A Really Simple Site

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 Hello everyone! Those who want to read daily news online or follow some web pages or blogs, generally waste their time in vain: finding web pages, going these pages, reading news, looking for other recent information and so on. While technology enables us access information easily, catching up the latest news may not be so easy for those who follow a lot of blogs. Then, is there a solution for this issue? How can we keep informed of the recent news easily?
  Fortunately, technology lend us a hand again, at this point. I want to introduce you to RSS (Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary). When you subscribe blogs or webpages, RSS presents updated information, which prevent you from controlling blogs one by one and thereby, saving your time. At the same time, you do not need to share your e-mail address for using this technology. It means you can get rid of unnecessary e-mails.
  When it comes to reaching it, hundreds of RSS readers are available. I use a free software, RSS Feedreader; however, you can also use any online reader. The process of downloading something may seem troublesome, yet I guarantee it is really easy to download and use. There is even no need to register to Feedreader. Once you have finished the setup, you click to "new feed", write websites' names and add feeds. By clicking to "new folder" option, you can gather blogs in the same folder. As you can see below, it is also possible that you edit the update period however you want.

  I added the screenshot of the blogs I follow below and I want to recommend you my favourite blog.

  In Özge Karaoğlu's Blog you can find really inspiring and useful sources for converting your lessons to innovative ones by means of technology. She is an English teacher and educational consultant. Her blog is quite encouraging especially for teachers who avoid using technology in their lessons. This blog involves lesson plans, applications and digital games which will enhance your students' interest to writing, listening or reading comprehension activities in an entertaining way. She shares posts frequently, I think it is a plus for keeping in touch with new activities. I have also realized that she shares each week's blog posts briefly in case you have missed any. But, let me assure you, when you follow her blog, it is not possible that you have missed any post not just because of RSS but because of benefits of the blog. Whenever I glance at her blog, I find myself lost in various beneficial activities. All in all, I strongly recommend this blog to ELT teachers. Please, look at her blog and I'll be glad if you share your favorite blogs with me. See you in my next posts! 

An Exciting Wiki Experience: A Film Review

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  Hello! Here I am again with my second assignment which is writing a film review on Wikispaces. It was a group project and I worked with my dear friend, Sevilay Yıldırım. We chose a quite popular film, 3 Idiots we both watched and really enjoyed. You can read our review here.
  Firstly, our lecturer created a Wiki page and we all wrote our tasks on the same page. We imagined that we were supposed to write a film review for a school magazine. We tried to write it in compliance with our instructions. We added some images and the trailer of the film. I also added screenshot of the page below for those who cannot reach Wikispaces.

  As regards my opinions on Wikispaces, I think it has a rather easy interface. While writing it, we did not encounter any difficulty, except for avoiding giving spoiler and some technical problems. Because of that we like the movie so much, we wanted to give all details about it, fortunately, we did not for fear of ruining it. I think, the most important reason for doing it without have any difficulty is working with a friend collaboratively. It enables us save energy and time. We correct each other's mistakes, develop more creative ideas together and above all, provide mutual support. Thanks to collaborative learning, students can learn to take responsibility. In these kind of activities they learn also how to criticize each other's ideas constructively rather than being destructive and this foster the formation of empathy. As a future teacher, I think provide such benefits for students' personality development is really significant.

   Lastly, I highly recommend using it on a classroom environment. Because, for students, it is easy to reach, use, make comments on others' opinions or even edit each other's pages. I think, it will be  beneficial to use this technological tool to enhance students' writing or comprehension skills in an entertaining way. What I see as a disadvantage is Wikis can be changed or deleted by anyone easily. So, you should take precautions for this beforehand. I hope you will enjoy it. See you!

Podcasts: On, Traditional Education: Off

  Hello everyone! Have you ever heard something about podcasting? You are probably familiar with "iPod" and "broadcast. Podcasting is simply combination of these words. Let me explain it thorougly:

"A podcast is a form of digital media that consists of an episodic series of audio, video, digital radio, PDF, or ePub files subscribed to and downloaded through web syndication or streamed online to a computer or mobile device." 

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  Podcasting was our first assignment and for this project, I worked with my dear friend Sevilay Yıldırım. We were responsible for creating a sound rich story with sound effects for no longer than 2 minutes. We had also some words that we had to use at least four of them. Firstly, we wrote our story and narrated it. We found some sound effects and added them in accordance with the flow of our story. Then, we recorded it with our own voices. We tried to pay attention to our pronunciation, word choice and grammar. We thought that it is suitable for B1 level learners. No wonder we had some difficulties while we created the task. I want to talk about them, now. The first two sentences of the story were already given by our lecturer. So, this invited us to reflect on the appropriateness of our story to these sentences. We could not synchronize sound effects and our voices. At the beginning, it made us nervous, but as we tried again and again, we -hopefully- recorded it successfully. Apart from these, we had really fun and learned new things which were useful for us. Therefore, I certainly recommend podcasting to teachers. Because, as you all know, today's students really love technology. Thanks to podcasts which include creative tasks, you can both draw students' attention to activities and enhance the productivity of lessons. For example, students mostly get bored while they are learning grammatical rules or explanations. At this point, you can turn the lesson to a funny and remarkable one through use of podcasts. As a teacher, you can create your own podcasts or if you want to give your students an interesting task, you can also ask for their own podcasts. All you need is some technology. Believe me! 

Audio recording software >>

Education: From Darkness to Light

  "The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows." We all nearly have goals, with a view to accessing our ultimate destinations which allow us to achieve success. It is a lifelong process sometimes we have learned so much things, and sometimes we have drawn a blank. Regardless of even the worst conditions, we, as future teachers, should try to broaden our students' minds. As Sydney J. Harris indicated above, students do not need to see or hear what they have already known. They are thirst for innovative ideas that provide them endless opportunities. To convert them into open-minded people, we should integrate technology in our classes. Because, anymore it is an inseparable part of the life. What if I say I am not interested in technology and I do not want to use it as a teacher candidate? I will probably accept the failure from the beginning. So, my blog's main purpose is making the learning process efficient and entertaining through use of technology. I will share my assignments and works in my "Technology & Materials Design" class. If you join my journey, you will find not only some materials and study tips but also encouragement for your learning process. Welcome to my blog! Now, it's your turn! Do you think technology is an efficient tool for your learning or teaching? What are your ideas about educational technology?

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