The End Of The Semester: This Is Not A Literal End, Though!

 

Hello, everyone! In this post, I will talk about the entire semester in detail. 

First of all, before I started taking the Educational Technologies course, I had no positive or negative opinion about technology integration into English language teaching because I had never thought about it. 

At the moment, I think these two should always go together because the contribution of technology makes English language teaching more enjoyable and memorable. This course made me realize that technology integration is very significant and plays a reinforcing role in the field of ELT. 

Considering the courses I took this semester, my favorite course was Linguistics, and my least favorite was Adult Education. My favorite lesson was linguistics because I have known the teacher since last year; I also love and respect him very much. Therefore, this course was educative and likeable. 

I enjoyed adult education the least because I couldn't concentrate as it started very early in the morning. In addition, I didn't like the teacher's lecturing style. 

Finally, I think individual and more crowded group tasks should be increased because sometimes working in pairs is tiring and frustrating. I prefer being alone or in a larger group than trying to find a common idea with someone else. 

That's all from me for now; I hope I can keep writing here. Take care, see you soon! 💜

Digital Storytelling: How To Do An Origami Heart

 

Hello, everyone! In this post, I will talk about our digital storytelling task.

First of all, we worked on this assignment as a duo. You can access the blog of my pair, Buse by clicking here.

We had three options for this task, we chose the "how to" project. There have been only me in the video, but we did the dubbing together. Buse also edited the video, we used the tool called Sony Vegas Pro.

To briefly list the steps we followed while doing the task:

1) We chose one of the three projects, and decided to tape an origami video.

2) I shot about two and a half minutes of video at home.

3) I recorded my voice in the greeting and farewell parts, and Buse vocalized the instructions part.

4) Buse organized the video and added our voice using the editing program.

The most challenging part of this task was setting up the camera and shooting myself because both I messed up the order of the instructions a few times, and my movements were so fast that we couldn't synchronize them with our voices. So, I had to repeat the recording five times.

I think digital storytelling tasks are beneficial in language classes because they contribute to the development of foreign language skills. However, such assignments should not be given to younger students because editing and recording are too tiring and professional.

That's all from me for now, I hope you liked this post. Take care, see you soon! 💜

Before leaving the page, you can revise our "how to" video.

Recording A Podcast: Wait For Me BBC!

 Hello, everyone! In this post, I will talk about my podcast task process.

First of all, there were four options for creating a podcast. I chose the second one, "improving the world" and worked individually. I talked about why people should say "I love you" to their loved ones more often.

In the beginning, I thought for a while about the topic. Later, I got an idea from a friend and modified that idea. Then, I wrote down what I was going to say. I chose the site called Vocaroo to record my voice because it was so simple to use.

The most challenging part for me while recording the podcast was the time. I was anxious during the process because I always had to follow how many seconds I spoke.

In the future, I can assign such a task to my students because I think it is beneficial in many aspects. I think it improves the pronunciation and intonation of the students and allows the introvert ones to voice their opinions. In addition, the topic selection part leads them to brainstorm.

In short, the podcast assignment has been both stressful and rewarding for me. That's all from me for now, I hope you liked this post. Take care, see you soon! 💜

Before leaving the page, you can listen to my podcast here.

My Padlet Project Process: Such An Enyojable Tool!

Hello, everyone! In this post, I will talk about my first Padlet project process.

Firstly, we worked in groups of four; me, Buse, Merve, and Sümeyye. You can visit their blog pages by clicking on their names. 

We chose "gender inequality" among some of the subjects and narrowed it down to "gender inequality in business". Afterward, we created a Padlet page and made additions under three headings: what we know, what we want to know, and what we learned. Each of us selected three questions about the topic and researched them. We cited and embedded the sources in words. The second phase of our project was to write a blog post on our Padlet experience.

Frankly, it is such a fun site. It has a minimal and beneficial design, so I was able to keep up with it easily. I think Padlet, as a tool, allows me to share in detail about my project, and it was profitable to add photos and links to the posts.

The Padlet page led me to improve my 21st-century learning skills. It supports creativity and critical thinking because it encourages us to explain the issue in our own words. Also, since we work in groups, it helps us to communicate and collaborate more comfortably. In short, I have used this tool with great pleasure, enjoying working with my closest friends.

That's all from me for now. I hope you liked this post. Take care, see you soon! 💜

You can have a look at our padlet page here:

21st Century Learning And Technology: How Do They Relate To Each Other?

 

In today's world, technological devices are with us at every moment of our daily routine. We use technology everywhere. So what does this invention that has permeated every moment of our lives have to do with 21st-century learning?

First of all, it seems to me that the learning process is now unthinkable independent of technology. For example, we mostly meet our basic school needs such as taking notes, doing homework, and researching by using our smartphones. 

From primary school to university, from non-formal to formal education, now many learners use smartphones, computers, and smart boards. Therefore, I think learning in today's century and technology should be evaluated together, these two concepts should be completely intertwined.

Most importantly, as an English teacher candidate, I should talk about technology & language learning, too. To me, incorporating technological tools into the language classroom is one of the most important things to do. 

For instance, we need technology for aspects such as making students listen to some audio recordings to improve their listening skills or showing sample English videos to emphasize the importance of pronunciation. To do these, at least a regular internet connection and a smartphone/smart board are needed.

As I said, technology is now one of the milestones of twenty-first-century learning. Accordingly, we should strive to integrate our learning process with technological developments. At the end of the day, not accepting innovations or not being able to keep up with them only makes us "boomers", right?

That's all from me for now. I hope you enjoyed reading this post. Take care, see you soon! 💜

Welcome, everyone!

 

My name is Şilan. I am 20 years old. I am a sophomore in the English Language Teaching(ELT) department at Marmara University, Turkey.

I created this blog to use in my course which is called "Educational Technologies". Although the main reason for the existence of this blog is my school, I hope to use it to improve myself, too.

I especially want to develop my English writing skills. I also aim to learn to use technological tools more comfortably. In short, I hope to learn how to use technology simultaneously with education, as well as share on certain topics.

If you want to contact me for any reason, you can fill out the contact form on the right of my page. You can also read the "about me" section on the left side of my blog to access more personal information about me. You can review my profile picture or check out my favorite singers/books/movies/activities.

Finally, you can go to the first post on my blog called "Technology & 21st Century Learning: What Does It Mean?" by clicking here.
That's all from me for now. I hope you enjoy reading my posts. Take care, see you soon!💜