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Create a STUNNING professional looking teaching video, vibrant video story and video animation on the fly. Do you want to create a stunning video story, video montage, or video animation? Or do you want to produce teaching video for your online course? What’s stopping you? Not tech-savvy? No time? No way? Worry not! Creating video content nowadays is unbelievably easy and straightforward even for non-tech savvy.  It could be fun as well! Trust me on this. I’m inviting you to join my new brand course, ‘ DIY Rapid Video Creation for Everyone and Every Purpose ’ which has just launched on Udemy! It covers 7 FREE web-based applications, 22 lessons delivered in 2.5 hours. It is designed for everyone. Yes, creating video content nowadays is unbelievably easy and straightforward even for non-tech savvy. It could be fun as well! With just one click of the mouse, you can create a teaching video by recording anything displayed on your computer screen. Why would you want to create video conte...

I would like to share an interesting fact: According to a survey of 2,000 people conducted by Microsoft Corp in Canada, an average human attention span is 9 seconds; the goldfish has an attention span of 8 seconds! The survey also showed that the average attention span of humans has fallen from twelve seconds in 2000 to eight seconds. Here’s another fact: According to a study by MarketingProfs, the new millennials cannot think more than 140 characters at a stretch! Maybe this is the reason why Twitter limits the tweet to 140 characters only. These findings are significant and perhaps worrying especially for educators that have to deal with the millennial generation in their classroom. Imagine the challenge to hold the attention of students (or participants in a training environment) in one hour face-to-face class. The challenge is even more profound for online courses. We have to accept the fact that we are living in the world full of distraction. What kind of distraction? The smart de...

My course, Essential Digital Tools for Student Engagement on Udemy. Finally, after 2 weeks of toiling with recording and editing, my first ever course, Essential Digital Tools for Student Engagement , is published on Udemy platform. Well, actually not quite the first ever course! I had published one course on Udemy (iPad for Teaching and Learning) a few years ago when Udemy is still in its infancy. The course was made available free. Udemy platform has grown and evolved by leaps and bounds. I have been watching and following Udemy while exploring other platforms offering skill-based courses such as Skillshare and Lynda.com . I’m a big fan of all the three platforms. I have always dream to publish a paid course on Udemy and Skillshare. Now I have realised the dream! It’s a dream come true. This is the era where almost anyone can teach and share the skill and knowledge with the global audience. I urge the readers of my blog to consider offering a course on Udemy and other online pla...

In the interview with the Times magazine in 2006, Bill Gates said, “In almost every area of human endeavour, the practice improves BUT that hasn't been the case for teaching" Why? Why haven’t we fix our education system? Are we going to do the same thing that didn’t work? Why are we still hesitant to take a bold step? What happened to all the strategic plan and education reform? what happened to all those research? Maybe we need to dismantle the whole structure of the system? The gist of Joshua's Talk in the video above: “In the mid-1800's, Horace Mann captured the potential impact of education on society. We have yet to realize the potential he saw, and in fact, we are missing the mark by a wider and wider margin. We have created a "Toxic Culture of Education" in our country that is damaging students, impacting our economy, and threatening our future. Since the passage of No Child Left Behind, we have embraced a culture of high-stakes testing and are perpet...

WHAT IS...EDUCATION? THE PURPOSE OF EDUCATION?  Recently, someone asked me to define “education”, something that most people take for granted. I think a good starting point would be to revisit the National Philosophy of Education (NPE). Let me quote verbatim: “Education in Malaysia is a continuous effort towards enhancing potentials of individuals in a holistic and integrated manner in order to create individuals who are well-equipped intellectually, spiritually and emotionally. This effort aims to produce knowledgeable, ethical and responsible Malaysian citizens who are can contribute towards the harmony and prosperity of the community and nation.” To me, what is not evident or obvious in our NPE, is the lack of emphasis on the SKILLS. Here’s my own definition of education…Education has multiple dimensions which boil down to imparting KNOWLEDGE, inculcating SKILLS, and instilling VALUES. All the issues that we have been discussing on education/higher education actually revolved ar...

The article above implied that MOOCs have failed to deliver its potential to educate the masses. Well, I won't be too quick to jump to a conclusion. Yes, I'm a strong advocate of MOOCs and online learning — as a student of MOOCs as well as a practitioner of online learning, and now helping the Ministry of Education with the Malaysia@MOOC . Let us view it this way: Rome was not built in a day, but they were laying bricks every hour. I'm always reminded of this phrase. It takes time to achieve something great. Actually, Rome was just the result of massive, persistent effort and lots of hard work. It was the outcome of a grand feat of strength and stamina — and intelligence. The bricks were the small units that made up the great structure. What about MOOCs? We are still laying the foundation -- still laying the bricks. Mistakes and failures are to be expected. The problem is, people (politicians, administrators, investors) are impatience—they want to see MOOCs as a game chang...

Everyone is reflecting...Me? Well, 2015 has been an interesting year. Interesting indeed! I always enjoy being in the circle of academics and work together with them. They are all great people...some with their ego  😊 . The academic world is always very exciting. Every day is different. There's no dull moment. No routine. We don't make much money like those people in the business world (but good if the government would revise our salary scheme hi hi). We pride ourselves to take on the responsibility to nurture the future nation builders. We are shaping the young mind that would become the potential leaders of the future. A lot of people looking at Malaysian Higher Education and simply judging the quality of our university by the so-called world ranking. It's not that simple. As for next year, well, the economy doesn't look very promising. Now academics have more things to think about, apart from teaching (I want to repeat, teaching, teaching, teaching), research, super...

Change is inevitable. The Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) has mandated The Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) to implement the 'MOOCs plus credit recognition and transfer' initiative, which would enable all MOOCs courses from Malaysia and other platforms such as Coursera, Edx, Canvas, etc, to be registered into the Malaysia's MOOC platform and be given credit (MOOCs is the acronym for Massive Open Online Courses). The question is, are we ready? Yes, and No. As someone involved directly on the ground, helping to lead the Malaysia MOOC initiative for the 20 Malaysian public universities , I can see the challenges ahead, but as Anthony Robin said, “The only impossible journey is the one you never begin”. MOOC is a big thing. I believe it is a game changer. Twenty two of the top 25 US universities in US News World Report rankings are now offering courses online for free. In 2014, the so-called Big 3 MOOC providers, Coursera, Udacity, and edX, introducing their own creden...

There has been an intense discussion in many higher education forums and social media revolving around the issue of re-examining and re-thinking our future direction, as far as undergraduate programme and employability are concerned. Graduate employability is always taken as a good measure to show the ‘quality’ of education and reflect the reputation of the educational institution. Is it true? Yes, it is important and relevant but to me, that's not THE ONLY reason for the existent of a university. In addition to the issue of graduate employability, there are deeper questions that do not often get addressed in public dialogue about higher education: What is the purpose of higher education today and for the future? What do we want to achieve for all the young talent we are nurturing? Or are we (educators) really nurturing them in a true sense of providing wholesome and holistic education? These questions challenge us to re-imagine the role of university and educators (lecturers) beyo...

"A SMOOTH SEA NEVER MADE A SKILLED SAILOR" When I came back and joined Universiti Sains Malaysia (Food Technology Division, School of Industrial Technology) in 1994, I was asked to teach the laboratory class. I took over and changed some of the experiments (and the manual). I spent most of the time in the laboratory, observing and helping with the hands-on. It was an enriching and valuable experience for me in building my career as an academic. Many new lecturers asked me what to do if they are asked to teach courses that they don't like or they don't have expertise. My standard advice always 'take it, grab it, don't complaint'. It's part of the learning curve. What do you expect — smooth sailing? "A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor". To me, as an academic, it's important to get a broad-based knowledge and at the same time specialize in a few subjects (maybe a bit later). So, it's a kind of "Jack of many trades and a master...

Young academics? How young? Well, it doesn't really matter. One can be young by age, or by year of service in the academic or educational institutions. I have a mission to accomplish. I have been teaching at the university (Universiti Sains Malaysia) close to 22 years now. It was a journey with lots of ups and downs, a fair share of disappointment and failures but with lots of joy and satisfaction as well. Reflecting on my journey, I realised that I'm here now because I have been blessed with kind colleagues and mentors who guided and supported me in many different ways. No man is an island... I have a mission to accomplish. I want to play a more active role to help young academics who are still struggling to find their footing in the academic world. They need guidance to facilitate their journey. They need mentors to share their experience and wisdom to keep them on the right track. These mentors should be sincere and honest to lend their ear and hand, to listen and to talk, t...

The mass university is good for equity, but must it also be bad for learning? Hannah Forsyth , Australian Catholic University When universities began expanding, they became more inclusive. While this is a good thing, scholars often look at their large class sizes and lament that many of the students won’t set foot in the lecture theatres or libraries thanks to technology, and grow increasingly frustrated at the shallow assignment responses. They ask: whatever happened to learning ? Is there still a place for old-style, face-to-face education, good clear thinking and real, tangible books? Students: responsible for their own learning? Professor of philosophy David Armstrong fondly observed what he thought was the best part of learning from his academic career that spanned the 1950s to the 1990s: I like for the Faculty of Arts the idea that you sit around for a long time discussing things in coffee shops and pubs and quadrangles and anywhere else that you can get some seating and, finall...

LEARNING INNOVATION TALKS 05 (#LIT05) is coming to YOU! Register now ! Fully Online & FREE! Find out more at Zaidlearn . REGISTER NOW! Join FB group, Learning Innovation Circle (LIC)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enrol in my FREE COURSE 'FLIPPED CLASSROOM' on Openlearning to learn more -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Remember the droning lecture in Ferris Bueller's Day Off ("Anyone? … Anyone?") ? The scene maybe exaggerated but I think quite typical in most classroom. The sage on stage scenario is, by and large, still prevalent. Lectures are not necessarily bad ; in fact in some cases lectures are appropriate and relevant. However, in the traditional classroom, class periods are too short (typically 50 minutes) and usually the focus or the tendency is giving content to the students. There is not enough time for questioning and reflecting, interaction and discussion, and less opportunity for active learning. Would it more meaningful if the constructivist approach...

Here's sharing my recorded presentation "Envisioning the Future of Learning'. You have 2.5 hours to spare? This presentation is presented to you by The Centre for Development of Academic Excellence (CDAE) , Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang. Synopsis : What is your vision for the future of learning? Do we share a common vision? Do you have to gaze into a crystal ball to look at what the future of learning looks like? Well, not exactly. The future is already here, at our doorstep. Globalization, the digital revolution, and advancements in our understanding of brain-based learning all present new opportunities and challenges for today’s educators. Education technology, social media, neurocognitive approach to learning, collaborative and connected learning and the rise of well connected society is transforming the established concept of learning, teachers’ roles and even the nature of knowledge itself. A radical and dynamic shift in mindset is critically needed to create prof...

This is my first open online course and I chose to offer the course on something that I strongly advocate — flipped classroom. I have started using flipped classroom approach in small scale last year and next semester I plan to dive more into this. I would like to invite readers of my blog to join the course and learn more about flipped classroom. Here’s the link: https://www.openlearning.com/courses/flippedlearning

Spreading Knowledge - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires As part of my mission to spread the words about online learning, I have prepared this presentation simply titled  'Spreading Knowledge'. Some of the slides were prepared in PowerPoint and then imported (as images) into Haiku Deck. Haiku Deck is a new kid on the block for presentation application. Note that most slides have accompanying notes. The notes appear next to each slide but you need to view using a browser on a laptop. The storyline is about stepping out from the physical boundary of our classroom to reach out global learners. This link will take you to the presentation Haiku Deck website.

Have you been in a classroom where you can feel the energy and the excitement to participate in the activities and discussion? Well, how many teachers or educators can step into a classroom and ‘energise’ the students to that excitement level? Not many, I guess. I have tried but sometimes fail to maintain dynamic environment throughout the semester. However, I was lucky enough recently to be a student, albeit for a brief moment, to Dr Raihanah, the spirited, energetic and dynamic educator from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). Lucky UKM to have such a great talent! I have the privileged to have Dr Raihanah as a guest writer on this blog. Let’s hear now from Dr Raihanah about what’s inspired her to be a lifelong learner, or as she put it, a student of YouTube classroom. Read on…  ----------------------------------- YOUTUBE, MEANINGFUL LEARNING, AND THE LIFELONG LEARNER BY RAIHANAH M.M. Hi. My name is Raihanah and I’m a student of the YouTube classroom. Like my daughter’s ge...

Click image to open interactive version (via Penny Stocks Lab ). I stumbled upon this website via Jane's Hart website . It shows a real-time statistics of the volume of data generated. It's amazing! It is obvious that we, the 21st century educators, develop the crucial skill to search, evaluate, filter, organize and make sense of the information. This is basically what has been discussed on the topic of content curation and personal knowledge management (PKM). I have developed my own PKM and it is very similar to what Jane Hart described in her article ' My daily PKM routine (practices and toolset)' . Have a look at the presentation below by Harold Jarche, 'Sense-Making and Knowledge-Sharing' to learn more about personal knowledge management. sense-making and knowledge-sharing from Harold Jarche

This is the summary of the presentation 'Let's Talk About This' by Professor Wan Mohd Fauzy Wan Ismail from Center for Instructional Technology and Multimedia, Universiti Sains Malaysia. 1. Data from research have shown that the method of presentation or presentation skill of the teacher does not make much difference in terms of learning gain. 2. Approaches to be considered: flipped classroom, Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD), learning space, leverage social media, wiki, persuasive multimedia 3. Leverage social interaction 4. Be mindful of 'expert blind-spot' 5. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) is still in experimental stage — issues about learning gain, effectiveness, etc. 6. Engaging students through discussion — they become committed and invested time — structured internal thoughts and vocalized them. 7. In a group discussion, it's not so much about getting the right answer but more importantly is the process of getting the right answer — to appreciate that t...