MY CEIT 319 BLOG

Website design tools are devices which make creating a website easier. We can create and upload whatever we want. These sites provide us with variable themes, fonts, photos and videos on a special background.We can use website design tools for sharing our thoughts or knowledge about a particular topic and subject.

These websites can be integrated into education in the same way with blogging tools. Teachers can upload all the documents and activities on the website which is created by the teacher. The students can design their own websites to transmit their experience during the courses.

An example case scenario for classroom use: Miss Çağlar is an English Language teacher. She wants to design a website to integrate technology into her English course. She wants to upload all kinds of activities and tasks which are done by the students in the classroom for revision. She has a desire to put different types of activities which the students can practice in their free time, as well. The other will of Miss Çağlar is that the students will create their own websites. They are expected to write reflections about their experiences. Thanks to this activity, they can improve their writing skills. For the evaluation and assessment part, Miss Çağlar will upload quizzes to see her students’ progress.

Audio tools are the devices which help us to record and create audio stories. There are many areas which we can use audio tools. For example, we can record a radio program, an interview, and songs. As it is easy to use, we make use of audio tools in education, as well. Listening and speaking activities are very useful for language learning. Audio tools can be used for improving listening and speaking competencies.

An example case scenario: Mr. Brown is giving Oral Communication course for freshman in FLE Department. He wants his students to master their speaking and listening skills as much as possible. He decides to use Audioboom and wants to his students prepare five minutes radio program for each week. Then, the students listen the radio programs which are prepared by their friends and comment upon it. So that, they improve their listening, speaking and to some extent their writing skills. Thanks to this activity, the students play an active role in their learning process during the semester.

Video means an electric medium for the recording, copying and broadcasting of moving visual images. There are different kinds of tools which can be used for making video. For instance, Goanimate is one of the best tools for making a video.

These tools can be used to make a video for educational purposes. Students can be  given tasks like making a video. When they are dealing with the problems which can come up during the process of making video, they are improving their problem solving skills, as well. When these tools are integrated into education, engagement, motivation and participation of the students increase.

As an example case scenario: Miss Yazıcı is an English language teacher. She wants to use video tools to make her English course more enjoyable and make her students to participate in the lesson. She is teaching the difference between type 1 and type 2 if condition. When the course is over, she gives information about the video tools to her students and wants them to sign up in Goanimate. The students are expected to prepare a video about this week’s topic. When they complete their video, they present their own video. Thanks to this activity, her students enjoy and comprehend the difference between type 1 and type 2 if condition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxhqD0hNx4Q

A presentation is an essential and effective way to demonstrate a topic to an audience. We can make use of the visual presentation tools for this purpose. Prezi is one of the best examples of these kinds of tools.

There are lots of ways to integrate visual presentations into education. This makes the topic more permanent. The learner can remember easily what they have learned. Visualization of the information increase retention of the learners.

As an example case scenario, Jane is an English teacher in a primary school. She is going to teach food and drinks. She wants to prepare a presentation by using Prezi and gives presentation about food and drinks. After she prepares the presentation, she teaches food and drinks. While she is presenting, she demonstrate lots of pictures related to food and drinks. At the end of the session, she wants her students to tell the name of the food and drinks they remember. Thanks to this, she understands the misunderstanding about the topic.

Learning Management System is a software application which is used for delivering education courses, assessing the process of learning or training programs. It is used for educational purposes as we can understand from its name. We can assemble and deliver learning content rapidly. The content can be personalized. Thanks to learning management system, we can enable knowledge reuse. As an example case scenario for in-class use: Mr. Özkurt wants to use Learning Management System for his math course. After he has registered to Schoology, he uploads the materials which he used during the math course.  In addition to these materials, he wants to test the knowledge of his students about the topic which he taught by preparing quizzes for each week’s topic on LMS. As a result, he can learn whether the students are confused about the topics or not. He can upload also the activities which they are not able to do during the course. Thanks to all these facilities of LMS, both the teacher and the students are engaged in the leaning process actively.

Survey Tools

Survey means research of public opinion from a particular sample. It is conducted through a series of questions and then extrapolating the results in ratio. Survey tools are used to find sources in the environment and to get manual samples of that source.

These kinds of tools can be used for educational purposes.  That can be used while surveying the relationship of the parents with the school and the teachers of their children. In other ways, the students can take their quiz through these types of survey tools such as obsurvey. As an example case scenario for in-class use, Miss Demir wants to make use of survey tools in her Educational Psychology course. She has a desire for preparing a quiz about Freud’s Defence Mechanism. As she wants to know whether her students understood the topic or not, she prepared a quiz and wants them to take it. Then, they are supposed to prepare their own quizzes about Erikson’s Psychosocial Development Stages. The next stage is that they are expected to solve their quizzes and ask their friend to solve their own quizzes. After this activity, they should send their report for the results of the quizzes so that, Miss Demir can see clearly the progress of her students.

Survey Report

A concept map is a kind of diagram which shows the relationships between concepts or notions. It is used for depicting ideas and information as boxes or circles. It can be used for simplifying the complicated topics while teaching.

It is a graphical tool which can be used also for educational purposes. It can be used while summarizing the key concepts and their relationship. It assesses the teacher while simplifying the complex structure of the concepts. It helps learner to understand objectives, concepts and the relationship among these concepts.

As an example case scenario for in-class use, Miss Yazıcı wants to use concept map while she is teaching the English Literature Course. After she has taught the poets of the Romantic Period, she asks her students to prepare a concept map for this topic. For this purpose, they sign up popplet and create their own concept maps about the poets of Romantics Period. Then, they bring them to the class. They are posted on the wall of the class so that they can gaze at them whenever they want. This helps them to learn this concept more easily because they are more engaged with the topics and meaningful learning occurs. Miss Yazıcı is satisfied with the positive consequences of this activity.

Infographics, in other words information graphics, are visual demonstration of knowledge or data. Infographics can be created by hand or computer software, which is easier and faster. Infographic tools are the devices which are used for creating infographics. There are a lot of specialized websites and tools like pictochart which can be used while constructing infographics. This can improve the human visual system’s ability to see patterns. It can be used for communicating a message, presenting large amounts of data meaningfully and revealing hidden data for the learner. A good graphic makes data easily accessible, as it feeds into many students’ natural tendency to learn by seeing and interacting.

As an example case scenario for English course: Mr Özkurt wants to use infographics to summarize the topic. He wants his students to sign in pictochart and prepare summary sheets about the key points of the tenses by using infographics after he has provided students with the necessary information about the preparation of infographics. Then, the students bring the infographics which they constructed to the class. The infographics are posted on the wall of their class so that they can look at them whenever they are confused about this topic. Thanks to infographics, they are engaged in the topic. The other important point is that the learners are active in learning during this process as they are creating the infographics related to the topic.

MAGICAL TOOLS FOR BLOGGING

Blog is a web page which contains information or opinions of particular person or about certain topics and is typically displayed in reverse chronological order. Blogging tools are devices which makes posting of content easier while people are blogging. For example, WordPress and Blogger are some of blogging tools. Thanks to these tools, blogging spreads all over the world. These tools are not just used for posting personal opinions but also can be used for educational purposes. What about integrating the blogging tools into education? If the students use one of these blogging tools, it can provide students with excellent opportunities like reading and writing. They can discuss whatever they want thanks to effective forums for discussion. It can be motivating for student who may not be active in classroom discussion.

As an example case scenario, Miss Yazıcı wants to integrate technology to her course. She chooses Blogger as her online blog for the advanced grammar course. First of all, she signs up and creates a blog for her course. Then, she wants her students to sign up and create their own blog. She gives reflection tasks about different topics to them. The task for them is that they write a reflection about a topic and publish or post it on their blog. The next step of their task is to read the reflection tasks of their friends and find the grammatical mistakes. They should correct their mistakes, as well. Even if they did not do the same mistakes with their friends, they have an opportunity to see what kind of mistakes might be done. As students realize their writing tasks will be published, they are more motivated to produce better writing. The other opportunity of this activity is that students can benefit from the peer review.