John Larkin’s Learning World!

John Larkin’s Learning World!

“I will be conducting a series of “Web 2.0″ workshops for academics from 23 universities from across the region on behalf of the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia (MoHE). I will be in KL for 8 days. I am working with Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, on this project. ” – John Larkin

I will be attending a web 2.0 workshop conducted by John Larkin (and Dr. Daniel Tan) next week, so obviously I had to check out his stuff, and I like the fact that he has already shared his workshop notes (guides and tips) on his informative website. Here are some of the workshops he conducts:

• Web 2.0 (You can find the notes there, just scroll down!)
• Digital Videography
• Comic Life
• Podcasting
• Blended Learning
• Web Presence
• Trivantis Lectora
• Managing your computer

Yep, he is a ‘Learning Gladiator‘ and I can’t wait to battle it out! It will be fun learning from another learning gladiator. Actually, I would have preferred going for the Comic Life workshop instead (if ever conducted here), because that would be more useful, as I am pretty familiar with the web 2.0 workshop curriculum. But, since I am invited, I am not going step down against another learning gladiator. It will be a true battle of learning, which only causes harm to the ignorant and ego-boasting male 🙂

P.S. Lance Larkin, just some fun! Hopefully, you take it that way, too 🙂

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Educational Technology and Related Education Conferences – 2010

Via Stephen Downes

Educational Technology and Related Education Conferences
for January – June 2010

“Clayton R. Wright has again compiled one of his fantastic list of education and edu tech conferences, this one spanning the period from December, 2009 through to June, 2010.” – Stephen Downes

Couldn’t agree more! If you can’t find an Edu Tech conference that meets your desire in this list, where can you? Clayton, thank you for our thrilling live e-mail learning sessions, and thank you again for this fantastic list 🙂

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Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009! Jane Hart is No. 1 :)

Via Jane Hart

Here is the final list of the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009, compiled (by Jane Hart!) from the contributions of 278 learning professionals – from education and workplace learning – worldwide.

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009.

View more documents from Jane Hart.

More interesting, you might want to check out Jane Hart’s Top 100 Tools by category, and even more interesting would be the Winners & Losers in 2009.

No. 1 is Twitter! What about the rest? Explore it yourself!

Yes, Jane Hart is no doubt the Queen and King of learning tools (simply No. 1!). If you want to find the right learning tool(s) among literary thousands, the resources (links) above will do wonders.

Though, it would have been nice getting to the No. 1 learning tool climax last, rather than slide 3 (out of 102) in the presentation. But then again, not everyone has the patience to swoosh through 100 slides to get to the climax. Whatever it is, kudos to Jane Hart for her great work, and kudos again to making our learning tools selection a lot easier.

Oops, I forgot to submit my top 10 list this year (1. Notepad, 2. Paint, 3. PowerPoint…)! Next year, I will be back 🙂

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Free Worldwide K12 Online Conference! Awesome!

Via Wesley Fryer

K12 Online Conference – Nov 18

“Free worldwide online conference for educators centered on 21st century learning!”

The K-12 Online Conference invites participation from educators around the world interested in innovative ways Web 2.0 tools and technologies can be used to improve learning. This FREE conference is run by volunteers and open to everyone.

When you have time, please explore their K-12 Online Conference blog, K12Online Twitter feed, Facebook page, and K-12 Online Conference Ning. Or why not swoosh-learn more about the 2009 conference presenters. They even have viral “teaser trailers”, where you can get short (30 – 60 second) glimpses about their upcoming sessions! Here we go:

• “Around the World with Skype – Alrededor del Mundo con Skype”
  Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano (presented in both an English and a Spanish version)
• “You Might Be a 21st Century Leader if…”
  David Wells
• “Ways of Working”
  Chris Betcher
• “The Virtual Heroic Journey”
  Kevin Hodgson
• “If You Host It, They Will Come”
  Jen Wagner

Do you really want to bridge the divide?

Enrich and empower everyone with web-enabled mobile learning devices, and embrace web 2.0 tools to create, share, communicate, collaborate, and inspire learning to every corner of the world.

It is seriously that ______! 🙂

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3 Interesting Malaysian Learning Initiatives in a Swoosh!

CerdikNet

CerdikNet is the result of an effort made by teachers in Kuala Lumpur to assist primary and secondary students to explore their subjects through interactive and engaging online learning activities (e.g. English activities). Also, you can try out the online learning activities without needing to login. Thumbs up for that!

EDUWEBTV

Alright, if you can’t speak or understand Malay, this site might be… but wait! Here, you will find more than 1400 short videos that give you a glimpse into the wonders of Malaysia and education, and of course free tuition to many subjects. Although, you might not understand the Malay language well, I am certain you will learn a lot by simply watching some of the videos here. If you are a Malaysian reading this (post), then just forget or ignore what I just wrote. In short, a great site to get some insight (at least visual!) into the Malaysian education system. Yes, we have a lot of bright and happy kids here, like anywhere else in the world.

iBoxX IPTV

Yes, now you can even get tutors at your command in your home TV. Alright, this one is not free. And I usually do not promote anything that cost anything in any of my blogs. So, the reason I am bringing it up here, is that Malaysia (and Singapore of course!) are kind of fanatic about after-school tuition, and believe it or not, it is a RM 5 Billion Ringgit (approx. 1.5 Billion US Dollars!) market here (in Malaysia).

So, no wonder some innovative dudes are trying to capitalize it using digital media, too. However, it would be wonderful if every single primary and secondary student in Malaysia got equal, fair and open access to quality online tuition for free, breaking down the barriers that favors too much the rich, or people that can afford it.

I HAVE A DREAM

Better yet, I have a dream! Let’s improve our schools, our curriculum, our assessment approaches, and totally do away with any form of tuition beyond the taxing school hours. Yes, let’s move away from memorizing everything from ants to pants, and empower our students with more time to think, discuss, and reflect together about whatever they are learning. Finally, let them play (games) more, so that they can nurture their competitive and creative abilities, without the exam-oriented roller-coaster stress ride.

Do you know what (no!), I never paid for any tuition, or went for any extra tuition (as much as I can remember) throughout my whole life, and to be honest I didn’t turn out that bad after all (until now!). I had my primary and secondary school in Norway, so that probably explains a bit.

Yep, I got lousy memory, too! But, I do think and reflect a lot 🙂

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The ‘Blogger of the Week’ is ZaidSwoosh!

The ‘Blogger of the Week’!

“During the previous week, Zaid posted seven interesting blogs posts. Some of his useful blog posts include:

• Thousands of Free Online Courses
• Medpedia – A New Medical Knowledge Sharing Model
• Mobile Learning: Transforming the Delivery of Education and Training
• MedWorm – The Ultimate Medical Resource Search Engine”

Thanks for discovering ZaidSwoosh! In September (2009), I won Best Blog Post of the Week with the ‘The Secret Recipe to Delivering World Class Lectures‘ (That was with ZaidLearn, and not the Swoosh!). It felt great back then, and to be honest, I feel even better now! Hopefully, I can celebrate this award with some Tandoori chicken (my favorite dish!) this weekend (my ego is bursting in glory right now!).

Having said that, I believe the E-Learning Planet is doing a splendid job in filtering out really good blog posts related to education and e-learning (a filtered repository of learning juice). So, please keep on doing it! It is a creative and fresh way to share juicy blog posts, and being included once a while just makes it even better. But,…

WORLD SERIES AND WORLD CHAMPIONS!
What is it with the Americans and their world series of Baseball, Basketball, American Football, Ice hockey, etc. In America (USA and Canada) when they win the World Series (including only two countries out of say 194) they call themselves World Champions! It is hilarious, but totally ignorant of the rest of the world. It can get annoying listening to fans and players screaming we are the world champions (of what!).

Alright, they are pretty good at American Football, but in Basketball USA has been getting its ___ kicked until the Olympics 2008. In Ice hockey, USA and Canada always struggle with the Russians, Swedes, and Finnish giants. As for Baseball, Cuba, South-Korea and Japan would probably beat USA (for sure Canada!) in a real match. Yeah, this year’s World Series ‘MVP was a Japanese dude (Hideki Matsui), and he is probably not even the best player from Japan.

But, then the counter-argument is that the World Series is about the best teams (not countries) in the world. Good point, but at least include a few of the other best teams around the world, before calling it a World Series (Case closed!). But, will the American sports world ever learn, because if they can’t figure this out after so many years, will they ever?

As for American Football, well the rest of the world plays real football (so no contest!), which is called soccer in America (yes, soccer players actually kick the ball!). How ironic? In American Football they use their hands more than 90% of the time, and kick the ball less than 10% , and they still call it Football. Just call it American Rugby (at least it makes more sense)!

I enjoy American sports entertainment, but hopefully the Americans discover the world beyond the World Series of this and that. Real football is really fun 🙂

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5th International Conference on e-Learning at USM (Malaysia)

5th International Conference on e-Learning
Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia
12-13 July 2010

The International Conference on e-Learning (ICEL-2010) invites researchers, practitioners and academics to present their research findings, work in progress, case studies and conceptual advances in areas of work where education and technology intersect. The conference brings together varied groups of people with different perspectives, experiences and knowledge in one location. It aims to help practitioners find ways of putting research into practice and researchers to gain an understanding of real-world problems, needs and aspirations.

If you decide to take up the challenge, you will find Penang a fascinating place that embraces modernity while retaining its traditions and old world charm. Yes, besides stimulating our brain, we must not forget that Penang is regarded as the food capital of Malaysia, which means that we can also stimulate our eating desires and experience a complete hands-on learning experience.

Finally, you simply cannot find a more dynamic, engaging and entertaining double act than Rozhan M. Idrus (Conference Chair) and Issham Ismail (Programme Chair). These two giants will surely ensure that your learning experience is both enriching and entertaining.

I am not sure if I can present, but I will certainly try to make it there. The problem is that I have to sit down again and practice writing academic papers full of opinions disguised in objective mode using dry and boring academic language standards (You are wrong!).

Yes, that is a tough one (If I was Einstein, I suppose I could get away with it)! But, I am sure you can 🙂

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Top Tips on E-Learning From Kineo

Via Cammy Bean

E-Learning Top Tips

Not only is Kineo a great e-learning company, it is also a company that shares a lot of swoosh delicious e-learning stuff on their website. Besides their E-Learning top tips series, they also share case studies, reports, articles, audio interviews, etc., which could surely swoosh some relevant and useful ideas on how we can spice up our e-learning worlds (for free, except our time!).

How to become a great e-learning company? Share your swoosh delicious juice, and people will discover you, and if you are really good… They have seen your work, they trust your excellence, and obviously they want to invest in your services and products! The rules have changed from the old ‘(Hoarding) Knowledge is Power!‘ to ‘Sharing Knowledge is Power!‘

Wake up to the new world sharing order 🙂

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A Free Facilitator’s Guide to Live Online Learning

Via Clive Shepherd

Live Online Learning – A Facilitator’s Guide

This free e-book issued by Onlignment, explores (55 pages):

1. Whys and wherefores
2. Planning your session
3. Communicating with voice and live video
4. Communicating using images and text
5. Sharing resources
6. Building in interactivity
7. Building up to the session
8. Facilitating the session
9. Following up

To download the e-book you need to sign-up and subscribe to Onlignment’s occasional emails (or newsletter), but you can unsubscribe any time you like.

If you are lost about live online learning (or facilitating live online learning sessions), or using what, when and how, this e-book will serve you well. Though, I would have liked to see more relevant visual illustrations, examples and diagrams to spice up this e-book.

I suppose by using less visuals, the e-book has a longer life-cycle. Also, the explanations and tips will trigger us to visualize and use our imagination. But, if we are totally new to online facilitation, I am not sure our imaginative visualization will serve us well 🙂

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24 Swoosh Delicious Articles From Clive Shepherd!

Via Clive Shepherd

24 swoosh delicious articles from Clive Shepherd’s columns on e-learning and blended learning, originally published between 2007 and 2009 in IT Training and e-learning age magazines.

Clive’s Columns Volume 2 (447KB, PDF)

If you are looking for Volume 1 (or a Dummies Guide to E-Learning), click here for writing out loud! We can always learn something from this experienced dude. I have already printed out Volume 2. Sorry about the wood (and trees used), but with some articles you just want to enjoy reflecting in printed form 🙂

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