Eye on Learning

I often deal with learning theories in the classroom, physical and virtual.  In fact it was when I was first exposed to learning theories that first attracted me to specialise in "education."  Specializing in education typically involves taking courses on Educational Psychology, Testing and Measurement, Teaching Methods or Pedagogies, and so on.  After taking an Ed Psych and an Instructional Technology course, I fell in love with the Education world.  I took more courses in the College of Education at the university (NIU) where I studied and I loved it so much that I switched my interest from my undergraduate major in Biological Sciences to taking up a specialization in Instructional Technology at the post-graduate levels. Did you know that many events or things that we see in education are common sense but not for all people and not all the time?  Take learning for example.  How one person learns is different from how other people learn.  How one prefers to interact i

It might appear that I've not been around long enough to sit at my desk to blog, or to have been busy with other priorities or distracted by other activities. Well, yes and no. If you've been around on the Internet and are keeping track of the various learning technologies available, you would know how it feels to be overwhelmed by the choices, resources and information available online. Since I started using Facebook (FB), prompted by a colleague from Japan, way back in 2009 (I think), I realize that as I spent more time on FB I spent less time on my blog. What this means is that either I have to create a framework for myself on how to make my presence felt in the online education community or I get "pulled" by the tools that attract my attention at that time. FB is not the only tool I focused on the last couple of years.  The FB groups I created for my students, courses and those that arose out of felt needs to support post-workshop events , have cons

15 Inspiring Examples of Free Online Education | Online College Tips - Online Colleges OERs have now become a significant feature in higher education today.  Anyone with Internet can now access thousands of interesting videos, books, and other useful learning materials to fulfill the desire of lifelong learners.  In addition, these resources can serve as supplemental learning materials to meet the needs of students all over the world.  It's amazing.

Learning is becoming more complex, or so, it seems. Depending on how one looks at learning, it could be done in a very formal structured way ("traditional") vs a somewhat informal unstructured way ("new"). I think some students in higher education institutions are going through some very challenging times. On the one hand, they are so used to learning the JIT way which is any which way that works at a particular moment in time. It could be through any ICT device or any print media; but more likely the former, where one can quickly look up for information. Typically, information would best come from Twitter or RSS feeds or FB posts, in fact, more so than from structured or well-designed web sites or portals. The minds of individuals, especially those of the young, work differently than those who are more matured. Perhaps they have been wired differently. Or, perhaps the way their minds function is a result of their environment, which can be described as c

Mobile learning at OUM started with the formation of an research team on m-learning in August 2008. Its first task was to determine how ready OUM learners would be for mobile learning. We surveyed almost 3,000 learners throughout Malaysia and found that more than 80 percent of the learners said they would be ready for learning through their mobile phones. We first experimented with podcasts and moved on to using sms to support the blended mode of learning at OUM and found that the latter worked extremely well. For more information on the m-learning project at OUM, three papers have been uploaded at: http://www.scribd.com/collections/3238724/MOOC-on-mobile-learning-at-OUM for your reading. More than 21,000 learners have benefited from m-learning at OUM and the SMS for selected courses continue to be sent for free (burned by the university) to the targeted group of learners.

Teachers can use this as an LO for subjects such as biology, zoology, ecology, geography, etc.