500+ Power Links That Could Make You Go GAGA!

• Link to ZaidLearn's Del.icio.us Collection
• Link to ZaidLearn's Diigo Collection
• A Free Learning Tool for Every Learning Problem?

"It's not necessary to do extraordinary things to get extraordinary results."
- Warren Buffet

I am happy to announce that ZaidLearn's Del.icio.us Discovery Collection is growing fast and has now gone beyond the 500 mark. Alright, I have to admit that there are amazing dudes in del.icio.us that have managed to assemble collections that have nearly 20 times more links (URLs) than mine (e.g. ggrosseck). Kudos to them! However, since this post is about my collection, I shall say no more (about that!) :)

However, if you are looking for specific suggestions on free stuff to solve your learning issues (or problems), I strongly encourage instead that you to explore my post entitled "A Free Learning Tool for Every Learning Problem?", which include more than 100 excellent free tools/resources. Interestingly, that 100+ juicy learning tool/resource list has been promoted by bloggers and sites in several countries around the world, including Canada, United States, England, Ireland and India. In short, it has less links, but perhaps more power :)

DEL.ICIO.US JUICE?
Although, I am still in the early stages of building my arsenal of power links, there are a few tags worth getting ourselves dirty with already. Here we go:

1) Content - OpenCourseWare (OCW) & Open Educational Resources (OER)

• OCW_Repositories
• OER_Repositories
• Podcast Libraries
• YouTube_Channels
• Engineering &_ICT
• Education
• Mathematics
• Natural_Sciences
• Business

2) Learning Tools

• Favorite_Tools
• Gaming
• Authoring
• Survey/Polling
• Graphics
• Learning Management Systems

POWER LINKS?
Please, keep in mind that my strategy is not to bookmark every single free learning tool or resource out there, but instead target those juicy links that I believe are useful, relevant, interesting, and have a long lasting value to our learning adventures. I am still exploring new tagging formulas and naming conventions, so you might find the current tag strategy messy and frustrating. However, I am still learning, and hopefully the power links will be increasingly easy to find as I master (or disaster!) the art of bookmarking and tagging.

REFLECTION!
During the last couple of weeks, I have begun a fascinating journey to find great courses available among OCW repositories around the world. I am certainly not interested in bookmarking every single one of them. MIT alone has now around 1800 free courses! But then again, how many of them give you learning goose bumps? Currently, there are already more than one hundred courses in my collection, and you can surely expect more in the coming weeks. When my learning adventure for full-blown courses begins to slow down, I will begin the struggle to bookmark particular free lectures and talks (videos) that give me learning goose bumps.

In other words, it wouldn't surprise me, if my del.icio.us collection reaches 1000 before July 2008. Having said that, it is not about big numbers, but instead it is about capturing great learning juice out there in the fast growing information galaxy, and making it easily available to hungry learners around the world.

I have to admit that I really enjoy using del.icio.us to bookmark and tag my learning discoveries. It is a brutally simple, focused and easy-to-use tool with no frills to distract you from it's core purpose, which is to help you collect, manage, and share your links (URLs) online. And that is probably why this tool is ranked the number one learning tool on the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2008 (Jane Knight).

Another beauty of managing your link discoveries with del.icio.us, is that when you bookmark a link, you can actually see how many other del.icio.us users that have bookmarked it. It is like searching for stars in the galaxy. When you discover one, you can check whether you are the first one to do so or not. Interestingly, I have noticed that del.icio.us users are great in bookmarking learning tools (e.g. Moodle = 6500+ have bookmarked it), but seem to lack interest (or awareness!) in bookmarking great free or OCW courses (Physics I: Classical Mechanics by Professor Lewin = 130+ have bookmarked it). Actually, most OCW courses that I have bookmarked fail even to reach the 20 mark. Perhaps, del.icio.us users focus more on bookmarking individual lectures or resources within the courses.

ZAIDLEARN GOES DIIGO?
There has been a lot of hype regarding 'Diigo', the new social bookmarking tool in town (it is not that new, brother!). So, to feel the hype I have also explored this tool. As Diigo allows you to import collections from other social bookmarking tools like del.icio.us, it was extremely easy to transfer my power links. Click here to experience ZaidLearn's power links in Diigo.

Although, Diigo is a cool tool and has a lot more features than del.icio.us to socialize, communicate, and have fun, it does not appeal to me (at least until now!). The reason is that I want my social bookmarking tool to be brutally simple, easy-to-use and focused. I have enough of other free learning tools to socialize, communicate and have fun!

Though, it would be nice if del.icio.us allowed users to provide comments to our learning discoveries, and be able to report broken links. Besides that, del.icio.us is still my first choice! But then again, I will continue to export my collections, and import them into Diigo (whenever I remember!). You never know in the future :)

Personal Learning = YouTube Lectures + No Courses + Free Rice

• Link to ZaidLearn's YouTube (Channel) Collection
• Personal Learning (Stephen Downes) + Slides (SlideShare)
• A World Without Courses (George Siemens)
• FreeRice (Word Game)

FREE RICE?
Did you know that you can give free rice to hungry people by simply playing a cool word game? FreeRice has two goals:

• Provide English vocabulary to everyone for free.
• Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free (Made possible by the sponsors who advertise on the site).

While learning and stimulating your own brain, you are also helping hungry people! What a brilliant idea! Hopefully, it works!

A WORLD WITHOUT COURSES?
George Siemens provides us a glimpse into a potential future world without courses, in a mind stimulating Articulate presentation.

"The function of education - in serving its stakeholders and in how it creates value - can be duplicated in a distributed manner. We're still missing the final piece of accreditation (though we're making progress on that) and we're missing the piece on how we will tie these pieces together. But, I imagine that will be on the horizon shortly. (with tying together, I don't mean tying content together - we can do that with RSS, PageFlakes, etc. I mean a conceptual tying together so we can say, "yes, Susan has achieved those learning targets"). Treat it as a conversation starter, not a declaration of belief ..." (Source)

It wasn't long ago when some learning experts were talking about a world without lectures (or even lecturers! Courseware + Artificial Intelligence = Learning). Today I watch more lectures than ever online (if I had more opportunities offline I would, too)! Whether online or offline, I simply love lectures, if they are interesting, engaging, useful, and relevant to my learning (E.g. George Siemens Articulate presentation). If you ask me to choose between a typical page-clicking courseware (eBook?) over watching a lecture, I would 99 out of 100 times choose a lecture (especially if it allows me to easily navigate and skip the boring/knowing parts). I suppose I prefer watching and listening to subject matter experts (if so!) reflecting-it-out-loud if possible (learning beyond the content)! But then again, everyone has their own preferences, which we should try to cater to one way or the other. If you can blend reading, listening, watching, presenting, sharing, playing, reflecting, individual/group activities, and creating new stuff into a course effectively, I will be inspired!

Although, I like learning whatever I want, anytime I want in an informal way, I do also like learning through courses. So, I hope and envision a world where both can co-exist effectively and that we can increasingly recognize and find ways to measure the value of informal learning (or no-course learning!) before making our judgments about a person's expertise (or competence level) in terms of knowledge, skills, experience and wisdom.

Coming to think of it, the problem might not lie with the 'course model', but how we define, deliver, assess and rigidly package courses (according to credit hours). With a bit of creativity, innovation and flexibility, we might be able to revive to true value of learning through courses! Also, wouldn't it be nice if we could have more flexibility in how we package our degrees (self-directed). We are free to choose courses according to our needs and interests (with prerequisite or warning signs if any!). In such a course learning world, I suppose Steve Jobs would have completed his degree!

UNIVERSITY YOUTUBE COLLECTIONS
Dan Coleman shares on his super smart media blog 50+ Smart Video Collections on YouTube (and growing!), which is simply an amazing collection. Although, YouTube unfortunately makes these collections difficult to find, Dan Coleman comes to the rescue!

Here are a few University YouTube Channels to keep you busy for life:

1. University of California (Berkeley)
2. MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
3. University of Southern California (USC)
4. Indian Institute of Technology/Indian Institute of Science (India)
5. BerkmanCenter's Channel (Harvard Law School)
6. University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill
7. Vanderbilt University
8. University of Chicago Press
9. University of California Television (UCTV)
10. University of Arizona
11. UChannel (Princeton)
12. Tulane University
13. Purdue University
14. Old Dominion (US)
15. Duke University News
16. European Graduate School (EGS)
17. AuburnUniversity's Videos
18. Oxford University Saïd Business School
19. BokTube - BokCenter's YouTube Channel (Harvard)

PERSONAL LEARNING
Stephen Downes is working on a new personal learning tool (soon to be launched, if I am not mistaken), and has some great ideas about what personal learning is all about.

Personal learning (in a nut shell!):

• To teach is to MODEL and to DEMONSTRATE
• To Learn is to PRACTICE and REFLECT

CLICK HERE to enjoy and reflect his slides :)

WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN?
Besides learning, I don't have a clue! However, if you want to enjoy my learning as I discover new learning resources and tools, please take advantage and use my growing juicy del.icio.us collection. Currently, I am still trying to index my old super learning discoveries (No time!), and hopefully by early April, I will increasingly focus more on exploring new galaxies of resources and tools.

In the meantime, have fun feeding poor people while playing games, and please dream about a world without courses (and share your reflections with George Siemens). Also, have fun exploring 1000s of YouTube lectures! Hopefully, we can soon use Stephen Downes new personal learning tool to manage our learning more efficiently. We certainly need it now!

I suppose I will be back in a week or two with some more juicy updates from my learning adventures :)

Any Free Online Survey/Polling Tools?

• Link to my del.icio.us Survey/Polling Tools
• Google Labs - Google Survey (Tool?)

"...There are still millions of students and educators in the Schools, Colleges and Universities around the world who are doing research, conducting surveys and spending a lot of time collecting data, providing them often with little time to analyze and reflect the findings (critical/creative thinking aspect!). However, by providing them with a free easy-to-use online survey tool (alternative or complimentary option to their research) with basic features to create and conduct online surveys, collect the data, and display the results/reports in text and visual format (with exporting options to Excel, SPSS, etc.), could do miracles from an educational point-of-view... (Source)"

I did once write an online letter to Google (October 12th, 2007) about our need for a free easy-to-use online survey tool, but I never got a reply. I suppose they get millions of e-mails every day, so why answer my one, unless the idea is really great (and innovative!), or I am NEO. With the exception of Google's polling tool in Blogger, I have yet to see any innovative progress from them. Microsoft seem to be too busy with their upcoming WorldWide Telescope (WWT) (Great surf-the-galaxy tool!), and who wants to get locked into Facebook's limited 70+ million user community doing polling and surveys (Confidentiality! Yeah, we can trust Facebook!). Yahoo? No idea! In short, the big players seem to be slow on this front, or perhaps they are planning to acquire one soon from the growing crowd of innovative online survey tools already out there.

FREE ONLINE SURVEY/POLLING TOOLS

Here are more than a dozen FREE online survey/polling tools (Selected using my sixth sense!), which you might want to explore further (Source):

1. SurveyMonkey.com
   Powerful tool for creating and running web surveys (including visual reporting). The free version provides several limitations (e.g. limited number of questions and respondents), but if you are creative you can do your stuff. Anyway, the commercial version is quite affordable (if needed), so why worry!
   
   
2. SurveyGizmo
   Web surveys, Polls, Forms, Quizzes, Landing Pages. Free and commercial version.
   
   
3. Polldaddy
   Create free online surveys (e.g. market research) and polls. Excellent for polls!
   
   
4. ProProfs Polls
   Makes it easy to solicit opinions & answers from your audience through free online polls. Educators can use polls as a way to stimulate conversation around a topic, encourage your students to engage with a subject, or simply lend a little spice to your lesson plans. Finally, you can easily share the personalized ProProfs polls with your audience on your website, Facebook profile, or Twitter account.
   
   
5. FreeOnlineSurveys.com
   Create online surveys, polls and questionnaires for any number of uses.
   
   
6. fo.reca.st
   Allows you to design free online surveys, collect responses from the visitors of your blog or website, analyze them and finally present the survey results.
   
   
7. Quibblo
   A free tool that enables you easily to create your own quizzes, fun surveys & tests online.
   
   
8. Kwik Online Surveys
   An easy-to-use survey development tool that enables you easily to send surveys & questionnaires by Email, YouTube, Facebook or posted on online Forums.
   
   
9. Pollograph
   
   An easy-to-use survey authoring tool. Free accounts can publish up to 5 free online surveys. The thing I like about this tool is that there is no limit to the number of questions you can include in each survey. Also, there is no limit to the number of responses that you can gather in each survey.
   
   
10. eSurveysPro
    
    It offers both a free and commercial version. But I like the fact that the free version enables you to create and conduct unlimited surveys and have unlimited responses.
    
    
11. LimeSurvey.org
    A good open source survey tool. You need to download and install on a server. It includes +20 different question types, and basic statistical and graphical analysis with an export facility.
    
    
12. VTSurvey
    Is a web-based tool which enables end users to autonomously create and run online surveys, feedback or registration forms (4 question types). You need to download and Install on a server. Although, it has limited tools, question types and reporting features, it is extremely easy-to-use.
    
    
13. BuzzDash
    Create and share polls. Built upon individual polling modules called buzzbites™, BuzzDash provides a real-time forum where people can solicit, measure and share opinions on nearly any issue.
    
    
14. Zoho Polls
    Can create and share polls.

If you want a more comprehensive list of survey/polling tools, mashing-up both commercial and free ones, I strongly recommend that you visit Jane Knight's amazing directory of learning tools (including 50+ survey/polling tools! Trust me, this list will grow!).

Oops, I got to get back to my vacation from blogging. If you are wondering again what I am doing during my holiday from blogging, CLICK HERE. Yes, I am building my arsenal of del.icio.us links (230+ and growing!). I have been collecting great links since 2001, so I got a lot to filter and add :)

ZaidLearn Goes del.icio.us & Takes a Break from Blogging!

• Link to Zaidlearn's del.icio.us Links
• Digital Curator to the Stars & More on the Digital Curator (Jeff Cobb)
• The Digital Curator in Your Future (Steve Rubel)

"...I do believe that Zaid Ali Algasoff is in the process of firmly establishing himself as the e-learning curator of Southeast Asia. His recent Any Free Hosted CMS or LMS? (Yes, Obama Says!) is just one piece of the accumulating evidence...(Source)" - Jeff Cobb

WOW! My self-actualizing e-Learning curator ego is reaching the top of Mount Everest! Hmm, what is a curator anyway?

CURATOR?
"A curator, in a cultural institution context, is a guardian or an overseer. According to Wikipedia, he/she "is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and their associated collections catalogs. The object of a curator's concern necessarily involves tangible objects of some sort, whether it be inter alia artwork, collectibles, historic items or scientific collections (Source)."

"Rubel argues that, in order to manage the massive amounts of information now flowing across the Web, the world needs digital curators, “people who are selfless and willing to act as sherpas and guides. They’re identifiable subject matter experts who dive through mountains of digital information and distill it down to its most relevant, essential parts (Source).”

I can live with that! But to tell you the truth, if I am really the e-learning curator of Southeast Asia, we are in big trouble! First, most of my readers are not from Southeast Asia, but instead they are from United States, Canada, Europe, India, Australia and a few Brazilians that can't get enough of this blog.

Also, my messy informal learning repository adventure is not exactly the most efficient place to find what you are looking for. I suppose you might discover something juicy here, but it is probably more by accident, or through a Google search, rather than systematically searching ZaidLearn. Nothing wrong with that, But I believe now has come the time that I also embrace my left brain of organization, and by doing so, I will hopefully nurture the whole brain for efficient management of my learning discoveries, which will hopefully lead to more effective learning.

I really appreciate and respect Jeff Cobb's kind reflections, but I still have a 'green mile' to travel, to live up to such a billing effectively. Though, I love the challenge and until other e-Learning curators do show up in Southeast Asia (or is known beyond!), I don't mind taking the lead. So, here is my plan to move on...

del.icio.us?
To be honest, I should have gone del.icio.us a long time back. Don't ask me why I didn't (Stubborn to unlearn!)? Instead you should explore and enjoy my growing juicy collection of del.icio.us links (+160 and growing fast!) , which will make it easier for readers to enjoy my arsenal of recommended free learning resources and tools. Here are my most prominent del.icio.us tags:

• Favorite Tools
• OER (Open Educational Resources)
• OCW (OpenCourseWare)
• Podcasts
• ...more

Although, many of my del.icio.us learning resources perhaps should use multiple tags (e.g. MIT OCW, OER, Podcasts, etc.), I have tried as much as possible to use one appropriate tag for each resource, instead of giving them too many tags. I personally don't want to find the same learning resource in every tag (although it might correct!) while looking for stuff. Anyway, I am still learning the art of tagging, and hopefully it will improve as I embrace del.icio.us.

As I have been collecting juicy learning links (URLs) since 2001 (stored all over the place!), I have literally thousands of them to rediscover and add to del.icio.us. So, in the coming weeks I will be busy rediscovering, filtering (out!), and tagging my last seven years of learning, and creating my own little arsenal of del.icio.us learning resources and tools, which we all can enjoy.

A BREAK FROM BLOGGING?
In addition, I have decided to take a break from blogging for at least 2-3 weeks, so I can reflect (in peace!) what I have achieved and prepare for the second phase of ZaidLearn. Second phase?

I suppose anyone that has been reading my blog has probably been overwhelmed with all the learning resources and tools discussed and shared here. And to be honest, I am really getting bored simply talking about new resources and tools discovered, and believe that ZaidLearn needs to move on to focus more on what really matters in education. EFFECTIVE LEARNING!!!!!!

ZAIDLEARN 2.0
In the future, I will still share great resources and tools I discover, but that will del.icio.us take care of from now on. I suppose I will provide a weekly del.icio.us update on the juiciest stuff discovered.

So, what about the 'ZaidLearn' blog? It will go on, but it will from the next post onwards (with the exception of weekly del.icio.us updates) focus on interesting topics and issues in relation to facilitating effective learning online. The posts will be short/long articles (500-2000 words) where I share my research, experiences, thoughts and ideas about learning (like I got much experience to share!). I predict that I will post 2-4 articles a month, meaning this blog will certainly not be as active as before, but it will hopefully be of better quality :).

My secret recipe (no longer!) for writing articles, will be roughly 4 days of research and reflection (in-between formal working activities), and then on the fifth day 1-4 hours of writing and editing, and Voila an article has been posted. I hope by using this formula, I can by year end (2008) compile these articles into an e-Book, which of course will be free to download (if anyone is interested!).

To put more pressure on myself (I love that!), I will challenge myself to write articles that are good enough to be published in the likes of Tomorrow's Professor Blog (Stanford University) and New York Times (NYT). So, Rick Reis (Editor of Tomorrow's Professor Blog) please consider my articles, although I am no professor (Need another 15 years for that one!). Anyway, all my articles will be published in ZaidLearn, and if they are really good, I am sure they will find their way to other interesting places, except peer reviewed journals. Why? I write with an unhealthy mix of emotion, logic, flavor, disruption and creativity beyond the scientific acceptance level of most peer reviewed journals.

Alright, enough! Have fun exploring my growing compilation of del.icio.us learning discoveries!

I WILL BE BACK! Soon! That is in 2-3 weeks time :)

e-Learning in Malaysia (My New Blog)

• Link to My New Blog

I just want to share with those that read this blog (or bump into it!) that I have started a new blog today (January 9th, 2008) entitled 'e-Learning in Malaysia'. It is kind of empty right now (except for a few interesting links and posts), but as I learn over the coming months (and perhaps years), I believe it will evolve into a useful blog to find e-learning related things going on in Malaysia.

I hope this blog will eventually evolve into a good starting point to discover e-learning things going on in Malaysia (that is accessible to the public). My new learning adventure (in addition to ZaidLearn) will try to mash-up the juiciest e-learning stories going on in Malaysia (past, present, future), including:

• Higher Education (Universities & Colleges)
• Schools (Primary & Secondary)
• Corporate Learning
• Communities
• Projects
• Solution Providers
• Research Papers & Articles
• People
• Conferences
• Blogs
• Etc.

In short, the main goal for setting up this blog, is to discover, learn, share, discuss, network, and reflect about e-learning in Malaysia. Click here to read the full story behind this blog.

ZAIDLEARN?
It will continue, too (speed posting the learning juice!)!

'ZaidLearn' will continue to explore the world of FREE learning tools and resources, while 'e-Learning in Malaysia' will ZOOM in on e-learning adventures going on in Malaysia.

ZaidLearn Reflects Blogging and 2008!

BLOGGING?

Why did I get into blogging in the first place? I want to be famous! LOL! Actually, I realized that hardly anyone in my profession (e-learning, learning and education) knows that I exist, and after blogging for 6 months I suppose it is slightly better. Alright, here are the three (3) main reasons (including the above one!) why I started blogging:

• Connect, learn from, and communicate with some of the great thinkers on online education today. By sharing my ideas and thoughts through tools like blogs is a great way to start the conversation (and perhaps also get a bit of recognition, appreciation and respect!). Let's face it, many of the great online education thinkers of today have their own blog(s). I suppose if they don't, I probably would not know who they are, except perhaps those I meet (not many!), or from reading their papers and books here and there.
• Nurture my knowledge sharing mind, and make it a habit! I come across a lot of juicy resources (not always easy to find!) that I want to share with others, and blogging is a great tool to quickly and easily share resources on-the-fly. Why don't you use del.icio.us instead? I suppose I want to also add my ideas and thoughts to my resource discoveries, and perhaps add a few cool graphics, and personalize and customize my learning environment in a more creative manner, which I didn't find in del.icio.us, or any of the other social bookmarking and resource sharing sites I have discovered.
• Construct an informal and messy learning repository of all the juicy learning resources (mostly free!) I have discovered during my learning adventures. If someone should ask what I have learned or read online, I can simply link them to my blog. It is actually a kind of CV keeping track of my favorite resource discoveries (including time trail), and my thoughts and ideas about them. Also, if I discuss with someone about an excellent resource, I don't have to always repeat something I have already posted. I can simply answer: You can find it on my blog. If it is messy, just Google the key word (e.g. Classtools) and 'ZaidLearn" and you are on your way!

Did I achieve my ultimate objectives? If the measure was visitors and hits, I suppose I am kind of a failure, if I compare myself to some of the super bloggers out there. I know of bloggers that get more hits in one day, than I have achieved in my lifetime in the blogs sphere. But then again my blog's readability is 'Genius', so unless I change the way I express myself; I will probably appeal only to geniuses in what I post about (Critical thinking loud and clear!). Though, I did get visitors from many interesting parts of the world, much thanks to Google Search, Stephen Downes, Joseph Hart and others that shared some of my posts in their blogs. In the picture below, you can see that most of my visitors (or readers) are from USA, Canada, Europe, India, and obviously Malaysia (where I live).

If we convert those three (3) reasons for blogging into objectives, I suppose I have done alright. I am kind of satisfied with my messy and informal learning repository (Though, still needs tremendous improvement!), which I suppose I use more than anyone out there to recap and reflect what I have learned. My knowledge sharing attitude is becoming a habit, which is something I have actually worked on since 2004. I am feeling some progress here, and if I try any harder I might just get fired :)

What about connecting, learning from, and communicating with some of the great thinkers on online education? Not sure about that one, but I have had some interesting reflections, comments and thoughts by a few ETL bloggers out there. So, I suppose I have made some impression and certainly learned a bunch from these comments and reflections.

Here are a few comments, reflections and thoughts about my blog or posts:

• Joseph Hart
  "This promising new weblog by Zaid Ali Alsagoff is devoted to open learning resources around the world; Zaid is located in Malaysia. His blog is especially valuable for its extensive listing of links to bloggers who write about eLearning and its multiple links to Learning Tools, eLearning sites, OpenCourseWare sites, University Podcasts, and Learning Repositories..."
• Stephen Downes
  I am proud to say that the first two news items on the widely read OLDaily newsletter on October 16 (2007), were from ZaidLearn. Stephen said, "...I agree with the author (Zaid) that there are "many excellent free online learning resources out there that are not being fully utilized by the global intelligence learning network." But I don't agree that Buffett's talk is one of them - and this illustrates perfectly the folly of trying to plan this or of depending on presumed authority to make the choices for us." I am not sure if that is positive, but I am happy to know that Stephen actually read my two posts, reflected them, and posted his own piece of mind about my opinion, too. It taught me a lesson about expressing opinions appropriately, and of course that Stephen might sometimes actually read my blog. Yes, I remember another OLDaily news item where Stephen said (Source), "...As Zaid says, "The key is not whether we fail or succeed during our studies, put how much effort and attitude we put into it. If the effort and right attitude is internalized into the students' mind (becomes a habit) during the learning process, he or she will eventually succeed (Trust me!)." So, sometimes we agree, sometimes we don't. But one thing is for sure, I have learned a lot from Stephen virtually; reading his blogs, articles, papers, and watching his videos :)
• Graham Glass
  "...I particularly appreciate his belief that sites like ours are the beginning of a new era in education, where free learning systems, open resources and community involvement will change the way we teach and learn."
• Tom Kuhlmann
  "....If you have your own blog, do like Zaid did. He linked to this series and showed some before and after images. It’s also a great way to share your own tips and tricks..."
• Wynn Williamson
  "...Two other excellent, regularly updated and substantive educational blogs are Oculture and Zaid Learn."
• Jeff Cobb
  "... Zaid Ali Alsagoff, however, has already discussed the new OER booklet in a post on Zaidlearn and followed it with another excellent post on open educational resources earlier this week. This is one of those occasions where I think it is best for me to simply point to the good work of another blogger."
• John Goldsmith
  "...Zaid Ali Alsagoff, another blogger has compiled his top 10 list of blogs related to online learning. They look pretty good. Most are bloggers that i know and follow but a couple are new. If you are look for a place to start, this list is as good a place as any..."
• Patricia Donaghy
  "...First came across this site thanks to a reference on Zaid’s blog, which has lots of other interesting posts regarding free resources."

2008?
Actually, I have found blogging quite addictive and I was seriously planning to quit completely, so that I perhaps can achieve my goals for 2008. I simply do not have time to blog 1-3 hours a day (and be mentally exhausted the rest of the day!), five/four days a week. It is affecting my other duties. However, after reflecting a bit, I have also realized that my messy informal learning repository (and reflections!) is actually useful to some, and perhaps if I just discipline (failed today!) my blogging time consumption, and limit it to 30 minutes (maximum) a day (to keep my addiction at bay!), I can still manage to do it.

Also, I hope from 2008 my blog posts will be shorter (1-2 text chunks per resource discovery) and juicier. I hope ZaidLearn will evolve into a quick fire news blog about learning tools, Open Educational Resources (OER), and teaching and learning stuff. A kind of mash-up of Joseph Hart , Stephen Downes , Jane Knight , Ray Schroeder, and Helge Scherlund's great news and resource blogs. Their postings are short, juicy, relevant, and have their own creative touch. I suppose that is the way to go for now, while I try to achieve my main goals in 2008.

Now, that I will have more time, I hope that I can get my PhD started, produce 8-12 quality articles about something related to learning (one-a-month!), and collaborate with some great people to nurture amazing learning environments. After getting the chance to watch and communicate with Bryan Chapman, I believe I have the talent, passion and potential to one day become a 'Learning Strategist' (Just need to get my 'Left Brain' in order, so that I can convince the accountants, investment guys, and CEOs!).

I wonder how many times I have mentioned 'I' in this post! So, I (again!) better soon stop my ramblings, and begin my 2008 learning journey. It hopefully starts with a 'WE'.

In short, Insha-Allah (God Willing) I hope that in 2008, I become a better Muslim, more caring father and loving husband, and produce at least one great idea related to learning (in addition to 1000s of bad ones!).

Hmm, for all of you still reading my last ramblings for 2008, I hope your dreams come true and that you have an outstanding year of learning, collaboration, sharing and caring :)

Optimizing eLearning Strategy (Bryan Chapman)

• Free Resources from Bryan Chapman
• Bryan Chapman's Blog

WHO?
"Bryan Chapman is Chief Learning Strategist at Chapman Alliance, LLC; a provider of research-centric consulting solutions that assist organizations in defining, operating and optimizing their strategic learning initiatives. As a veteran in the industry, he has over 20 years experience and has worked with such organizations as American Express, Shell, Kodak, Sprint, Sharp Electronics, Honda, IBM, Microsoft, Avon, UNICEF, The Food and Drug Administration, U.S. State Department, and many others; to help them optimize learning efficiency through the use of innovative learning techniques and technologies.

Bryan was formerly the Director of Research and Strategy for independent research and consulting firm Brandon Hall Research, where he served as the primary author and researcher on high profile projects such as the LMS Knowledgebase, LCMS Comparative Analysis Report, Comparison of Simulation Products and Services, and a comprehensive study of custom content developers in the industry ...more "

WHAT?
If you are wondering why my blog has been quiet for a few days (Not really!), it is simply because I have been engrossed learning from Bryan Chapman (and other participants) while attending a 2-day workshop entitled 'Optimizing eLearning Strategy' at Park Royal Hotel, Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). The workshop was essentially about leveraging learning technologies efficiently and effectively to improve organizational and individual learning outcomes. It covered Alignment, Benchmarking, ROI (Return on Investment), Rapid Development, Content Reusability, Informal Learning, Learning Governance, Blended Learning, Performance Management, and brining it all together.

It was certainly a great learning adventure, and I at last got to meet one of the Brandon Hall researchers in person. This was a workshop that I simply did not want to end, but usually when you really enjoy something, time seems to fly faster (and it certainly did!). From start to finish, Bryan Chapman engaged us (and thrilled my learning mind!) with his vast experience, case studies, showcase samples, and nuggets of wisdom that can hopefully assist us in the present and future to strategize a more People-Process-Technology (PPT) efficient and effective e-learning (or simply 'Learning') strategy.

JUICE?
Not all of us have the opportunity (or can afford) to meet and learn from an experienced learning strategist such as Bryan Chapman. However, if we can't learn from them directly, we can at least enjoy their free resources made available for us to download and reflect. Here are a few wonderful resources from Bryan Chapman, which could assist us in making better decisions in identifying e-learning needs, people, processes and technologies, and initiating a more efficient and effective learning strategy (Source):

• Creating the Ideal RFP (99K)
  It provides practical advice for creating a Request for Proposal (RFP) when shopping for an learning management system (LMS).
• How to Buy E-Learning Systems, Tools and Services(626K)
  Information on how to systematically choose learning solutions in many areas such as authoring, simulation tools, LMS, LCMS, etc.
• Learning Brief: Instructor-Led Training Development Times and Costs (554K)
  This learning brief is based on a survey conducted November 2007 asking companies how long it takes to create each finished hour of instructor-led training (ILT). Available as a PowerPoint. If you quote in your presentation, please cite the source of this study (included in the PowerPoint).
• Reusability 2.0: The Key to Publishing Learning (481K)
  This paper contains 3 excellent case studies, that demonstrate the possibilities of reusing learning content across multiple delivery formats. Very thought provoking material.
• Small to Medium-Sized Business Slides (2.2M)
  The presentation slides for session entitled "Leveraging Best Practices of Enterprise Learning for Small to Medium-Sized Businesses."

If you visit Bryan's resource page, you will find more free e-learning related documents.

LESSONS LEARNED?
If you are looking for a (e)Learning strategist, who are you going to call? BRYAN CHAPMAN! If you ask me, I would especially recommend Bryan Chapman if you are in the corporate sector and are looking for appropriate commercial e-learning solutions to optimize your learning strategy. However, if you are looking for open source solutions, perhaps you should consult people such as Stephen Downes instead; who is interestingly conducting a eLearning 2.0 (Web 2.0) workshop next month at JW Marriott, Kuala Lumpur. WOW! I wish I could attend, but I doubt I will get the funding. Sometimes lucky, sometimes not!

Bryan's only weakness (or lack of knowledge to my opinion based on the limited time we interacted with him), which I believe will evolve into a major strength soon (with his hunger-to-learn!), is his knowledge on the availability and possibilities of open source/free learning solutions. However, his knowledge on corporate e-learning solutions, is simply amazing! What do you expect from a person that has literally analyzed and evaluated hundreds of commercial e-learning systems, tools, and services (e.g. LMS, LCMS, Virtual Classrooms), and worked with some of the biggest companies in the world.

As for lessons learned, I suppose my mind is still trying to come to terms with all the juice I have digested in my learning mind, and would probably need a week, or two with recap reflections to really appreciate and understand all the great things I have learned during this amazing workshop. The workshop certainly fulfilled my expectations, and I also learned a whole deal just watching and analyzing Bryan Chapman in action (My psychology mind working!). For example, I loved the fact that when he learned something new and interesting during the workshop from the participants, he would try to add it immediately to his slides. No ego, No pride, just eager to learn and make use of it immediately!

After reflecting again Kirkpatrick's four (4) levels of evaluation (which also came up during the workshop), I believe level 1 (Truly Satisfied!) and level 2 (Learned a lot!) have been achieved, but the real objective of attending the workshop is not only to learn, but to be able to apply (level 3) what we have learned to our work, and hopefully achieve, or exceed the expected outcomes (Level 4). In short, learning without any application and/or results, might be useful for a person, but has little value for the organization as a whole, unless levels 3 and 4 are achieved.

In other words, I hope the things I learned during this workshop, can assist us to optimize our learning strategy, improve our teaching and learning environment, and increase our competitive advange from an educational point-of-view. I suppose this post (with reflection of results) will be continued sometime in the ... :)

10 Top ETL Blogs You Simply Don’t Want to Miss!

• Top Eight E-learning Blogs (Jeff Cobb)
• 8 Top Elearning Blogs You Don’t Want to Miss
• The 19 Best Elearning Blogs

WHAT?
As we are approaching closer to 2008, we will increasingly see all sorts of Top 8, Top 10, Top 20, Top 100, etc. lists, ranking everything from underwear to blogs. Should we take these kind of rankings seriously? No idea! It really depends (on the criteria and who's involved!), but surely if the ranking is done by someone or a group (Wisdom of the crowds!) that is influential, recognized, an expert, popular, respected, and/or widely read, it will have some impact on what we are doing (increased online traffic, global awareness, ego boosting, increased effort, etc.). Whatever it is, we somehow often get an extra kick out of reading this TOP something stuff. Better yet, if we are ourselves mentioned (or top of the pops!), life suddenly shines a bit brighter for a while (Jeff Cobb, thanks for mentioning my blog!). It feels great, Hip-Hip-Hurray! Yippy Kay Yaw Yeah!

Though, whatever recognition, awards or top rankings we get, hopefully it does not change our attitude to learn. In other words, recognition, awards, and rankings, should only increase our efforts/hunger to learn :)

MY TOP 10 ETL BLOGS?
Although, I am not really known (yet!), or an influentional person in education, I am going to share with you my top 10 (favourite) ETL (Education + Technology = Learning) blogs that takes up my time, as I struggle to learn more about education, learning technologies, and importantly the art of 'Learning How to Learn' more effectively. My ranking uses no particular formula, so please do not get offended if you are not on the list (or lower than expected!). This top 10 list is simply ETL blogs that occupy my interest and time. So, I suppose the time and interest factors play important roles in my ranking. Not sure really! Probably, my humble common sense and gut-feeling plays a prominent role, too. Stop! Here is my top 10 favourite ETL blogs:

1. Stephen’s Web - OLDaily
   If you are looking for ETL-related news, trends, reflections, etc., Stephen Downes's OLDaily is a homerun (Actually a season full of homeruns!). I have yet to find a better ETL blog out there in the blogsphere! Stephen's short reflections to all the juice he daily (5 times a week!) extracts from his intelligent surveillance of hundreds of ETL blogs (400+, if I am not mistaken!) are enjoyable, useful, relevant, and contains a lot of wisdom (to my humble knowledge!). Though, since he posts so often, you might sometimes miss the really juicy stuff (unless you have a lot of time!). Also, he posts links (URLs) to all his talks, presentations, and reflections (even from his office or bedroom. Not sure where! Better ask him!) on his blog, which often includes audio and/or video recordings, too. These learning resources enable us to get a deeper understanding of his thinking and ideas about learning and education. In short, we can in a way experience his learning journey (process) on 'Learning How to Learn' more effectively, as he learns. Click here to learn more about Stephen.
   
2. EduResources Weblog
   Joseph Hart's regular posts on mostly Higher education online resource discoveries accompanied by short but valuable reflections, is something you simply don't want to miss, especially if you are an educator. His blog might not be as flashy as some of the other ETL Blogs, but his valuable words and wise reflections are engaging, relevant, and useful to our learning mind. Also, check out his other great blog The Open Learner, which explores the usage of open knowledge resources across a diversity of subjects, levels, and interests for a wide range of learners and learning communities.
   
3. elearnspace
   George Siemens's elearnspace (Check out the Homepage, too!) is a great ETL blog to keep yourself updated about the latest juice in elearning, knowledge management, networks, technology, community development, and corporate learning. Also, check out his Knowing Knowledge book (Free!), which reflects the future of knowledge and learning. What I really like about this guy, is that he is always up to something innovative and is not scared to fail (e.g. 'Corporate Learning: Trends and Innovations' Free Online Conference).
   
4. Jane's E-Learning Pick of the Day
   If you are looking for the latest e-learning (or 'learning') tools, Jane Knight's blog is simply 'Toolicious'! Also, check out Jane Knight's amazing directory of 1800+ learning tools. In addition, I love the fact that she provides us with a weekly round-up of the new learning tools added to the tools directory. Her blog posts are concise, attractive, and juicy. Hmm, got a lot to learn here!!!!
   
5. Learning Trends
   Elliott Masie's Learning Trends blog is my favourite corporate learning blog. He himself is a dynamic, creative and innovative guy always looking for new ways to connect, contextualize, and innovate the learning process, so I would not want to miss his reflections. If you aren't already subscribing to his Learning Trends, perhaps it is time!
   
6. The Rapid eLearning Blog
   When you think about improving your rapid e-Learning, instructional design, PowerPoint or graphic creation skills, Tom Kuhlmann's Rapid eLearning blog provides you with a lot of great advice, tips, examples and short-cuts (One word = Amazing!). Also, don't forget to get his free elearning ebook while you’re there. In short, this blog is my favourite 'Rapid e-Learning' learning blog!
   
7. Clive on Learning
   If you are looking for reflections from an experienced expert on instructional design and insights on educational trends, I believe Clive Shepherd's excellent blog will nourish you well. He is also the man behind the 30-minute and 60-minute Masters in Instructional Design (or rapid e-learning design). Also, check out Clive's 33 Columns! Although, he does not post as often as some of the other super ETL bloggers, his reflections and insights into education, instructional desigin, online learning, etc. is worth the wait.
   
8. Open Culture
   Open Culture led by Dan Colman, is a super blog exploring cultural and educational media (podcasts, videos, online courses, etc.) that’s freely available on the web, and that makes learning dynamic, productive, and fun. In addition, you should explore Open Culture's excellent podcast library, too.
   
9. Helge Scherlund's eLearning News Blog
   If you are looking for an excellent ETL news blog, Helge Scherlund's blog is a really active one discovering a lot of wonderful learning juice. Coming to think of it, this blog is nearly as active as Stephen Downes's OLDaily in updating readers about ETL stuff going on around the world (especially in Europe and Denmark!). The only reason, I have not ranked this blog higher, is because it does not seem to do much more than sharing great discoveries in an attractive and engaging way. I suppose, when I can learn more from Helge Scherlund's own learning reflections and thoughts, I will spend even more time engaging in this excellent and useful ETL news blog.
   
10. Online Learning Update
    Ray Schroeder's Online learning blog is a great learning place to discover e-learning articles and news around the world (Europe, Middle-East, Asia, Australia, US, Canada, Africa, etc.). Also, check out his Educational Technology blog, too. Actually, I would have ranked Ray Schroeder's blogs higher if he had included more of his own reflections embedded with all these wonderful ETL discoveries. But, if you are simply looking for up-to-date news about e-learning and learning technologies, this is an amazing treasure with hundreds of posts.

In addition to these 10 great ETL blogs, the rest of the ETL bloggers that I have identified (or links) on my 'Gurus' list (right-side of my blog) do occupy my learning time, including Jay Cross, Patricia Donaghy, Jeff Cobb, Gabe Anderson, Wesley Fryer, Tony Karrer, and Robin Good. However, it would also be nice to add at least one Malaysian or Singaporean ETL blogger (that writes in English!) to my learning time, but at the moment I am still searching for one that really excites my learning mind. Got any suggestions? I apologize for my learning ignorance.

Wherever we go now or in the future, one thing will probably remain the same - Sharing Knowledge and Ideas is Power (Collective Wisdom!). If we don't practice this within our own community, group, or even to ourself, we will certainly have problems adapting to today's fast evolving global economy driven increasingly by Creativity and Innovation through collective wisdom :)

Weekly Discovery Wrap - October 26 (Episode 2)

REFLECTION!

Ramadan is over (Eid Mubarak to all Muslims reading this blog!), and I should be engrossed in writing my PhD proposal. But, Informal Learning is ADDICTIVE, Sharing Knowledge/Resources is ADDICTIVE (it started of as a habit change exercise in 2004!), Blogging is ADDICTIVE! Since the end of Ramadan, I have been discovering and posting so much juice (Well to my taste!), and the future prospects do not seem good (dealing with this addiction)!

Enough is enough! Anyway, after reflecting my first weekly discovery wrap episode, I believe I will need to change a few things. First, I will post a Weekly Discovery Wrap, every two weeks (which makes perfectly sense!). Each weekly discovery wrap (every two weeks!) will basically rank the posts (e.g. Top 10) that I have posted since the last episode, using a formula that is based on my own limited Practical Intelligence (PI), which might not make any sense to others. Maybe one day when my blog is widely read (2008 perhaps?), I will use something more scientific (e.g. Google PageRank, Alexa Rank, Technorati Link Count and Compete People Count). However, for now I will stick to my limited PI formula (Easy to locate my favourite juice!).

Finally, since I have never done this ranking stuff in this blog, I believe the Top 15 list below (next episode only Top 10 or less!) might be quite juicy. Since August, I have posted 79 discoveries, and the Top 15 list below is based on them. The 118 July 2007 discoveries are excluded from this Top 15 list (Collection from my ELC days: 2004 - 2006).

So, here are the Top 15 discoveries since August 2007 (according to my limited PI):

TOP 15 DISCOVERIES

1. Top 25 Reference Sites + Juice Galore (OEDb)
2. Secrets of the Super-Learners (Graig Lambert)
3. The Rapid E-Learning Blog (Practical & Fun!)
4. Edu2.0 - Free Hosted LMS (or VLE)
5. Great e-Learning Books Summarized (e-LearningGuru)
6. Giving Knowledge for Free & OER Stories!
7. Top 100 Tools for Learning
8. LectureShare (Share Your Lecture Notes to the World)
9. NUS + CDTL = T&L e-Books (Simply Awesome!)
10. Free Books about E-Learning (Jane Knight)
11. Lecturefox - Free University Lectures!
12. The eLearning Guild's FREE eBooks (Yummy!)
13. From Public Speaking Class to CEO of Google (Schmidt)
14. Warren Buffett's MBA Talk Vs Evolution of Dance
15. TED Talks (Ideas worth spreading)

If you are new to my blog, I suppose this top 15 list is the best place to feel the juice for starters.

Have a great weekend learning! :)

Weekly Discovery Wrap - October 9 (Episode 1)

REFLECTION!
I am about to begin my PhD journey (no destination yet!), and will therefore have less time to think-out-loud in this blog (Work, Studies and Family stuff will probably keep me busy!). If I feel good about my PhD proposal (probably ready by December 31st) I will be creatively applying in 2008 for scholarship from all the top Universities in the world (At least Harvard and Cambridge!). I suppose I will have a high rejection rate, but we all know that experiencing and learning from failure is the best feedback to improve, so I can't wait. It will be an adventure of joy, laughter, sadness and reflections, which I will cherish for life!

In general, less time for this blog, means probably more juice. So, I suppose my blog will have more posts (nuggets of juice!), less reflections and more visitors. We will start with my new weekly top 10 discoveries (or stories), which are selected based on my subjective learning adventure. Here we go!

TOP 10 DISCOVERIES

1. On Getting Great Ideas (YouTube video: 70 min)
   Murray Gell-Mann is one of the largest living legends in physics (he also coined the term "quark"). He’s also been described as The Man With Five Brains, and it’s no puzzle why: He was admitted to Yale at 15, got his PhD from MIT at 21, and is an international advisor on the environment...etc. It was a great honor to watch this man think, talk and joke (wisdom!) for 70 minutes! Actually, what I enjoyed most about this video was how the nine dots puzzle was solved with one line (Previous best method is four lines). Talk about creative thinking!
2. What Everybody Ought To Know About Using PowerPoint for E-learning (Tom Kuhlmann)
   "What makes an elearning course effective isn’t the authoring tool as much as it is the person who designs the course. That means a creative instructional designer can use PowerPoint coupled with a rapid elearning tool to build very effective elearning courses."
3. E-Learning Showcase (Jane Knight)
   If you are looking for e-learning ideas and samples, this is a great place to visit.
4. Where to Find Free Images and Visuals (Robin Good)
   "...the best resources of grassroots free images online is the Stock Exchange at http://sxc.hu/, It's an impressive collection of many high-quality photos taken by amateur photographers from around the world..." Keep this excellent mini-guide by Robin Good in your favorites, because you will need sooner or later!
5. The online learning idea book ( Clive Shepherd)
   95 proven ways to enhance technology-based and blended learning'! Clive discusses 12 of the juiciest ones, meaning I will not spend my money to figure out the other 83.
6. Scottish Learning Festival 2007
   All the keynote speeches from the Scottish Learning Festival 2007 have been recorded. Have fun learning!
7. Ten Discoveries That Rewrote History (Open Culture)
   A great learning resource!
8. Slidestar- Site for Sharing Instructional Resources (Joseph Hart)
   "Slidestar is a beta site created to facilitate the sharing of slides, powerpoint files, graphics, lectures, and other learning resources..." I suppose I still prefer Slideshare as a slide sharing tool. It just takes too long to load the Flash-based interface. I suppose SlideStar could learn a few tricks from Google in creating a light easy-to-use interface and super fast search! The idea is noble, but the tool needs massive improvement to succeed. But, I am sure they are humble enough to realize this and do something about it.
9. 9 Best Practices for Implementing a CMS (Dian Schaffhauser)
   Software publisher OmniUpdate estimates that only 15 percent of colleges and universities have deployed a Content Management System (CMS) to update the content on their sites. Why? Besides figuring out the why question, please use open source solutions for CMS as there are plenty of great options (e.g. Joomla). Explore this list, before going for commercial ones.
10. Has Stephen Hawking Been Wrong For The Last 30 Years? (Open Culture)
    Shouldn't this have been asked 30 years ago!

Wasn't that more fun :)