WebPresence 2004

"My Best Tip for Beginning Bloggers ... "

noreply@blogger.com (Buthaina Alothman) — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 18:19:00 +0000

Sharing a tip by Richard Byrne for beginning bloggers and those who wish to keep or continue blogging everyday. Richard was inspired by Matt Cutts' talk at TED, which you could view below, when he wrote the tip...

Interesting!

Thanks Richard and Matt..

You can't be my teacher.

noreply@blogger.com (Buthaina Alothman) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 23:13:00 +0000

Very inspiring indeed! It also reminded me of Ray Clifford's statement, said years ago "Technology will not replace teachers...teachers who use technology will probably replace teachers who do not."

Thanks to that really cute child for the powerful message!

Love, Friendship, & Peace!

How to Open a Banana When it's Ripe / Not Ripe The Mexican Way

noreply@blogger.com (Buthaina Alothman) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:22:00 +0000

I'd like to thank El Silvador for his time and effort, cooperating and collaborating to make this video clip, showing how to open a banana when it's ripe or not ripe.

Buthaina Al Othman (Pecha Kucha 20x20)

noreply@blogger.com (Buthaina Alothman) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 14:42:00 +0000

[Pecha Kucha = 20slides auto-advancing every 20sec presentation technique]
This 6min 40sec presentation lists a number of showcases on the use of wiki in class. With numerous screenshots, webhead Buthaina al Othman explains how her learners engage in collaborative writing activities and complete projects and how they add text, images and videos. She also relates, how these wiki pages help her as a teacher to quickly write a thought down and even to scold the students for plagiarism.

Thanks to Heike Phil for inviting me to participate in the Pecha Kucha project created for the WiAOC09...

Online Educa Berlin 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Buthaina Alothman) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 10:32:00 +0000

The year 2008 ended with fantastic ideas for me on using technology to learn and teach English at the conference of Online EDUCA Berlin, Germany.

It was my first time I attended an OEDUCA Berlin that I found so useful in terms of the people I met in person and the connection I made, activities, and ideas. It was networking at its best, indeed.

I was thrilled to meet some of my virtual friends and colleagues, like our Webhead, Cristina Costa (aka Cris). Cris and I had such a wonderful time meeting for the first time face to face. I also met other great people and virtual friends for the first time in person, like Heike Phlip, Graham Attwell, Inge de Waard, and Jay Cross.

Below is my interview done by Cris:

More than a Conference: The International Peace Meeting by the WwF.org

noreply@blogger.com (Buthaina Alothman) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:43:00 +0000

I had the honor to be part of a peace and culture meeting held by the International organization, Women without Frontiers (WwF), in the beautiful island of Rhodes, Greece on September 26-28. The International Intercultural Conference on Women, Peace, and Culture in the Common Cultural Course of the Eastern Mediterranean was more than a peace meeting. For me it was a great social learning opportunity when I was so lucky to meet with and interact in person with more than 70 peace loving people and listened to presentations by some of them. Participants were officials, educators, politicians, and business people from across the Mediterranean, including Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Jordan, Iran, Lebanon, and Kuwait.

The first day began with speeches by local officials and senior educators who expressed support and encouragement to members and friends of WwF. The official ceremony took place in one of the main conference rooms in the Rodos Palace Hotel; the room walls were decorated with lovely portraits and Art peaces by Greek female Artists. There was also a long counter at the entrance of the room where books, including novels and poetry by Greek authors, poets, and writers.

Also, a number of beautiful young ladies from Rhodean high schools, dressed in lovely ancient Greek dresses with the viol head cover, all in soft and lovely cream color, welcomed all of us, the audiences, anywhere we walked in the room, while holding olive branches to express love and peace and support to all good wills (sorry about the quality of the photo - I'll try to find a better one soon). In the evening we were all invited to a real Greek concert when we listened to beautiful Greek songs by a female singer first and then a male singer, and both were more than great (sorry the photos are not good to publish due to the dark light effect). Later we were taken in such a luxurious coach to my favorite part of Rhodes, the Old City, where we had such a lovely dinner that I'm still remembering its taste in my mouth (yum)at the famous restaurant of the Four Season, where Onassis once had dinner there, we were told; such an honor we were given, and I am still emotional about the Rhodean Hospitality that I believe have exceeded the Arabic's.

The first round of sessions began at 9:50 am (Greece local time-GMT+3)on the second day when participants from Kuwait, Farahnaz and I delivered our talks. Farah, who is an Iranian, currently residing in Kuwait gave a complete background information about the activities of the Women's Cultural Society in Kuwait. Her presentation was so informative that I've learned a lot from her about the cultural society of women in Kuwait.

Later, more participants from across the ME and Greece gave informative talks about women and people activities toward peace and the effort exerted to improve their societies in the field of Education and Health, in particular. The second round of sessions began at 5 pm when more participants educated us about the current situations in their countries / provinces / regions regarding ways to empower children, women, and the role efforts of WwF.org branches in this regard.

The day ended with an invitation to a generous typical Greek dinner in the hotel where we were treated like queens and princesses :) The evening began with traditional Greek dances from the various lovely Greek folklore, and the more than excellent food from the Greek cuisine. It was an unforgettable learning experience when I got to know new Greek dishes and then learned how to dance Greek.

Finally, I'd like to express gratitude to the lady behind the scene and her team, Ms. Charoula and the members of the Administrative Board of the WwF.org who made me cry and still emotional because of the wonderful, great, and so organized job; without them this event wouldn't be such a successful learning experience! And, thank you so much for the Certificate; I'll treasure it.

I'd also like to mention that the Rhodean Hospitality didn't end with the lovely tour in the afternoon of the third day; however, the two gentlemen, the IT person and his friend Mike were kind enough to give me a ride to the airport as I couldn't join the other participants who left earlier to catch their flight.

A Big Hug and Thank you to all of you who organized such a successful event and to all those of you behind the scene whom I didn't have the honor to meet you.

Viva the International organization of Women without Frontiers everywhere, and I hope we Farah and I can establish a branch in my beloved country Kuwait!

Love & Peace from Kuwait :)

Slides, audio recording, and all URLs mentioned in the presentation by me and my co-presenters, Vance, Nellie, and Doris at the International Intercultural Conference on Women, Peace, and Culture 2008 can be found at: http://buthaina-wwf-peaceconf08.wikispaces.com/WwF_Conference08

WebPresence 2005: Kuwait Parliament 2008: Give Change a Chance, People!

noreply@blogger.com (Buthaina Alothman) — Sun, 18 May 2008 14:04:00 +0000

WebPresence 2005: Kuwait Parliament 2008: Give Change a Chance, People!

Kuwait Parliament 2008: Give Change a Chance, People!

noreply@blogger.com (Buthaina Alothman) — Sun, 18 May 2008 10:13:00 +0000

Well, I'm not surprised or shocked by the results of the Kuwait parliamentary elections that were announced finally a short while ago.

As was expected, the same people who prevented reformation plans and change to the better in the country regarding education and health services, especially, have won the elections and will soon be back in the new parliament to resume their negative or destructive practices!

Some friends have blamed the current government for the current problems in the country since it has not tried to implement any of the reformation plans or projects announced earlier. Well, I'd like to ask those friends this question:

How could a 2-year old government start solving critical security, educational, or health problems in the country - that have started about 30 years ago -while working with a parliament that was dominated by Muslim fundamentalists MPs, (representatives of both Muslim Brotherhood's and Salafi movements)?

And now with such results of the parliamentary elections of today, do you expect this 2-year old government to be able to work with yet another parliament that would be probably controlled by representatives of the Salafi movement?

If some of you are happy that Muslim Brotherhood's are not heavily represented in this new parliament, remember that the Salafi's and other conservatives', enemies of change and development, who are even worse than them in terms of pulling the country to the bottom, preventing any kind of innovation, are going to dominate this new parliament.

Hope this new parliament is dissolved soon so that the government can work effectively at least for a year!

Orange Kuwait!

noreply@blogger.com (Buthaina Alothman) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:33:00 +0000

The picture you see is of Kuwait city shortly after the sand storm hit the country a short while ago :-(

Kuwait University Current Events

noreply@blogger.com (Buthaina Alothman) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:43:00 +0000

Hi Class, I saw this poster in my way out of Engineering College and thought you night be interested in attending the event shown on the picture.

Situation in Kuwait Just Before the Storm!

noreply@blogger.com (Buthaina Alothman) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 22:48:00 +0000

The video you see shows the news item that I received immediately after the strong dust-storm that hit Kuwait City a few hours earlier. The irony is that while this kind of action was taking place somewhere in the country, mother nature disapproved. The interesting part by nature was that showers of rain followed the storm and the political actions, and everything was back to normal and the weather became nice and clear later.

A Strong Dust-Storm Hit Kuwait!

noreply@blogger.com (Buthaina Alothman) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:26:00 +0000

It was very scary! I felt like our house was being pulled from up and kept looking at the ceiling expecting it to be lifted any minute! The storm took less than 3 or 4 minutes, and then a heavy shower of rain followed that for few minutes. At that point,the call for maghreb (dusk)prayers started, which was heard loud from the mosque opposite to my home. It was a strange experience that happened to us, people in Kuwait City.

The irony is that in the middle of all this the local news I got on my cellphone stated that the interior special forces managed to separate a large group of citizens (all men)near a diwaniya in Asubahia area who were trying to run an illegal pre election meeting!

Education and Public Freedom in Kuwait

noreply@blogger.com (Buthaina Alothman) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 01:14:00 +0000

Hundreds meet early Wednesday to file a law suit against Jamiyat Al-Islah and MP Abdul Samad at the Justice Palace

Hundreds angry Kuwaiti citizens, including students, parents, and professionals in the public and private sectors in Kuwait agreed to meet early Wednesday to file a law suit against MP Abdul Samad and Jamiyat Al-Islah (Muslim Brotherhood) at the Justice Palace.

The agreement on this action was announced at the end of a Symposium titled, Education and Public Freedom, organized by the National Democratic Alliance, and was held at the Graduates Society, yesterday.

The event expressed strong anger against Jamiyat Al-Islah that represents Muslim Brotherhood Party in Kuwait for issuing and publishing an abusive statement against innocent citizens.

The statement by MB, which was published in main Kuwaiti Arabic dailies on Saturday, lashed out at citizens who supported mixed classes in universities and private schools, and accused them of being the source of corruption in the country by encouraging sexual sins and serious sexual diseases through mixed educational institutions in Kuwait!

Moreover, the conference announced agreement on fling another law suit against MP Abdul Samad for his support to terrorists, like Mughnia, a Lebanese Hizb Allah leader who committed two major acts of terrorism against Kuwait in the 1980s.

More photos here and here!

A Crime Act Commtied by Muslem Brotherhood's in Kuwait

noreply@blogger.com (Buthaina Alothman) — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 17:24:00 +0000

During his meeting with representatives of various groups of Kuwaiti people, including Women and Professional Societies, parents, students, professionals, and individuals, Sabah Al-Mousa, an Interior Security Official announced -(listen Al-Mousa's announcement via the video above)- that "according to Kuwaiti laws, the statement published by "Jamiat Al-Islah Al-Ijtemaei" Society on February 18, 2008 is illegal and confirmed to be an act of crime". "Consequently",Al-Mousa added, "the case reported against "Jamiat Al-Islah Al-Ijtemaei", by the protesters available in AlRawdha police station has been accepted and validated as a felony.

Al-Mousa informed the protesters that they have the right to file a lawsuit against "Jamiat Al-Islah Al-Ijtemaei" Society that represents Muslim Brotherhood in Kuwait. Protesters can now start filing a lawsuit through legal measurements and procedures, Al-Mousa confirmed.

Al-Mousa and other officials from the Interior Security arrived at AlRawdha police station after groups of Kuwaiti people, including parents, students, professionals, individuals, and representatives of Women and Professional Societies in the country have gathered at the police station to report a complaint or file a lawsuit against the abusive statement published by "Jaiat Al-Islah Al-Ijtemaei" Society that is located in the area of AlRawdha. The illegal, abusive statement that was published late yesterday, attacked and accused all supporters of mixed education in private and public schools, colleges, and universities in Kuwait of being "evil for supporting sexual sins, and corruption in the Kuwaiti society".

Kuwaiti media, including the the 5 dailies and Al-Watan TV were present at AlRawdha police station but were not allowed to take photo shots or videos of the protesters or the meeting between Al-Mansour and representatives of Kuwaiti people that took place inside the police station, however.

I am greatly appreciative to Al-Mousa for granting me his permission to publish the video I took of part of the meeting inside the police station . A direct link to the video can be found at http://uploads.blip.tv/file/675100

Love & Peace!

Red & Pink Roses- No Orchids!

noreply@blogger.com (Buthaina Alothman) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 14:17:00 +0000

This is really funny; the flowers shop delivered the roses in the image and took the orchids mistakenly delivered early! Actually my children saw the blogged photo of orchids and immediately called the shop :-D

Happy Valentine's Day World!

noreply@blogger.com (Buthaina Alothman) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 13:00:00 +0000

The orchids I got from my children :-D

Web 2.0 for ESP: Welcome to Web 2.0 for ESP, Week 2!

noreply@blogger.com (Buthaina Alothman) — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 22:52:00 +0000

Web 2.0 for ESP: Welcome to Web 2.0 for ESP, Week 2!

एवो २००८ वेब २.० फॉर एस्प सेस्सिओं इस नो ओपन!! (थिस इस अ टेस्ट पोस्ट)

noreply@blogger.com (Buthaina Alothman) — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 21:14:00 +0000

This is a test to see how Hindi language is integrated in this blog posts!

PS I'd be greatly appreciative if somebody who speaks Hindi could provide feedback on the accuracy of the title of this post. Just post a comment to tell me what the title of this post says.

Thanks!

IUCN 2007: "New Learning for Sustainability in the Arab Region"

noreply@blogger.com (Buthaina Alothman) — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 23:26:00 +0000

I was invited to present at the IUCN unevent held in Alexandria, Egypt, on August 31-Spetember 1, 2007 was one of the most exciting, learning experience. The atmosphere inside the main room was friendly, and a real blend of formal and informal interactions. The organizers actually did a wonderful job integrating interesting new learning and facilitating techniques to have people, the presenters and audience, get closer and think together during discussions after or before a presentation. I really liked the Carousel discussion technique that was used during the closing session; it encouraged everyone to get involved, contributing ideas, getting inspired, and learning, together. This was my first time to participate in this kind of activity which I hope to use in future projects.

Moreover, I was happy to meet people from the Arab world and to exchange ideas about what can be done to help improve our region. I was thrilled to see how a number of them were so enthusiastic and determined to start trying to implement some of the new ideas once they return to their countries.

Furthermore, I was also glad that I had the chance to hold an interesting conversation during lunch breaks with the translator of this conference, a professor of Translation at the University of Alexandria, who did the translation from English to Arabic. Actually, I was curious to learn what Arabic words she used to express some technical terms and names, such as Web 2.0, blogs, and wikis that were mentioned in some presentations. I know that the Arabic word for a blog is "modawina", but it was interesting to find her preferred to use such names or terms in Arabic as they were said in English, which made sense to me since these technical names or terms don't exist in Arabic, anyway!

Vance gave an interesting useful presentation, as always amazing the audience when he talked about tagging and then announced the conference tag, IUCNALEX. And, I talked about Blending Formal & Informal Learning Using New Technologies in the Workplace; here is the slideshow.
After each session, speakers were requested to go to breakout rooms where participants had the chance to visit each room to ask questions or comment. In my room, I was joined by participants interested in informal learning and the discussions were focused on ways to integrate informal learning in the workplace, in particular.

On day 2, Vance ran the Unworkop successfully, impressing people, despite of the technical difficulties, he has already reported to you about. The unexpected part, for me at least, was that the participants were so interested in SL; and the funniest comment heard during the discussion that followed the workshop came from an Egyptian participant who said that "SecondLife should be called SecondWife" in an indication to the time one could spend at SL. They also liked Elluminate and asked many questions, including license and pricing!

This IUCN 3-day Workshop was an eyes wide open experience for me. It helped me improve my plans for my classes for this semester of Fall 2007, which starts here on, Monday, Sept. 17, 2007; and made me feel optimistic about things people can do virtually together in terms of education, learning, teaching and facilitating, in order to make it a better world for all.

Finally, here are some more photos tagged with IUCNALEX or iucn2007

Trying Animoto!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Buthaina Alothman) — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 14:44:00 +0000

I've just created this slideshaw / video with animoto. I'm so impressed by this new technology; it's fun and easy...Thanks to Ewan McIntoch for informing and sharing!

noreply@blogger.com (Buthaina Alothman) — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 00:38:00 +0000

SkypedPresentation by Dr. John Bradley

Watch the video

Dr. John Bradley thankfully gave a short presentation via skype to the group of bankers participating in the Blended Business English program. The presentation focused on Dr. Bradley's recent Business project in China.

Branch Managers of Gulf Bank are grateful for Dr. Bradley for the information he shared with them and for answering their questions.

noreply@blogger.com (Buthaina Alothman) — Wed, 31 May 2006 23:48:00 +0000

SkypedConversation on Presentation Skills by Dennis Oliver

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Dennis Oliver, an ESL professional at Phoenix Community College in Phoenix, Arizona, USA leading a skypedconversation with some branch managers particiipating in the Blended ESP in ELF program. The skypedconversation focused on oral presentation skills.

noreply@blogger.com (Buthaina Alothman) — Wed, 31 May 2006 23:03:00 +0000

SkypedConversation between Phoenix, USA & Gulf Bak of Kuwait

Watch the video

noreply@blogger.com (Buthaina Alothman) — Sun, 01 Jan 2006 06:56:00 +0000

MobileVideo!

Watch the video

This is test video taped via my Nokia Mobile. Let's see if it works here.

noreply@blogger.com (Buthaina Alothman) — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 16:55:00 +0000

Celebrating Christmas with Friends in Lebanon!

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Dear Webheads and Friends everywhere,

I spent last week with friends in Lebanon where we celebrated Christmas, together. I had Christmas dinner last Sunday with my friends, Michel and Sonia. Ruba, their daughter played the guitar while we were preparing dinner. I’ve videoblogged a short clip of Ruba to my blib.tv.blog to share with you the wonderful moments I spent with my friends on Christmas day, Dec. 25, 2005, in Beirut. Hope you like it.