Instructional Technologies

 We started our lesson with pictures from Gökan Hoca's previous classes and talked about VR. Then we went on with the difference between AR and VR; apparently augmented reality, overlays digital images onto your view of the real world, often through a smartphone while virtual reality primarily uses a headset to form an immersive 3D experience.  After that, we discussed the places that AR is used. Some of which are; - Education - STEM - Gaming (e.g. Pokemon GO) [Picture 1] - Job Training - Furniture display (e.g. IKEA) [Picture 2]  - Navigation (e.g. Google Maps) [Picture 3], etc.  Then Ayşe Sude said that one of the negative aspects of AR is that it does not seem real, it's way too animatic. Melis also reminded us that some people were injured while playing Pokemon GO; therefore, physical safety could also be an issue. From there on, we learned that AR has 3 types of applications; Image-based, Creation-based, and Markerless . Image-based: Using AR by scanning QR cod...

 Our lesson started with technical issues 😀 but we got the party going almost immediately. We went on with discussing whether some of us know or tried VR, Mr. Karacan's previous project about VR, and obtained more information about what VR is. Then we watched an informative video (link down below) about virtual reality. The first thing mentioned in the video was that it was not only for gaming. It has many more features and some of them the VR offers to its users are; - Watching movies & TV shows - Learning to play an instrument - Touring around the world - Meditation - Facing fears (heights, darkness, bugs...) - Additive manufacturing - Attending live concerts or sports shows - Education - Shopping - Hanging out with friends from different places... After the video, we discussed the areas in which VR can be used; education, entertainment, traveling, gaming, shopping, military, meditating, training, finance, architecture, real estate, etc. Our next focus was on a website calle...

 We started our lesson with a question about our favorite emoji and went on with our routine; Mr. Karacan briefly talked about the topics we mentioned from week 1 to week 11. 💬 Then we started with this week's topic; machinima . Apparently, It is a combination of two words; machine and cinema . So, it's a technique that is used to produce animations with video game graphics . The way we, teachers, use machinima in our classes is almost clear. We are material developers; therefore, we need to come up with activities to make our lessons entertaining. Some of the materials the teachers offer are ready-made materials like coursebooks, worksheets but sometimes, these materials do not meet the expectations. Due to that, it is beneficial for teachers to produce their own materials. In order to do that, Mr. Karacan showed us a website to use; teacheranima.com . Teacheranima has many topics on language teaching (link is down below), like we checked out in the lesson. Teachers can easil...

 We started this week's lesson with a Minecraft background by Mr. Karacan 😸. The first question of the lesson was ' What is your favorite game? ' but I missed that part; therefore I'll answer it here, it is Outlast (and maybe Resident Evil)! I'm a huuuge admirer of horror games.👹  After, we learned the differences between games, game-based learning, and gamification. Games are, as we all know, programs that are produced to make people have fun. Game-based learning is providing education by using games and fun activities but in this way of learning, apparently, the whole content is based on the game. Meaning that the learning is guided by the game . This is the main feature that distinguishes gamification from game-based learning. The game does not direct the whole content, the teacher does. He/she gamifies an element but it does not take place the whole semester. Then Mr. Karacan showed us a list [Picture 1] that contained more detailed differences between the ter...

 In this week's lesson, we talked about MALL , an abbreviation for  Mobile-assisted Language Learning . The meaning of this phrase is receiving education from small mobile devices/smartphones.  This way of learning has many redeeming features and positive gainings. The conveniences are, according to Agnes Kukulska-Humme and Olga Viberg (2018) , being accessible anywhere and anytime, personalization, active participation, peer-coaching, etc. It also helps with motivation and enjoyment as well as the reduction of anxiety during language classes.  However, this learning form has negative aspects too. Students are more likely to get distracted by their phones, have safety concerns, or face technical issues; therefore, decreasing the chances of receiving high-quality lessons. Then we mentioned applications/websites to use in order to help the learner improve in speaking skills. Some of which are Duolingo, Voicethread, Twitter, video editing apps, WhatsApp , etc. Using th...

 In this week's lesson our topic was LMS , an abbreviation for Learning Management Systems . Such systems help teachers in managing class, homeworks, reports, etc. There are many systems teachers can use as a management tool. The websites/systems we mentioned in the class are below; Microsoft Teams: An system which has features like live meeting, chatting, assigning works, pairing into groups, grading, etc. Perculus: A system that is known for being more private; therefore, safer than other systems. However, it is not applicable because of the lack of features. Blackboard: An education based systems with many features. It is similar to Teams but this one can be accepted more useful due to the convenience of it. It allows teachers to download documents easily. Other striking features are time tracking, various testing types (fill-in-the-blanks, open-ended, multiple choice, etc.), rooms, etc. Edmodo: Guess what? Another education based system 😁 It offers features like online classes...

 We started our lesson with the daily moods of our classmates. Then we went on with today's topic: Systems that can be used while giving a presentation and how to make our presentations more interactive. We checked out a few websites to use in order to improve our presentations. The websites are below; Nearpod: A n interactive presentation website that has VR (360 ° Map), voting, pie chart,   true/false activity, drawing, and  collaborative board features. Mentimeter: Another interactive website with many features like interactive polls, quizzes, Q&A, and word cloud. Hypersay: Again, an interactive website 😀. The site has a chatbox, question tab, and clapping feature. Slido: A presentation website that has features like polling, Q&A, multiple choice quiz, rating, ranking, etc. Canva: A website that has informative graphic templates about many topics. Postermywall: Another website with many templates that can be used in order to improve presentations visually. Pik...

We started our lesson by recalling what we did in previous weeks; technologies to use while practicing reading (e.g. Storyweaver, CommonLit ), writing (e.g. Padlet, OneNote ), vocabulary (e.g. Kahoot, Quizziz ), etc. Then went on with this week's topic: Oral Communication Skills and How to Develop them with Technology During our lesson, we observed many websites. Some of which are below; - Google Podcasts: The website where you can try Google's feature with thousands of podcasts - Castos: A website to produce your own podcast or listen to one - Voki: A website where the narrator can form a character and make it talk - Powtoon: Website to generate animations - Vyond: Website to make animation videos - EdPuzzle: Website to prepare interactive videos - YouGlish: Website that shows the word used in context (in videos) - VoScreen: Website to study language by doing activities from movie/series scenes. Example of an exercise is down below [Picture 5] - Elllo: Website that give...

We started our lesson by joining Mr. Karacan's padlet  presentation. Like we do every week, we started by reviewing our previous lessons' topics; Web 1.0 - 2.0 - 3.0, the statistics we discussed in week 2, etc. While reviewing our former lessons we also analyzed padlet  and learned about what does it do + how to use it. We examined the site and a presentation made for 4th graders. After that, we went on with Google Docs and checked the interactivity by writing a story 😀. The other sites/applications we checked during the lesson are listed below: - Dropbox Paper :  A website/application that can be shared with others and work as a group by writing simultaneously. - Slack: An interactive software - Evernote/OneNote/Notion: Applications students & teachers can use to take notes. After these, we checked websites that help with  Automated Writing .  We tried Grammarly and checked  ProWritingAid, LangaugeToo . Apparently, these websites/extensions/appl...

 At the beginning of the lesson, we briefly talked about our previous lessons and summarised the topics. Then, we went on with this week's topic; how to teach reading with online platforms? During the lesson, we observed many internet sites which will help with online reading. Some of which are; - Rapid Translator: A chrome extension that immediately translates the target word. - digitallibrary.io: Can be used as an e-library - storyweaver: An e-library that has books in different levels - Scholastic: A publishing house which has its books as an e-book on it site - raz-kids: A kids' book library with interactive books - common.lit: A website with articles and e-books - readworks.org: An e-library that also has games and activities in it. This week's lesson was quite informative and beneficial. I've checked the sites myself and will definitely use them in my daily life!

This week's lesson started with a summary of the last week's lesson. We mentioned the tables, the amount of internet usage, and web evolution once again. Later on, we read a table [Picture 1], in which we learned more about Web 1.0, Web 2.0, and Web 3.0 . During discussions, Deniz Kasap said that in Web 2.0, the most used application is Facebook and she added that Amazon and GittiGidiyor  are good examples for Web 3.0 since they keep track of our actions.   After reading and discussing the features in the table we went on with this week's main topic; online platforms . Mr. Karacan said that sometimes teachers may not have enough materials for the next lesson. In that case, doing online quizzes is the best option. It not only gets the students' attention but also lets them have and learn at the same time. In the lesson, we analyzed a few sites like EdWordle*[Picture 2], WordSift*, etc. and played Quizlet -which I failed to succeed...- I quite enjoyed our lesson this wee...

During our lesson, we examined a few tables (e.g Global Digital Usage, Most Used Digital Platforms, etc.) and came to the conclusion that the number of people between the age of 16 to 64 using mobile phones, the internet, and social media has risen since last year. To quote Mr. Karacan "Every 8.5 out of 10 individuals use internet connection.", which means that people can connect with each other through the web and we, teachers, should use this opportunity in our favor. Later on, we discussed the short teaching videos on the internet. Ayşe Sude mentioned a guy on TikTok teaching English and we exchanged views on whether this is effective or not. We also mentioned the applications used to practice languages such as Discord, Duolingo, Tandem, HelloTalk, Cambly, etc.  Then we analyzed the most visited websites in Turkey like Google, EBA, Translate, etc. meaning that there are millions of students in our country using the internet for education and language purposes. We continued...