Rediscovering Curt Bonk's Extreme Learning World!

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

HOW DO YOU...

1. DOWNLOAD YouTube videos?
2. CONVERT YouTube videos into a format supported by PowerPoint?
3. INSERT YouTube videos into PowerPoint (and run it offline smoothly)?

Since I am always asked those three (3) questions above, why not screencast it once for ALL! This screencast explores these questions:

(Click here to download this screencast)

TOOLS?
Tools recommended:

• RealPlayer - Downloading videos from YouTube and Converting them into other formats (e.g. wmv).
  
• Format Factory - Converting videos to any other video format you can imagine.
  

If you are using PowerPoint 2003 (or 2010) no worries, because inserting videos into PowerPoint is as easy as toasting...Insert > Movies and Sounds > Movie from File (2003)...

You might also want to check out my previous article entitled 2 Juicy Ways to Insert YouTube Videos into PowerPoint, but I believe the tips shared above is even juicier. Trust me!

Finally, if you have a cooler or more efficient way of doing it for free, please share it with us. Now that would be AWESOME :)

Top 10 Learning Sites for ________? Yours? #T10LS :)

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school."

- Albert Einstein

"See, here's the thing, though. I don't want 99 mind mapping resources, tools, and tips. I want one. That works. Really well. "
- Stephen Downes

CLUELESS?

To cut the crap short, and get to the point... It is amazing how many educators (that I have crossed path with) until today (Yes, already 2010!), who are clueless or know little about the amazing world of Open Educational Resources (OER)/Open Courseware (OCW) and learning tools. There are probably many reasons for that, so I am not going to go into that.

But, what I find even more shocking and troubling is educators who are also clueless about the amazing learning possibilities (tools and resources) within their own field/area/specialization/learning domain. I just hope you are not one of them.

No doubt we can't know and do everything, and there will always be new tools and resources blazing through in an ever growing global learning sharing stream. But, we should have some idea, or be open to explore new and innovative learning possibilities within our learning domain(s), because our students deserve it (or they will eventually desert us...).



WHAT TO DO?
So, how can we motivate or inspire educators to find and explore these new learning possibilities?

Peer pressure? Peer recommendation? Now, we are getting closer (I think!). Of course mambo jumbo lists are useful (e.g. OER), but for a busy educator it might be.... No time for that! Stephen Downes's quote above makes sense!

But, what if we filtered out the juiciest learning resources and tools, and stamped our validation for use (or recommendation). Now, that would be interesting, wouldn't it? Instead of 1000, 100, it is narrowed down to digestible portions (unless you are Takeru Kobayashi!).

To set a digestible portion criteria, we could use the magical number of seven, but I am going to suggest no more than 10 for whatever... Anyway, we don't have to be too rigid on such things, but just be reminded that Less is often more (especially for learning). Look who's talking :)

For example, I am looking for excellent resources or tools to explore critical thinking, where to start? I know Stephen Downes is facilitating a Critical Literacies Online Course, and has published a widely used 'Guide to the Logical Fallacies'. So, wouldn't it be great to have a juicy Top 10 (or anything less, or perhaps a bit more!) list of excellent critical thinking resources recommended by Stephen Downes as a starting point.

Of course, there are many more sites to explore, but having a great starting point validated or recommended by an expert won't harm anyone (would it?).

So, let's think bigger! What if more experts shared their filtered and recommended learning resource lists for their particular specializations or areas. Imagine great contextualized learning start points for Psychology, Medicine, Biology, Law, English, Creative thinking, critical thinking...(perhaps a bit more micro) you name it. Now, wouldn't that be useful?



MY TOP 10 LEARNING SITES FOR PERSONAL LEARNING
Here are 10 amazing learning resources to explore for personal learning, especially if you are into e-learning and learning (Not ranking, just numbering):

1. Einztein
   
   A wonderful starting point to find free online courses with a bit of spice from top Universities. Also, the Academic Porthole is a great starting point, as it also includes OER guides to several learning domains.
   
   
   
2. iTunes U
   
   Here you can find more than 250,000 free lectures, videos, films, and other resources from many of the top Universities around the world. Since I am using an IPhone (and IPod), it is such a wonderful resource to feed me with recorded lectures for my long traffic jams every working day.
   
   
   
3. YouTube EDU and Academic Earth
   YouTube has aggregated all of the videos from its college and university partners - including luminaries like Stanford, Harvard, and Dartmouth - in one place. Academic Earth is an educational video website with the goal of enhancing the usability and expanding the awareness of OER, focusing first on video lectures. Since most of its resources are aggregated from YouTube, I have mashed both into one. Also, you can even grade the lectures (A to F) on Academic Earth. Cool!
   
   
4. TED Talks
   
   Hundreds of inspiring talks by the some of the most innovative and amazing thinkers and doers the world has to offer. And 95.5% of these talks are 20 minutes or shorter, meaning they are perfect for mobile learning. How on earth can we ignore such a resource (after discovering it)?
   
   
   
5. OLDaily (Stephen Downes)
   
   If you are looking for the latest news, trends, reflections, etc. in the (online) learning world, Stephen Downes is the ultimate synthesizer (that I have come across) of what is going on. I love the way he reflects and extracts the essence (or what he finds interesting) of all the articles, sites, tools, resources, etc. he discovers in his daily online newsletter (excluding weekends!). You might also want to also check out his homepage to discover all the other stuff he is doing, including his other excellent reflective blog (Half an Hour) and video recordings of all his presentations. While talking about Stephen Downes, we cannot ignore George Siemens and his elearnspace. He is the mastermind (together with Stephen Downes) behind Connectivism, the only learning theory that makes sense in the online learning world. His reflections and ramblings will keep you updated with e-learning, knowledge management, networks, technology, community development, and corporate learning.
   
   
6. Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies (Jane Hart)
   
   If you want to find or know more about learning tools and how to use them to facilitate online learning that sizzles, then this site will serve you amazingly well. Jane's E-Learning Pick of the Day is awesomely useful, and you won't be disappointed with her Tools Directory and Top Tools for Learning 2010. 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. Besides that you just have to check out her social media guides:
   
   

   • Introduction to social media for learning
     
   • Social Media for Workplace Learning
   • How to use Twitter for Social Learning
   • How to use Facebook for Social Learning
     
     

   These social media guides are simply a goldmine for anyone who is clueless, or wants to learn how to implement social learning in their teaching and learning environments. Also, don't miss her 100 Featured Learning Professionals, which will provide you with information, inspiration and/or interaction on a range of educational and workplace learning topics from around the world - via their blog, on Twitter or on other social networks. A life time worth of learning!
   
   
7. The Rapid eLearning Blog (Tom Kuhlmann)
   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. Also, don't forget to get his free elearning ebook while you’re there. In short, this blog is easily my favorite 'Rapid e-Learning' learning blog! No doubt about that!
   
   
8. ELearningLearning (Tony Karrer)
   
   It is not really a list, but an amazing aggregator of excellent workplace or corporate learning blogs and posts filtered out by Tony Karrer. Just subscribe to this one, and you are basically subscribing to tons of great corporate or workplace learning blogs out there. Actually, it is a blog post repository in itself, and you will find the indexing, Monthly top featured posts, best from.., etc. very exciting (Well at least I did!). It uses the Browse My Stuff technology to create this topic hub. Topic Hubs are sites that aggregates content from a variety of sources, organizes that content around keywords in the topic domain, and supports both manual and social curation of that content.
   
   
9. Kapp Notes (Karl Kapp)
   
   If you want a blog that explores 3D learning, Second Life and learning games in general, this blog is certainly one of the best that I have come across.
   
   
   
10. iLearn technology (Kelly Tenkely)
    
    This blog is dedicated to giving teachers practical tips for integrating technology into the classroom. The learning stories are short, sweet and digestible. Perfect for the busy educator. Kelly you rock!
    

Besides these awesome learning sites, there are tons of other outstanding bloggers, sites, tutorials, learning games and tools to explore, but having a good starting, or knowing what sites that consume most of my online learning time should not be any harm.

YOUR TOP 10 LEARNING SITES FOR _________?

Alright, that was my top 10 learning sites for personal learning. What about you? Do you have any amazing sites to share from your learning domain? If you are interested to participate, simply share your Top 10 list through your blog, or using any learning tool convenient for you. Then, either blast me a comment with a URL to your list, or perhaps tweet the URL to the list using the following Twitter hashtag:

#T10LS

If many of you want to participate, I will setup a wiki (using Google Sites), whereby we all can collaborate to build. Actually, it would have been cool if someone like Jane Hart could use her magic to create something similar to the Top Tools for Learning 2010 for learning sites. Now, that would be awesome!

If no one is interested, too bad! At least you can enjoy my top 10 (personal) learning sites list above. Perhaps, whatever I have said, already exists. What do you think? :)

iTunes U Services For ALL! Join the #itunesuwish...

Join the #itunesuwish twitter stream for change!

WHAT?

"...iTunes U is a free service available to qualifying two- and four-year accredited, degree-granting, public or private colleges and universities in the United States, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and United Kingdom. Universities and Colleges must enter into an iTunes U Service Agreement before being eligible to use the iTunes U service. Apple reserves the right to determine eligibility. (Source)"



WHAT ABOUT US?

Yes, the rest of the world!!!! Do, I need to mention another 175 countries. Why should applying for iTunes U services be discriminated based on country. It is simply insulting!!!! I took it with a pinch of insult in 2009 (explored possibilities), and hoped that eventually iTunes would open up their free services to Universities beyond those 21 countries, but until today (June 2010), nothing seem to have changed (please correct me, if I am wrong!).

But let's be positive! We are talking about iTunes U and the legend Steve Jobs here, so let's hope they will change for the better, and really carry out the democratization of expertise and learning beyond this little world of 21.

Stephen Downes, thanks for sharing...

#itunesuwish

To help them realize our frustration and learning needs (to share, too!), let's spread our wishes using social media (Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.) to change iTunes U insulting application requirements based on country. Perhaps our crowd intelligence and initiative can speed up the process for enabling...

iTunes U services FREE for ALL!

Let's make a difference, join the #itunesuwish for change :)


Latest News

• 06/16/2010 - iTunes U Distribution Limited (Open Education News)
• 06/14/2010 - iTunes U Services For ALL! Join the #itunesuwish... (OLDaily, Stephen Downes)
  

My Estonian TED(dy) Talk - Creativity and ZaidLearn!

DOWNLOAD

• Articulate & MP3 versions (ZIP format)
• Slideshare version (include audio)
  

CONFERENCE

Part 1
On Sunday evening (11/04/2010), I got this interesting e-mail from Marko Puusaar...

Great! But he forgot to tell me when (which he did in the next e-mail), and after checking the website, I realized my short talk was scheduled on 16th of April (anytime between 4pm - 6pm Malaysian time). Luckily (this time around), I am supposed to present online and not in Estonia.

And then I was thinking, what should I talk about? This is an International e-Learning Conference in Estonia, entitled: E-Learning - A Serious Game. My 15-minute talk (during a parallel session) needs to explore the theme: Searching for Inspiration.

"Creative and "out of the box" thinking is a valuable asset for everyone. During this two hour TEDx style session we will try to see what inspires us and how does it make us creative even in the most limited situations and environments? Speakers from all over the World will share their experiences about being creative and free of limitations."

Yes, I certainly need some quick inspiration, that is for sure! But, then on Monday evening I got a spark of inspiration to talk about Creativity and how I have tried to infuse some of it into my blogging adventure at ZaidLearn. If you think about it, it was ZaidLearn that got me into trouble (in a positive way), so why not use it to perhaps get me out of it.

By Tuesday early afternoon, the presentation slides were finalized, and then another spark of inspiration just popped into my mind (and luckily it was inline with my KPI).

Instead of conducting a live talk, why not record the talk using Articulate, and then they can watch the presentation whenever they want. And by doing so, I can instead spend more time to interact with the participants to share ideas and experiences.

By Wednesday (14/04) morning, my Articulate presentation was completed and sent to Marko Puusaar (links above). Also, I published the podcast version (MP3) using Articulate, so that they have access to both formats. We all know how Steve Jobs feels about 'Flash' content :)

Then, I uploaded the PowerPoint slides and audio to Slideshare to create a 'slidecast', and here you can enjoy (or bore) yourself with my so called TED(dy) talk, entitled 'Creativity and ZaidLearn':

Creativity & ZaidLearn

View more presentations from Zaid Alsagoff.

Part 2
Here is the breakdown of the parallel session (full programme) I participated in:

Searching for Inspiration
16th April 2010 11:30 - 13:30

11:30 -Moving Windmills: The William Kamkwamba Story (video)- 6 min
11:40 - Zaid Ali Alsagoff - Creativitiy and ZaidLearn
12:10 - Richard St. John's 8 secrets of Success (video) - (video) 4 min
12:20 - Erkki Pung - Creativity and inspiration in the design world
12:40 - To be updated!
13:00 - Jüri Vilipõld - Teaching programming through games by using Scratch
13:10 - Ken Robinson says schools kill Creativity - (video) 20 min
13:30 - We are done

An action-pact 2 hours session, including three (3) inspiring videos (links above). Here is a screen shot from the parallel session (small group) from my Skype view:


Luckily, they watched a recorded (Articulate) session, because the audio connection was not too good, and the video buffered consistently (meaning the screen-sharing option would have been a disaster!). Though, I have to admit it is more stressful watching people watch me talk than actually doing a live talk. After the talk, we had a Q&A session via Skype (only one question: What do you think is the future of Blogging?). Then I watched the rest of the parallel session through my Skype view. The other two (2) presenters were very interesting.


REFLECTION
Of course, it is always tough listening to our own voice (unless we are used to it!). However, listening to our own voice talking about our own work is even more difficult. I have always preferred to talk about other people's achievements and innovations. So, listening to myself talking 20 minutes about my blog, was really tough. The picture above, basically sums up how I felt during the parallel session.

Anyway, I enjoyed the whole learning process. In addition, I should keep in mind that this 22-minute Articulate presentation (from slide conceptualization to publishing, including no audio script) was developed in roughly 10 hours (working hours!), so I can't complain too much. Also, the learning experience has inspired me with tons of new ideas on how I can improve further.

Meaning, you will hopefully see many more audio narrated presentations and screencasts here on ZaidLearn in 2010, as I explore my voice tone, pitch, clarity...

Finally, Thanks to the Estonian e-Learning Development Center for giving me this opportunity, and of course a big thanks to Marko who discovered ZaidLearn and Zaid. Without his connection this would not have happened :)

ZaidSwoosh Has Swooshed 30 Stunning Posts Since Launch!

CONGRATULATIONS!

Congratulations Obama! Don't blame it on Obama for getting the award (Though, he could reject it, but why should he?). I have always thought that Norwegians (or their government to be fair!) are peace loving people (I am 50% Norwegian and reasonably peaceful, too!), but very naive in dealing with peace efforts and conflicts around world. And I am still puzzled with the wisdom of Obama getting it so soon. If he lives up to his vision and mission, no doubt he should get the award, but give him some time to earn it the right way.

Also, we must not forget that he is the 'Commander in Chief' of the deadliest army since the 2nd World War, which has blasted several countries back to the Stone Age. Yes, let's not forget he is still at war in two countries, and things might not blossom into peace as soon as we might hope. If you know anything about Afghans (I do!), they will never surrender until the US Army is out of there. Hopefully, they will eventually learn from the mistakes the Soviet Union dudes did last time. But, the way they are going at it, it certainly does not look like it.

Anyway, let's hope that the 'Nobel Peace Prize' selection committee had an inch of wisdom behind the selection, and thought by giving Obama this award, it would remind him throughout his President-hood that peace is the only way forward, and that going to war with such a title is simply not acceptable. Just wondering, once you become a Nobel Peace Prize winner, can you lose it?

Let's forget politics, and return to the learning juice!

ZAIDSWOOSH ROCKS!

If you haven't noticed, I launched another blog a few weeks back (Why?). Except for Stephen Downes (who ironically referred to it as ZaidLearn) and a few others, it has hardly picked up any attention in the Blogosphere. But, that is cool! For those of you who missed out on ZaidSwoosh until now, here are the first 30 stunning posts from it:

1. Welcome & Why!
   
2. 99 Free EduGames to Spice Up Your Course!
3. 99 Awesome Firefox Add-ons for Educators
4. Nobel Prize Winners Video Lecture Search Engine
5. 50 Terrific Twitter Tutorials for Teachers
6. LearnTrends 2009 - Free Online Conference (November 17-19)
7. 2009 ALT conference - 11 Mind Awakening Video Lectures Right Here!
8. Free Internet Libraries
9. The Learning Footprint Calculator
10. Zenhabits Comments Section is Brilliantly Annoying!
11. Wiggio Just a Little Bit!
12. The Google Acquisition & Investment Map
13. Join The eLearning Network (eLN)!
14. Twitter Handbook for Teachers
15. Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning
16. Trendsmap - Your Glocal Twitter Trends Forecast
17. How Web-Savvy Edupunks Are Transforming American Higher Education
18. The E-Learning Debate at The Oxford Union
19. 100 Free Ivy-League Lectures You Shouldn't Miss
20. Change the Way You Think About Everything
21. Seven Skills Students Need for Their Future
22. A Pocket University (or iTunesU at Oxford University)
23. Web 2.0 - Cool Tools for Schools
24. Domo Animate - Create Cartoons About Your Learning!
25. 100 Best Blogs for Tech-Savvy Teachers
26. Why Not? Now, That is a Sizzling Lecture!
27. Did You Know This Did You Know!
28. 3 Free e-Learning Courses Run by Otago Polytechnic (New Zealand)
29. Insidious Pedagogy: How Course Management Systems Affect Teaching
30. Academia 2.0 - Be Relevant-Engaging-Fun!

In short, ZaidSwoosh is dedicated to sharing juicy learning resources and ideas in daily 'swoosh' chunks (1-3 short posts every working day).

I like to keep ZaidLearn for more 'article' like posts (1000 - 5000 words, the boring stuff!), whereby I reflect (80%) and add some spice or fun (20%). However, with ZaidSwoosh, it will be 80% juice and fun, and then 20% reflection. So, those used to ZaidLearn and long juicy boring stuff, will continue to have it that way.

As for those of you who want to experience the juiciest stuff I discover on a daily basis, then ZaidSwoosh is worth subscribing to. How do I find time to 'SWOOSH' blog? I don't smoke, meaning I should be healthier and can use my puff-breaks to swoosh some learning juice instead.

So, what so special about this ZaidSwoosh? Until you have tried, you will never know :)

Text-to-Speech to Enjoying Traffic Jams!

Do you experience traffic jams? YES!
Do you curse at other 'Monkey' drivers? YES!
Do you feel like beating the 'Beep' out of them? YES!
Do you listen to the radio hoping for the right song? YES!
Do you spend more than 1 hour traveling on the road every day? YES!
Do you feel that you are wasting your time? YES!
Do you prefer just listening to music (to relax and chill!)? YES!
Do you have an iPod or MP3 player? YES!

REFLECTING
Why waste so much time basically doing nothing while getting annoyed in traffic jams. Some people could potentially have learned enough to get a degree while stuck countless hours in traffic jams. Besides downloading audio books and lectures from tons of amazing sites (Click here for starters!), you could also convert your text files into MP3 files (or on-the-fly) using text-to-speech converters. In the past they sounded robotic and horrible! But they are getting better, and some of the free tools today are not bad.

I used to hate getting stuck in traffic jams, but now I am instead enjoying them listening to world class lectures (e.g. downloaded or streaming) on my IPod, including Nobel Laureates sharing their vast knowledge, skills and experiences. Not only do I forget about the traffic jams in front of me, I am learning from amazing people, and most of these amazing learning resources are available for free (e.g. Open Educational Resources). In other words, sometimes I hope that the traffic jams would continue for a few more minutes, so that I can complete the lecture that I am listening to.

And now with improving text-to-speech converters, we can convert juicy articles that we don't have time to otherwise read. The only minor problem is that the best text-to-speech converters are still not free.

vozMe is an interesting text-to-speech converter that is free and requires hardly any learning time to master. However, it would have been wonderful if it had more options in terms of speakers (e.g. Sean Connery) and that it could sound more natural. Also, if it had enabled us to upload files (or a desktop version) to convert them, now that would be wonderful.

If only Google could have had a good text-to-speech converter embedded to their Google Docs (or any of their tools), now then I would finally be impressed with them. To me, that is one of the missing links for Google to be truly accessible to all. Anyway, I am pretty sure Google will provide such services soon, and then the commercial tools would need to react, and finally we all will benefit, and create a better learning world for all.

Also, if we could also have a good free speech-to-text converter, now then I would probably create my own traffic jams to finish off my work in peace. Imagine driving writing (I mean narrating!) your blog posts and then searching Google by telling it verbally to synthesize some information regarding instructional design, which you want to include in the post. Better yet, Google reads your mind (waves) to speed up the process.

Finally, we are working 24 hours a day, and have no time for family or a holiday. Hm, that does not sound so wonderful. I Need to go home, but while driving why not enjoy...

TEXT-TO-SPEECH TOOLS

Here are a few FREE text-to-speech tools to get you started (Warning: They usually offer a commercial version or upgrade option, too):

• vozMe
  
  A free gadget you can add to your website to add text to speech functionality. Also, it enables you easily to convert your text files into MP3 files with a few clicks. It is online and free.
  
  
  
• Jott
  It converts your voice into emails, text messages, reminders, lists and appointments.
  
  
• iSpeech
  
  Convert any text to speech with iSpeech. Its' text to speech (TTS) Web service is being used in many markets including e-learning, education, websites, media, mobile applications, weblogs, and more.
  
  
• TTSReader
  Is a full-featured, text-to speech software package that allows reading text aloud as well as to wav or mp3 files. TTSReader is freeware, therefore you can download and use it free of charge.
  
  
• Panopreter
  It reads text file, rtf file, word document and web page in .htm format, it can read in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Chinese, Japanese and more, provided such Text-To-Speech voice engines have been installed on your computer. Panopreter converts the files into audio files with the format of wave and MP3. So you can hear your files with your audio media player, you don't need to sit at the desk, with your eyes fixed on the computer's screen any longer.
  
  
• ReadPlease 2003
  The free edition offers full support for all Microsoft voices, reads text via Windows clipboard fm any program, Adjustable voice speed (rate) and so on.
  
  
• NaturalReader
  The Free version allows you to experience listening to your emails, web pages, reports or any text on your PC. There are no charges for downloading, using and redistributing the free version of the software.

If you have any better free text-to-speech tools to suggest, please make some noise right here :)

Do You Want To Learn English As A Second Language?

A person who speaks two languages is bilingual...
A person who speaks three languages is trilingual...
A person who speaks four or more languages is multilingual.
What is a person who speaks one language?
Answer (Tip: Click the link and scroll down)

WHAT?

Speak English as a second language? Why a second language? Why not a third language? Or perhaps a fourth language? For some language gurus it might be the 15th language that they learn. In short, it depends (Easy way out!). I know the phrase, "speak English as a Second Language" (ESL) is a figure of speech (or something up there), but it just sounds funny to me, especially when I reflect the joke above. For many Americans, British (and Japanese) this phrase might sound perfectly fine, especially if they only speak one language. But for others (or me), it is just plain funny.

I suppose it sounds better than learning "English as a Foreign Language (EFL)". What about learning English as an alternative language. Nah! That doesn't sound right either! If you have any suggestions, please comment. It would be fun to socially brainstorm a better solution to this highly important term issue. We certainly don't want to confuse people embracing English as a second language. Ops, I mean third, fourth, or whatever!


THINKING

During my 2 months plus thinking leave I was considering becoming an 'English Teacher' for a couple of years (Actually, I still am), but then when I began revising my English grammar, I was simply .......

Are you serious, did I learn that before. Gerunds! WOW! Not to mention 'Past Perfect Continuous'! The more '+ing' it gets, the longer the jargon phrase gets! I am really enjoying revising grammar and will surely work on my prepositions, but I am beginning to question whether I could teach someone in the future grammar or not (effectively). Perhaps, teaching something about 'Nouns' should be alright. 'Adjectives' are also cool, but 'Adverbs' become tricky. And then you have all the different contexts, which might transform a word to this and that. It is verb here, but not here. Oh man!

I suppose if I ever began teaching English, I would facilitate it by skipping grammar through scribbling, babbling and chatting, again, again, fused with modeling and feedback until it makes sense (who's sense? Got a point there!). As for grammar (if any), I would only teach them the very basics needed to construct a sentence that makes sense (who's sense? Alright, I get it!).

Give me another six months of learning English Grammar, Writing, Speaking and Listening skills, and I am ready to teach ESL. Although, I currently don't have any appropriate qualifications, I suppose if I do one day acquire a CELTA or two, I can Mind Your Language with my students.

LEARNING GALORE!

What really struck me while I was searching for ESL online resources, was the amazing amount of options that we have. 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). Wow! Are you kidding me! Then I found another bomb (not that kind of one)! Wow! It was one ESL learning orgasm after another. Below is a list of interesting ESL resources that I have discovered until now, and most of them are free. Keep in mind, this might just be the tip of the iceberg. If you get to the end of this post, I will reveal the ultimate ESL resource collection (to my limited exploration!). Have fun with this raw list (with some really juicy ones first):

1. English as a Second Language (ESL)
   This ESL website developed by Ron C. Lee is a good starting point for ESL learners who want to study English through the Web.
   
2. Dave's ESL Cafe
   The site looks a bit messy and it probably applies perhaps some outdated scripts and tools, but if you look beyond the cosmetics, you will find an amazing ocean of ESL resources. Also, it is a great meeting place for ESL teachers and students (check the forums) . If I end up as an ESL teacher one day, Dave would certainly be my 'knowledge sharing' role model. Thumbs up!
3. EnglishCentral
   Practice speaking English while you watch great videos. When you use EnglishCentral, you choose the video you want to WATCH and learn from. Their proprietary speech recognition technology allows you to SPEAK and get feedback on your pronunciation and then compete with others learners on our Scoreboard. Finally, their platform keeps tracks of your progress performance over time so you can see view your progress over weeks and months of practice.
4. BBC Learning English
   Is a resource for people who want to learn British English. It has material for both students and teachers, including video and audio clips. It also has links to improve your business English, with bilingual support for Spanish and Portuguese speakers. A great site to Learn English. It is BBC for crying out loud!
5. ESL Pod
   Is run by a team of experienced English as a Second Language professors with over 30 years of high school, adult, and university ESL teaching experience. Dr. Lucy Tse writes scripts and story ideas for the podcasts, and records many of the dialogs and stories. The host for the podcast is Dr. Jeff McQuillan, who helps read the scripts and provides explanations for them.
6. EnglishSpeak.com
   Is a free and award winning new system for learning to speak English. The program contains lessons that give special attention to English pronunciation and everyday language. With over 100 lessons, Englishspeak.com provides a large amount of audio content. Users have access to two different speeds of playback for each item.
7. ESL Kingdom
   was established and is run by a small team of multi-national ESL professionals who have drawn on decades of experience teaching in Asia, Europe and North America to create the materials available for use in your lessons.
8. English Baby
   English lessons to help you study ESL. Practice English with English Chat and English forums. Find Friends and penpals in different countries, test your English vocabulary with our vocab quiz, and check your English grammar and English slang.
9. English to go
   English lessons, Learn English, Teach English, Lesson plans, ESL resources, ESL reading. One of the world’s leading providers of English training resources delivered via the Internet. Their resources are used by more than 55,000 teachers in 190 countries reaching over one million students worldwide.
10. PodCards
    PodCards are audio postcards that you can download to your iPod. They contain information about a particular town or city from different countries around the world or biographies of famous people or events that make these places famous.
11. EnglishMeeting
    A resource with audio and video for ESL (English for Second Language) students and teachers worldwide. 
12. languagecaster.com
    The idea behind this site is simple. By listening, reading and writing about something you enjoy - football - you can improve your English language skills. Follow the Premier League in England, and the big football stories from around the world while learning English. Why didn't I think of something like that!
    
13. ELTgames.com
    100 activities written by professional ESL/ELT writers. No downloading PDFs - just choose, print and go. Quick and easy to use, even over a dial-up connection.
14. LEO Network
    For over 10 years Learn English has been the free and independent web site for EFL/ESL learners and teachers. With over 2 million visitors a month, it must be doing something right.
15. Learn English
    This site is for elementary and intermediate learners of English. You can study grammar or vocabulary topics and try one of the 400 exercises and language games.
16. English Page
    Free online English lessons & ESL / EFL resources.
17. EnglishCafe
    An English learning community for the global professional. It is an evolving culture of English learners and experts, where people help each other navigate our rapidly changing world through use of a common language.
18. Bee Oasis
    At BeeOasis you can enjoy many stories without a dictionary at a level just right for you. Learning English without a dictionary. That is interesting!
19. Exam English
    This web site is for people studying for an English language exam. These pages contain free online practice tests for the most important international ESL/EFL exams: IELTS, TOEFL, and the Cambridge ESOL exams such as CPE, CAE, FCE, and PET. You can also find out information about the different exams.
20. ESL Business News
    A weekly podcast of international business news read in slow, clear English. Listen to the podcast and follow along in the accompanying script.
21. Yossarian the Grammarian
    A whole bunch of excellent video tutorials exploring grammar and sentence construction. You have to watch this great teacher get down to business simplifying gerunds and who knows what. To be honest, he seems a bit frustrated with all the hopeless ESL or English teachers out there. Hopefully other English teachers are watching. One minus point though, I believe he could have used simpler examples (phrases and sentences) to make his points clearer.
22. podcastsinenglish.com
    All podcasts are free for language learners and teachers, but only members receive the learning English worksheets, vocabulary tasks, webquests and transcripts.
23. English Listening Practice for English Learners
    You will find good stories for listening practice on almost every page of this site.
24. English Teacher John Show
    An easy-to-understand English learning podcast site, which features grammar, idioms, pronunciation, topics and more.
25. ESL Learning Pod
    This site was put together to help you learn English. It provides free podcasts and learning materials for you to practice and improve your English language skills.
26. The English Desk
    Practise your English listening skills by listening to the episodes first without reading the text.
27. The Word Nerds
    Is a podcast about language and language change. It has been published on the Internet since March 21, 2005. Originally published every week, it now appears once every two to three weeks.
28. Lingofeeds - English for Professional Purposes
    Is dedicated to providing niche-specific English learning materials for professional purposes. Launching June 2009.
29. UGoEigo
    It offers two video podcast series to help you learn English pronunciation: “English Sounds” and “Functional Phrases”. Each lesson shows a close-up of the mouth saying the target sounds and words.
30. Pronunciation Power
    Pronunciation Power teaches you how to use the 52 sounds necessary to say all 540,000 English words. Commercial, but still worth a buck, I suppose.
31. Free English and Spelling Lessons
    By Mikie Metric. This site uses American English rules of spelling and grammar .
32. Essay Punch - An Interactive Writing Tutorial
    The site provides online interactive exercises that guide users step by step through pre-writing, writing, organizing, editing, rewriting, and publishing.
33. GlobalEnglish
    Improving business English communication skills of global companies. Founded in 1997, GlobalEnglish has become the leading provider of online learning and support for business English communication. They offer a scalable, on-demand solution that helps employees improve their ability to communicate effectively in English and enables companies to succeed in the global marketplace.
34. YouTube Channel - English Tutorials
    Shakespeare, Grammar, Composition... English at your fingertips! check out writing essays, what Hamlet really means, and all the strange quirks of verbs... anything you need in school.
35. Studio 4 Learning
    
    Studio 4 Networks provides award-winning lifestyle and educational programming delivered on-demand over cable television, satellite, and the Internet.
36. Englishcaster
    Is for both students and educators: EFL, ESL, TESOL, TEFL. You can listen to, rate, review and submit podcasts, as well as other English study resources.
37. Tech ELT Blog
    This blog began life for everyone taking the CELTA course at International House Barcelona, but is also intended to be of interest to anyone wanting to use technology in English Language Teaching.
38. ESL-to-go
    In today’s fast-paced world of e-mail, instant messenger, on-line classes and blogs “ESL TO GO” was born. This is a blog to help ESL students.
39. The English Blog
    Internet resources, reviews, news, tips and trivia for learners and teachers of English.
40. Business English Pod
    Business English Pod provides MP3 and video podcast ESL lessons for intermediate and advanced business English learners. Each business English podcast lesson is focused on a particular workplace English skill (meetings, presentations, telephoning, negotiating, socializing, travel, conversation etc.) and language function (clarifying, disagreeing, questioning, expressing opinions, persuasion etc.).
41. Activities for ESL/EFL Students (English Study)
    Quizzes, tests, exercises and puzzles to help you learn English as a Second Language (ESL). This project of The Internet TESL Journal (iteslj.org) has thousands of contributions by many teachers.
42. Learn English Online with English4Today
    Hundreds of grammar and vocabulary resources, online courses, IELTS, Business English, and Writing courses, video English lessons, podcasts, downloadable software.
43. Entry WSU ESL Help Desk
    This virtual help desk is designed to help ESL (English as Second Language) students and their instructors at Washington State University (and you).
44. Curricular Resources in English as a Second Language
    Here are a number of links to Internet sites which contain information and/or other links related to Language Arts. You may also find useful information (e.g., various foreign language dictionaries) in their collection of Reference Materials.
45. Common Errors in English
    William, James Co. has published a book based on this site titled Common Errors in English Usage. It contains most of the contents of the Web version (as of the date of publication) plus more detailed discussion of many of the entries simply listed under “More Errors.” Since the site will remain online for free use, why should you buy a copy? Could point!
    
46. FoxLingo
    A language tool that gives you easy access to sites in foreign languages. It is the first meta-translator, linked to thirty-six free online translators, enabling you to translate between fifty languages in over 1,500 different language pairs. Foxlingo has been downloaded over two million times by people all over the world.
47. MeGlobe
    Is a web-based instant messenger client with realtime translation into 14+ languages. This Jabber-powered tool lets folks chat interlingually.
48. English Learning Pakistan
    Check out the 7 excellent rules for learning English easily and automatically. Several of the resources on this site is not free, but the 7 rules book is (That alone is worth the visit).
49. English Speaking
    Learn to speak English and improve your spoken English.

If you ask me to recommend the ultimate mambo jumbo list or collection of ESL resources (if you have a couple of weeks to explore!), it would have to be Dave's ESL Cafe's Web Resource list. Here you will find more than 3000 links (URLs) to English related learning resources from A-Z. Amazing! In addition, you might want to explore the Top ESL Websites, which is another wonderful collection.

Have fun learning English as a second language. I mean third, or ... simply have fun ' Learning English' :)

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 :)

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 :)