27 January – Zaid Ali Alsagoff (International Medical University’s e-Learning Manager) was voted No. 1 in the World (and Asia-Pacific) on the ‘Top e-Learning Movers & Shakers in 2013’ (TEMS13) poll based on votes from 1861 learning professionals/educators around the world. Hasnain Baloch, IMU’s Senior Instructional Designer was No 6 in the World, and No 3 in Asia-Pacific according to the same poll. A big congratulations to both! TEMS13 included 220 nominees (top learning professionals and educators nominated by fellow professionals) from primary, secondary, tertiary and corporate sectors in North-America (104), Europe (49), Asia-Pacific (46), Africa (13) and South-America (8).
Zaid also won the top ‘e-Learning Super Hero of 2013’ award (Hasnain was No. 12), which is based on a gamified scoring system, which also takes into account who votes for you (Impact Votes: Other nominees voting for you). The TEMS13 project mission was to:
- Create a transparent and open poll that celebrates the World’s top (e-)Learning professionals from all sectors, including primary, secondary, tertiary and corporate learning worlds.
- Connect all these amazing (e-)Learning professionals through a poll using Listly and applying a gamified algorithm to encourage them to explore, discover and connect with one another.
- Make all these (e-)Learning professionals more ‘discoverable’ to the world through a unified directory with filters based on the major continents (South America, North-America, Asia-Pacific, Europe and Africa).
Most interestingly, the TEMS13 project was actually initiated by Zaid Ali Alsagoff himself to also challenge other e-learning related polls run by US and UK-based panels and closed-voting systems, such as Bob Little’s annual top ten e-learning movers and shakers (Zaid was No. 10 in Asia-Pacific in 2012 and 2013). Since Zaid was the originator, organiser, and promoter for TEMS13, he was not eligible for any awards by the sponsors. As such, Prof Mohamed Amin Embi (UKM) won £100 British pounds (Sponsored by iBerry) and one year commercial subscription to Listly for the ‘Top e-Learning Mover & Shaker in 2013’ award, and Juan Domingo Farnós (Spain) won $200 British Pounds (Sponsored by iBerry) and one year commercial subscription to Listly for the ‘e-Learning Super Hero of 2013’ award. The TEMS13 poll using Listly was launched on 12 December, and within days attracted the attention of many learning professionals around the world. However, it wasn’t until after TEMS13 appeared on an Edudemic post that it went truly viral around the world (attracting 35,800+ views), and became the list learning professionals wanted to be on. Edudemic is a leading education technology site, with more than 1,000,000 monthly views. Although, the TEMS13 project was more about discovering, creating awareness and connecting exceptional learning professionals, it evolved into very a competitive poll that many learning professionals desired to win. The last 24 hours turned out to be blockbuster thriller that even Holly or Bollywood would have been proud of. It was basically down to these fantastic four e-Learning Super Heroes to battle it out:
Zaid was No. 4 and needed a miracle to win! Interestingly, not many from International Medical University (IMU) had voted for him yet, but on that last voting day he got unbelievable and unstoppable support from IMU and International Medical College (IMC) to make the difference that separated him from the other three e-Learning Super Heroes. Here are some of the Twitter tweets by the other Top 3 nominees during the last day of voting: Mohamed Amin Embi (Number 2):
- “@zaidlearn What ‘Magic wand’ are you using to make the votes at #TEMS13 for you to increase virtually every 10-15 minutes?” – Source
- “@zaidlearn I know. I am just joking. My support are mainly from M’sia. Your support are from M’sia as well as the whole world. Congrats Bro” – Source
- “@zaidlearn The fact that you can manage both, YOU are to me the REAL SUPERHERO. Well done Zaid. I am sure others will feel the same. ” – Source
- “The fact that Zaid is managing & playing #TEMS13, He is the REAL SUPERHERO. I am sure others will feel the same. Pls vote @zaidlearn” – Source
Juandoming (Number 3):
- “@zaidlearn @AlfredoPrietoMa @ProfDrAmin uiiiii cuantos votos habeis conseguido en poquitas horas? jejejej felicidades a todos.” – Source
Alfredo Prieto (Number 4):
- “@zaidlearn congratulations from learning gladiator (@AlfredoPrietoMa ) what a sprint!!” – Source
- “@zaidlearn 311 votes! Zaid you are the best sprinter, the Usain Bolt of learning! what a final sprint! great victory congratulations.” – Source
Zaid never thought he would actually win both awards, but had hoped by participating in the poll he could enjoy the fun (he loves to compete) and be a serious pacemaker pushing the other nominees to participate and attract more voters. In the end, he did win and the other top 3 nominees accepted the results in a gracefully sporty manner. Congratulations to all four and of course Hasnain Baloch for doing exceptionally well, too. Overall, the TEMS13 project turned out to be a very successful event with a fairy-tale ending, and it has put both Zaid and IMU on the global map of e-learning. The iBerry sponsor was so thrilled with the event and all the buzz it got that they have already offered to sponsor next year’s version, should it take place. According to Zaid, his greatest achievement with TEMS13 was not winning the two awards, but coming up with the idea and making it a success story that has connected and made so many learning professionals discoverable and happy. It will be interesting to see what Zaid can creatively cook up for TEMS14. Congratulations to Zaid for his wonderful achievements and success from ideation to execution of the TEMS13 project.
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