#TeachingwithTe(a)chnology - Final Thoughts on the Integration of Technology to the Education Field

Hello all! 

I've been postponing this post for a long time and I think I am ready to share my ideas about this journey with you. 

First of all, thank you for staying with me all along the way! When I first learned that we were going to take this class online and create a blog as a portfolio, I was over the moon! Since I am such a technology dork, I felt so happy and enthusiastic about the things we were going to create. 

In my high school years, I was interested in creating websites and playing with the HTML codes. Thanks to those years I had not to face difficulties while forming a blog and it turned out to be such a fun activity. 

And due to the fact that while creating a site you have to learn some photoshop skills and be able to use them, I gained some basic photoshopping skills. In those years, I didn't know that they would help me designing my blog!

After starting our lessons,  I felt really motivated since this lesson was different from the other lesson which requires you to sit on the desk and listen to the teacher... It was an experience of discovering your limits of creativity! 

When I look back to our first lesson and my last post, I feel proud of myself achieving and pushing my limits. The best part of this lesson is the concrete outcomes of what you've done the entire term. Most of the time, I do not talk about the things we've seen at the lessons but it is different for this lesson since I share what I designed to my friends, even with my father and mother. 

I really want to thank our teacher, Gökçe Kurt, for making all of these happen. She gave us a great opportunity to go on a journey of self-discovery. What I really liked about her lessons is that she only gave us instruction and leave the rest to our creativity and imagination. Thanks to her we were not limited to one source. To be honest that's one of the things which made my term fruitful in terms of self-improvement and being independent on the field of education. 

Lastly, I want to finish my words by saying 'I genuinely had fun!'. 

I know that I will not forget this lesson. 

See you and take care as always. 

#TeachingwithTe(a)chnology - RSS

Hello all! 

I hope you all doing fine and well. The term is almost over so we're so close to the finishing line now!  But we still do have so much to talk and one of them is about, RSS. 

As usual, let's start with its definition. 

RSS 

.noun

a standardized system for the distribution of content from an online publisher to Internet users.

1990s: originally an abbreviation of RDF Site Summary, later interpreted as Rich Site Summary, and now usually as Really Simple Syndication. 

 

As we can see from the Chart about the frequency of the term RSS, one can clearly understand that the term gained its popularity just after the 60s. At the 2010's, it has found its peak. 

Let's continue with the subject which is 'How we use RSS?'. 

RSS actually offers the user an opportunity to follow the blogs he or she like and keep them updated on the new posts! So, not only among the bloggers but also among most of the people who are frequently utilizing Internet services! Due to the functions of RSS, we can not limit its usage to only bloggers. 

Thanks to our teacher's suggestion -Gökçe K.-, I've recently started using RSS to collect the sites I like and would love to check again together. I mostly followed ELT blogs but you can customize your RSS feed according to what you like! 

The service I'm using is called 'Reeder' and you can download it from AppStore. 

❃ Why I use Reeder? 

I use Reeder in order to keep myself up-to-date. Most of the time, I just scan the sites and not look deeper and in detail cause of the lack of time. But with this app, I can save them, star them and rather than scanning I can easily see the details in those. 

❃ What is my favorite blog? 

My favorite and I think one of the most interesting blogs that I follow is Tekhnologic! 

At about me section the owner says 'I  am an English language teacher in Japan and I teach with and without the use of technology in the classroom.' and I really enjoy following his posts since they are adaptable to the class environment and includes lots of technology usage. One of the distinct features the site has that the sophisticated use of PowerPoint. The owner prepares lots of activity and task which can be conducted by only using PowerPoint. I didn't know there would be lots of opportunity like that in PP and I feel enlightened in a way actually! 

Here is a video on how I use Reeder. :) 

Overall, I am really glad to find out about the existence of RSS. I didn't know it was such a useful tool till this semester and in the future I can see myself using it to not forget the interesting activities and tasks. :) 

What are your opinions about RSS? Which service are you benefitting from? 

Don't forget to share your ideas and thought on this subject with me! Thank you. 

See you and take care. 

#TeachingwithTe(a)chnology - Infographics

Hello everyone!

Today we are going to share our ideas about another familiar subject, infographics. 

With the popularity of the technology, infographics also gained popularity approximately 10 years ago. Now nearly ever field benefit from the usage of infographics. 

As usual, let's start the discussion with their meaning! 

infographic 

/ˌɪnfə(ʊ)ˈɡrafɪk/

nounplural noun: infographics 

a visual representation of information or data, e.g. as a chart or diagram."a good infographic is worth a thousand words"

As I mentioned, we utilize infographics nearly all of the subjects in order to emphasize the information we're giving. I found a informative infographic about 'What is an Infographic?', please see below.

 Let's narrow our subject a little and touch on the subject of the usage of infographics in language education. As a teacher candidate, infographics and posters are my favorite things when it comes to reinforce or take attention of the learners to a subject even when it's boring or mostly theoretical. 

               

As a visual learner, I prefer to draw or look at the things while learning. And I know that there will be students like me who like to learn the things by coloring or drawing them. So, I can easily utilize by using infographics during the teaching process. 

It's nearly the end of the term... They say 'The time flies so fast without realizing...'' and it exactly happened like that. I remember the start of the term and now we're finishing it! Hence, I wanted to make an infographic about the Web 2.0 tools I mostly benefitted this term! I hope they would also help in your studies as well. I briefly mentioned about the affordances as well as constraints of them so you will have an idea about what to expect or not from the tools. 

I used Piktochart in order to create this infographic! 

*Click on my infographic to go their site!*

Do you use the tools I've mentioned? What are the affordances or constraints of them to you? 

Let me hear your comments! 

See you and take care. 

#TeachingwithTe(a)chnology - Digital Storytelling

Hello all! 

Today, our topic to discuss on is 'digital storytelling'. 

When I started the spring term this year, I accidentally bought a video program at the middle of the night... Nonetheless, I am glad that it turned out handy since I'm preparing most of my assignments with it. One of them is our digital story! 

First, let's look at the definition of digital storytelling, shall we? 

digital storytelling

Digital storytelling is a short form of digital media production that allows everyday people to share aspects of their story. 

So, as you can understand from its definition, its another way of telling the stories we've! 

While mentioning the stories of us, I want to talk to you about the story of our friendship with Sıla-my deskmate, unimate, classmate, foodmate. :)  I won't be writing the details, so you should check the video below. In order to create this video, I used the program 'VivaVideo'. It is a nice tool allowing you to create videos easily! 

My friend Sıla and I talked about our friendship from different views. While doing this project we evaluated our friendship so much time. I think that was the aim of the study. And I am glad having a friend like her. -Check out her blog too!!-

So while doing this project, I realized some advantages of it. Firstly, you are collaborating with your friend most of the time. You are listening to each other and taking decisions together. You share new ideas, examine them together and ta-dah... a product born by your efforts! 

Secondly, you have to use not only one skill but more. You have to add your voice firstly and in order to understand is it usable or not you are to listen it over and over. Before all of them you should write what is going to happen and what you are going to tell... So all 4 core skills are actually playing a major role while doing this project. 

And lastly, the novelty and creativity of the project make it interesting! It motivates students to do it. We had so much fun while doing it as well as discussing what to do! 

As a teacher candidate, I definitely think about giving assignments like that to the students in order to make the learning process more interesting. It's also beneficial to increase collaboration among the students. 

What do you think about digital story telling? If you were a teacher, what projects would you give to your students by means of creating a digital story?

See you and take care. 

#TeachingwithTe(a)chnology - Posters

Hello all!

Today we are going to talk about something I really like while doing it! Posters! Before this assignment, I've already done some posters for my other works. So I am really excited to prepare a poster for a movie for this assignment.

Let's start, shall we?

First things first, let's look at the meaning of the word poster.

poster
(poʊstəʳ)
A poster is a large notice or picture that you stick on a wall or board, often in order to advertise something.
Synonyms: notice, bill, announcement, advertisement

So posters are something which we humans encounter most of our lives. But, are we also realizing that they also play an important role in language education too?

Most teachers are benefiting from the posters to prepare a summary of grammar points or just emphasizing the significant vocabulary, verbs, etc. 

Thus, for us-teacher candidates, it is also important to know how to prepare posters and use them efficiently. I personally like to prepare posters via using my phone nonetheless there are some great sites which you can use in your computer either. Also not to mention doing it by hand with your students can make it fun to prepare posters too! For this project I used the program which is called Bazaart. That's my favorite program when it comes to preparing posters! 

As I've mentioned, I'd done some posters for my other works as well. Here are some of them about Gender Inequality and my favorite write Mary Shelley. 

But for my assignment, I had 2 options which were creating either a film poster or a magazine cover. So I chose to create a film poster. But it wasn't a normal film poster. We are to create a movie poster based on the book you read. I picked the book Fahrenheit 451 that I've recently read. And as a Sherlock fan, I thought Benedict Cumberbatch would be an awesome choice to play Guy Montag aka the protagonist of the story. 

Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

Guy Montag is a fireman who burns books in a futuristic American city. In Montag’s world, firemen start fires rather than putting them out. The people in this society do not read books, enjoy nature, spend time by themselves, think independently, or have meaningful conversations. Instead, they drive very fast, watch excessive amounts of television on wall-size sets, and listen to the radio on “Seashell Radio” sets attached to their ears.

Here is the poster I've prepared!
*click the poster to see it on its original size*

As a person and a teacher candidate I really support the idea of using posters in language education. They are really beneficial for students to learn something while enjoying it. I really wish to see more teachers to use them at their classes. 

What do you think about my film poster? Let me hear your comments! 

See you and take care. 

Let's Take a Look at an ESL Website Closely

Hello all! 

Today, we are going to put an ESL website under our scopes and evaluate it together! 

As you know -or not know, I am an ELT student which also means I have to search through different ESL websites in order to expand the material choices I have and gain a new perspective. :) 

Consequently, we are going to examine the site which is called VOA -learning English. 

Let the evaluation process start! 

✮ Who authored the website? Is there any information about their qualifications or credentials?

-This website was found by the radio web which is called Voice of America. There is no information about their qualifications. ‘’In 2014, our line of products was expanded to include more English teaching materials, and the service became known as Learning English.’’ said in their site in about us part.

All the news share the information of the producers and reporters under it.

✮ What is the content of the website? 

-The content of the website includes not only learning materials but also teaching. There is also an audio menu that broadcasts can be found. Lots of news contribute to the authentic material the site possess. 

✮ Who is the target audience? 

-The target audience is mostly students but teachers can 

also benefit from the site, as well.

✮ What is the purpose of the website?

-The purpose of the site is to be a multimedia source of news

and information for millions of English learners worldwide.

✮  Is there a date that shows when the site has latest been updated? 

-You can pick the date by clicking the calendar symbol in order

to choose the date from the date you want to the latest.

✮ Are there any errors or information corruption? 

-As far as I see, there is no clear mistakes. 

✮ Are there any broken links? 

-I tried their social media accounts’ links and they work perfectly.

Also the other links which they embed in their post are seem to

be working. ✔️

✮ Are the images of high quality and appealing to the target audience? 

-The images possess high quality but I couldn’t say the video quality

is like that. Videos are much more like a product of 

an amateur in terms of the materials used in them.

*A video example from the site. 

✮ How can it be applied to EFL teaching? 

-In terms of updating the class with the newest events happening

around the world, it’s such a beneficial tool to be used. Also as the

videos posted in the site are fun to watch and consist different types

of contents such as health & lifestyle, arts & culture and so forth. 

The 3D materials and games the site propose is also good for 

students to enjoy while learning another language.

Overall, I really liked and enjoyed searching through the learning the site Learning English -VOA, and recommend the teachers as an effective ESL classroom tool!

In order to look at the site please click here. 

See you and take care! 

#TeachingwithTe(a)chnology - Padlet

Hello all again, it's been awhile!

Since we were taking our midterm exams, I wasn't active as I was before. 

So, let's continue where we left, shall we? 

Today, we are going to talk about padlets. Have you ever heard about it? 

padlet

Padlet is an online virtual “bulletin” board, where students and teachers can collaborate, reflect, share links and pictures, in a secure location. Padlet allows users to create a hidden wall with a custom URL.

As the definition suggests, padlets are virtual online walls which allow the user to create a picture of insight thoughts or opinions. I think padlet is a sophisticated way of forming brain-storm charts.

Actually, they are like digital cork boards. I have one cork board on my wall and when I was preparing our padlet, I saw the resemblance between them. Here they are so that you will be able to compare two of them:  

   (My cork board)

          (Our padlet)

While creating it, I realized its advantages to be used in the field of education since padlet is easy to use, accessible and student-friendly. I started to think about how can I use it while teaching English to my future students, and finally find out some projects which can be done on padlet. 

Firstly, since padlet is like an online wall, students can create games such as creating stories with pictures accordingly. Each student should add a photo or line to make the story continued and at the end, the teacher can share it in the classroom. 

It will increase the collaboration between the students consequently we can say that padlet is a good and useful tool while conducting group projects. 

With our group, we discussed the idea of 'Freedom' and talked about the rights of women, children, animals and so on. I posted a composition about 'The Color of Freedom' on there as well. So it became an efficient way to collect data about freedom for other people. If you want to take more information and take a look at it please click here.

Please go and see my friends blogs' too; Gülşah, Sıla, Refiye, İlayda, Eren. 

But you have to be careful about the Padlet's constrains too... Padlet has a very basic and simple design so it won't let you share post which are over 10MB. It was very limiting for us to post some videos about them and in addition, in one post you only can share one picture... So again it was upsetting not being able to add some kind of logos to the post as well... Nonetheless, it was enjoyable to use it with our friends. 

What would I use padlet for? How would it affect my students' motivation? 

These are the questions you should ask yourself before using it. :) 

See you and take care.