Blogging the 5th National e-Learning Conference

Jam-packed it was. Another room was set up with a camera to accommodate the other delegates.

It was just the first day and a lot of good information has already overwhelmed me. The concepts were not new, mind you; I have not lagged on my reading and studies on the matter; But hearing it from those who really experienced e-Learning’ multi-faceted nuances as well as the solutions and best practices different local institutions certainly helped me understand eLearning more.

From the abstracts here are a few of the ideas floated on Day 1.

The National ICT Competency Standard for Teachers (NICS Teachers), presented by Commissioner Emmanuel Lallana, Human Capital Development Group, Commission on Information and Communications Technology sought to define the ICT Competencies and the underlying performance indicators needed to support the job role performance of a teacher. It is also an effort to develop a national standard that is benchmarked to global best practice.

With the NICS-Teacher in place, teacher certification would now include ICT skills and competencies which should ensure that the teachers of tomorrow will be equipped adequately for the new generation of learners. In varying degrees, the teachers of today are “getting IT”.

After his talk, I asked the commissioner about the One Laptop Per Child project of Nicholas Negroponte.

He answered that with the 1 million minimum order, he is not quite gung-ho in dipping in the project. Aside from the initial cost (at least $100 times 1 million is $100 million dollars), he points out that the sustainability and technical support is a big question. And even if he had the money, he says he can put it to better use (with the various projects of CICT).

Though I still think that providing a laptop for every schooler is a great idea, that made me rethink my position on the OLPC project. How can you get tech support for a child hundreds of kilometers deep in the remote provinces? Where will I get parts replacement? (Mental note – check OLPC again).

And there is a the cheap PC demo from Taiwan tomorrow. I hope it’s a better alternative. I would like to test drive one. And keep it. =)

Some other presentations:

On Teacher Professional Development

Reflections and Insights in Teacher Professional Development (Diffusion of Innovations) by Kurt Roman L. Uy, De La Salle, College of St, Benilde.

Soaring High Through Decentralized Faculty Training by Analin E. Sevilla, Assistant Professor, College of Nursing, Community Portal Coordinator, e-LeAP, University of Sto. Tomas.

On Initiatives in eLearning in Philippine Schools

Learning Improvements for Teachers and Students (Project LIFTS) – A Cooperative Approach to eLearning by Larry A. Samala, Regional ICT Coordinator, Department of Education, Culture and Sports, Region IV-MIMAROPA. This presentation is a major achievement in my book. With geographical isolation, lack of technical expertise and fiscal challenges facing them, Project LIFTS was successfully implemented and sustained through perseverance and team effort.

Promoting a Sustainable e-Learning Program for Basic Education: The Genyo Experience by Jose Maria T. Policarpio, Diwa Learning Systems, Inc.

Lessons from the Field: FIT-ED’s ICT4E Projects by Victoria Tinio, Director for Programs and Research, Foundation for IT Education and Development.

Concurrent Sessions:

Experiences in Managing eLearning Projects

Realizing Online Teaching throough Collaboration with External Organizations, A PGMNHS Annex Teacher’s Experience by Laurita Peraz Arca, Teacher III, Pedro Guevara Memorial National High School Annex, Santa Cruz Laguna.

Robotics and Project FACIL: eLearning Initiatives at FAITH, Cherry Cesario, Director, Unified School, First Asia Institute of Technology and Humanities.

Support Services for eLearners

Bridging Geographic Distance through Learner Support Services, Leandre Andres Dacanay, University of Sto, Tomas.

The Star Model of Responsice Student Support Services I eLearning: Going Beyond the Team Approach, Melinda dela Pena-Bandalaria, Associate Professor and University Registrar, UP Open University.

PLENARY

Developing eLearning Business Plans, Willam Hussin, Regis Univesity, CO, Ma. Mercedes T. Rodrigo, Ateneo de Manila University

This was the session I was most interested in. I am a bit familiar with business plans (theoretically speaking of course) and its components. I was anticipating some surprise insights but there were none. A business plan is still a business plan, whatever field you put it in. I was hoping that an actual eLearning Business Plan of some school or company would have been the main talking point. As a last resort, I asked for one after the presentation. Tough luck.

Maybe I should make one and implement it. And talk about it in the next conference?

We’ll see.

International Trends in eLearning by Dr. Felix Librero, Chancellor, UP Open University.

Some points on the four major trends:

1. eLearning as business strategy (how industry employed e-learning ahead of educational institutions and how educational establishments followed suit.

2. eLearning enhances blended leraning (which discusses how e-leanrig has helped wider application of blended learning, particularly in the integration of digital technology in the design of learning materials.

3. Migrating from the discrete to integrated learning (which highlights the seamless transition from one learning activity to another, the influences of differences in thought processes among learners and the considerations associated with multiple intelligences.

4. eLearning changing the image of the university (which discusses how e-Learning is forcing universities to design mixed mode delivery of instructional content.

The talk highlighted the:

· changing demographics of learners

· the onslaught of transnational education programs

· need to catch up with other countries in employing eLearning strategies to improve educational delivery of content

Learners 2.0

This slideshow should make every person involved in education think.

Learners today have needs and conditions different from the traditional learner of yesterday. ICT is changing the way learners learn. It should also change the way educators teach.

Are we ready?

LESSONS e-LEARNED

Still from the presentation of Bruce Dixon, The 1:1 Computing Paradigm


MORE DOES NOT ALWAYS MEAN BETTER

“Over the past 10 years, ninety nine percent of our schools have been connected to the internet with a 5:1 student to computer ratio. Yet, we have not realized the promise of technology in education.” – US Department of Education, National Educational Technology Plan 2004

A very painful lesson to learn for the US and one that all other countries should always consider. Having more computers is always good but it cannot automatically translate to more learning. It is ECAT, or Effective Computer Access Time and not the ratio that will make a great bearing on learning. The amount of time students have access to technology must be monitored and increased. His advocacy for laptops, where one can be assigned to a student will contribute much to harnessing technology's potential for learning. Rather than having desktops in the laboratories, and having a limited amount of time per student, he argues that the school will be better off assigning a laptop for a term, a month or a period of time. If a learner can bring it hime with him, the ECAT greatly increases. And so will learning.



With the $100 dollar laptop, his view had great merit.



TECHNOLOGY OFFERS LITTLE ON ITS OWN



He quotes Chris Dede, Timothy E. Wirth, Professors in Learning Technologies, Harvard Graduate School of Education:

“Classroom computers that are acquired as panaceas end up as doorstops. Information technology is a cost-effective investment only in the context of systemic reform. Unless other simultaneous innovations in pedagogy, curriculum, assessment, and school organization are coupled to the usage of instructional technology, the time and effort expended on implementing these devices produces few improvements in educational outcomes—and reinforces many educators’ cynicism about fads based on magical machines.”

It is not how fancy your graphics or software are. It's not how powerful your computer is. Will it help in the learning process?



BE ABSOLUTELY CLEAR ON THE WHY

Some institutions join the eLearning and technology bandwagon without a clear vision why. A clueless management team decides to embark on using technology because it is the in thing, or the competition has one-is bound to fail because of lack of vision.

A clear answer to the question “Why are we doing this?” should be clear to all.



BE CLEAR ON WHAT YOU MEAN BY DIGITAL LITERACY

“On Digital Fluency and the fluency gap:

To be truly fluent in a foreign language, you must be able to articulate a complex idea or tell an engaging story; in other words, you must be able to “make things” with language.



Analogously, being digitally fluent involves not only knowing how to use technological tools, but also knowing how to construct things of significance with those tools “

- Papert and Resnick 1995

THE LATEST IS NOT ALWAYS THE GREATEST

True. Even if upgrades and innovations come at a rapid pace, it does not mean they should be used, at least not until you evaluate and deem them necessary. Take for example the MS Word. While there have been a lot changes from Version 6 to 2003 and XP, the basics remain the same. If you know how to use the old version, it would be easy to use the latest version. If your curriculum concentrates more on the basic skill of typing and wordprocessing rather than the bells and whistles of the product, upgrading may not be necessary.



While there is merit in learning the new releases, the added costs that these upgrades entail should be taken into consideration versus the skills needed by the learner.



Regarding hardware, there can be such a thing as overkill. Though more RAM, more hard disk space, faster processor and a nicer sound and video card may seem better in general, it may not be needed. Again, the standard should be the learning needs of the students, not the fad or flavor of the season.





PRIORITY MUST ALWAYS BE TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

These are notes from the slides:

The more powerful technology becomes the more indispensable good teachers are.



Technology generates a glut of information but is not pedagogically wise.



Learners must construct own meaning for deep understanding to occur.



To do this … teachers must become pedagogical design experts, (leveraging) the power of technology. •Fullan, 1998



Don’t dumb teachers down with point-and-click!!

Decision makers must recognize that before technology can be utilized properly, teacher development must be a priority. Especially in less developed nations, it is not proper to acquire computers when obviously these tools will not be used to their full capacity.



There is no substitute for a good teacher, whether she teaches with a computer or designs courses. In the end, it's just the delivery that changes.



DON’T LOWER THE BAR

- by viewing computing through school-colored glasses





AFFORDABILITY, ATTITUDE AND COMMITMENT
- building uquity not inequality

The $100 laptop

- Why go to all this trouble? "I am doing it," replied Negroponte, "because I have seen connected laptops work in schools, in villages without electricity, TV, telephone, water and, in one case, not even a road."



Why is it important for each child to have a computer? What's wrong with community-access centers?



“One does not think of community pencils—kids have their own. They are tools to think with, sufficiently inexpensive to be used for work and play, drawing, writing, and mathematics. A computer can be the same, but far more powerful. Furthermore, there are many reasons it is important for a child to "own" something—like a football, doll, or book—not the least of which being that these belongings will be well-maintained through love and care.” Nicholas Negroponte 2005

CONTENT IS NOT KING, PEDAGOGY IS; AND WE DO HAVE TO DO MORE THAN JUST DELIVER IT!

SIMPLE IS USUALLY GOOD. REALLY GOOD.


IMPORTANCE OF LEADERSHIP

eLearning programs should have a champion. Advocates and good eLearning managers should lead the way. Implementing an eLearning program without anybody guiding it will surely result in failure.

VALUABLE ELEARNING LESSON LEARNED (Part I)

From the presentation of Bruce Dixon, The 1:1 Computing Paradigm

Of the presentations I have seen from the eLearning Policies Course from ADBi, Bruce Dixon's presentation has struck the highest chord. The lessons he presented are valuable and should be taken into consideration by any eLearning program.

Here are selected nuggets of wisdom from a man who has had extensive experience in the field. We could all pay heed to what he has to offer if we are to succeed in implementing our own initiatives.

It’s all about learning

There has been a lot of discussion about the different forms and styles, and names for technology-enabled learning, such as whether it is eLearning or e-learning. He stresses that semantics is not the issue here. There are those who want pure open-source while others argue against this idea. What platform and software should be used. There are many issues , but one thing remains. It is, and always will be, about learning.

Laptop not desktops, for more effective use.

Mr. Dixon encourages schools to equip student with laptops rather than desktops. Points for this argument expounded later.

What matters and what doesn’t?

He challenges our thinking on what really matters most. For example, is a CD/DVD drive really essential? He points out that many of these resources just wind up for playing non-school-related games. Then he makes a case for a digital camera. It can be used to capture data and easily transfer it to the computer.

Re-imagining the business of schooling

What if we start seriously considering using technology to run schools better? I think he just doesn't mean using them in the offices such as accounting and administration. Using them in the classroom as more cost efficient tools just as corporations use them to increase productivity.

The following are the lessons he outlined from the 1:1 computing programs he has been involved with.

eLearning: Benefits, Constraints and other Views

In the eLearning Policies Course I am currently taking at ADBi, Vincent Quah of Microsoft Corporation discusses some eLearning basics.

First, he puts in perspective what eLearning is:

E-learning is learning experiences that are delivered to remote locations through the use of technology and real time collaboration. E-learning is not about posting contents on the web but there must be engagements and interaction between learners and contents. The function of e-learning is to empower educators and learners to express their ideas easily, interact with others, explore and discover the world, manage the learning process, and finally assess its quality and quantity.

A good definition. Unfortunately, many miss the point of eLearning which is LEARNING. The focus on the technology and infrastructure aspects are important but they are not the only factors to consider. They are critical, yes, but at the end of the day the question that should be answered is: DID (OR WILL) THE STUDENT LEARN?

A good eLearning course or program should be interactive and engaging, empowering, paraphrasing Mr. Quah. And he is right. One of the key issues that one should always keep in mind is that learners learn in different ways and value different things.

One person may like visuals, movies, graphs, maps, colors, illustrations. Just like in the classroom, visual aids enhance the learning experience.

About two years ago, I was introduced to the world of audio books and podcasting. Instead of music in my mp3 player, I had stories and lectures and conversations. And learn I did. Sound is also a compelling add-on, especially for people on the move.

Another one might like asking questions and having a person to converse with. Some students find it easy to learn with their classmates while still others would rather learn alone.

So can eLearning answer all of a learner’s needs? Is it the panacea to education?

No.

eLearning should not be viewed as the be all and end all of learning. Just as traditional classroom, laboratory or on-on-one learning methods are tools, so is eLearning. Think of it as this: what email is to traditional post, so is eLearning to traditional teaching-learning methods.

But at the very least, it is a solution to many problems education has like lack of teachers, classrooms, opportunities, etc. Up to a certain degree, we can call it the next best thing to learning since the Gutenberg press.

Mr. Quah also outlined

The benefits:

• supplements/complements learning
• frees precious time
• provide fundamental grounding and mass training
• geographically unlimited access.

There are advantages to eLearning: Not limited by time or location and can be given to more people. Faster, farther, more consistency and choices, better quantity and quality.

I think of the farmers' children who help till the land during the day who can benefit from eLearning at night. Or the adults who would like to improve their lot but are bogged down during the day with work. Of the helpers and drivers and service providers who would like to learn a new skill. With eLearning, they can.

However, not is all rosy. As simple as it may seem, there are a lot of things to consider with an eLearning program.

Again, Vincent tells us the

Constraints of eLearning:

• learner management
• content creation and delivery
• administration management system

Of the three, content creation and delivery I think is more important from the learner's point of view. It's still all about the learning (although, management and administration are key to a systematic approach to any program).

Key problems in e-learning:

• lack of personal touch
• control
• supporting infrastructure
• access
• frequent changes in the role of instructors

Many people I know always cite the lack of a teacher to talk with as the number one problem of eLearning. We have been used to having someone in front teaching us that the idea of not having one frightens many.

I agree that personal touch CAN BE very important but it may not always be necessary. Admittedly, this concern is valid and should be addressed but it doesn’t mean eLearning is not an effective learning tool. I believe there are more ways than one to scale this fish. For many, it is a matter of perspective, of attitude or sufficient motivation. For some, it’s a non-issue at all. Still others, they only have to try it and they’ll get hooked.

When I first started with eLearning, I was bored to my wits. It was DOS-based, text with little or no animation, no audio much less, video. Did I learn? Yes, thought retention is minimal at best. Did I enjoy it? Not really. (I think enjoyment and interest are key ingredients to learning along with the right mindset, desire and motivation).

Enter the new generation of audio, video, animation and interaction.

I work full time and am engaged in several activities. Time is of the essence for me. I would rather learn by myself with a computer and not be nailed down to a specific place and time. I like the freedom to learn what I want, when I want it and where I want it. If you can give me the choice of “how” I want it delivered and if you I can “have fries with that”, that would be superb.

Control issues and role changes speak of administration and training. They may be talking points but they have solutions. I believe that the combined eLearning experiences of many is a great resource for these and what ADBi is doing with eLearning Policies Course is a step forward. These are things a good project manager can handle. It’s just a matter of evaluating what’s best for a program. It’s not as if you are going to look for the cure for cancer.

The bigger concern is infrastructure for a lot of developing countries. But with the $100 Laptop from MIT, Free and Open Source Software and the continuously decreasing price of hardware and connectivity costs, I am confident that a connected world is just near the horizon.

Implementation considerations

• training for instructors and users
• launching pilot phases
• developing clear defined deliverables
• goals and objectives
• providing communication lines

eLearning is not a field of dreams where you just build it and they’ll come. eLearning is for the most part a change management issue. It is a new way of doing things, of learning. As with any change, there will be resistance. How this resistance is faced and dealt with is no simple task but it is not impossible either. When the computer was first introduced, the majority of people brushed it aside. Now, it seems that we can’t get enough of them. I can’t (no, I don’t want to) imagine life without a computer.

Making eLearning work takes a lot of planning and thinking. All stakeholders should be given assurance of their role and that they will clearly benefit from it.

There is no better time than now to give eLearning a try.

Will you?

Taking IT to the Next Level: The Team Approach to e-Learning Program Development

Philippine eLearning Society (PeLS) holds a two-day conference titled:

"Taking IT to the Next Level: The Team Approach to e-Learning Program Development".

Date: November 28-29, 2006
Venue: NCC, C P Garcia Avenue, Quezon City

Below is the list of topics that will be discussed in the conference:

• National ICT competency standards for teachers
• Trends in elearning in Philippine schools
• International trends in elearning
• Courseware assessment and other tools for evaluating elearning practice
• Pitfalls in elearning practice (and how to overcome them)
• Best Practices in elearning – (including SCORM)
• Charting school policy directions for eLearning
• Planning for teacher professional development
• Support services for e-learners
• A Philippine eLearning industry?
• Managing eLearning projects
• An overview of learning management systems
• Integrating educational software (courseware) into
• the curriculum
• Cheap PCs
• A roadmap for elearning (workshop and consultations)
• Presentation of plans
• Synthesis and planning

The registration fee is Php 1,500 per participant to non-members and Php 1,200 for the early birds. All PeLS members will be given a discounted rate of Php 1,000 and Php 800.00 for early birds.

For confirmation and other inquiries, you may contact Mr. Nijel Ratonel or Ms. Mary Grace Simplina, at telephone nos: (02) 893-8501 loc 258/ (02) 812-2286.

This seminar is sure to benefit school administrators, subject teachers, and IT educators. We hope to see you
there!


Concept

This conference targets schools and universities which aim to setup or improve their elearning operations and services. Institutions will be encouraged to send a team composed of teachers, administrators and ICT personnel.

A great majority of educational institutions, even in the private sector, have little or no involvement at all in e-Learning. This year's National e-Learning Conference aims to address some basic concerns in increasing awareness of the benefits of e-Learning and most importantly, creating a road map towards its actual implementation.

The goals of the conference are to:

• Validate the need to use accessible, appropriate,responsive and effective educational technologies, and discuss current practices
• Encourage the adoption of a team approach to the development of an elearning system
• Provide a framework for developing action plans for initiating and implementing workable elearning systems
• Enable exchange of experiences among e-Learning practitioners and advocates

Call for Papers

The Philippine eLearning Society invites paper presentations on the topics listed in the program. Paper presentations may be in the form of case studies, project profiles, action research reports,
and critiques/analyses of existing national or institutional policies and programs. The organizers expect presenters to emphasize the need for a team approach in planning for, developing, implementing and evaluating elearning programs and projects.

Abstracts must be 300-400 words in length, in .doc or .rtf format.

Email abstracts to pelsconferencepapers@gmail.com before October 30, 2006. Authors whose papers will be selected for presentation should submit full papers and/or presentation slides by November 10, 2006, for inclusion in the conference CD.


Please visit http://www.elearning.ph

Invitation: http://www.elearning.ph/2006/Invite_5th_eLearningConf.doc

Program: http://www.elearning.ph/2006/5th_eLearningConf_Program.doc

(Note: People in the Pacific.Net network have problems seeing the new site, so if you are affected by this problem, please email us for your copy of the documents.)

UP Open University Offerings

From Dr. Lolit Suplido-Westergaard:

UP Open University is offering the following seminars:

Distance Education for Managers (October 10-12 , 2006)
Student Support in Distance Education (October 18-20 , 2006)
Materials Development for Distance Education (October 23-25, 2006)

For more information, please visit http://www.upou.org/news/News2006/seminar_series.html

I'm also happy to announce that our program, Master of Distance Education, has finally been approved by the UP Board of Regents. It will start in June of 2007, next school year. Application forms should be in by February. Information about the MDE (including curriculum and brochure) can be found at: http://www.upou.org/news/News2006/MDEprog.html. The application forms can be downloaded at: http://www.upou.org/admission/requirements.htm

ADBi Distance Learning Courses: For FREE!

This is what I am talking about.

I took a course (again free!) called Online Community Information Services early this year and I gained a lot of insights. It covers mostly best practices and projects from all over Asia, including the Philippines. The deal is they send you the lectrue discs in VCD or DVD format and you just go through them at your own pace.

Then, you send through email or through the Learning Management System (LMS) the required papers/projects/assigments. And no surprise here: they are using Moodle! There is also the forum and the Admin/Facilitator, who was by the way very helpful and accomodating.

Now, I've applied to another course and hopefully get accepted.

Here are the details:

ADBi is offering a distance learning course on

eLearning Policies
16 October – 12 January 2006

E-Business Strategies
23 November 2006- – 23 February 2007


Go to this link:

http://www.adbi-classroom.org/dlcnew/index_u.php

I also plan to apply to the E-Business Strategy course, though it is still a few months away. My foucs now is on eLearning Policies, which is perfect timing for a program I am planning to propose early next year to my boss.

If you are interested, just go to http://www.adbi-classroom.org/dlcnew/index_u.php. Would PeLS members be intersted in this, specially the new ones (I've sent them an email too)?

And maybe, I'll be able to get in touch with ADB movers who will fund my idea of a Free eLearning School.

I think I just made One Step Forward.

The Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) Bill

I originally posted on this bit of good news yesterday.

This morning, I woke up and found insights from the blogging community.

Chin Wong was given a draft of the bill. Get the pdf here. He continues to report on it here.

Monsolo has read the bill and provided incisive comments. Read here.

A post in the gov.ph forum talks about it here.

We hope this bill gets a priority mark in congress. We will continue to montor the developments closely in this blog.

Open-Source Bill

Mike Abundo posted in PinoyTechBlog some good news toward Free eLearning. Teddy Casino, a party-list representative, is set to file the Open Source Bill. Read and comment on the post here.

Free eLearning is interested in the developments with this bill because our platform of choice is Moodle, open-source and free.

Once this becomes a law, LAMP, (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) could get a foothold in the computers of public schools, and of course OpenOffice.org. Moodle heart LAMP!

Paging PLUG, Bayanihan Linux and open-source advocates, users, bloggers and movers. Blog about the bill and spread the word.

Now where could I get a draft of the bill?

High-Tech Digital Microsoft High School

Will the schools of the future look like this?

High-tech, digital and patterned after Microsoft-management-style.... It's a dream come true. Bill Gates has called US high schools "obsolete"... WIll this be the new high school?

Students are called Learners; teachers - Educators. Good start.

What curriculum will they follow? What part of the system constitutes eLearning?

This is something worth following.

Free eLearning Resources

It has been a while since I did a search on eLearning resources. It was actually prompted by a response in a forum by Dr. Raffy Managhaya of Little Candle, currently head honcho of Philippine eLearning Society (of which I am a member). I was actually looking at Elgg, a relatively new eLearning tool and other free or open source tools.

I came upon this link and it was too good to pass up. Some free SQL Server 2005 training for 90 days. Check it out here.

Call Center Training Online

Edwin "Ka Edong" Soriano of Technobiography recently posted about his friend's company which provides online training for Call Center agents. Since there is the outsourcing boom and new graduates and other job seekers are eager to to try their hand in this field, many apply for positions.

Sadly, their schooling provide little or no help when it comes to this field. Yuga posted about it here. Many students (me included) regarded oral communication as a "minor" subject. And now, BPO comes and we are not ready.

But going beyond the outsourcing phenomena, and going back to the methodology, are we seeing a trend of adopting to new modes of learning?

I wonder if we can translate that to modular nursing reviews .... Cheaper, less/no travel needed, lower overhead.

This could revolutionize the whole review industry.

See Ka Edong's entry here.

eLearning from E-Myth

I’ve mentioned E-Myth Revisited as one highly-recommended book for anybody who wants to go in business. You can go to www.e-myth.com for more resources.

I joined a contest there and guess what.. I won an Embark E-Learning scholarship for one year! This one takes the ice…Talk about convergence of interests: entrepreneurship/business and eLearning (two great interests of mine).. And I get to them free.

If you haven’t read the book, get it now at a Different Bookstore (if there are stocks left). I got mine for PHP768.00

We all need to learn continuously. My motto is “Make sure you’ve learned something new
before sleeping.”

DIGITAL LEARNING FOR FREE (ALMOST)

“Learn at least one thing new today before going to sleep at the end of the day.”

- Jun Asis

One of the things I have vowed to do daily before I go to sleep is to know at least one thing I have not known before. I never let a day pass without learning something new. This is not limited to my chosen interests but it covers any good information under the sun. Whether it is about the internet, positive thinking, technology, business, entrepreneurship, Christian living, good values, parenting or education, there are readily available ways for me to learn.

I describe my self as a digital learner. I use the technology and information available to fill my thirst of learning. It is not expensive to learn with technology, as many people think. It will entail some cost but for the most part, but it will be more costly in the long run if you do not learn. With the strides in digital realm, learn can be free. Well, almost.

EBOOKS. These are the digital equivalent of books. If you have a computer or PDA, these are great resources of information. Most of my ebooks are free and many of them can be freely distributed for free. Just google ebook , and plenty of hits will come your way. Or you can go to www.gutenberg.org for public domain books that you can download for free.

AUDIO BOOKS AND PODCASTS: Most would think of music when they hear of MP3s. Aside from music, a lot of books are in mp3 format. Also, there are a lot of podcasts (downloadable audio on the fly with the proper software) which are very helpful and informative. These cover about anything under the sun. Many radio programs of various interests do podcasts. Moreover, a good percentage of them can be played (and replayed) in an mp3 player. You can listen to them at your convenience. One notable podcast is www.StartupNation.com, about small business, how to start it and how to run it successfully. I find their ideas and insights quite invaluable.

I invested in a 256MB mp3 player and have used it extensively while driving to the office, walking or working. It cost me PHP3,700 because I also use it as a USB flash drive (instead of the less reliable, clunkier, less-than-sturdy diskette). For those who will use it solely for listening, a 128MB mp3 player is enough, and will cost about PHP1,500 up. If you have not saved that amount yet, listen using the computer.

EMAIL. Instead of reading chain letters, hoaxes, get-rich-quick offers (which are always spam mail anyway) and urban legends, I subscribe to several newsletters and e-zines (e-magazine). I subscribe to Chicken Soup for the Soul, success and self-help, spiritual direction and reflection about the faith, business, marketing, selling and humor. I don’t get to read them all everyday, but refer to them on a regular basis. Some even offer free email courses.

Also I send out a regular email about positive attitude and success and entrepreneurship weekly. Email me with SUBSCRIBE as the subject at magandang[dot]balita[at]gmail.com if you want to join the list. I will send you a free ebook, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill or As A Man Thinketh by James Allen just for joining.

WEBSITES AND BLOGS. If you just know where to look, I dare say 95% of the information you need is on the web. Frequent websites that inform and educate. Go to blogs of those you trust, who talk sense, whose opinions and insights matter. Aside from the mainstream news portals such as CNN, Yahoo and MSN, there are a lot of other websites that can teach you what you want to learn. What’s more, there are those that specifically cater to the topics of your choice.

I must make a precaution here. There are a lot of websites which may mislead and give false information. Be careful where you go. One of the things I do before trusting a site is searching for the background of that site (or author). Read what others say about it and then judge using your mind and heart.

Listed below are some of the sites I trust. I will be writing more about them in detail in succeeding posts:

Bizdrivenlife.net
Sme.com.ph
Briantracyintl.com
Jimrohn.com
Dailyscriptures.net
Startupnation.com

BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS. Despite being a digital learner, I still consider books as the most common source of knowledge. I still read books a lot. I’ve had lots of books but I hardly felt the dent in my pocket. Why? Because I bought pre-owned books, borrowed, swapped and went to the library. My new books comprise just about 10% of my collection. If you are not sure where to start, subscribe to Reader’s Digest. It has variety, culture, science, humor, fiction, inspirational articles and a lot more. And even if it gets old, you’ll find that you can re-read it. And if you have children, it could prove to be invaluable to them in their school work,

Learning must not stop once you leave school. It does not have to cause major damage to your budget (though you should consider investing in learning). Use what is available. Be a digital learner today.

A Free Online School

There. I said it. I let it out in the open. i just posted it in PTB as a comment in an entry about Sun Microsystems‘ chairman Scott McNealy vision about education which is congruent with mine. Read it his vision here and my comment here.
I dream of a free online school for grade school and high school in the Philippines. Eventually, this could take evolve into something bigger.. But let’s not get ahead of the dream shall we?

Ever since I’ve been introduced to eLearning and open-source, this idea has been bugging me. But I like the bugging part which drives me to think. It’s the “idea” part that I hate. I want it to become a reality.

My platform of choice is .

Open-source, free, evolving and widely supported. It’s fairly easy to post content and there is exelearning for offline content creation. There are other features and tools which make it an ideal platform but that may come on a later post.

As with every dream, there are several barriers to overcome. Lack of infrastructure and computers, engaging quality content, and questions like will it be acceptable to the public , hound the project. Not to mention the funding needed to build, maintain, support and expand. But if it was easy, we would not dream of it, would we?
These are daunting, real obstacles.But rather that focusing on why it can’t be done, I am focusing on why and how it can be done.
Here are several ideas, albeit disjointed:

1. Ask the input of Martin Dougiamas. He is the guy who started moddle and is still the prime mover of Moodle. I’m sure that he has ideas how to pull this off. He knows the right people to connect with. The Moodle developers and community will surely tag along with him. Hmmm, imagine what a good a word or two from him do.

2. Use a social, collaborative model, like Wikipedia, Digg or YouTube. I’m sure there is a workable model we can draw from their successes.

3. Make it a project/thesis of the education courses. While the mandatory actual teaching hours is essential for any teacher, it might do us some good if we can introduce our future educators to this new realm of learning. Think of this: If all 100 BS in Education graduating students of Philippine Normal University would create a one hour, one topic content, that would amount to 100 hours!

4. Ask ADB or World Bank to fund it. To do this, we need a business plan. I have a couple of people in mind from the Philippine eLearning Society (PeLS) who are working together to establish elearning in the country. They are adept in their respective fields and their share vision can take this project through the roof. (Can anybody help me draft the project/business plan please?)

5. Find “open-minded” people in DECS, CICT, DOST who will champion this initiative. The more people who are actively rooting for the success of this project, the better. Especially in the deparments which have a direct stake in this endeavor.
6. Find a good revenue model. Advertising, membership fees, sponsorships?

7. Ask for Volunteers. This could be the Gawad Kalinga of education. Volunteer your time, effort, resources, expertise. Instructional designers, teachers, coders, multimedia artists, testers, trainers, webhosting, etc.
8. This is the great equalizer. 24×7, cheap, renewable, easily upgradeable, a long-term solution to our education systems’ dilemma. It feels right, it is doable and non-partisan . Its success would translate to great economic benefit for our country and who wouldn’t like that?

What do you think?

Would you help make a dream come true?

Free eLearning

I love learning, especially if it’s free. Since I am a digital learner, my main source of learning is the internet - the treasure trove of free knowledge and information.

Next to website contents, e-books are my next best friend in the internet. Then came audio books. I also dabbled a bit with digital video which will gain more headway in two or three years.

Here are the link to free (e)Learning:

eBooks

Project Gutenberg - Public Domain Digital Library which contains text as well as recorded books and works.

Audiobooks:

Audiobooksforfree.com

Learnoutloud.com - Not everything is free but there are lots of free audio books that cannot be found elsewhere which ar available for free.

Academic

MIT Open CourseWare - MIT is making their courseware materials available to the public for free.

Other Open Coursware sites - Some other universities which are following MIT’s OpenCourseware initiative
UC Berkeley Webcast - Courses in audio format

Podcasts

StartupNation

Internet-based Business Mastery

Manager Tools

I’ll be adding more to the list.

How about you? Where do you get your free learning?

eLearning is Changing

According to Marc Rosenberg, author and expert. eLearning is evolving. He puts out 6

1. E-learning will become more than “e-training.”
2. E-learning will move to the workplace.
3. Blended learning will be redefined.
4. E-learning will be less course-centric and more knowledge-centric.
5. E-learning will adapt differently to different levels of mastery.
6. Technology will become a secondary issue.

I agree with him.

And on Item 2, for us less developed countries, may I add that it will become the great equalizer for education. eLearning is coming to the Rural Areas. The world is becoming flat and the playing field is continuously leveled.

On Item 6, with the rapid improvements in technology, this will cease to be an issue.

My personal take:

- eLearning will also lean towards developing different approaches for different learning styles and intelligences. One topic will have different version catering to the personality type of the learner.

- eLearning will take public education global - where countries pool their knowledge base and resources offered to all who want to have an education. Alliances of competing industries/companies will be formed to sahre this precious resource.

- The business model for eLearning will change. New avenues for revenue will replace the traditional content and system as the main source. Open-source will develop to a point that it become the de facto standard world wide.

Elearning for the Technology-Challenged

In the Philippines, only a small percentage of the population have access to a computer. Of these, only a small percentage have access to CD-ROMS and the internet.

If this is the case, building online courses would be useless for most households.

How do you reach out to the less-priveleged?

TV and Radio. But since radio and TV stations are costly, what choice do we have?

The VCD and to a cetain extent, the DVD.

I’ve been to many rural areas and have noticed that many households have TV sets and quite a number, VCD or DVD players.

VCDs as Elearning. Limited I admit, but a step forward.

As with movies, it should be entertaining: Infotainment.