The Very Best From ZaidLearn!

“Strange as it may seem, no amount of learning can cure stupidity, and formal education positively fortifies it.”- Stephen Vizinczey

PINTEREST VERSION: CHECK OUT THE BEST OF ZAIDLEARN (UPDATED)

Actually, as you learn and acquire knowledge and skills, your ego might amplify your confidence, ignorance and pride, which again could hinder you from going beyond what you have already learned. You become stubborn to try new ideas and approaches, because you have reached a level whereby you are comfortable with what you are doing, and it works perfectly fine to you.

After all these years of exploring and settling down with your own style, certainly you don't want to risk exploring new ideas, and perhaps making a fool of yourself. If you have reached such a stage in life or at work, it is perhaps time to rethink yourself. I am kind of referring to myself, too...



REFLECTING BACK

Since middle 2007, I have posted exactly 360 posts (including this one), and I suppose it is time to reflect back, and share with you a list of those posts that are probably the best from ZaidLearn. So, if you like ZaidLearn or new to it, I suppose this list would be an excellent starting point. Previously, I created a master list and stories collection, but this time around it will include the best of the best, according to my own little formula, which is certainly not scientific.

After more than 2 years of blogging, including studying other learning blogs, I have come to realize that producing 'hit sensations' is not that difficult. If you really want to generate a lot of hits fast, start talking about celebrity trash, controversy, politics, making big bucks, gaming, cars, hate, religion, race, naughty stuff, etc. If you are reasonably smart you can become a 'Britney' hits sensation in no time (please don't be upset! she can't sing!).

What about education? Tough! What about Higher Education? Are you ____!

However, if you do create relevant monster lists of this and that, you can still be a hits sensation reasonably quickly. Also, many people can benefit from your efforts to summarize the best resources out there into juicy lists. I did that a lot in 2007 and 2008, and a few times in 2009. During the process I discovered and learned plenty, and visitors discovered and learned, and seemed to repay back by returning, referring, tweeting, bookmarking, etc. Great!

However, these days there are so many juicy lists around, and excellent educational bloggers that can swoosh them in no time. So, I am not going to feel guilty about focusing more time on sharing my deep thoughts about learning and education (and posting 1-2 times a month) instead, although my hit rate might be affected. So what!

It has been fun, but life must go on. Interestingly, since ZaidLearn started, it has had visitors from 199 countries and 8,387 cities, which just shows how interconnected our world is today. I thought that there were only 195 countries in the world, but according to Google Analytics there seems to be more than 200. Google has always been innovative, so why not here, too.

ZaidLearn has connected me to many learning professionals around the world, and has been an amazingly enriching learning experience beyond any lecture, tutorial, assignment, project or exam could ever achieve. But, what has been most thrilling, is the conversations sparked from some of my blog posts, which have been conversed in other blogs and sites, and sometimes beyond English in the form of German, Polish, Finnish, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Italian, etc. Luckily, Google language tools has helped me interpret and learn from these interesting conversations.

During this enriching learning process of blogging, I have even angered and insulted female bloggers (unintentionally), slammed CEOs and learning tools, hurt Moodle fans, and even published an e-book consisting of juicy blog posts from ZaidLearn (+119,000 hits!), but that is something to expect if you are really honest about what you think.

In short, ZaidLearn has been a wonderful learning adventure, and below are a juicy selection of the best blog posts from ZaidLearn.



THE BEST FROM ZAIDLEARN

The Very Best From ZaidLearn

View more presentations from Zaid Alsagoff.

1) 1st E-Book

• 69 Learning Adventures in 6 Galaxies (E-book)
  A collection of 69 learning nuggets (articles) from ZaidLearn compiled into an ebook. This ebook is divided into six learning galaxies (or themes), which are: Learning, Teaching, Stories, Free e-Learning Tools, Free Learning Content and Free EduGames.

2) Learning & Facilitation

• Forget Photoshop, PowerPoint 2010 Rocks for AHA-G!
  
  
• Using Twitter to Transform the Classroom!
  
  
• RT01- Closed Book Exams Could Even Kill George the Jungle!

• The Real Way to Download-Convert-Insert YouTube Videos into PowerPoint!
  
  
  
  
• Using Twitter to Amplify Connective Learning and Sharing at ICEL 2010
  
  
• My Most Satisfying PowerPoint Animation!

• Join the #moodlewish Twitter Stream!
  
  
  
• Facebook for Learning? Boleh!
  
  
  
  
  
• My Estonian TED(dy) Talk - Creativity and ZaidLearn!

• The Secret Recipe to Delivering World Class Lectures
  
  
  
  
• Use Bloom's Taxonomy Wheel for Writing Learning Outcomes
  Do you have problems writing learning outcomes/objectives for your content or courses? Or more specifically, do you have trouble finding the right ACTION VERBS to describe what you want your students to achieve from the course, module, topic or unit? Try Bloom's taxonomy wheel(s).
  
• Moodle is an Airport, Not a Total Solution!
  If you ask me, Moodle is a good meeting place (airport or space station), or a starting point where we get together to discuss and share ideas, before taking off using both inbuilt and integrated learning tools to experience engaging and enriching learning adventures beyond any single VLE can provide.
  
• The Finnish Education System Rocks! Why?
  This article (post) explores some of the secrets behind the world class Finnish education system.
  
• Drop-By-Learning (DBL)
  Today, educators seem busier than ever juggling teaching, research, and administration, and by providing them a drop-by-learning option, it will hopefully enable and motivate more educators to learn the skills needed to facilitate effective learning in the 21st century.
  
• Go Online! Go Mobile! Lost in Space!
  
  
  
  
• Coaching Critical Thinking To Think Creatively!
  "I very much enjoyed this article, a longish description of how the author (Zaid Alsagoff) revamped a critical thinking course. It wasn't so much the content of the article (though as someone who has taught critical thinking dozens of times I had an inherent interest). Rather, what interested me was the storytelling, the way the author let me into his thinking process. This isn't the sort of article that requires you to agree or disagree with it; we are clearly and entertainingly being told what was done, and why. Would he do it differently next time? Still, we can compare the thinking with our own, compare the process with our own - and that's exactly what I did, and why I enjoyed it. Be sure to click on the slide shows in Slideshare, such as this one." - Stephen Downes
  
• Teaching Habits
  In this 5-part series, I reflect specific teaching habits that inspire students out of learning. Is that possible? Here we go:
  
  Part 1 - Whiteboard And I Are One!Part 2 - I Have Bragging Rights, Because I Am …Part 3 - Is PowerPoint Evil?Part 4 - No Stupid Questions! I am Serious!Part 5 - Show Up to Throw Up! 21st Century Thinking?
  
  
  

• E-Learning 2.0 Workshop (Stephen Downes)
  "It would be pretty hard to write a more comprehensive (and kind) summary of my workshop than this by Zaid Ali Alsagoff, who deserves by thanks for acting as my videographer and assistant during the strenuous two-day event. What I like about this post was that the lessons were 'meta' - not so much the bits about web 2.0 technology discussed during the session, but rather about the attitude and perspective on teaching their deployment represents. In my own mind, what we accomplished was best represented in two photos, this one at the beginning of the first day, where everything was ordered and proper, and this one near the end of the second day, where real learning was happening." - Stephen Downes
  
• Learning Notes From an E-Learning 2.0 Implementation Workshop
  

  The main objective of this hands-on practical workshop was to develop an understanding of the implementation and application of e-learning technologies within an institution of higher education. Also, it explored several web 2.0 technologies that participants could use to develop a collaborative online learning space.

  
  
• Salman Khan Uses Microsoft Paint to Inspire Learning
  
  
  
• Crashing The Workshop To Capture A Great Learning Moment!
  
  
• 10 Secrets To Great Teaching (SlideShare presentation with audio narration)

• 2 Juicy Ways to Insert YouTube Videos into PowerPoint

3) Resource Lists

• A Free Learning Tool for Every Learning Problem?
  A collection of the best free learning tools using a Q&A approach. It has proven to be the most popular post on this blog, and has been featured in more than a hundred blogs and sites around the world. Also, you might want to check out the delicious version, which includes more tools, but does not filter them out using a Q&A approach post.
  
• University Learning = OCW + OER = FREE!
  A compilation of 250+ University learning related OpenCourseWare (OCW) and Open Educational Resources (OER).

• 99 Free EduGames to Spice Up Your Course!
  99 FREE EduGames (Educational Games) that sounds and looks interesting for Higher Education.
  
• 101 Free Learning Tools
  A SlideShare presentation exploring 101 excellent free learning tools to facilitate learning and teaching (+40,000 hits!).
  
• The Best EDU Blogs on the Planet!
  Check out this collection (of lists) of edublogs that will inspire you beyond your learning imagination.
  
• The Juiciest Learning Professionals on Twitter?
  The main reason for assembling this list is to help people looking for top learning professionals on Twitter.
  
• A Growing List of Free Learning Tutorial Sites!
  A simple raw list of links to EXCELLENT SITES (with short descriptions) that have or link to tutorials that explore learning tools and online learning.
  
• Amazing Free e-Learning eBooks Collection
  A collection of free e-Learning ebooks.
  
• Free Screencasting Tools For Tony!
  "Toast! Cut! Cam! Jing! Flow! Wink! You name it, they record it!" A list of free tools to create screencasts (screen-recording or capturing everything happening on the screen).
  
• Any Free Hosted CMS or LMS? (Yes, Obama Says!)
  A few free hosted LMS that you might want to explore, before considering investing hardcore money on a commercial alternative.
  
• Any Free Online Survey/Polling Tools?
  More than a dozen FREE online survey/polling tools.
  
• 50 Web 2.0 Ways to Tell a Story (Alan Levine)
  Alan Levine reviews lessons learned in exploring 50 web sites (tools) for creating content via slideshows, timelines, media mixers, comic strips, and presentation makers.
  
• Do You Want To Learn English As A Second Language (ESL)?
  A list of interesting ESL resources that I have discovered until now, and most of them are free. Whether you want ESL content for your IPod, or you want to do an online quiz to test your knowledge, trust me, there are enough resources to last you a few life times (and more).
  
• The King Kong List For Free Medical Online Resources!
  A juicy collection of free medical resources, games and courses that you might want to use for your personal learning, or embed in your course/training/program as supplementary or core resources to enrich the students' learning experiences.
  
• Your Top 10 Videos (That Inspire Us To Rethink The Way We Learn)?
  My current top 10 list of videos that inspire us to rethink the way we learn and educate. This post also encourages others to list and share their top 10 favorite videos that inspire us to rethink the way we learn and educate in the 21st century.
  
• Is Boltelicious Keyboard Skills Required To Facilitate Online Effectively?
  To improve the success of any e-learning or online facilitation initiative, I believe it is vital that educators (and students) have good keyboard and typing skills (say at least 30+ words per minute), so that they can efficiently answer e-mails, forum posts, chat sessions, develop content, projects, assignments, and so on. This post include several free learning tools to improve your keyboard/typing skills.
  

4) Fun!

• iTunes U Services For ALL! Join the #itunesuwish...
• Warren Buffett's MBA Talk Vs Evolution of Dance
• From Public Speaking Class To CEO Of Google
• How Do You Motivate Staff? (Steve Ballmer)
• The World Is Flat 3.0 (Thomas Friedman)
• Scivee And The Origin Of 'Yes We Can!'
• Blackle And My Inspirational Sandcastle Adventure!
• The Secret - Get 100.000+ Followers On Twitter In 24 Hours!
• TWIT Outshines Twitter In 2013!

Yep, this is basically the outline to my 2nd E-Book. Just need to add an introduction and conclusion and it is ready to be published to the world (or whoever is interested!). It is certainly an enhancement to the first one (filtering out really crap, adding it with better crap!).

Finally, what learning tool should I use to publish it (Scribd again)? Wouldn't it be cool, if we could simply add the blog post links, and on-the-fly an e-book will be generated, which we could then edit, add, and fine tune further. Do such publishing tools exist? Any suggestions?