"Google Glasses" - Best Invention of the Year 2012

Google Glasses can be picked up as one of the best invention of the year 2012. A computer built into the frame of a pair of glasses, and it’s the device that will make augmented reality part of our daily lives. With the half-inch (1.3 cm) display, which comes into focus when you look up and to the right, users will be able to take and share photos, video-chat, check appointments and access maps and the Web. Consumers should be able to buy Google Glass by 2014.

Read more: http://techland.time.com/2012/11/01/best-inventions-of-the-year-2012/slide/google-glass/#ixzz2GVjSMRTP

OpenClass LMS (Learning Management Systems)

OpenClass is another kind of LMS (Learning Management Systems) that has fully elearning funcationalities and capalbilities to manage online learning environment. It is the latest and can be said as the most effective Learning Management Systems because it uses mobile and social learning technologies to encourage collaboration and communication for students, faculty, and learning institutions. Elegant and beautiful UI design iPad app was already developed for OpenClass and it is available at iTune app store.
OpenClass systems was developed Pearson, the world’s leading learning company, providing educational materials, technologies, assessments, and services to educators and students of all ages. Pearson is also a leading provider of electronic learning programs and of test development, processing, and scoring services to educational institutions, corporations, and professional bodies around the world.

You can visit more detail about OpenClass at http://www.openclass.com/open/home/index

Flipboard App for Android and iOS mobile devices

Flipboard is a social-network aggregation, flippable magazine style design format application (like iBook app from Apple) for Apple iOS devices such as iPad or iPhone and Android mobile devices.

It is like RSS and it fetches (collects) the content data from subscribed news or social network sites in magazine style format that allows users to flip the contents in magazine style pages.

Originally, it was designed for iPad in December 2010 but the app was updated to support iPhone and Android devices especially Samsung Galaxy S3 in May, 2012, as beta version. The app is
produced by Flipboard, Inc., a U.S. based software company founded by Mike McCue and Evan Doll and the headquarter is located in Palo Alto, California.

Flipboard is Free App and Apple App Store recommended as the most downloaded & recommended social app. It is available to download via http://flipboard.com.

Edu 2.0, Simple, Powerful E-Learning Platform

 Edu 2.0 is a e-Learning LMS (Learning Management Systems) for K-12, Universities levels and Business. It is free web-based education site (similar to Moodle) and comprehensive features for teachers, students and parents. It was founded by Graham Glass in 2006 and located in San Francisco, California. The mission of the Edu2.0 is to make teaching and learning more efficient and enjoyable. It is simple and powerful e-Learning platform program and it is Free. Many schools and universities all over the world are using it nowadays and become popular LMS programs among schools and universities. Edu 2.0 is a cloud based LMS and no need to download or install or host your files, contents or videos in your own.  
Learn more about Edu 2.0 at http://www.edu20.org/

World's oldest working computer gets fired up

Even it mentioned as "the world's oldest working computer" but it is not the oldest computing device but it is regarded as the first modern computer because it is still capable of working. The visitors can now check Wolverhampton Instrument for Teaching Computing from Harwell, or WITCH in Buckingham-shire, England has 3-ton weight and it lights up the National Museum of Computing with its flashing bulbs and chattering printers.

The WITCH at Wolverhampton -- with serious tape readers.

(Credit: Photo courtesy of Express & Star via The National Museum of Computing)

 It seems crazy to think of a computer as a room-sized mechanism for the modern people using smaller, thinner, and lighter devices but it was first used in 1951 for atomic research. Its Architecture design was based on reliability rather than speed and meant to solve algorithms at roughly the same speed as a single human mathematician using a mechanical calculator and could work for days on end without an error, according to the museum. WITCH is on display at the museum alongside the Colossus Mark II, which is the world's first electronic computer.

from CNET - Original News Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57552873-93/worlds-oldest-working-computer-gets-fired-up/

The Hot Potatoes (or) Interactive Apps for World Wide Web

The Hot Potatoes is a software suite including six applications that can enable to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web. It's freeware and open-source and many educational institutions such as universities around the world used for assessments or quizs purposes for students. Those six applications are JCloze, JCross, JMatch, JMix and JQuiz and The Master. Hot Potatoes was created by the Research and Development team at the University of Victoria Humanities Computing and Media Centre.

url: http://hotpot.uvic.ca/

edX (or) online university-level courses from MIT and Harvard University

There are many online free education and educational related free sources offered by both private and public from blogs or tutorial sites to universities to government organizations around the world for the past years. People like to learn and get knowledge via online sources or tutorials apart from general teaching from the schools.

Here, I would like to tell about edX. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (known as MIT) and Harvard University jointly founded the non-profit online education called “edX”.  The registered domain name for it is www.edx.org. They spent $30 million U.S Dollar for this project and it was launched in year 2012. It’s developed as a open source software and it offers other institutions of higher learning which wants to give similar offerings for courses at edX website. It has week by week video lectures and interactive learning programs. This project is dedicated for research learning and distance education purpose. Khan Academy is also another source of learning online and it becomes one of the famous online education sources in recent years.

Moodle (or) eLearning Core Engine

As a Designer, Developer and Systems Administrator in Courseware Production in eLearning department, I would like to share my knowledge and experience to all in my class.

Hence, I would like to share the core engine of eLearning, which is called “Moodle”.
Moodle (abbreviation for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) is a free and open source e-learning software platform, also known as a CMS (Course Management System) (hence, there will be another system called “CMS, Content Management System), LMS (Learning Management System), or VLE (Virtual Learning Environment).  More than 5 million users around  the world are using moodle for education purpose.

Originally it was developed by Martin Dougiamas to help educators create online courses with a focus on interaction and collaborative construction of content, and is in continual evolution.

Significant features of Moodle are Assignment submission, Discussion forum, Files download, Grading, Moodle instant messages, online calendar, online news and announcement (College and course level), online quiz, Wiki. It was being updated regularly by developers to enable more features and fixing bugs based on feedbacks from its users and online learning educations from all over the world.

you can get much information at https://moodle.org/

ED6060- Assignment 1

1. How would you propose a plan to prepare students in your country to work in a different cultural, technological and economical context?

            21st Century teaching and learning for skills is essential to meet the demands of internationally developed competitive education system all over the world. Our Education systems have to accomplish the development of 21st Century Skills: MILE (Milestones for Improving Learning and Education) which will ensure one’s success in today challenging world.

Our education system applied in the past is less favorable for the students to comprehend the changes globally so we need to upgrade our old education system to modernized system which enables the cultural, technological and economical and social development of country to cover across ASEAN countries by 2015 and globally in next few decades. We also have to grasp the Information and Communication Technology based education system in order to level and achieve Business opportunities in ASEAN region and International because we had suffered in the past due to poor management in Education and hadn’t upgraded because of political situations. Since 2010, after emergence of new democratic reform, our government positively approach for education standard and giving much support to level International standard. Under the leadership of democratic government, the government made many changes especially in education to meet 21^st century education standard since 2011. So, it is very good opportunities for our school to reform and make changes.

            I would like to suggest our newly democratic Myanmar government to prepare to narrow down the gaps in Education systems and Information and Communication Technology between ASEAN regional countries which are more ahead of us in terms of business and technology advancements because the reason is the gaps in ICT make us less advantage in global economy and communication. Making enhancement in those areas make us more understanding, get closer looks and learn various kind of aspects especially in culture, economy, technology among ASEAN nations as our first stepping stones for our country’s future developments and we can move forward our new generations (students) in International level as next step for global culture, economy and technology in next decades. 

2.  What has been done by your country in each context?

Originally, our Myanmar (or) Burmese culture was adopted from Buddhism and Mon culture. Many of our traditional events and ceremonies are also adopted from neighboring countries’ traditional cultures (for example, Buddhist days and lunar events) from India, Thailand and China. And also Myanmar has many minority ethnic groups such as Kachin, Karen, Shan (Thai people called as Tai Yai) and Mon and they also have their own cultures. British colonial ruling our country for more than one hundred year made the popularity of westernized culture especially the adaption of wearing styles become common since then. But our Burmese people and ethnic people in Myanmar wear their own traditional dresses (such as sarong) and celebrate their cultural festivals and events such as Myanmar New Year water festival (i.e. Songkarn). Burmese makeup or Tanaka is the most popular perfume and almost every woman wears Tanaka every day. Although the popularity of modernized wearing styles or influence of westernized cultures are adopted by new generations but we are still keeping our own traditions as prides of our country.

In the past time, we had done so much for cultural development the main purpose of education in Myanmar was to produce the educated citizens who will be able to carry out the economical and social development of our country as directed by the project of Ministry of Education of Myanmar. However, as the technology became more proficient all over the world and the globalization was operated fast in present time, we need and have to update the education system which can lead our country to meet 21st Century Skills: MILE (Milestones for Improving Learning and Education).

We had done in the past for those contexts but it’s not much in terms of the situation and progress of our nation. Since, Myanmar became one of the members of ASEAN countries in Southeast Asia region; we have to follow the education systems and standards according to ASEAN Curriculum Sourcebook to become regional standard education systems among ASEAN nations by 2015. We are just beginning of reform era but from my point of view for recent changes and reforming in Myanmar for various sectors including economy and following education standard among ASEAN nations, I am sure we will have steadily and gradually movements and can reach the standard level in Education in next 10 years.

References

Bringing ASEAN to the Region's Classrooms, The official website of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations http://www.aseansec.org/27025.htm

U.S. Support Bringing ASEAN into the Region’s Classrooms, United States Mission to ASEAN, http://asean.usmission.gov/pr07052012.html

Tin (2004), Seminar on Education in Myanmar, Centre for UNESCO, Australian National University, Canberra. http://www.anu.edu.au/unesco/Tin.pdf

Education statistics: Myanmar. UNICEF, Division of Policy and Practice, Statistics and Monitoring Section, www.childinfo.org, May 2008

Development of Education in Myanmar, Ministry of Education, Myanmar

21 Century Skills, 2009: The MILE Guide, Milestones for Improving Learning & Education, Partnership for 21 Century Skills p21.org/storage/documents/MILE_Guide_091101.pdf

Hello .. I am Myo Han Htun

Dear Ajarn and friends

       My name is Myo Han Htun. You can call my nickname Ko Toe. I am from Myanmar and working in Thailand for education since year 2004. I am Artist, Designer and Systems Administrator and I focus my design works especially Web Design, Character Design, Logo Design, Graphic Design and User Interface Design (UI).

thanks for your reading

Myo Han Htun (a) Ko Toe
31/ Oct/ 2012