Second Life in Language Teaching

    Together with Nazım Can Altay, Burcu Başer and Şevval Bozdoğan, we have discussed about the the pros and cons of Second Life and how to use it to supplement our lessons, hope it is useful! 

Trello Collaborative Board

     Together with my friend Nazım Can Altay, we have created a Trello board to compile all of the educational web tools we have learnt so far. Each of us have shared our own opinions and have added video tutorials in order to help the students who prefer visuality over text understand better. Make sure to click on the cards to see our additions. In order to check the board, simply click this link. Below is an example of a card we have created for Edmodo.

Social Networking as an Educational Tool

    This post has been made as a summary of my own summary on a chapter about social networking as an educational tool. If you are curious about the original one, you can check the link of the summary. 

    Social platforms are inseparable from daily lives for many people. The root of these platforms dates back to web 2.0 tools. These social networking platforms had proved their usefulness by vastly increasing the interactivity of people and soon enough scholars got curious whether they could utilize social networking as a means of educational tool.

    After a while, once these social networking platforms have took off, educators have realized not only that they can utilize social networking for education, but also the fact that they have to so that they meet the requirements of modern age and divert an already common practice into education. 

    Platforms such as wikis and blogs have created opportunities for learners to interact with each others and in doing so improved learning for everyone. Though this freedom has obvious benefits, there are  drawbacks, the biggest hurdle being the abundance of false information. On the other hand drawbacks are outweighed by the positives and it is possible to minimize, even completely eradicate the drawbacks in the cases of some students. 

    Millennials tend to prefer interactive content over static ones, which gives an important responsibility to teachers. By utilizing the tools we have talked about so far, teachers can make their lessons interactive; taking the attention of students as a result. Nevertheless, teachers shouldn't go overboard, otherwise it might backfire. There might be teachers we are willing to create lots of content for their students to learn. The intention might be pure, but what their role in social networking is that they are just facilitate instead of producing. The role of producing is instead left to students. Teachers need to offer the tools and platforms; introduce how to use them and leave the scene to students. By letting students create their own content through interactions with others, they learn through personalized content that suits best to their needs.

Showcasing Educational Webtools: Padlet

    Padlet is a platform that allows users to create what are called "padlets" which you can utilize as to take notes and do collaboration works with others such as students. To start, first create an account by either choosing your existing account from widely used services like Google, or start anew. Once an account is created you will be asked whether you would like to pay for the service or not. One of the biggest drawbacks of padlet is the limitation of padlets you can create with free account to only 3. As you can upgrade any time, make sure to get the most of free trial before investing the subscription service. Click the make a padlet button and then you will be met with the following screen.

    These are ready-to-use templates that you can use with the click of a button. Simply choose the once that serves your purpose the best and then start adding your notes. 

    The padlet that I have created for this blog post was made with the backchannel layout which imitates the likes of WhatsApp and Telegram. Once the padlet is made, invite the participants by link or QR code. Here is the link and the QR code my padlet so that you can inspect it or just say hi.

Showcasing Educational Webtools: Voki

    Voki is a platform which allows students and teachers to share their voice recordings combined with visual avatars to make the education entertaining while keeping it functional. To begin using Voki, first enter the website and then create an account for free so that we can store our videos that we will have created. Simply click create on the top to begin creating the avatars. 

    There are many options to customize avatars to your likings, some of them are locked behind a premium paywall but the basic choices are rich enough. Once avatar's looks are decided, click the speaker button at the bottom to input the speech. 

    When you feel satisfied with your creation, click the save button on the right down button. You can check the create section again to see the saved videos in order to share them with people. 

    To see a short video that I have created for this post, click here. 

Showcasing Educational Webtools: Jamboard

    Jamboard is perhaps the easiest educational webtool to utilize for we are already familiar with the concept from traditional education systems. In its essence, Jamboard is a digial whiteboard on which teachers can use various tools while or before starting their lecture. Jamboard is operated by Google, therefore if you have already have a Google account you don't need to create an additional account to start using Jamboard. Simply click this link, sign in with your account and start using it. The layout and tools are as minimalistic as possible. Figuring out Jamboard shouldn't take more than a few minutes for how easy it is to use.