Mr. Haxa Does The Blogs

Wisdoms from Special Library Conference 2008 (SLib 2008)

Great people talk about ideas,

Average people talk about things,

Little people talk about other people.

 

- Puan Siti Zakiah Aman, Ex-Director General of National Library (Malaysia)

An Instructional Designer Diary on Subject Matter Experts and Putting in More Hours for a SAP SCM Module Project

This is how I want to remember this period of time in my life.

I've spent an average of 12-16 hours daily for the last few days at the office and home to get my current project completed. Last Friday, I had my first all-nighter (at this job) in the office and teleconferenced with the content expert for three hours.

This has been a special project for me for I've got to learnt a great deal on SAP different applications-pipes-systems, appreciate data flows, business process, transactions particularly in the world of Supply Chain Management (SCM). In a great revelation, I can finally relate to my MBA's Operations Management; and the guy whom I spoke to for three hours last Saturday morning has published a book on SAP! I look forward to get a copy of this book.

It's been a great experience working with him and four other Subject Matter Experts for this project alone! I feel sorry for one of the guy's kids who got scolded by their dad for being noisy in the background; so that he could focus on the meeting with me in at-home evening hours.  ;-(

These content experts were extremely busy in the last few months with system development and testing, thus leaving me with short window of time to engage with them. Perhaps, "stakeholder (SME, project team) management" is one area of the Instructional Design's project management that we should seriously look into.

Other than working on project, I've been creating and editing more corporate wiki pages which is quite fun.

Besides, closing in two big purchases in my life have really taught the meaning of patience and perseverance.

While working late at night or early in the morning, these music have kept me accompanied and entertained:

1. Shostakovitch's Piano Concerto No.2 (Excerpt)
2. Ennio Merricone's Cinema Paradiso Score
3. Dave Koz' new album At The Movie. My favorite tracks are:
    - Moon River
    - Cinema Paradiso Suite
    - Schindler's List
4. Mute Math's Typical
5. The L Word Season 2 Soundtracks Shirley Bassey's Where Do I Begin

Although, it has been rought lately, I'm actually enjoying the experience and dealing with different people. May this project be deployed successfully.

I'm also sad on the departure of my cool colleague, Natalie. I wish all the best with her new undertakings. Read her posting about it here:

http://nkilkenny.wordpress.com/2007/04/08/my-new-life-and-farewell/

What's in store next week? I will be making some big decisions and hopefully things will turn out great.

Learnt vs. Learned

A Subject Matter Expert corrected me on “learnt” (screenshot below) and I have updated the instruction to “learned” ;-)

Coming from Commonwealth country, we use “learnt” for past tense and past participle for learn. Here's an explanation from AskOxford on this matter:

http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutspelling/learnt

What is the difference between 'learnt' and 'learned'? 

• Learnt is more common in British English, and learned in American English.

• There are a number of verbs of this type (burn, dream, kneel, lean, leap, spell, spill, spoil etc.).

• They are all irregular verbs, and this is a part of their irregularity.

Consider this: Hey! You've misspelled 'missplelt'.

However, in the context of "learned judge" it is still the same spelling regardless where you are.

Leveraging on Web 2.0 "Pull Centric" solutions to Transform Learning 1.0 to Learning 2.0

Web 2.0 solutions are "pull-centric" tools that can be used to transform learning from Learning 1.0 (formal e-learning) to Learning 2.0 (informal learning). In another perspective, it is about putting "context" into "content"

Learning 1.0 makes full use of the web medium to "push" synchronous and asynchronous learning solutions to learners. The pull centric approaches enable active-democratic community participation through:

• easy to use content upload capability,
  
• mutliple discussions channels,
• easy to embed content objects,
• learning community, and
• personalized experience.

This translates to viral marketing that makes full use of every possible media (text-blogging, wiki; audio-Podcasts; syndication-RSS feeds, video-You Tube like solution)

Efforts to put in transforming to Learning 2.0 is to find the best fit to leverage these tools into what matters to the e-learning projects; development, communications, evaluation, and sustainability.

Here are some examples how we can take advantage of Web 2.0 to transform learning solution to informal-rather-democratic-learning-solution, i.e. Learning 2.0:

Blogging,
Great transition change management tool for project communication. It's very up to date posting capability, allow multiple authors (project sponsor, prog. Manager, proj. manager, business analysts, systems analysts) to post their thoughts as well as document discussion. Benefits: Reduce redundant communication.
Blogging content commenting capability allows users to have feedback or discussions among themselves as well as content experts. Some experienced users can share their knowledge and indicate where the next updates should focus on.

Wikis,
Low tech sustainability tools for content updates. Wiki has a dynamic content update tool that?s way better than checking in-checking out. It allows multiple edits by users and these updates are tracked and logged for accountability. Projects can benefit from this when e-learning development team handing over training materials to customers for deployment and sustenance.

Podcasts,
Useful for recording virtual sessions as well as offline asynchronous sessions.
Tailored for audience who prefers audio (higher context)

RSS Feeds,
Really Simple Syndication feeds is a powerful to channel the right information to the right users at the right time
Feeds can come from multiple sources, e.g. SharePoint, Wiki, blogging sites and users can get these updates real time via the RSS reader.
Communication blast appearing in training environment

Other Web 2.0 that's worth looking into:

Digg This:
Allows users to rank sites, content, and comment/blogs on that topic (viral marketing!). In one way, this is sort of like Kirkpatrick's first level of evaluation.

YouTube:
Leverage on Adobe Flash technology that allows easy to upload, share, and discuss video content. Users need not to worry about format. Multiple format input ? one output format.

Opportunities:
1. Corporate support
3. Low tech solution
4. Viral marketing
5. Dynamic language of XML is ubiquitously used by developers

Challenges:
1. Adding more capabilities and updates to current tools
2. Getting project teams to start blogging and make full use of these tools
3. Standardization of tools as well look and feel - same user experience throughout
4. Ability to customize future off-the-shelf learning content management systems

2007 Wish List and Things To Do

Wishes:

1. Government reshuffles cabinet and introduce new generation of ministers (it's about time!)
2. More opposition seats in Parliament (if there's General Election this year)
3. Good governance, enforcement, and transparent government (from federal, state, to municipalities)
4. Industrialized nations (esp. United States and Australia) ratify Kyoto Protocol and exemptions to the protocol (China and India) to be removed so that we can try to save this planet from worsening global warming
5. US-Malaysia Free Trade Agreement is fair, just, and balanced
6. Low inflation-unemployment-interest rate and bullish stock market performance (O Heaven, Give Us Tech Boom This Year)
7. Higher inflow of foreign investment and outflow of local firms into global scene
8. Technology gets more cheaper and more innovative; especially clean alternative energy, flat panel display, storage, convergent devices, bandwidth, hosting service, etc.
9. Peaceful world (less terrorism, natural disaster, war, and confrontation)
10. Blessed with good health, prosperity, knowledge, and spiritual consciousness

Things To Do:

1. Go back to school and get doctorate soon
2. Learn foreign language and practice with native speakers
   
3. Jog, walk, work out and stay fit
4. Pray harder and ask for forgiveness and good life on Earth and after death
   
5. Travel to foreign land and write travelogues
   
6. Diversify investments in properties and stocks
   
7. Get a car and do lots of road trips
8. Read more books/materials, listen to more music, watch more films, and blog more subjects; of wide variety of genres
9. Extend business and social network
10. Perhaps this year should me more about others and less about myself!
     

2006 e-Learning Trends

Here are my thoughts:

1. Convergence of media, tools, and content (video/audio/photo blogging (or podcasting) to be more common)
2. Further consolidation of e-learning vendors and tools
3. End 2006 (Q4) OS updates in anticipation of Microsoft Vista and ubiquitous 64-bit computing
4. More push towards e-learning consolidation with Knowledge Management
5. Enriching users experience in e-learning solutions
6. More templates built for adaptive/prescriptive instructional design

Tell me about yours!

Hey Aqil, Your Uncle Here Is Reflecting Too Much Lately!

With a couple of kilos added and gone bald after your "bercukur kenduri" (40-day old head shaving ritual)  --- Aqil (my first nephew) looks so round and cute. At a brief visit yesterday, I closely observe your multiple intelligence developement.

What an exciting time to be around baby growth and triggers what was learned in psychology and learning theory; of which, his brain probably weighs 1lb and that his neurons are making 5k-50k connections.

Hey Aqil, your uncle here can't wait to understand your learning cycle. And reflecting on mine, I totally believe in Kolb's 4 different processes/styles inventory in each cycle and I don't think I've been doing a good job leveraging on the placing the right cycle and the right sequence and control of different cycle.

So, I would like you to develop better EQ (Concrete Experience), have high IQ and able to visualize much more complex conpect (Abstract Conceptualization), take more risks (Active Experimentation), and that you make better judgment calls (Reflective Observation).

Here are some pictures of you on September 4th 2005 when you were showing me some good early progress of each process I mentioned earlier.

 

Maybe some day, with all the right technology --- future babies after you could be clinically monitored in  real-time of thier brain activities (online) and we will be able to prescribe the right learning objects to the maid at home (mom and dad at work) so that we could provide much richer learning experience.

Maybe this is where the future of e-learning is all about --- back to basics with high context, low semantics, and greater sequence , navigation, and control.

Reading List: Vanity Fair, GQ, Learning technology blogs, DaVinci Code, Friedman

At the top three level of Bloom taxonomy, we find analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. After reviewing some literatures on how decontexualizing learning objects contradicts the recent decade new models and theories of how important it is to add depth and context to content, the RLO concept, especially to achieve the above mentioned taxonomies; may require some fine tuning.

And there goes my new hunt for reading list and questions to pop out in some of the forums I attend or perhaps create asynchronous communication with some of the education technologist blogger out there.

And talking about reading, thanks to George for popping out the question of what’s on my reading list of late. I responded the May edition of Vanity Fair and the DaVinci Code which I should finish reading it before the movie comes out. And, oh there are other reading stuff too besides all the daily dose of news syndication, columns, articles, blogs, and aggregators.

And the article that I found most exciting lately is the GQ April 2005 article in the Intelligence section. It highlight some of the applications of learning theories on to how you could chunk some critical information, e.g. significant other’s phone number, birthday, etc.

I should get back to my reading now. And to George, do give me some overview on the Friedman’s Lexus and Olive Tree book soon, ya!

Microsoft Longhorn: What's in for e-Learning

I would like to bring your attention to the MS Longhorn capabilities (that will be release in 2006) particularly on vertical market of higher education. There are some new e-learning features: Collaboration, Portfolio, eLearning Content Creation/Mgt that are generic to other niche of the market.

You may view the presentation at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/Longhorn/productinfo/conceptvid/default.aspx Longhorn Concept Videos

Take note of how complex visualization will be enabled as Microsoft utilizes Intel’s Virtualization technology, Vanderpool. As an example, icons will no longer merely display/depict the file format, but gives you visual of what is in inside the document/file.

The new OS, Longhorn is built on three pillars to enable end-to-end business processes across organizations and systems. For further information, read Fundamentals, Avalon, WinFS, and Indigo.

Take note how Avalon, WinFS, and Indigo are respectively separating (thus better performance for):

• Presentation (reading and visualization),
• Data (annotation of documents), and
• Communication (secure connectivity).

Avalon might be a hit as it gives 3D, vector graphics, anti-alias, and floating capabilities in Longhorn with the use of new markup, XAML. All these will be exciting thing to happen in the content industry.

It is just about the right time that Adobe and Macromedia merge in anticipation of this Microsoft OS long-awaited release.

I am anticipating that LCMS and LMS vendors will be releasing major updates on their current products to take advantage of the new OS capabilities.

My Comment on Abedib's Posting on Digital Contents in Education

Lack of interest to develop digital educational content? Yes, especially those concerning indigenous knowledge. While Ministry of Education (MoE) is extensively digitizing English, Science, and Mathhematics in phases, the problem lies in the lack of digital content for arts and humanities subjects for which there are humungous opportunities for development and creation of more dynamic content in the electronic form.

Credits are due to MoE for creating a boom in the e-learning industry, where the last tendering process have some big names like multinational corporations getting into this market. For start-ups who have been in this line, this project opens up to more creativity, new job opportunities (new skill sets: instructional designer, graphics designer, and multimedia developer), and expansion.

However, the momentum at MoE thus far restricted to few divisions. Things could be better there.

With all due respect to the arts and humanities subjects, I hope that there are exciting things will happen soon. Subjects such as Bahasa Melayu, Sejarah, and Geography will open up to LOTS of preservation of local culture. With the integration of local studies into the curriculum in the last decade, I do hope that local agencies will play an active role to promote such content to the masses.

In a nutshell, I do agree on the lack of interest. But if you are an opportunist, go tap on the DAGS grant which have so far funded projects that initially looks good on paper but tuned out to be crappy and failed to churn out quality local indigenous content. In the end, the it became system-centric; pushing out unncessary features of technology and at the same time, doing less on content.

Despite that, there are some good DAGS projects that you might want to check out for references.

In the university arena, content are mostly deemed intellectual property of the respective institution. It probably takes us more years for our universities to establish on its faculty and research quality before they will be able to open up content like what MIT OpenCourseWare is providing.