Glogster

Hi everyone!

Creating a glog  was the homework of this week and it was the last technology integrated project. The process was easy and enjoyable. The only thing we had to was expressing  our thoughts about communication of 21st century and finding some data, using them in a creative way.

I worked with Seda Kaya for this project. We wanted to  spend much more time on this project. However, we are surrounded by lots of assignments, projects and presentations.
 Here is our glog. I hope you will like it.

Digital Storytelling

I worked together with Seda Kaya and Merve Kul for this project. We were supposed to create a story with drawings and audio. The name of our project is Three Little Girls.

Firstly I want to talk about it’s difficulties.This was a project which requires drawings, pictures. All of us aren’t good at drawing. So, this was the most difficult one for us and we spend most of our time on drawing.  Secondly, we had to find different pictures for the background to make it more colorful and remarkable. Merve’s little brother made our project easier with his coloring books. Now we owe him coloring books. :) 

Finally, the recording process is a hardship for us. We were only three and there was nobody to help us. We didn’t pose the camera with a right aspect. Also, we record every scenes more than 2 because we were trying to hide our arms, hands.

However, we had lots of fun while doing this project. It helped me  use my voice in a right way. It is a diffucult issue but we have to do. The whole process is beneficial to develop higher order thinking skill ( creating a story etc.)  I will use it in the future because I believe my students will find it enjoyable, too. 

Creating Comic Strips

This week, I  had 3 options for an assignment. We chose creating comic strips. I worked with Seda Kaya on this project.

The whole process was really enjoyable. While doing it, we had lots of fun. Besides having fun, we found it beneficial. At first, we had to choose an idiom and illustrate the use of an idiom in our story.While deciding which idiom we will use, we saw really interesting idioms and tried to guess their meanigs.This was the part I liked the most. After finishing this part, we created many stories.However, we weren’t sure which story would be more suitable for the idiom we chose. The reason of our uncertainty was that it was the first time we had used the idiom and wanted to give the accurate meaning. Briefly, creating a comic strips  was both practical and useful. I will use this in the future to catch the students’ attention and make them alert.

Here is our comic stript. I hope you will like it.
more than a Swiss cheese
http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/?comix_id=13687554C1261131

Webquest Evaluation

Hello ! I am here again with an assignment.We were supposed to evaluate a webquest for this week. In fact, when I heard this project, I thought that it would be simple but it wasn't :) For instance, I really found difficult to understand some criterias in the rubric.To be honest, it was the least enjoyable project. However, it is beneficial for EFL learners. Now I have an idea about how a rubric should be. Also it makes easier developing of  some skills such as writing, critical thinking etc.
Anyway,  here is the webquest I  chose and evaluated.

Overall Aesthetics

a.Overall Visual Aspects
The visual elements are clear to understand the concept,ideas and relationships.Moreover, I must admit the picture in the welcome page is the most illustarive one. However, color choice isn't suitable for this subject.  I would prefer more than one color to reflect differences of national characters. 2/4
b.Navigation & Flow
I think, all the parts which students will use is clear. Students can get something they want easily without confusions. There is no problem about flow. 4/4
c.Mechanical Aspects
When we click the links, the page opens in a different language. If we try to change the language, some informations are impossible to reach. 1/2

Introduction

a.Motivational Effectiveness of Introduction
The introduction is related to social situations and it is an interesting topic which makes students curious.But, this introduction which includes only definition of the term ' nation' has no motivating questions, examples. The students are supposed to be creative, active etc. in a serious language. This makes students anxious about the project instead of making them calm down. 1/2
b.Cognitive Effectiveness of the Introduction 
With detailed explanation part, includes definition of the term 'nation' and examples from life, it both remembers the prior knowledge and prepares the learners what the lesson is about. ( A nation is a group of people...) 2/2

Task

a.Connection of Task to Standards
The task is  related to standards. For example searching for information in the Internet makes the development of students' reading and writing skills easier. It contributes students to learn analyzing, organizing, accessing the information. For another example, the teacher wants the students to translate some words and this expands their undersatnding of the language. 4/4
b.Cognitive Level of the Task
Task is easy to handle, is doable but not one which requires creativity and any different skills. There is no description which forces students to think in a critical way. The only thing which is wanted learners to do is getting information about characters in different countries. So, we can say that it is inadequate. 3/6

Process

a.Clarity of Process
Every step with open questions is clearly stated. Every student is aware of  what exactly she/he should do with the help of shared links. I can say the same things for the directions. They are also simple and clear to understand. 4/4 
b.Scaffolding of Process
Strategies and organizational tools embedded in the process are useful for learners to use their research skills and combine them in a logical way. For example, surfing on the net and answering the following questions, translating all the words, illustrating ... These directions make everything clear and require basic thinking level. But these skills are inadequate for their improvement. 6/6
c.Richness of Process
The process are included 3 steps.There are no discussion parts and creative activities but it has one step which requires using analyzing skill of the student. For example, in the 3.step the students are supposed to illustrate their results. 1/2

Resources

a.Relevance & Quantity of Resources
Informations needed for students are accessable with the more than one link and all resources are adequate. ( If you want you can visit the pages. http://ekoncept.ru/en/,
http://www.enacademic.com/ ) 4/4
b.Quality of Resources
Varied resources provide enough meaningful information for native students to think deeply. But as I noted before while we are changing the language of the page, we face some problems and have some missing knowledge. 2/4

Evaluation

a.Clarity of Evaluation Criteria
Criteria is clear but simple. The rubric is also clear for students to understand according to what criterias they will be evaluated. 
 Total Score 37/50 

(taken from here)

A New Task: Wiking

We had to create a wiki page about our favorite book for this week’s homework. It is not a difficult task but enjoyable.
The only thing which forced me was the book choice. I think it is one of  the most difficult things to decide which book is my favorite one. For this project, I  chose the book which affected me so much these days instead of my favorite book. It is ' The Hunger Games.'
Wikis are useful for EFL learners to improve their many skills especially writing. For instance, while I was studying on this project, I used many skills such as  thinking about my sentences, ordering them in a logical way, also searching something on the internet.
In the future I will use wiking. Because, I will probably want my students to combine their tecnological skills with writing skills on different tasks.

Here is my wiki page. I hope you will like it :)

http://myfavouritebookproject.wikispaces.com/The+Hunger+Games+3

                                                     taken from here

Creating a Story: First Day of the Job

Hi everyone!

We were supposed to create a podcast and upload it to our blog. Now, I will share our podcast with you. I worked on this project with Seda Kaya. I performed the best friend of Seda.

Reflection

I really liked this project. However, we had  some difficulties at first. For example, we spent too much time because of having lots of practice to acquire the best voices of us. The reason why we had lots of practice was that we couldn't play sound effects at the right time. 
On the other hand, I found podcasting so useful for EFL learners. Hearing my voice was really weird at first for me but it helped me see my pronunciation mistakes. In the future, I will definitely use podcasting with my students to make them more confident and aware of their English level.


Voice Recorder >>

Hi Everyone !

Welcome to my blog.I will use this blog in relation to my Material course.
I am waiting for your ideas and suggestions because this is the first time I have a blog.
I hope we will enjoy together.

(taken from here)