Eye on Learning

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...