Moodle Week-2 Task

Personal Learning Network

I really liked the article about Personal Learning Network (PLN). As it said; it is not something new; I used to have PLN group (face-to-face meetings) during high school/College days to exchange information and share knowledge about the curricula (Unfortunately internet was not available in my country at that time). Later on after my graduation from engineering college, I used to have a professional PLN group (face-to-face/email) with my colleagues/friends working within same field to share knowledge (unfortunately social networks/blogs/.. was not there yet). Nowadays; I have many PLN groups through social networking (Facebook/twitter/LinkedIn/..), majority of these PLN groups are mixed with professional knowledge and personal-social news/updates (LinkedIn is the only exception; it is really a pure network for professional profiles).

These PLN group really helped me in my professional life; for example, I had many situations where I faced a new technical problem to me and the PLN group was the source of solution to my technical problem; another example, in teaching-PLN groups helped me a lot not only to understand some concepts in depths but also introduced a better way to present these concepts to my students, it really provides me with helpful resources (like freeware simulation tools, useful resources, videos,….).

I have some good ideas about extending PLN groups; for example by having a group within HCT organization to exchange/share our experience/knowledge about teaching environment/classroom experiences/ …; we can have another PLN group within Higher education in UAE (HCT, UAE-U, Zayed-U, ..) for the same.

I consider my online post graduate is another PLN group for me where we use new technologies such as Google Docs, Google+, Prezi, Blogs, and LMS as tools that help us sharing, developing, and constructing knowledge.

Finally; I do believe that PLN groups is our way forward to build our network society in 21^st century. Also I do like the Open Educational Resources (OER); I believe this the way forward for our future educational system.

Regarding Team Project:
I am teaching Computer Hardware & Network course which I will use some digital narritive technology with it.

Moodle Week-1 Task

Education technologies

Hi There, Nice to meet you on my page J

A bit about me: My name is Ahmed Hamdi Abdel Monem Al-Sorouge. I am married to Yosra and have our roots in Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. We have three wonderful kids (two boys, and one girl) who are fond of breeding cats.                                                                                                                                                            I am a Senior Network Engineer at Dubai Women’s College (Plus I do part time teaching in IT for PM Students). I graduated in 1997 as an Electronics/Communication Engineer (Benha University-Egypt). I worked as an electromechanical engineer for eight years in different fields (Oil, Machines, and Industrial X-Ray); I was responsible for the training to new fellows/customers most of the time.  In 2005, I changed my career to IT field where I started my steps to get recognized certificates such as ITIL®, Project Management PMP®, and Cisco CCSP®/CCDP®/CCNP®.

Education Technologies: I am using two different educational learning systems, first one is BbVista which can be considered as the HCT official LMS (learning Management System), and the second one is MyITLab which is provided by Pearson org. I have a positive experience with both systems (especially the BbVista).

I totally agreed with the article regarding the importance and advantages the education technology have added to our learning mechanism like collaboration, fully utilization of time to learn, Depth of understanding (by providing multimedia links/format/simulations for the Curricula), and meta-cognition which I would add it as advantage to LMS if student can use it as a source to get knowledge and to test themselves “did they really understood, did they misunderstand something, did they had a wrong preconception about some topics, and ….”

Finally, I do not have any concerns regarding LMS "unless the internet is down J

  

Bb Vista Week-12

Lifelong learning is more than training.

Lifelong learner methodology is not applied yet from education system perspective.  Fortunately some steps started in Domain-oriented Design environment (especially in IT Education field) where is the integration between working and learning is taking place through some learning activities (like work placement, projects), these steps are not enough as the other elements like assessments still far away from the target of having lifelong learner graduate. I agree with the author in that lifelong learning is more than training.

From student perspective I believe that we have now many students who are really Lifelong learners, they acquires knowledge without boarder (location boarder (like Schools), time boarder (like work placement)), those students got it through their engagement in communities (internet groups, blogs...)   I am optimistic that new generation is self-directed in learning, they have most of 21^st century attributes in learning (like media literacy, technology literacy,…), they can be very easily adapted to any new  Lifelong Education learning system.

Knowledge society wise; student or learner is the main element in knowledge society and she or he is ready to build this society, they need only our help in building a new education system which deal with them as stakeholders and accept their adaptive feedback in designing the curriculum/assessments/environment/...

Fischer’s ideas are aligned with the characteristics of building knowledge society that use collaborative learning, self-directed learning, organization learning, and on-demand learning with the new media and innovative technologies to be adequately supported.

Bb Vista Week-11:

Communities of practice

Situated learning: Old assumptions was that learning is something that individual do (learning by doing or experiential learning); learning has a beginning and an end (temp not permanent); learning is best separated from the rest of our activities (not integrated with our every-day activities) ; and that is a result of teaching (teacher-Centre only). New track is totally different; learning is social and comes largely from of our experience of participating in daily life “process of engagement in a community of practices” which is known as situated learning; it is a move from legitimate peripheral participation to into full participation.

Communities of practice: Communities of practice are formed by people who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain of human endeavor “for example, a group of engineers works on similar problems”. Over time, this collective learning results in practices that reflect both the pursuit of our enterprises and the attendant social relations. These communities are developed around things that matter to people. In some groups we are core members, in others we are more at the margins. The characteristics of such communities of practice vary (Formal/informal, with names/without names). However, members are brought together by joining in common activities and by “what they have learned through their mutual engagement in these activities”. In this respect, a community of practice is different from a community of interest or geographical community in that it involves a shared practice. Three elements are crucial in distinguishing a community of practice from other groups and communities: The domain, which defined by the shared domain of interest. The community, engagement in activities (including complex activities and projects through cooperation) and discussions to build relationship that enables them to learn from each other. The Practice, members are practitioners, they develop a shared repertoire of resources “experiences, stories, tools…”

Conclusion: Social capital resident in communities of practice leads to behavioral change that enhances organizational effectiveness and profitability (learning communities can lead to learning organizations), Learning is in the relation between people (not only in individuals’ mind), Educators work so that people can become participants in communities of practice (educators as a facilitators/coaching/mentoring/..), and there is an intimate connection between knowledge and activity as learning is part of daily living.

Bb Vista Week 9 Task

Changes in Structures and Practices of Education

Happy Earth 2020

Dear Son,

I hope this video message finds you well,

Congratulations on your graduation’s project that has been published recently by UNESCO as a road map to have our planet free of Carbon monoxide by 2025. You are lucky with your current education system as it is totally different from our old education system in 2011, with youth people manage the new education system with their creative and innovative ideas. You are lucky in having free education from K1 to Master and Doctorate degrees, to live in a planet that recognizes educators as superstars. You are lucky to have education system that permits students from different continental to study in one global system (I know that you had to wake-up early to catch the 7:00AM jet from UAE to arrive UK by 7:30AM, otherwise you watch it online). You are lucky to have curriculum that focus on deep understanding (not memorizing) with its project/research based concepts, curriculum that can be transferred to any format you want. You are lucky to have learning environment that you can participate in its designing and not the ice cube model that we had in 2011.   You are lucky to have students communities involved in governmental activities and decisions making, involved in social activities, involved in politics, and involved in charity activities. You are lucky to live in a planet that uses dialogue instead of war to solve a problem; one hand world against poverty and climate change.

 This was my dream ten years back and I am happy to see it.

Your Father

Bb Vista Week 7 Task

Chapter 1: The Network Society from knowledge to policy

The road map (history) of knowledge societies was moving from survival to agricultural Societies, then to the industrial society (transition process countries like Portugal), and finally to the post-industrial/Information/knowledge society (Like US, Finland, Singapore).

Industrial society was built based on power networks (energy networks, which cause the factory model in education) while network society was built based on digital communication networks (like internet) which extend to every country in our planet. (Essential in our 21^st century learning model).

The network society, in the simplest terms, is a social structure (open structure) based on networks operated by information and communication technologies.Globalization is another way to refer to the network society. The network state

Cons views of new technologies/network society:

In these views, new technologies destroy jobs, Internet isolates, we suffer from an overload of information, the digital divide increases social exclusion, Big Brother extends its surveillance thanks to more powerful digital technologies, technological development is controlled by the military, the tempo of our lives is relentlessly accelerated by technology, biotechnology leads to human cloning and to major environmental hazars, Third World countries do not need technology but the satisfaction of their human needs, children are increasingly ignorant because they are messaging and chatting instead of reading books, nobody knows who is whom in the Internet, work efficiency is hampered by technology that does not rely on human experience, crime and violence, and even terrorism use the Internet as a privileged medium, and we are rapidly losing the magic of the human touch. We are alienated by technology.

Pros Views of new technologies/network society:

Although some workers are displaced and some occupations are phased out (e.g., traditional typist secretaries), other occupations appear (e.g. assistant managers instead of secretaries), more jobs are created, and most displaced workers are re-employed, except for those too old to adapt, their fate being decided depending on public policies in each society; Internet users are more social, have more friends and contacts, and are more socially and politically active than non-users; using internet in charity activities (e.g. collecting money for tsunami hurricane’s refugees), for health awareness campaigns (e.g. diabetes/Aids/.. campaigns), for environmental issues (e.g. Hopenhagen group); electronic trade in internet (e.g. ebay, amazon,…); knowledge transfer that internet and new technologies facilities it; internet is a real indicator of globalization and diversity in cultures we have today in planet (not in all countries but for a lot of countries); Digital networking technologies enable networks to overcome their historical limits of sharing their knowledge in innovative and accessible way. 

There are three necessary conditions for productivity growth to take place: generation and diffusion of new microelectronics/ digital technologies of information and communication, on the basis of scientific research and technological innovation; transformation of labor, with the growth of highly educated, autonomous labor that is able to innovate and adapt to a constantly changing global and local economy “Self Programmable Labor”; diffusion of a new form of organization around networking.

Dilemmas of Our Time: Creativity versus Rentier Capitalism; Communication Democracy versus Political Control.

Chapter 7: The E-learning and the Transformation of Education for a Knowledge Economy

The knowledge economy is related to changes in society worldwide, particularly globalization, information/knowledge intensity, and networking and connectivity.

Characteristics of a knowledge economy include: the increased mobility of services, information, and workforce; the need to derive local value from information often in creative ways that go beyond expected performance; the need to work in multidisciplinary and distributed teams; the need to use information technology (IT) for knowledge management, sharing, and creation; the need to update and change ones skills throughout one’s lifetime; and the need to “act autonomously and reflectively, joining and functioning in socially heterogeneous groups”.

Know-why and know-who is matter than Know-what:

Know-what, or knowledge about facts, is nowadays diminishing in relevance. Know-why is knowledge about the natural world, society, and the human mind. Know-who refers to the world of social relations and is knowledge of who knows what and who can do what.Knowing key people is sometimes more important to innovation than knowing scientific principles.

Personal knowledge management skills as well as a knowledge management infrastructure for the organization or professional body supporting knowledge workers are critical to the learning needed for a knowledge economy.

The World Bank (2003) contrasts traditional learning with learning for a knowledge economy as moving away from the teacher and textbook as sources of knowledge towards the teacher as a guide for finding and interpreting real-world information; away from learning being delivered to learners who receive it toward learning by doing and participating as close to the real world as possible; from assessment being based on responding to questions with pre-determined right and wrong answers to assessment being based on competence development as documented by a variety of forms of performance including those that require integrating one’s work with the work of others.

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Example from professional:

From Shell EP company applying the e-learning system and how it positively enhances employees’ skills and knowledge.

Example from education:

From University of Twente applying the e-learning system that causes a competencies growth to their students.

My Contribution to these two chapters reading Plus UNESCO report:

Network Society:

I believe there are plenty of challenges to build a network society, these challenges stated in UNESCO report like poverty, human rights, human security (Maslow’s theory), illiteracy, democracy, language barrier, social barrier, and a lot of other factors that affect forming a knowledge/network society, even within the same country it could be relative network society (like in India case as stated by UNESCO report).

Another problem would be the misuse of the internet, as stated in UNESCO report by giving examples about terrorist, I would add also slavery trade, and any other type of crime that could be happening using internet, Also privacy of individual (like what happened to some Facebook users sometime back). But there are ways we can secure the internet and deal with these challenges.

I believe also some people living in non-knowledge societies could be knowledgeable individuals themselves independently of the society that they live in, in condition of that they have all the tools/facilities/abilities that will make them members in the big network society (Globalization).

E-learning:

For sure E-learning is the future market for a lot of students all over the world as it saves cost, time, overcome the geographical obstacles, flexibility, and a lot of other advantages; even countries of South is taking a big move in e-learning (as stated by UNESCO report that out of the eleven largest open universities, eight are situated in countries of South), it is a new field in education investment because of its advantages.

As mentioned in UNESCO report, I believe that rich countries need to help poor countries to build their infrastructure which is going to enable delivering e-learning to those countries.

E-learning requires huge efforts from the provider to upload all material/courses and make it available online for all users; good example in UNESCO report was MIT which had to upload 500 of their courses online plus 1,500 in phases.

A good example mentioned in UNESCO report was the UK government initiative called National Grid for Learning to connect libraries, schools, and learning centers to form virtual education resource center; a good example also would be khalifa university initiative in UAE to connect the government universities (HCT, Zayed, and UAE-U) to form a virtual education resource center.

Bb Vista Week 6 Task

Applying Understanding Strategy in classroom

I created a story of my imagination for two emirate students, Khalid, and Talal. Khalid lives in Dubai and study IT while Talal lives in US and he study Business, they use their facebook accounts to communicate with each other. through out the drawing of this story plus some YouTube videos related to it, I explored to my students how Internet traffic is moving from Khalid’s laptop to his ADSL then to Etisalat and how Etisalat route this traffic out to AT&T in US then to Talal’s Laptop, plus illustrating what is happening behind the scenes when you type facebook in your browser and how it is converted to something that machine can understand it and how it is doing this function, and a lot of other core concepts that they need to know about Internet and browsing.
My Conclusion is that, creating social narrative that is directly related to students’ every-day life is really a good way to illustrates basic concepts.

Another good example; we had a project with our students about wireless to apply it in certain area in our college, once project started they start their research on best tools to use in wireless survey then they start acquiring knowledge about core concepts in wireless design and implementations, they used many resources (Internet, discussions, asking experts/technical individuals,..), I was amazed that new technical areas they had to read and understand about it to do their project properly. they really did a good job and they build a structured knowledge based on their
hands on experience on that project.
my conclusion is that applying project-based/research-based education is very powerful way for understanding specially in areas like IT.