MIX OF THE TOPICS OF TWO WEEKS:)

Today, we learned how to create and publish a web page. One or two year(s) ago, we created a web page in our computer course with using frontpage, but today we learned simpler and easier way of it. Every teacher should know this website WWW.WEEBLY.COM. It is also aesthetically pleasing. You can easily have a web page/site as if it is created by a professional.Today teacher also did some distinction between wep page and web site.As far as I have understood, a web page is a single page in a web site. A web site includes more than one page.

The most interesting part of the lesson was about digital immigrants and digital natives. I really loved the features of digital immigrants.Some are true for me:) Technology is developing faster and faster day by day and children who are born in this technology age are digital natives.I found this term meaningful.I ,as a digital immigrant, sometimes find techonology difficult and boring but today’s children are very good at technology.

When it comes to our final topic,Second Life, I haven’t used it so far. I haven’t known anything about it.In my view if it is used just for pleasure, it will waste our time.I think it should be used for educational purposes.Virtual conferences and classrooms could be interesting,effective and motivating.If I use it some day, I will only use for this purpose.

PODCASTS

The teacher showed us some websites about this topic. In the lesson I liked it but later the teacher gave us a task that we had to record our voices and publish it on audioboo website. I felt that I was under pressure. I didn’t like the task. When I become a teacher, I won’t give such kind of tasks. I will  use this website just for listening activities.I think it is very useful when it is used for this purpose. I will also use podcasts for improving my listening skill. Now, I am listening bbc podcasts. They are very informative and easy to understand.I am also learning the pronunciation of some words.Therefore, this help me improve my pronunciation.

When we have become a teacher, I am sure we will have difficulty in finding right listening activity     to practice in our classrooms. In my opinion, listening is certainly essential part of a language class. In this respect, podcasts are indeed good source. Actually, it is very simple to access these podcasts.

Finally, I am not fond of wanting students to create their podcasts but it can be useful for assessing their speaking skills and pronunciation.This gives teachers a chance to assess them objectively. We can give students a reading text and we can want students to record their voices and upload them. For example, last week for my testing project I wanted students to record their voices but I couldn’t take their records. They recorded their voices via their mobile phones. Memory of my phone was full and I couldn’t get them. They encountered difficulties while they were sending them to my e-mail. If I had learnt to podcast, I wouldn’t have experienced such things.

 

DIGITAL STORYTELLING

Last week, I had an appoinment with my doctor, so I wasn’t in the lesson.I am familiar with this topic because last year we did same thing in our Teaching English to Young Learners course. I have learned the tasks from my friends. I have found this week tasks too much. However I did my best.I liked storyjumber website. It’s easy to make it. When it comes to movie maker, it is very difficult to use if you want to add a voice. Digital storytelling is very effective tool for both teachers and students especially children.It has a lot of benefits.

Teacher-created digital stories may be used to enhance current lessons within a larger unit, as a way to facilitate discussion about the topics presented a story and as a way of making abstract or conceptual content more understandable. By including images, audio and video elements in their instruction, teachers can attract their students attention easily. The use of multimedia in teaching helps students retain new information as well as aids in the comprehension of difficult material.

Digital Storytelling can also be a potent tool for students who are taught to create their own stories. After viewing example digital stories created by their teachers or other story developers, students may be given assignments. This type of activity can generate interest, attention and motivation for the “digital generation” students in today’s classrooms.

Computer Mediated Communication(CMC)

In the last lesson, the teacher(T) mentioned about some tools such as facebook, twitter,google talks etc. T asked us how to use these tools for educational purposes. I used to hate twitter, but now I think it is very important. Especially if you follow the professionals in your field, you can know  the latest developments and news about your field. One of my friends in the classroom said “I am following Krashen on twitter.”When I heard this, I was really surprised. I know Krashen’s hypothesis, I have never thought he is alive.Now, I am following some  people and organizations in ELT. I am also following Krashen:)

Internet is the easiest and fastest way to get information. If we use it consciously , it has alot of benefits.CMC also provides opportunities for language learners to practice their language.We can use these tools in our classes. It can be enjoyable and effective. Students can work simultaneously in a chat-room context  or write to each other with delay between turns . The computer, and specifically the Internet, has made it possible for students to interact not just with their classmates but also with a wide range of native speakers or other non-native speakers of the language.

Students gain fluency in language and they can be more relaxed. For example some students hesitate talking in the classroom, but s/he can speak on the internet environment. S/he feels confident and this gives T to assess Ss’ real performances in language. We can give meaningful tasks for our students to test their performances.I think it should be more motivating for them.

ONLINE CONFERENCE TOOL: WIZIQ

Thanks to wiziq, you don’t have to be in the classroom. You can create your own class in wiziq and your students can join this enjoyable class.In the lesson, because of the bad internet connection, we had to wait for working on wiziq. Finally, we managed to access the net, but this time everybody except me joined the class and started to write something on the whiteboard. I really got angry.When the internet was Ok, the lesson was about ending. I loved this tool.

The best thing about the wiziq is that it gives chances to attend other courses given by professionals in different fields. Some are free. I myself want to attend some english language courses.

This video mentions about the facilities of this tool. I recommend you to watch if you weren’t in the classroom. It gives some ideas about it.

NICENET VS. DOKEOS

Last week, we learned two tools. These were “nicenet” and “dokeos”. They are used for creating an online classroom.It is simple to use.I think Dokeos is better than Nicenet.We can do more things with dokeos.Nicenet includes some features such as conferencing, scheduling, document sharing, personal messaging and link sharing. Dokeos has useful tools such as links, tests, agenda, announcements, forums, dropbox, users, groups, chat, assignments,reporting, course maintanence, survey,video conferencing tools,etc.

I liked most tests tool in Dokeos.We can create quizes in different forms. In theory, it seems enjoyable and motivating to use these tools. I hope I will have a chance to use them. They are much practical.

I have learned a lot of  useful theoratical information so far , but still  I don’t know how to use these tools effectively in language learning . We will prepare our final projects, but I don’t have any idea in my mind. We have an intense course content.  In my opinion, we should spare much time in practicing these tools together with a purpose.

AWESOME PREZI!!!

I really loved prezi.According to Randy Howder,“Prezi allows us to communicate design ideas with our clients in a highly engaging and dynamic way, liberating interesting conversations from the boredom of one-way presentations.”

This program is really useful and motivating.You can prepare nice presentations here.It’s very simple to use.You can work with your friends on the same presentation.It enables us to catch the audiences’ attention easily.While we are making our presentations, some people start sleeping.Thanks to Prezi, everthing is dynamic.It makes our presentations interesting. I recommend everyone to use this tool while they are preparing their presentations.We have a task on this. I hope it will be very enjoyable.

Week by week, I feel that I have improved myself professionally. I want to improve my technological skills more. I am confused about our project. I think I missed some important parts in the lesson.I couldn’t understand why we would use this prezi:(

MY NOTES

What did we learn in the last lesson?

Our topic was mobile learning.The teacher showed some programmes that can be used in smart phones.Let’s take a look.

1)GMAIL:As most of us know, it is an e-mail service.It is much practical than hotmail.We can see our mails like a msn page.

2)PRESS READER:When you choose your newspapers, you can follow the up-to-date  news.

3)FEEDLY:Like google reader. It compiles news feeds from a variety of online sources for the user to customize and share with others.By the way, google reader will not be available in the coming months. You can transfer your information here.

4)SKYPE:Also , msn will not be available in the coming months.We’ll use skype instead of msn.

5)TED TALKS:I have been following tedtalks for a long time.In my opinion, the presentation videos are awesome.You also will really like them.

6)EDMODO:It  is a social learning platform for teachers, students, and parents. It is like facebook but it is used for just education.

7)DROPBOX:It  lets you bring your photos, docs, and videos anywhere and share them easily.

8)CHROME,YOUTUBE,TWITTER AND FACEBOOK:There is no need to talk about them.We all know them.They are a part of our lifes.

9)MERRIAM WEBSTER:This is my favourite.I really liked it.It is a dictionary, but it is not an ordinary dic.You can find origins of the words.

10)TURENG SÖZLÜK: It has Turkish &English equivalents  of words.

11)SESLİ SÖZLÜK:As you understand from its name, you can search a word through your voice.

12)OXFORD ADVANCED DICTIONARY:If you pay money for it, you can use .

10)ALDIKE BOOK READER:You can read and download thousands of eBooks.

11)GOOGLE READER:I have mentioned above.Check FEEDLY  please.

12)QR DROID: It allows you to digitally share just about anything.

13)WORDPRESS:We are using it.

All I have mentioned above can be used in your phones, but you have to have a smart phone and internet connection in it.Except Oxford dic., they are all free.These are the topics of the last lesson.They are my notes.I might make some mistakes.I apologize for misstatements.The lesson had very important information.Now these can be seen imaginary but in the future, most students in our classrooms will have smart phones.Then we can use them.The lesson was very interesting.When I saw the symbols, I realized that I hadn’t known most programmes.Before this course, I used to hate technology, but now I am aware of the vitality of using technology while teaching. I wrote all of them because this blog will be  my main future teaching source.

ONLINE GROUPS

This week, the teacher presented online groups.Yahoo,Google and Facebook groups.He showed us how to join and create groups.The teacher also mentioned about webheads.As I have understood, it is used for educational purposes.It enables synchronous and non-synchronous communication to people. When we want to participate in a seminar or a conference, we first look at the place whether it is near or not.Thanks to webheads,we don’t have to go anywhere.When I heard non-stop seminar, I was very surprised becuse different speakers from different countries had attended in this seminar and it had continued without stopping for a few days.I think this is an incredible event.Everyone can join this type of events.I hope I will have a chance to take part in seminars like this.I liked e-mail system in Yahoo groups.In my opinion it is the best among other groups.I want to use it when I become a teacher.

I attended The Third International Elt Conference last year.I am following this group on facebook.I think it is very useful.At first, this group’s aim was to gather and inform people about the conference.Now this group has 600 members.There are some professionals among them.Some organizations such as conferences,seminars,meetings etc.,articles , announcements,latest advances related to ELT are published there.Join this group and don’t miss the important things about ELT.

COLLABORATION IS EVERYTHING

 

This week, I really enjoyed during the lesson.We tried to work on google documents.We all started to write at the same time.Teacher asked us “What do you think about your department?”and we started to write our opinions,but some of my friends wrote some funny things.We can see our friend’s comments and  we can make some changes on it.Some deleted our comments.Finally, we managed to write something thanks to our teacher.I think google documents is very useful because it enables us to study on the same document.I used to hate working in groups because we always couldn’t get together.Therefore, one or two people had to do the work theirselves.Now,it is very easy.There is no need to be together.Every student working on the same document has a colour, so each student’s contribution can be clearly seen on it.

Another nice and useful tool is wiki.It is my favourite.The teacher gave us an username and a password.Ten students wrote stories.I wrote first sentence of my story and I continued my friend’s story.It was very interesting.I really loved it.While I was doing this, I thought I could use that when I became a teacher.Both Google Docs and Wikis enable people located in different places to work on the same document.It is easy to use and learn them.I found wiki more well-organized and simple.

Finally, this lesson was again very informative.I had fun a lot.If I work in a school that has got internet connection and a computer lab, I will definetely use these tools.They are very motivating and practical.