GM's Blog

The Project Leadership Certificate Course (PLC) and how to beat it.

2012-01-04T01:46:00.000-08:00

I waited a couple of weeks to write this post. I wanted to see if the honeymoon effect would dissipate - but it hasn't. The feelings I had on the last day of the course are still present, and this is the major difference between the PLC course and other similar types of courses.

The Project Leadership Certificate course runs on 5 days and covers Project Leadership and Project Management key areas. The Project Management side is however only the tip of the iceberg. Professionalism Leadership, Governance, Risk are other knowledge areas that are gracefully imparted by the instructor Mr Tan Chee Peng.
Mr. Tan is the founder and CEO of Team SYNthesis and Business Technovise International (BTI), a strategic services firm specializing in Business / IT Strategy, Programme & Project Management (PPM) large systems and business process integration projects.He has an unmatched career in consultancy and has practiced in various countries around the world.
You can learn more on Mr. Tan on http://www.biztech-i.com/ourfounder.htm

A few days before the course I Googled 'PLC' hoping to find some learning materials I could indulge before attending it. I heard from colleagues and friends that it was going to be tough and guess what! It turned out to be very very tough indeed. Those who have attended will tell you the same story: forget your family and other commitments for those 5 days; you will be totally deprived of sleep; you will be assessed everyday and so on.
I would add to that a few days off after the course to help you recover.

Since like with everything, preparation is the key, I suggest the following preparation tips if you intend to register for the next batch which will be held in February. Start at least one month prior.

1. Firstly, start stretching your mind. How? Well look for activities that will wake your sleepy brains up. I am a registered user on Lumosity.com and trust me that thing really works.

2. Optimize your brains for learning through sports. Simply 20 mins of jogging three times a week will boost the flow of blood inside your head, specifically to the part of the brain responsible for memory and learning. This will also help you combat the stress that you are sure to encounter during that period.

3. Go on a healthy diet and pack on with a daily multivitamin. You wouldn't want to miss the excitement by feeling all slack and sleepy or sick during the training, would you?. That would be too bad. And you need to physically fit for this, trust me.

4. Read PMBOK as much as you can! Although you or company are paying to get trained in the field, I think its wise to at least go through the pmbok guide once. Now don't come back crying if you didn't listen.

5. During the training, your coffee and lunch breaks are very scarce in terms of time allocated. Bring some snacks (healthy of course) which you can furtively pop into your mouth when your stomach is crying for hunger. I had some almonds always available, sandwiches with peanut butter and Alpen bars.

6. The venue for the course is at Maritim Hotel. So if you live more than 20 mins from it try looking for a relative nearby where you could possibly spend the night working and sleeping (if you can afford).

7. Last day I suggest you bring some warm clothes along, as well as some additional food for diner. Well, just in case - You won't know where you be sleeping

Having said these, let me tell you that you can only get better after following the PLC course! If it doesn't bring some positive changes in you, god knows what will.

Finally the course also entitles you to 45 PDUs/ 45 Contact hours which you can use to take the PMP Certification. You are awarded a certificate by the UTM if you succeed and a picture of you in the l'Express newspaper :)

All the best.

Will I teach my kid 'A for Apple' or 'A for Android'?

2011-08-19T03:45:00.000-07:00

As a soon-to-be-father I was thinking that very soon I will have to teach my kid ABC alphabets :)
I started with A for Apple and when I reached F, the first word which came was Facebook! Funny enough, I decided to start all over again, this time writing down what I am calling the Alphabets of the Web 2.0 and Social Media.

A - Android
B - Blog
C - Collaboration
D - Del.icio.us
E - Email
F - Facebook
G - Google (of course)
H - HowStuffWorks (hardest one to come up with)
I - iPhone
J - Joomla!
K - Kindle
L - LinkedIn
M - Mashable
N - Ning
O - Open Source
P - Profile
Q - Quora
R - RSS
S - Second Life
T - Twitter
U -
V - Virtual Worlds
W - Wiki
X - Xbox? Coudn't find better
Y - YouTube
Z - Zoho

I haven't been able to find anything starting with U :( Have you?

Upgrading Joomla 1.6.3 to 1.7

2011-08-04T03:07:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago I deployed Joomla 1.6 and I am now having to upgrade to 1.7. This latest version doesn't come with major changes from an admin perspective.
After August 2011 Joomla! will not be releasing security updates for Joomla 1.6. It is thus recommended to upgrade to 1.7. This is the last of the short cycle releases until Joomla 1.8 scheduled for January 2012 reaches. The latter is planned to run for 15 months.

Anyway life was made easy with the one-click upgrade button. Here's a quick step-by-step guide.

1. Open your Joomla! Backend administration page.
2. Go to Extensions --> Extension Manager

3.Click on 'Purge Cache' button (located in upper right corner)

4.After that click on 'Find Updates' button next to 'Purge Cache'

5.Select the Joomla check-box in the results list and click on 'Update'

6. Notice the new version of your Joomla! installation after successful update.

Am happy that my templates and add-ons still work properly for now. A mail just popped in saying that CB is now 1.7 native. Great!

MediaWiki Tip: Enhancing your search results with tags

2011-08-02T01:05:00.000-07:00

MediaWiki has many limitations with regards to its search engine.Sometimes searching for 3 to 5 letter words does not return any result.It is also known that the Wiki engine is limited in terms of syntax and functionality.

The use of search extensions such as Lucene (http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Lucene-search) will help overcome the setbacks of MediaWiki's search facility.

Personally I haven't tested any of those extensions. Running a relatively small corporate wiki hasn't given need for advanced search requirements - at least not yet!

One thing I would like to share though is how to tag your pages with keywords you don't necessarily want to show as content on the pages.

Lets say you want a page called 'Test', which contains steps to install a printer, to show up each time a user searches for words like HP, Xerox or Lexmark. You don't want these words to appear on the page itself coz you've got nothing to say about them. I simply use the basic HTML comment tag!

Yeps, as any MediaWiki user will know, there is a list of permitted HTML tags which can be integrated in the Wiki Markup code.

Thus, searching for Lexmark will return the results hereunder:

As easy as that. Hope this helped.

Kindle - A must-have device.

2011-02-28T01:57:00.000-08:00

One week ago I received my Kindle 3 and it is proving to be purchase of the year already. No wonder there is not a single negative review on this e-reader on the net, this thing is just WOW - pure value for money for those who like to read, are studying or who keep lots of documents as reference.
Here are a the steps for those who want to quick start with their Kindle:

So, when you receive your Kindle, the first thing to do is to have it registered with Amazon.
You either connect to Wifi, have it registered automatically or access the 'Manage Your Kindle' page on Amazon, where you will be asked to enter the serial number of the device (the S/N is viewable in the Settings on your Kindle). I used the second option here.

You can now purchase your book directly from Amazon or load it with your personal PDF files.
Since the Kindle 3 now has a native PDF support, you just have to connect it via USB to a PC and copy the files in the 'Documents' folder.
I recommend reading your pdf files in landscape view. This will minimize zooming and scrolling over to read one page.
When you register your Kindle, you are offered two mail addresses: You use the @kindle.com one to send documents to your Amazon account, and you can have them delivered via wireless to your device.
When sending documents to the @free.kindle.com address, Amazon will freely convert them into Kindle version and send them back to your registered mail address within minutes, if not seconds.

Lastly purchasing books on Amazon is pretty much straightforward. You just have to look for the Kindle version and finalize your order by of course paying for it.
Again in the 'Manage Your Kindle' page you will have a list of all books ordered. You can download your ebooks on your computer first or send it via Wifi to your Kindle.

Now that you know the basics you're ready to go. Happy reading!

154 words

2011-01-17T01:20:00.000-08:00

16 days already gone in 2011 and I finally decide to write down my New Year's resolutions! Well, am writing them somewhere else, not here!
However, since one of them is about blogging, I thought I might as well share it to you.
Like many of us, on 1st January we woke up and took the resolution to blog more this year. But we all agree that writing takes time, a lot of time.. so does reading!
So, this year I've decided to write more posts but with less words. It doesn't mean I will be saying less things, but rather communicate things effectively. With thousands of blogs out there people tend to bypass long posts they come across and move to more readable ones - and this is what I do too :)
This year, let us all post more, keep them brief and to the point, and be happy in the blogosphere.

Why is Knowledge Sharing important?

2010-09-07T01:29:00.000-07:00

Patrick Lambe is Principal Consultant at knowledge management consulting firm Straits Knowledge. He is a brilliant KM blogger and has been writing on topics such as Knowledge Sharing, Communities, Learning, Enterprise 2.0 and so on.

In this 15 minutes video, Patrick tells us what Knowledge Sharing is, and the crucial benefits it brings to organizations.

List Master

2010-08-17T01:18:00.000-07:00

There was a time I was quite messy about my things. They so easily got lost, I had things I forgot I had, couldn't remember what I had to do, forgot my password for blablabla.com, etc etc.
Since then, I decided to remedy those situations by keeping a list for everything I need not forget. The problem raised later when keeping track of all those lists became complicated. The current solution to this is the 13th item in the list below:

1. To do list
2. List of expenses (budget management)
3. List of Planned leaves for the year
4. List of registered domains
5. Shopping list for the month
6. List of Registered Sites
7. List of Passwords
8. Kitchen inventory
9. List of movies
10. List of books in my library
11. List of must-read books
12. List of birthday dates
13. List of all my Lists!

Do you keep lists too?
Who keeps a 'Before I die' list? :-)

Innovations Missing Piece

2010-07-12T23:36:00.001-07:00

Sharing you this presentation I liked:

Innovations Missing Piece v3

View more presentations from Kes Sampanthar.

My top 5 learning tools

2010-07-05T01:03:00.000-07:00

1.Google
Do I really need to elaborate on that? Wanna learn something? Just Google it!

2.Twitter
Twitter is my favorite learning tool. I call it my professional-development-on-the-fly. People or instances I follow contribute to my daily knowledge acquirement. Links to posts, websites or other materials are tunneled 24-hour a day to my Twitter page. I suggest you not limiting your Twitter usage to entertainment only. I agree its great to follow movie stars and singers but at the end of the day they do not contribute to your development at all.

3.YouTube
You really get videos of everything on YouTube. The number one video sharing portal has 13 hours of videos uploaded every minute! Apart from music videos and movie trailers, you are sure to get a great share of training materials as well. Great deal for visual learners, like me.

4.Slideshare
On Slideshare.net you can browse and/or upload PowerPoint presentations. Most of the topics I looked for up to now were found on this portal. Going through slides is a quicker way to acquire knowledge compared to reading thousand of words in a book. You can either download the slides, share them or embed on your site/blog. On Slideshare you can also get ideas on creating attractive PowerPoint slides for your presentations.

5. LinkedIn Groups
I've joined several groups of interest on LinkedIn where I interact with professionals around the world. Topics or questions raised by anyone in the group are answered and debated by numerous experts in the field. Here you can learn from professional expertize in a collaborative way. Discussions in groups are presented in forum-like structure, which makes them easy to follow and participate.

What is your favorite online learning tool?

Why Wiki? pt1 (Education)

2010-05-26T03:58:00.000-07:00

You might probably know by now that I have a weakness for Wikis. I've been surfing on the Wiki waves for the last 3 years now with no sign of boredom - quite surprising for someone like me who usually dumps already-conquered areas away, looking for new adventures. But Wiki is such a powerful magnet that keeps pulling me towards it. Wiki is a major component of Web 2.0 and has numerous applications in various fields. My like for Wikis is however justified and I will walk you through three fields where Wikis can be used.

1. Wiki as a learning/teaching tool.

In this connected world, our students have change radically. Bearing an open mind towards technology, they embrace it and never miss an opportunity to venture with new online tools. Introducing a Wiki in an educational environment is undoubtedly a brilliant way to engage students thus enhancing the learning process.

Very often when asked to create a website for a class project students freak out and have to rely on others with knowledge of HTML and web editors tools. Using a Wiki brings this task to as easy as pie. The Wiki syntax is simple to learn and students can spend more time on the contents rather than learning how to code webpages.
Imagine an assignment when you have to collaborate on a single topic and having to push the same word document to everyone in the group one by one waiting for each to append with new elements. With a Wiki group work has never been so straightforward. Through a simple 'edit' button, anyone can change the content via a simple web browser. Thus, the webpage keeps everyone updated at all times without waiting for the latest version of the document to come back. This is a time saving factor in the sense that duplicate ideas are quickly dealt with.
Teachers find it a great way to track the progress of their students in given assignments. The history page gives more than just an overview of the participation of the students in a given group work. It helps track down the contribution of everyone in the paper. Wiki also allows the teacher to see if a student is going off track and help him by editing and/or suggesting new ideas or other resources.

Next >>> 2. A great collaborative and communication tool.

Learning to Learn

2010-04-27T22:42:00.000-07:00

Hi there!

This mind-map will guide you through the process of learning. There is unfortunately no shortcut and every step is important. I created this mindmap using a smokin' online tool called SpicyNodes. Here is what they say: "SpicyNodes is fun because it is visually engaging, intuitive, and gratifying to visitors." And I think the product speaks for itself. Try it on your website or blog, or like me to mindmap and convert knowledge into visually enhanced diagrams.
Enjoy.

Source: http://home.clara.net/rod.beavon/learning.htm accessed on 12 February 2009

Linking Memory Method - Never forget a shopping list

2010-04-05T03:59:00.000-07:00

I finally decided to finish and post this article - which stayed way to long in my drafts. Lemme present you a really cool technique to improve your memory, as well as to impress your friends by remembering ANY list for a whole lifetime. Yes this is possible and am gonna prove it to you right now ;)

How would you do if I gave you a list of 25 objects and 5 minutes to remember them? And write them back in the same sequential order presented? I will illustrate the technique by showing you I would proceed with the following list of 6 objects: Ball, Monitor, Table, Motocycle, Pizza, Lightbulb.
The Linking Memory Method first consists of finding visual metaphors for the items to remember. Easy, we all know what these look like, don't we? So, converting the words into images in our minds should be give us something like that:

Secondly, we have to make association with the above images. We'll take the first image and associate it with second one, the second one to the third one.. until we reach the end of the list. Here you have to let your imagination run free. Let the images sing, dance, swim, fly, grow out of proportion or become as small as ants.

Lets associate the ball to the monitor. We can imagine a football flying at full speed crashing into a monitor. The images in our head should be real like, as if we were seeing it in front of us.

Next is the table which we have to associate with the monitor. We can think of a VERY VERY big screen which is too big for the table on which it is laid on. And as a result, one of the table's foot breaks.

You should not spend a lot of time thinking about the scene. Usually the first which comes in your mind is the best one.
We continue on with the motorcycle and the table. We can visualize a top sport motorcycle but as small as an ant trying to pull a table down. Next is the motorcycle and the Pizza where we can think of a disgusting pizza being delivered or a motorcycle sliding because of a pizza lying on the screens. Lastly we can imagine hundreds of bulbs as ingredients dancing in a large pizza.

Be creative as much as possible. It is proven that the more ridiculous and funny things are, the easier it becomes for remembering them. So, do not hesitate to be illogical. Compared to Rote Method of Memorization (which is the process of memorizing by repetition), Linking Memory is most effective.

Using this technique frequently will help you develop a new type of out of the box thinking and above all recall things in a new manner.

Easy? What did I tell you :) Trust me, you only have to practice this method a few times to enjoy a great memory. It can also be applied to memorizing many more stuffs and above all its fun! As for me, if ever we meet in a supermarket with my shopping cart full, it doesn't mean I am buying anything. I got my shopping list memorized already at home.

My E-Learning Wishlist

2010-04-01T04:07:00.000-07:00

Just like kids prepare their wish list for x-mas, I've come up with a wish list of the E-learning tools I would like to have and work with. Prices are so high to afford by individuals that I've sticked to using them in either demo or trial versions, at least for the time being..

Mini Disclaimer: I am not associated or represent to any of the companies listed below and this article is in no way a marketing for the products.

First of the list is Adobe with its range of state-of-art tools used to produce great eLearning solutions. Starting from authoring tools, Elearning solutions, real-time collaboration to effective curriculum management, Adobe has them all.

1. Adobe Connect pro: Adobe provides Virtual Learning sessions with this awesome product. Training can be delivered anywhere and anytime. Learners are presented, through their web browser, an interactive content where they can participate in learning like they would in an instructor-led classroom.

2. Adobe Captivate: Packed with powerful features such as scenario simulations, quizzes and other interactive exercises, this software helps you rapidly author professional eLearning content. You can also produce screencasts, screen recording and demos, and other presentations with Captivate.

3. Adobe Presenter 7: With Presenter you can create stunning and complete presentations and self-paced courses. Videos and audios can also be easily integrated.

4. Articulate Presenter 09: Bearing the same functions as the Adobe one, powerful flash content can be generated from powerpoint.

5. Articulate Engage 09: Learners will love E-learning courses created with Engage. It has the ability to create stunning interations turning views into active learners.

6. Articulate Online: This is a great tool to track how learners interact with the E-Learning courses, assessments and presentations.

7. Snagit: A cool Screen Capture application such as Snagit will permitg screen capture with some flexible options such as arrows, speech bubbles and few fancy effects.

8. Microphone: A 100Mhz-16KHz desktop microphone such as the Logitech 980186-0403 silver one.

9.Web cam: I want a web cam with VGA sensor, 1.3mp max image resolution with a video capture resolution of 800 x 600 and a frame rate of 30fps. The Creative Live! Cam Video IM Pro 0.3 M Effective Pixels USB 2.0 WebCam will do.

10.Free and Faster Internet access: Last but not the least I wish I had a 2GB internet connectivity at home and access to SNS sites at work.

I think that would be all for now. Did I forget something?

Use a CPD to boost your Professional and Personal Development

2010-03-29T03:27:00.000-07:00

Since the last 2 years, after the completion of my Masters Degree, my personal and professional development have known very little or insignificant progress. This is unfortunately what I can deduct following a self-assessment performed around 3 months ago. Still, I've been constantly reading so many articles and books, been through so many tutorials and printed so many pages of the internet..And if you ask what did I learn last November I would be in the incapacity to answer you. Last year, same time I mastered CMDB and a question on the subject today may echo like: 'Yeah I've seen that somewhere.'

So if you people have the same problem as me, its time you also learn the secret of Continuing Professional Development aka CPD.

What is a CPD?

A CPD is one of the best tools used nowadays to manage your learning and growth.Its about capturing learning experiences and providing a framework for broadening of professional knowledge. It also helps assess our current level and identify the skills needed to undertake our duties throughout our career.
It is indeed true to say that we learn continuously from our day to day experiences and other structured studies. But a CPD provides a proactive approach to professional development than just wait for knowledge to come towards us.

The CPD should state where you are now and what you want to achieve.

I believe that as Professionals we are responsible for our own professional development and we should ensure that we progress to keep up with the rapidly evolving business world.

Planning a CPD

The initial step to do is to carry out a SWOT analysis on yourself. What are you strengths and weaknesses? Identify the opportunities and threats that you may encounter.
The second step is the planning. Set your goals and its priorities. Think of cost and time implications if any and set a realistic time frame. And don't forget to take your SWOT analysis into consideration when planning.
In the Development stage, design and build up a CPD record card to manage your learning as per your training needs. Being a personal activity most of the time, the log should be how you want it to be. It is a flexible process yet powerful. Use your imagination as far and possible to create a CPD card aligned with your learning style.
The final phase is the evaluation one. This is where you reflect on what you have learned and assess your gains and other practical benefits. Its now time to think whether knowledge acquired has been applied and where.

The Record Card

A very simple example of a CPD record card is shown below.

All knowledge acquired should be captured: Education in any form, workshops attended, trainings, private study, structured reading and so on.

Scholarly works have also shown that the process of reflecting on the card has the great capability of moving knowledge from our short-term to long-term memory.

Benefits of using a CPD

Value each learning experience and make the most of them.
Be more confident as you see your learning track and progression.
Increase in motivation to acquire more knowledge.
Can be used as a Portfolio and presented to future employers as evidence.
Identify opportunities for career development and design a path to achieve objectives
Enjoy all the benefits of Reflective Learning. (Will be covered later)

Being committed to a CPD will ensure your lifetime employability in this competitive work environment. It helps both the individual and the business and can prove effective in its strategy.

Come on. Back to learning now and show me your CPD.

References

1. Influencing Information Acting, 2010. Continuing Professional Development. Available at: http://www.agi.org.uk/pooled/articles/BF_PSART/view.asp?Q=BF_PSART_195054

2. CIPD, 2010. Benefits of CPD Available at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/cpd/benefitscpd.htm

3. Graham Guest, 2010. CPD and Lifelong Learning. Availalbe at: http://sites.google.com/site/gastiz/cpdandlifelonglearning

4. University of Plymouth, 2010. CPD for individuals, employers & staff. Available at:http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/pages/view.asp?page=10320

5. The British Computer Society, 2009. Continuing Professional Development. Available at: BCS - Young Professional Group

6. The CPD Certification Service, 2010. CPD and Individual Needs. Available at: http://www.cpduk.co.uk/aboutcpd/whatiscpd.htm

Who wants to learn creole?

2010-02-22T01:23:00.000-08:00

We are in the middle of some major torments in our local educational sector. One of the big buzz of the moment is the introduction of the Mauritian 'Creole' as a subject in our school curriculum. We can hear/read debates almost everyday on our radio stations and newspapers.

The first part of the debate, which finally was not debated as almost everybody agreed on the matter, consisted of the making use of Creole as a medium to teach in schools. Though officially it should not be the case, both primary and secondary teachers have been using creole as a medium to instruct in their classrooms since always. I wonder why the FCM (Federation Creoles Mauriciens) claimed that the introduction of creole could reduce rate of failures.

As a witness of that system I think there's nothing more logical than to teach a learner in his own mother tongue. Mathematics and Science subjects cannot be taught in a languages that a learner hasn't properly grasped we all agree.

"If the Chinese spoke English they would have conquered the world already by now."

But what is totally irrational in my opinion (and of many others too) is having Creole as taught subject in schools.

If someone could be tell me how this is going to benefit someone or the country please don't hesitate! Last week I read from somewhere that Mauritius is the only country where English is losing ground. Needless to stress on the ways English language breaks down economic barriers within countries. If the Chinese spoke English they would have conquered the world already by now.

Lets say we have accepted Creole in our curriculum. Creole and French being highly linked we will be confused when writing in both languages. This will result in higher failure rates in both subjects. Writing the following sentence in French: "Il faut BWAR beaucoup d'eau" is definitely wrong. But writing in Creole: " Bizin boire de lo" can be wrong too because here the word 'boire' is French-written. Poor student.

Creole being an ever-mutating language, I find it hard to standardize words, grammar an expressions. Different populations from different regions and backgrounds speak differently.

Consider the following essay of this guy from the suburbs:

"En zourner bord la mer.

Moi ek en de melar decide pou dessan bord la plaz pou kass en yen. Sa zour la soleil p crass difer mover kaliter. Mo pass bazar mo tap en dipain ek so gato pima pou nu manzer la zourner. La boisson mo camouad Zorz pou amener. Dresser partou."

I stop here. FCM please correct this.

If the country needs to move forward we should instead accentuate on other languages which will permit us to communicate more efficiently with foreign countries. It has been brought to my attention that mandarin is gaining popularity in schools. Do you know why? Well learning mandarin will enable us to do business with China and this will prove profitable to the country of course. Learn Hindi, learn Mandarin, learn Italian.

Being a small island in the Indian Ocean, Mauritius's dependency on developed countries is very high and we should double our efforts to commerce with those countries.

Where will Creole lead us? Which job are we gonna get with Creole at A-level? What further studies can we expect after that?
I asked my friends from the Creole community about their views. Well most of them speak French with their children at home. Some send their kids to private English-medium or French schools.

This minority who are fighting an absurd battle in reality haven't even identified at all the root problem.

The Web - Learning Relationship

2010-02-17T02:07:00.001-08:00

The moment someone connects to the web he starts learning! It has been found that although not specifically designed for learning, web applications are used to empower learners and create unprecedent learning opportunities. As computer technology becomes less frightening to larger numbers of people, the number of surfers/learners grow. The internet technology, a decade ago, had direct impact on commerce, media and business in general but little coverage on education. Things have changed now. Teachers more and more explore the potential web tools such as blogs, social networking services, media tools, feeds etc to enhance education and create new learning experiences. This is where you will find guys like Avinash Oojorah and myself unleashing our Elearning superpowers to make this change happen in Mauritius :))

However, an informal survey conducted with a few secondary school teachers in Mauritius reveals the latter do not make or make very litte use of technology to make students learn. The most famous tools used being Email and PowerPoint. But in 2010 students in our country expect much more than that. Many spend most of their free time online: social networking, chatting and exploring the web. Having them to learn within that time frame without being offline is the challenge for many educators nowadays.

Waiting for the next generation of teachers who will most probably make more use of IT to instruct is definitely too far away. Thats why it is essential to act now to stop the widening gap between the way Mauritian students acquire knowledge and those from developed countries

Swine Flu puts spotlight on E-Learning

2009-09-23T03:27:00.000-07:00

Recent Swine Flu outbreak in Mauritius left teachers unprepared/unplanned when the decision to close down schools was announced. For the E-learning geek that I am, I immediately saw the potential of my forever endeavor to deliver instruction online. I therefore congratulate the teachers who at that time made use of the web to assist their students! I personally know one ex-secondary school teacher who made use of the web to teach his students. For than just putting up learning materials online, he engaged his students into online activities (often real-time) and encouraged interaction. Unlike most of our teachers, Avinash Oojorah delivered instruction successfully while engaging the learner to interact and participate. Interaction, Participation and Collaboration are the key words really for successful online learning, and this is exactly what most teachers are not aware of unfortunately.

I strongly believe that its high time for authorities, teachers, school directors to invest in technologies that would extend learning after school hours. Stakeholders in the educational sector should be trained accordingly on the powerful instructional tool that is the Web.

There are many free online applications out there which can be used immediately to start teaching online.

Google Docs is an online office suite which enables document sharing and collaboration. Skype can be used for those looking to communicate with Video-conferencing and audio features for free. Teachers can use an inexpensive microphone with Skype to animate an online class session and interact with students like they would in a classroom. Blogging is great way to dispense learning materials and gather related links. Interaction with students is also enabled through comments. For those who want to setup a website can do so on Google Sites. Setting up a website has never been so easy. Google Sites is also packed with a few interesting features. Screencasting is a indispensable technique today in Multimedia Learning Environments. Tools like Screenr enable you to record screen manipulations and broadcast to learners.

Powerpoint presentations and can stored and accessed from Slideshare to enhance learning materials. They can even be embedded in other sites or blogs.

I will later on extensively discuss about those tools (and others) with real examples on how they can be used to effectively deliver instruction. Am signing off for today..

Pledge to Free Internet and End Digital Divide

2009-09-21T22:53:00.001-07:00

Today I signed the following online pledge:

“I pledge to work to extend access to the Internet -- the open, free Internet -- to all, across boundaries of place, culture and class.”

As a member of the my.OneWebDay.org community, it is my duty to support this action and it totally aligns with one of my convictions which is to eliminate Digital Divide.

And my reply to the participation question:

Around 2 years ago following the National ICT strategic plan for Mauritius committee ( in which I was present), free internet access was granted to elderly and children in all Post offices and village community centres. Computers were deployed in most of these places around the island with an ongoing growth of the number of the internet kiosks. This has been a very successful measure to bridge the gap between the rich and the needy. Today there is no limitations to who can use those stations to have access to the web. What is needed now is adequate training and guidance empower these 'new' internet users with ICT skills. My participation at this stage is to gather a crowd of volunteers to provide training services from village to village. This will be done during weekends only due to my job commitments and also to reach a maximum population. I am currently working collaboratively with a colleague to build the course on pedagogical grounds.

Here’s the link to sign the petition too: http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6087/t/7286/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=509

And I welcome those who wanna join me in this quest: http://my.onewebday.org/profile/girishmungra

My Twitter Story

2009-09-17T03:05:00.001-07:00

I just reached my 110^th tweet..

Its been 3 weeks since I started tweeting seriously and I am now totally wacko about that!

Last month it was during the G-Mauritius conference that I realised the full potential of twitter. On the first day I decided to cover the event through twitter and to my astonishment I wasn’t the only one with the great idea I thought it was.

It ended however to be one of the twitter experience I had till now. Twitters all round the conference room joined together in the same channel and shared views and experiences about what was being taught by the Googlers.

But what the hell is Twitter?

Twitter is the SMS of the web. It is a social network that that allows a user to send 140 characters on the web. To who? To his followers or to anyone reading his tweets ( if made public).

Generally you answer the question: What are you doing? – First question you would ask someone you know when you call him. This form of micro-blogging helps you keep in touch with people who matters to you and in return let your followers know that you are up to. It’s a great way to keep in touch.

Twitter has taken another dimension nowadays and is not just about reading lines on people on their personal lives – although its fun to read what famous artists say daily to their followers. Companies today use twitter as a marketing tool. They regular send updates about their current and future products. And some use the service to broadcast the company’s latest news.

Personally I follow a couple of known stars such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Robin Sharma and my favourite music group –Lifehouse. But the rest of my friends consist of like-minded people who share the same interests and passion. More than just exchanging messages, it is for me a knowledge-sharing community where it feeds me with food to calm my thirst for knowledge down.

The first Mauritian Wiki

2009-09-16T04:12:00.000-07:00

One year ago Avinash Oojorah and myself worked collaboratively on our Masters thesis. The main aim was to study the behavior of Mauritians on a Wiki platform. We concluded that it was very successful when it came to digital natives compared to the adult crowd. Mauripedia.com in itself was a neatly-designed website where MediaWiki was embedded. In the presentation below you will find an overview of the project together with a few screen dumps of the site and a small wiki tutorial.

mauripedia

View more presentations from Girish Mungra.

How To Leverage Your Blog To Get Thousands Of Facebook Fans

2009-09-14T08:28:00.000-07:00

How To Leverage Your Blog To Get Thousands Of Facebook Fans

A for Analysis

2009-09-10T03:31:00.000-07:00

A quick glimpse on my audience and their characteristics-

My audience will consist of around 50 persons aged between 20 and 55 with various educational background from A-level to Post Graduate. Most of them have many years of working experience in their respective field. Upon enrollment everyone now follows a one week induction course which consists of a Customer Care module. Apart from that various training programmes on the subject are often dispensed. Being all from service provider departments, they surely are applying related techniques in their everyday work.

My humble conclusion: I will be teaching Customer Service to a bunch of 'old' professionals who probably know much more than me in the field. Great!

I however came up with a couple of attainable objectives:

Increase consciousness on Customer Service.
Make them realise its importance to the company and themselves
Incite them to think about new ways on how they can improve their service.

Tough job ahead huh..

ID skills solicited..

2009-09-09T04:20:00.001-07:00

Early next month I will be doing a one hour presentation on 'Customer Service' along with my colleague at Villa Caroline. Things started to get messy when two of the presentation team members started to show signs of abandon. Result: Vincent and I were left on level one - information gathering. We finally managed to collect relevant information from different sources.
Feeling the pressure of the tight deadline, I decided to make use of my super Instructional Designer powers to prepare the presentation slides, which will assist me during the delivery.
For than just a normal presentation, the desired outcome will be a pedagogically-enhanced 'Customer Service' course.
After reflection, I decided to make use of the ADDIE model:

Analyze and assess needs
Design instruction and presentations
Develop materials
Implement activities and courses
Evaluate participant progress and instructional material effectiveness

Stay tuned on the progression..