My e Learning Talk at Wawasan Open University WOU

• WOUs Summary of My Talk
• e-Learning Talk (Slideshare)
• eBook - 69 Learning Adventures in 6 Galaxies

WHY WOU?

I was invited to spend two days at Wawasan Open University (WOU) to meet some of the key people there and share ideas about e-learning and so on. It was a thrill to interact with everyone from the Vice Chancellor to the driver. After spending two days exploring WOU, its slogan The peoples University is increasingly making sense ...about WOU

Besides having fun interacting and sharing ideas with the people of WOU, I am still amazed with WOUs unique campus buildings, which truly demonstrates the fusion of old and modern construction. The picture above should give you a good indication of what I mean.

In short, I enjoyed the learning adventure, and learned some valuable lessons on the way (hopefully vice verse) :)



E-LEARNING TALK

In addition, I gave a 90 minute full-steam e-learning talk exploring some of the e-learning 2.0 (or web 2.0 technologies) tools, and discussed how they could be used to infuse a more social, collaborative and dynamic online learning environment. Yes, we even explored connectivism, and how we can use a network of diverse technologies to facilitate online learning.

Why, bla, bla, bla, ... Here are the slides (on SlideShare):

E-Learning Talk

View more presentations from zaid.

REFLECTION
This time around, I slimmed down the participants slide-intake from 100+ to 73, and was able to cover what I wanted to share (I am still learning!). We managed to even watch 4 short videos during the 90 minute e-learning roller coaster (which ended up with the 5-Minute University video!). I am sure many were overwhelmed, but at least they got some idea what e-learning 2.0 is all about (before we have to deal with e-Learning 3.0! Dont we love such buzz words!).



Besides talking about e-learning 2.0, I promoted again my eBook and blog. If you look at the stats above, you will notice that Malaysia is not the top country visitor to my blog (sadly enough!), and can only muster a fifth place. However, we should be proud that we are higher positioned than Singapore at least (this time around!).

On a positive note, people from 185 countries, or 5,786 cities around the world have discovered ZaidLearn one way or the other (over the last 12 months). This just shows how interconnected the world is today. Amazing!

Yes, believe it or not, I have even connected with a remarkable guy from Gaza Strip (Palestine), who is exploring learning 2.0 with 12-15 year old kids. He is even planning to write a book about e-learning 2.0 in Arabic. Couldnt CNN or BCC cover such positive stories, besides the depressing ones. Again, amazing!

Oops, I need to pack, I am going on holiday to ... :)

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Is PowerPoint Evil Part 3

• ZaidLearns Del.icio.us PowerPoint Links

"Its the way people depend on all those bells and whistles that come with the software to try to shore up a weak presentation." - Chris Oakes (1998)

 

"...To critics, PowerPoint serves largely the same role in the classroom as pre-processed snack food does in the lunchroom: a conveniently packaged morsel that looks good but doesnt match the intellectual or corporeal nourishment of, say, a critical essay or a plate of steamed spinach." - Joanna Glasner (2002)

"The practical conclusions are clear. PowerPoint is a competent slide manager and projector. But rather than supplementing a presentation, it has become a substitute for it. Such misuse ignores the most important rule of speaking: Respect your audience." - Edward Tufte (2003)

"The use of the PowerPoint presentation has been a disaster...It should be ditched." - Professor Sweller (2007)

IS POWERPOINT EVIL?

Edward Tufte (2003) even explains in his "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information" book, how PowerPoint caused the destruction of the space shuttle Columbia in 2003. I suppose PowerPoint is evil! Wait a minute! Isnt also the Internet evil! What about chocolate? Yes, cars are certainly evil! Motor bikes are even worse! Certainly, sex is evil! Actually, everything I can think of is evil!

Should we blame PowerPoint on our own failure to create compelling content and engage students to learn? Or perhaps PowerPoint is the problem as it lacks the features needed to enable us to express ourselves effectively (Perhaps we should use Apples Keynote)? Or is it a combination? Perhaps we could blame the students? We could probably ask questions and argue all day long without getting anywhere. If I was a psychologist, I would probably use the famous statement that is practically used for every argument: "It depends." And for this case, I would probably have to agree.

But instead of getting into a logical and/or emotional argument about the constructiveness or destructiveness of PowerPoint, I will instead put on my student experience goggles, immerse myself into my learning mind, and transport myself back to a blended learning graduate course I took a few years back entitled System Analysis & Design, which was a learning experience worth sharing and reflecting. For the name protection sake, I will simply call my lecturer, Dr. PowerPoint.

READING SLIDES

"...Lecturers who know nothing else except their PowerPoint slides...They are just PowerPoint notes, not process. They have no stories, no biographies, no histories..." - Professor Bajunid (2005)

As this was a blended learning course, we only had eight (8) 2-hour tutorials with Dr. PowerPoint. Four tutorials were conducted online (using Centra) and four were conducted face-to-face (F2F). Interestingly, we had to cover 17 topics in this System Analysis & Design course, which means theoretically we had to cover around 2 topics per class. Although, we had 17 topics to cover, it was relieving to know that we had PowerPoint to rescue us from the giant book (It takes you one page to fall asleep!).

As usual, Dr. PowerPoint would always be late for the F2F tutorials (4 out of 4!). The great thing was that we always finished classes early, too. Start late, finish early! Please, tell me a student who wouldnt love that? ME! I remember one class, she was around 15 minutes late, and managed to cover 3 topics and complete the tutorial (or lecture!) 15 minutes before time. It was amazing; it was like watching Speedy Gonzales swoosh through the slides.

What is wrong with that? Just imagine. We come to class, and then we watch Dr. PowerPoint read the bullets out loud for 1 1/2 hour. As she was late and had to cover 3 topics this time, she rushed more than usual. The best part was when we reached areas in the slides that she thought we could read on our own. She would ironically say, "Oh, this part is easy! You can read this at home!" One poor student had to travel for 3 hours to attend these tutorials, and that is what he gets. Come on! This is a graduate course (Masters!), and that is what we get!

And you know what, several of my graduate courses that I took, followed the same PowerPoint reading routine and pattern. If the PowerPoint slides were more attractive, engaging and stimulating, it would at least provide some fun during the learning process. Just watching bullets and text can get kind of boring after a while, especially if the lecturer cant read properly. Actually, that part was really funny. Sometimes we would come to certain parts of the slides, which Dr. PowerPoint read out incorrectly, or seemed not to understand what she read. How is that possible? Well, since all the topics of the book come with slides, I suppose the lecturer conveniently used them (guessing here!). Come on, be prepared at least!

Today it is so easy to be a lecturer, if we use this formula:

1. No need to prepare content (slides come with the book)
2. Come to class
3. Read the slides out loud
4. Ask at the end of the class: "Any questions?"
5. No questions (needed, students got the PowerPoint slides!)
6. The END (of learning!)

Come on! In short, PowerPoint is evil! Wait a minute! Can we blame PowerPoint for this?

MEMORIZING SLIDES
Does reading and memorizing PowerPoint slides facilitate learning? How do you measure learning? Assessment! If we use written exams as a measure, I can share with you that with some of the subjects I took; I could amazingly score an A by basically reading and memorizing the slides. Why bother reading the book, when we can score good grades by simply reading and memorizing the PowerPoint slides! Strangely, when I engrossed myself in a subject (reading and reflecting the book and required materials), my exam results seemed to suffer. I suppose information overload enabled me to forget the key points needed to score an A.

Luckily I learned a few tricks from my Bosnian friend. This guy never really studied, and he always did very well on exams. What was his secret? When he saw me one day stressed out preparing for exams, he told me to read a book that would unleash the genius in me (or help me score good grades without much effort): Quantum Learning. After reading that book, I learned a few cool tricks (Not telling! read it!) and exams became a breeze, but learning seemed to suffer. In the end, I decided to sacrifice a few As for the sake of learning. Not kidding!

If we were required to take the same exam again a few months (or weeks!) after the semester was completed, it wouldnt surprise me if we fail, or at least get a much worse grade. It is strange! I thought that when you learned something, it sticks (for a while!). Just like learning to ride a bicycle. I suppose some formal courses are more complex.

THE FIVE MINUTE UNIVERSITY!

The idea is that in five minutes you learn what the average college graduate remembers five years after he or she has graduated. Father Guido Sarduccis Five Minute University (video) is probably applicable until today for some courses out there (Too much focus on memorization!). If it is still happening in some of your courses, use this incredibly funny video to spice up the discussion about effective learning.

Father Guido Sarduccis Five Minute University video could bring to light the seriousness with a bit of laughter. Actually, I have now watched it more than a dozen times, and I am still laughing (and crying!). Then, we can together laugh a bit at ourselves, and move on to more effective teaching, facilitation and learning.

EFFECTIVE LEARNING?

Today, millions of people around the world use presentation tools like PowerPoint to create content to persuade, explain, illustrate and facilitate learning. So, until something better comes along that appeal to the masses, we might as well do the best with what we have. Anyway, if you ask me, I would argue that PowerPoint is actually a constructive tool to facilitate learning, if you know how to use it (Still learning!). If you dont know how to use it, it can also be a very destructive tool (Same goes for any other learning tool!).

Now, I am not going to give you a written lecture on how to get it right. The reason is that I want you to learn from the real masters in preparing and giving presentations (or lectures). Learn from them, and then reflect, adapt, and do your own thing. First, here are a few wonderful PowerPoint resource sites to explore:

• PowerPoint - On-Line Technology Practice Modules
  A comprehensive directory of links (URLs) to tutorials, sites, game templates and articles on how to use PowerPoint effectively.
• Sonia Colemans Digital Studio
  Free PowerPoint templates and tutorials!
• PowerPoint 2007 Tutorials (Florida Gulf Coast University)
  Including graphics, tables, charts, formatting text, printing and slide effects.
• PowerPoint Tutorials (Wikivid)
  PowerPoint tutorials are broken down by topic so that you can navigate the list to find exactly what you need or watch them all from start to finish to become a PowerPoint expert.

Alright, that is the macro stuff. What about some super tips on creating compelling presentation slides?

Have you heard of Tom Kuhlmann? Check out his Rapid eLearning Blog, which shares practical tips and tricks on creating excellent presentation slides. Also, download his free 46-page ebook: The Insiders Guide to Becoming a Rapid E-Learning Pro. It is an amazing resource that could spark your slides to life. He has already more than 21,000 subscribed readers (free!), so perhaps it is time to become one, too!

Great, but I want to see one example of great presentation slides? Death by PowerPoint (Alexei Kapterev). Also, you might want to check out an example of presentation slides for a full-blown course: Critical Thinking (links to all the slides are included in the article). Oops, that is my article and slides. Just had to! It is not great, but I am kind of satisfied with it. I think you will actually find it quite interesting, too :)

To see many more examples, I would advise you to explore Slideshare, which is an amazing repository of both excellent and poor presentation slides. If you need some inspiration to create engaging slides, that is a great starting point.

Alright, great stuff! But, I want a learning resource to inspire me to become a great presenter?

Have you heard of Garr Reynolds? Check this out: Google Talk - Presentation Zen. Presentation Zen challenges the conventional wisdom of making "slide presentations" in todays world and encourages you to think differently and more creatively about the preparation, design, and delivery of your presentations. Watch and Learn!

Did you like it? If you did, you could always explore his juicy blog for further nourishment: Presentation Zen

By the way, PowerPoint Extreme Makeover by Dean Shareski, is another excellent recorded lecture worth watching a couple of times (At least 3!). While you are getting into the groove, you could also watch: How To Create a Great PowerPoint without Breaking the Law, by Alvin Trusty.

That is cool! But what if I dont want to use presentation slides, and simply want to inspire my students to learn. Any examples to benchmark myself with? Do Schools Kill Creativity?, by Ken Robinson is one great example. If you want many more, TED Talks is simply an amazing learning adventure.

Here are two incredible TED talks by Hans Rosling that I wouldnt want to miss:

• Debunks Myths about the so-called "Developing World" (2006)
• New Insights on Poverty and Life around the World (2007)

Now, if you are teaching statistics or need to visualize your data, Hans Rosling with his Gapminder is certainly a great role model or benchmark. Although, Gapminder is a great data visualization tool, it was Hans Roslings passionate, energetic, and inspirational talk that really blew me away (I mean in learning terms!). He is what I call a great presenter!

While you are at TED talks, check out Jill Bolte Taylors inspiring talk: Stroke of insight. She uses a real brain to make a point. I am not kidding! Now, that is an attention (brain) grabber!

Wait a minute! I am a lecturer, and I teach physics. I mean, how engaging can you be with such an inherently boring course? Well, perhaps Professor Lewin could teach you a trick or two.

Whether you use PowerPoint (Windows), Keynote (Apple), OpenOffice, or no presentation tool at all, there are endless of possibilities of what you can do to create compelling content, and engage the students mind to learn.

Yes, PowerPoint or presentation slides can be destructive (and perhaps even evil at times!). But with a bit of creativity and flavor, I believe presentation slides can assist in facilitating effective learning, and awaken our creative side to express ourselves beyond words.

However, if your content is poor, no fancy design or flying dogs are going to save you. Get the substance content right, be creative and passionate, and engage your students with a lot of relevant and challenging learning activities and mind boggling puzzles (embed them within the presentation slides). However, remember: If you are hopeless (Cant read, write or talk!), teaching is going to get tough, no matter how cool your slides are. Even if you are a hopeless teacher, dont worry! If you have the desire and passion to learn, you can overcome all your weaknesses, and nurture them into strengths. Learn, practice, reflect, improve, practice, reflect, etc.

So, is PowerPoint evil? I dont know, and I dont care (Got better things to reflect)! Since we are stuck with it for now until something better comes along (I kind of like it anyway, so no worries mate!), we better focus instead on how to make the most of it to facilitate engaging and effective learning :)

"Of course, PowerPoint is not inherently evil, it is just poorly used..."
- Stephen Downes

5-PART SERIES

• Part 1 - Whiteboard And I Are One! 
• Part 2 - I Have Bragging Rights, Because I Am … 
• Part 3 - Is PowerPoint Evil? 
• Part 4 - No Stupid Questions! I am Serious! 
• Part 5 - Show Up to Throw Up! 21st Century Thinking?

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FreeMind Free Mind Mapping Software

URL: http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
"FreeMind is a free mind mapping application written in Java. FreeMind is licensed under the GNU General Public License. Along with the advantage of unlimited free usage, it provides extensive export capabilities. An XHTML export allows you to create a mapped image with links to a folding outline.
What follows are the most notable features of FreeMind.

• Folding of branches
• Exports to HTML, XHTML, PNG, JPEG, SVG, PDF, Flash
• Icons on nodes
• Clouds around branches
• Graphical links connecting nodes
• Search restricted to single branches
• Web and file hyperlinks from nodes...Source"

"Current users of FreeMind use it for the following purposes:

• Keeping track of projects, including subtasks, state of subtasks and time recording
• Project workplace, including links to necessary files, executables, source of information and of course information
• Workplace for internet research using Google and other sources
• Keeping a collection of small or middle sized notes with links on some area which expands as needed. Such a collection of notes is sometimes called knowledge base.
• Essay writing and brainstorming, using colors to show which essays are open, completed, not yet started etc, using size of nodes to indicate size of essays. I dont have one map for one essay, I have one map for all essays. I move parts of some essays to other when it seems appropriate.
• Keeping a small database of something with structure that is either very dynamic or not known in advance. The main disadvantage of such approach when compared to traditional database applications are poor query possibilities, but I use it that way anyway - contacts, recipes, medical records etc. You learn about the structure from the additional data items you enter. For example, different medical records use different structure and you do not have to analyze all the possible structures before you enter the first medical record.
• Commented internet favorites or bookmarks, with colors and fonts having the meaning you want ...Source"

This is an excellent free mind-mapping tool to use both for educators and students!

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50 Web 2 0 Ways to Tell a Story Alan Levine

• 50 Web 2.0 Ways To Tell a Story
• 50 Ways to Tell The Dominoe Story
• SlideShare Presentation & Audio podcast (51.2 Mb MP3)
• Alan Levines blog & CogDogBlog (About Instructional Technology)

WHAT?
"It was not long ago that producing multimedia digital content required expensive equipment and technical expertise; we are at a point now where we can create compelling content with nothing more complex than a web browser. This presentation reviews lessons learned in exploring 50 web sites (tools) for creating content via slideshows, timelines, media mixers, comic strips, and presentation makers—and shows how the same story can be told 50 different ways" - Alan Levine

Actually, Alan Levines presentation shows how the same story can be told 49 different ways, using 49 different free Web 2.0 tools (Amazingly useful anyway!)! If you are looking for free web 2.0 tools (to tell a story!) and reflections on using them, Alan Levines presentation below, is simply a great starting point (Click on the graphic below. Yes!).

JUICE?
WOW! I also like his formula for conducting a Digital Storytelling workshop using free web 2.0 tools, which goes something like this:

1. Design a basic story concept that can be created in a web 2.0 tool using images, audio, and/or video.
2. Create it quickly using one of 50 different web tools that are free to use (Dont force one particular tool upon the participants, but instead let them choose from a bunch!).
3. Share all the created stuff (by participants) using a wiki site with reflections on the value of the tools used.

What about some guidelines and tips? It is as easy as 1-2-3! Here we go:

1. Outline a Story Idea
2. Find Some Media
   "The media files you use in your story have to be ones that are licensed or shared with permission to re-use; this is the only way you can safely then share your new creation knowing it does not contain any copyrighted material. So just finding a picture via Google is not satisfactory. For each media file you find, document the source by title and URL and find a person or organization to use to give credit." This link provides you links (URLs) to many excellent (free) media resource sites, if you are looking for multimedia, images, audio, and videos (e.g. Common Content, Pictures from Old Books, CC Hits, and Open Video Project).
3. Pick a Tool to Build Your Story
   Here you will find more than 50 free web tools you can use to create a story. Here are several of those free tools identified by Alan Levine in a blitz:
   
   - Slideshow Tools: Bubbleshare, Fabrik and RockYou
   - Timeline Tools: Dandelife, OurStory and xtimeline
   - Mixer Tools: Voice Threads, VUVOX and FLEKTOR
   - Comic Tools: gnomz, ComicsSketch and Toondoo
   - Scrapbook Tools: Tabblo and Scrapblog
   - Map Tools: Mapwing, Google My Maps and Wayfaring
   - Flickr Tools: Flickr Tell a Story in 5 Frames and Flickr Six Word Story
   - Audio Tools: Podcast People and Blabberize
   - Video Tools: Jumpcut, Splashcast and eyespot
   - Presentation Tools: Slideshare, Google Presenter and Zoho Show

I cant imagine creating the same story using 49 different web 2.0 tools (I would go crazy!)! However, Alan Levine did it, and also made his adventure available to us in the shape of a SlideShare presentation (which perhaps reflects the power of this tool, too!). When a person goes to such lengths to explore the different free web 2.0 tools, we have to appreciate such great efforts, and of course spread the news, so that others can also learn from it.

It would be interesting to know, how many free web 2.0 (or content development/learning) tools we can find on the web today? I would probably start figuring this out by exploring Jane Knights growing directory of over 2,000 learning tools ranging from "traditional" course and content development tools through E-Learning 2.0 collaboration and sharing tools as well as tools for personal learning. Though, this directory combines freeware/open source and commercial tools, so we would need to do a bit of weeding and filtering to get some concrete numbers.

Looking at the amazing evolution of free web 2.0 tools, we can expect in the future increasingly more new great (and rubbish!) easy-to-use tools to explore, use, share, reflect and enjoy. I suppose we have reached a stage when at least one new free web 2.0 tool is launched every day. Thanks to online advertising and networking, being free could eventually mean big bucks (YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, Skype, etc.).

I suppose the real challenge is finding the right tool for the right occasion. Good luck... :)

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Lecturefox Free University Lectures!

• Lecturefox
• Lecturefox Blog - Latest updates in the free lecture world!

WHAT?
Lecturefox is a free service. You can find high-quality lectures from universities all over the world. They collect lectures from official universities, and they have a special interest in lectures from the faculties computer science, mathematics and physics. In the category faculty-mix you can find miscellaneous lectures from other departments like electrical engineering, chemistry, biology, psychology, economics, history and philosophy.

MASTERMINDS?
Andreas and Ellen Petersen (from Germany) are the founders of lecturefox.com.

Google you should consider supporting or buying this project before Yahoo or MSN does! WHY?

User statistics - Jan-Sep 2007 (Source):

I suppose with a bit more creative and aggressive marketing, promotion and awareness, these figures could easily reach to 50-100 million page loads per year. It sounds a lot, but after exploring YouTubes viewing figures (e.g. Evolution of Dance alone = +59 MILLION views), why not!

JUICE?
After scanning through the growing juicy Lecturefox collection (+400 and growing!), here are a few lectures to stimulate our minds (to use Lecturefox):

• The Future of the Web (Tim Berners-Lee) (Oxford)
• Einsteins General Relativity (Caltech)
• Global Climate Change (Caltech)
• Game Design (Utrecht)
• Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (UC Berkeley)
• Quantum Theory (Richard Feynman) (Auckland)
• Technology, The Brain, and The Future (Harvard)
• Natures Greatest Puzzles (Stanford)

REFLECTION!
I simply love the interface design, white breathing space, simplicity and ease-of-use/search/find (video, audio or notes) at Lecturefox. Yeah, the Fox used to be known as a brutal thief in the old world causing chaos on the farm, killing the sheep, and messing up our dustbins, but in the new world order it is the Robin Hood of knowledge sharing. Way to go LectureFox!

Though, there is still room for improvement, especially in the users ability to navigate through the lecture collections (e.g. one cannot jump pages or select the number of resources to view at one time). But, those things are only minor fixes and can be easily added (if wanted), and they do not take away Lecturefoxs Google like simplicity and speed (to find stuff).

Yes, next time I want to find a particular lecture I will begin my journey on Lecturefox :)

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How to Earn Money Online

How to Earn Money Online?

Earn Money Online

How to Earn Money Online? Thats a million dollars question raised in every person mind who want to earn money  without any investment. Now a days finding jobs or establishing business in real life become very difficult but in the virtual world of internet there are many different ways to earn online money. This is a specific tutorial course aboutearn money online. In this cource we will discuss the answer of How to Earn Money Online? And in the upcoming posts i  will present to you detailed tutorials of earn money online but now let me introduce to you the best platforms to earn money on internet without any investments.

earn money online

1: Google Adsense

On top of this list I suggest Google Adsense because Google Adsense is a best and easy  to learn platform about earning money online. You can earn money from Google Adsense by two different ways

(i)                Earn Money from Google Adsense by Showing Ads onYour Website or Blog

(ii)               Earn Money from Google Adsense by Showing Ads onyour Youtube Videos

We will discuss about Google Adsense in details in upcoming posts where i will bring complete Google Adsense Tutorials.

2: Paid to Click Websites:

There are thousands of Paid to Click (PTC) websites on internet that allows you to earn money online with viewing ads and by completing mini jobs, surveys and Tasks. You can search for PTC sites on google but beware there are many fake PTC sites are fooling people on internet thats why i recommend best 2 PTC websites that are very famous and loyal to their members.

(i)                  Neobux

(ii)                Clixsense

In the upcoming posts i will present detailed tutorial about earning money from these best paying PTC sites. After reading those post you will be able to earn a very reasonable ammount by working online.

3: By Selling Internet Traffic:

This is also a very good way to earn some extra bucks but to earn with these method you need some platforms like a good blog with reasonable traffic, facebook page, twitter account with alot of followers or a youtube channel with alot of views daily. In this method you sell your internet traffic to other webs and charged from them. I recommend two websites

(i)                 Adf.ly

Adf.ly is basically a link shortner service that provides you service to shorten your link. Once you shortened a link via Adf.ly you will get a short link. When you share that link on your platform like facebook page people visit that page and they will shown an ad first than your link destination url. And they pays you for every visit.

(ii)                ImgDino

ImgDino is a picture hosting service where you can upload your immages and they will give you the link of your immage, whenever some one open that link they will shown an ad and than your picture. This is a smart place to earn online money.

Do subscribe to my website for upcoming easy to learn tutorials about adsense, PTC and Selling Internet Traffic. Thanx to you all for visiting my post

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uck Word Family Prezi Smartboard Computer Lesson!

Here is yet another prezi for your viewing pleasure... the -uck word family! 

Dont forget, you can always see all of my other Prezis by clicking the picture below!

And if you havent entered yet, this is your last chance!  My 200 Follower Giveaway ends tomorrow, Sunday May 20, 2012!  Be sure to enter now if you havent yet!

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LearningWiki 2007 Elliott Masie

• Learning 2007
• LearningWiki 2007

WHAT?
LearningWiki is a dynamic collaborative content community site that will grow over the coming weeks, as they launch active dialogues for the over 300 sessions at Learning 2007 (Oct 21 to 24 - Orlando, Florida). It contains over 300 "pages" of content -- one per session -- which will be expanded with discussions, real time PodCasts and additional input from the over 2,000 participants.

JUICE?
I suppose the real juice will be revealed in the coming weeks. But here are a few podcast appetizers to engage us into learning mode:

• Social Networking Demo - A Captivate presentation by Elliott Masie (and Sarah the connector). In this presentation, he illustrates visually (with screenshots) and discusses how they will use a social networking software to connect effectively and creatively the Learning 2007 participants.
• Dan Pink Keynote and Podcast - Here is a 10 minute audio PodCast interview of Dan Pink by Elliott Masie, focused on design, personalization and "A Whole New Mind".
• Learning Changes! Video Podcast - A 17 minute briefing by Elliott Masie on the key themes for Learning 2007.
• Podcast - 25 Best Practices in Learning & Development - Elliott Masie interviews (2:42 min 42) Nick van Dam about his book (25 Best Practices in Learning & Development) and his work.
• Lance Dublin Podcast: Change & Learning - An interview (6:25 min) with Lance Dublin about the role of change and change management for Learning.

REFLECTION!
Have fun learning more about the corporate learning world (Surely we can apply or adapt some of the juice to the academic learning world, too)! One thing I admire about Masie Elliot is his amazing and humble ability to find or create learning opportunities/connections out of anything (horse riding, cars, cooking, sports, etc.). I suppose you will realize this if you explore his Learning Lab and ThinkThank Center and subscribe to his newsletter (Learning TRENDS!).

In short, have fun exploring (and participating if possible!) this evolving LearningWiki (2007), which will increasingly become juicier and messier as the weeks go by :)

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Get Thousands of Facebook Likes

By Syed Hassan Ali

Hello Friends today I am going to tell you guys a hidden tip about getting thousands of facebook page likes, facebook photo likes, facebook comments, facebook subscribers, youtube likes, youtube subscribers, google plus, google circle and all other social networks like twitter followers etc in a very easy way.

Social Networking has become a powerful mean of advertising your products as well as personality wise you can make your self famous. But to do that you need a proper tool or platform. Well I have all this for you.

There is a website which allows you to like other people pages, pics and posts etc and in return provide you points. You can use these points to get likes, comments, shares or whatever you want. Just follow the tutorial given below and get thousands of facebook likes.

1:- Click the link given below to sign up

Click Here to Signup to get thousands of Facebook Likes

2:- Register your account

3:- Start liking some pages and earn points

5:- On Pages Manager Post your facebook page url, pic url which ever u want thousands of likes

6:- Give the title

7:- Select the CPC (Cost per Click). Mean how many points you want to give for one like

8:- Enjoy Likes coming to your page

Dont forget to share our post with your friends

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SlideShare

URL: http://www.slideshare.net/

"SlideShare is a cool place to host and share presentations. Upload all your slide decks, and find / download interesting presentations. "

Yes, it is so cool, I have dumped some of my old PowerPoint slides there, too.


At least they will not go totally to waste (also, I might get some ego boosting or destructive comments and ratings).

What more can we ask for in life from the PowerPoint slides:

Zaids Slideshare

Example:




Overall, you can get a lot of great ideas from some superb PowerPoint slide shows posted by others. You will probably also realize that you are not so good at PowerPoint after all :)

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SCIRUS For Scientific Information Only Niche Search

• Link to Scirus

WHAT?
Scirus is the most comprehensive science-specific search engine on the Internet. Driven by the latest search engine technology, Scirus searches over 450 million science-specific Web pages, enabling you to quickly:

• Pinpoint scientific, scholarly, technical and medical data on the Web.
• Find the latest reports, peer-reviewed articles, patents, pre prints and journals that other search engines miss.
• Offer unique functionalities designed for scientists and researchers.

JUICE?
So, what is so juicy about this search engine compared to for example Google Search? Or why should we use it (or explore it)? Because Scirus...

• Filters out non-scientific sites. For example, if you search on REM, Google finds the rock group - Scirus finds information on sleep, among other things
• Finds peer-reviewed articles such as PDF and PostScript files, which are often invisible to other search engines.
• Searches the most comprehensive combination of web information, preprint servers, digital archives, repositories and patent and journal databases. Scirus goes deeper than the first two levels of a Web site, thereby revealing much more relevant information.

In addition, Scirus has a wide range of special features to help us pinpoint the scientific information we need ...more

After playing (or searching) around with Scirus for a few minutes, I simply fell in love with this search engines speed, simplicity, interface design, features and search results (Though, this might change after exploring it a bit more!). But for now, it looks good!

In other words, if you are frustrated with not finding relevant scientific, scholarly, technical and medical related stuff on Google (including Google Scholar), MSN, Yahoo or from your University/Organizations digital library (subscribing to Emerald, ProQuest, etc.), perhaps you should give Scirus a minute :)

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Peter Drucker on Making Decisions by Peter Drucker

Link to article
"When leaders made effective decisions, they followed these eight (8) practices:

1. They asked, "What needs to be done?"
2. They asked, "What is right for the enterprise?"
3. They developed action plans.
4. They took responsibility for decisions.
5. They took responsibility for communicating.
6. They were focused on opportunities rather than problems.
7. They ran productive meetings.
8. They thought and said "we" rather than "I."

"The first two practices gave them the knowledge they needed. The next four helped them convert this knowledge into effective action. The last two ensured that the whole organization felt responsible and accountable."

What practices do you (as a leader) use to make effective decisions? Lets use them in the terms of education and e-learning!

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From Flipped to Gamified Classroom Learning!

How do we engage and inspire students/educators/learners to really learn, and then empower them with the belief that they can learn on their own (without needing to be always spoon-fed)? 

Self-learning and learning how-to-learn are probably the two ultimate things we need master to survive and be successful in the 21st century, which will eventually be known as the...

Source (Webinar recording)

THE FLIPPING CHALLENGE!

Are you familiar with the Flipped Classroom approach to learning?

Here is a video to introduce you to the biggest global learning trend and buzz word in education for the last few years (besides MOOCs, which is probably the learning buzzword for 2012):

In one sentence: You view the lecture (recording) at home, and then you come to class to do the homework (or learning activities), whereby the teacher(s) (and fellow students) are there to provide guidance and support (when necessary) during the learning process. WOW!

Source (Infographic)

That sounds great for school-level learning, but what about higher education?

Jackie Gersteins masterpiece graphic below (and articles/resources) provides some great ideas on how to make it really work for higher education.

Source: Collection of resources/Articles from Jackie Gerstein

If you ask me, I would argue that the flipping Flipped Classroom challenge is not making your lectures available online (which many are already doing), but creating electrifying and inspiring learning experiences during the face-to-face (F2F) learning sessions itself that is the ultimate challenge (and differentiating factor to give you a competitive advantage).

Also, in higher education, especially at Master and PhD level should we be spoon-feeding students with lectures (recordings) telling or showing them A-Z, so that they can replicate (or vomit out) the same stuff during their exams or assignments?

THE LECTURE

I suppose it depends on what you are teaching, but we also need to rethink what the real purpose of the lecture should be, and how we can make best use of it to engage and inspire learning beyond the spoon-feeding paradigm.

DONT MISS THIS LECTURE!

Alright, after exploring for a few centuries, we finally get the lecture right (for what we are teaching)! What do we do with the students when they come for the F2F (or online) learning sessions? 

If the lecture recording is already online (hopefully not outdated!), I suppose repeating it during a F2F (or online) session would not be the most productive way to go about it, would it?

But, before we get into that, have your students actually gone through the lecture recording before the F2F session?  I suppose so, I told them to do so (Keep on dreaming!).

You can assume that, but the reality is often very different unless you have infused some mechanisms to ensure that they view (and also understand) the recorded lecture(s) before they come to class.

Changing the students learning mindset (and habits) to explore lectures (or resources) online before class might take some time, especially if they are from the good old spoon-feeding paradigm.

To deal with this, you could for example keep track on who access the recorded lectures (especially if you are using a LMS) before class. However, clicking on a link doesnt mean that actual learning has taken place. However, having an online quiz after (or during) the recorded lecture could encourage more students to explore it, especially if it is a requirement to do it before the F2F session.

Adding a discussion forum, requiring for example all students to ask at least one question (or reflection) before class could help, too. Or you could construct a few online learning activities/challenges/assignments (e.g. WebQuest) to encourage students to think before the F2F session.

Finally, if you create sizzling online lectures, many students might even explore them without requiring any carrot or stick measures.  The lecture becomes the carrot!

As you see there are many ways to get students on board in a flipped classroom approach, and if you explore your creative mind, I am sure you will figure out even better ways to activate your students brain to think before they come for class.

Cool! But, what should we do with them once they come...?

CLASSROOM LEARNING

“If you wanted to create an education environment that was directly opposed to what the brain was good at doing, you probably would design something like a classroom. If you wanted to create a business environment that was directly opposed to what the brain was good at doing, you probably would design something like a cubicle. And if you wanted to change things, you might have to tear down both and start over.” 

-John Media

Designing inspiring Learning Spaces will increasingly be required as we want to move F2F (or online learning) learning sessions beyond the lecture format to empower more effective student learning experiences.

Changing the physical classroom is probably more complicated as that would also require extensive monetary investments and time to make it happen. Lets assume that you have your good old classroom or computer lab, which by nature might not be really conducive for interactive or collaborative learning (e.g. seating arrangement).

If you ask me, I would argue that we can still do learning miracles in a boring classroom setting if we stretch our imagination beyond our usual Blame everything else, except ourselves. So, what can we do during a Flipped Classroom session?

• Q&A
  Encourage students to ask questions to clarify what they didnt understand from the recorded lecture (or required readings).
• Case Study (or Problem-Based Learning)
  Yes, even Harvard uses Case Studies to empower deep learning and understanding of the subject matter. We could discuss a Case Study with the students, and even break up into groups to encourage more involvement and diverse opinions.
• Learning Activities
  Build learning activities to apply what has been learned in the lecture. Here students dont have to be stuck in the classroom. They could always be asked to venture out individually or in groups to the library, labs, outdoors, etc. and then return to share their discoveries and findings.
• Online Classroom
  If you cant afford the transformation of your physical classroom, you could always use a  web-conferencing tool to engage students to learn using a variety of features (e.g. poll, whiteboard, chat, screen/application sharing, etc.). It is an alternate and cheaper solution that has no borders.
• Etc.
  I leave that to your imagination!

All these approaches above can be useful to empower more effective learning experiences. But, personally I want the students learning experiences to be more challenging, competitive, inspiring and fun, so I would...

GAMIFY CLASSROOM LEARNING!

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Flat iMac Mockup Ai Format

Free Download Flat iMac Mockup. Simple flat illustration of iMac for your next mockup or wireframes. Enjoy!

Type : Ai
Category : Mockups
License : Free
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Template Website Free PSD

Free Download PSD Template Website. This free psd template is a bootstrap grid based. Bootstrap psd grid folder is also there in this psd template. Enjoy!

Type : PSD
Category : Web Templates
License : Free
Author : Alltemplateneeds

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CGG dial chart component example

Hi Guys,

This post talk about how to implement CGG dial component in pentaho CDE.

There I need to find few more functionalists on it. For instance : Tool tip of the dial value, Outer layer color change, customizing dial shape and/or color and many more.

This post only talk about how available CGG Dial component example.

Refer this link also : 

http://forums.pentaho.com/showthread.php?165485-How-to-implement-gauge-chart-using-Pentaho-CDE-component

Core part :
You need to store the result of query in a variable using Query component.
Define a query and query component and make use of .

Change the query component Priority from 5 to less of it. for example Query component priority 1 or 2

Increase size of the font by modifying dial.js file located at
/opt/pentaho/biserver.ce/pentaho-solutions/system/pentaho-cdf-dd/resources/custom/components/cgg/charts/dial.js 

Press Ctrl+F and serach for the below line
.font("23px sans-serif")

Note that px(pixel) should be given after numeric font size, otherwise the changes will not take place.  

 Find the development image for easy understanding.

Image-1

 Image-2

 Image-3

Image-4 Output

 

 References :
  
http://forums.pentaho.com/showthread.php?132522-How-did-I-got-the-CGG-Dial-Chart-work

http://forums.pentaho.com/showthread.php?159306-Dial-chart-component-is-not-working-in-Pentaho-5-1-CDE&p=368997#post368997

http://forums.pentaho.com/showthread.php?159422-Dial-component-Problem-in-pentaho-5-0

http://forums.pentaho.com/showthread.php?159935-CGG-Dial-Component-Bug

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Free PSD Pricing Table

Type : PSD
Category : Web Elements
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Author : Deviantart

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Java Program for Addition of two Matrices

import java.util.Scanner; //import Scanner class in our program

class demo
{
public static void main(String...s)
{
int i,j,n,m;
Scanner sc=new Scanner(System.in); //used to read from keyboard

System.out.print("Enter number of rows:");
m=sc.nextInt();
System.out.print("Enter number of columns:");
n=sc.nextInt();

int a1[][]=new int[m][n];
int a2[][]=new int[m][n];
int a3[][]=new int[m][n];

System.out.print("
Enter elements of first matrix:
");
for(i=0;i<m;++i)
for(j=0;j<n;++j)
a1[i][j]=sc.nextInt();

System.out.print("
Enter elements of second matrix:
");
for(i=0;i<m;++i)
for(j=0;j<n;++j)
a2[i][j]=sc.nextInt();

System.out.print("
Addition of Matrices:
");

for(i=0;i<m;++i)
{
for(j=0;j<n;++j)
{
a3[i][j]=a1[i][j]+a2[i][j];
System.out.print(a3[i][j]+" ");
}
System.out.print("
");
}


}
}

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C program to swap two numbers without using temp variable

#include<iostream.h>
#include<conio.h>

void main()
{
clrscr();
int a,b;
cout<<"Enter value of a:";
cin>>a;
cout<<"Enter value of b:";
cin>>b;

a=a+b;
b=a-b;
a=a-b;

cout<<"
a="<<a;
cout<<"
b="<<b;
getch();
}

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Amazing Weight Loss And Health Tips

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Removing Extreme Values and Outliers with NEST

Values outside of the processed SAR image should be NAN, i.e. "no value" and usually are, but at some point in my processing chain -- I think when converting the calibration to dB -- the NAN value is converted to a value of "-1E-30" For further processing, I wish to get these values to NAN again. Especially when mosaicing, the values of overlapping areas of several SAR images should not be influences by this invalid outlier

To change band values I choose Utilities>Band Math and get the following windows:

The Band Math uses a C-code If-expression which in this case says: If the image value is between -1E-30 and -2E-30, then replace it by NaN, otherwise keep the original value.

The following is not very clear to me -- You have to deselect "virtual" and the result is written into a new channel (save your file afterwards).

It would seem that you then simply could delete the original channel and retain the new band, but that does not seem to work, somehow the new band is still referenced to the original one. You have to choose Utilities>Spatial Subset from View to do the job. Here I go straight to the "Band Subset" tab and deselect the original band:

If I know choose "ok", you get a new product with the one corrected channel, which you then can save to disc.

This is of course too tedious if you have dozens of images, so to do this in batch mode, I create the processing line in "Graph Builder"

Then I save this graph as an XML file. You edit this XML-file so that the input and output file names have a place holder "$file" and "$target". Look in 1-Read that it reads "<file>$file</file>" and in 2-Write that it reads "<file>$target</file>".


Now you create a RemoveOutliers.bat file containing


for /r C:Usersmaxlocation_of_files %%X in (*.dim) do (gpt   C:Usersmaxlocation_of_XMLfile RemoveOutliers.xml -Pfile="%%X"  -Tfile=" C:Usersmaxlocation_of_new_files\%%~nX.dim")

What happens here?

1. The for-command goes through the directory containing your files to find files named "*.dim" and passes the file name to "%%X".
2. For each of these input files "-Pfile="%%X", the NEST command "gpt" applies the Graph Builder production chain saved in "RemoveOutliers.xml" 
3. The output is saved in the parameter -Tfile, which here is written "%%~nX.dim", the same filename but in a new directory (but you also can give it a new name like   "%%~nX_NaN.dim" if you wish)

You navigate the DOS window (type "cmd" at Windows Start> "search programs and files" to open it) to the directory containing RemoveOutliers.bat, then type "RemoveOutliers.bat" and all scenes in the specified folder will be processed.

Curiously, and conveniently, if you run Band Math using "gpt" from commandline, the new file only contains the new band, so no reason for manually deleting the original band as in the NEST GUI version above is needed.

The Result (what is dark outside the scene is now NaN)

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RESTORING YOUR DEFAULT UBUNTU PANELS

By Kibui Kenneth Maina Mon Aug 30, 3:57PM

1. Press (Alt+F2)
2. Type (gnome-terminal)

Fig1. Open terminal

3. Type gconftool-2 --shutdown

Fig2. First command

4. Type gconftool --recursive-unset /apps

Fig3. Second command

5. The panels will disappear at this point but dont worry you are almost there.
6. Type rm -rf ~/.gconf/apps/panel
7. Type pkill gnome-panel

Fig4. Final outcome

8. Give your system a moment and walla... Your default panels are back.

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Free Download Business Card Mockup PSD

Free Download Business Card Mockup PSD. Our PSD set contains 2 creative mockups that will help you to present your business cards in an unique fashion. Enjoy!

Type : PSD
Category : Cards
License : Free
Author : Freepsdfiles

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How To Hijack Facebook Fan Page

How To Hijack Facebook Fan Page?

However its a simple Facebook bug which helps the admins to remove another admin. However facebook should set up a rule that the original admins should not be removed. The following video by Sophos explains how easy it is to hijack facebook fan pages.However its quite strange to see according to facebook help page, Primary or original admin cannot be removed. However its untrue. Which evolves the whole idea of Hijacking facebook fan pages.http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4LSKEoXJUDY ( Hijacking Facebook fan pages tutorial )

 Purchase Structured Settlements 
Mesothelioma Lawyers San Diego 
Secured Loan Calculator 
 Structured Settlement Investments 

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Dynamic SQL in DBMS

What is Dynamic SQL?

When the pattern of database access is known in advance then static SQL is very adequate to serve us. Sometimes, in many applications we may not know the pattern of database access in advance. For example, a report writer must be able to decide at run time that which SQL statements will be needed to access the database. Such a need can’t be fulfilled with static SQL and requires an advanced form of static SQL known as dynamic SQL.

Also Read: Embedded SQL (Static SQL) in DBMS

There are several limitations in static SQL. Although using the host variables (host variables allows us to input values for search condition at run time), we can achieve a little bit dynamicness, for e.g.,

exec sql select tname, sex from teacher where salary > :sal;

Here the salary will be asked on run time. But getting column name or table asked at run time not possible with embedded SQL. For having such a feature we need dynamic SQL.

Dynamic SQL Concepts

• In dynamic SQL, the SQL statements are not hard coded in the programming language. The text of the SQL statement is asked at the run time to the user.
• In dynamic SQL, the SQL statements that are to be executed are not known until runtime, so DBMS can’t get prepared for executing the statements in advanced.
• When the program is executed, the DBMS takes the text of SQL statements to execute the statements that are executed in such a manner called statement string. Once DBMS receives the text, it goes through a five steps execution as illustrated below.

Dynamic Statement Execution (Execute Immediate)

The Execute Immediate statement provides the simplest form of dynamic SQL. This statement passes the text of SQL statements to DBMS and asks the DBMS to execute the SQL statements immediately.

For using the statement our program goes through the following steps.

1. The program constructs a SQL statement as a string of text in one of its data areas (called a buffer).
2. The program passes the SQL statements to the DBMS with the EXECUTE IMMEDIATE statement.
3. The DBMS executes the statement and sets the SQL CODE/SQL STATE values to flag the finishing status same like if the statement had been hard coded using static SQL.

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