Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Free online course



Hello everyone

Today I would like to share an announcement with you. The University of Southampton and the British Council have developed free online course about ''Understanding Language: Learning and Teaching’’. The course will take place over four weeks. It will introduce the latest ideas in research and practice in language learning and teaching. After the course you can get a personalized printed certificate. The course will start on April 20. If you want to get more information about the course you can visit
 https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/understandinglanguageutm_source=BC_TE_Facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=Understanding_Language_April15

Friday, April 3, 2015

Digital Story


Hello everyone
This week's assignment for ELT 408 is digital storytelling. Our instructor gave us four options.  I chose the third one, which is to create a story with drawings and audio. For this Project we need to develop 2-3 characters, decide on the setting, the sequence of events, conflict, climax and resolution, write the script, prepare our storyboard, sequence the images in the video editor and lastly add the narrative track.
First of all I wrote my story and with the help of some books I drew the story and colored it. I took the photos of my drawing and created a movie in iMovie. iMovie is a little bit complicated but finally I figured it out. I recorded my story and added background music.  I really enjoyed doing this assignment. The title of my book is ''Peggy and Her Friends’’. I think this short story is appropriate for young learners. They will learn the importance of sharing.



Sunday, March 22, 2015

WebQuest

Hello everyone,
This week for my ELT 408 lesson I will evaluate a WebQuest making references to the categories in the rubric given. If you want to see the rubric, please check the linkhttp://webquest.sdsu.edu/webquestrubric.html. Before my evaluation first let’s talk about what is WebQuest? We can simply define it as web-based activities in today's classrooms. According to Bernie Dodge ‘’ A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which most or all of the information used by learners is drawn from the Web. WebQuests are designed to use learners' time well, to focus on using information rather than on looking for it, and to support learners' thinking at the levels of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation."  There are some popular webquest pages like, http://webquest.org, http://questgarden.com, http://zunal.com. I preferred to evaluate a WebQuest called ‘‘Albert Einstein" in the area of English/Language Arts from Zunal.  The link is below.
Overall Aesthetics
Overall Visual Appeal: Visual elements are related to task and helpful for understanding, each page has a picture about the topic. Therefore I gave 4 out of 4.
Navigation & Flow: It is easy to follow instructions; students can easily understand what they should do in the next step. Therefore I gave 4 out of 4.
Mechanical Aspects: There is no problem with the links, pictures or any other elements. There are 4 links at process part and 4 links in conclusion part. Everything is accessible. Therefor I gave 2 out of 2.
Introduction
Motivational Effectiveness of Introduction: The introduction relates somewhat to the learners’ interests. The teacher wrote a factual knowledge about Albert Einstein but there is no appealing or related question about Albert Einstein. Therefore I give 1 point out of 2.
Cognitive Effectiveness of the Introduction: Introduction gives some reference to learner's prior knowledge: ‘‘You have just realized that everything around you at some time or another has been discovered, invented, or done for the first time by a real human being known as scientists.’’ Introduction previews, to some extent, what the lesson is about like ‘‘Your assignment is to find out more information concerning life and work of most famous scientist Albert Einstein and create a project to share with your classmates so that they can learn more as well.’’ Therefore I give 1 point out of 2.
Task
Connection of Task to Standards: What students are expected to do is stated clearly in a detailed way. They are responsible for creating a project and they must share their new knowledge on PowerPoint or via Poster. Therefore I give 4 out of 4.
Cognitive Level of the Task: It is doable and engaging because each student is required to present their topic in the class. It will be beneficial and useful for students. For these reasons I give 6 out of 6.
Process
Clarity of Process: There isn’t enough information given for this section. The students might be confused. Therefore I give 2 points out of 4.
Scaffolding of Process:  Strategies and organizational tools embedded in the process are insufficient to ensure that all students will gain the knowledge needed to complete the task. For example; sample for a research paper will be sufficient for the learners. For these reason I gave 3 point out of 6.
Richness of Process:  The process mainly consists of searching, reading, writing, preparing a power point presentation or a poster. Different roles are assigned to help students understand different perspectives and share responsibility in accomplishing the task. Therefore I give 2 points out of 2.
Resources
Relevance & Quantity of Resources: There are numbers of resources every of whose aim is different. Therefore I give 4 points out of 4.
Quality of Resources: Resources are specific for the task. They provide students direct information. Some tips are helpful for the students and they are beneficial related to topic for this reason I gave 4 out of 4.
Evaluation
Clarity of Evaluation Criteria: The evaluation instrument clearly measures what students must know and be able to do accomplish the task. They can easily understand what they are expected to do utilizing the rubric. Therefore I give 6 out of 6.
 The total score is 43 out of 50.
It was a challenging assignment, it took a lot of time to decide which project to evaluate but I liked the Webquest projects that's way I will benefit from them in my teaching career.





Sunday, March 8, 2015

New online tool '' EDYNCO'' for creating learning maps


Hello everyone...


I was surfing on the internet and I found out Edynco and I would like to share this new tool with you. Edynco is an online tool for creating learning maps.  A learning map is a version of a mind map specially designed for teachers and students.  Learning maps can include several elements (called nodes) including: title, instruction/summary and an attached resource, which can be a website, quiz, video, audio, PDF, image or document. Nodes are placed on an endless canvas and are connected to each other with branches that help visualize a learning path to follow.

Teachers can use learning maps for lesson planning or for creating interactive lessons.  These lessons can be shared with students as a pre-class activity in a blended learning setting.  Teachers can also use a learning map as an assignment where students can create their own learning map about a specific topic individually or collaboratively as a group. Learning maps employ a variety of cognitive skills: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, creating and evaluating.

Learn more about how students and teachers can use Edynco as a creation tool by visiting their website http://www.edynco.com  othis video!