learning seems to be the best approach, and that is why we practice that at UNITAR. Here is a link to the full report for those that really want to know the details: Link to full report (1.78 MB, PDF).
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Malaysian e Learning Stories
- Link to Malaysian e-Learning Stories
Besides reading the latest research papers and news about in e-learning in Malaysia, it is also critical that we reflect past e-learning adventures, implementations, experiences and findings, so that we can learn from them. I have just started (yesterday) compiling interesting Malaysian e-Learning stories (research papers, reports, articles, etc.) that I have discovered. The discovered e-Learning stories have been organized according to chronological order, starting with the latest year first (e.g. 2007).
Currently, I am simply using Google Docs to create this compilation list. Perhaps in the future I will use a more dynamic tool, if necessary. However, sometimes using simply web pages can actually produce better results. Lets see how it goes!
At the moment there is not much there, but give it a week or two; I believe I will have discovered many more interesting e-learning stories that are scattered all over the Web. We just need to find them, and that is what I am doing now. If you have a Malaysian e-Learning story to share, please post it in the Comments section, and I will add it to this growing list.
If you are doing research, or want to know more about e-learning in Malaysia, this compilation might be a good starting point (and evolve into a Gold mine!). Have fun discovering e-learning in Malaysia!
Click here to begin :)
Monday, March 2, 2015
Use Blooms Taxonomy Wheel for Writing Learning Outcomes
Do 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?
Have you tried using Blooms Taxonomy wheel(s) before to assist finding those magic action verbs?
New version (2014):
Creative Visualizations of Blooms Taxonomies! from Zaid Alsagoff
Old version:
Blooms Revised Taxonomy Wheel
Source: http://www.cobbk12.org/sites/alt/training/Blooms/circle.GIF
Source: http://www.mmiweb.org.uk/downloads/bloomimages/bloom_plts.jpg
Blooms Taxonomy Wheel
Source: http://www.alline.org/euro/images/bloomwheel.png
Source: http://teaching.uncc.edu/sites/teaching.uncc.edu/files/media/files/image/resources/pedagogy/diagramforwriting.gif
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Blooms_rose.svg
Also, please learn how to apply Blooms taxonomy to web 2.0 learning tools (and 21st Century learning):
Blooms Digital Taxonomy
"Its not about the tools, its using the tools to facilitate learning."
Finally, here are a few sites worth exploring to learn more about the Blooms taxonomy (if needed):
REFLECTION
I still remember when I started off as an Instructional Designer in 2001, I was required to assist subject matter experts (SME) in constructing learning objectives/outcomes. Especially, in the beginning it was a nightmare, because I struggled with finding and suggesting the appropriate action verbs. But then one of the senior instructional designers introduced me to Blooms taxonomy wheel(s), and from then on writing instructional sound learning outcomes has been as easy as eating rambutan.
When developing content with SMEs it certainly helps having relevant and agreed upon learning outcomes early on to guide the content development process. In other words, it is good to spend some time on constructing them, and not just creating them as an afterthought, because of some education ministry requirements.
I am not sure about your country, but in Malaysia the Blooms taxonomy is the reference that Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) recommend (a requirement to use!), and most Universities use it to construct learning outcomes with an eye on infusing more deep thinking (critical and creative), or higher order thinking skills (HOTS). As an action verb classification system I am fine, but I have low regard for Blooms taxonomy as a pyramid, whereby Evaluation (old version) is on the top. It is helpful, but to me it is misleading. But that, we can discuss in another post sometime in the future (However, your opinion about Blooms taxonomy would be highly appreciated).
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Blooms_rose.svgWhy not print out the one you like most (not too many, due to the shortage of trees today!), or download the Blooms Taxonomy wheel images above, and then use them to find those magic action verbs that you might have struggled to find before. These wheels work much better than idiotic tables of action verbs according to Blooms taxonomy. Trust me!
Also, please learn how to apply Blooms taxonomy to web 2.0 learning tools (and 21st Century learning):
Blooms Digital Taxonomy
"Its not about the tools, its using the tools to facilitate learning."
Finally, here are a few sites worth exploring to learn more about the Blooms taxonomy (if needed):
- Blooms Taxonomy of Learning Domains
- Writing Objectives Using Blooms Taxonomy
- Critical and Creative Thinking
- Instructional Design - Knowledge, Attitude & Skills
REFLECTION
I still remember when I started off as an Instructional Designer in 2001, I was required to assist subject matter experts (SME) in constructing learning objectives/outcomes. Especially, in the beginning it was a nightmare, because I struggled with finding and suggesting the appropriate action verbs. But then one of the senior instructional designers introduced me to Blooms taxonomy wheel(s), and from then on writing instructional sound learning outcomes has been as easy as eating rambutan.
When developing content with SMEs it certainly helps having relevant and agreed upon learning outcomes early on to guide the content development process. In other words, it is good to spend some time on constructing them, and not just creating them as an afterthought, because of some education ministry requirements.
I am not sure about your country, but in Malaysia the Blooms taxonomy is the reference that Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) recommend (a requirement to use!), and most Universities use it to construct learning outcomes with an eye on infusing more deep thinking (critical and creative), or higher order thinking skills (HOTS). As an action verb classification system I am fine, but I have low regard for Blooms taxonomy as a pyramid, whereby Evaluation (old version) is on the top. It is helpful, but to me it is misleading. But that, we can discuss in another post sometime in the future (However, your opinion about Blooms taxonomy would be highly appreciated).
Also, I would like to highlight that Clayton R. Wright has simplified the process in finding those magic action verbs. He found that many participants in his workshops found it easier to deal with a smaller number of categories than the six stated by Bloom. Some verbs can be found in several categories, but it depends on how they are used. Rather than use verbs at the lower-end of the skills spectrum, he suggests that emphasis should be placed on application and problem-solving skills. The list is not "a magic bullet", but it helps educators who have difficulty finding the word that describes what they want their students to achieve.
Click the graphic to enlarge it
When creating objectives for secondary and post-secondary courses, Clayton reminds his workshop participants to also consider the 21st Century Learning Outcomes developed by the League for Innovation and sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts. These learning outcomes were validated by 260 colleges in Canada and the United States. They cover a variety of skills such as technology skills, communication skills, computational skills, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, information management skills, interpersonal skills, personal skills, and community skills. All of these skills are important for those living in a digital world.
Although, learning outcomes usually helps in the content development process, but do they help or guide students in the learning process?
Lets recall our own experience as a student. To be honest, as a student I never gave two hoops about reading learning outcomes/objectives, whether they were in the course plan/guide/outline, courseware, or in a book. Neither can I recall discussing, nor listening to other students discussing about their learning outcomes. Well, that is my experience! However, it would be interesting if there was some actual research done on how students use learning outcomes to facilitate their own learning. Or perhaps they dont use them at all! So...
What do you think? Speak up! It is about time! Thank you :)
Click the graphic to enlarge it (Reference: Instructing in an International Setting: A Handbook for Those Who Will Provide Training in Developing Countries (p. 3-24), by C. R. Wright, 1997)
"If we could transform these tables into a wheel, it would simply be awesome!"
When creating objectives for secondary and post-secondary courses, Clayton reminds his workshop participants to also consider the 21st Century Learning Outcomes developed by the League for Innovation and sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts. These learning outcomes were validated by 260 colleges in Canada and the United States. They cover a variety of skills such as technology skills, communication skills, computational skills, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, information management skills, interpersonal skills, personal skills, and community skills. All of these skills are important for those living in a digital world.
Although, learning outcomes usually helps in the content development process, but do they help or guide students in the learning process?
Lets recall our own experience as a student. To be honest, as a student I never gave two hoops about reading learning outcomes/objectives, whether they were in the course plan/guide/outline, courseware, or in a book. Neither can I recall discussing, nor listening to other students discussing about their learning outcomes. Well, that is my experience! However, it would be interesting if there was some actual research done on how students use learning outcomes to facilitate their own learning. Or perhaps they dont use them at all! So...
- Are learning outcomes really important to facilitate the learning process?
- Do we need them?
- Are they destructive to facilitate creativity and innovation?
- Are there other ways to tell our students what learning output we should expect from them?
- Do we need to be more creative in the way we express learning outcomes?
What do you think? Speak up! It is about time! Thank you :)
Game Based Learning The 21st Century Learning Appoach
Link to article (Game-Based Learning: How to Delight and Instruct in the 21st Century, By Joel Foreman)
"Herein lies a moral about how videogames are influencing higher education. To learn more about videogames in academe, Joel Foreman sought out the insights of five leading-edge thinkers in the field: James Paul Gee, J. C. Herz, Randy Hinrichs, Marc Prensky, and Ben Sawyer. All five had traveled to San Jose, California, in March 2004 for the Serious Games Summit at the annual Game Developers Conference. They discussed the following six topics:
"Herein lies a moral about how videogames are influencing higher education. To learn more about videogames in academe, Joel Foreman sought out the insights of five leading-edge thinkers in the field: James Paul Gee, J. C. Herz, Randy Hinrichs, Marc Prensky, and Ben Sawyer. All five had traveled to San Jose, California, in March 2004 for the Serious Games Summit at the annual Game Developers Conference. They discussed the following six topics:
- The dysfunctions of conventional instruction
- The power of simulations
- The importance of game-based learning communities
- The reasons videogames promise a better learning future
- The changes necessary for the new paradigm to take hold
- The practical steps that colleges/universities and influential academics can take to move institutions down the trail blazed by USC and others.
He spoke with each of the five individually, culled their comments from several hours of recordings, and then combined the comments to simulate the continuity and interaction of a group discussion. He has also asserted some editorial license to eliminate the infelicities and redundancies of speech."
If you are interested in understanding the future of education in 21st century, and how game-based learning might influence it, this article or opinions by these five (5) experts, is certainly something you should read and digest !
Designing 21st Century Learning Experiences at UKM organized by MLAM !
First, I would thank Mobile Learning Association of Malaysia (MLAM) and Prof Mohamed Amin Embi for inviting me to facilitate the 4th Specialized Workshop on Ubiquitous Learning entitled Designing 21st Century Learning Experiences at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) on 29th November 2014.
Yes, I did facilitate a workshop with the same title at UNIMAS on 26th November. Flavor of the month :)
Yes, I did facilitate a workshop with the same title at UNIMAS on 26th November. Flavor of the month :)
HI!
If you are attending this workshop, could you please add your name, picture (optional) and what you think is the ingredients for empowering engaging and effective student learning experiences (in a sentence or two) to the Padlet wall below (Direct link). That would simply be awesome! Thanks!Created with Padlet
WORKSHOP
In this 1-day hands-on workshop, we will explore how to design interactive and engaging student learning experiences using technology. We will actively look at how we can transform face-to-face (F2F) learning using the ‘Flipped Classroom’ and ‘Gamification’ methods. Then we will explore how we can use social media and web 2.0 to engage students, empower collaborative online learning spaces, and development interactive content. Participants will be engaged throughout the workshop with learning activities, including the gamified group challenge during the afternoon. It will be fun, engaging, and participants will get a taste of how they can use technology to transform the students’ learning process.
After this workshop, you will be able to:
- Discuss how the brain learns.
- Apply Gagne’s 9 events of instruction to design more engaging learning content and environments.
- Use web 2.0 tools to design and publish interactive and engaging learning content.
- Apply Flipped Classroom and Gamification methods to your teaching and learning.
- Use interactive web tools to engage and assess students during face-to-face learning sessions.
- Use Social Media to interact and empower students to collaborate online.
Key resources:
- 150+ Awesome Learning Tools
- Best Quick Reference Guides to Web 2.0
- Bloom’s Digital Taxonomies!
- Blended & Flipped Learning: Case Studies in Malaysian Higher Education Institutions
SLIDES
Here we go:
re
Designing 21st Century Learning Experiences from Zaid Alsagoff
CHALLENGE
Interactive Web Tools (recommended):
- Padlet
- Poll Everywhere
- Kahoot
- Socrative
Content Development Tools (recommended):
- PowToon
- GoAnimate
- Explain Everything
- TouchCast
- VideoScribe
- Quizlet
- Screenr
- Screencast-O-Matic
- EDPuzzle
- Office Mix (for PowerPoint 2013)
Social Learning (recommended):
- Telegram
- Google Docs
- BlendSpace
- Schoology
TOOLS
Here is a collection of 150+ awesome learning tools to spice up your learning and teaching. Please use the Filter (tags) to narrow down on the type of tool you are looking for (authoring, quiz, LMS, etc.).
Top 100+ Learning Tools on Planet Earth!
View more lists from Zaid Ali Alsagoff
Cant wait!!! :)
Cant wait!!! :)
Sunday, March 1, 2015
IMU LS 07 e Learning in Malaysian Institutions of Higher Learning Lessons Learnt Issues Challenges Prof Amin
Our 5th invited online speaker was none other than Prof. Dr. Mohamed Amin, Deputy Director (e-Learning), Centre for Academic Development, UKM. He gave a sizzling and insightful online talk about e-learning in higher education in Malaysia, and then explored some of his exciting innovation projects, which include iFolio and JiT2U (a mobile module gently introducing educators and learners to the concepts and potentials of Web 2.0 tools).
Title : e-Learning in Malaysian Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL): Lessons Learnt, Issues & ChallengesDate : 25 April, 2012
Time : 10.00 AM, Kuala Lumpur (Check time differences)
Venue : Online (WizIQ)
Description:
In this talk, Prof. Amin, Chairman of the Malaysian Council of Public Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL) e-Learning Coordinators shared findings of a nation-wide study designed to find out the status and trends of e-Learning implementation in Malaysian IHLs. He highlighted issues, challenges and lessons learnt from implementing e-learning at various institutions of higher learning. This talk is certainly beneficial to those who are planning or already implementing e-Learning at their respective institution/organization.
Speaker:
Prof. Dr. Mohamed Amin is a strong proponent of Open Educational Resources and an active contributor of Web 2.0 resources. His publication entitled Web 2.0 Tools in Education Series, which is accessible for free on Scribd has recorded nearly 100,000 reads in the last six months. A Web 2.0 Mobile Application he has developed known as JiT2U (free) has already attracted viewers from more than 94 countries worldwide.
RECORDING
UPCOMING WEBINARS?
CLICK HERE!
A Free Learning Tool for Every Learning Problem
- OpenCourseWare and Open Educational Resources
- 101 Free Learning Tools
- Printer-Friendly Version
NEW: 2014 VERSION
CLICK HERE for the latest version, including the 3 BIG QUESTIONS. Top 100+ Learning Tools on Planet Earth!
View more lists from Zaid Ali Alsagoff
OLD VERSION
Lets explore the idea that there is at least one excellent free learning tool (or site) for every learning problem, need or issue!- Easy-to-use and secure Internet browser? Firefox or Chrome
- e-Mail system? Gmail
- RSS reader? Google Reader
- Social bookmarking tool? del.icio.us
- Social bookmarking tool with collaborative learning features (groups, forums, etc.)? Diigo
- Social bookmarking tool that allows members to "pin" images, videos and links (URLs) to my pinboard(s)? Pinterest
- Social curation tool that also suggests content? Scoop.it
- Tool that helps me tell stories by curating social media? Storify
- Tool that summarizes my social news feeds (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Google Reader)? Summify
- Tool that enables me to capture, visualize, organize and share my bookmarks? SimplyBox
- Tool to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device or platform? Evernote
- Tool to save pages for later? ReadItLater
- Tool to translate text or a webpage? Google Language Tools
- Online Calendar? Google Calendar
- Tool to aggregate all my resources, mail, RSS feeds, etc, in one place? Netvibes, iGoogle or Pageflakes
- Platform to incorporate all my favorite tools within one environment? Elgg
- fully featured electronic portfolio tool? Mahara
- Learning Management System (LMS)? Moodle
- Hosted LMS? Click Here!
- LMS that looks and feels like Facebook? Edmodo
- Tool to assist me in evaluating and selecting a LMS? EduTools
- Learning Activity Management System? LAMS
- Communication and collaboration tool for my University/College/School? Google Apps
- Social Networking tool? Facebook or Google+
- Professional social network? LinkedIn
- Microblogging tool? Twitter
- Twitter client? Tweetdeck
- Micro-blogging platform for my company? Yammer
- Social media dashboard? HootSuite
- Turn Twitter, Facebook and RSS feeds into online newspapers? Paper.li
- Tool to organize, share my online life and discover that of others? Symbaloo
- Tool to create study groups and manage group projects? GroupTable
- Tool to keep track of my schoolwork (assignments)? Soshiku
- 3D online virtual world where I can socialize, connect and learn? Second Life
- Tool to create my own website? Google Sites
- Content Management System (CMS)? Joomla
- Tool to conduct webinars (Web Conferencing)? WiZiQ or BigBlueButton
- Tool to broadcast myself to the world? USTREAM
- Tool to make calls from my computer? Skype
- Videoconferencing chat service? Vawkr
- Content authoring tool? How about two? eXe & CourseLab
- Alternative to Microsoft Office? OpenOffice
- Online suite of office tools? Google Docs or Zoho
- Collaborative course authoring tool? Udutu
- Tool to create and share great video lessons with my iPad? Educreations or ShowMe
- Tool that accurately converts my PowerPoint to Flash (including animations)? iSpring Free
- Tool to share my slides? SlideShare, SlideBoom or authorSTREAM
- Presentation tool to create zooming (and awesome) presentations? Prezi
- Web authoring tool alternative to FrontPage and Dreamweaver? NvU or KompoZer
- Personal online notebook? Google Notebook
- Blogging tool? Blogger or WordPress
- WordPress-powered social network tool? BuddyPress
- Blogging tool for educators? Edublogs
- Directory of edubloggers from around the world? International Edubloggers Directory
- Wiki tool? Wikispaces, Wetpaint or Google Sites
- Encyclopedia, which I can add to or edit? Wikipedia
- Community dedicated to collaborative development of free content? WikiEducator
- Tool to transform media into collaborative spaces with video, voice and text commenting? VoiceThread
- Tool for storytelling? Here are 50!
- Tool for Collaborative Storytelling? Storybird
- Screencasting (recording) tool? Wink
- Hosted screencasting tool (more options)? Screenr, Jing or Screencast-0-matic
- Mindmapping tool? FreeMind
- Tool to brainstorm and create mindmaps online? Bubbl.us or MindMeister
- Easy-to-learn 3D authoring software tool? Google SketchUp
- Alternative to 3D Studio Max? Blender
- tool to make 3D models? Sculptris
- Tool to create comics and cartoons? ToonDoo
- Tool to create animations? GoAnimate
- Revolutionary real-time movie making software? xtranormal
- Audio recording tool? Audacity
- Tool to broadcast from any phone to the Internet live? ipadio
- Tool to create my own Internet Talk Radio Show? Blog Talk Radio
- Tool using my real voice to discuss my interests and passions with anyone? Voxopop
- Tool to record and host my audio recordings online? Odeo Studio
- Tool to convert text to speech? vozMe or iSpeech
- Tool for real-time spelling and translation? eType
- Tool to create personalized speaking avatars? Voki
- Photo/image editing tool? GIMP or Picasa
- Tool that turns my photos/video clips into professional video slideshows in minutes? Animoto
- Exciting word cloud generator? Wordle
- Tool to make an interactive poster? Glogster
- Online photo/image editing tool? Splashup
- Tool to create cool personalized images? Custom Sign Generator Widgets
- Image Resizer? Dosize
- Watermarking tool? uMark
- Screen Color Picker? ColorSchemer
- Tool to highlight text in a webpage? The Awesome Highlighter
- Tool to create flowcharts, diagrams, technical drawings? Gliffy
- Tool to make screenshots from different browsers with one click? Browsershots
- Tool to create PDFs from any Windows program? PDFCreator
- Tool to convert PDF to Word? PDF2Word Online
- Online file conversion tool (e.g. Word >PDF>PowerPoint)? Zamzar
- Online OCR (Optical Character Recognition) tool? Free OCR
- QR Code, Semacode and Data Matrix Barcode Generator? QR Code Generator
- Tool to share my videos? YouTube, TeacherTube or Vimeo
- Tool to share any type of file with unlimited storage capacity? Internet Archive
- Online noticeboard? Padlet
- Online science research sharing portal? SciVee
- Online community to share and discuss instructional teacher videos? TeacherTube
- Online community to share, discuss and learn about the uses of educational technology? EdTechTalk
- Online community to test my big ideas? Big Think
- Service for engaging in conversation about news, thoughts and ideas people share? Amplify
- Tool to download videos from any video sharing site (YouTube, Metacafe, etc.)? ClipNabber
- Self-publishing tool (books, papers, articles, etc)? Scribd or Issuu
- Tool to share my pictures? Are you joking! Flickr
- Space to upload and share my files? eSnips
- File hosting solution to share huge files up? FileCrunch
- Tool to sync files online and across computers? Dropbox
- Tool for real-time file sharing and collaboration? drop.io
- Tool to save pages from my computer or phone for later readings? ReadItLater
- 3-ring binder for the Web? Livebinders
- URL shortener and tracker? bit.ly
- Online quiz tool? ClassMarker
- Tool to create interactive quizzes and puzzles? Hot Potatoes
- Tool to create quizzes with videos? ESL Video
- Tool to create web and print-based crossword puzzles? EclipseCrossword
- Inquiry-oriented lesson tool? WebQuest
- Multimedia flashcard tool? Quizlet or MemoryLifter
- Online survey tool? Click here to choose!
- Online polling tool with a bit of fizzle? Polldaddy
- Student Response System (SRS) that uses smartphones, laptops, and tablets and the web? Poll Everywhere or Socrative
- Tool to test which sites loads faster in my browser? Which Loads Faster?
- Tool to create Flash games (templates)? ClassTools.net
- Investment Simulation Game? Virtual Trader
- Interactive 3D business simulator? INNOV8
- Game to understand cancer better? Re-Mission
- Game to understand the scientific method and 21st Century Skills? River City
- Game to understand variable manipulations for urban management? SimCity
- Game to understand social studies better? Quest Atlantis
- Game to understand world hunger and efforts to alleviate it? WFP Foodforce
- Game to learn more vocabulary and help hungry people? Seriously! FreeRice
- List of at least 100 free juicy learning games to spice up my course(s)? Click Here!
- Range of interactive tools to help me understand maths concepts? Shodor Interactivate
- Collection of video tutorials (and assessment) to learn maths? Khan Academy
- Step-by-step math problem solver? Mathway
- Tool to publish my data online and create comparison tables? Tablefy
- Tool to create my own search engine tailored to my needs? Google Custom Search Engine
- Personalized search world? Historius
- Human-powered search engine? Mahalo
- Metasearch engine with visual display interfaces? What! Here is KartOO!
- Search tool presenting results from a large number of websites in different visual ways? Spezify
- Search engine that groups the results by topic via automated clustering technology? Vivisimo
- Science-specific search engine? Scirus
- All-in-one research search tool? Schoolr
- Tool to search query and then select a credible resource? SearchCredible
- Tool to help me collect, manage, and cite my research sources? Zotero
- Tool that generates detailed statistics about the visitors to my website? Google Analytics
- Tool to search, discover, rank and compare different sites around the world? Alexa
- Tool to search the full text of books? Google Book Search
- Tool to search for scholarly literature? Google Scholar
- Tool to search for patents? Google Patent Search
- Tool that sends me email updates of the latest relevant Google results (e.g. e-Learning)? Google Alerts
- Sticky and canvas service (post it)? Lino
- Energy saving search engine? Blackle
- Online visual dictionary and thesaurus? Visuwords
- World digital library? World Digital Library
- Tool to build and distribute my own digital library? Greenstone
- Site to find and search across all OpenCourseWare (OCW) courses? OpenCourseWare Consortium
- Repository and learning network of Open Educational Resources (OER)? OER Commons
- Site to get the latest updates on OER and OCW? OER Blogs
- Site to get access to thousands of free lectures? Academic Earth, iTunes U or YouTube EDU
- Portal to non-formal OER and training resources? Open Training Platform
- Encyclopedia of video tutorials to help me learn any software? Edumax or Wikivid
- Site to practice speaking English while I watch great videos? EnglishCentral
- e-Book to learn more about e-learning 2.0? Learning 2.0 eBook
- Site to learn more about rapid e-learning? The Rapid e-Learning Blog
- Site to learn more about Online Course Development? Hitchhiker’s Guide to Course Development
- Crash course in learning theory? Click here!
- Database of Learning Theories? Click here & here!
- Tool to help me understand and use learning styles effectively? Learning Styles Online.com
- Repository of creative and critical thinking tools? Mycoted to the rescue!
- Route to learn more about the 21st century skills? Route 21
- Repository of how everything works? HowStuffWorks
- Repository of lectures from the worlds top scientists? Videolectures.NET
- Repository of resources and simulation tools to learn more about nanotechnology? The nanoHUB
- Directory of academic open access repositories? OpenDOAR
- Site covering todays top social, political, and tech issues? FORA.tv
- Site to improve my learning skills? Study Guides & Strategies
- Gaming tool to help me learn ICT? ReviseICT.co.uk
- Tool to improve my typing skills? Peters Online Typing Course
- Tool to improve my reading skills? ZAP Reader
- Interactive courseware to improve my workplace skills? ALISON
- Multimedia site that enhance our understanding of war and its history? Maps-of-War
- 3D human anatomy visualization tool? Visible Body
- Site to learn languages? Free Language
- Tool to explore the World? Google Earth
- Tool to search and zoom maps of any country? Google Maps
- Tool to explore the Universe? WorldWide Telescope
- Tool to visualize human development? Gapminder
- Tool to answer all my questions? Wolfram|Alpha, Google Squared or Answer.com
- Site with talks by the worlds greatest thinkers and doers? TED is a good starting point!
- Article to reveal the secrets of the super-learners? Click here!
- Link to the most innovative web 2.0 (and 3.0) lab in the world? Google Labs
- Tool to stumble upon and discover great websites, videos, photos, etc. ? StumbleUpon
- Daily newsletter that keeps me updated with the latest news on online learning? Stephens OLDaily
- Site where I can learn more about social media and social learning? Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies
- Site dedicated to tracking the changes occurring in education today? Open Education
- Site to update me on the latest free instructional resources for Higher Education? Educational Technology
- Tool to track plagiarism? Plagium, Viper and more...
- Site to discover delicious free tools, resources, and sites? ZaidLearns Del.icio.us Discoveries
- Bla, Bla...
In short, for every learning problem (or issue) we have today, there is probably
a free tool or site out there that enables us to solve it. If not, I am pretty sure some genius out there is constructing it right now. If no one is doing it, perhaps we can do it.
a free tool or site out there that enables us to solve it. If not, I am pretty sure some genius out there is constructing it right now. If no one is doing it, perhaps we can do it.Another challenge is to integrate all our learning tools efficiently and effectively into our learning spaces. On the positive note, more and more tools are creating integration modules to widely used systems like Moodle and Facebook, so it might not be so difficult after all. Also, with OpenID we can increasingly login to all our favorite websites without much hassle. Single-login to all our learning tools! Now that is something we all can appreciate! Remember one password! Tough one!
If you want to experience my learning adventure as I discover, perhaps you should subscribe to my Del.icio.us Learning Adventure! Otherwise, you could always wait a week or two for the updates in this blog. Have fun Socratic Tooling to solve your learning problems and issues :)
Saturday, February 28, 2015
580 Pictures from My Saudi Arabia Learning Adventure!
LEARNING ADVENTURE!
WOW! I have to admit, my Saudi Arabia adventure from 31 January - 17 February (2013) was without doubt my most exciting LEARNING ADVENTURE in my life (up until now). It was action packed from day one (my luggage got lost and came nearly 2 days after me).
During this adventure I facilitated 10 workshops and 3 lectures, participated in 1 panel discussion, attended 3 days of conference interacting with amazing minds, visited 2 Universities and 1 school, numerous social events, and most importantly did a short Umrah. All this was done in about 2 1/2 weeks!!!
Yes, it was a truly inspiring (and exhausting) learning adventure, Al-Hamdulilla! I would like to thank everyone that made it happen, and to avoid hurting anyone, I will not mention any names (to avoid missing others). Shukran Jazilan, Al-Hamdulilla!
Instead of sharing stories for now (can probably write a 10,000 - 15,000 words essay, if I had the time), I will leave you with 580 pictures and 176 tweets to recap my inspiring and amazing learning adventure in Saudi Arabia.
PHOTO ALBUMS
Here are 580 pictures taken according to major events during this Saudi Arabia learning adventure:- eLi 2013 Conference & Social Events (1-7 Feb, 2013)Pictures from the Third International Conference of e-Learning and Distance Education (eLi13) and related social events in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. During the conference, I facilitated two 1-day workshops (OER & iPad) and participated in one panel discussion sharing my L2T3SEA Learning Framework. It was an inspiring week of interacting with great learning minds and having fun, especially during the social events.
- Jazan University Adventure (8-13 Feb, 2013)Pictures from talks, workshops and social events at Jazan University in the city of Jazan, Saudi Arabia.
- Mecca Journey (14-15 Feb, 2013)
Pictures from my short Umrah and In-House talk about 16 Learning Trends, We Simply Cant Ignore!" at Hasan Alfilalys house in Mecca.
- Jeddah - In-House Talk (Feb 15, 2013)Gave a talk about 16 Learning Trends, We Simply Cant Ignore!" at Sheikh Ibrahim Alharthys house in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
- Al-Andalus School Visit & Talk (16 Feb, 2013)Pictures from my visit and talk about the DNA of a 21st Century Educator (given at Jazan University, too) at Al-Andalus Private School in Jeddah. An inspiring school with innovative and passionate aspirations.
TWEETS
Here are all my 176 tweets (or Retweets) from the Saudi Arabia learning adventure (Tweetbook doesnt support Arabic!!!):
Tweets: Saudi Arabia Learning Adventure! by
STORIES
Coming soon!I have a lot of interesting stories to share, but I will need to find time for that later. This portion will be updated in the coming weeks as I recall and reflect upon all the learning nuggets and wisdom I discovered during this adventure interacting with some pretty amazing learning minds. At the moment, I need to focus on other upcoming activities and events in coming weeks ahead.
SUMMING UP
In general, Saudi Arabia is investing a lot of money to improve education for both men and women in the Kingdom. As I have visited Saudi Arabia five times since 2008 (four work related visits), I can testify to this based on my learning adventures, which includes visits to nine Universities during this period.
Since its establishment in 2005, The National Center for e-Learning and Distance Learning (NeLC) has been passionately striving to support the universities around the Kingdom to transform their learning and teaching using technology and e-learning.
The biggest challenge today in Saudi Arabia in terms of education, is not so much technology anymore, as most Universities are evolving fast on this frontier, and have enough funding to continue to have the latest technologies if wanted.
If you ask me, the biggest challenges facing education in Saudi Arabia (like in so many other countries around the world), are inspiring educators (mindset change) in the Kingdom to transform their learning and teaching methods, and to empower them with the skills to use technology transformatively to design more engaging and effective student learning experiences.
In todays disruptive global age of knowledge and innovation, we all have to continuously learn, rethink, innovate and adapt. It will be interesting to see how Saudi Arabia continues to evolve its education over the coming years.
Insya-Allah, I can assist in this process, too :)
Transforming CMS into Effective Learning Environments
Link to article (260 KB PDF. By Colleen Carmeen and Jeremy Haefner)
"Effective use of CMS (Course Management System) bundled technologies should enable students to experience "Deeper Learning" or the learning environment which students can "learn much more, learn it earlier and more easily, and fundamentally, learn it with a pleasure and commitment that only a privileged few now feel toward school learning (Andrea DiSessa)"
According to the authors there are five (5) core deeper learning principles. Deeper learning is:
"Effective use of CMS (Course Management System) bundled technologies should enable students to experience "Deeper Learning" or the learning environment which students can "learn much more, learn it earlier and more easily, and fundamentally, learn it with a pleasure and commitment that only a privileged few now feel toward school learning (Andrea DiSessa)"
According to the authors there are five (5) core deeper learning principles. Deeper learning is:
- Social
- Active
- Contextual
- Engaging
- Student-owned
When well-constructed practices around these deeper learning principles are used within a CMS, incredibly robust and effective learning environments are created...The possibility of deeper learning lies with both students and instructors: When they understand their diverse needs and requirements and bring these to the CMS, they can create their own effective learning environment."
If you really want to know what the authors are talking about, I recommend you read this article (URL above) very carefully. In short, to provide an excellent learning environment you need a pedagogically sound CMS, students willing to learn and participate, and knowledgeable and motivated instructors who nurture and encourage them in the learning process and environment. Excellent stuff!
The 5 Day Learning Adventure at Jazan University!
Below, are all the resources for the talks and workshops facilitated over a 5-day period (9 - 13 Feb) at Jazan University in Saudi Arabia.
*Click on the Links to access all the resources shared for the respective workshops highlighted below.
DAY 1
DNA of a 21st Century Educator Simplified! from Zaid Alsagoff
DNA of a 21st Century Educator
This talk explores some of the ingredients top educators in the 21st century have, and how we can learn from them, and reinvent ourselves to reach our true potential as an educator.
Learning Outcomes
- Discuss the attributes of a 21st Century Educator.
- Explore the latest trends and methods in e-learning.
DAY 2
iPads for Learning
This workshop will awaken and empower participants on how they can use iPads more strategically and effectively for learning, sharing, communicating, collaborating, creating and publishing their e-learning content and activities using a range of essential applications. It will be interactive, engaging, fun, and you will learn a lot of tips on how to use mobile devices to engage your students in and beyond the classroom.
Learning Outcomes
- Download and annotate presentations/articles/notes.
- Create and publish rapid e-learning content.
- Use a variety of apps to engage students in and beyond the classroom.
DAY 3
Empowering Personal Learning Environments (PLE)
This introduction, explores the idea of using a variety of learning tools to build Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) to empower lifelong, collaborative and reflective learning.
Learning Outcomes
- Discuss how social media can be used for learning and teaching.
Blogging & Wikis for Learning
Workshop Materials:
- Blogging for Learning
- Wikis for Learning
Learning Outcomes
- Discuss how to use blogs to facilitate learning and teaching.
- Set up your own blog using Google Blogger.
- Discuss how to use wikis to facilitate collaborative online learning and teaching.
- Use Google Docs for collaborative document development.
- Use Google Sites for collaborative website development.
DAY 4
Facebook & Twitter for Learning
- JazanU Facebook Group
Workshop Materials:
- Facebook for Learning
- Twitter for Learning
Learning Outcomes
- Use Facebook and Twitter to facilitate learning and teaching.
- Create Facebook Groups to engage students and conduct assignments.
- Create unique Twitter #hashtags for programmes, courses and events.
- Use Twitter apps to engage students in the classroom (and beyond).
DAY 5
Discovering & Creating OER
This workshop will empower you with the necessary skills to find, reuse, remix and create Open Educational Resources (OER) for your courses. We will explore and discuss together the concept of OER, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), Creative Commons (CC), business models, and variety of OpenCourseWare (OCW) case studies and content development tools.
Learning Outcomes
- Discuss the benefits and challenges of OER.
- Explore Creative Commons as an alternative to Copyright.
- Find OER and OCW using a variety of search tools.
- Identify a variety of web 2.0 and Social Media tools to develop OER.
- Conceptualize an OER strategy for your institution.
Have fun and attribute (to me) whatever you reuse/remix/repurpose :)
Rediscovering Curt Bonks Extreme Learning World!
A TRUE STORY...
A few weeks back the inspiring Prof. Zoraini Wati Abas shared the following Dr. Curt Bonk (Professor at Indiana University) video in the electrifying Learning Innovation Circle (Simply LIC! Please join us, too!):
WOW! I have to invite him to give an online talk (webinar) for IMU Learning Webinar Series ... His energy and stories could spark new ideas into the minds of IMU faculty and others attending. But, then he rejected my request quickly, promptly and gently by reminding me that he gets 3-4 requests per day, and that he cannot schedule any more right now. I truly understand!
Yeah, both Sir Ken Robinson and Dr. Curt Bonk have rejected my online talk requests. However, IMU Learning Webinar Series is still AWESOME! Until now, 14 renowned learning experts around the world have confirmed participation over the coming weeks and months...THANK YOU!
Although, I truly understand, I am also extremely disappointed with Dr. Curt Bonk no matter how busy he claims to be, as he could have done the webinar in his pajamas just before going to sleep, which would be perfect timing for Malaysia (audio only please).
Just kidding! Anyway, he was smart enough to share his juiciest links (URLs) about himself and his work, and that has sparked me to do this blog post!
Yes, I have known about Dr. Curt Bonk and his exciting work for a few years now, but I was not aware of the things you are about to discover now...
EXTREME LEARNING WORLD!
Did you know?
- V-PORTAL (Video Primers in an Online Repository for e-Teaching & Learning) A video series (YouTube version for quicker access) addressing the design and best practices of Distance Education courses. The videos are about 10 minutes long (27 of them!) and each topic is accompanied by a list of useful resources and downloadable handout slides (PDF format).
- Archived Talks An endless collection of learning resources and stories (Keynotes only). Check these 3 presentations first:- Active Learning with Technology: Myths, Magic, and Mucho Motivation
- The Rise of Shared Online Video: The Fall of Traditional Learning
- 100+ Hyper-Engaging Lecture Ideas for Any Class Size - Ed Tech Resources and Portals
If you are looking for juicy learning resources, go no further :) - Dr. Bonks Videostreamed Talks and Podcasts
Discover his learning adventures and stories... WOW! - TravelinEdMan
His learning (journal) blog. - Extreme LearningExtreme learning blends physical and digital environments, concentrating on activities that enlist technology in uncommon or unique ways. Extreme learning also includes more sedate and passive forms of learning including watching an online video in TED, LinkTV, CurrentTV, or YouTube. Through extreme learning Web resources, those stuck behind prison walls, injured and in a hospital bed, or unemployed and unable to pay for college tuition can learn to be more productive members of society.
If not 2012, why not 2013? No, is not an option! We need your energy and stories to inspire our educators at IMU, Malaysia and beyond to be more creative and innovative in the way they engage students to think and learn. Thank you in advance for reconsidering...
DR. CURT BONKS REACTION
Lets recapture his reaction in a visual and transparent manner:
WOW! Respect for his razor sharp quickness and willingness.
Lets hope now that he can find the time to conduct one webinar for IMU Learning Webinar Series...
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
Yes, after the mighty struggle to convince him, he has finally agreed (on 25/03/2011) to do an IMU webinar on April 10th, 2011. Kudos to Curtis Bonk! CLICK HERE to believe here!
Lets hope no more hiccups to this amazing adventure with Curtis Bonk! Well, I shall say no more.... :)
DR. CURT BONKS REACTION
Lets recapture his reaction in a visual and transparent manner:
WOW! Respect for his razor sharp quickness and willingness.
Lets hope now that he can find the time to conduct one webinar for IMU Learning Webinar Series...
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
Yes, after the mighty struggle to convince him, he has finally agreed (on 25/03/2011) to do an IMU webinar on April 10th, 2011. Kudos to Curtis Bonk! CLICK HERE to believe here!
Lets hope no more hiccups to this amazing adventure with Curtis Bonk! Well, I shall say no more.... :)
Friday, February 27, 2015
Top 10 Learning Sites for Yours T10LS
"Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school."
- Albert Einstein
"See, heres the thing, though. I dont want 99 mind mapping resources, tools, and tips. I want one. That works. Really well. "
- Stephen Downes
- Stephen Downes
CLUELESS?
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 cant 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 Downess 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, wouldnt 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 dont have to be too rigid on such things, but just be reminded that Less is often more (especially for learning). Look whos 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, wouldnt 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 wont harm anyone (would it?).
So, lets 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, wouldnt that be useful?
MY TOP 10 LEARNING SITES FOR PERSONAL LEARNING
Here are 10 amazing learning resources to explore for personal learning, especially if you are into e-learning and learning (Not ranking, just numbering):
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 cant 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 Downess 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, wouldnt 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 dont have to be too rigid on such things, but just be reminded that Less is often more (especially for learning). Look whos 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, wouldnt 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 wont harm anyone (would it?).
So, lets 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, wouldnt that be useful?
MY TOP 10 LEARNING SITES FOR PERSONAL LEARNING
Here 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. Janes E-Learning Pick of the Day is awesomely useful, and you wont 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 learning
- Social Media for Workplace Learning
- How to use Twitter for Social Learning
- How to use Facebook for Social Learning
- Introduction to social media for learning
- The Rapid eLearning Blog (Tom Kuhlmann)
When you think about improving your rapid e-Learning, instructional design, PowerPoint or graphic creation skills, Tom Kuhlmanns Rapid eLearning blog provides you with a lot of great advice, tips, examples and short-cuts. Also, dont 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:
If 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? :)
#T10LS
If 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? :)
Learning Notes From an E Learning 2 0 Implementation Workshop
"Students who ask better questions, are independent learners, deep thinkers and ethical leaders of the future"
- NTUs Greatest Achievement
- NTUs Greatest Achievement
WHY GO?
Alright, the actual title for the 2-day workshop was:
E-Learning Implementation and Web 2.0 Technologies
in the Higher Education Sector
in the Higher Education Sector
The 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 Universitys (NTU) e-learning story from its inception in 1998 (using TopClass!) until todays 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 Tans 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). Lets begin...
NTUS E-LEARNING WISDOM
Or perhaps more correctly, Daniel Tans 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 Daniels 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 dont 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 didnt 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 NTUs 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 isnt 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 NTUs 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 NTUs 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 NTUs 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 dont 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 dont 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 MORE
Effective learning via integrated 3-in-1 practice module of:
- Live + recorded lecture review for knowledge learning
- Discussion/forum/virtual tutorial for opportunity to formulate and articulate deep questions
- Self eAssessment for multiple timely feedback
As 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?
- Students (self-directed) Learning Process - They need to master 21st century learning skills and infuse lifelong learning habits to succeed now and in the future.
JOHN LARKINS 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 IMPROVE
Well, 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 Workshop
Such 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 Session
During 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 Fun
Although, 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 :)
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