Ali was here :)

 

                

We have just finished Computer Assisted Language  Learning course. I got a lot of practical and theoretical knowledge which I can use with my students and share with my colleagues. It was a productive course and I hope other particiapnts have the same same opinion. Before taking the CALL course I didn’t know much about how to use technology in classroom. By the help of this course, I have learnt how to use technology in education. It is essential for all teachers because today’s children are born with technology. They are digital native. Teachers must keep up with new technologies and we should integrate lessons with technology in order to be up to date.

I would like to share advantages and disadvantages of using technologies in language teaching in classroom.

First of all, It is interesting and motivating, using different kind texts, graphics. vidoes, pictures make  lessons interesting, students can use authentic language using internet especially blogs, to work with students promoting independent learning, using technological materials students practise four skills together, students also have fun when they are learning language.

There can appear technical problems lack of computer skills both teachers and students, some students are advanced and some are slow so this can effect the lessons, teacher can find it difficult to draw students’ attention, insufficient technologic equipment has negative affects.

Hope to learn and teach…

Weebly… It is easy.

 

In the first year, we designed a web pages for Computer lesson. That  was quite difficult because we learned designing a web page through code writing and then Dreamweaver.  This semester I am happy to work with a new alternative program  to design a web page. For instance, Weebly is easy to use than Dreamweaver. The most important advantage is that you don’t need to write code. You can have a web pages in an hour. Weebly allows you easy way to build a web site. If you want to have a web site in an easy way Weebly  can help you. And also it is free to use.

 We can use Weebly in education; you can easily build a classroom website and blog, manage your student’s accounts, accept homework assignments online and keep your colleagues and students up to date.

Podcast in Education

                 

I think podcasting is a very useful tool that teachers can use to teach second language. It is an alternative for students to increase their learning. Teachers can use podcasting effectively in class. It has also help learning out of the classroom. For instance, if a teacher share a podcast about education, her students can access the podcast and learn what she want to teach. It is also useful for students who couldn’t attend the class. They can  listen the subject from podcast later. Students can learn anywhere and anytime they want. Teachers also can give podcast  homework to developed students listening and speaking skills.

 

Digital Storytelling

                          

 

There are many reasons to use Digital Stories in education. Teachers  may decide to build their own digital stories and show them to their students for a better learning. Digital Story can take  the attention of students and increase their interest in learning. These stories can be shown at the beginning of a lesson to help engage students in the learning process.

Digital Storytelling is also be a effective tool for students who build  theirown stories. These type of activities can generate interest, take attention and motivation for today’s  students. The students  gain some talents as they begin to research and tell their  own stories. For instance  they learn to use the library and the Internet to research deep content. Also, digital stories help students to develop their enhanced communication skills by organizing their ideas, asking questions, expressing opinions.

Social Network for Education

                         

When I was a child , we were spending hours to look up information in library.  Now, libraries are old for students, and students today are looking to learn from new internet  technologies such as Wikipedia, Facebook and Twitter.

As technologies advance, teachers and students use these  tools to their advantage. All these web sources provide some benefits to help people learn. New technologies  have both positive and negative effects on education.

Teachers can  use Facebook and Twitter as a learning tool . Despite disadvantages, Facebook and Twitter have great capabilities for helping students and  have  great potential as a tool for learning. Social networking sites allow students to learn and discuss their knowledge with their teachers and friends . They make communication and collaboration simple and quick. They can be used to post assignments or to check attendance. They not only help classroom attendance but provde as a useful study for students. These social networking sites also encourage classroom participation. They  are useful because they allow students to receive  instant feedback. 

Online Education (WizIQ)

                                         

 

It  is obvious that technology has changed our lives in many ways. One of them is online education.

To begin with, online education provides education for all people, different ages and backgrounds. These programs have opened up new opportunities for learners, so it means that you can attend several courses online if you have an internet connection.

Furthermore, there are negative and positive effects of online learning programs. The advantages of online learning; people living  different cultures and religions can share knowledge about their traditions,  transport facilities, increase of  learning rate and student’s performance. An obvious example of online learning  is WizIQ. It is an online education service for both teachers and learners. Anyone can teach and learn online by using WizIQ.

The biggest disadvantage of online learning is that  online learning can totally replace schools. Students can’t manage their own time and many of them would skip doing their studies, especially tasks and homework. And also online education prevent socialization.

Consequently, I believe that although online learning has lots of  advantages but we can not deny the importance of the schools.

e-Learning

                                   

 

Nice net  has an easy  usage in spite of the fact that ıt has a very simple interface  that you may don’t want to work with it. There are lots of web sites  better than  Nice net. The most negative  feature of Nice net is that you can’t add documents and videos on this site. You can just write text and link what you want to add.

Campus Dokeos  is a eLearning project. Using  Campus dokeos you can make your eLearning more personal and effective. As a  candidate teacher, I  like Campus dokeos, It is very practical. You can work collaborately with your students by using it. I like it’s interface. I think the most significant features of Campus dokeos are those you can do exams online and prepare quiz  for your students.

After Prezi

                                      

There was powerpoint  presentations once upon a time… When we talk about prensatations  we can say BP(before prezi) and AP(after prezi)  🙂  If you want to impress your teachers or your students by your presentation you should use Prezi. After watching you, they will say how you did it, that was awesome 🙂 

You  can add  text, pictures and videos. You can also use different animation techniques in your prezi to focus on different  points. If you work online with prezi you can stop preparing your presentation and continue later.And also save your prezi to your computer ıf you want to show it offline.

Prezi has a different concept and guidline than powepoint. It has got many templates (also you can add your own template) not just one like powerpoint.

Also prezi has a ipad version, easy to use.

Applications for ipad

I haven’t used android applications neither on mobile phone nor on another mobile decive but I have ipad and I use some apps for ipad which you can install  from  ITunes store such as Skype, Dropbox and  Itunes U. Recently I use Itunes U which is an app for education.  It is easier then ever to build your own courses with Itunes U and also it is very useful for teachers  that lets students have all the courses you build  right at their  fingertips.

Another ipad app is ibook  where you can download and read books, you can build your own library on ipad, fortunately  some of books are free.  I recomend you to download audio books on your mobile device to listen English books  and to improve your English skills.

I didn’t know anything about Qr Droid until today. That was amazing, replacing a kind of code on text and you can get more knowledge about the subject which we can not read on that text and  I hope ıt will be use in every document especially in student books.

Dogme Elt Discussion Group

Dogme ELT discussion group is a yahoo group that teachers all around the world meet and work together  on English teaching as a foreing language. The group has 1450 members and founded in Marc,2000. Group has already 17447 messages. Dogme ELT  is an open source group that members  can add their knowledge,feelings and problems via messages , copy  and share articles. 

They believe language learning is both socially motivated  and socially constructed. Purposes  of Dogme ELT  are sharing knowledge on english teaching and using materials which needed in the classess. They seem the group as” a resource, not a club.”  Group has founded as a source , language teachers  all around the word can use it for teaching english.

For not being an ordinary english teacher  I recommend you to join this kind of groups to open your mind.