Eye on Learning

What can we learn from the above slide?

I first listened, in person, to Terry Anderson last October at the eLearn conference. He's a great speaker when it comes to presenting what's the latest in learning and education and directions we should be planning towards. One of his latest presentations is below. Enjoy. Helsinki 2009 View more presentations from terrya .

Slide Rocket appears to be a solution for those who have found it irritating to have slides with hyperlinks to files on their storage media not work. I will be trying it out soon but what if the Internet is inaccessible? Then, it's back to having your notebook computer with you all the time. Nevertheless, you may first watch the video on what's it all about at the web site or how it can benefit presenters. Go to: http://www.sliderocket.com/

Thanks to Mimma Sayuti, these are useful resources on using facebook in the classroom. I have personally got it used to support our mobile learning via SMS initiative at OUM. Papers on this will be written soon by the project members. Enjoy viewing and reading the following slides: The 411 on Facebook: An FYI for Teachers View more presentations from APatterson79 . Facebook Strategies For The Classroom View more presentations from Kevin Lim .

This is new. Great for those who are keen to learn about how to plan an online course, view: http://podcast.iu.edu/upload/OOIC/b8a8e3cd-fd8c-425b-89a4-5191606043aa/Planning%20an%20Onlince%20Course%20680x480.mov It is part of the Distance Education video series at Indiana University.

ISTE has done this very well! View and participate...thanks NZH! http://www.iste-community.org/

The World is Open and nine other titles are in the top ten Educational Technology books of the decade . Check it out. A promise I made to myself is to continue my reading of Curtis Bonk's "The World is Open." Nevertheless, it will be the core reference for one of my online courses in Jan 2010.

Please view this . . . it was the result of a training workshop by OUM last June 2009 and I am personally impressed by what the teacher has done to contribute to the excitement for Art classes. It's available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQTIPjFjwHQ

If you're curious, check this out: http://classtools.net/twitter/tweet.htm?url=http://21things.weebly.com/&message=21%2520Things%2520for%2520the%252021st%2520Century%2520Teacher

The inaugural Global Learn Asia Pacific conference on learning and technology will be held on the beautiful island of Penang, Malaysia in May 2010. More than 350 papers have been submitted so far. We're expecting at least 500 participants from all over the world to attend. If you haven't plan on submitting a paper by 20 December. It will be one of the best conferences you would have attended. For more info, visit http://www.aace.org/conf/glearn/

There is a call for universities to transform the educational environment to better serve students today. Students are learning a different set of information and we need to help them learn how to learn. They need to be educated in a different way from the past. Today, technology is the main core of a student's life and academia needs to adopt and adapt in terms of technology utilisation. The following video illustrates why so:

Some of you may have watched the "Did you know . . . " video from YouTube. It's gone into several editions, the latest of which is here, comprising the latest statistics. Dr. Howie DiBlasi is the one who should be credited for these series of videos depicting the current situation among students today and how educators need to re-think about what we're providing to them. View this interesting video:

Jan Hart is advocating the very idea that social networking will become the foundation for eLearning in the future. I think it will be in some instances but not always. In countries that have exams at the very core of the curriculum, this may not happen or very little of it will happen. However, in countries where the curriculum is more open ended in terms of content, social learning is definitely one of the better ways to "teach" or produce learning. View Jan's slides here: The future of e-learning is social learning View more documents from Jane Hart .

After a year of work on the mobile learning project, it's good to be able to report the success and tribulations of the initiative. Of course, it's not just about mobile learning per se but the role it plays and how it contributes to the learning process are more important. How m-learning fits in today's digital world or caters to the Gen Y learners on our campuses is the bigger issue and should provide the framework for how we do things. The presentation from ICI9 Conference this morning is below: Ici9keynote Zwa Aug13 2009 Final2 View more presentations from zoraini .

Imagine being able to listen or view course lectures where you are on your mobile device. You could turn your unproductive or waiting time into time during which you can learn and advance in your studies. A major book publisher has gone into provision of mobile learning for adult college learners. View this interesting video: And, if you'd like a quick overview an introduction to mobile learning, here's a great set of slides: GMU/DAU Mobile Learning Workshop View more presentations from judyb .

OERs or Open Education Resources are a boon to the lifelong learner. Imagine being able to listen or watch lectures from the top and renowned universities. Download, carry them with you and you have a classroom in your pocket or car or any other place you're at. Someone actually compiled 100 of these. Check it out at: http://www.masterdegreeonline.com/blog/2009/the-100-best-open-education-resources-on-the-web/

It's about time. When MIMOS first offered its Jaring services for connection to the Internet in the early 90s, it was limited to academicians in higher educational institutions. I was one of the fortunate few who grabbed the opportunity then. Today, although I live in the Klang Valley and work in an institution that enables me to connect to the Internet anywhere in the University. Yet, I am still hungry for more. Hence imagine my delight when, a few minutes ago, I stumbled upon the report saying that the nation will aim to provide broadband connection to at least 26 million mobile phone users. As head of the mobile learning team at the University, we had first offered 1-minute podcasts of course content. Although learners had mobile phones with wireless capabilities, we discovered that even if they were able to connect ubiquitously, they were hesitant about paying extra for the cost to download. We next focused on providing SMS messages to engage learners in the learning pro...

A great set of slides....thought provoking. Thanks to Mimma who posted the link in her facebook. The e-learning skills gap View more presentations from Clive Shepherd .

More and more educators in higher education institutions are using social media to support learning and teaching. Jane Hart highlighted in one of her recent twitter posts, how universities are using social media to share information. Read this at: http://mashable.com/2009/07/15/social-media-public-affairs/

I must thank Mimma Sayuti, a PhD student and educator for this..."Harnessing the Interactive Web." One of the best presentations I've seen on the topic. If you're new, it may be overwhelming. It's a topic educators should at least be familiar with now and actually be able to use some of the tools to make education meaningful and relevant for the GenY learners who are now on campus and will be for the next ten years or so. Harnessing the Interactive Web View more documents from Bill Warters .

A good but quick overview identifying the use of new media in delivering distance learning. One of the slides indicates the six generations in the history of distance learning. New Media & Distance Learning Workshop (160609) View more presentations from Stevemac121 .

Open Educational Resources (OERs) have been promoted by educationists who believe in sharing resources for the benefit of learners and instructors across the world. To gain an understanding of what OERs are all about, there are a few slide presentations that are worth viewing. I believe you will also gain an insight on how to proceed to create OERs. OER View more presentations from gsiemens . Open Educational Resources View more documents from Stephen Downes . Open Educational Resources: Building a Culture of Sharing View more presentations from Catriona Savage .

There was a time when I was writing up to three columns a week for our national newspapers, educating the public about the Internet, how interesting it is, how we could benefit from it and so on. I remember writing these with a passion. Unfortunately some of these articles, especially the soft copies, have gone missing from my collection due to corrupted disks, failure to make more than 1 copy and so on. Imagine my delight when I found these: http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/7903/koleksi.html#Komputer_Tanpa_Internet_Ibarat_Lagu_Tanp . I can't even begin to think how to thank Hamdan Noor who had somehow got my articles on to part of his web site. But, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I am indebted to his gesture and for helping me re-visit the past.

What are emerging technologies? Well, most will definitely include Web 2.0 tools that are increasingly becoming more user-friendly and support open learning and use of open resources. Perhaps, a quick overview will help you understand the concept. Please view: Emerging technologies for teaching and learning: into fall 2008 View more documents from BryanAlexander .

If you're an instructional technologist or into instructional design, applying Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction when planning, designing or developing your instruction is key to good instruction. Not many realise that it's similar to developing a lesson plan before carrying out the actual teaching. There's a good video from YouTube on this. If you'd like a review of Gagne's Nine Events or simply want to refresh your knowledge, view it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_8MB9F2cts :

I can't believe it's been almost a month since the last entry. I've been promoting Twitter and now started experimenting with Ning. Twitter is getting known in Malaysia, although Facebook seems to be the more popular of the two, still. In any case, both can be used to support learning. As part of a mobile learning initiative at the Open University Malaysia, we used twitter to archive all the SMSes sent out. The purpose is to enable those who were late in subscribing to the service a chance to view the SMSes they missed. To view, visit http://twitter.com/oumh1103 . It's also possible, that in the future, we will use Twitter in place of SMSes so that we're more cost effective but only after everyone understands how Twitter works and functions. Learning 2.0 is still somewhat new among Malaysian educators. Nevertheless, there is a lot of interest whenever I share what I know about it and the possibilities in creating more excitement in learning. Related to this...

I found a video on Twitter explained in plain English....click on the link to view: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o .

Twitter, as they say, is a great socialising tool. It can also, believe me, used to promote a business, product, service and the like. As an educator, I usually try to find the use of such new tools to help enhance the learning environment. What if Twitter could be used to better engage the students in the learning process or to provide timely reminders, additional but useful resources for the course, etc? Read what Steve Wheeler has to say in his blog on as a lecturer, he has used Twitter with his students at: http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/2009/01/teaching-with-twitter.html. Also, visit the links below his blog to see how other educators have used Twitter to benefit their students. For example, you may view the video by David Parry, a professor at the University of Texas, on how he's used Twitter in his courses. See also at: http://casesblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/video-teaching-with-twitter.html

Every day, you hear about a new tool that can do very interesting things for learning and teaching. It is, after all, the new world of e-learning and developing by leaps and bounds are numerous applications based on social networking, the basis for connectivist learning proposed by George Siemens and who have taken the world of education by storm since he introduced the concept in 2005 via his now well-read paper on connectivism at http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/networks.htm Based on the list compiled by Jane Hart a social media and learning consultant, the one tool that made it in the top 5 among both learners and learning professionals is Twitter. For the complete list (as of 10 May 2009), visit: http://c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/index.html . As Steve Dambo, an educator who maintains a blog entitled Teach 42: listed in a recent blog entry , what he's learned from the interactions in Twitter, it can be a great learning tool for the learning professional. The URL is htt...

Twitter is quickly gaining a huge following particularly in the last few months. It has surged to 10 million from 6 million (in early 2009). For more on how Twitter is influencing social media, read the report by Brian Solis at http://www.briansolis.com/2009/04/twitter-traffic-surges-to-10-million.html If you're keen to try out Twitter, guidebooks are aplenty. One recently released is available as a .pdf version. You may download it from: http://lindenamueller.com/blog/2009/05/trying-to-figure-out-twitter-try-our-free-ebook/ Happy twittering!

Since I first joined twitter more than eight or nine months ago, I have introduced Twitter to many Malaysians through my presentations in conferences, meetings, etc. I can recall only two friends, colleagues or acquaintances who are already on Twitter. Two others I know are politicians (the Malaysian PM and ex-Deputy PM). In short, Twitter is almost unknown. Facebook, Friendster and MySpace have a much larger following. The other friends, colleagues and acquaintances have facebook accounts or netvibes and never heard of Twitter. Today, however, the Sunday Star papers highlighted Twitter. Read it at http://tinyurl.com/cp5d3t . I expect more Malaysians will now be twittering. Personally, I love Twitter! As a microblogging tool, I can quickly update, provide useful links for other twitterers and learn from those with the same interests as mine. You can use it as a learning tool, teaching tool and marketing tool. You can also set it as a community tool by activating the Twibes f...

Twitter is one of my favourite tools. To understand what Twitter is, study the visual above. Initially meant for and focussed on communication, it has worked well in some learning situations, for example in English language classes where students are forced to tweet within 140 characters. Perhaps the book below will generate more ideas on how educators can benefit from Twitter! Twitter Handbook for Teachers Twitter Handbook for Teachers Tomaz Lasic An overview of Twitter and ways of using it in education for a group of educators attending Twizza (Twitter & pizza) gathering in Perth, Western Australian on April 8, 2009. Created by Tomaz Lasic (@lasic, http://human.edublogs.org) Publish at Scribd o...

For a quick overview of emerging technologies, view: Emerging Technologies View more presentations from David Peter .

The 9th ICI conference with a focus on Learning Innovations in Higher Education will be held on 12 and 13 August 2009 at The Legend Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. Proposals are being accepted until 1 May . Further details are at: http://ici9.oum.edu.my/ Updates are available on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ici9 For more information, email: ici9@oum.edu.my

How would you respond if someone were to say, that the Web has gone through three generations: Web 1.0, Web 2.0 and Web 3.0. The difference between each one is that Web 1.0 was the "Write Web," the Web 2.0, the "Read/Write Web" and the Web 3.0 the "Read, Write, Collaborate Web." Just think how in the 90s, it was all about having or rather publishing your own Web site. It was cool to say the least. About a decade later, it's about creating 'content' together. Today or soon it will be about connectivity and collaborative learning through mobile technologies. Read more in Steve Wheeler's blog at http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/2009/04/learing-3.0.html

The Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) is inviting applications for the 2008 National Academic Award in six categories as listed below (for details see http://www.mohe.gov.my/aan2008/konsep.htm): Anugerah Tokoh Akademik Negara Anugerah Penerbitan Makalah Jurnal Anugerah Penerbitan Buku Anugerah Inovasi dan Pengkomersialan Produk Anugerah Seni dan Kreativiti Anugerah Pengajaran A briefing to public and private universities was held at PICC on 16 March 2009. Deadline for applications to reach MOHE is 4 May 2009.

Educators are forever inundated with change. As we often hear, "change is constant." Change is part and parcel of today's life, thus the importance of change management, paradigm shift, managing change because being able to change is changing for the better and so on. Education today is also no longer what we knew it as. Fundamentally, it is the same. It is about learning and learning is about content, interaction and assessment. However, content may no longer need to come from the teacher alone. The teacher, has truly, I think needs to become more and more a facilitator of learning, more so today than before. I remember the first time I heard the word facilitator (in the context of learning) was in 1985 when I was about to leave for the US for my university studies. I was to become a "facilitator" at the end of my studies in MRSM or Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (Mara junior science colleges - secondary schools with an emphasis on producing brilliant science...

If you're into creating quizzes for online use, try Quiz Maker. Here's an overview of what it is all about: ProProfs Quiz School : Create and share quizzes

Yes, you can view them from http://www.academicearth.org/ . Imagine getting some of the very best lectures from Berkeley, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford and Yale! Looks like education is more open and exciting these days.

In the current digital age, e-porfolios appear to be the next approach to capturing one's learning path. As testimony to the positive impact of e-portfolios, read the report by the Learning Science Research Institute at the University of Nottingham. The researchers investigated the impact that e-portfolios can have on learners in schools, further education, higher education and work-based learning. They looked at eight case studies of e-portfolio projects. This involved document analysis and interviews and surveys of learners and teachers. Read: http://partners.becta.org.uk/index.php?section=rh&catcode=_re_rp_02&rid=14007

The ten most viewed articles from the Education and Information Technology Digital Library (EdITLib) at http://www.EdITLib.org are: 1. Issues in Distance Learning http://www.editlib.org/index. cfm?fuseaction=Reader. ViewAbstract&paper_id=8937 2. Technology, Transfer and Teaching: The Impact of a Single Technology Course on Preservice Teachers' Computer Attitudes and Ability http://www.editlib.org/index. cfm?fuseaction=Reader. ViewAbstract&paper_id=26064 3. Are Pretty Interfaces Worth the Time? The Effects of User Interface Types on Web-Based Instruction http://www.editlib.org/index. cfm?fuseaction=Reader. ViewAbstract&paper_id=25210 4. Conditions, Processes and Consequences of 1:1 Computing in K-12 Classrooms: The Impact on Teaching Practices and Student Achievement http://www.editlib.org/index. cfm?fuseaction=Reader. ViewAbstract&paper_id=27486 5. Generative Learning Strategies and Metacognitive Feedback to Facilitate comprehension of Complex Science Topics and S...

At a recent committee meeting with colleagues, one of the members of top management asked what a podcast was. This is not the first time I get the question, in spite of it having been around for a while now. Hence, for those who need to know what it is, how to create one and so on, visit: http://radio.about.com/od/podcastin1/a/aa030805a.htm.

It was good to have attended the kick-off meeting of the ACCESS Project in Brussels. ACCESS is a two-year research project involving several organisations from Europe and South East Asia. Supported by funding under the Erasmus Mundus Programme under the European Commission, the project kick-off meeting took place in Brussels on 27 and 28 February with all the project partners in attendance. It is SEAAIR 's first research project with countries outside the SEAsian region. I am involved as the project coordinator from SEAAIR. More details about the project will be unveiled over the next few months. Meanwhile, a brief of the project can be viewed at http://www.access-project.eu/ . The next meeting will be in June in Malaysia with all partners again attending to review the findings from a survey that will be conducted in February and March. The survey will be on the perception of academicians, researchers and students towards European higher education. The outcomes of the proje...

2009 may have just started but am already feeling the time wheezing by so quickly. I am scheduled to give a keynote at a seminar organised by UPSI in less than 2 weeks time. I can still remember how, when I first got the message asking me whether I was available to speak almost a year ago. I felt that it was so far down the road! Anyway time has flown so quickly and the seminar is just around the corner. I'm looking forward to sharing some of my latest thoughts and ideas on how Web 2.0 can support today's learners. I'm using some of these tools for an online graduate course in the Master of Instructional Design and Technology program at OUM and I believe some of our learners will thrive on Learning 2.0. Some details of the keynote addresses to be delivered at the seminar are at: http://ikict.upsi.edu.my/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20&Itemid=33

Found an interesting lecture by Thomas Freidman. He needs no introduction, having been a New York Times columnist since 1995 and with several best sellers to his name including his latest book "Hot, Flat and Crowded." His recent keynote address at MIT is on YouTube (48 minutes long) and can be viewed at:

The world of education is becoming more open. Already, we find students retrieving materials from a variety of sources that are not necessarily provided by their own educational institution. This is due to the availability of OERs. What are OERs? George Siemens gives a good introduction of this. View it at: http://www.slideshare.net/gsiemens/oer-presentation-924281 . In addition, other sources of information on OERs include: http://www.slideshare.net/Downes/open-educational-resources-and-the-personal-learning-environment http://www.slideshare.net/zaid/101-open-educational-resources-presentation

The University of Southern Queensland has several courses in their OpenCourseWare section. An intuitive approach to help the learner move along from week to week or from topic to topic. Everything is online or in digital form. Saves trees....well, unless every student starts printing every page.

As I go more and more into Web 2.0, I find more and more interesting tools to use and adopt in the near future. If you wish to be on a fast learning track in terms of the tools available, you must visit http://my-ecoach.com/project.php?id=13913 . It's a quick way to get started. I wish I saw this a year ago. Knew about it when I joined the Digifolios and Social Learning Spaces learning group.

Read the following news on how the economic downturn in the US will benefit Malaysian HEIs. Not happy with the negative bits though. http://chronicle.com/news/index.php?id=5777&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en On another note, to know whether an HEI is legitimate or not , visit: http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=49864&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html . It includes a list of 17 countries....Malaysia is included!

If you're interested in learning about how conferences can be more engaging, here's a message from Curtis Bonk: "You might be interested in an open/free online event organized and hosted by AACE: Spaces of Interaction: An online conversation on improving traditional conferences. George Siemens is leading the effort. Tom Reynolds, Mimi Lee, Erik Duval, Ellen Wagner, Margaret Driscoll, Jon Dron, Gary Marks, myself, and various others are on the planning committee as well. You can sign up here: http://www.aace.org/conf/spaces/ and join the ning site here: http://aacecommunity.ning.com/ The event will run from Feb 18-20. We will be announcing speakers and panels shortly. Discussions will be held both synchronously and asynchronously. The main goal of the conversation is to share opinions, insights, ideas, and practical suggestions on how we can create more engaging conferences. The event is open, so anyone currently involved in organizing a conference is welcome to attend. F...

With the world becoming more open, academic journals where submissions are peer-reviewed and where whole articles are available without any charge seem to be catching on. One example is the International Journal for the Scholarship on Teaching and Learning (IJoSTL) at http://academics.georgiasouthern.edu/ijsotl/index.htm . The January 2009 issue is now available.

Like any tool, Twitter can be a help or a hindrance; or a boon or a bane. Read the latest on how not to let Twitter (a microblogging tool) become a time waster. And, read all the other tips too. Go to: http://www.twitip.com/how-not-to-let-twitter-become-a-waste-of-time/

The ninth SEAAIR regional conference will be hosted by USM and IPPTN in Penang. Plan to attend. We had the most interesting conference in Surabaya last year, thanks to the host, STIE, Perbanas. We expect no less from our Penang hosts this year. For details, visit: http://www.ptpm.usm.my/seaair2009/

Mobile learning is expected to revolutionise education in India. In fact the country is expected to be one of the leaders in mLearning. Read it all at: http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20081117/market03.shtml

Heard of Slideshare.com ? I think this is one, if not the most, popular community slide sharing web site. I actually love it coz chances are, you'll find info that you are looking for from the thousands of slides that have been uploaded. But wait, a new one was just born. Called SlideSix , it looks like a much simpler site and it is uncluttered. However, it's brand new. Based on my search for Learning 2.0 or Web 2.0 , nothing came up. Maybe, a good site to upload your slides to if you are not keen to have too many other people viewing your slides. Definitely, not the best place to visit if you were looking for presentations. But, who knows what will happen in a year or two.

It's been a long time since I was impressed, no . . . that's an understatement . . . . very impressed with something that looks like a normal pen and normal note book (with dotted pages) but can be, listen to this, a personal productivity tool, a learning aide, an e-learning content creator, and a personal secretary during meetings, lectures, conferences, discussions, and more. What I saw, at this moment in time, is a tool that OUM could use to develop e-learning content. Designed to help someone write notes or draw and at the same time capture the lecturer's voice in the classroom, or if in a meeting, capture the discussions during the meeting, can actually be used to conduct a tutorial on how to solve math equations, or understand graphs, diagrams, and so on. Notes/images and voice can be stored in the pen's memory and recalled instantaneously with great ease. This can be played back, listened with or without earphones or uploaded to the Internet and played back thr...

If you're looking for a conference on educational technology or those related to education, visit: http://elearnspace.org/media/EdTechConferencesJanToAug2009crw.doc . The list is impressive, though by no means comprehensive. Still a lot to choose from.

Found info on, "Twitter means Business." I had a quick read of Chapter 1 . . . quite interesting. The idea is that Twitter can help make or break a business . . . stories of several companies that have successfully used Twitter are covered in a few chapters of the book. No education institutions are covered in this book, yet. I wonder if Twitter can be a marketing tool for colleges and universities, given the fact that education is considered a "business" these days? For more info, visit: http://yourtech.typepad.com/twitinbiz/

It pays to follow another person's web site entries (George Siemen's!)...found this list on what the top ten social learning tools will be for 2009. Check it out at: http://janeknight.typepad.com/pick/2008/12/predictions-for-top-tools-2009.html . Looks like there are more tools for me to explore as I try to find the ones that are most appropriate to adopt for my next graduate course on instructional technology! Can be fun but time-consuming. But, I've enjoyed the learning.

I can agree with a few of the technologies listed by James Clay, who is in charge of Virtual Learning Environments, particularly in the use of learning technologies, e-learning, the libraries, digital and online resources and the strategic direction of the Gloucestershire College in the UK. Check it out at: http://elearningstuff.wordpress.com/2008/12/20/top-ten-technologies-of-2008/ I think the iPod Touch and iPhone are marvellous inventions! I love the iPod nanos as well! Next, view his top ten tools for 2008: http://elearningstuff.wordpress.com/2008/12/20/top-ten-technologies-of-2008/ I am personally starting to like Twitter . You get to stay connected with friends, colleagues and family, or as they say, to stay in the loop...but you've got to have others (who matter) linked to yours to reap the benefits. So once you've started, follow others so that they can also follow you. Catch my twittering at http://twitter.com/zoraini . I started experimenting about a month ago ...