MOODLE

Moodle stands for ''Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment''. It's an online platform for education which provides learnşng environment for students. With Moodle, tezchers are able to create lessons, interact with students and other teachers etc. Also, students are able to interact with other students, submit assignement and more.

Moodle is suitable for 100% online classes as well as supplementing face-to-face learning.
You need to download the software to your computer to start using Moodle. (You can download from this link: https://download.moodle.org/)

229 country in total have registered to Moodle. Here's the list of top 10 countries where Moodle is used the most. Do you see your country on the list?

VIRTUAL REALITY

The definition of virtual reality comes from the definitions for both ‘virtual’ and ‘reality’. The definition of ‘virtual’ is near and reality is what we experience as human beings. So the term ‘virtual reality’ basically means ‘near-reality’.  In other words, virtual reality is the term used to describe a three-dimensional, computer generated environment which can be explored and interacted with by a person.

Virtual Reality (VR) is the use of computer technology to create a simulated environment. Instead of viewing a screen in front of them, users are immersed and able to interact with 3D worlds. By simulating as many senses as possible, such as vision, hearing, touch, even smell, the computer is transformed into a gatekeeper to this artificial world. 

We have been taught at school that we have five senses which are: taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing. The truth is that humans have many more senses than this, such as a sense of balance. These other sensory inputs, plus some special processing of sensory information by our brains ensures that we have a rich flow of information from the environment to our minds.
Everything that we know about reality comes from our senses. Our experience of reality is simply a combination of sensory information and our brains' sense-making mechanisms for that information. This means if you can convince your senses with made-up information, then your perception of reality will change as well.

HOW CAN WE USE VIRTUAL REALITY IN LANGUAGE CLASSES?

Virtual reality gives the opportunity to do things we might not be able to do in real life at the time we want them to happen. For example, in EFL classes, with the usage of virtual reality you can take students to a different country and make them wander round the streets. While doing this they can practice their speaking by saying the things they see around them.


In our Instructional Technologies lesson we tried virtual reality out and we used such applications called Skydiving Simulator and Roller Coaster. It was definitely a good experience. Especially the Roller Coaster application was great, you can give it a try yourself.

WHAT IS BLACKBOARD?

Blackboard is a tool that allows faculty to add resources for students to access online. Powerpoint presentations, animations and other applications are created outside of Blackboard and added into Blackboard courses for students to enhance teaching and learning efforts.


Informations can be shared in different forms like images, audios, texts, animations, graphics etc. which allows students to find material based on their preferred learning style.

For example, you can open a clip in English on Blackboard to practice the listening skill of your students.

On Blackboard as a teacher, you can give your students homework, give them feedback and grade them. Also, you can track their performance.

It is a very well-rounded tool. If you want to learn more about what it is, you can click here.

JOYFUL READING WITH STORYBIRD

Hi everyone, welcome back to my blog. This time I am going to talk about Storybird. 

It is an application used to illustrate stories with the provided pictures by the application itself.
Teachers are able to create their own class with the given code . Students can start writing their stories and the teacher can reply with comments to his/her students' work.
With the usage of Storybird, reading habit can start growing in the child. Storybird would be an amazing tool to use in the classroom especially for students who are from young age groups With the colourful illustrations, Storybird stories attract the attention of children. Also, since students are able to write their own stories, you might even discover a child who is talented in writing.

You can click here to check out the story I wrote on Storybird which is named ''Touch The Stars''.

SOCRATIVE

Socrative is a platform where you can give immediate feedback to your students. It enables teachers to prepare quizzes that students can take on laptops, smart phones or tablets. Quizzes can be in the form of true/false, multiple choice, short answer or open ended questions.

It is a very simple yet beneficial program to use. By using Socrative, teachers can assess and engage with their students.

By using the “Space Race” option, when you set up a quiz, you can make students compete with each other. When the quiz ends you can display the results to the classroom while identities are kept anonymous. So that students won’t feel discouraged.

With Socrative, you can see in which content your students are not good enough at and start focusing on them. 

By clicking here you can check out the quiz I prepared about “Teaching Methods Of English”.

Also you can see the process of how to prepare a quiz on Socrative with the pictures provided down below: 

First of all you need to go to the main page of Socrative (https://socrative.com/) and sign up. Depending on what you want, you can choose the free or Pro version. After that click on the ''QUIZZES'' part.

You will see an orange coloured '' ADD QUIZ'' part. When you click on it ''Create New'' and ''Import'' sections will appear. Chose the ''Create New''.

You can start writing your quiz by giving it a title. After that you can choose the type of question you want to have in your quiz. Such as multiple-choice, true-false and short answer.

After that you can start writing your questions. Don't forget to click on the right answer.

And as the last step is click on ''save and exit''

VODCAST USING POWTOON

Hello everyone! This time I am here with my vodcast that I created on a program called Powtoon.

Powtoon is a program where you can create animated videos with many different options.  We can say that, it's kind of like the upgraded version of PowerPoint presentations. The reason why I am saying this is because Powtoon offers you more choices. It gives you ready to use backgrounds, themes, introductions, characters and everything for free. One more thing Powtoon offers you is the chance to add music or voice over to your presentations. Also, it is safe to say that presentations made with Powtoon gives more of a professional feeling.

Powtoon would be incredible to use especially for students who are from young age groups. Presentations made by Powtoon do look more colourful than those made by other programs and with the animated characters offered you by Powtoon, you can attract the attention of the children easily.

I prepared my own Powtoon presentation which is about ''What Is Education & Why Is It Important?''

You can check it out by clicking here!

WIDEN YOUR WORLD WITH PINTEREST

Pinterest is a social networking program that allows users to share and discover the things they like by posting images and videos.

You can use Pinterest both on your phone and computer once you register for free. After registration, you can start sharing, known as ''pinning'' on Pinterest, the images you like or check out what other people have shared with the World. You can create your own ''boards'' to organize what you have pinned.
People can like and re-pin your posts as well as commenting under them.  It is also possible to follow other users if you like what they post.

Can Pinterest be used for education/language learning?

Pinterest has millions of different images related to different topics. It is possible to see many different images related to education and language learning on Pinterest. For example, as a teacher, you can use Pinterest to print posters for your class which you think would be beneficial for your students.

I created my own Pinterest account and uploaded some pictures that would be beneficial for teachers and students. You can click here to check it out.

QUIZLET

This time I am going to talk about an application called Quizlet. This is an amazing application especially for those who are having trouble in memorizing new words in English. Teachers can prepare a set of words related to what they have studied in the classroom and by sharing the link of the set with their students, students can start memorizing the words. Teachers can add pictures related to the words to make the memorization easier. Also one more amazing thing is that, students will also have the chance to hear the spelling of the words.
Students will not only have the chance to access to the set of words prepared by their teachers, they can also access to many different ready-to-read set of words prepared by others if they would like to.

I prepared my own set about Literary Terms as an example. You can check it out here.

BE CREATIVE WITH PIXTON

Hello everyone,

This time I am here with a platform called Pixton. It is a platform where you can create your own avatars and comics.
This platform gives you the chance to animate the plot that you have in your head with avatars. Especially pupils who are visual learners, those who learn the best by seeing, will enjoy this platform the most. In addition, you can make your avatars talk with the given text bubbles .
I created my own pixton as an example which is about how can we stop the global warning with just small changes in our lives.

Here you can check it out:

https://www.pixton.com/

EDMODO

Edmodo is a platform that can be used both by teachers and students. Teachers can create their own classses and by giving the code of them to their students, students can start learning in an interactive way.
In this platform, teachers can give homework to their students, students can leave comments on their frends' assignments and can get feedback from their teachers. Also, this program can be used by parents in order to check out their child's assignments.
Last year in my advanced writing and introduction to education classes I used Edmodo. As a student who has experienced using Edmodo I can say that it was really beneficial. I had the chance to see the assignment of my classmates which enabled me to see the ideas of my classmates and had the chance of getting quick feedback from my teachers. It is safe to say that Edmodo is an amazing platform that can be used for education.

You can go to the site of Edmodo by clicking the link below:
https://new.edmodo.com/

CREATE YOUR OWN TALKING CHARACTER WITH VOKI

VOKI is a program which allows you to create your own speaking character for free. With this program it is easier to make classes more fun. It can be used for every student but especially those who learn the best by listening and seeing. VOKI will make the language learning process way easier since with this application things become more remarkable.

I created my own VOKI character which talks about ''Inclusive Education''. You can check it out by clicking here :))

FUN LESSONS ARE POSSIBLE WITH KAHOOT

Students can get distracted from the lesson. However, by using Kahoot it is easier to attract their attention and make the lesson more fun.

Kahoot is a game based learning program. Teachers can create their own quizzes just in seconds or choose from dozens of quizzes prepared by others to use them during class.

It doesn't only make lessons more fun but also enables students to challenge themselves.

Here's the link of the quiz that I prepared about ''Teaching Methods Of English'' on Kahoot:

https://create.kahoot.it/share/teaching-methods-of-english/7c58a5ad-e7a9-402e-8f4a-ff5c6184cebb

FIRST PODCAST EXPERIENCE

Hello again!

I am here with a podcast this time. It was my first time recording a podcast. It was a fun process. I recorded my podcast about The Direct Method. Hopefully it will be beneficial for you. :)

the-direct-method