Three Technologies

Three Technologies

Italkie, at www.italkie.com, is a website that is designed to help foreign language learners improve their speaking skill, and was introduced by Kemal in week 3.  Through the website, after choosing a native speaker of the target language, making an appointment, and deciding on the length of the lesson, learners have their lessons via Skype. Learners in monocultural countries do not have the chance to practice speaking the target foreign language outside of the classroom. Therefore, I believe, this website can be very helpful for English as a foreign language learners in Turkey.  And, I have already shared the URL with my students in class and  recommended it to practice and improve their spaking skill.

Another website which caught my attention by Kemal is popplet at www.popplet.com. Within popplet, students who are learning a foreign language can create mind maps to study vocabulary and grammar.  I think, this website can be  helpful for my students who are learning English as a foreign language in terms of learning vocabulary and grammar by  organizing new words and grammar topics.

Flickr, at www.flickr.com, is another website I was introduced by Gordon King and  I find helpful to use for my EFL classes in terms of practicing vocabulary, grammar or as a warmer or a brainstorming activity before teaching a topic. I believe, through flickr, using visuals to supplement teaching and learning will be motivating and interesting for the students in an EFL classroom.

                                                               References

http://www.flickr.com

http://www.italkie.com

http://www.popplet.com

 

 

Educational Technologies: Digital Citizenship

This week, while searching for sites on the nine themes of digital citizenship in order to provide my students with useful resources and information, I found two websites on digital health, safety, and responsibility.

In terms of digital health and wellness, after reading Ribble’s statement  “Beyond the physical issues are those of the psychological issues that are becoming more prevalent such as Internet addiction”, I have started to think about my young adult students who overuse the internet and decided to educate myself about the problem in order to recognize the symptoms which will help me understand my students better and help them. After introducing different types of internet addiction, the website gives warning signs, particular reasons for the addiction, the most popular internet activities among students, and some strategies for recovery.  I would use the URL http://www.counseling.txstate.edu/resources/shoverview/bro/interadd.html and prepare a lesson on internet addiction to learn about students’ internet habits and raise their awareness about the problem and then, have a who class discussion about the topic.

Another website I have found valuable for both educators and students is http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/curriculum which introduces classroom curriculum on digital literacy and citizenship. “The materials are designed to empower students to think critically, behave safely, and participate responsibly in our digital world”  (commonsensemedia.org, n.d.). What I like about the website is that, it is interactive in nature so that students will be engaged actively and interested in the lesson.  After watching videos, students reflect on them, discuss, and share their own experiences.  Another great thing about the website is that, lesson plans are ready to be downloaded and printed but if needed, lesson plans can be adapted to different age groups.

References

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/curriculum

http://www.counseling.txstate.edu/resources/shoverview/bro/interadd.html

Ribble, M. (n.d.). Nine elements: Nine themes of digital citizenship. Retrieved May 30, 2012,  from http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/Nine_Elements.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Educational Technologies- Games, Simulations, and Virtual Environments

Teaching English as a foreign language to young adults, I observe that almost all of my students are very much into playing video games either during break times or even in class time.  I strongly believe that “identifying students’ passions and using them as a vehicle for relating academic content,” (Squire, 2011, p. 46) plays an important role in learning.  Therefore, games, simulations, and virtual environments can be employed to motivate and promote students’ learning English as a foreign language.

One game that my EFL students enjoy and learn from would be SimCity. “In SimCity, you are the mayor of your very own city. You’re the one who draws roads and zones and manages everything from health and safety, to education, industry and beyond” (www.simcity.com).  After presenting the simulation software to students in the multimedia lab and students learn how to play SimCity, one of the ways that I would use SimCity would be asking students to build their own simulation city in collaboration within their assigned groups in which they play the mayor role of the city and design their city the way they like.  This is when the simulated city will become students’ learning environment while they are having fun playing the game.  After that, students will be working on their assigned topic in which they will present their simulated city to class in groups in the multimedia lab so that the rest of the class will be able to monitor the presentation on the computer screens in front of them. Doing so will lead to interaction between listeners and presenters with the help of question and answer time.  Another way I would use this game would be an in-class writing assignment. Based on a problem scenario that I would  create, I would ask students to use certain target language structures and write a response letter in order to solve the problems in the city as a mayor.  With the creative problem solving objective in mind, I would incorporate the SimCity game in my writing class.  Besides, knowing students’ interest in playing video games they “will willingly write and read texts that are far more complicated than texts about topics that they are not passionate about” (Squire, 2011, p.46), I would be giving them purpose to do the assignment.

Olsen (2009) tells us that “The difference in many of today’s educational games is that they are online and social, allowing children to interact and collaborate to achieve common goals”. With this in my, I would introduce Games Mechanic to the students in order to “learn to design video games” (http://gamesmechanic.com). To promote learning through playing, I would assign students to make their own vocabulary game by creating a crossword puzzle on Games Mechanic for revision purposes and than share the game with their classmates for the purpose of interaction while asking and answering each others’ questions in order to complete the puzzle. By playing this game, I want students realize that vocabulary is something that needs to be reviewed instead of memorizing right before the exam.  Therefore, Games Mechanic can allow students “develop deep relations with the knowledge that’s there” (Laureate, 2012)  while having fun.

References

Gamestar Mechanic. (n.d.). Gamestar mechanic. Retrieved from

http://gamestarmechanic.com/faq/page/1

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2012b). Learning through games. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Olsen, S. (2009). Educational video games mix cool with purpose. Retrieved from

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/technology/02games.html?_r=0

SimCity (n.d.)http://www.simcity.com/en_US/faq

Squire, K. (2011). Video games and learning: Teaching and participatory culture in the digital age. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

 

 

 

  

Educational Technologies-Mobile Learning

In today’s information age, technology is everywhere with iPads, tablets, and smartphones and they are important part of our daily lives.  I know lots of people who are addicted to these devices and cannot spend even an hour without them especially young people who belong to Y and Z generation.  Therefore, for me, it makes sense to use it in an educational setting.

As an EFL instructor, I would allow students to use their smartphones instead of banning the use of it because I believe smartphones have the power to  facilitate and enhance learning.  For instance, by using Blackboard application on their smartphones, students can reach their daily or weekly assignments, grades, and e-mails anytime and anywhere or having an internet connection, students can do online research may be instead of going to the library which will save time in their fast paced lives. “Students now have the ability to do research on a topic within the class” from the internet that is provided on their smart phones (Dykes, 2012).  Moreover, smartphones can be used to keep in touch with the instructor which helps to build connection between the students and the instructor.  For instance, students can get quick feedback from their instructor through their twitter or facebook accounts.  While searching for ways in order to incorporate smartphone use in the classroom, I found an application named pollcode in which the instructor poses a poll question with some answers, 30 at most.  After that, what students need to do is type their answers and send it through their smartphones to the instructor. After each student responded, I believe using pollcode in class as an application will engage the whole class  The URL for the application is www.pollcode.com .

Portable technological devices such as tablet and iPads  have made students’ learning more engaging and interactive.  “Tablets are especially suited for today’s fast-paced, modern learning environments and tablet versions of textbooks, with interactive and visual tools for teachers” (Rock, 2013).  In my EFL setting, I have some students who prefer using the tablet version of the textbook and as far as I observed they seem more interested and engaged in the lesson.

 

References

Dykes, T., (2012) Smartphones as educational tools in the classroom. Retrieved fromhttp://www.insidehalton.com/iphone/opinion/article/1520592–smartphones-as-educational-tools-in-the-classroom

Pollcode. (2013). Pollcode Frequently asked Questions. In Pollcode. Retrieved January 31, 2013,   from http://pollcode.com/faq.html

Rock, M. , (2013). The future of education: tablets vs. textbooks. Retrieved from  http://m.mobiledia.com/news/136174.html

 

 

Educational Technologies-Social Networking

Living in a social world, as educators, “we need to teach students how to be effective collaborator in that world, how to interact with people around them, and how to be engaged” (Smith, 2013).  Besides, eduactors should take advantage of social networking as a powerful technological tool and make use of it for academic benefit.  Doing so will help students change their perspective in education in a positive way and eduactors will be the facilitator of this change. 

While searching for social networking technologies on the internet and looking for ways to incorporate the technology into the field of teaching English as a foreign language, Diigo is the first social networking site I have found that have features such as “organizing, highlighting, annotating, and sharing information” (Diigo, 2013).  As an English as a foreign language educator, I would use Diigo to give students feedback through highlights and annotations on their blog post assignments. I think, doing so will improve students’ writing skills.  Another thing I would do is, after creating a Diigo account, I would ask students to join their groups to work on a specific group project.  Each student in the group contribute and also collaborate as a group through a discussion board that they have created for their group in which they will have group conversations.  The URL of the site is http://www.diigo.com

As an educator who is teaching young adults, I know that my students are familiar and comfortable using facebook in and outside of class.  Therefore, for an EFL reading class, I would create a facebook discussion group and ask students to write short summaries and reflections online on the readings that they are assigned outside of class. While the way I incorporate facebook into teaching will be motivating students to read, I believe shy students will feel more comfortable having discussions online instead of class.  Therefore, “we shouldn’t discount facebook when it has proven to be a worthwhile classroom tool” (Walsh, 2010).  Additionally, I believe as Richardson (2010) puts it, while being “a valuable tool for students, Facebook could provide important context for learning” (p.134).

References

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3^rd

                   ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Smith, F. (2013). How to use social-networking technology for learning. Retrieved from,

http://www.edutopia.org/how-use-social-networking-technology

Walsh, K. (2010). Facebook as an instructional technology tool. Retrieved from,

http://www.emergingedtech.com/2010/08/facebook-as-an-instructional-technology-tool/

 

Educational Technologies to Enhance Adult Learning

Today, there are numerous applications and multimedia resources that we as adult educators can make use of in our classes with learners in order to engage them and enhance their learning.  The first application I would use to facilitate learning would be Dropbox in which users sign up for free and  reach, share, and edit documents not only from computers but also phones, or tablets.  I have  experienced using this application which I have found to be very easy  and practical.  In my personal experience, I used Dropbox  in one of the classes I took at Walden where we were asked to do a group project.  We worked on the project collaboratively that each of us took the lead to complete part of the weekly assignments while other group members contributed by sharing ideas and editing the paper.  In my context where I teach English as a foreign language to adults, I would use this application as a collaborative tool which will help me build a community for learners.  Introducing a collaborative application, learners come together outside of the class to work on their assignment in groups.  Additionally, I believe this application will help my young adult learners to listen to and respect different ideas and learn to work collaboratively to achieve a common educational goal.  The URL for Dropbox is http://www.dropbox.com

One other application I would use is a social networking site called Edmodo for educators and learners.  It can be used to facilitate collaboration between educators and learners in terms of posting assignments, homework, providing feedback, embedding videos, teaching learners how to create posts, podcasts.  Additionally, this application can be used as a tool among educators where they can reach and share resorces about teaching practices.  Therefore, Edmodo can serve as  a professional community in which educators share their experiences and knowledge  about their teaching practices.  As an English as a foreign language educator, I would use Edmodo to join a professional community of educators from all around the world to improve my teaching practice while learning about several teaching practices and sharing my own.  The URL for Edmodo is http://www.edmodo.com

To conclude, I believe “technology use is important in education therefore we need to take advantage of the opportunities that applications and multimedia resources present to help us  change the way we teach and learn. Due to transformative technology, it is essential to effectively bring technologies to learners in order to enhance and facilitate their learning” (Richardson, 2010).

 

References

Richardson, W.(2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd

           Ed) Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

 

 

Emerging Technologies in Language Education

                                                Emerging Technologies

Currently, I am teaching English as a foreign language to Turkish young adults (17-24) at an  English medium university’s English language department which is located in Istanbul, Turkey.  In terms of accessing information technologies in class,we are using Interactive White Board (IWB) software of the coursebooks and assign weekly homework from the e-workbooks that students have access with individual passwords for the purpose of self-study and revision of topics covered in class. 

Considering the student profile I am teaching, feelings of boredom and lack of intrinsic motivation towards learning English are the challenges I quite often experience as an English language instructor. Therefore, while searching online for my emerging technologies proposal,  I have come up with the idea of  using podcasts and blogs as technological tools to supplement my teaching and expand students’ motivation and interest in learning English as a foreign language.

As an educator, I can make use of podcasts as audio files both in and outside of class to engage students in active listening and speaking to help them improve their English language skills. In order to achieve this, ESLpod.com is a good resource I can introduce students to.  This site includes premade audio files which are free downloadable and developed primarily for English as a foreign language learners.  Additionally, “ podcasts promote academic listening skills, facilitate preparation for listening tests, and provide grammar and vocabulary tips for in-class use while they can be repository of classroom discussions for outside of class to extend what was covered in class” (Hegelheimer & O’ Bryan, 2009).

Blogging is another emerging technology tool that I consider using for my proposal.  As Bloch (2007) put it, while blooging helps students write in academic style, it also facilitates discussion, exchange of ideas, and personal reflection.  Moreover, blogging is an activity that “enables students to become contributors and not just consumers of information” (Bloch, 2007).  Also, as Richardson (2010) emphasized, blooging has the power to change the way students consume information.  As an educator, my aim is to help students become self-directed learners who take responsibility of their own learning. Therefore, I believe blogging will encourage and motivate students to communicate with more confidence.

 

 

References

National Institute for Literacy, Emerging technologies in adult literacy and language education, Washington, DC 2006

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3^rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.