Sunday, 13 February 2011
Friday, 19 March 2010
1 Week 10- End of my Oregon Journey
My mind has fallen into some horrible shutdown. I find no words to write to my last blog. Looking back my previous posts when thoughts would flow from my mind, I was amazed to see my progress for the last ten weeks. It is surprising to realize one’s own improvement and I am able to see this progress via my blog.
What I gained from this course can be outlined very shortly:
1. Blogger, delicious, webquests, interactive quizzes and powerpoint presentations. They were all new to me. It is interesting that at the beginning of the course I thought myself as a skilled computer user but now I laugh to myself. Loti framework also helped me evaluate where I was before the course and where I am currently. I am excited about implementing all the things I learned in this course.
2. Thanks to our weekly readings, articles, and assignments, I was able to refresh and attain knowledge on different topics all related to classroom technology.
3. In ten week’s time I had opportunity to participate enjoyable and informative classroom discussions and debates on Nicenet with my very precious friends. Reading everyone’s post, evaluating their comments was also the most indispensable part of this course.
I can say with all honesty that I learned more than I expected or intended. A great investment for myself. Last but not least, I want to thank Deborah and Sandra for their valuable feedback and comments to our posts.
Regards,
Gülsen
What I gained from this course can be outlined very shortly:
1. Blogger, delicious, webquests, interactive quizzes and powerpoint presentations. They were all new to me. It is interesting that at the beginning of the course I thought myself as a skilled computer user but now I laugh to myself. Loti framework also helped me evaluate where I was before the course and where I am currently. I am excited about implementing all the things I learned in this course.
2. Thanks to our weekly readings, articles, and assignments, I was able to refresh and attain knowledge on different topics all related to classroom technology.
3. In ten week’s time I had opportunity to participate enjoyable and informative classroom discussions and debates on Nicenet with my very precious friends. Reading everyone’s post, evaluating their comments was also the most indispensable part of this course.
I can say with all honesty that I learned more than I expected or intended. A great investment for myself. Last but not least, I want to thank Deborah and Sandra for their valuable feedback and comments to our posts.
Regards,
Gülsen
Sunday, 14 March 2010
2 Week 9
Another fruitful and demanding and busy week finished just like the blink of an eye. Days are passing so fast and it becomes very difficult for me to catch. This week for the first time I felt I am really tired. Having some rest after this course would be a good idea for me.
Now it comes the answer of the question “what I did this week”. I sent my final project and I’d like to thank Zlatka for being such a nice peer review partner. This week’s one of the hot topics was creating online course sites and exercises. When I created a class from Nicenet, I was surprised to see that it was such an easy task. Nicenet will definitely work for students in ELT department. They can discuss and share ideas about any of the ELT topics.
I also explored many sites and I liked toolsforeducators best. You can create different kinds of activities but exercises are mostly for elementary level students. These online exercises provide students to continue their study outside of the classroom which in result might encourage learner autonomy. Exercises can be created with only one or two steps but I think choosing the appropriate exercise for students might be difficult and time consuming most of the time. I created an exercise from toolsforeducators but I didn’t like my first experience. The next day, I tried for my second exercise which was a gap-fill exercise and that was better. But I need to work on it because I still have problems. It is a good idea to apply such exercises in my classes and I am sure my students will also like it.
Now it comes the answer of the question “what I did this week”. I sent my final project and I’d like to thank Zlatka for being such a nice peer review partner. This week’s one of the hot topics was creating online course sites and exercises. When I created a class from Nicenet, I was surprised to see that it was such an easy task. Nicenet will definitely work for students in ELT department. They can discuss and share ideas about any of the ELT topics.
I also explored many sites and I liked toolsforeducators best. You can create different kinds of activities but exercises are mostly for elementary level students. These online exercises provide students to continue their study outside of the classroom which in result might encourage learner autonomy. Exercises can be created with only one or two steps but I think choosing the appropriate exercise for students might be difficult and time consuming most of the time. I created an exercise from toolsforeducators but I didn’t like my first experience. The next day, I tried for my second exercise which was a gap-fill exercise and that was better. But I need to work on it because I still have problems. It is a good idea to apply such exercises in my classes and I am sure my students will also like it.
Sunday, 7 March 2010
1 Learner Autonomy
Hi Everyone,
This week we discussed about learner autonomy, characteristics of autonomous learners, how to make our students autonomous, teachers’ role in fostering autonomy, and how technology might help us to make autonomous learners. All my course mates came up with interesting and useful points. I learned many things from them when I read their comments. It is clear that it is not easy for teachers to foster autonomy in the blink of an eye. This is a very long process starting from early education and certain conditions should be met such as the methodology of the teacher used, appropriate materials that are to be used in teaching, teacher’s professional knowledge, and the curricula which encourages learner autonomy. There should be more self-access facilities, computer assisted learning technologies, and materials designed to foster learner autonomy. Additionally, teachers should be encouraged more to participate in professional development activities, which help them take on more autonomy supportive roles in their classrooms.
We also designed one computer classroom lesson plan. I’d like to thank Jeff Magota for his valuable comments and feedback. His ideas of schema building and building up mini dialogues with interesting situations were quite useful on my part.
This week I also sent Zlatka first draft of my project work. I tried to answer the project template questions but some of the questions in the template were so close to each other that I think I blended them. Also, it seems to me that I couldn’t refrain from making repetitions. But this is the first draft and I am sure that I will improve it by Zlatka’s valuable comments.
Thanks,
Gülsen
This week we discussed about learner autonomy, characteristics of autonomous learners, how to make our students autonomous, teachers’ role in fostering autonomy, and how technology might help us to make autonomous learners. All my course mates came up with interesting and useful points. I learned many things from them when I read their comments. It is clear that it is not easy for teachers to foster autonomy in the blink of an eye. This is a very long process starting from early education and certain conditions should be met such as the methodology of the teacher used, appropriate materials that are to be used in teaching, teacher’s professional knowledge, and the curricula which encourages learner autonomy. There should be more self-access facilities, computer assisted learning technologies, and materials designed to foster learner autonomy. Additionally, teachers should be encouraged more to participate in professional development activities, which help them take on more autonomy supportive roles in their classrooms.
We also designed one computer classroom lesson plan. I’d like to thank Jeff Magota for his valuable comments and feedback. His ideas of schema building and building up mini dialogues with interesting situations were quite useful on my part.
This week I also sent Zlatka first draft of my project work. I tried to answer the project template questions but some of the questions in the template were so close to each other that I think I blended them. Also, it seems to me that I couldn’t refrain from making repetitions. But this is the first draft and I am sure that I will improve it by Zlatka’s valuable comments.
Thanks,
Gülsen
Sunday, 28 February 2010
2 Week 8 Reflection
Dear All,
One more demanding and instructive week have passed since we started our online course. This week’s topics were about interactive teaching in large classes and ways of using interactive power point and preparing interactive PPT. On Nicenet, there was again very fruitful discussion ongoing same as the previous weeks. Besides, for our projects tasks, we are required to find a partner for peer reviews. My partner is Zlatka and I am very happy to work with her .
This week it dawned on me the fact that interactive lecture is strikingly different from the traditional teaching. The latter is concerned with the teacher being the controller of the learning environment. In contrast, in interactive teaching all of the students participate in an activity and students are in control of their learning. Moreover, I noticed that what is generally forgotten in second language classrooms is to give a reason for doing a task. This point is also highly important in NLP theory. If learners know why they should be involved in a particular task, this can increase self- awareness and motivation, too. It is a fact that if you have a real purpose for something, you are more willing to spend time on and make effort for it, which can eventually result in success. At that point Interactive lectures are very successful at giving students a purpose for learning. Interactive activities such as think-pair share, concept test or the question of the day are good examples which help students develop thinking skills since they give students opportunity to organize their thoughts and engage them in learning process.
However, while teaching large classes, I couldn’t avoid being a traditional teacher because I always found it hard to keep students interest or I had no idea how to involve students in their own learning but thanks to videos and readings of this week, I have much knowledge about how to handle large classes.
What I liked most about this week was preparing an interactive PPT. I always thought that I am skilled at preparing PPT because I usually deliver my lessons through PPT; however, this week I am quite surprised because it was the first time I’ve heard “interactive PPT”. After watching the videos and reading about creating interactive PPT presentations, I was ready to create one. For the first time, I spent considerable amount of time but my second trial was much better. I am thinking of using my jeopardy game for my literature class.
I’d like to end my sentences here. I am again looking forward to writing my reflection for next week.
One more demanding and instructive week have passed since we started our online course. This week’s topics were about interactive teaching in large classes and ways of using interactive power point and preparing interactive PPT. On Nicenet, there was again very fruitful discussion ongoing same as the previous weeks. Besides, for our projects tasks, we are required to find a partner for peer reviews. My partner is Zlatka and I am very happy to work with her .
This week it dawned on me the fact that interactive lecture is strikingly different from the traditional teaching. The latter is concerned with the teacher being the controller of the learning environment. In contrast, in interactive teaching all of the students participate in an activity and students are in control of their learning. Moreover, I noticed that what is generally forgotten in second language classrooms is to give a reason for doing a task. This point is also highly important in NLP theory. If learners know why they should be involved in a particular task, this can increase self- awareness and motivation, too. It is a fact that if you have a real purpose for something, you are more willing to spend time on and make effort for it, which can eventually result in success. At that point Interactive lectures are very successful at giving students a purpose for learning. Interactive activities such as think-pair share, concept test or the question of the day are good examples which help students develop thinking skills since they give students opportunity to organize their thoughts and engage them in learning process.
However, while teaching large classes, I couldn’t avoid being a traditional teacher because I always found it hard to keep students interest or I had no idea how to involve students in their own learning but thanks to videos and readings of this week, I have much knowledge about how to handle large classes.
What I liked most about this week was preparing an interactive PPT. I always thought that I am skilled at preparing PPT because I usually deliver my lessons through PPT; however, this week I am quite surprised because it was the first time I’ve heard “interactive PPT”. After watching the videos and reading about creating interactive PPT presentations, I was ready to create one. For the first time, I spent considerable amount of time but my second trial was much better. I am thinking of using my jeopardy game for my literature class.
I’d like to end my sentences here. I am again looking forward to writing my reflection for next week.
Sunday, 21 February 2010
3 Multiple Intelligence and Technology
Hi Everybody,
This week our topic was incorporating technology to different types of student learning style. To be honest, multiple intelligence theory and learning styles were not new to me. Last year, one of the assignments from my methodology course was designing a lesson incorporating multiple intelligence theory. In that lesson I remember having included all eight multiple intelligences by using videos, music, pictures and power point slides, and games. By using technology, I tried to use variety of approaches to learning. Thus, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that technology can impact all forms of learning.
When I consider the basic principles of MI theory, they all give important ideas that should be incorporated into classroom teaching. The main point is that teachers need to add variety into their teaching practices and activities that address to every student as much as possible. MI theory also emphasizes that activities that require students move around the classroom and work with others are essential for meaningful learning.
This week I’ve gone through “Student Learning Styles and Their Implications for Teaching” by Montogomery and Groat. In the article there were many valuable ideas for student learning styles and reasons to incorporate an understanding of learning styles in our teaching. I agree with the idea that no teacher can expect to develop different ways of teaching for each individual. Rather as teachers we should strive to provide a variety of learning experiences, such that at one point or another each learning style is addressed.
This week on Nicenet we shared our ideas about ways that can help to provide a range of learning styles in the classroom. The discussions, as always, were very fruitful on my part. Many of my course mates suggested using word processors, video cameras, audio recorders, mobile phones, blogs, wikis, webquests, Twitter to provide a variety of learning experiences to address different types of learners. Moreover, I believe that if we make our students to become active learners who engage in their work and try out new ideas, then teachers surely will achieve addressing different types of learning. I personally believe that active learner students do not have one learning style instead they have multiple learning styles. Finally, teachers should find ways to enhance active learning through incorporating technology.
This week our topic was incorporating technology to different types of student learning style. To be honest, multiple intelligence theory and learning styles were not new to me. Last year, one of the assignments from my methodology course was designing a lesson incorporating multiple intelligence theory. In that lesson I remember having included all eight multiple intelligences by using videos, music, pictures and power point slides, and games. By using technology, I tried to use variety of approaches to learning. Thus, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that technology can impact all forms of learning.
When I consider the basic principles of MI theory, they all give important ideas that should be incorporated into classroom teaching. The main point is that teachers need to add variety into their teaching practices and activities that address to every student as much as possible. MI theory also emphasizes that activities that require students move around the classroom and work with others are essential for meaningful learning.
This week I’ve gone through “Student Learning Styles and Their Implications for Teaching” by Montogomery and Groat. In the article there were many valuable ideas for student learning styles and reasons to incorporate an understanding of learning styles in our teaching. I agree with the idea that no teacher can expect to develop different ways of teaching for each individual. Rather as teachers we should strive to provide a variety of learning experiences, such that at one point or another each learning style is addressed.
This week on Nicenet we shared our ideas about ways that can help to provide a range of learning styles in the classroom. The discussions, as always, were very fruitful on my part. Many of my course mates suggested using word processors, video cameras, audio recorders, mobile phones, blogs, wikis, webquests, Twitter to provide a variety of learning experiences to address different types of learners. Moreover, I believe that if we make our students to become active learners who engage in their work and try out new ideas, then teachers surely will achieve addressing different types of learning. I personally believe that active learner students do not have one learning style instead they have multiple learning styles. Finally, teachers should find ways to enhance active learning through incorporating technology.
Sunday, 14 February 2010
2 WebQuest and Project Based Learning
This week, as described by Nina, was another “demanding, eventful, challenging, and fruitful week.” To be honest, each week I feel myself very lucky to be involved in this learning process. It is true that various types of information are growing day by day on the Internet and the educational value of Internet based activities varies widely. This week I learned that one way to engage students in authentic instruction and assessment is through WebQuests, which are inquiry oriented activities that use Web resources to solve the problem. After reading about WebQuests, I realized that many terms like authentic assessment, meaningful learning, collaborative project, learner autonomy, higher critical thinking skills, and active learning strategies are all intermingled with each other. The question to be asked here is how WebQuests enhance critical thinking and learner autonomy and motivation. Meaningful learning requires learners’ actively engaging in a meaningful task. Active participation also can be provided with group work and when students learn to work in a collaborative environment, they become responsible for their own learning. From my experience of creating a WebQuest, I can undoubtedly say that WebQuests include all these terms. For example, in the Introduction of the WebQuest, students are placed in the role of different person within a complex situation and this requires students to use higher-order thinking skills of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.
While creating my WebQuest, one of the most difficult things for me was to write the introduction part because from other examples I noticed that the problem offered students are open ended and real world, requiring working in groups and require exploring a variety of different perspectives to come up with a solution. This was hard for me. I think I need to work more on WebQuest.
This week’s another topic was project based learning. The project-based learning, an active learning strategy, is an approach that learners focus on developing a product or creation by learning. I think project based learning is an umbrella term which covers webquests and problem-based learning. I am not sure. I’ve gone through Susan Gaer’s article about project based learning. I agree with her when she says “less teaching and more learning”. In her article she gives some useful tips which are important while implementing project based learning. I think that teachers should take into these three elements into consideration before applying their projects. First one is “the project must be geared to the population”, and then comes “the students must see value in a project” and lastly “flexible timeliness is necessary”. Just like WebQuests, using a project based learning, helps motivate students to learn language for a purpose.
Finally, I believe these two important terms reach to success as long as teacher gives guidance and adequate instruction to the task or project. We cannot underestimate the importance of teacher’s role while creating WebQuests and project based learning.
While creating my WebQuest, one of the most difficult things for me was to write the introduction part because from other examples I noticed that the problem offered students are open ended and real world, requiring working in groups and require exploring a variety of different perspectives to come up with a solution. This was hard for me. I think I need to work more on WebQuest.
This week’s another topic was project based learning. The project-based learning, an active learning strategy, is an approach that learners focus on developing a product or creation by learning. I think project based learning is an umbrella term which covers webquests and problem-based learning. I am not sure. I’ve gone through Susan Gaer’s article about project based learning. I agree with her when she says “less teaching and more learning”. In her article she gives some useful tips which are important while implementing project based learning. I think that teachers should take into these three elements into consideration before applying their projects. First one is “the project must be geared to the population”, and then comes “the students must see value in a project” and lastly “flexible timeliness is necessary”. Just like WebQuests, using a project based learning, helps motivate students to learn language for a purpose.
Finally, I believe these two important terms reach to success as long as teacher gives guidance and adequate instruction to the task or project. We cannot underestimate the importance of teacher’s role while creating WebQuests and project based learning.
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