ZaidLearn

Rediscovering Curt Bonk's Extreme Learning World!

2012-02-17T16:33:00.007+08:00

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. Bonk's Videostreamed Talks and Podcasts
Discover his learning adventures and stories... WOW!
TravelinEdMan
His learning (journal) blog.
Extreme Learning
Extreme 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.

Wow! No more spoon-feeding! Please, discover more yourself!

Finally, Dr. Curt Bonk please reconsider doing an online talk for IMU Learning Webinar Series?

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 BONK'S REACTION
Let's recapture his reaction in a visual and transparent manner:

WOW! Respect for his razor sharp quickness and willingness.

Let's hope now that he can find the time to conduct one webinar for IMU Learning Webinar Series... At least he is more willing now, which is simply AWESOME :)

Empowering Personal Learning Environments at USM!

2012-02-10T11:11:00.006+08:00

EMPOWERING PERSONAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS Empowering Personal Learning Environments at USM!

View more PowerPoint from Zaid Alsagoff

This presentation explores 5 future trends educators simply cannot ignore, and then introduce participants to the idea of using a variety of learning tools to build Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) to empower lifelong, collaborative and reflective learning. It will be presented at the ’Enhancing Teaching and Learning’ Seminar at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) on the 13th Feb, 2012.

USING FACEBOOK AND TWITTER FOR LEARNING AND TEACHING

During the seminar, I will be conducting two 1-hour learning sessions. The second one is entitled, "Using Facebook and Twitter for Learning and Teaching". For this session, I will basically be reusing the following presentation slides:

IMU Learning Series 01 - Facebook for Learning and Teaching?

View more PowerPoint from Zaid Alsagoff

IMU Twitter 101 Learning Workshop

View more presentations from Zaid Alsagoff

This post will be further enriched with my reflections after the seminar :)

Baby Salma's Awesome Chat!

2012-02-03T09:33:00.003+08:00

DON'T BELIEVE? WATCH THIS...

Yes, my brother-in-law Adam has a GOD GIVEN gift to engage babies to talk. In this video, Adam is talking to my baby daughter Salma (turning 2 years old next week). Although, we have no clue what they are talking about, we are enriched with happy moments to cherish for life.

Now, imagine if Adam rethinks his existing law career, and...

IMAGINE

..Collaborates with Giggles to develop the most wanted app in the world for any mum and dad: 'BABY CHAT!' Now, for the first time since Adam and Eve parents can actually understand what their babies are babbling about. Even better, with 'BABY CHAT' babies also understand what their parents (or anyone) are babbling, meaning a real conversation can take place. It will for sure be revolutionary for baby learning.

Adam, please rethink your career and explore the possibilities to reinvent the way we communicate with babies...Please don't answer me, just think about it!

In the meantime, can anyone decipher what baby Salma is really trying to say? :)

IMU-LS-04: Facilitating a Massive Open Online Course (Stephen Downes)

2012-01-31T12:27:00.011+08:00

IMU LEARNING SERIES (ROUND 4)

Title : Facilitating a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)
Date : 22nd February, 2012
Time : 10.00 AM, Kuala Lumpur
Venue : Online (WizIQ)

Description:

In this (nearly 2 hour online) talk Stephen Downes, one of the originators of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) format, described the organization and management of a MOOC, beginning with the arrangement of technology, organization of learning materials, communications with students, support tasks, and interaction with guest presenters. This talk is based on fifteen years’ experience designing and delivering web-based instruction, as well as knowledge amassed though the delivery of six MOOCs to almost ten thousand students since 2008.

Speaker:

Stephen Downes works for the National Research Council of Canada where he has served as a Senior Researcher, based in Moncton, New Brunswick, since 2001. Affiliated with the Learning and Collaborative Technologies Group, Institute for Information Technology, Downes specializes in the fields of online learning, new media, pedagogy and philosophy.

RECORDING

You are recommended to skip the first 30 minutes of the recorded webinar, so that you can get right into the action. The actual session starts roughly 30 minutes into the recording. If you have any problems viewing, try updating your Flash Player.

CLICK HERE

(To view the recorded online webinar)

Click here to download the recorded webinar.

Click here for an excellent audio recording of the webinar captured by Stephen Downes.

PRESENTATION SLIDES

Facilitating a Massive Open Online Course

View more PowerPoint from Stephen Downes

UPCOMING WEBINARS?
CLICK HERE!

IMU-LS-03: How to Become a Rapid E-Learning Pro (Tom Kuhlmann)

2012-01-20T11:32:00.006+08:00

Title : How to Become a Rapid E-Learning Pro
Date : 8th February, 2012
Venue : Online (WizIQ)
Time : 10.00 AM (Kuala Lumpur Time)

Description:

Many developers work with limited budgets and resources. How can they build effective elearning courses with these constraints? Tom Kuhlmann shared in this webinar some practical tips on getting the most out of the resources you have to build engaging and interactive elearning content.

Speaker:

Tom Kuhlmann is the author of the Rapid E-Learning Blog, which has over 85,000 subscribers each week. He shares practical tips and tricks to help people learn more about elearning. He also manages the Articulate user community. He holds a Master's in Education Technology from Pepperdine and is very passionate about learning and technology.

Yes, the actual session turned out to be an enriching and engaging WOW session for learning how to convert your boring PowerPoint slides into sizzling e-learning content.

RECORDING

CLICK HERE

(To view the recorded online webinar)

*The edited and downloadable versions will be made available soon.

PRESENTATION SLIDES

Rapid Elearning Pro

View more presentations from IMUelearning

Click here to access the full list of recorded and upcoming webinars for IMU Learning Series.

IMU-LS-02: Web Conferencing for Teaching, Learning and Meetings

2012-01-12T18:33:00.006+08:00

Date: Wednesday, 11th January 2012
Venue: Online (WizIQ)
Time: 2:15 - 3:30 P.M. (Malaysian time)
Facilitators: Zaid Ali Alsagoff and Fareeza Marican

AGENDA

Can we use Web Conferencing (WizIQ) for teaching, learning and meetings? This online session will explore the basics of using Web Conferencing and how it can be used for teaching and learning. By the end of this session, participants shall be able to use Web Conferencing for teaching, learning, meetings, etc.

RECORDING

You are recommended to skip the first 22 minutes of the recorded webinar, so that you can get right into the action. The actual learning session starts roughly 22 minutes after the recording started. If you have any problems viewing, try updating your Flash Player.

CLICK HERE

(To view the recorded online session)

* Currently, WizIQ (the version we are using) does not have a post-editing feature for webinar recordings. Also, there is no 'pause' button to use while recording a webinar. Please skip the first 22 minutes of the webinar above to really enjoy the learning session.

PRESENTATION SLIDES

The presentation slides for this webinar is only available for IMU staff (from the e-learning portal). However, here are similar presentation slides from WizIQ, which basically covers what we covered during the webinar.

Wiziq training material

Uploaded by Sunil on WizIQ Tutorials

Move Aside TEDx, Here Comes The Learning Innovation Talks (LIT)!

2012-01-10T14:35:00.007+08:00

Alright, we should not talk big before things happen, but sometimes in life you get that feeling...

"THIS IS GOING TO WORK!"

ORIGIN

Somehow, I got that feeling when I joined 'iPTA-iPad (and Tablets) for Academicians' Facebook group (invited by the electrifying Prof. Karim). Since late 2008, I have been dreaming (passively) about collaborating with a core group of passionate educators in Malaysia to really transform education for the better (without much luck!).

But, then I stumbled upon this Facebook group, and the rest is history in the making (Hopefully!). When I joined the group, they were passionately planning to conduct a TEDx session, but then I opened my big mouth (Devil's Advocate)! Within a short period, the TEDx idea was history. TEDx is great, but it doesn't really fit into our mission.

While TEDx is often associated with 'Big Ideas' and 'Changing the World', we are thinking about creating multiple venues (Face-to-face, Webinars, Second Life, etc.) for sharing learning stories on how to use technology (e.g. using iPad apps) to transform the way we learn and teach. Small ideas matter as much as big ideas! And importantly, you don't have to be out of this world to present. Everyone is welcome, as long as you think you have a learning innovation to share (small or big!).

Welcome to...

LEARNING INNOVATION TALKS

As a result, we used our collective intelligence to conceptualize Learning Innovation Talks.

Learning Innovation Talks (LIT)

Yes, I will be one of the presenters. Please come! If you don't, you will be able to view the recorded sessions later. So, either way we do hope our learning innovation sharing sessions reaches you.

LEARNING INNOVATION CIRCLE

Learning Innovation Talks is the first learning gem to spark out of this brand new Learning Innovation Circle. Confusing? Come and join the Learning Innovation Circle!

I got this fuzzy little feeling that this group is going to conceptualize and implement some pretty awesome initiatives in the coming months (and years), so why not be part of history in the making... Everyone is welcome to join... :)

IMU Learning Series 01 - Facebook for Learning and Teaching?

2011-12-28T11:33:00.014+08:00

Date: Wednesday, 28th December

Venue: Online (WiZiQ)

Time: 2:30 - 3:30 P.M. (Malaysian time)

(GMT + 8 Hours: 6:30 - 7:30 A.M)

AGENDA

Can Facebook be used for teaching and learning? How can it be used? In this online session we explored how it can be used for teaching and learning with a specific emphasis on using Facebook Groups and Pages.

FACILITATORS

Zaid Ali Alsagoff
Fareeza Marican

RECORDING
You are recommended to skip the first 10 minutes, so that you can get right into the action. If you have problems viewing, try updating your Flash Player.

IMU Learning Series 01 - Facebook for Learning and Teaching?

CLICK HERE

(To view the recorded online session)

PRESENTATION SLIDES

IMU Learning Series 01 - Facebook for Learning and Teaching?

View more presentations from Zaid Alsagoff.

Stay tuned for the upcoming online session, which will be revealed soon :)

My Auto-Conversion WISH to Delicious, Scoop.it & Co!

2011-12-20T19:09:00.004+08:00

PROBLEM!

Have you seen this great collection (Click the link!!!)?

Alright, it is not great, but it is a useful list of links (URLs) to mostly free learning repositories and resources (that needs to be updated!). Now, how can I CONVERT this web-page full of web links into a visually mind stimulating magazine/newspaper (web-page) in an efficient manner?

I could add one link at the time to Delicious or Scoop.it...STOP! Isn't happening!!!

Now, imagine how many web-pages there are of link collections (from A-Z) curated by people around the world? As of now (this millisecond), there are exactly 22,679,232 such web-pages on the WWW. Don't ask me how I got that figure!

No, what if...

WISH?

Now, what if we could feed tools like Delicious and Scoop.it with a URL (e.g. http://zaidlearn.blogspot.com/2008/06/university-learning-ocw-oer-free.html), and then the curation tool would auto-convert the link collection into a more visually stimulating web-page with thumbnails and short descriptions customized to our preferences. From a coding point-of-view, I doubt that would be difficult for a good programmer (count me out!).

Of course, after feeding it the URL it will recognize all the broken-links (so we can update or delete), and allow us to 'Select all' or those that we want to be visualized in our stunning magazine/newspaper/or whatever you want to call it!

Better yet, it will have a nutty, but stunning algorithm wizardly auto-arranging the sites on our magazine/newspaper according to (Google) ranking, relevance, rating, etc. and allows us easily to change views according to our preference.

Wow! Finally, we surely want to keep our old view collections (URLs) intact, so after converting, we can add our converted version URL to it in a creative manner; just like adding an icon for PDF version. Yes, now we have the Magazine/Newspaper version (icon), too.

Then someone is going to spoil my idea by telling me that we already have a browser plugin (or a widget we can add to a site) that enables us to see a screenshot of the site automatically by hovering over the link (URL). Well, that is cool, but that is not what I want!

Social Curation Tools... PLEASE read my auto-conversion wish above and INNOVATE! If you already have such a feature or something similar...PLEASE voice out!

So, is my idea doable? Without spamming the world... :)

The e-Learning Pearls of Qassim College of Medicine!

2011-12-15T18:39:00.008+08:00

E-LEARNING PEARLS

A couple of years ago I was very fortunate to be part of the first National e-Learning Audit (team) of Universities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), and during this wonderful learning journey I got to visit some of the top Universities there offering e-learning in a variety of flavors. However, since that journey I have mostly kept my learning discoveries out of this blog.

However, today I thought: "Lets' share with you all one of those e-learning pearls." Actually, since this e-learning pearl loves to share its' own e-learning journey in a comprehensive documented manner, it is rather easy. Here we go:

CLICK HERE to Download the E-Learning Report

QASSIM COLLEGE OF MEDICINE

To really understand what I mean by e-learning pearl, let's look at some of their e-learning statistics: (Source):

All (100%) courses use e-learning.
More than two million hits monthly (Only 749 registered users... WOW!).
Each visit a user opens 19.7 Pages/Visit.
Number of courses now online is 45 for this year, total 149 since launch.
Number of registered staff members is 123.
Number of online discussions is 19000 (Another...WOW!).
Number of resources is 2300 lectures (Not bad!).
Average 580 visits to the sites daily this month, total 20000 visits/month, 60-140 % of college students' daily online (note that double visits are common).
151 e-learning satisfaction surveys since launch.
51 completed electronic paperless exams in the exam center.
Three complete sets of clinical exams available online either for download or streaming.
A dedicated video streaming site for training videos.
ITunes site with physical exams.
8 workshops conducted on e-learning this year (2011).
First to launch a (Moodle) mobile app for a College in KSA and in The Middle East (Not sure about that!).
45000 hits from mobile phones.

Interestingly, they are also a member of the OpenCourseWare Consortium, and through their Learning Management System (Moodle) they have made available 12 complete online courses for free.

All this is good, but what really caught my wondering mind's attention was that they had managed to create something really special that most of the other Universities we visited (at that time) had not and that was an...(Shall I continue? Exciting or what!)

EMPOWERED (E-)LEARNING CULTURE

They had managed to facilitate a common culture among staff (and students) that empowered all members to create content, manage interaction, communicate with students, release grades, and many other activities. Among the remarkable men that I met at the College, I was really impressed with Mohammed Saqr; The Assistant Professor of Medicine, who self-converted himself to become the e-learning supervisor of the e-Learning Unit.

Impressively, all of their e-learning systems have been developed/customized in house. All of the software used is open source, and they have proven that community projects are viable and represent an alternative solution for the highly expensive commercial solutions. According to Mohammed Saqr they amazingly spent only around 100 US dollars a year to host all their e-learning services.

Yes, the college staff (Doctors) do the upgrade, maintenance, and day to day help. And they are honored to proclaim that NO single contribution by any company or any support of any kind outside the college, all support and planning is done by their staff members.

They have changed the whole assessment process to use digital examination. Today, their exam labs are being copied in other colleges, and the question bank will be generalized in KSA. Online surveys and user feedback has become the base of decision making in the college.

Their mobile learning portal enables every student to access his lectures and learning materials anytime. The college has also produced many simulation videos, DVDs, manuals, booklets, e-learning workshops and made them available FREE TO THE WORLD.

They have also published two international papers (I need to find them, NOW!), and according to the site they are working on 10 ongoing research projects.

Finally, the College has a strict policy regarding copyrights, every user has to agree before using their facilities; the policy respects the rights of others and disseminates the culture of copyrights (whatever that means!).

I wish, copyrights will just go away, and I could live happily in a copyleft world! Or better yet, a CREATIVE COMMONS world!

Overall, I was really impressed 2 years ago, and I am still impressed with what they are achieving (of what I am seeing), especially in empowering everyone to get involved and inspire learning. Now, that is an e-learning pearl... I arrest my case :)

Introduction to Critical Thinking - 100,000+ Views on SlideShare!

2011-12-08T10:13:00.006+08:00

IMAGINATIVE SUCCESS!

WOW! I never thought that my 'Introduction to Critical Thinking' presentation would be viewed more than a 100,000 times on SlideShare (or would be my first SlideShare presentation to reach that feat!). It took four years, but so what! In Justin Beaber and Lady Gaga viewing terms that is probably achieved every second, so I am not going to use that as a measuring stick.

However, I am happy and grateful that this presentation and other things shared using a variety of tools over the last few years have benefited many teachers and students out there in one way or the other. Interestingly, over the last four years, I have gotten e-mails from some top experts/lecturers/teachers in critical thinking, and have even been invited to contribute to a book on critical thinking...Seriously!

Anyway, here is the infamous presentation again (if you missed it!):

Introduction to Critical Thinking

View more presentations from Zaid Alsagoff

Of course, I turned the book request down, because I only taught Critical Thinking for one semester at UNITAR (Surely not enough experience to make a significant contribution!), and then I was kicked out (gently)... THE TRUE STORY !

I am thinking, what if I had continued with Critical Thinking, and made a career of it? Never happened! So, I am not going to waste anymore thinking cells on that :)

The Most Influential Doctors on Twitter!

2011-12-08T09:25:00.006+08:00

"Twitter Doctors is a new site that lists and ranks all the doctors who are active on Twitter based on number of followers, retweets, etc."
- Bertalan Meskó

In short, a directory of the most influential doctors on Twitter. I love it :)

Can Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin GET YOU A JOB?

2011-12-02T10:02:00.006+08:00

Created by: MBA Online

A BIG NO!

No social media tool is going to get you a job, unless social media is your business. If YOU _____, YOU _____! And when you meet up for real, you still need to prove that you're the man/woman for the job. Worse yet, social media might even turn them off you, so use these tools WISELY (especially, if you are looking for a job)!

A BIG YES!

Though, social media tools like Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin can make yourself (resume) more visible and attractive to job hunters out there, and increasingly they are using such tools to discover the real (virtual) you. Yes, tools like Linkedin are also great places to search and discover potential jobs, get an awesome referral from someone, and even interact with potential bosses. In short, these tools can open new doors, and sometimes even shut them, so use them WISELY (repeated for the 2nd time!).

THINK TWICE!

What do I mean by wisely? THINK TWICE before Facebooking, Tweeting and Linkedining anything that you would not want your parents to know.

JOBS?

Tools don't get you the job, YOU GET THE JOB! Though, social media tools like Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin will make you more visible out there, and empower you with new ways to engage with job hunters, and possibly get you a job interview.

In short, they are just tools (door openers), but POWERFUL ONES in your search for the perfect job tailored to your needs and wishes. Good luck (unless you are staying putt!) :)

IMU Twitter 101 Learning Workshop

2011-11-30T10:54:00.000+08:00

WORKSHOP SLIDES

The presentation slides for the Twitter workshop conducted at the International Medical University (IMU) on the 30th November, 2011.

IMU Twitter 101 Learning Workshop

View more presentations from Zaid Alsagoff

Happy and grateful to be BACK :)

Top 100 Tools used by Learning Professionals in 2011!

2011-11-22T16:31:00.004+08:00

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2011

TOP 100 LEARNING TOOLS

The list is compiled (by Jane Hart) from the Top 10 Tools lists of 531 learning professionals worldwide (from education, training and workplace learning). Well, this year I missed the boat in participating, but that is not going to stop me from sharing it with my readers (for those that missed it, I mean!). Here we go:

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2011

View more presentations from Jane Hart

If you are interested in a more detailed view of the movement of the tools on the list, take a look at the Winners & Losers 2011. Jane has also created a Best of Breed 2011 list, which categorizes the tools under a number of headings. You better check out the site yourself to get a better view of what is really happening in the learning tools world.

Thanks, Jane for making our lives easier to select learning tools to learn and share. What else can I say! Master Twitter, Google Apps (Docs, Google Sites & Plus+), Moodle, web-conferencing, Blogs and Wikis and you will be just fine for 2012. I shall write NO more... Enjoy discovering some new learning tools :)

Educational Technology and Related Education Conferences (Clayton R. Wright)

2011-11-17T14:10:00.005+08:00

Educational Technology and Related Education Conferences for January to June 2012

"This 26th version of the conference list covers selected events from four continents. The list focuses primarily on the use of technology in educational settings and on teaching, learning, and educational administration. Only listings until June 30, 2012 are complete as dates, locations, or Internet addresses (URLs) were not available for a number of events held after this date..." - Clayton R. Wright

Click here to view and download.

Educational Technology and Related Education Conferences for January to June 2012

One word: WOW! (In a good sense!)

Infographic on Steve Jobs Amazing Life - Genius!

2011-10-27T11:50:00.004+08:00

Check out this awesome infographic by Infographic World exploring Steve Jobs incredible accomplishments over his 56 years of existence (Amazing Genius!):

Created by: Infographic World

The only issue I have with this infographic is the latest stats on Apple's value, product sales, downloads, and usage info, which are already kind of outdated. For example, Apple's market cap today has already surpassed 400 Dollars, which makes Microsoft look even worse in comparison.

Whatever it is, Steve Jobs did an amazing job to transform Apple since he returned after being kicked out (which he ironically co-founded with Steve Wozniak). It will be interesting to see how Apple will be doing in 5 years time.

As I am writing this post on my MacBook Air (having also an iPod, iPhone and iPad), I am certainly one of those (millions) that have been influenced tremendously by his innovations. Steve Jobs might not be around anymore, but his ideas, achievements and innovations will live on for ...

THANK YOU!

GENIUS... AND JERK, TOO?
Well, I suppose it is not good to find fault and criticize a dead man (no chance to rebut!), but I suppose we should know that Steve Jobs also had a darker side (ignored mostly here to show respect), which was originally purposely left out.

But, I suppose having a more balanced view (as Maurice Ward commented) of a man like Steve Jobs is important. Surely, we would love to inspire innovations like him, but perhaps not in manner he did it (or Apple did it!). In other words, the output was great, but the process of getting there could certainly have been done in a more humane manner.

"Even in death, Steve Jobs can sell us anything, including the story of what a complete and complex jerk he could at times be. "
- Judith Timson

"One thing he wasn't, though, was perfect. Indeed there were things Jobs did while at Apple that were deeply disturbing. Rude, dismissive, hostile, spiteful: Apple employees—the ones not bound by confidentiality agreements—have had a different story to tell over the years about Jobs and the bullying, manipulation and fear that followed him around Apple. Jobs contributed to global problems, too. Apple's success has been built literally on the backs of Chinese workers, many of them children and all of them enduring long shifts and the specter of brutal penalties for mistakes. And, for all his talk of enabling individual expression, Jobs imposed paranoid rules that centralized control of who could say what on his devices and in his company."

- Ryan Tate

Yes, it would have been good to have an infographic illustrating a more balanced view of Steve Jobs.

Have you seen one that I could add to this post?

JiT2U is Still Under Construction, But Already AWESOME!

2011-09-22T22:56:00.010+08:00

Click Here NOW!

JiT2U

Just in Time Training To You (JiT2U) for Web 2.0 Tools is a mobile module meant to gently introduce the concepts and potentials of Web 2.0 tools for educators and learners.

JiT2U is designed by Prof Dr Mohamed Amin Embi and Dr Afendi Hamat from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Please share with them suggestions and feedback on how to improve and deliver a better training experience for the benefits of teaching and learning.

Yeah, I simply love the creative use of GoAnimate to stimulate interest and explain how the different web 2.0 tools work (example):

This is probably the coolest bunch of web 2.0 tutorials (or my new mobile web 2.0 learning pet!) to come out of Malaysia by a mile! Actually, I haven't seen anything like it ever, especially using GoAnimate to stimulate the creative cartoonish flavor to exploring web 2.0. JiT2U covers overviews, applications, tutorials (video and image/text), references, and much more for tons of web 2.0 tools!

It is still under construction, and I can't imagine how popular this tool will be when it is first completed, thinking about the amount of web 2.0 tools it covers. WOW!

One word: Awesome!

Click here to enjoy the complete Scribd version of the web 2.0 quick reference tutorial guide.. Another WOW!

JiT2U is ready to rule the web 2.0 world of mobile learning! Yes, I will certainly not develop a web 2.0 tutorial again! Why should I :)

How do Students Use Technology?

2011-08-11T14:32:00.054+08:00

Via: OnlineEducation.net

According to one survey only 8% of students use social sites to contact their teachers. Most seem to use e-mail (91%) to seek extra help from teachers. Well, if that is the case (here, too!), then e-mail is certainly still an important e-learning tool.

Interestingly, 38% said they (students) couldn’t even go 10 minutes without switching on some sort of electronic device. That does not surprise me as I am typing this post! Also, I am surprised to learn based on this infographic that students spend more time texting messages and searching compared to Facebooking. I suppose Google will be happy with that (For now!).

3 out of 4 students say they wouldn't be able to study without technology. I would like to know how those other 1 out of 4 students are able to study effectively without technology. We could certainly learn some creative techniques from them. Check out the rest (infographic above)!

Well, that is how students in the USA use technology! What about in your country (or institution)? Any input to share? Need to do a survey on this soon... :)

Moodle Tool Guide for Educators!

2011-07-29T17:33:00.001+08:00

Download Moodle Tool Guide

Joyce Seitzinger published this really useful Moodle tool guide more than one year ago, but it is certainly still useful. If you missed it and use Moodle at your institution, I am confident that this one-page excellent quick reference tool guide could be really helpful.

I was planning to develop something similar, but when I discovered it at David Hopkins's blog, his blog title reminded me why I should not waste my time on reinventing it (which probably would have turned out worse, too!). Yes, check out also the Blackboard tool guide version, if that is what you are using.

So, for those of you who need guidance on which tool(s) to use in Moodle to facilitate a variety of learning activities, I believes this one-page tool guide is a wonderful starting point (please share others, if any!). Also, you will enjoy the traffic lights (green, yellow, red) for each tool guiding you in terms of ease-of-use, information transfer, assessment, communication and interaction, co-creating (collaborative learning), and Bloom's taxonomy.

Mashing up what you want to use (technology - enabler) with what you want to achieve (pedagogy - learning outcome) on one page is certainly a great idea, and that is why I am sharing it. And of course learning from it! Thanks :)

Empowering Personal Learning Environments

2011-07-13T18:17:00.009+08:00

Empowering Personal Learning Environments

View more presentations from Zaid Alsagoff

This presentation was presented during IMU's seminar entitled 'Transformative E-Learning in Higher Education' last week. As my time was shortened to 45 minutes (from 1 hour 45 minutes) to do the presentation and some hands-on, you can imagine how that turned out... :)

Anyway, I was not feeling too well (mildly!), and the other speakers simply couldn't stop sharing their wisdom and experiences in e-learning, so I have no reason to complain (will share their notes, if I get permission later).

Though, I did manage to explore Poll Everywhere with the crowd, and 50% of them actually managed to vote. Those that didn't vote, probably didn't have Internet access (or mobile learning devices), or simply were not bothered to participate. I can imagine what will happen to 'Clickers' in the future? Do we really need them if we have a decent mobile learning device with Internet access in our hands?

Replace your audience response systems with Poll Everywhere

That's it! Like this one, my future posts until 2012 will be short and sweet, as I struggle to rethink and rediscover myself :)

Web 2.0 Tools in Education: A Quick Guide (Prof. Mohamed Amin Embi)

2011-06-28T17:48:00.004+08:00

Web 2.0 Tools in Education: A Quick Guide by Mohamed Amin Embi

The best quick guide (230 pages) for 'Web 2.0 Tools in Education' that I have come across (Ever!). 230 pages sounds a lot, but when you are covering 20 learning tools with screenshots, it is pretty quick and lovingly light!

Useful? I certainly think so!

Seminar - Transformative e-Learning in Higher Education

2011-05-23T11:41:00.007+08:00

Click here to download the Brochure

Facebook Event Page

The International Medical University (IMU) is organizing an e-learning seminar on July 5 (2011), entitled "Transformative e-Learning in Higher Education". It will be held in the Senate Room, 2nd Floor, IMU Campus, Bukit Jalil.

OVERVIEW
This seminar brings together five experts in education and e-learning to share their ideas, experiences and best practices on how we can use e-learning to transform the way we learn and teach in higher education. They will explore a variety of areas essential to construct transformative learning experiences covering instructional design, online facilitation and assessment, personal learning environments, and e-learning quality and governance.

Date: 5 July, 2011 (Tuesday)
Time: 8.30 am – 5.15 pm
Venue: IMU Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

SPEAKERS

Prof Dato’ Dr Ansary Ahmed
President / CEO, Asia e University
Assoc Prof David M. Kennedy
Director, Teaching and Learning Centre, Lingnan University
Prof Rozhan M. Idrus
Professor of Open & Distance Learning & Technogogy, USM
Prof Dato’ Dr Jai Mohan
Director, Learning Resources, International Medical University
Zaid Ali Alsagoff
E-Learning Manager, International Medical University

KEY TOPICS

Instructional Design
Personal Learning Environments
Curriculum Design & Management
E-Learning Quality & Governance

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of this seminar, you will be able to:

Apply effective instructional design principles to your learning environments.
Adopt effective online facilitation and assessment strategies to engage and assess your learners.
Build your personal learning environments using social media and web 2.0 tools.
Identify and discuss essential e-learning quality and governance issues.

TARGET AUDIENCE

Academics
E-Learning Professionals
IT Professionals
Instructional Designers

Registration Fee: RM650
Early Bird Registration: RM500
(Before 8 June)

If you are interested to attend, please download this form. It includes all the registration and contact details required to attend.

Transformative e-Learning in Higher Education

Looking forward to your participation!

In Awe of Mum's Shimmering Realities!

2011-05-05T17:59:00.008+08:00

WOW! Mum (Nadia Alsagoff), I have to admit I am totally struck by your 'Shimmering Realities' collection! As a result, I want to dedicate this post to my Mum who has inspired me to appreciate art through her passionate lifelong journey as an artist.

Although, I am not the kind of person that would spend hours in an art gallery, I do appreciate and understand the kind of work and challenges so many artists have to go through in life. Being an artist sounds great and fun, but making a living as an artist is certainly not an easy task.

SHIMMERING REALITIES
My Mum retired late last year from her day-to-day work, and has now more time to dedicate to her lifelong passion. Over the last decade or so, most of my Mum's work has been expressed in the form of abstract art, but recently she has rediscovered her passion to paint animals and nature.

Actually, this has surprised me, because her eyesight is not exactly great (and has certainly not improved over the years). Also, I am not sure how effective her current glasses are either. I can still remember an incident a few years back, when she walked head on into a street light. Another time, when I was a kid, she walked straight past me on the street without recognizing me.

Though, she could have been day dreaming on both occasions. I remember once, I cut my lip walking past a statue. It was night time, and I didn't notice that the statue or man was pointing his arm and finger towards my direction. I suppose we both are a bit clumsy (understatement)! Or perhaps it is an inherited ability to 'day dream' in potentially dangerous situations.

So, what I am really trying to say is that I am amazed and in awe that she can still paint such amazing paintings of realism. Alright, I will stop writing now, and share with you five gems from this 'Shimmering Realities' collection:

I especially love the Cheetah one. The Cheetah's eyes (of curiosity) and facial expression leaves us to our imagination to figure out its' real intention (Yummy!).

Interestingly, Mum has used Facebook to share her latest art, though it is only viewable to her friends (if I am not mistaken). Click here to check (if you are interested to discover more of her work)!

Hopefully, you enjoyed Mum's paintings, I certainly did. Thank you!

Mum, you are AMAZING in so many ways :)

Insightful Videos Exploring Why the Finnish Education System Rocks!

2011-04-29T09:02:00.014+08:00

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
- Nelson Mandela

Professor Thomas Baker wrote an insightful blog post recently about why the Finnish education system rocks, and included 5 YouTube videos sharing more insights and secrets behind their success.

I did share some secrets about the Finnish education system way back in 2009, and although I have discovered more interesting things about this awesome learning ecosystem, I am going to refrain from spilling it out here, and have decided to dedicate this post to harvest a juicy collection of videos providing more authentic insights.

This collection will hopefully be useful for you (and me), as the craze around the world to discover the Finnish education system is increasingly becoming a (wrestle) mania.

Finally, I will be adding new insightful videos about the Finnish education system as I discover them, and please share insightful videos that I might have missed out. In other words, don't hesitate to revisit this post :)

THE FINNISH EDUCATION SYSTEM (VIDEO COLLECTION)
Here we go:

Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.

How Do I View Articulate Presentations On an iPad?

2011-04-28T17:08:00.002+08:00

Watching or playing with anything in Flash Format on an iPad (iPhone or iPod) was impossible (as far as I know) in the past. Well, now you can at least view Flash stuff on an iPad using the app called iSWIFTER (Source).

HOW?
Here we go:

Click here to keep yourself updated with latest discussions about Articulate on iPads.

STILL TROUBLESOME!
Alright, it is still troublesome, but I suppose within the next few months Steve Jobs will figure out that supporting Flash is not so bad after all (Otherwise most e-learning content in Malaysia will be useless on an iPad). Or perhaps Adobe (behind Flash) figures out a way to please all Steve Jobs requirements to make Flash safe and smooth in an Apple world.

As for now, you will have to use apps like iSWIFTER to explore your Articulate presentations on an iPad. Let's hope that Apple embraces Flash fully in the near future. If not, then we have to find creative solutions, because certainly it will be tough to learn without an iPad or iPhone in the future.

But, how do we view Articulate presentations on an iPhone? Can anyone enlighten us with possibilities? :)

E-Learning Trends and Challenges in Malaysian Higher Education Institutions

2011-04-22T08:44:00.017+08:00

"MEdO will make Malaysia a leading brand in Asia for online higher education services and a one stop centre for learning, education and the administration of international students."
- Datuk Seri Mohd Khaled Nordin (Minister for Higher Education)

Last Saturday (16th April, 2011), I attended the "Majlis Pelancaran Dasar e-Pembelajaran Negara (DePAN), Buku-Buku e-Pembelajaran dan Malaysia Education Online (MEdO)" event launched by Datuk Seri Mohd Khaled Nordin (Minister for Higher Education).

It turned out to be a very exciting and enriching learning experience for me, and here are my discoveries and reflections...

MALAYSIA EDUCATION ONLINE (MEdO)

Malaysia Education Online (MEdO) is part of the Malaysia Government Transformation Plan (GTP) to expand international distance learning. MEdO is an online learning platform delivering education programmes from Malaysian universities, colleges, polytechnics and training institutes. It is the gateway for them to extend their global outreach whilst each participating institution is able to maintain its identity and uniqueness (more).

MEdO is initiated and led by Asia e University (AeU), which is the selected gateway university (by PEMANDU) for international education for distance and online learning. Six other Malaysian universities and institutes have already signed up to offer programmes on MEdO.

The MEdO platform itself is based on a fusion of Joomla and Moodle with some customization to suit its needs and requirements. As many universities are already using Moodle, it could speed up the learning curve (familiar environment) and adoption by educators that will be required to use it.

It will be interesting to see how this project unfolds. Let's be positive about it :)

E-BOOKS
Besides MEdO, the National E-Learning Policy (Dasar e-Pembelajaran Negara) for Higher Education Institutions, and two books (and one translation) about e-Learning in Malaysian Higher Education were launched.

Here we go:

National E-Learning Policy for Higher Education Institutions
(will add the link when made available)
e-Pembelajaran di IPTA Malaysia (Issuu version)
This e-book provides great insights into how especially public Universities in Malaysia are using e-learning to facilitate learning and teaching. It includes 20 University papers sharing their e-learning stories.
Amalan, Keberkesanan & Cabaran Pelaksanaan e-Pembelajaran di IPT Malaysia (Issuu version)
The English version is below...
e-Learning in Malaysian Higher Education Institutions: Status, Trends & Challenges (Issuu version)
Will be discussed next...

Unfortunately the National E-Learning Policy (No link yet) and e-Pembelajaran di IPTA Malaysia are not yet translated (or published) into English. Anyway, you could always use Google Translator Toolkit, and then decipher the parts that are poorly translated into English.

E-LEARNING IN MALAYSIAN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS
I have to admit I was thrilled to discover the e-Learning in Malaysian Higher Education Institutions: Status, Trends & Challenges publication during the event. Actually, I couldn't wait and was reading it furiously during Datuk Seri Mohd Khaled Nordin's speech (please don't tell!), and what struck me most was all the juicy statistics (Yes, I just love that!) about what was going on in Higher Education in Malaysia, and the simple language used to describe the survey results and findings.

Also, the three (3) questionnaires (E-Learning Admin, Lecturer and student) used for this research were comprehensive and easy to understand (Check Appendices/page 123). The findings in the book is based on 7,962 survey respondents (26 e-Learning administrators, 1,635 lecturers and 6,301 students) from a sample of 30 Malaysian Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), comprising of 20 public HEIs, 7 private HEIs, and 3 polytechnics. As four (out of 7) e-Learning Admins from the private Universities did not participate, I suppose we could generalize that the findings mostly represent what is going on in the public HEIs in Malaysia.

Before I dwell more, I would like to introduce you to Prof Dr Mohamed Amin Embi, who was the chief editor for all the three books mentioned above. He was also the first recipient of the prestigious National Academic Award 2006, and the recipient of the distinguished ISESCO Science Laureate 2010. In other words, he is a pretty interesting guy to know. So, next time you want to know more about e-Learning in Malaysian HEIs, who are you going to call? Simple answer: Prof Dr Mohamed Amin Embi

We have met a couple of times, but I suppose I need to bug him more from now on. Actually, I bugged him through e-mail a few days back to publish these 3 books on Issuu or Scribd, and within a couple of days they were published on both. Great guy!

Yes, he has also summarized nicely the key findings of each chapter in the book, and then published them on SlideShare. So, instead of summarizing the book, I can focus next on providing some of my own insights and reflections to what has been published.

Let's rumble...

Chapter 2: e-Learning Policy

e-Learning policy

View more presentations from Mohamed Amin Embi

Here are few questions we should perhaps ask before even thinking about formulating or requiring HEIs to have e-learning policies:

Do we need to have e-learning policies to make e-learning work for us?
Who should be involved in formulating e-learning policies (all stakeholders, including students)?
How detailed should e-learning policies be (any template)?
Can e-learning policies have a negative impact on implementing e-learning?
Should the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) have a mechanism to enforce all HEIs to have e-learning policies?

Dealing with e-learning policies is a very tricky issue, and cannot be taken lightly. Actually, sometimes e-learning policies can be self-destructive and curb innovations in teaching and learning. Imagine if we have an e-learning policy stating that, "All e-learning content must be SCORM-Compliant". A few years back, this might sound totally reasonable, but any enlightened learning professional today would know that a lot of amazing learning resources (and top Universities) don't care much about SCORM, and are shared in the spirit of Open Courseware (OCW) or Open Educational Resources (OER).

So, e-learning policies is something that all HEIs should explore, but we have to be careful, and strive to find the right balance so that they empower people to learn and innovate, instead of becoming an obstacle to moving forward.

Chapter 3: e-Learning Governance

e-learning governance

View more presentations from Mohamed Amin Embi

According to the survey results, the two main challenges related to the e-Learning governance are shortage of staff (84.5%) and lack of incentives provided by the HEIs to those responsible for implementing e-Learning (69.2%).

So, no doubt HEIs need to invest more in quality staff, and be creative about providing incentives (e.g. less administration and more time to think!) that inspire educators to take the effort to transform their own learning and teaching. It is strange that institutions can spend millions and millions on hardware, networks and software, but when it comes to investing in quality people and paying competitive salaries with the industry; It is so difficult!

In short, HEIs need to rethink their hiring and salary policies to capture the great talent that is out there, but are very reluctant to work in HEIs. Also, HEIs need to learn from creative companies like Google, Apple and Zappos on how to build working environments that empowers and inspires people to express their potential. Challenging, but certainly possible :)

Chapter 4: Learning Managements Systems

Learning Management Systems

View more presentations from Mohamed Amin Embi

Interestingly, All (100%) HEIs that participated had their own Learning Management System (LMS), and more than half (57.7%) of the HEIs used Open Source Platforms, while 34.6% used purchased commercial LMS, and the remaining 15.4% were developed on their own. In this survey, Moodle beat Blackboard (12 - 2) impressively, but if we were to include more private HEIs the results would be a bit darker :)

Though, from a learning point-of-view, we need to increasingly look beyond the LMS (they just cannot keep up with disruptive innovations taking place), as increasingly learning will take place outside in the web 2.0 (3.0/x.0) and social media worlds in the form of personal learning environments tailored to what learners and educators really want. Here is a crash course:

Social Media & Web 2.0 for Learning (2nd Edition)

View more presentations from Zaid Alsagoff

Chapter 5: e-Learning Training

e-learning training

View more presentations from Mohamed Amin Embi

Sadly, only one-third (34.6%) of the HEIs provide exposure to Web 2.0 applications. Though, I foresee a huge growth in the coming years of educators using Social media and web 2.0 (3.0 and x.0) beyond the LMS to facilitate more engaging and relevant learning with their students.

It will also be interesting to see how institutions deal with copyright and privacy issues, when educators and students increasingly use tools such as Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, YouTube, Wikis, etc.

Are you prepared for that? Don't wait! It is happening already!

Chapter 6: e-Content Development

e-content development

View more presentations from Mohamed Amin Embi

The main applications used for e-Content development are Flash (92.3%), followed by Articulate (46.3%), Adobe Captivate (38.3%), Camtasia Studio (30.8%), Lecture Maker (15.42%), and Interactive Raptivity Builder ( 15.4%).

One word: Ouch! Hopefully, Apple will come to its senses and allow Flash to run smoothly on an iPad, iPod or iPhone. Unless Steve Jobs retires soon that might take some time. Though, let's hope that browsers will have auto-converters, or that Flash is updated to meet all Steve Jobs requirements, otherwise e-content developed in Flash would be useless on Apple-based mobile devices. Luckily, Flash-based content works on Androids :)

The five major challenges faced by most HEIs are lack of motivation among the academic staff (65.4%), lack of specialists (53.80%), lack of a dedicated team to develop e-Content (53.8%), lack of commitment among academic staff (46.2%), and lack of funding/budget (46.2%).

Why are not academic staff motivated or committed to develop e-content? If you are already overloaded with administration, research, publication and teaching obligations, you are not going to be inspired to develop e-content for your students without some seriously good reasons.

Incentives could help (e.g. one e-content module = 1 publication in a high impact journal), but you still need to find the time. In Chapter 10 (page 119), it is proposed that common university courses could be developed jointly by a centre under the Ministry of Higher Education, as this is a more efficient use of resources, time, money, and manpower, while maintaining an acceptable level of quality.

In a nutshell, we could establish Malaysia's first official ‘Open Courseware’ initiative, which would enable all HEIs to have access and reuse (hopefully remix) freely common University courses. By doing so, then HEIs can streamline their resources to build unique e-content for their unique courses.

Based on the survey, the copyright issue is also a big problem faced by the majority (80.8%) of Malaysian HEIs in the development of e-Content. What to do? Forget Copyright, Practice Copyleft Instead!

Actually, we need to rethink our obsession with e-content development, and be more obsessed with designing relevant and engaging learning environments/spaces, where authentic learning activities play a larger role than (spoon-feeding) e-content and courseware.

Instead, HEIs students should be empowered and nurtured with the necessary learning skills to find their own content based on the learning outcomes set, or we could expose them to a variety learning resources (for each topic) and then require them to analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and then create their own contextualized meaning.

We want to develop independent lifelong learners. The e-content or courseware (spoon-feeding) model is an easy shortcut to enable them to pass the exam, but perhaps not the best way to nurture the necessary skills required for them to thrive in the 21st century.

Finally, educators need to learn the art of aggregating, filtering and remixing content from a variety of resources using a variety of learning tools out there. In a nutshell, think beyond e-content development, and focus more on nurturing educators to build sizzling learning activities and spaces for students.

In short, only develop e-content when it does not exist, or it can be synthesized or presented in a more engaging and meaningful way :)

Chapter 7: Integration of e-Learning in Teaching & Learning

integration of e-learning in teaching & learning

View more presentations from Mohamed Amin Embi

According to the survey findings, lecturers' two major challenges to integrate e-Learning in their teaching and learning, is trying to balance between teaching and research (59.8%) and time constraints (54.9%). Interestingly, technophobia (13%) was the least responsible challenge among the challenges faced by lecturers in order to integrate e-Learning.

For students, the two major challenges is lack of access (53.4%), and feedback from lecturers takes too long (42.8%). By focusing less on developing e-content, lecturers will have more time to interact with their students, and construct more interactive and engaging learning environments. If we can be replaced by a courseware, then we should be replaced.

To no surprise, most lecturers (50.1%) prefer to upload materials on a weekly basis before the classes begin. Noteworthy, most students (84.7%) prefer to read the materials offline rather than online. The challenge comes when students have printed out the uploaded slides before their class (often weeks in advance), and then find out during the lecture that the slides have been updated. What do you do? Establish an e-learning policy forcing them to upload their slides at least one week before...Not a good idea! Call me to elaborate :)

On a positive note, this is a problem of today, and probably won't even exist in 3-5 years' time. Why? By then most students will be reflecting their slides on their mobile devices in the form of iPads, Kindles, Galaxy, etc.

Chapter 8: Quality Assurance

Quality Assurance in e-Learning

View more presentations from Mohamed Amin Embi

How do we ensure that our e-learning implementations are of quality? How do we ensure that our conventional learning approaches are of quality? Do we look at the drop-out rates? Or perhaps the students satisfaction levels? What about using the students' assessment results as a measure of success?

On page 119, the guidelines on e-Content standards that were developed collaboratively by CEMCA (Commonwealth of Educational Media Centre for Asia) and MOHE is recommended to be distributed and followed by all Malaysian HEIs in order to control the quality of e-Learning materials available at the tertiary level.

I disagree in using these guidelines as the standards, but it could be used as a good reference guide, like so many other guidelines out there. Personally, I don't even like the expression 'Best Practices', but instead prefer 'Good Practices'. The reason is that there is simply too much innovation and exploration still needed to be done, before we can settle down with any form of standards in E-Learning. Let's celebrate 'Good Practices' out there, and learn from them to create our own contextualized 'Good Practices'.

We want standards, but standards are often the biggest enemy to creativity and innovation. Let's not forget that!

THE FUTURE?
Not surprisingly implementing mobile learning is a priority (92.3%), according to the survey findings. Interestingly, lecturers (67%) and students (76.8%) believe that HEIs should give priority to Intelligent Tutoring Systems as compared to other applications.

Strangely enough, lecturers (23.4%) and students (19.4%) place podcasting applications as the lowest in terms of priority. Maybe it is just me, but I would prefer listening and reflecting to a great lecture over a courseware anytime of the day, no matter how interactive it may be. I suppose I am a bit weird!

If you don't have time to read the whole book, just read chapter 9 (summary) and 10 (recommendations), which will provide sufficient insights to see the big picture. Though, I would strongly recommend to enjoy all the diagrams, charts and stats spread over 120 pages.

So, what can we expect next?

Based on the suggestions given in the book (page 120), MOHE will probably soon establish 'The National Institute of e-Learning', a centre of excellence for e-Learning, that can conduct and coordinate research on e-Learning, particularly in terms of the impact of e-Learning on student achievement.

Let's hope the National Institute of e-Learning becomes an inspiring light that empowers and sparks sizzling e-learning at all HEIs.

Will I be involved?

Only God knows at this moment :)

If Only I Had Discovered Namechk Earlier!!!

2011-04-13T18:11:00.006+08:00

Namechk

Namechk empowers you quickly to see if your desired username or vanity URL is still available at dozens of popular social media tools. You simply need to enter the desired username into the 'chk' box and then click. Voila, let the magic begin! WOW!

In short, you can promote your brand consistently by registering a username that is still available on the majority of the most popular sites without wasting too much time. NICE!

Although, I don't care too much about branding (my blog design might be a good hint!), this tool is really useful to speed up the process for checking available usernames on dozens of social media tools. I suppose the next time any marketing consultant charges you a bomb to check such stuff... tell them to fly a kite! :)

Baby Salma Uses iPhone to Learn 'Apple'!

2011-04-07T08:31:00.009+08:00

I suppose a 36 second video clip would make more sense now:

FLASHCARDS
In the video clip above, my wife is teaching baby Salma new words using voice narrated Flashcards. The cool thing about apps like My First Words, is that you can also record your own voice, and even create your own Flashcards. Cool!

If you notice, baby Salma is not satisfied by simply watching passively my wife clicking the 'NEXT' button. Instead, she wants to grab the iPhone (Ownership), so that she can hold it and play with it herself. We all know what happens, when babies don't get what they want. However, what about students?

In other words, when we teach or facilitate learning, we should perhaps provide more opportunities for students to explore learning, and take ownership of their own learning process, which is often more inspiring than being told what to do for 15 weeks per semester.

99.999% of us love to learn, but how many of us like to be taught? Or have you ever been inspired to learn by following instructions?

Think about it!

LADYBUG
Baby Salma simply loves Frank Leto's 'Ladybug Ladybug' Song, which she sings (and claps her hands) along in her own baby 'GAGA' language.

Yes, what if we could learn boring stuff through songs and poetry? Wouldn't that be cool? Here is a reasonably convincing example:

But then again, is it worthwhile spending so much time and effort to create 'a learning' song covering perhaps just one concept? I suppose we could instead empower students to create their own learning songs. Or perhaps they could mind map their learning into a rap song. I wouldn't mind a rap song teaching me history!

TED TALK

Alright, my baby Salma 36-second video clip and short reflection is not going to award me with giving a TED Talk. However, if I catch every moment of my daughter's life for the next 3 years using multiple cameras wired up in my house, requiring 20 terabytes of storage, so that I can understand how she learns a language... WOW! Too late! MIT researcher Deb Roy did just that, and then he (or his research team) parsed 90,000 hours of home video to watch his son "gaaaa" slowly turn into "water."

In other words, it will be thrilling to listen to Salma's "Ta-Ta" turn into "Apple" over the coming days, weeks, or perhaps months. Perhaps the iPhone, or coming iPad 2 (to me!) might speed up the learning process.

I skipped iPad 1, as I usually keep away from first versions of anything, but I will probably invest in iPad 2 when it comes to Malaysia (officially!). Based on my kids' (3) obsession to play games with iPhone, I suppose I will only be able to use the iPad for self-learning when they all are asleep!

Although, I am no fan of having babies or young kids stuck in front of an iPhone or iPad (or mobile devices) all day (Hint: Radiation and Glasses!), I suppose a few minutes a day learning something useful won't harm too much. Would it?

What do you think? :)

Social Media Infographics Built to Last?

2011-03-25T14:24:00.015+08:00

Goldmine: 60 Informative Social Media Infographics

REALITY CHECK!
When you first discover a social media infographics goldmine, you are like...WOW! Now, I can really spice up my presentations with some sizzling social media infographics to stimulate the audience. But, then you start to look at the statistics found in these infographics, and then you realize (I hope!) that much of the data shared are outdated and kind of useless (at the moment of discovery).

Yes, the infographics look cool, but should coolness override showing relevant and updated data?

The problem with many social media infographics is that the social media numbers are still radically changing, and will so for some time to come. For example, Facebook has around 650 million users now, but is expected to grow to 1 billion by 2012. Or worse yet, your super infographic shows 400 million Facebook users!

So, can we find social media infographics that are built to last (at least for a year or two!)?

FUTURE INFOGRAPHICS?
For finding updated Facebook infographics/charts (not totally cool, but at least reasonably updated), Socialbakers is a great place to find tons of stats, including informative details on your country. But, you will still have to manually update your slides with the latest Facebook stats once a while to ensure that they are updated and still relevant.

Wouldn't it be cool if you could use a dynamic plug-in or widget plucked into your presentation (PowerPoint/Keynote), which via the Internet could continuously keep your social media stats updated and relevant? Better yet, it allowed presenters to manipulate or play with the data, and then we could visually experience the process from inception to present, besides the final snapshot. Gapminder is a perfect example of how I would love my dynamic (social media) infographics to work.

Another good example would be Gary's Social Media Count:

Besides these three (3) examples above, I am pretty sure that there are many more dynamic social media infographics to discover and use, and that I hope YOU can share with US (Thank you!). I will add them below as we discover together.

In a nut shell, dynamic infographics should:

Provide easy access to continuously updated and relevant data/information.
Have an embed feature (script/widget/plug-in) making it easy to add to our presentation (or website).
Be self-updating every time you access the Internet.
Show the changes over time (start to present) of what it is illustrating (if applicable).
Enable us to manipulate the data/information (if applicable).

Have you found any dynamic infographics that meet some, or all the criteria specified above? Now, that would be cool... PLEASE SHARE :)

My #CCK11 Talk - Sharing to Connect, Interact and Learn!

2011-03-15T18:43:00.025+08:00

My #CCK11 Talk - Sharing to Connect, Interact and Learn!

View more presentations from Zaid Alsagoff

This presentation explores openness in education, and my own journey embracing openness in what I discover and learn.

It was presented (Elluminate session) during week 9 (Openness & Transparency) of the ’Connectivism & Connective Knowledge 2011' (CCK11) course facilitated by Stephen Downes and George Siemens.

RECORDINGS
For those that want to recap or missed the session, here are the Elluminate and MP3 recordings:

Click here to view all CCK11 Recordings.

FEEDBACK

Based on the feedback from Stephen, George, and the participants it seems like my online talk during CCK11 went reasonably well.

I have infused some of the (positive) comments received into the cool mash-up graphic to the right.

Overall, participants seemed to enjoy my cool graphics, informative slides, and found my voice (or me) to be passionate and full of enthusiasm.

Looking back at 2010, one of my goals was to work on my voice to reflect my passion and enthusiasm for learning (enthusiasm is contagious!!!!), and based on this session... Mission Accomplished!

But, what about the talk's substance? Mission 2011!

Although, I am receptive to positive feedback (appreciate that!), I do have my own self-evaluation sensor, which at times can be pretty brutal and unrealistic. Though, this beast is also my secret and most powerful weapon to awesome learning, so I am not going to let it go. Instead, I will celebrate it with a receptive and reflective laugh!

REFLECTION

I really enjoyed the online talk at CCK11, but I have to admit I was really exhausted after a 60-hour marathon, which included 1 lecture (Social Media & Web 2.0 for Learning), 2 workshops (IMU and UTHM in Batu Pahat), 2x4 hour (to and back driving) trips to Batu Pahat, and doing all this with a flu trying to cause havoc (Panadol and Vitamic C to the rescue)!

But thank GOD I managed to somehow get through without too many bloopers and mistakes! Though, after listening back to my talk (MP3), I realize I said 'Amazing', an amazing amount of times (too vain to count).

Also, my voice was stumbling more than usual ('Hm-ha'), which could be due to the fact that it was my first Elluminate session with my new MacBook Air (CTRL Vs Command! Touchpad!), or perhaps my limited brain power was just running out of fuel. Or could it be that especially the first part of my talk (Openness in Education), I explored areas that was not exactly my specialty, except for finding great learning resources. But then again, I always like to challenge myself, and felt that I wanted to cover it, as it was inline with the theme of the week (Openness & Transparency).

Moreover, I had problems following smoothly the lively chat-board discussion while giving the talk (produced 3000+ words during the 1-hour session). But that is something I can easily improve with a bit of practice.

In addition, I did mess up names as usual. For example, I said Stephen Downes when referring to George Siemens (on slide 31), in reference to the 'Open Education Open Debate' resource'. I suppose that is why I would be a really bad MC!

Finally, I believe the 3 reflection scribbles on the Elluminate whiteboard (Openness in Education? Why share? Moodle wish?) was something the participants collaboratively enjoyed. Some participants even found time to scribble on the slides, especially Stephen and Wiley's faces when they occurred. I believe Stephen was the ultimate scribbler (No evidence to prove it, unless he admits), and no doubt he has artistic ability that needs to be nourished.

Overall, I have no complaints, and the participants were absolutely fantastic. Also, George and Stephen didn't give me a hard time at all, which could be due to the fact that our views on openness in education are not so different. Yeah, I did praise and promote them a bit, and that surely didn't hurt their connective egos either.

It was a great learning experience and adventure that is now completed (history!), and I am truly grateful to George and Stephen for giving me this opportunity.

Thanks :)

Kable.MY - Malaysia's Premiere Instructional Technology Website

2011-03-09T08:59:00.007+08:00

Kable.MY

"This website provides the latest news, articles and tutorials on emerging technologies for educational purposes, and serves as a hub for educators to congregate and share ideas that can be put into practice. It is hoped that this website will be on the forefront of Malaysia's instructional technology and inspire educators to use technologies to enhance their instructions."

NEW!
19 hours ago, I got a pleasant e-mail from Hafiz Hanif, who invited me to visit his new Kable.MY website. I was also invited to be a freelance writer for the website, but I told him instead of being a freelance writer, why not use whatever you like from ZaidLearn, and then link back to the original post (article). The reason is that whatever I write to share (to anyone), I will post it on ZaidLearn (First!). Anyway, this post is not about ZaidLearn, but about this awesome Kable.MY website that I just discovered, thanks to Hafiz Hanif.

Although, Kable.MY is still brand new, and probably needs some time to build up a substantial collection of awesome articles (unless they reuse with attribution and permission from great Edubloggers out there), I am really impressed with the website design, and the first few articles too are very useful and relevant.

INSPIRING!
Also, I like their team's learning philosophy and spirit:

"We are a bunch of normal educators like you, with the enthusiasm to provide the latest and fun ways to teach students, to inspire them with the use of technologies that are often regarded as a separate entity from our instructional strategies. Here, we share our thoughts on how to integrate technologies into your everyday teaching and learning activities, and how to understand the design of certain applications, how to re-purpose the applications to suit our educational needs, and how to get control over our own methodological strategies (Source)."

Yes, certainly a good start! The challenge is to keep that volcanic creative eruption continuously flowing, and if the passion and focus is there... WOW, this could evolve into something really special!

Thinking of it, after being inspired by Kable.MY's awesome website design, I believe it is time to relook and rethink the website design of ZaidLearn, which has not really changed much since its inception. But then again, neither has Google's homepage either. But, then again I have yet to find that swoosh factor that fits ZaidLearn's flavor and content. One thing for sure, I would want the revamped website to infuse a lot of (white) dreaming space free from anything.

I believe it is time to erupt some changes soon...Need another 102 days to think about it!

Kable.MY, thanks for this inspiring website, and hopefully it will inspire more educators in Malaysia to share their learning stories and tips. Yes, why not :)

Use Backupify to Backup Your Social Media Stuff!

2011-03-08T08:44:00.007+08:00

Backupify

"Backupify is an all-in-one archiving, search and restore service for the most popular online services including Google Apps, Facebook, Twitter, Picasa and more."

If you are looking for a tool to backup your social media stuff (Google Docs/Sites, Twitter, Blogger, Facebook, etc.), Backupify is a pretty cool tool. Though, you need to keep in mind that the free version is currently limited to 2GB storage, so the idea of using it for backing up for example your Gmail would also probably require you to invest in the commercial version, unless your Gmail account is below 2 GB (Very unlikely!!!!). Though, the current pricing is reasonable (Pro 100 version - $4.99/month), so it might be a good idea to consider such an option if your Gmail is critical to your work, studies and life.

Putting Gmail aside, I would recommend using the free version of Backupify to backup your blog, Twitter, and other social media stuff that are reasonably light. The free version does weekly backups of up to 5 accounts (e.g. Blogger, Twitter, Facebook, Google Docs, and Google Calendar). If you want to backup more accounts on a daily basis, then you need to subscribe to the commercial version.

If you are wondering how Backupify works, then watch this video tutorial:

Cool! But, are there better social media backup tools out there?

Or tools that enable you to backup unlimited social media accounts providing unlimited storage space? Now, that would be AWESOME :)

Use Twitter #Hashtags to Amplify Your Learning!

2011-02-24T09:33:00.037+08:00

Today, I don't spend much learning time following people or particular lists on Twitter, but I do spend time following, reflecting and interacting with relevant learning hashtag conversations (streams) taking place around the world.

If you are confused about what Twitter hashtags are, you have come to the right place to understand the power and possibilities that these learning conversations can do to amplify your learning!

WHAT ARE HASHTAGS?

"The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. It was created organically by Twitter users as a way to categorize messages" - Source

For example, #edchat is a well-known and influential hashtag used by many to discuss educational or learning related issues on Twitter. By following (saving) this hashtag you will be able to see all the tweets shared on Twitter including the #edchat hashtag.

Also, please keep in mind that Twitter hashtags can occur anywhere in the tweet, and that they are not case sensitive, as shown in the example below (#cck11 or #CCK11 = No difference):

Today, Twitter hashtags are widely used for conferences, events, courses, topics, trends, etc. enabling people to easily follow and participate via hashtag learning streams relevant to them.

WHERE DO I FIND JUICY HASHTAGS?
Actually, if you are looking for global (or country) trends you can for starters discover some on your Twitter homepage, which will display the top 10 trends at that particular moment.

If you are looking for (#hashtag) trends, then tools like What the Trend?, Twitterfall and Tagalus should be useful.

But then again, I give two hoops what 'Lady Gaga' and 'The Bebiers' tweets, and instead I am looking for educational and learning streams (hashtags), which will most likely never appear on my Twitter homepage. Of course, you could start using Twitter Search, but that is perhaps not the best place to start (unless you know what you are looking for).

Actually, sometimes you can discover enriching hashtags by accident, when reading tweets from people you follow. However, the fastest way (to me) is to Google up educational hashtags and find a gold mine like this one: Educational Hash Tags (Cybrary Man)

Here some interesting learning hashtags that you might want to follow (Save):

#edchat - Education
#CCK11 - Connectivism and Connective Knowledge 2010 Course
#edutech - Educational Technology
#web20chat - Web 2.0
#hsc – Homeschooling
#ecosys – Changes in public education
#DistEd – Distance education and e-learning
#innochat – Innovation in education
#Lrnchat – Learning issues for educators
#ellchat – English Language Learners
More... :)

HOW DO I FOLLOW (SAVE) A HASHTAG?
There are several ways, but if you want to simply follow (save) a juicy hashtag from Twitter itself, you can first:

Copy/Paste the hashtag into Twitter Search (Or simply click the hashtag on your Twitter page) and then Search.
Then click 'Save this Search'
Click 'Home'
Select the hashtag from your 'Searches'... Done!

However, many today hardly spend time on the Twitter homepage itself, and prefer using their mobile devices and tools like TweetDeck to check Twitter updates regularly (every 3o seconds!).

In addition, some prefer real-time updates on tweets and hashtags (a flowing learning stream), and tools like Monitter, TweetGrid and TweetChat are awesome for exactly that. For example, you might want real-time Twitter updates during an event, or learning session on a big screen (or projector), meaning you can reflect and discuss on the spot issues streaming down the screen (no refreshing needed!).

Besides real-time updates, some might prefer getting daily updates from the hashtag(s) they are following in the form of a sizzling self-organized online newspaper. paper.li could do that without you basically doing anything, except for signing up and feeding it your hashtag (e.g. #CCK11 Daily). Really cool!

If you find your Twitter homepage messy for having conversations, you could try Twitoaster, which threads and archives your conversations in real time. This tool could help you improve the way you communicate with your students or connections (followers).

Using Twitter to Transform the Classroom!

HOW DO I CREATE A HASHTAG?

That is so easy! Just remember to keep it unique, short and simple, because we only have 140 characters to make a point, and we certainly don't want the hashtag itself to take up too many characters.

Also, try to avoid commonly and widely used terms like '#elearning', because then you're learning stream could be diluted and overwhelmed with too many non-related tweets. For example, the 'Connectivism and Connective Knowledge 2011' hashtag is shortened to #CCK11.

Finally, once you have created your unique, short and simple hashtag you need to promote it to your target audience, and here are a couple of articles on how that can be done:

Using Twitter to Amplify Connective Learning and Sharing at ICEL 2010

Join the #moodlewish Twitter Stream!

Now, that you know how to find, follow and create Twitter hashtags, you have a powerful...I shall say no more!

Other excellent resources that explore Twitter hashtags:

WOW! That wasn't so difficult, was it? :)

The Linguistic Genius of Babies (Patricia Kuhl)

2011-02-23T19:01:00.011+08:00

LINGUISTIC GENIUS OF BABIES

"Patricia Kuhl shares astonishing findings about how babies learn one language over another -- by listening to the humans around them and "taking statistics" on the sounds they need to know. Clever lab experiments (and brain scans) show how 6-month-old babies use sophisticated reasoning to understand their world." - Source

Of course it easier to learn a language when you are younger, especially when you are a baby. What do you do besides eating, playing, exploring, sleeping, crying and ______?

However, I don't agree with the diagram above, because I believe it is much more to it than simply getting stuck in the age thingy about learning a language. No doubt human being's ability to acquire a new language declines with age to some extent, but there are many more factors to learning a language than just the decline of the brain, which could vary dramatically from person to person, depending upon how they use it during their lifetime.

What about interest and passion to learn a language? For example, if a 30 year old dude has the interest and passion to learn a language, I am pretty sure he or she will learn a language much faster than a 3 year old kid, especially if given the same amount of time to achieve it.

Perhaps the brain power has declined, but by using learning and thinking skills acquired fused with passion and interest... No contest!

Well, that is my opinion, and I don't have a Magnetoencephalography (MEG) to prove it. Neither am I a linguist (and I am crappy at learning languages, too!), but I have met passionate people my age, or older that have a gift for learning languages really quickly. So, age might be one factor, but the interest and passion to learn fused with effective learning methods, I am pretty sure we can continue to learn new languages pretty well until we expire :)

What do you think?

Crash Course - Social Media & Web 2.0 for Learning

2011-02-11T19:30:00.010+08:00

Social Media & Web 2.0 for Learning Website

(Still Under Construction)

Social Media & Web 2.0 for Learning (2nd Edition)

View more presentations from Zaid Alsagoff

WELCOME!

Welcome to this ’Crash Course’ (still under construction) to get you started with social media and web 2.0 for learning and teaching. Today there are thousands of exciting learning tools to explore, but sadly most teachers do not have the time to explore all, or figure out which ones to use.

This presentation and site provides all the resources shared during the 'Social Media & Web 2.0 for Learning' workshop (I facilitate), which focuses on several of the most essential learning tools that we can use to facilitate learning and build an effective personal learning environment and network.

Site (Workshop) Contents

WORKSHOP?

Although, the presentation slides are pretty much done, the website will be under construction for the next few weeks. I will first be facilitating this workshop online (1/2 day) to a group in Saudi Arabia next week (20th February, one of the pre-workshops for the 2nd International Conference - E-Learning & Distance Learning, Riyadh), and then again I will be facilitating a similar workshop (face-to-face) in March at the AMEA 2011 Conference (another pre-workshop), and after that who knows where (if anywhere!)...

So, to make it a bit more interesting this time, I have decided to share the workshop (presentation slides, resources and site) with all of you, and then hopefully get some constructive feedback, so that I can improve further.

Still early days, but with a bit of work this workshop could evolve into something quite special, which could benefit people beyond those just participating. Isn't that what Social Media and Web 2.0 is all about?

Reaching out and making a positive difference beyond the brick walls of a class, hall and building?

What do you think?

Use Linkedin to Collaborate with the Corporate World?

2011-01-31T13:11:00.012+08:00

"While Facebook is a goldmine for connecting people and having social fun, Linkedin is the present and future goldmine for connecting students and ideas to the corporate world."
- Zaid Ali Alsagoff

Not that this is so exciting, but as universities around the world are striving to create industrial or corporate linkages, and explore innovative ways to connect their students and research projects with relevant companies, professionals and experts out there, Linkedin looks increasingly like a great connector.

WHAT IS LINKEDIN?

Today, Linkedin has over 90 million registered users, and the company is growing at a rate of around 3 million new people per month. Although, most of its current users (as of January 2011) are located in US (52%), European Union (25%), India (8%) and Canada (4%), I predict that the user demographics will dramatically change in 2011, and you will see mega growth in many other countries, especially in South-East Asia. Linkedin has already members in 200+ countries, and delivers around 1 billion pageviews per month (Source).

It is already being touted by Josh Bersin to radically transform corporate recruiting, which means companies like Jobstreet.com and Monster.com might be facing tough times ahead, unless they can keep on innovating, and encourage people to continue to use their services.

Though, I am not going to waste or fickle my words on that, but instead focus on what Linkedin can do in terms of facilitating corporate learning connections.

WHY NOT USE FACEBOOK INSTEAD?
I have already discussed earlier on this blog about how Facebook can be used for learning and creating learning communities. It is still a useful tool to do exactly that, but I have to admit I am getting more and more annoyed with the increasing number of distracting picture adverts (4-5 adverts per page) taking over the Facebook interface. We were first introduced to 3 annoying picture adverts per screen (mostly irrelevant ones, too!), and at one time I am sure it was 5 (getting dizzy!), but now it is 4... What is going on?

From a learning point-of-view:

GOOD
Facebook is great for connecting me to friends and uploading baby pictures to keep my Mum connected with what is going on, while living thousands of kilometers away. It is also a great tool to communicate and interact with students, create small learning communities, play games together, promote ourselves...More
BAD
Facebook is increasingly becoming a BIG BUSINESS, which is understandable when you have 600 million users, and still growing significantly. Though, this also means more adverts, spam, rubbish, junk, distractions, etc...You name it! I actually respect Mark (Seen to be notoriously uninterested in money in the past) for keeping the Facebook interface clean from annoying adverts for so long, but sadly that is no longer the case.
UGLY
Have you ever seen a Facebook junkie at work. I have! If your colleague is checking Facebook updates and pictures every 3 minutes, and is always busy (doing nothing work related), then you have seen one. Did you know that a study showed that 54% of US companies ban Facebook (and Twitter) at work? Working when connected to Facebook is like having a daddy day care full of kids screaming in your ears nonstop. It can be done, but you need discipline!

Having said that, we should not blame Facebook on all this (or should we?), but instead discipline ourselves (and others) to use it appropriately, because if used appropriately it can be an amazing connector and a great learning tool.

It will be interesting to see how Facebook evolves, but for me I will be exploring Linkedin more in 2011, and see how it can be used to connect and transform learning.

WHY NOT USE LINKEDIN FOR LEARNING?
Actually, I have been on Linkedin for several years (since 2005 or 2006, If I am not mistaken), but it wasn't until recently that I felt the urge to explore and really use it. I had just completed a 3-part series discussing my frustrations with the Blue Ocean Strategy (BOS):

Although, I didn't get many comments on the blog, I noticed there was an interesting BOS discussion taking place on Linkedin, which was initiated by Dick Lee (CEO and Chief Innovation Officer at Value Innovations, Inc), using my BOS article as a trigger.

Me being me, I joined the group and as a result, I experienced a refreshing and truly insightful discussion, which ironically was triggered by my bashing or 'Critique of Blue Ocean Strategy' as Dick Lee articulated it. Reading and reflecting arguments by people that have been initiating value innovations for decades was really enriching, and then that got me thinking...

Why can't we encourage more students to participate or join relevant groups in Linkedin. Professionals and experts out there are always looking for refreshing ideas and suggestions, while students want to learn from experienced people in the corporate world. Bingo!

Also, Linkedin is becoming more user-friendly, the discussion forum is not too bad, and it will probably be introducing more collaboration tools in the near future. WOW, what a potential!

Why not use Linkedin to link up students and educators with awesome people in the corporate world, and explore ways to create value innovations and win-win situations, etc...! Yes, why not?

Finally, I have to agree with Professor Thomas Baker that both Facebook and Linkedin are valuable for their own reasons, and that we should use both to good effect!

What do you think? Do you have any learning experiences with Linkedin to share?

I am still learning the Linkedin way to learn :)

#CCK11 - Connectivism & Connective Knowledge in Action!

2011-01-27T18:50:00.016+08:00

CCK11

This is my first reflection (posting) for the Connectivism and Connective Knowledge course (CCK11), which is a 12-week open online course facilitated by Stephen Downes and George Siemens. This course will explore the concepts of connectivism and connective knowledge and explore their application as a framework for theories of teaching and learning. Participation is open to everyone and there are no fees or subscriptions required....Register here!

Important links:

Discussion Threads
Daily Newsletter
Newsletter Archives
Elluminate recordings (Links to all recorded live sessions in the course)

Click here to read my experience participating in PLENK 2010, which was also conducted by Stephen and George.

WEEK1: WHAT IS CONNECTIVISM?

"At its heart, connectivism is the thesis that knowledge is distributed across a network of connections, and therefore that learning consists of the ability to construct and traverse those networks. It shares with some other theories a core proposition, that knowledge is not acquired, as though it were a thing. Knowledge is, on this theory, literally the set of connections formed by actions and experience.

Readings list for week 1

George Siemens, Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age
Stephen Downes, What connectivism is, and What Connectivism Is Not
George Siemens, What is the Unique Idea in Connectivism?
George Siemens, video recap of Connectivism and Connective Knowledge 2008
Rick Schwier interview of George Siemens on connectivism.
George Siemens presentation on Defining Connectivism and Comparing connectivism with other learning theories
Stephen Downes presentation: A quick introduction to connectivism (ustream) (Spanish, German)"

(Source: CCK11 - Week 1)

So, what does connectivism and connective knowledge mean to me? Instead of dwelling upon my own contextualized remixed or mashed-up version of this theory, I will instead share with you a true story that I believe manifests the potential effect of embracing connectivism, and connective knowledge.

BASED ON A TRUE STORY

A couple of months back (November 29th, 2010), I posted an article on this blog entitled, 'Islam, Higher Education & The Virtual Campus!', which Stephen Downes spotted in his RSS galaxy (I assume), and then he shared and reflected it on OLDaily. And as a result:

"Zaid, I read with interest the ZaidLearn blog that Stephen described in OLDaily. Great column! (And thanks to you, Stephen, for including it. This is what I meant when I sent you a note lauding your service to the educational community. You get people like Zaid and me together!)..."
- James Morrison (via E-mail)

First, thanks Stephen for connecting me to amazing people like James L. Morrison. I have probably lost count of how many amazing people and renowned educators, Stephen Downes has connected me to (knowingly or unknowingly) ever since I first appeared on OLDaily (in 2005). Those 26 appearances on OLDaily over the years (until now) have been magical in terms of connections and plugs to amazing people around the world, so I certainly owe him in appreciation and respect for that. THANK YOU!

JAMES MORRISON
Interestingly, thanks to this awesome Zaid-to-Stephen-to-James connection, I got to hook up with James L. Morrison for half-a-day, when he came to Malaysia on the 2nd January (2011) to conduct a couple of lectures and one workshop. If you are not familiar with this renowned educator and futurist, perhaps these 3 sites will enlighten you more about his contribution to mankind:

Horizon
This is where (his homepage) you will find all his shared resources, including articles and workshop/presentation slides. And when you have written more than 200 articles, and conducted more than 240 lectures/presentations/workshops around the world, it becomes like....WOW...Thanks for sharing! This site has been hit more than a million times, so surely it must have had some impact on educators and learners around the world.
Innovate
Founded and served as editor-in-chief, Innovate (2004 to 2009), a journal of online education.
The Technology Source
Co-founded and served as editor-in-chief, The Technology Source (1997 to 2003).

What even amazed me more was his eagerness and excitement to have a learning conversation with me, which was really humbling, and I honestly felt a bit embarrassed. Here is man who has contributed so much to learning and education, and he is going all out to meet me. Who the ___ am I? Anyway, it didn't get to my head, and I showed similar genuine excitement to hook up with him, because surely I could learn some gems from this exceptional guru.

HIGHER EDUCATION IN TRANSITION
As I was recovering from a flu, we could only meet up a few hours before his Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah Distinguished Speakers Series Lecture at Sunway University (3rd January), which was entitled, 'Higher Education in Transition'.

We met at 2.30 pm (3rd January) at Sunway Resort Hotel, and soon after a car sent us to the lecture hall at Sunway University where he was to deliver his lecture at 5.30 pm. Yes, 5.30 pm! Although, James has done more than 200 official lectures around the world, he still likes to take his time to setup his Mac, rehearse his presentation, and get comfortable with the environment before delivering his lecture. I certainly found that amusing for a man that has delivered lectures for decades, but then again that is one of the signs of a great educator, which is that they are always striving to improve whatever they are doing.

Besides the preparation, he was eager to go through his slides with me, and get my feedback and insights to improve further. Those couple of hours before the lecture was probably more valuable and enriching than the actual lecture, because I got to have an enriching learning conversation with him, and see how a great educator prepares for a lecture.

"Higher education is in a major transition period that will fundamentally change the way colleges and universities will conduct their business in the coming decades. Although change in social institutions is seldom rapid, the combined forces of demography, globalization, economic restructuring, and information technology are forcing colleges to reconceptualize their markets, organizational structures, and pedagogical practices. This presentation focused on the impact of these forces on American and Malaysian higher education." - Source

Click here to download presentation slides.

The lecture itself was also crispy and refreshing, as it also explored the new evolving paradigm of learning, and the importance of facilitating more authentic learning (e.g. project-based learning), instead of lecturing students through too much theory without allowing them to explore and experience the possibilities. Let's enjoy and reflect the recorded lecture broken down into 3 parts:

Higher Education in Transition, Part I from James Morrison on Vimeo.

Higher Education in Transition, Part II from James Morrison on Vimeo.

Higher Education in Transition, Part III from James Morrison on Vimeo.

After the lecture he insisted that I join him for the special dinner in honor of him. I suppose Sunway University Executive Director Elizabeth Lee, and Vice-Chancellor Professor Robert Bignall were surprised, but obviously I would not turn down an opportunity to continue the learning conversation with a renowned futurist. In short, it was an inspiring learning experience and a great connection.

LESSONS LEARNED

So, what lessons can we draw from this inspiring experience, and connectivism and connective knowledge?

First, if we have a reasonably good Internet connection today we can all connect with amazing learning resources and exceptional educators around the world. However, by simply passively connecting to content and people, and just consuming without contributing ourselves back to learning ecosystem and connective world, we will probably never experience the learning possibilities that connectivism and connective knowledge can empower.

In other words, if you really want to experience the empowering learning possibilities and inspiring connections, you need to take an active role, which means sharing your ideas and discoveries openly, and joining actively in the learning conversations (relevant to you) taking place online around the world.

"The juicier your shared discoveries and ideas are, the more likely people will want to connect and interact with you."
- Zaid Alsagoff

On January 19th, to my big surprise George Siemens wished me Happy New Year, and asked me whether I was available to present to CCK11 this year. I have to admit I nearly choked when I read the e-mail, and was thinking have you gone ___! Anyway, challenging it may be, I am not planning to chicken out, and will be hopefully be giving my online Elluminate presentation to CCK11 on Wednesday 16th March (Week 9 - Openness & Transparency).

Oops, what have I agreed myself into! If you have any tips to share, or topic you want me to discuss during my CCK11 presentation, I would certainly appreciate that. For once, help me out here...Please :)

A Sizzling Collection of Anatomy Games & Resources!

2011-01-23T08:40:00.012+08:00

It is amazing how much knowledge, skills and attitudes a medical student must internalize (memorize, understand, apply and practice) before he or she can graduate, and making that learning journey a bit more engaging and exciting would surely not hurt. Personally, I would probably need brain shock therapy before even grasping the basics of Anatomy during the first semester. The language used for anatomy is way too complex for my impatient and simplifying brain to learn.

Interestingly, a pro-active IMU student (Ibnu Haniffa) shared an awesome Anatomy Arcade Games site on IMU E-Learning Facebook page recently (22/01/2011), and that just sparked me to an unexplored galaxy of great anatomy games and resources. In other words, unless you are using some of the sites coming next, why not spice up your Anatomy learning activities (or reading list) with some of the sizzling resources shared right here:

WebAnatomy
A collection of study aids and games from University of Minnesota for entry-level anatomy and physiology students. For example, the Anatomy Bowl multiplayer games could be used to spark the class to life learning different aspects of anatomy in a competitive, but exciting manner.
Anatomy Arcade Games (Ben Crossett)
This mission was born of frustration with what he saw as a lack of truly engaging material in the area of anatomy and also a frustration as a teacher catching students wasting class time playing flash games every time they were in a computer lab. The catch phrase "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" sums up the decision he made; to investigate the potential of these "pesky" little games to invigorate the delivery of anatomical material to the teenage audience (Source). Use some of these awesome anatomy games in your class (collaborative fun!), or at least share these games with your students where relevant.
Visible Body (3D Human Anatomy)
Visible Body is a content and software development firm that produces award-winning interactive and visual content. Visible Body's clients include many of the world's top pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, and educational publishing companies. The revolutionary Visible Body web application is a 3D human anatomy visualization and learning tool available by subscription.
BBC Interactive Body
A sizzling free 3D animated anatomy resource that even includes interactive games to explore the senses, organs, skeleton, muscles and the nervous system.
Get Body Smart
Visually learn about the human body through beautifully detailed and interactive Flash animations.
The Virtual Sports Injury Clinic
Covers interactive information on over 100 sports injuries.
TeachPE
Check out the anatomical section especially on bones, muscles, the heart, lungs and energy systems.
Human Embryology Animations
It explores General Embryology, Cardiovascular Embryology, Development of the Head and Neck, Gastrointestinal Embryology, Development of the Limbs, and Urinary and Reproductive Embryology. Amazing stuff!
Think Anatomy
Is the creation of Vanessa Ruiz, art director, medical illustrator, blogger, and all out anatomy fanatic. This great site links, categorizes and discusses the best anatomy resources on the Internet.
Street Anatomy
Covers the use of human anatomy in medicine, art, and design (Vanessa Ruiz again!).
Ourselves & Our Bodies (Shambles)
A growing collection of excellent anatomy resources worth visiting once a while to discover new anatomy learning gems.
To be Discovered!
If you have any other excellent (free) anatomy online resources that you want to share, please share them in the comments section, and it will be added (if appropriate). Thanks :)

Ibnu Haniffa, thank you for being a pro-active students sharing your learning discoveries, and hopefully more students (lecturers and learners) will participate in sharing their learning discoveries on IMU E-Learning Facebook (or here!).

Finally, now we should not have any excuses in making our anatomy classes (or courses) boring, because with physical anatomy tools (at the medical museum), and sizzling online resources above, we have tremendous opportunities and possibilities to engage and inspire the medical students' mind, body and soul like never before :)

The One Stop Learning Blog

2011-01-22T17:32:00.006+08:00

ONE STOP LEARNING

"As I have progressed along my journey as an educator, I have come to better appreciate that teaching is about sharing—sharing what I have learned with others, including the public at large. This blog is my expression, my way of sharing my passion on the issue of teaching and learning, lifelong learning and education in general. It is also intended as a repository of resources related to teaching and learning. This is my humble attempt to put together useful links, articles, websites, presentations, videos, etc. in one place -- for my own reference and for those who are interested to learn more about teaching and learning...more"

- Professor Karim (Universiti Sains Malaysia)

I am always thrilled to discover new edublogs from educators in Higher Education in Malaysia passionate about sharing their learning discoveries and journeys. This blog by Prof. Karim has already been around since November 2010, so it is not totally new, but without doubt worth sharing here. Interestingly, we met during a workshop (National E-Learning Road Map) late last year (2010), and have since communicated through Twitter (@biopolimer) and e-mail, but ironically I didn't really discover his juicy blog until today.

As the One Stop Learning blog is also Prof. Karim's own reference for learning discoveries on teaching and learning, means that his motivation to keep it going goes beyond hits and fame, which is important to keep it rolling until the world discovers this gem of a blog. Besides being self-motivated to share, it is always great to know that you have readers and people willing to challenge your ideas and thoughts. If he can keep it up (like now!), I am pretty sure that this blog will achieve just that as it explores and grows.

In short, why not visit...I shall say no more... just CLICK HERE :)

One Secret Recipe to Great Memory is

2011-01-19T18:24:00.012+08:00

Trying hard to forget it!

'The harder you try to forget something, the more likely you will remember it!"
- Zaid Ali Alsagoff

FORGET IT!
Have you noticed that when you try hard to forget something that you don't want to remember (e.g. a crappy presentation you did!), it becomes harder to forget it. It just sticks in your mind like glue....Forget! Forget! Forget! It isn't going to happen! Memorable incidents whether bad or good will stick longer (or are easier to retrieve from the memory archive).

Or you are preparing for an important exam trying really hard to remember something, and you simply can't remember anything! And then when you finally do remember it, you forgot something else! And it just continues in a stressful cycle until the end of the exam. Interestingly, within days after the exam many of those important memories are archived somewhere, nowhere to be found or retrieved anymore (unless used!). Memory or memory retrieval is a funny thing.

MALE BRAIN VS FEMALE BRAIN
Have you wondered why it is nearly impossible to win an argument with your wife (sister/girlfriend/mother/any women for that sake), especially if it's about personal, emotional, or social incidents. You will have one big point (It wasn't me!), and then she will have a few hundred small points that you can't challenge or remember. It will be like...but, but, but, but, but... Oh man, I wish I had such great memory for details. That would make my life easier (or worse)!

The secret? One word: EMOTION!

Don't believe me, watch this:

MY 32 CENTS!
Have you wondered why subjects you enjoy to study are easier to learn and remember? What happens in your mind when you enjoy something? You keep on thinking about it! If you don't enjoy it? You think about something else!

The secret? One word: REPETITION

Things you like, you repeatedly think about in your mind.

To improve your memory you could eat healthy, exercise well, play brain games, use millions of memory techniques, and all the other who-ha prescribed by the memory gurus. I have tried them all without too much lasting success.

But I do know that when I try really hard to forget something, it usually sticks better than any other method that I have ever tried. I suppose in the process of trying hard to forget I am evoking an emotional state (e.g. angry), and by doing it repeatedly it makes it nearly impossible to forget.

In a never forgetting memory shell, make whatever you want to remember memorable by trying hard to forget it in an emotional state repeatedly.

Now, forget what you have just read! FORGET! FORGET! FORGET! FORGET!

If you can't remember, you haven't tried hard enough to forget! GET IT?

Who cares if you can remember (digital databases do a better job!), if you can't understand, apply or create some form of value from it! That makes more sense... Now I get it!

What about you? What is your secret recipe to great memory (with understanding!)?

MAKNAZ - The Saudi Repository for Learning Objects

2011-01-14T01:00:00.014+08:00

"The Maknaz project provides a complete solution for the implementation, customisation, maintenance and support of a reliable and effective online learning environment, including all the required hardware for sustaining a highly sophisticated environment supporting 22 leading national universities."
- Abdullah Al Mogheerah (NCEL's Manager for Planning & PMO)

Bob Little ranked Abdullah Al Mogheerah as the 4th most influential person in the corporate e-learning world in 2011 (on Jan 4, 2011)

CLICK HERE TO EXPLORE MAKNAZ

MAKNAZ (or Treasure Chest)?

"The National Center of E-learning and Distance Learning (NCEL) guides the various efforts of Saudi higher education institutions to develop digital content, enrich the curricula and facilitate learning to achieve excellence in the educational process as a whole...As a result, an electronic national repository has been built to facilitate the process of developing, archiving, retrieving, reusing and sharing of learning objects. The national repository will support the efforts of Saudi universities and serve as a basis for building digital curricula with higher quality and less cost..." - Source

In developing and implementing Maknaz, NCEL has been working closely with eXact learning solutions, and they have fused "eXact LCMS and Harvestroad Hive DR infrastructures to provide a nationwide digital marketplace within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia...Academics and students use the HarvestRoad Hive DR to share and access a wide array of educational materials. The eXact LCMS and other collaboration tools are used to facilitate the production and management of online learning contents." - Source

Maknaz is "integrated with all NCEL's internal repositories, including Qanatech and the Saudi Digital Library (SDL) as well as with a network of over 36 international repositories, making it possible for Maknaz users to search for contents across all these repositories." - Source

THE BIG CHALLENGE

The problem with many Learning Object Repositories (LOR) in the past was populating the repository quickly (too costly and too few people willing to share), and attracting people to use it. In general, people will only visit the LOR, and continue to use it if they can easily find content relevant to their areas of interest.

Interestingly, Maknaz empowers users to search for (and filter) contents across more than 36 international repositories, including ARIADNE, NSDL, University of Cambridge, MIT (OpenCourseware), IDEALS @ Illinois, JorumOpen, Delft University of Technology, Johns Hopkins University (MUSE Project) and Hong Kong University. By doing so, users have access from one search box more than one million learning resources (objects/items), which makes it immediately attractive to find potential learning resource gems.

So, while Maknaz is being populated with local content from Universities around Saudi Arabia, Maknaz has already an immediate attraction with its federated search across multiple learning repositories around the world.

To go beyond just focusing on developing and sharing content, Maknaz has areas for communities, forums and blogs to bloom, which is great to spark connections and facilitate collaborations among users.

The big challenge with such massive projects is getting buy-in by stake holders (Universities, academics, students, etc.), changing people's learning and sharing mindset from copyright to copyleft (or Creative Commons), and creating an environment where honest discussions and constructive criticism can flow without disruption and fear.

Having now been to Saudi Arabia twice for educational purposes (Nov 2008: 2 E-Learning workshops and Jan 2010: E-Learning Audit of Universities), I am still amazed how fast they are moving ahead with e-learning and investing in the infrastructure to make it happen.

What is even more encouraging and exciting was meeting several young upcoming academics during the process, who have brilliant ideas, and are very passionate about innovating the way they learn, and empower students to learn. I remember even one E-Learning Dean, who told me that he woke up at night having dreams about e-learning. I am passionate about learning and e-learning, but I have yet to have any dreams to testify that.

Finally, having a passionate and strategically driven NCEL push forward with so many innovative projects, hosting conferences, and providing tons of training programs (for both men and women) to support the development of the learning nation, and topping that with a growing group of academics hungry to learn and innovate, it will certainly be interesting to see how the transformation of Saudi Higher Education unfolds in the future :)

IMU Student Blogging Project to Promote a Healthy Lifestyle!

2011-01-12T10:17:00.003+08:00

"Every blog has a story behind it."

- Teenage Advisor

THE STORY

In late October 2010, Sheba DMani, the coordinator (facilitator) for the 'A Critical and Reflective Response to Media' (Medical Humanities Selective) course (at IMU) explored with me the idea of assigning students to work in groups to develop blogs addressing important issues and promoting a healthy lifestyle.

Of course that made me excited, as I have been promoting the usage of web 2.0 and social media for learning ever since I joined IMU (June 2009). And having already been through one cycle assisting Prof. Khoo Suan Phaik with her students' project using Google Sites, I was quite confident it would be an inspiring and valuable learning experience.

Interestingly, both these inspiring lecturers are not exactly IT-savvy, but they were willing and open to explore possibilities, and with a bit of assistance they managed to get through both projects successfully without too much hassle. As today's Y-generation (Most IMU students) is already quite IT-savvy, you don't exactly need to train them, but instead explore and empower them with creative ideas and possibilities.

A CRITICAL & REFLECTIVE RESPONSE TO MEDIA
This module facilitated by Sheba DMani focuses on connections between media and health within socio-cultural contexts. Media in the form of text and graphic presented through visual and audio modes from magazines, television and internet will be explored. These may include advertisements, films and music videos related to themes on health and healthcare. Students will approach these media texts through critical interpretation, reflective thinking and creative presentations. Upon completing this course, students will have learned that the media constructs views of the real world and that these views have been mediated to provide filtered and partial meaning of health belief and behaviour.

THE PROJECT & EVALUATION PROCESS

So, instead of writing a group assignment (using Microsoft Word/PowerPoint) to impress the lecturer, students were assigned to create a blog and promote their mission to the world. Surely that is more inspiring and exciting, right?

The students were assigned randomly into groups (consisting of 10 or less) and had three weeks (29 Nov-17 Dec) to prepare the blog, before presenting their project to the class and a selected group of evaluators. The blogs purpose was to promote health information to a specific audience (i.e. children, teenagers, adults, special needs and pregnant women).

The blogs would be evaluated based on their originality and creativity (title, tag-line, content, etc.), and the blog had to include at least 3 articles/columns and/or editorials that convey messages on the chosen topic. Finally, each blog had to include at least one video or audio message developed by the group.

Strong emphasis was given on originality, and students were reminded the importance of avoiding plagiarism and dealing with risk communication. In other words, it is important to acknowledge and appreciate authors and sources (re)used to develop the content for the blogs.

Overall, the blogs were assessed for accuracy and relevance of information, creativity, interactive features and the use of media techniques. To make it more exciting and competitive, each group did not make their blogs available to the other groups (or public) before their group presentation on the 16th December (2010).

Each group was given 30 minutes to present and defend their blog on the 16 December. Interestingly, Assoc. Prof. Dr. SriKumar Chakravarthi (IMU lecturer) whom was one of the evaluators was in India during this period, but still managed to watch and participate in the evaluation process using Skype. In addition to getting feedback from other class mates and evaluators, students voted for their favorite blog (using the Moodle poll feature) after the group presentation.

So, what was my role besides being one of the evaluators? As Sheba DMani is not too familiar with blogging, I handled a Q&A session on creating a blog with the students on the 3rd December. No, I didn't present any PowerPoint slides! I simply came to class, asked them relevant questions, and explored possibilities from this awesome list of free learning tools they could use to create or reuse sizzling content for their blogs.

So, how much did this project cost? In terms of technology, all the online tools they used to spread their message to the world cost.... ZERO! Not bad!

STUDENT LEARNING OUTPUT?

Nutrition 101 in Pregnancy

"Healthy foods for a healthy baby"

This blog aims to guide pregnant women through the process of making a positive change in the diet. It discusses and explores nutrition tips, delicious recipes, common myths, pregnancy tips and no-nos, useful links, and a few cool widgets, including the 'Weekly Pregnancy Calendar'. Overall, the blog is well-designed providing the user with a visually soothing and user-friendly navigation experience, which is certainly a requirement for any pregnant woman.

The project team (Amelia, Melisa, Moushini, Natasha, Ray, Shahira, and Sharon) did a great collaborative effort. Congratulations!

In one word: Wonderful!

Teen Advisor

"Teenage Life is Never Black & White"

This blog focuses on adolescent issues aimed at the teenage population of 13-19. It explores in an emotionally creative, but informative way common youth challenges such as alcohol, drugs, relationships (family/friends/girlfriend/boyfriend), stress and smoking.

To really connect with the youth in an inspiring and engaging way, this hard working project team mashed-up their own original graphics, directed and recorded a short Abstinence Educational Video, set up a Facebook page, and used Xtranormal to create this cool animated video:

In one word: AWESOME!

Pink Awareness

"BIG or small, We Save them All"

This blog aims to provide a one stop avenue for information on breast cancer in an easy way to understand. Its' combination of stylish (pink) and interactive design, easy navigation, and relevant topics makes it a great place to discover more about breast cancer, which include symptoms, risk factors, preventive measures, test and diagnosis, and alternative medicine. In addition to developing a great website, the project team (Qi Quan, Melody, Wern Ching, Shariffa and Praveena) developed a very informative 'Breast Self-Examination' video...

In one word: INSPIRING!

Understanding Asperger’s Syndrome

This blog focuses on Asperger's Syndrome, which is often misunderstood among people. Asperger's Syndrome is an autism spectrum disorder that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. The project team has done a good job in designing and structuring the few (identified), but relevant issues regarding this disability, which include helping people to recognize it, statistics and epidemiology, books and resources, and famous people with it. Did you know that Albert Einstein had Asperger's Syndrome? Now you know!

In one word: INTERESTING!

An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

"Don't Forget to Brush Your Teeth"

This blog provides some useful tips on how to take care of your health, including brushing your teeth, eating oranges and carrots, and washing your hands. The highlight of this blog has to be the creatively designed video developed by the project team (view contributors), entitled "The story of Bluey and Pinky'.

In one word: CREATIVE!

LESSONS LEARNED

From my experience working with students involved in projects requiring them to develop a website (using web 2.0), often complain that it is time consuming and that it requires a lot of work. But by knowing that their work will continue to live on (more meaning), and that they are publishing it to the world (instead of only to the lecturer), they are willing to take up the challenge and put in a greater effort. In other words, their motivation often goes beyond grades, and that is very exciting and encouraging.

Though, we still have to work on their fair use or reuse of external content and graphics, and teach them proper online referencing procedures, which is something we have to continue to work on. It is alright to quote and reuse (if permission is given), but we must appreciate and recognize other people's work. As such we have already setup a site for IMU staff and students (only) exploring project based learning (in the e-learning portal), including proper online referencing procedures.

Although, our e-learning portal (using Moodle) is wonderful for uploading and organizing course content, linking online resources, online discussions, assignment submissions, online quizzes, and so on, we should also encourage and empower students to use other web 2.0 and social media tools for creating creative content and informal learning. For example, several lecturers from the School of Pharmacy use Facebook for communicating online with their students, and have experimented with conducting Problem-Based Learning (PBL) sessions using Facebook Groups.

I have noticed that some Universities in Malaysia ban the usage of Facebook and YouTube at their campuses, and use the excuse that they encourage poor learning/working habits and clog up their network (bandwidth) for other usages. That might be true, but if staff and students learn how to discipline themselves using such tools (no choice!), they will actually have access to some of the most amazing learning resources on the planet (for free), and be able to interact with experts and students from all over the world through Facebook groups/pages (e.g. Harvard University - Facebook). I can't think of a better investment for learning than boosting the network (bandwidth) to support online learning in all forms. The Internet is the heart, blood circulation, and oxygen of learning in the 21st century.

More importantly, today more than ever, it is critical to encourage students to nurture their communication, collaboration, creative and analytical skills using the web and multimedia tools. Increasingly in the future, people in organizations will be working and collaborating online using the cloud, so it is important to encourage and necessary to prepare our students for this new world.

Also, it is important to highlight here that the quality of the students' output (results) at this stage is not as important as empowering their passionate and inquiring mindset to explore possibilities and ideas, and continuously reflect, learn and improve from these learning experiences. In short, focus more on the learning process than the output (results). Results will come as they learn. Some are early bloomers, others are late bloomers, and that is something we should never forget.

Can you imagine hiring a graduate that cannot communicate and collaborate online? Try asking that same question in four year's time :)

Buzzing with Social Curation Tools!

2011-01-08T07:12:00.034+08:00

Today, we are all facing information overload, and it is often difficult to find what we are looking for, especially if we are looking for updated collections of resources to support a topic, issue or idea. Major search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo don't exactly do a great job in assisting either, which might also be partially due to the growing influence and spam of 'Search Engine Optimization (SEO)' gurus, engines and companies. It is amazing how much spam comments I get on this blog alone (10 - 20 spam comments a day!), thanks to SEO strategies. Amazingly annoying!

DELICIOUS = RIP?

As Yahoo is trying hard to kill (sell) off Delicious gently, it is perhaps time to find and explore other alternatives to sort out my management of juicy learning resources and discoveries (URLs). Well, we still have Diigo, Stumble Upon, Digg, and a bunch of other cool social bookmarking tools to use. However, today there is a new wave of social bookmarking tools in the name of 'Social Curation', which are empowered with some really innovative collaborative sharing tools to make sense of the overloaded web by organizing discoveries and resources into mind-stimulating topics, stories, collections, etc. Let's explore!

SOCIAL CURATION

While the buzz word of 2010 was 'Social Media', don't be surprised if 'Curation' or 'Social Curation' (attempted definitions) will be the buzz word for 2011 (signs). Just in the last few months alone, several social curation tools have emerged, including (source):

Pearltrees

A social curation community that empowers you in a social way to discover, organize and share the stuff you like on the web.

Scoop.it

Create your topic-centric media by collecting gems among relevant social media streams, and then publishing it to people sharing the same interest.

Trailmeme

Enables you to create a trail of content on a specific topic that’s interesting to you. You can also read other peoples’ trails and walk them to keep up with any updates they make.

Storify

Storify demo from Burt Herman on Vimeo.

Turn what people post on social media into compelling stories. You collect the best photos, video, tweets and more to publish them as simple, beautiful stories that can be embedded anywhere.

Keepstream

Keepstream Tutorial from Keepstream on Vimeo.
A social media curation tool that gathers all your favorite content in one place. It pulls in content from multiple sources, including Facebook likes and Twitter retweets, and let users build "collections" of social media content. Users control the presentation of their content, add their commentary, and embed these collections on a website or blog.

Curated.by
A growing collection of topics & interests edited, organized and curated by everyone. Follow the topics you are interested in or create and share your own topics with everyone else.

CONTENT CURATION
While we are at curation, here are a few really useful content curation (customizable auto-filters) tools to consider:

Cadmus
A real-time service that manages your stream (Twitter, FriendFeed and RSS) by displaying the most relevant content since the last time you checked in. It helps you get caught up on what you have missed.

PostRank
Tap into the intelligence of millions of online users active on the Social Web. PostRank captures real-time data and analysis on any topic, trend, or interest relevant to you or your business.

Yahoo Pipes
A powerful composition tool to aggregate, manipulate, and mashup content from around the web.

gRSShopper
A personal web environment (masterminded by Stephen Downes) that combines resource aggregation, a personal dataspace, and personal publishing. It allows you to organize your online content any way you want to, to import content - your own or others' - from remote sites, to remix and repurpose it, and to distribute it as RSS, web pages, JSON data, or RSS feeds.

WOW! Which one(s) to use? It really depends upon what you want to collect and how you want to share them. However, if you ask me what I really want, well here is a brief summary of what I really want:

Easy-to-Use
Drag-and-drop and please minimize the clicks and loads... Plain and simple! Works on any mobile device with sizzling simple and user-friendly interfaces.
Adding & Organizing Resources
Besides simplifying adding and organizing discoveries (topics, titles, descriptions, tags, etc.), it should have a search feature, and intelligently suggest resources (crawling and filtering out) within the topic (tags) I am using to collect (and even beyond to spark random discoveries).
Connecting & Collaborating
It should enable me easily to connect and collaborate with others on topics, interests or issues, including plucking resources (or pearl branches) from others (giving automated recognitions to original curators), and so on.
Visually Stimulating & Intuitive
Yes, it should be stimulating to the eyes and intuitive to the mind, and obviously be light enough to avoid slow interactions due to possible bandwidth constraints in certain areas, while curating on our mobile devices.

I could go on, but if these tools above can fulfill these basic needs, then I am willing to ditch Delicious for a new world. Ideally, I would love a large white learning space (in the cloud!), where I could easily dump everything discovered related to a topic, including videos, audio, images, files, sites, quotes, Twitter/Facebook updates, etc. and then organize them in a visually exciting and intuitive way, as easily as it is to scribble on a white piece of paper. And yes, I would be empowered to embed this saucy and visually stimulating interactive collection on my blog (or any site).

For now Pearltrees looks most promising for my needs, but can it fulfill my dreams :)

The MOOC Survival Kit in Plain English!

2011-01-06T09:57:00.006+08:00

WHAT IS A MOOC?

5 STEPS TO SUCCEED IN A MOOC

KNOWLEDGE IN A MOOC?

STILL CONFUSED?
Read this Stephen Downes article: 'Connectivism' and Connective Knowledge

Connectivist teaching and learning consists of four major sorts of activities (read the article above):

Aggregation
Remixing
Repurposing
Feeding Forward

"Rewards, by their very nature, narrow our focus... by neglecting the ingredients of genuine motivation -- autonomy, mastery, and purpose -- they limit what each of us can achieve."
- Daniel Pink

TRY A MOOC?

Connectivism and Connective Knowledge 2011 (CCK11) is an open online course that over 12 weeks explores the concepts of connectivism and connective knowledge and explore their application as a framework for theories of teaching and learning. Participation is open to everyone and there are no fees or subscriptions required.

Click here to register.

What? You want me to spoon-feed you more! Just do it! I mean register :)

ICE Breakers - A Fish That Barks and The Moonwalking Bear!

2011-01-04T08:46:00.019+08:00

When the cat reaches the fishbowl, then pause the video and ask your Students/Participants (S/P) to figure out what happens next. Most likely you will get S/P's attention, and stimulate their minds to think creatively about what happens next in a competitive but enjoyable way. If you break S/P up into groups, and then give each group say 2 minutes to come up with their answer, you will get collaborative fun.

WARM UP S/P FIRST, OR THEY WILL ________!
Using short videos found on the Internet as icebreakers to stimulate thinking and help people to get familiar with each other in new situations and environments is today easier than ever, because of the millions (I mean billions!) of videos freely available on sites like YouTube.

More importantly, before you engage your S/P to learn and interact with the subject matter in a face-to-face session (or online session), it is important to warm them up first, or awaken them from their sleep (or whatever they are doing/thinking). It is obvious in sports that we need to warm our relevant muscles before playing a particular activity; otherwise the likelihood of getting injuries increases significantly. Though, strangely enough not all lecturers/educators/facilitators apply this common sense idea to learning. Let's not forget that our Brain is also a muscle that needs to warm up too, or it would probably fall asleep (not literally!), or be in another dimension beyond the subject paradigm.

AWARENESS TEST

Remember to pause after the first scene when the passes have been made, and then ask 'How many passes does the team in white make?' Most S/P will probably answer correctly, and then you ask 'Did you see the Moonwalking bear?' And unless they have already seen this video (12+ million have already on YouTube alone!), they would have ignored that particular incident. Although, this is labelled as an awareness test, it is also a great short video to warm up students' minds before getting them busy with the subject matter.

IMPORTANCE OF LANGUAGE SKILLS

This one is a classic, which I commonly use to emphasize the importance, relationship, and connection of language with understanding and thinking. Instead of being really serious about it, and making people uncomfortable when talking about such matters, you could use videos such as the one above to make a point (that probably sticks better, too).

I have watched this scene (above) from 'The Pink Panther 2' a bazillion times, but I still laugh every time I watch it. I have used this video in several workshops to indirectly encourage S/P to work on their English accents as that might hamper their communication with others (e.g. lectures and discussions), and that new accents can be learned (although it could take time).

These are just four examples of using short videos (less than 5 minutes) found on the Internet to stimulate S/P to think, and break down communication barriers. The best part is that there are thousands, if not millions of freely available videos ready to be plucked from video sharing sites.

If you have any experiences, or discovered some mind stimulating short videos to share, please share it in the comments section (That would be great!).

HOW TO DOWNLOAD VIDEOS FROM YOUTUBE?
I knew that question was coming (obviously!), and here is the answer (link below):

The Real Way to Download-Convert-Insert YouTube Videos into PowerPoint!

What about downloading and copyright? I discuss this issue a bit here.

Don't worry, be happy, and take calculated risks using short videos to stimulate thinking and breaking down communication barriers (though, please consider sensitivities to religion, culture and race).

It is amazing how fun a learning session can become by taking a few risks in the way we facilitate learning :)

Part 3 - ZaidLearn's Blue Ocean Strategy for 2011

2011-01-01T08:27:00.004+08:00

“Blogging is a way to make myself smarter.” - Chris Anderson

Part 1 - Would Nemo Survive Using the Blue Ocean Strategy?
Part 2 - Simplify Blue Ocean & Make Consultants __________!

So, could we simplify BOS (tools), and make consultants irrelevant in the innovation process?

CONSULTANTS IRRELEVANT?

Impossible! Or that is as likely as making competition irrelevant. No doubt there are exceptional consultants out there, and we often do need to hire consultants do improve our processes, products and services. But do we need to outsource everything to consultants? For example, if we were renovating our University library to meet the learning needs of the 21st century, one could consider, or rather should perhaps hire an Interior Designer (that has experience in this area) to assist in making a wiser decision, and share potential pitfalls for this and that.

What about outsourcing branding, marketing, project management, strategic planning, risk management, programme auditing, innovation, etc.? It really depends, but from my experience working with especially consultants from the corporate consultancy providers (that have got the projects sometimes beyond comprehension) over the last 10 years in three Universities, I would argue besides helping us populate templates, and producing nice looking reports, it has been one disappointment after another.

One reason could be that big corporate consultancy providers (e.g. Ernst & Young, KPMG, Price Waterhouse & Coopers and Deloitte) use their best and most experienced consultants to work on the big dollar projects in the corporate sector, and then sends their young inexperienced staff to work on smaller projects (in the education sector, which brings in less bucks!). For whatever reason, most of the teams that I have worked with over the years are young and intelligent, but totally lack deep knowledge and experience in Higher Education, and are even weak in their core job, which is to facilitate the process to collaborate, populate, collect and synthesize all the great ideas conceptualized. From my experience over the years I feel short-changed, frustrated, and wonder if the money could have been spent more wisely.

In short, my advice would be to hire consultants if needed, but make sure they have the experience (in education) besides the talent to EXECUTE. Also, profile the team assigned to the project, besides the corporate consultancy providers themselves, which are always impressive.

SIMPLIFY BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY (BOS) TOOLS?

“…The reason that we were very excited about the phone, beyond that fact that we all hated our phones, was that we didn't see anyone else who could make that kind of contribution. None of the handset manufacturers really are strong in software.“
– Steve Jobs

The BOS tools could be very useful to discover insights and explore beyond industry boundaries, but not necessary the best tools to discover and innovate. Breakthrough innovations and inventions, I would argue usually don't happen using consultants, tools and templates. For example, BOS was used in the process of conceptualizing the Nintendo Wii (according to my knowledge). Perhaps so, but was it BOS that brought about the innovative Wii joystick, or the ingredients that made up the Wii console? The real magic of Nintendo innovations (over the years) are the brilliant people behind them.

In short, although the strategic move (BOS) is important, you can't run away from hiring brilliant people, or having exceptional leaders/facilitators if you want to have success that is sustainable over years. And more importantly, brilliant people often work best in a working environment that lets them loose to innovate, beyond too many tools to test every new idea to its molecular details.

“Steve Jobs hires really smart people, and he lets them loose—but on a leash, since he overlooks it all with an extremely demanding eye. If you’re seeing visions of the “Great Eye” from J.R.R. Tolkien’s books, then you probably wouldn’t be too far off.” - Source

What do you mean by 'Brilliant People'? Not sure. Can't think of one description to universally describe what that means. They are for sure driven and passionate about what they are doing, but the rest is for you to table out (smart, process/results driven, creative/critical/innovate thinkers, positive, wise, intelligent, hardworking, knowledgeable, experienced, etc.) according to your needs in whatever industry you are in.

ZAIDLEARN'S BOS FOR 2011?

"I'm actually as proud of many of the things we haven't done as the things we have done…” – Steve Jobs

Looking back at ZaidLearn (blogging) since it started in 2007, I have noticed that my blog posts are increasingly (on the average) getting longer and fewer:

2007 - 247 posts (started July/118 posts from previous site)
2008 - 69 posts
2009 - 41 posts
2010 - 22 posts
2011 - 12 posts

Based on this trend, ZaidLearn might cease to exist by 2012. Ironically, as I am increasingly getting less time to blog (3 kids, work, family, swimming, etc.), my blog posts are getting longer, and that probably explains why I am not posting that often anymore.

"In my opinion, your rambling at the beginning of the post may have discouraged some readers from getting to the meat of your argument. You have GREAT ideas, but sometimes you bury them." - Clayton Wright (by e-mail)

Great insights from a great (online) friend! Looking back, I obviously see that my ramblings have increased significantly over the years. Yes, I sometimes like to annoy, provoke, irritate, and speak in riddles that sometimes even confuses me, myself and I.

Actually, already in 2008 a person wrote...

"Hello! I read your blog regularly, and really like it. However, the lack of consistent text formatting (making a word orange and big, for example) makes it almost impossible for me to read. Just for when I read it in the future, why is it formatted this way?" - Avi Levin (By e-mail)

At that time I was experimenting with mashing-up different font sizes and colors, and it seriously caused headaches to several readers. Now, I still experiment with colors to highlight the learning juice and for better read scan-ability (green = positive, red = negative, purple, uppercase headings, etc.) through my ramblings, but have toned down my extreme font creativity to make it more reader friendly...I hope!

Another reader complained that he needed to buy new glasses to keep up with ZaidLearn's long posts. So, what do (or did) people like about ZaidLearn? Based on substantial feedback over the years, ZaidLearn became known for its juicy resources, awesome lists, useful tips, great ideas, funny graphics, and whole lot of fun.

So, what if I amplified what people liked about ZaidLearn, and rambled less, or practice the...

80% (Learning Juice) -20% (Rambling) Principle

...instead of the current 80% (rambling) - 20% (learning juice) principle practiced at ZaidLearn. Deal!

But still, it does not solve my problem of having less time to blog and my unexplainable habit of writing longer and longer ramblings (getting older?). Having scrutinized the best Edublogs on the planet, and looked across typical Edu-boundaries (e.g. TechCrunch) I realize that there is no silver bullet trend for success, except that the best (or most viewed blogs) provide great content (tailored to their target audience), and usually post often (daily) in small chunks (learning nuggets = less than 500 words).

For example, TechCrunch (10+ million unique monthly visitors) can post anywhere from 10 to 30 blog posts a day from their team of bloggers. In one day, TechCrunch can post more blog posts than I have posted this whole year. WOW!

I have experimented over the last year sharing learning nuggets through Twitter, but I probably need 140 words rather 140 characters to share great resources, and add a few tips with some spice. I did launch ZaidSwoosh in 2009, which focuses on short and juicy learning nuggets, but realized soon that I couldn't manage both effectively due to my other commitments.

To cut this round of rambling short, I love blogging discoveries and ideas, because sharing inspires me to learn (faster and deeper about whatever I am learning). I need to find time and rediscover my joy of blogging and sharing more frequently (2 or more learning nuggets a week). I realize that every working day I will probably have at least 30 minutes to blog (without noise) before work starts, meaning you can expect from ZaidLearn in 2011:

More of less, but less of more!

But based on scrutinizing the most viewed blogs on the planet, readers increasingly seem to crave for granular juicy learning nuggets rather than long ramblings. My new recipe for 2011, I hope will rediscover my passion for blogging frequently, and transform ZaidLearn to become the juiciest learning blog on the planet.

For those of you who enjoyed my long ramblings in the past, you can look forward to it 6-12 times during 2011 (if time permits).

Yes, I need to think like a kid again, breakdown any destructive rules of habit (that blocks me from sharing), rediscover my passion to blog, and hopefully inspire a magical 2011.

Happy New Year! The flow of learning juice is about to start :)

Part 2 - Simplify Blue Ocean & Make Consultants __________!

2010-12-29T16:25:00.012+08:00

“We do no market research. We don't hire consultants. The only consultants I've ever hired in my 10 years is one firm to analyze Gateway's retail strategy so I would not make some of the same mistakes they made [when launching Apple's retail stores]. But we never hire consultants, per se. We just want to make great products. “
– Steve Jobs

Ironically, when strategy/marketing/innovation consultants and Blue Ocean Strategy (BOS) black belts pitch for a project, Steve Jobs and Apple will probably be mentioned, or used as an example for creating value innovations, and making the competition irrelevant.

Steve Jobs, thanks for making that clearer! So, next time you want to create value innovations, perhaps hiring consultants to practically do everything (including help you to fill up all the magical templates) from conceptualization to a sizzling blueprint for innovation is perhaps not the best way to go.

“It’s not about pop culture, and it’s not about fooling people, and it’s not about convincing people that they want something they don’t. We figure out what we want. And I think we’re pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That’s what we get paid to do. So you can’t go out and ask people, you know, what’s the next big [thing.] There’s a great quote by Henry Ford, right? He said, ‘If I’d have asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me ‘A faster horse.’’’

– Steve Jobs

Thanks, Steve!

BLUE OCEAN WORKSHOP

A few weeks back, I attended a 2 day (free) Blue Ocean Strategy (BOS) at the UCSI Blue Ocean Strategy Regional Centre (1st - 2nd December, 2010), and during the process I got to meet and share ideas with several of the big shots in the UCSI BOS team.

Based on their e-mail invitation, the title of the workshop was “Blue Ocean Strategy Initiative for Education: Creating New Marketspace & Championing New Growth”, but then when I arrived I got to learn that we would not be talking much about education, and that made me furious. Also, I had pulled out a tooth a few days earlier (picture above), so my patience was obviously rather toothless. Luckily the BOS team had Yoann Sapanel (one of the facilitators) to cool me down, and clarify why they would not be talking much about education. Although, I didn't buy the good old 'We are teaching you how to fish..." excuse, I have to admit, he was the only BRILLIANT presenter and facilitator during the workshop, according to my high expectations.

Though, thanks to my outspoken frustrations, they did explore briefly two Universities that had used BOS to innovate, which were Limkokwing University (Rented a building in London, and brought the University (learning) experience to UK) and Universiti Sains Malaysia (Used BOS on their own, which resulted in getting the APEX Status). As the facilitator was mumbling with a bad accent, it was not easy to really understand what he was trying to say (But, at least some relevant points!).

During the workshop, we did explore several of the essential BOS tools, and worked through the BOS process, before presenting our BOS project.

1-MINUTE BOS CRASH COURSE
Here is a 1-minute Blue Ocean Strategy (BOS) visualization crash course:

Visual Awakening
Use the 'as if' strategy canvas to compare your current strategy with competitors and see where it needs to change.
Visual Exploration
Use the 'Six Paths Framework' to look across the six conventional boundaries of competition to systematically reconstruct market assumptions to create new market space. During this process, you observe your own products and/or services, and distinctive advantages of alternative products/services. To look beyond existing customers and develop insights on non-customers, use the 3 Tiers of Noncustomers'. Then, use the ERRC Grid to see which factors to eliminate, reduce, raise and create to find a leap in value (Value Innovation).
Visual Strategy Creation
Draw your 'To Be' strategy canvas based on insights from the visual exploration phase. Then develop a clear-cut and compelling tagline, which captures the essence of the "to be" strategy in a way that speaks forcefully to both a company's employees and the target mass of buyers.
Visual Communication
Apply the '4 Actions Framework', and present your strategic options to stake holders and fine tune. Then communicate your new BOS with existing strategy canvas, ERRC grid and 'To Be' strategy canvas. For easy comparison, show your before-and-after strategic profiles on one page, and make sure that the factors to eliminate, reduce, raise and create are clearly identified. Use 'BOS sequence' for strategic validation, and use 'Execution Hurdles', 'Tipping Point Leadership', and 'Fair Process' to execute effectively. What do you think?

During both days, each team (consisting of 5-6 members) worked on a BOS project. UCSI BOS team preselected a few industry segments to choose from, which included taxi, hospital, mall, and cafeteria. Personally, I wanted really to explore a BOS within education, but that was a big 'No-No', as they wanted to teach us how to fish, and since most of the participants were from the education sector it would not be appropriate to share University-Leaks. That is when I felt that there was a hidden agenda to this so called 'free' workshop. Where they using us to fish for new ideas for their on-going BOS projects?

But, since it was free, I suppose it was a win-win situation for all. We learned the BOS, and they discovered perhaps a few new useful ideas, which they could use elsewhere. If that was the case, they should have been upfront honest and professional about it. But then again, BOS and Value Innovation has never really emphasized (to my knowledge) the importance of social responsibility, protecting the environment, and caring about cultures, which are essential for long-term sustainability of mankind (and Earth).

Adam Werbach will clarify and enlighten you on what I am really trying to say:

THE i-WELLNESS VILLAGE
Our group worked on transforming an old non-performing hospital, and we conceptualized a brilliant BOS, entitled 'The i-Wellness Village' (Just added 'The' and 'Village'. Original BOS was just 'i-Wellness') with a compelling tagline 'Live Your Dreams!'. Basically, we sold the old hospital, and then bought and transformed a hotel resort (working with partners) into the perfect old-folks resort where they could live their dreams.

Today, populations around the world are getting older, governments are going bankrupt, and they are looking for ways to cut cost. At the same time, families are getting smaller, less to take care of older people, meaning the government must increasingly establish new old-folks hospitals and homes, which are extremely expensive in countries like Scandinavia, Japan, South Korea, and so on. While the cost is high, many old people are miserable with such arrangements, especially during winter.

'The i-Wellness Village' BOS solves all these issues, as old-folks get to live their dreams in amazing resorts (sun, beach, sea, swimming pools, restaurants, villages, shopping, golf, bus tours, etc.) that also provide all the necessary hospital support (value added), and governments (e.g. Norway) save tremendous cost by outsourcing it to Malaysia (cost savings). More importantly, old-folks gets to experience a happier ending to their lives.

At the end of the workshop, we had to pitch our BOS project to two real venture capitalists (each had 50 million simulated dollars to invest) and the other participants. At that time, our BOS project had many loopholes and my teammates were a bit worried that we would get slammed. Anyway, why worry? It is just some simulated fun, so I took up the challenge to present our BOS project. Little did I know that Dr. Robert Bong, who was one of the venture capitalist evaluators (Also a BOS champion!) would not only slam the project (loopholes), he would literally TKO us (or at least me!), and end with a damning, 'I will not invest in this project'. I wanted to challenge him on all points, but his sharpness and our loopholes were too deep, meaning if I did challenge I would probably get total brain damage. In short, I said 'That's all' and I sat down.

However, being up there knocked out on my first ever pitch to a venture capitalist, was a refreshing and valuable learning experience. Also, I learned a great BOS like 'The i-Wellness Village' will always initially have many loopholes, meaning great ideas need time to nurture, and one should never take 'No' for an answer (Tony Fernandes). Though, I do hope Dr. Robert Bong changes his mind, or at least consider investing in such a project. I suppose if I had pitched it today, he would have seen the big picture clearly. Anyway, the other venture capitalist invested 20 million (simulated) dollars, and told us this project could make a lot of money. 'The i-Wellness Village' will not only make a lot of money, it will empower old-folks to live their dreams and have a happier ending. AWESOME!

The 'The i-Wellness Village' is perfect for Malaysia, so I do hope other venture capitalists take it up. Perhaps such projects are already under development in Malaysia.

So, my final verdict on Blue Ocean Strategy tools is...

USEFUL for big projects, but USELESS for daily inspirational innovations.

Could we simplify BOS (tools), and make consultants irrelevant in the innovation process?

Part 3 - ZaidLearn's Blue Ocean Strategy for 2011

Part 1 - Would Nemo Survive Using the Blue Ocean Strategy?

2010-12-22T08:50:00.016+08:00

"Blue Ocean Strategy is a bestseller across five continents. It has been published in over 40 languages and sold over 2 million copies (since 2005). " - Source

BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY?

"Blue Ocean Strategy is a business strategy book first published in 2005 and written by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne of The Blue Ocean Strategy Institute at INSEAD, one of the top European business schools. The book illustrates the high growth and profits an organization can generate by creating new demand in an uncontested market space, or a "Blue Ocean", than by competing head-to-head with other suppliers for known customers in an existing industry." - Source

"Based on a study of 150 strategic moves spanning more than 100 years (1880 - 2000) and 30 industries, it provides us with a systematic approach to making the competition irrelevant and creating uncontested market space. " - Source

So, what is Blue Ocean Strategy exactly?

"It is the simultaneous pursuit of differentiation and low-cost to create new market space. Blue Ocean Strategy seeks to make the competition irrelevant by creating a leap in value for both the company and its buyers. Blue Ocean Strategy aligns the following three propositions:

Value proposition
The utility buyers receive from the product or service minus the price they pay for it.
Profit proposition
The price of the offering minus the cost of producing and distributing it.
People proposition
The readiness of employees to execute the new strategy with all of their energy, to the best of their abilities, and voluntarily.

Beyond the alignment of these three propositions, six principles drive the successful formulation and implementation of Blue Ocean Strategy." - Source

Click here to read more and learn about BOS for free.

If the BOS theory still does not make sense, this should nail it:

"Go where profits and growth are – and where the competition isn’t."
- Kim & Mauborgne (PDF)

...And what is the likelihood of that?

TWO PART SERIES
In this two part series I will explore Blue Ocean Strategy (BOS), and reflect back on a 2-day BOS workshop I attended a few weeks back (1st - 2nd December) at the UCSI Blue Ocean Strategy Regional Centre. In Part 1, I will zoom in on BOS as a theory and share some insights that might have been overlooked by the authors. In part 2, I will focus on Blue Ocean as a systematic approach to gain insight, innovate and create value, and explore some of the useful tools that we can use to visualize our own Blue Ocean, whatever that might be.

Having read the book twice (first time in 2007), read dozens of related articles, and participated in a 2-day BOS workshop, I believe I am entitled to share my honest opinions regarding this approach next. Though, I might be wrong!

RED OCEAN VS BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY

While I kind of like the Blue Ocean idea (Exotically relaxing and hypnotizing!) and most of the BOS visualization tools (explored in Part 2), I kind of find the 'Read Ocean and Blue Ocean Strategy' mambo jumbo (graphic above) and several of the case studies used in the book both misleading and a whole lot of _____ (you guess?)!

The BOS theory has already been around for a few years, and it is NOT short of criticism either, so I am not going to go on a full-blown (reinventing the wheel) shark attack. However, being fair to BOS, it has also rebutted six misconceptions about BOS (PDF) reasonable convincingly.

CIRQUE DU SOLEIL

"Dramatic mix of circus arts and street entertainment." - Source

If you read the Blue Ocean Strategy (BOS) book, or listen to any consultant promoting BOS, they will for sure share with you the ultimate BOS example and pride Cirque du Soleil. No doubt the Cirque du Soleil (founder Guy Laliberté) is an inspiring, innovative and breathtaking story, but is it really a Blue Ocean?

First, Guy Laliberté never used BOS as a tool to innovate and create value. So, although it might be a Blue Ocean, it does not prove that the BOS as a theory is practical and implementable. Secondly, BOS like so many other theories often hijack success stories from a few angles (and hide others), and then absorb them into a portfolio of evidence of whatever they are trying to convince or sell.

Let's look a bit closer at the amazing Cirque du Soleil story, and explore whether it is really a Blue Ocean according to the 'Red Ocean vs Blue Ocean' framework:

Break the Value-cost Trade-off?
The authors would like you to believe that Cirque du Soleil grew out of the traditional circus act and then reinvented it by eliminating performing animals and star performers (cut cost), and shifted the buyer group from children (end-users of the traditional circus) to adults (purchasers of the traditional circus), drawing upon the distinctive strengths of other alternative industries, such as the theatre, Broadway shows and the opera, to offer a totally new set of utilities to more mature and higher spending customers (Source).

In reality, Guy Laliberté (folk musician, busker and fire breather) never really worked with performing animals or so called star performers, and we could actually argue instead that he reinvented street entertainment by transforming a group of street performers into a "proper circus" (learning the circus act from Guy Caron). He didn't pick up the idea of telling a story from the theatre, but from the Moscow Circus method. His vision was to create a circus with neither a ring nor animals. The rationale was that the lack of both of these things draws the audience more into the performance (Source).

Ironically, the book never mentions this, and the main reason is probably that these revelations would confuse their 'value-cost trade-off' idea. Yes, Cirque du Soleil enhanced the show value and entertainment as they innovated over the years, but it also made the Cirque du Soleil much more costly than most other street entertainment shows (which are often free, but you are encouraged to donate/give a token of appreciation), and that had nearly catastrophic consequences during the first few years. Did you know that Guy Laliberté or his company went nearly bankrupt several times during the first few years, and if it was not for government grants, his never-say-die attitude, connections, and bit of fortune (luck!) this amazing story would have ended in disaster, and this again was never mentioned in the BOS book. The BOS book gives us an impression as if it was a smooth ride to heaven, and that the BOS was the secret to its success. What baloney!
Create Uncontested Market Space?
Seriously, what does this really mean? How do you create an uncontested market space for adult entertainment? Give us a break! Cirque du Soleil explored, innovated, and has developed (after several financial failures) over the years several amazing and unique shows that consists of a theatrical mix of circus arts and street entertainment. You could have 10 other groups use similar Blue Ocean Strategies and they would have failed, unless they had people like Guy Laliberté to make it happen.

The idea of creating an uncontested market space is an illusion, unless we simply define it as an uncontested market space, which is easy as the authors have provided no real measure (like so much else!) to prove this. That probably did not make much sense either, but then again the idea of creating an uncontested market space (perhaps on Mars!) in the 21st century, unless for an extremely short period, is highly unlikely. But, we should never stop dreaming. Anything is possible!
Make the Competition Irrelevant?
Very few companies and products throughout history have made competition irrelevant (e.g. Microsoft Office could be an example, but that cost millions, if not billions of dollars in research and development), and if they have made competition irrelevant, it has only been for short periods. But then again, can competition ever be irrelevant? Even the iPhone (Vs Blackberry Vs Android) has relevant competition, although it has been a tremendous success.

If there is no competition in sight, perhaps the market is not worth embracing anyway. In short, I would argue that there is no harm with contested competition. For example, the iPhone entered a read ocean competitive smart-phone market (which had bad products!), but through its exceptional user experience and iTunes Eco-system it has managed to capture a healthy market share. As for the Cirque du Soleil story, they are not the first acrobatic story show to pop-up. The Chinese dragon show has been around for centuries. Also, Cirque du Soleil will always have relevant competition from other amazing traveling shows and acts (and other forms of adult entertainment!), but as long as their shows are unique, attractive and entertaining, they will amplify their reputation and attract an increasing global demand.
Create and Capture New Demand?
Perhaps on Mars or Pluto (the Moon is more likely)! There is and has always been a demand for new forms of adult entertainment (or ways of being entertained), and Cirque du Soleil has been successful in capturing this universal demand with their amazing shows (not necessarily because of their strategy!).
Align the whole system of a firm's activities in pursuit of differentiation and low cost?
Low cost for whom? The firm? The customer? Both? This idea has confused me until today. When I first read the book, I got the impression that Blue Ocean was about enhancing the customer value and at the same time lowering the product/service cost. But after attending the workshop, and scrutinizing some of the case studies, I get the impression that the lowering cost aspect, refers mostly to the firm, and not necessarily to the customer.

If we go back to the Cirque du Soleil case, we see a pursuit of differentiation and lower implementation cost if we compare to the traditional circus act. But, that is rather misleading, because we could have and perhaps should have compared it to street performances, which it really originated from. And if we did, it would be differentiation, but at a higher cost. Moreover, had Cirque du Soleil used performing animals and star performers, it would have certainly gone bankrupt, because it nearly went bankrupt without them several times. Though, kudos to Cirque du Soleil for hiring over the years many amazing street performers, and providing them a healthy and stable living income beyond what they would have probably got from performing on the streets.

WHAT IS YOUR POINT?
Having said all this, we could go BLUE arguing whether Cirque du Soleil is really a Blue Ocean or not. No point wasting any more time on this issue, though please challenge me on all accounts (can always update my post).

Having always been attracted to business improvement books, or books that explore creativity and business value innovations (attracted to the stories rather than the formulas!), I see a common trend and pattern in many of the books I have read, which is the manipulation of past and existing success stories to prove their ideas and frameworks for ultimate success. In other words, they will look through their narrow lenses and highlight what fits their theory, and then hide does aspects that do not fit.

The secret to sustained success lies in the marketing strategy (BOS misses this point)! No, it lies in strong ethical practices (BOS misses this point)! No, the secret to success is strategic execution (RIP)! No, it lies in the strategy itself. BOS claims based on its research that the strategic move, and not the company or the industry, is the right unit of analysis for explaining the creation of blue oceans and sustained high performance...bla, bla (p. 10). They are all right in their own lenses.

Though, I would argue that all of the above mentioned ideas, do not really highlight the real essence of companies that have had sustained success over time, which is exceptional leaders working with amazingly talented people. What would Apple today be without Steve Jobs, or Air Asia without Tony Fernandes?

Exceptional leaders have the ability to visualize (ideas), inspire, empower, and attract talented people to work for them, and as importantly they have the ability to continuously attract the world attention needed (or hire people that can!) to make it a sustained success. So, if you want a real strategy that really works, hire exceptional leaders and talented people with the right attitude (to your needs). Even if you don't have a great strategy, these people will most likely do a better job on strategy development than any consultant, or consultancy firm out there.

You are wrong! Maybe, I am!

PART 2?
Although, I find all the exotic buzz words (that can easily be manipulated) and the Red/Blue ocean framework from BOS a load of ____ (the real Blue Ocean!), they do have some interesting tools we can use to acquire useful insights and help us create value innovations. Your results using these tools might not turn out to be real Blue Oceans according to their immeasurable and exotic framework, but nevertheless the tools are worth a try.

So, what about the Nemo puzzle? That will be explored in part 2 (if I can cook up an answer!), and I will also reveal the ultimate secret to success, which is...

Part 2 - Simplify Blue Ocean & Make Consultants __________!

Part 3 - ZaidLearn's Blue Ocean Strategy for 2011