Işıl Boy's Blog

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” Confucius.

I thoroughly enjoyed the educational technology course I conducted at British Side English Language School, which lasted almost two months. Although I was very busy with work, MA assignments, and presentations (I gave 6 “different” presentations at various ELT conferences during the same time period), I never saw the course as a burden. On the contrary, I felt energetic and joyful on the days I was teaching.

I conducted the course in a room with 12 computers, but there were 14 people willing to work with laptops. The participants came from different backgrounds and teaching levels (from pre-school to university), and they were all lovely, brilliant females (yes, we had a female-dominated course). All of the participants were based in different parts of Istanbul, and most of them lived very far from the venue, but one lady came to the course from an entirely different city: Keşan, which is 228 kilometers (142 miles) from Istanbul (which was totally unbelievable). Before she took the course, she didn’t have a job. However, soon after she started, she found a great job, and she said the fact that she was taking this course had helped her to get the job she found.

Since I began conducting ICT workshops at my institution, and more recently the educational technology courses, I’ve learned to handle many different problems that arise in the classroom. For example, when I was trying to use a web tool at home, it seemed fairly easy. But I soon learned: you never know what kind of problems you may encounter while you are actually teaching others how to use it. I assigned some tasks during my course to encourage participants to try the tools with their students, and I am fully aware that teachers work hard and may not have time to explore all of the tools at home (or to use them in the classroom). So with this in mind, I created a wiki page, and we collected all the course materials in our course wiki so that they could get help whenever they needed it. We all know training teachers in the use of technology is nothing like a fairy tale; in fact, it’s more like a high-tech fable, and giving clear instructions while guiding participants is a must. So I introduced my students to a variety of tools with differing applications, and since technology is not limited to tool introductions, I also gave them some practical criteria (along with some theories and principles) to help them choose the right tools for their students.

On the very first day, I asked them to write what they hoped to achieve by the end of the course, and we put their responses in QR codes; I then uploaded all of the QR codes in our course wiki. On the last day, we briefly discussed whether or not their objectives had been met. Thankfully, the result was highly satisfactory.

As for the training courses, I believe what’s most important is the attitude of the person conducting the courses. No one would feel sympathy for a tutor who considers himself the best, as if the participants don’t have the skills to be as highly trained as the tutor. Honestly, I wouldn’t. Instead, I always try to be helpful and patient, and since I love what I’m doing, I reckon my students start to feel the same way.

The participants have already asked about the second level of the educational technology course, and I hope I will conduct the second level at the same company, and maybe at other companies in Istanbul (I also have some other plans).

I would like to extend my special thanks to İsmet Karakuş, the director at British Side English Language School, for offering me this great opportunity. And of course, many thanks to the lovely participants who made the course a truly profound and enriching experience; no doubt we will all be in touch in the coming months and years.

Parenthetically, I will be working this summer as a teacher trainer at Pilgrims in Canterbury, England, where I will be conducting ICT courses. Huge thanks to Kristina Smith, an amazing trainer, for her continuous support! Hope to see some of you there.

Try our video maker at Animoto.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, I have developed the term ME-Learning which includes both mobile applications as a part of mobile learning and blogs or wikis as e-learning tools.

Here are some more apps along with some tips to help you collect the materials you have created with apps, in your blog or wiki.

QR READER

QR Reader is a free app to read and generate QR Codes.

How 2.0 Use QR Codes with Your Students:

• Let your students set some goals for learning English, create QR codes by choosing “Create Text Code”, and upload them to your class blog or wiki.
• Divide your students into groups of three,  give each group a part of the story in a QR code. Ask them negotiate to find the story, and assign them some roles, let one student from each group responsible of reading the QR code.

You can also generate QR codes with qrstuff.com.  As for the educational technology course I am conducting, I asked the participants to go to http://www.qrstuff.com/ and write what they hope to achieve by the end of the course. I also asked them to e-mail their “QR” codes to me. Finally I uploaded all the QR codes to our course wiki. (Please click on the image below to view  full size)

LINOIT

Linoit is an online stickies service that offers stickies and canvases. It is available on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. You can create online stickes and canvases via linoit and access them on your PC. You can also upload photos and videos from your iPhone.

 How 2.0 Use Linoit with Your Students:

• Have your students practise tenses by writing sentences on the wall.
• Ask your students write their opinions on a topic.
• Post a video onto the wall, ask  a few questions and have your students write their responses.
• Ask your students post the words they have learnt that week onto the wall.

(Web) Tools are not enough to create magic.

I know this blog post is supposed to be about my forthcoming educational technology course, but I want to start with a question:

“Are web tools enough to cause learning?”

You may have some colleagues who claim that they “cannot use web tools effectively’ and others who insist that they “had a go at using web tools, but they didn’t work”. Of course, such responses may be the result of various reasons. However, the main problem is that many teachers assume that “knowing how to use the web tools, along with some teaching tips, is sufficient”. I wish it were that easy…
Using web tools just because they are ‘cool’ is somewhat naive. So, what do we need to ensure that we make effective use of the new technologies?

We need to learn about ‘instructional design theory’ which is the study of how best to design instruction so that learning will take place (*). We should know “how to design, develop and evaluate educational courseware”. Before we incorporate web tools into our teaching, we should revise ‘cognitive load theory”’ which is also important in training teachers in the use of educational technology. Hence, in this course, I will be introducing the theory and the principles along with the web tools. Please note that these will not make the course difficult; on the contrary, I will do my best to make it the above as easy and as comprehensible as possible in order to lower the cognitive load.

After the participants have learned how to use the interactive multimedia materials, they will go the extra mile, and create their own multimedia learning materials. Creating digital stories, or making digital movies, is easy and can be fun. As Clark and Mayer (2003) claim, “it is not the medium, but rather the instructional methods that cause learning“, so, while we are learning how to use the tools, we will create our own multimedia materials according to the multimedia design principles to enhance learning. They also hold the view that “greater complexity of media does not necessarily ensure more learning”. Hence, my aim will not be creating digital materials full of distracting animations but to help participants to use web tools in a way that causes learning.

I have divided the course into three modules, and all the materials developed during the training will be collected in a wiki so that the participants will have access to all the materials during and after the course.

So, here is my NEW course!

New Educational Technologies make dream classes possible. They serve as a magic wand, but it is not enough only to know how to use the wand; a well-designed stage is also necessary. The show has already begun throughout the world… would you like to join us?

EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY COURSE

Let’s create some low-tech and high-tech magic together!

 The course is designed for teachers teaching from preschool to university levels, both who know little about technology or those who have already started integrating technology into their teaching, but need help to use it in a systematic and academic way.

Theory: Instructional Design Theory

Method: Blended Learning

Approach: Learner- Centered Approach

Objectives:

• To enhance digital literacy and basic ICT (Information Communications Technology ) skills
• To provide knowledge of appropriate web technologies and skills for incorporating web 2.0 tools into the classroom.
• To provide techniques for integrating technology into the curriculum, and strategies to overcome possible problems during the integration process.
• To practise designing, developing and evaluating educational courseware.
• To use educational web-based resources effectively.
• To use interactive multimedia learning materials in the light of cognitive load theory.
• To develop multimedia learning materials in line with multimedia design principles.
• To develop skills for integrating all the materials developed during the course into the actual courseware.

MODULE 1: TECH-UP (4 Hours)

Improving ICT Skills: Google shortcuts, Google’s tools, getting royalty free images, best websites for teaching resources and lesson plans, screencasting tools.

Internet Safety: Internet safety tips, teaching internet safety through digital games.

Web Technologies: Basic tutorials for web technologies.

Technology Integration: The issues to be considered before the integration process, how to overcome some potential problems with the internet for teaching, and as a platform for multimedia delivery.

Blogs: Creating a blog for professional development.

MODULE 2: COURSEWARE TIME (8 Hours)

 Wikis: Designing and developing educational courseware in pbworks wikis.

Courseware: Online teaching strategies, courseware delivery, evaluation of courseware, getting a license for courseware.

E-Portfolios: Designing and implementing e-portfolios.

 MODULE 3: DIGITAL MAGIC (9 Hours)

Creating Digital Stories, Digital Movies, Digital Games, Online Posters, and E-Books.

Course Dates:                   29 February- 11 April 2012

Time/Day:                         Wednesdays, 17.00 – 20.00

Venue:                                BRITISH SIDE

REFERENCES

* http://www.ic.arizona.edu/ic/edp511/isd1.html

Mayer, Richard E. & Ruth Colvin Clark (2003). E-learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning, San Franciso: Pfeifer.

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=659

It is becoming an app world…

We are living in the high-tech era where new  mobile applications are created almost every other day. There are lots of creative and highly useful mobile applications for education.  A growing number of teachers have already started to integrate technology into their teaching, and after they have used mobile applications in the classroom, they can collect their students’ works in wikis. I have developed the term ME-Learning ; since it includes both mobile applications as a part of mobile learning and wikis as e-learning tools.

Here are two mobile applications that can be integrated into wikis:

Whiteboard is a collaborative drawing app for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

Let your students create a blank page and  tap to draw. After they have finished drawing they should choose save to photos app, the drawing will then be uploaded to photos on their mobile device.

How 2.0 Use Whiteboard with Your Students

• Ask your students e-mail their drawings to your e-mail address, click download to save the photo onto your desktop, finally insert their images to your class wiki.
• Have your students draw a monster, tell them the descriptive adjectives along with the colors. Then, ask them insert their images into your class wiki.
• If you have a facebook group with your students, you may also ask your students to post their drawings directly to your facebook group.

Audioboo is a brilliant application for recording and sharing your voice.

After you have finished recording, you can click publish; attach a picture and write a description, and finally click save and upload. When you click on my boos , you can e-mail the link. Simply click on the link, and you will see the embed option.

After you have clicked embed, you can copy the embed code and paste into your wiki.

How 2.0 Use Audioboo with Your Students

• Introduce the topic with audioboo, and embed it into your class wiki.
• Ask your students introduce themselves and record their voices.
• Have your students record their presentations, and embed them into your class wiki.

More apps are coming quite soon

“The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another’s, smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises. “ Leo.F. Buscaglia

It is such a genuine pleasure to do the things you love and enjoy; I have been conducting ICT workshop series at my institution for almost two months now, and I am so glad to have  received positive and encouraging feedback from my colleagues. I set up a wiki page for my workshops where I post the program, tutorials and the presentations. Each week, we discuss and post about how we have used the tools that were introduced a week before.

Last month, I invited David Mearns as a guest speaker and he came all the way to my university; I would like to thank him again for his brilliant workshop.  Teachers who attend the workshops get a certificate at the end of the program. There will be other guest speakers in 2012, and their names will also be displayed on the certificate.

I also extend my special thanks to my dearest colleague Filiz Dişkaya, for believing, inspiring and supporting me, for her brilliant ideas and help me take things a step further.

My Workshop Topics:

• Google shortcuts & Tools, How 2.0 Take Screenshots&Record Screencasts (Jing)
• Wordle & Wordsift
• Vocaroo, Voki, Voxopop
• Wallwisher & Linoit
• How 2.0 Create Digital Stories
• How 2.0 Make Digital Movies
• How 2.0 Make Online Posters
• How 2.0 Use Twitter for Your Professional Development
• How 2.0 Make Presentations with Prezi
• How 2.0 Use E-Portfolios
• How 2.0 Generate & Use QR Codes

Please visit my wiki page and share your invaluable thoughts with me.

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=659

As the saying goes, I truly believe that “change is good”, but is it also good in education? If it is so, how can we make change happen in our teaching? The answer I came up with is, by means of “theorising”.

I have been inspired by Clarke (A Place to Stand: Essays for Educators in Troubled Times, 2003) where he discusses the ‘change’. He claims individuals have to change if they intend to change the institutions, and ‘one can only change things over which he has control’. (40). Prabhu (1990: 173) claims so as to achieve classroom rapport, teacher’s sense of plausibility should be integrated, and when learners enjoy classroom activity learning becomes more productive. Kumaravadivelu (1994: 31) identifies ‘sense of plausibility’ as teachers’ subjective understanding of the teaching they do. Therefore, as a teacher, I have been trying to focus on possible gains from the ‘change’. When a theory fails to work, I usually take the control and do something to overcome the problem. Edge (2001) states when a theory does not work, then ‘a theory that arises from the data of the teacher’s own experience’ may have a higher chance to be practical. (2).

Clarke (2003) also defines teaching as ‘a way of learning’ (41), and identifies learning as ‘change over time’. (39). The figure below explains how I perceive the relation between theorising and change (Figure 1), in each step of theorising, from the beginning to the end there is change; when we as teachers change the way we teach and try to explore theorising, we finally come up with a change. Clarke (2003) mentioned change in several waysand to my way of thinking, change is an opportunity; in educational sense, change is the opportunity for teachers to improve their teaching. The opportunity is embedded in ‘the-o-rising’ (Figure 1.); and ‘o.’ stands for an abbreviation for opportunity rising along with theorising. The use of technology in teaching is the real opportunity for teachers, we should consider possible challenges before using technology in our classrooms, and try to make it work in our context.

In Chuck Sandy’s inspiring keynote presentation at RSCON3, he also discussed that we can be the change. He believes that “positive change in education happens one student, one classroom, and one school at a time“, and he made an emphasis on “creating real change in the lives of our learners.”

If you missed his amazing session, you can watch from here: https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/jwsdetect/playback.jnlp?psid=2011-07-29.1427.M.E2514A7F29E0860BCB937C49FF35F7.vcr&sid=2008350

Reform Symposium, Chuck Sandy: http://reformsymposium.com/blog/2011/07/11/chuck-sandy/

References

Clarke, M. (2003). A Place to Stand: Essays for Educators in Troubled Times. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Edge, J. 2001. Search and re-search: An attitude to life, action and theory. English Teaching Professional 20: 5-7.

Kumaravadivelu, B. (1994). ‘The postmethod condition: (E)merging strategies for second/ foreign language teaching’. TESOL Quarterly, 28, 27-[48]

Prabhu, N. (1990) ‘There Is No Best Method – Why?’. TESOL Quarterly 24/2: 161-176.

Today, I found about Google’s new tool “Me on the Web” on twitter. By the help of this tool, you can both “get notified when your personal information is published online” and “remove unwanted content”. As you see it is really helpful. Hence, I searched for further information and here are what I found:

How can you create alerts?

1.Create a Google profile if you don’t have one already.
2.Sign in to your Google Dashboard.
3.In the ‘Me on the Web’ section, click Set up search alerts for your data.
4.Select the checkboxes beside the alerts you’d like to receive.
5.In the ‘How often’ drop-down box, choose the alert frequency. (I chose “once a week”)
6.In the ‘Deliver to’ drop-down box, choose which email address your alerts should be sent to.
7.Click Save alert preferences.

How can you remove unwanted content?

1- To remove an image: Contact the webmaster and submit a URL removal request: http://bit.ly/fBV8hK

2- To prevent your images appearing in Google search results:Add a robots.txt file to the root of the server that blocks the image. For further explanation: http://bit.ly/kGkQUf

3- To remove your confidential personal information: Report it directly to Google.

http://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/answer.py?answer=1181793&hl=en

http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=164734&hl=en

Pre-writing stage serves as a necessary step for writing, and students need to do brainstorming before they start writing to see that they can make it work without any magic. Both for searching effectively on the web and mind mapping, students can make use of google’s ‘wonder wheel’.

Here are three screenshots to show how it can be used: