Revision of our Course This Semester with Dr. Kurt

Hello again everbody! We've come a long way since we started this semester. In our Technology and Materials Design course with Dr. Kurt, I can honestly say that we learned a lot. Almost every week we had a new subject, something new to learn, something new to discover. We created our personal blogs, discovered educational web tools, mobile apps and much more. We tried to learn how we can adjust ourselves to the 21st century learners. We learned how to integrate education with technology, how to benefit from technology to achieve our educational goals. In the beginning of the semester, Dr. Kurt informed us that any kind of instruction about a tool or subject was not going to be made by her in class. We were to discover and find out how to do the things we are supposed to to by watching videos, searching the internet or discussing with our friends. In my opinion, instructions made in class could be more practical for us (we wouldn't loose too much time trying to figure things out which we experience for the first time).Anyways, we came to an end of a beautiful semester and I thank Mr. Kurt for her efforts to turn us into better 21st century teachers. Stay safe everyone :)

PIXICLIP - an Educational Web Tool

Hello everyone! After a small break I want to introduce you a web tool called PIXICLIP. It is an interactive whiteboard on which you can save and share your work online. I presented this tool in class with my friend Ilker and we found this tool very useful for educational purposes. According to me, the best feature of this tool is it's simplicity. You don't have to subscribe, download or upload anything.You just search PIXICLIP on Google and start doodling!

As I said, it is very simple that almost everyone can understand how it works in 5 minutes. We have a pencil, pen, eraser, scale, undo or redo buttons which help us to doodle. We have only 6 colors which I think is too limited, few more color options could be added to make it better. A very good feature of PIXICLIP is it's enability to add our voice or video recording to our work. By doing one of these, we can explain or narrate while we demonstrate.
PIXICLIP can be used by the students for storytelling or describing something as a task. It can also be used in flipped classrooms in which the teacher records his voice and explains the subject online.
Finally I want to add the negative points (according to me) of PIXICLIP. The recording time of audio and video is limited to only five minutes. So if you want to narrate or explain something which takes longer than five minutes, you have to create another file (according to the length of your subject.) The second point I want to mention is the limited number of color options. I think a few more color options would make PIXICLIP a better educational web tool.
By clicking here you can watch a quick tutorial of PIXICLİP to better understand it's features.
Oh, and I think you also should have a look at our presentation which we did in our class. Have a good time :)

MEMRISE

Hello folks, I have a mobile application used for language learning to introduce you today. The application is called Memrise.It is avaliable for both IOS and Android I found it very enjoyable to spend time with. This application mostly focuses on the lexicon. It is also a strong reinforcer as it asks the meaning of the same word in different ways continuously. You can also listen to the pronunciation of the new vocabulary by using this application. Let me now explain you the procedure with visual aids.

Inıtially you can pick the topic of the vocabulary which you want to learn. There are many different topics such as illness, food, first aid, maths, weather etc.You can see the definitons of the vocabulary of a specific topic on a list. A sample is below:

After you pick the topic, you can continue with the tasks which are test questions that measure your lexical knowledge and pronunciation. There are beginner and expert options according to your self confidence and again lexical knowledge.

Such a mobile application would be beneficial for language learning I think, at least in learning lexicon, because it is simple and contextualised, which will enable learners to be motivated and feel eager to learn new lexical items.
An English teacher could use this application as a warm-up task before starting a new topic. He could ask his students to complete the tasks and discuss the new vocabulary items before starting the lesson.
Here is a video from which you can make it more clear what Memrise is about. Feel free to comment your questions :)

Bugaboo and Fruits

      

Greetings. This week me and my partner Melike collaborated and created a digital story for you guys.

What is a digital story? Well, a digital story is obviously a story but which is created by the help of audio recordings,visuals, moviemaker programs and other technological tools. In our story we have three characters involved. Bugaboo, which is a monkey and Alice are close friends. There is also Talos, who is a fruit salesman. They try to solve Bugaboo's hunger problem by finding his favourite fruit..

While creating the digital story, we used Voice Thread which is a technological tool for editing movies.

We had a few difficulties while designing the background and recording audio, but it was worth it. Using digital stories can enhance students' creativity and it can make learning more fun, so I recommend teachers to use this device for teaching a foreign language.

After all, I think it's time to watch the story! Feel free to add comments :)

TIME For Kids

Greetings folks! It’s nice to be here again after a break of a week. This week I evaluated an educational website according to a form you can see above. I asked nine questions to myself, and tried to answer them as accurately as possible. As I was searching for educational websites to search, I stopped and picked this one, because it seemed realistic to me. The form and features of the website charmed me and I decided to go with TIME For Kids.

TIME For Kids is a pretty systematic website, it is well thought and designed. It addresses to learners of English from a wide range of ages. The website is updated continually and new articles are added sequentially. TIME For Kids contain it’s own ‘’kid reporters’’ which take place in writing the articles! You can reach to these kid reporters bio’s if you want to learn more about them. TIME For Kids include many sections such as TFK Magazine, Digital Edition, Whiteboard etc. There is a lot to discover!If you want to have a look, click here and start discovering J

TIME For Kids seems likely to be a sufficient website to promote EFL education, however it is not a free website. It actually demands a fee- per-student.The website aims to reach the Common Core State Standards, which you can learn more about by checking the Picture out below.