Testing Blab on my blog 2

Part of the preparations for the NileTESSOL16 about the Digital Writing Month (DigiWriMo15) +Maha Bali decided to have a video conference with the other two facilitators +Sarah Honeychurch and +Kevin Hodgson and me as one of the participants. The main purpose was to have a recorded video of Sarah and Kevin reflecting on their experiences in designing and facilitating the month, as well as what they have taken from the experience for the future.

Hopefully will explain a bit more later about why we decided to go with blabl.im as a platform for our video conference, what we expected to be able to do and what we discovered, I will try to come back to this post, edit it an update it, but I am not good at coming back to tidy things up once the purpose is achieved, unless, of course I feel that it can be of use to others. We'll see how this goes.

The main reason for this post is to test and embed code. 

I knew that if a blabcast is recorded the main host receives an email with a link to download the video. I hadn't even opened previous ones because I didn't need them.

This time I discovered that the email includes two things. 1- a button to download. 2- A code to embed the video (yay for that).

So here I am testing that embed code

Which I can see works woot :)

Testing Blab On a Blog

So will talk about my experiments a bit later but for now just a quick link and embed to see which one works when I publish .

Link:
https://blab.im/maha-abdelmoneim-always-learning


Embed:

Reflections: Here's A Gift Now Wait While We Party

The title sounds weird I know but I can't think of a better one. This is my attempt to put in written words my thoughts about the experiences I had  with the two songs created by Simon Ensor's students. I decided to write about those experiences because I am finally able to decipher some of what was going on in my mind and I want to reflect on them with my #DigiWriMo friends, in particular those who collaborated on Etienne's two songs. For any other visitor, most probably, this won't make sense for now. May be later I can make it into a proper post - or not. :)

Road Trip

When Simon posted his first tweet about Etienne's song "Road Trip" I immediately jumped in. My intention was to capture the moment -- or jump in it -- to help Simon honor his students' expression. I read his request as "sing it WITH them" so I went and listened to it several times then created a couple of vocals to harmonize with theirs. But suddenly things changed, Alan and Kevin created their own versions/interpretations of the song then Ronald and Sarah read the whole thing like a poem, and Bryan created his country version. I loved what everybody was doing that when the Soundtrap collaboration started I felt really happy and honored to be invited to contribute to it, and the sense of excitement was heightened thinking about surprising Etienne and his friends with the final result. 

But throughout I had a nagging feeling or a question or something. Most of the time I didn't even know what it was. I only could understand it every time I went to my Soundcloud page and saw those vocals that I'd created to go with the voices of Etienne and his friends. Only then and for a brief moment that nagging thing became "oh what about them?" and "I wish we could do their song with them". The moment was short and got drowned by the excitement of the collaboration, the excitement of the anticipated surprise and all the other usual business of my on and offline life.

We finally had a finished song, wow, a collaborative song written in France and sung and arranged across countries and states. I think that was a taste of the elation that artists feel or that of a sports team winning an important match. Etienne's reaction -- at least in his tweets as I understood them -- added to the brilliance of the moment. I asked him if he would create a new one -- looks like others did too. I asked him because I wanted to encourage him but also because I genuinely thought that the song was beautiful and that he was talented and should continue. I thought "We can do this again and again and better every time".

Regrets

When I saw Simon's tweet about Etienne's new song "Regrets" I smiled :) . I felt happy that he felt comfortable and inspired to create something for us, I was glad that he had us as audience, fans. Something was different though. This time I didn't jump to action.

I think the time between finishing the first song and receiving the second one allowed the sense of excitement to calm down and allow something else to come up. I can't say that I knew what it was or that I even noticed. All I know is that this time I couldn't jump in and do anything.

I watched the twitter chat. Someone started a new Soundtrap project for the new song, some people were invited to collaborate on it. Kevin tweeted about inviting me to add some vocals. Someone asked to be let in on  the project. I watched but still couldn't jump in. 

When Kevin invited me to contribute with some vocals to the project, the sense of excitement about a collaborative work kicked in again -- I love working collaboratively, especially with the right people. Whoa, the song sounded amazing. Kevin had mentioned what he had in mind for my part but I wasn't sure what it exactly meant until I heard his arrangement and all of a sudden it just came out. I finished my part, Bryan added some more and Ronald made some extra changes adding and editing then Kevin added a final touch. I couldn't believe how it all sounded. This song sounds so good that I would buy it :)  .  But

Suddenly, I don't want Etienne to hear the song. He shouldn't even know that we have finished it. Suddenly I know what was nagging me and I know that this time I cannot ignore it. One of the things that allowed me to get to this point is how I felt before I was invited to participate and then how I felt after I was invited after I experienced what we were able to achieve.

Before I was invited I couldn't jump in because this time I knew that the song was going to be a project. There were experts on using the Soundtrap and playing instruments. Once I was in I enjoyed it a lot. This made me think. Working on Road Trip individually then as a group to me felt like a celebration of Etienne's creativity. Our finished work was a gift to honor his talent and his teacher's intention. 

I thought that gift was like opening a door for Etienne -- not sure how to express a door to what, but may be to a new space where he sees his talent in a different way, a door to confidence is his art -- and I think writing a second one at our request was a step in that space. But then the second time around is not going to be a surprise, and to me it doesn't feel like we are honoring him anymore. yes I know that celebrating and honoring his talent may be our intention, but to me it feels like we asked him for a beautiful new thing to play with, then closed the door that we'd opened. He couldn't even  watch from the window as we had fun creating some magic with his song. We closed the door and let him wait while we had a party.

I think what we created is beautiful but we got carried away and forgot our original intention. I think that Etienne should be in on all the fun. Even lead it. If he doesn't know how to use the Soundtrap we can teach him what we know. We can always share our with him later or keep it for ourselves if it's more appropriate. I thin this time we should wait.

Ok this turned out to be longer than I intended but when I read it aloud it sounds very close to what I want to say. So it stays this way. At least for now :)

I would love for you to challenge me or question my assumptions or whatever if that's what you want. If you don't agree say so. And of course if you do agree also say so :)

Peer Feedback: Inspired by John Spencer's Post

by  maximalideal  under

I was going through some of the educators' blogs that I've collected in feedly when I came across  +John Spencer 's post titled The 20-Minute Peer Feedback System. John started the post with this sentence and I immediately clicked to read more.

I believe that peer feedback is critical for students.

I cheered. :) I have seen, and personally experienced, the power of feedback when it was provided with the right intention and in the right way. I've seen it work in different contexts, learning, work etc. But, I have also watched many people get it wrong. It usually turns bad when the people involved don't know what good feedback is and how it looks and sounds like, but more importantly where it should come from and the intention that should drive it. 

So, I read the post, I started to comment, the comment became a bit too long when I began to share something about how I've been using feedback exercises, so I decided to post it here instead. 

I liked the exercise a lot, and I have used several variations of it based on the objective of the particular session. What I find invaluable for a successful feedback exercise is to 

1- discuss "Giving and Receiving Constructive Feedback, what, why and how"

2- agree the structure and criteria for the feedback in the particular session, like a mini rubric perhaps, allowing space for general impressions/feelings but always with the intention being to help the person reflect and improve and  coming from a place of support and caring.

  

Whenever there was no time for a full-fledged session for no. 1, making sure to agree no. 2 in a clear way -- may be putting it up visually as a reference for all to see  -- helped a lot. 

  by  jardenberg 


I Like to do this exercise in 3s. The 3rd person sits as a silent observer (a fly on the wall) to provide feedback to both giver and receiver of the feedback (receiving is also a skill and not passive), and is usually the only one allowed to take notes. Of course this means that the exercise will be done three times so that each one gets the chance to give, receive and observe. 

Finally, to consolidate and allow all the groups to share with each other, I ask them to decide on their three major learning points (can be more but 3 seems to be a nice number). When they are ready with their lists, it's time to share. I like to capture the points in writing which of course can be done by adding to a shared document (physical or digital or both).

I need to find some good online resources on feedback or write something myself. Does anyone know of any, preferably supported by research?

Which reminds me, one of MIT's MOOCs on tedx introduced us to feedback and provided some guidelines followed by an exercise to practice giving feedback, and receive feedback on the feedback we gave :) . That was a totally unexpected but very interesting part of the course. Unfortunately at the time I couldn't continue the course, not even as a lurker, and missed on watching how that type of digital peer feedback worked and how participants reacted to it. One thing I remember well, while I am usually comfortable giving and seeking feedback in the physical world, it was scarier online. Again I suspect, it was the permanency of the written word, but more the absence of an easy way to express all the meaning that the human face and voice add to the words.

Well, I must check and see when the course is going to be offered next and plan to join it again.

Power of Connections : My Desk

This was supposed to be the first post but somehow I am still jumping around #NTPoC course trying to figure out what I'd missed and how to find my way around the platform.

So....

My Temporary Work-Space

this is my work-space which as you can see is a total mess and not a desk. I am still using the dining table as my "temporary" work-space, something I have been doing since I returned home a year ago after around 23 years of living abroad.

As you can see this was my second attempt with the first one appearing on the screen of the laptop. I decided to take another one to make sure I capture the messiness. It is not usually as messy but  having so much space makes it harder to stay organized, if that makes any sense. :) One item that is always present is a headset that I use a lot and another thing that I have to have all summer is the fan that appears in the background on the top left side of the picture.

As for books and bookshelves, well, my books still live in boxes and every now and then I have to rummage through a box to find a book that I want (thank God I made a list of each box' contents).


A Virtual Work-Space

I would love to be able to work outdoors but haven't found a way to do that yet. So, when I need a bit of nature around me while working I log into a Virtual World, sit my avatar in one of my favorite spots in a forest or on the beach and work. I can look in on her every now and then if I need a break but I can keep the sounds on all the time so that I am listening to some relaxing nature sounds. I also teach in-world at least once a week where I can sit with learners from around the world.

A 25 Words Language

The second improvisation challenge (part of The Power of Connection Course from Next Thought) is to select only 25 words to take with me as my new language, as I go into space on a mission to colonize a new planet. The challenge was to choose the words that my new language will consist of in only 10 minutes.

I knew this was not going to be easy as soon as I read the instructions but didn't realize how difficult it was going to be. We take language for granted and I am not particularly known for being succinct. :) .

One of the things that I kept thinking about is how some of the online spaces/tools force you to communicate in as short a form as possible. Sometimes it's a hard restriction by the space/tool itself, e.g. Twitter's 145 characters, and sometimes a restrictions created by the circumstances and general norms adopted by the users, like while you're communicating with a fellow player during a video game. However in those instances I usually still have a full language with hundreds of words to choose from, abbreviate, shorten, omit etc.

Any way, back to my new created language, for which I will have no one to blame except myself if it doesn't work for me in outer space, and how I selected it.

The words are:
need, food, help, bad, good, thanks, feel, cold, heat, why, how, when, come go, must, time, contact, earth, planet, new, old.

One of the main assumptions on my mind while frantically trying to find good useful words was "many things can be easily mimed". With that in mind, I find that some words I like and some I think could have been replaced by more versatile ones. 

Rhizo what?! My First look at Rhizomatic Learning - Warning: raw thoughts, messiness ahead! -1

I don't really enjoy writing (yet). But as I keep repeating, what I learn is not dependent on what I write for others to read. A way to help my self prepare for writing is put my raw thoughts in a private or a draft blog, leave it, come back and look at it, tweak it, add more, leave it, come back, organize it a bit, leave it etc.  until it looks like something that someone can read and understand. Takes time and it is hmm stressful(?).

Yesterday it occurred to me that in F2F learning I never wait for my thoughts to become perfectly organized and neat before I share them, I do a lot of thinking aloud, so why not do the same in writing? Would be interesting to see how it works.

How will it work? No idea yet. May be update this blog by commenting on it myself or , hmmm ok I put a number 1 in the heading let's see if I continue my thoughts and number the following headings 2, 3, 4 (ambitious) :). again we(I) will see.


Back ground
(may be put it in the about me??)

First reactions
What is rhizomatic learning:  Dave Cormier's video based on presentation he gave in India (find the video again and add it. I should've diigo'd it)
Rhizomes : networks are not all as simple or seemingly neat as they are depicted. Rhizomes' network if depicted/represented may look as organized or neat (ask a specialist). Dave mentions one kind of rhizomes that is harmful or a pest to garden. When he talks about his children and how they learn what is he looking for? Does he want Rhizomeatic learning to replace the existing way of learning? Rhizomatic to me may describe a way of learning which means it is the behavior of the Rhizome not the rhizome itself that we are looking at. Or are we looking at the thoughts being the rhizome?

Questions
Have we decided that rhizomatic learning is good? How?
Is it better than neat planned learning through studying?
Is it an another case of either or, so that we prefer to have rhizomatic learning?

Where does Rhizomatic fit? When things are uncertain? How did we decide that? how is that different than the existing

Education? Teaching, Studying, Learning. Differences? which one does the Rhizomatic fit in.
What do we mean by LEARNing in Rhizomatic learning and in general? K S A (I still find this very useful)?

I know I am Always Learning in so many ways. Planned, spontaneous, targeted, untargeted, studying, communicating, playing  so isn't that rhizomatic?
I keep remembering  Code yourself course that I've just recently finished. So may be it works like

Forever { check around you (until completely uninteresting or fully known go explore (if energizing and useful go learn))} hmmm I wonder if I can create a representation of this in scratch. :) Idea: will get my niece (11) in on it and create something (she likes to draw so would be interesting to see what she comes up with for learning and the different elements).

Subjectives vs objectives? Why vs? Aren't Subjectives always there even if not spelled out in writing or sometimes without even being spoken of? Some of my Subjectives are to trigger curiosity and a sense of wonder, self reflection, aha moments, surprise, need to find out/learn more, fun, enjoyment, excitement, a moment of Yesss .

Until We Meet Again

A brief encounter but for better or worse I learn something.

Few months ago I discovered Zeega when several people from  Connected Courses mentioned it, played with it and raved about it. I love trying new tools but I have to say when I went to the site the first time I didn't get it. May be I should have just sent a tweet asking them what they liked about it, but I didn't. Why I didn't I can't even remember any more. I can guess but most of it is not really important anymore either, at least not for this post. I decided to register an account with the site, bookmark it and explore it when I had more time, not because I liked it but because I was so curious to know what the others liked so much about it. 

Few days ago I saw this tweet from +Kevin Hodgson

I opened my email and found a message from Zeega team letting me know that the tool was going to disappear soon. I wasn't attached to the tool but I wanted a chance to meet before saying goodbye.

So here is my first ever Zeega.

Until We Meet Again Saying Hi and So Long Zeega. It was nice to meet you.
► Play Zeega ►
by Maha Abdelmoneim

Connected Barbie - A Page from Barbie's Book

I usually don't jump on opportunities to write. I don't yet (using 'yet' to keep the door to the possibility for a change open  :) ) enjoy writing. Well any way, I was saying that in spite of this fact I found myself drawn to this Daily Connect  and to Hack Barbie, may be because it's a conversation. Who knows, when it comes to writing or not writing I am still trying to figure out how my brain works.  :)

Ok so after seeing Kevin Hodgson's DailyConnect tweet I visited the Feminist Hacker Barbie Site, selected one of the pictures that fit with the conversation that was partially forming in my head and started writing. I couldn't finish it in one go, I mean "didn't finish it. Couldn't is not accurate". Oh my God, I am already editing this, supposedly, simple post lol. I'll just fast forward in my head or jump to the end skipping whatever else is there on the way, so here is the conversation that I heard Barbie having with her teacher (I gave her a name, Valerie) :)

One more thing, I don't think that there's a problem with Barbie needing her friends to help her. She doesn't have to be coder to be an amazingly intelligent girl who can do wonderful things. The problem is that the ones she's calling to help her code are all boys. If we could hack the pictures I would've changed one of her friends into a girl and that would've been it for me.


Here's the full conversation (not sure how the site works so I will keep a copy here just in case):

 Ms. Valerie, Barbie's teacher looks at Barbie's laptop and with a big smile on her face says 
Ms. Valerie: "Barbie, this wonderful! You've not only managed to fix the laptop but also to find a delightfully interesting way to solve the homework game design problem. You're a star and deserve special credit for what you've accomplished.

Barbie: Thank you Ms. Valerie. I was able to do it because of all the people that I connect with everyday. My friends and I had a chat and listening to them gave me some clues, my sister inspired me when I listened to her talking about her favorite game, wanting to surprise her and my mom and dad too,  and you Ms. Valerie, your encouragement and confidence give me courage to explore and experiment.

Ms. Valerie: I am so happy to hear how you discovered the wonderful ways of connecting for the good of all. I wonder what you want to be

With a mischievous grin on her face Barbie says: hmmm I think I am going to connect several things and be something new. computer Engineer + Psychologist + my  hobby to create games hahaha. I have plans to connect them together and make them even much more useful. 

Ms. Valerie: What a great idea Barbie. Have you thought about how and when you want to start working on your plan?

Barbie: Yes Ms Valerie I have plans to start connecting with people from all those disciplines right away, but Ms. Valerie, how about I add teaching to the mix? ( tilting her head to one side and playfully giving her teacher a challenging look)

Ms. Valerie: (laughing) ok Barbie I am in. I will be your first teaching connection. 

POTCert Week 7: Class Resources & Intellectual Property

This Post is Incomplete but I may work to complete it later. Find out more here 



As a trainer, I had some experience with copyright issues both as a user and as a creator. As a user of material and resources I respected copyright for three main reasons.

1- Being a part of a reputable organization I felt responsible to uphold their policies of respecting copyright.
2- From an ethical point of view, I felt that copying or using for free something that someone had created and was selling for a price is a form of stealing.
3- I understand people's right to make a living from their intellectual property and support the laws that protect that right and their properties.

When it comes to learning and educational material, it's frustrating to see some companies and publishers turning it into a commercial profit making business. I can accept that the corporate world can and should pay for the learning, but people in general and teachers and students in particular should not be discouraged or prevented from learning by the price tag on the learning tools.

How to reconcile these two idea?

I am grateful that more and more educators and educational institutions are creating open material and resources and I hope they continue providing more variety and higher quality OER.

As a creator there were two sides
1- The policy of the organization I worked for stated that whatever material I created while in their employment was owned by them. this didn't feel right at the beginning because it meant that I had no right to use outside or after leaving the organization. Luckily they didn't mind it much, did nothing to prevent anyone from taking copies of whatever they or other trainers created. While I was lucky that I worked for a fair employer I still don't like the idea of the law protecting such policies. I understand that they should have the right to use it even after  leave but why should I not have the right to use it too if it was created by me? I am not sure if this is a common practice or not.

POTCert Week 14: Sea of Time

The following are links to the 13 blog posts that I created for the POTCert14 course with a brief comment.

Week1:  Getting Started	I think I succeeded in this post to make my introduction brief but contain some information about me as a person and as a professional. I tried to make personal but also include something about my experience. I kept thinking "what would I be talking about with colleagues face to face?". I've just realized that I'd published this post but never posted it in the discussion area for the week. :( will do it just to keep the course record complete.
Week2:  Teaching and Learning Online	This turned out to be too long. The original assignment was to reflect on the result the I got from completing the questionnaire about my teaching/training style. What I did was reflect on all the thoughts and ideas that all the material I went through for the week triggered and why. The required reflection is embedded there but perhaps not obvious. I usually use experiential/constructivist style but I use all the other styles including connectivist depending on the situation, learning objectives, group, subject, time etc. So the short answer should have been "usually experiential but it depends".
Week3:  Pedagogy and Course Design	I mainly felt panic then a sense of a better understanding. Enjoying being connected online, feeling comfortable experimenting and using different tools for casual and social purposes may make things easier but designing and running an online course will still require a lot of serious planning and work (duh, it works the same way on the ground). It was interesting to look at using the web vs an LMS and the shift that had happened in the availability of tools.
Week4:  The Online Syllabus	I learned by looking at all the material as a learner/user. Clarity, limiting the number of clicks to any destination, consistency, repetition are some of the way to make a syllabus useful and easy to use, but most important is regularly getting feedback and noticing if there are issues/difficulties that are common among students. It takes planning and time to create a video that looks and sounds natural and good.
Week5:  The Online Classroom	Tools must be in the service of the learning objectives and allow a variety of engaging activities. Researching and looking at the available tools, in my opinion, must start during the planning and designing phase. Again it struck me the difference between the availability and the type of tools in LMSs vs on the web. I tried Soundcloud and again to create an audio takes some planning and time to sound natural but good. Still don't know why is the word "facilitation" is bad. From a blogging point of view, for some reason I like this post but I was still writing for me and co learners only (those who know what I was referring to in the post).
Week6: Student Activities	Community was big on my mind, otherwise what is the point of being in an online "class" with cohorts. I focused on activities that in my opinion can create a supportive environment and encourage a collaborative learning community. Another important thought was how to encourage and help learners who struggle to write or reluctant to participate in other ways.
Week7: Class Resources and Intellectual Property	I started writing about Copyright several times but could never really put down in writing all my reactions and thoughts, and therefore never published the post. I found it easier to discuss it, explore my opinion and voice it in the different conversations about others' posts. Now that I've visited my private post again, I still don't feel like writing much more about it. I think I will leave it at that for now and post it for the record as it is.
Week8 Creating Class Elements	My thoughts about tools and about being on the web. It's important to have a well equipped tool box and to keep it always updated with the most useful. While tools are in the service of the learning they can sometimes inspire new activities. We start learning how to be in the world from an early age from family and then from school and it's important to learn how to be on the web too and while there are things that are transferable and constant, there are also some things that are at least different if not very particular to the web.
Week9: Our Students Online	I was not very convinced of the results of the research. I can understand the findings but I don't think that they can be generalized. I am glad that there are more scientific studies about learning in general and the effects of the online environments and their distracting or otherwise effect.
Week10: Classroom Management and Facilitation	Learning objectives are what should guide the course design. the availability or the lack of tools will influence the design but it should not dictate the teaching methodology. A good knowledge and understanding of what is available and the different way it can be used allows for more flexibility and creativity.
Week11: Introduction to Online Educational Theory	I think I sound frustrated in this post. There's no perfect educational theory nor an obsolete one and a teacher can benefit from multiple or all the theories while designing and teaching one course.
Week12: Open Education	I reflected on the concept of the Flipped Class and what educational theory it applies. Whether it's a new idea or a methodology that has always been used by many teachers just revamped, renamed and perhaps a bit modernized. I also reflected on Open Education, what it means and on MOOCs as one of the biggest types of open. I looked at the different types of MOOCs and my own experience with them and also on what educational theory/style they represent. I enjoyed and appreciated George Siemen's post on theory and MOOCs as it was informative, balanced, fair and inclusive.
Week13: Personal Learning Networks	It was interesting to look at what I thought is my Personal Learning Network and recognize the different nodes. Another interesting realization or renewed conviction was the fact that I considered myself to be a resident of the web. I believe that there are many types of web residents.

To complete this post I had to go through what I'd written during the course which got me to relive or wonder about some of the reactions, thoughts and feelings that I experienced after going through each week's material and reflect on the words that I used to express them. It allowed me to re examine my opinions and my learning. I've seen the progress from writing just for the course to starting to write for the web, from writing an assignment to the tentative first steps into blogging. I am grateful to all my colleagues and to all the facilitators from whom I learned and whose posts and comments helped me clarify my own thoughts and added to my understanding. 

POTCert Week 13: Personal Learning Networks

Videos:
Helen Crump on Learning and Networking
Dean Shareski, Sharin: The Moral Imperative 2012
Alec Couros, Teaching and Learning In A Networked World 2010
Gardner Campbell, A Personal Cyberstructure 2009

Reading
Ko & Rossen, Chapter 14: Taking Advantage of New Opportunities
Martin Weller on The Virtues of Blogging as a Scholarly Activity 2012

I've always thought of myself as a connected person long before I even discovered the internet. Like many, I've enjoyed meeting new people, keeping in touch with them and organizing or joining interesting activities with them. However to me keeping each group of friends (whether casual or close) separate was unnatural. I've always created opportunities to introduce everybody to everybody else, family members, work colleagues, school mates, childhood friends, friends I made while attending courses etc. :) Have I been creating a network of some sort? May be, but more than anything it was a mixture of an act of sharing and not wanting to miss on being with any of them.

The concepts of a PLN and Web Residency have been around for a while. I'd read about them but never really thought about them beyond my initial reaction. Of course I have a PLN and I am a Web resident, I thought.  However during these past two weeks for several reasons including this week's material, I started thinking about them more deliberately.

My Personal Learning Network
I started questioning what I meant when I talked about my PLN and I started thinking about how I am building it. Watching Helen Crump's video and later reading Kristi's post with a list of some of her PLN components, I started realizing that while people who appear on my different online contact lists form one of the most important parts of my PLN, they are actually not the only component. I think that every space that I belong to, have or visit regularly for learning is part of my PLN. Also, every tool that I use to communicate with people, find, curate and share ideas and content is part of my PLN. I know now that I need to organize or document my PLN perhaps in a mindmap format or something. I think that would help me explore what it means and how it fits in with the Cyberinfrastructure ( a concept that I still need o examine) but most importantly how to make it as useful as possible for me and everybody else who's part of it.

As for how I am building my PLN, I think it's a combination of intentional search, staying open and curious and willing to share not only expertise but also doubts and concerns among other things mixed with serendipitous opportunities. As an example, I am not a fan of Facebook, but when I was dragged into it by friends and family, I decided to find something that suited me in it. At the time I was interested in e-learning so I looked for groups that were focused on the subject. One group post lead me to a blog that listed 100+  free tools for online learning. Two of the tools were Secondlife and Twitter. In Secondlife I repeated the same intentional search and found several educational groups and connected with several people who became part of my PLN. Those in turn lead me to Virtaul Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference, to MOOCs, then to POTCert and many other groups and spaces to learn from and hopefully contribute to.

Becoming a Resident

Am I really a resident of the Web as I originally thought. I honestly am not sure. I feel like a resident but I don't have enough to show for it. I've had several places that I've used extensively and regularly like diigo but I also have had several blogs where I'd almost never wrote anything except for very few bits for a course I did online and then now for POTCert. Perhaps I feel at home on the web but I haven't created a real home of my own where others can find me. A place where I share my thoughts, my experiences and my learning. I am very glad that I am finally writing although I know that I still have a long way to go. One of the concerns that I share with others is the time that creating and maintaining my web home and identity requires as well as how much I have to share of myself with the world. I strongly believe that it's better to start slow than to wait for too long. I don't intend to overwhelm myself by trying to get everything done in a short time but I mean to start working gradually on building some small contributions like short videos or audios and continue blogging just enough to build the habit of writing. I know I should be ready to be visible and accessible to my trainees/students online the way I am in f2f , and like on the ground the image I present and how visible and accessible I am to the world are things that I decide and design based on my style as a professional trainer but also as a human being.

As for my final presentation,  I am working on a short reflective presentation about what Open Education means to me.

POTCert Week 12: Open Education

Video: 

• Cris Crissman's Capture That

Readings:

• Ko & Rossen, Chapter 13: Teaching Web Enhanced and Blended Classes
• R. Graham, J. Hilton, P. Rich, D. Wiley, Using Online Technologies to Extend a Classroom to Learners at a Distance. Distance Education, 31(1), p. 77-92, (2010).
• George Siemen's post on theory and MOOCs.

In 2009, searching for new tools and ideas for training and learning online, I came across a blog that listed 100 free tools. Three of the tools I discovered then that are particularly relevant to my thoughts about this week's topics are Khan Academy, Twitter and Secondlife.

Flipped Classroom
Discovering the Khan Academy and looking for information about what it was, how it started and why teachers thought it was great introduced me, for the first time, to the "Flipped Classroom" expression. It seemed like educators around the world were in general excited about it, but with some raising concerns on blogs and twitter about how this may overload students with extra work. Whichever side they were on, I was and still am surprised that they thought it was something totally new. Some of my best teachers throughout my school years, even as early as in 6th grade, used that technique of asking us to read through material in preparation for a class, then in class we had two-way Q and A sessions as well as discussions and exercises that allowed us to test and consolidate our understanding. I used similar technique in training whenever I thought it useful. But then I noticed that those who usually talk about a flipped classroom do so when the technique involved using video lectures. I had several questions that this week's material allowed me to revisit.

1. Is the Flipped Class a new idea? I honestly don't think so. I believe that it is a technique that many teachers have been using all along (much older than even this Wikipedia about Flipped Classroom page seem to indicate) that just got enhanced and made very visible and attractive by the possibilities that the Web tools bring.
2. Is the class Flipped based on the material the students use to prepare for the lesson or more specifically on them using Video Lectures? I think not. To me, a Flipped Classroom is about where and the learning starts. The students don't wait until they go to class for the learning process to start, instead they start at home. What kind of activity or content is used at home is a question that, as I thought about the validity of my own answer, generated a completely new question. So, the answer that I kept thinking about is that there are many options of material to be used at home for a flipped classroom and not only videos. And the new question that is also in a way part of the answer is. Video about what a Flipped Classroom is.
3. What type of pedagogy does a Flipped Classroom applies? The more I think about it the more I am convinced that a Flipped Classroom can apply any of the Education Theories. Well at least I can think of examples of how behaviorism (Text books, Video Lectures) and constructivism/constructionism (research, experiment, find answers to, make/create) are applied in a Flipped Classroom, but can connectivism be applied?  I need to think this a bit more. 

 In my opinion, like any other type of activity used in education, the usefulness of the Flipped Classroom depends on how it's designed to enhance the learning based on the learning objectives and the pedagogical purpose. I know that in my courses there are sessions that would've been completely ruined by the Flipped Classroom style :) .

Open Education

It's interesting to explore what the word Open means not only to the educators who offer open courses but also to the learners who enroll into them. Open content, Open Teaching, Open for any one to enroll and participate and more. One of the aspects of open that I consider to be very important is the ability to enroll any time from any place which allows for an always learning opportunities. 

Secondlife was one of my first experiences of an environment where teaching and learning are open and always on. In Secondlife I found courses that ranged from Programming to Cooking offered mostly free of charge by residents of the Virtual World who came from all over the world, which meant that whatever the time zone, there was something available. The teachers were not necessarily professional teachers in real life but residents of the Virtual World who taught others what they had expertise in.

Alec Couros in the video that Cris Crissman shared talks about what open means to him as making the learning visible. I think in some cases that is true same as in a f2f classroom but from experience the learning in MOOCs is not always visible. As the article quoted one of the participants, I personally lurked a lot, participated only when I felt I comfortable and I learned.

What I really appreciated about George Siemens's post about the differences and similarities between the original MOOCs and the ones offered by major universities like Stanford, MIT and Harvard through Coursera and Edx, is, contrary to that fans of the original MOOCs, he sees the value of both and he recognizes that both types are still evolving. In fact, I had the chance, this year, to experience the difference that has already taken place since he wrote that post in 2012. I enrolled in one of the Stanford courses offered through Coursera and 2 MIT courses offered through Edx. The coursera ones were clearly very traditional Beahviorist while the MIT ones were very Constructivist/Constructionist style and used the connectivist. I found the way the MIT courses interesting and encouraging however, unfortunately, so far I have been able to only sample those courses instead of participating fully, something that I intend to do as soon as I get another opportunity.

One of the most important benefits of MOOCs is the opportunity they present the learners and educators to create and expand their learning networks. Here's a video interview with George Siemens explaining the original MOOCs and what he thinks are the main benefits. It was through Secondlife that I discovered and participated in several learning events including MOOC and other courses. It was through a MOOC that I found POTCert. Within the open courses and learning networks one of the most important tools that allows for the creation and development of  as well as maintaining the connection with the learning network is Twitter. Honestly without a tool such as Twitter I am not sure how the connectivist style open courses would work.

End of Course Presentation

Writing this post helped me to finally find a topic that I would like to create a presentation about. I decided to choose between Flipped Classroom and Open Education.

POTCert Week 11: Introduction to Online Education Theory

Videos: 
Claire Major: Learning Theories and Online Learning

Rob Bond: What Can We Learn From MOOCs?

Readings:

Larry Sanger, Individual Knowledge in the Internet Age (2010)
Jaron Lanier, Does the Digital Classroom Enfeeble the Mind (2010)
George Siemens, Networks, Ecologies, and Curatorial Teaching (2007)

For years I've watched the corporate world jump on the latest idea, whether it's related to management, leadership, customer service, marketing, employee development or whatever else, based on the phenomenal success of one company or the other or on the latest best seller written about one of those subjects. I watched as one group of managers campaigned for adopting the new idea making it sound like the cure all solution, trying to replicate or implement it, in many cases without enough thought to why was it successful in the first place, how it was implemented, what were the kind of adjustments that had to be made for it to succeed, how long did it take, what corporate culture allowed it to be successful, what are the possible risks, cost, unwanted consequences etc., while on the other side another group demonized it without a second look at what we could learn from it, twisting every part of it and every word to prove why it wouldn't work, or just simply pulled rank to stop it.

 I enjoy change and I get very excited about new ideas and possibilities, but an unjustified "either or " or "all or nothing" attitudes towards different options frustrates me.

I think something similar seems to, sometimes, happen in education when a new tool, space or theory is proposed. One of my experiences of that was after I joined my first MOOC (massive Open Online Course) sometime in 2011. I lurked a lot, participated little, but I learned and I expanded my learning network, in fact that's how I got to know about POTCert. There were those who wrote about it as the best thing that ever happened and the solution to all the problems in education and on the other side there were those who openly labeled it a useless idea. As a learner I liked some things and was frustrated by other aspects of the MOOC and I am still working on figuring it out.

As I mentioned in previous posts, while my preference is experiential learning style (which is more constructivist), I've used several pedagogical styles in the same course and I believe that this should and can be applied to online learning. As for the connectivist style, I have to say I am still learning about it. I need to have enough experience in it as a learner to make educated decisions when I am thinking about using it as a trainer.

I love the possibilities that the internet brings but I am not blind to how it can be misused, or to that there are some unwanted side effects already visible and that there may be more to be discovered.

Lanier says that we don't know about the working of the brain, and I can agree that for a long time we didn't and that we may still not know enough, but luckily neuroscience is finally taking a closer look at how we learn and how this knowledge impacts education. Here are some examples:

• This is a video that I found explaining a new field of study called Education  Neuroscience.. 
• The Neuroscience of Learning by the MARITZ Institute
• NeuroLeadrship Institute a site that is mainly business oriented but has some very interesting research, videos and webinars that explain the neuroscience of learning and communication among other things.

In any case, we have several well established learning theories that inform instructional designers and educators as they create courses with observable results and they can still inform them as they use computers and the internet tools to enhance the learning opportunities and experiences. What I agree with Lanier on is that computers and the internet in education need to be used more effectively and creatively to enhance and deepen the learning and not only because it's the latest fad someone is promoting.  I agree with him that we need more spaceships.

These are a couple of examples of how computers and the internet allowed for a learning experience that would not have been possible without them:

• The Kansas to Cairo Project
• Innovations for Online Virtual Education

Larry Sanger's article in my opinion is another all or nothing view, predicting the end of everything "good" in education. I have so many examples to respond to each point but this will make the post too long. However I will just say something brief about the first point.

As a learner I was never good at or enjoyed memorizing facts especially when I couldn't see the benefit. I recognize that there are subjects where memorizing facts is important and unfortunately in the education system in Egypt there's no distinction. In the Public Schools it's all about cramming huge amounts of content only to dump it in a test and mostly forget it right after. The example that Sanger took of historical dates is exactly why I hated history as a student (sorry Lisa). The funny thing is that many years later I went and studied the full Egyptian history with the related archaeology to obtain a license as a tourist guide, and I enjoyed it tremendously. Did I change? No. The main difference was the way it was introduced and it was relevant. I still don't like nor understand the purpose behind making children memorize dates. I would love my niece who's 11 to be curious about the history, the sequence of events and what lead to them, the consequences. I would love her to be able to draw comparisons between historical events and what happens now and learn from it all and none of this requires her to memorize the dates.

A comment titled Learning Has Not Changed... much posted in response to the article by Susan Fowler under her user name referencegirl says more of what I wanted to say. Thank you Susan. :)

POTCert Week 10: Classroom Management and Facilitation

Discussion topics: class facilitation and how a CMS/LMS may impact pedagogy, class design, and class management

Readings:

1. Lisa M Lane, Insidious Pedagogy (2009)  
2. Jennifer Demski, Rebuilding the LMS for the 21st Century (2012)
3. Terry Anderson and Jon Dron's  Three Generations of Distance Education Pedagogy (2011)
4. Ko & Rossen, Teaching Online: A Practical guide, Chapter 11: Classroom Management and Facilitation

Video: How Hard and Soft Lanscape of a classroom and how it affects pedagogy by Eric Robertson from MiraCosta

I remember the first course that I've ever run in 1992. All the educational technology I had at my disposal at the time was a white board with colored dry-wipe markers, paper and pens. My responsibility was to train high school graduates who'd been recruited to work in a bank so that they were ready to start working at the different branches. I thought no amount of lecturing, writing on the board or even discussions alone was going to help them become anything close to ready. So, I created sample forms, paper money, some customer profiles and customer scenarios and we played Bank. They learned and enjoyed it. What led me to create that simulation was the learning objectives and the activities I knew were necessary to achieve them.

While this example was not online, it shows clearly that while knowing what tools and options are available in a classroom or a LMS is important and will have an impact on my decisions I cannot allow it to dictate a style of training less than useful for achieving the objectives . What I usually do in f2f courses (also applicable to online courses) is, as I am deciding on the activities based on learning objectives and the pedagogical style that I think is most effective, I look at the course venue or classroom and survey the resources. If I find that the resources for any of the activities are not available I do two things:

1- think of alternative activities or ways that would work with the existing resources without compromising the learning.
2- look into the possibility of obtaining the resources that I originally needed.

New online teachers must not only learn how to use the new tools that fit with their style and objectives but also regularly look at what else is there and how it is used by other teachers. While new technology and tools do not make a good course if the pedagogy is not sound, it is important to keep an eye on what can enrich or enhance the activities and the learning.

But, is it better to use and LMS or use the tools available on the open Web? I lost my fascination with LMSs many years ago, once I discovered how dry, limited, closed and sometimes expensive they were compared to all the open tools on the web such as wikis, voice threads, video conferencing, video blogs, twitter etc. However, I've changed my mind again. I found that newer versions of the big LMSs nowadays have most of the great tools integrated in them. Still, I noticed that many educators speak negatively about using an LMS and call it a Walled Garden, a place that keeps teachers and students from interacting with and learning from the outside world. Personally, I think it's may be an advantage to have a home in the LMS and go out to explore and learn on the open Web. I wonder if the LMS can be designed to have a home with windows and doors that can be opened and closed whenever it's appropriate and a garden that's open to the Web.

Whether we use tools on a LMS, on the open Web or both, the important thing is how we use them to create an effective course utilizing appropriate pedagogical styles.

POTCert Week 9: Our Students Online

This week I went through all four assigned readings and I found the ideas, results and recommendations interesting and thought provoking but I disagreed with several points not only because of my own experience as a citizen of the web and an online learner but also because of what I've heard from learners and teachers from countries in the Middle East, China, Japan and Korea.

The research and thought behind it is a good start but far from enough to inform the design and delivery of effective online and blended courses. To me they've raised more questions than provided answers as they focused on behaviors and tendencies without looking into the reasons behind them.

Reflecting on the readings, the main thoughts that stay with me are:

• I must not assume anything when it comes to how different learners may react to, prefer or need in an online course, and definitely not in regards to the reasons behind different levels of performance.
• As always the best way is to communicate and get to know students and their needs and continuously seek feedback from them on what they find helpful or challenging and why.
• I must endeavor to provide learners with choices and find ways to provide scaffolding informed by observation, performance reviews and feedback.
• I am interested in educating learners on how the use of technology may be affecting their learning abilities and habits and I would like to include some tools and activities to teach them skills such as mindfulness, that can counteract the negative effects of distracting technology. 

My wish list 

• Educational and research institutes conduct more extensive and in depth studies not only of what happens and what are the tendencies and preferences but most importantly of why?
• Researchers in the educational field should benefit from the latest neuroscience discoveries and perhaps initiate some collaboration to better understand the effects of the patterns of using the technology and how to create learning environments that are brain friendly.

FQA and Online Learning Readiness Survey
Thanks to all my co-learners who posted their FQA and Surveys I realized how different the focus of those two tools can be from course to another.

Looking at the online learning readiness as a learner and also as a trainer inspired me to explore other examples from different educational institutions.

http://teachonline.csustan.edu/selfassessment.php
http://distance.uh.edu/online_learning.html
http://www.foothill.edu/fga/pre_assessment.php

Here's an Online Readiness survey that I started on Google Forms. The questions and type of answers are just examples that I used to try out the different options but also different ideas of core or generic questions that can apply to any type of online course.

This is the start of a FAQ for a blended Train the Trainer course


Edited 3rd Nov 2014 after reading Brian's post I was inspired to try embedding the survey here. It worked but doesn't look right as I had created it as a stand alone. To embed it I will have to make it a simple form without any theme. I am glad I learned this here thanks to Brian Whitbread and other co-learners who tried things I learned from.

Edited:
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Yay found a way using html to make it look better.

POTCert Week 8: Creating Class Elements

I was very happy to start this week because exploring and learning new tools on the internet and their potential for teaching, learning, self expression etc is actually a hobby of mine. However, I immediately started feeling the tension between my tendency to keep looking and experimenting and the need to focus on the purpose of this week's exploration.

Both the reading and the videos for this week got me exploring the suggested tools, alternatives to the dead tools and also different ways those tools can be useful in the learning process. These are some thoughts:

Instructors/teachers and Learners benefit: 

One of the most important features of web 2.0 tools for me is that they provide variety and choice. They allow teachers to demonstrate, explain and assess in different ways suitable for different styles of learning, and also they provide learners with not only different ways of getting the information but perhaps more importantly more choices to express themselves, participate, contribute and demonstrate their learning.

Assessments
I don't usually need to do summative assessments of my trainees' learning but I think using quizzes and polls is one way to encourage self assessment and reflection, gather information that allow learners to help each other and for the teachers/trainers to discover where they need to make changes or add support for the current and future groups.

How much is enough

• Pedagogy first, and in my opinion this includes building a learning community, triggering curiosity and a sense of adventure, inspiring creativity, providing different means of expressions and allowing for different progression speeds, and good and creative use of the tools can be very helpful for those purposes.
• Many tools require a certain level of hardware and network speed to run well, which means that accessibility by the specific group of learners need to be established and there should be lower tech alternatives and/or workarounds available.

Natural vs Scripted

When creating video and audio presentations, natural can be fun, authentic, personal and encouraging for learners when it's their turn to express themselves. On the other hand scripted is usually more efficient and sounds more professional. I think there is a place for both types depending on the purpose and situation. Also I think in an on the ground class what helps me is not script (I cannot script a full day and wouldn't want to any way), what helps is having a clear outline, using prompts and rehearsing.

Ever Changing Web
Especially when using the free web tools, it's best to have a Go with the Flow attitude as it's the nature of the web, as a read/write world, to be in a continuous state of change, but it's also important to be ready.Tools disappear and new ones become available and it's important to

• Have a backup
• Stay in the loop in regards to the health of the tools I'm using, which means visiting their sites and stay updated on what is new, both good and not so good.
• Continue exploring new options and alternatives. Students can even help with that as well as the community of educators.

Learn how to be on the web

In our lives we learn and then teach about useful behaviors that help us interact with others in the world around us in ways that fulfill our needs keeping in mind others' needs and rights. We also learn how to stay safe. I believe that most of those behaviors are transferable to the web, but need to be supplemented with some additional habits considering factors that are particular to the environment such as anonymity, exposure and permanency.  It's very important to teach kids and students how to be good citizens of the web, as it is becoming more and more an integral part of our lives, the same way that we teach them how to be good citizens of the material world.

My Makes for this week
I really enjoy discovering, learning, experimenting and playing with new tools, and I've always thought that it was an advantage. The challenge is, searching for and learning new tools can be time consuming, and what I am learning to do is make decisions to what I can easily use right away while I continue my exploration.

Finally here are two of the tools that I played with for this week.


Prezi
I don't like it yet but I decided to try it and then later work on learning how to get the results that I want.



embed plus 
I looked at tubechop but wanted an alternative that I can use online without having to download anything. I found embed and tried it on a funny video from WoW .  embed allows me to select and embed part of a youtube video and add captions to it. So here's the part that I selected with captions on it. I call it Panda Talk :) .