My Experience In Technology Integrated Education

 

   Blended language instruction can be considered as a technology integrated education. In my opinion, it has several benefits for the learning process of students. Firstly, because the learning/comprehension stage is out-of-class environment, students have an opportunity to learn in their own-pace. They also have the opportunity to repeat as much as they need to learn the subject and think on the activities flexibly. In this way, students do not feel anxious if they do not understand any point at once, or do not feel hesitated to make any mistakes because they can correct their mistakes without teacher observation. Besides, blended learning improves the self-regulation and autonomy skills of students because they have to manage the time and direct their own learning process. So, after the individualized learning stage, coming together as a class and creating something as a product of what they have learned also helps students to improve their collaborative learning skills. In this way, they learn what they can do with the knowledge they have in their head in an enjoyable way. In addition to these, I believe that learning stage becomes much more enjoyable and permanent with the help of visual supports and interactive learning with technological tools and sources. As an example, students can watch a video about the impact of stress on our daily life and read an article about the reasons and of stress. Then, when they come to the class, students can discuss and debate as groups on stress and its harm. Thus, the knowledge gained out-of-class environment can be demonstrated in-class environment and produce with the knowledge collaboratively.

   In my opinion, feedback is a challenging part in online environment. Feedback is basically reflection to the interaction of students. In other words, if students do not participate their own learning process actively, it can be hard to observe, evaluate the learning, and giving feedback. In terms of online feedback, teachers should provide opportunities for students to express themselves socially and emotionally and collaborate with each other. Also, providing interactive learning environment with authentic materials and tools helps students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills. In this way, teachers can recognize and observe the progress of students. Personally, I have realized that because teachers can only realize the presence and understanding of students when they turn on their cameras and microphones, students’ integration and mental presence to the learning process, facilitate the feedback process.

   Formative assessment is basically observing the learning process of students, not the product as summative assessment. Assessing the process of students in online environment has several effective ways. During the session, teacher can type some ideas about the topic, and wants students to reflect the ideas with the help of emojis. Breakout rooms can be an effective way to observe the students while discussing their personal thoughts or what they have learned about the topics. Moreover, students can summarize what they have understood from the text, video, recording, and images related to the lesson on an educational platform like Padlet or Nearpod. For a long-term assessment, students can upload the works completed by themselves to Padlet to demonstrate them properly. Also, a blog or a website created by students is a good way to observe and assessing their learning process for teachers. As an example, in one of my classes, we learned about technology integration into learning. Our teacher wanted us to have a blog includes every single production created by us. He was able to observe our learning process and check our abilities about using technological tools and platforms for a whole year. In my opinion, technological tools and platforms facilitate the formative assessment process in online education because students do not have to be stuck on ordinary Q/A session dito be assessed.

   Today’s world also effects the education and enhances the learning. It requires for teachers to be more open-minded, creative, and innovative to provide better comprehension for students. Teacher should be aware of what actually being digital native is. To take the attention of today’s students, to motivate, and involve them to their own learning process, teachers should be aware of the authentic materials and sources represented by the developing technology. The reason of the effectiveness of digital tool usage and authentic materials is the way they help students to collaborate with each other, interact to share, and product together. In this way, digital tools facilitate to have a student-centered learning environment with active participants. In addition to that, the colorful sources of technology facilitates the comprehension and improvement of four basic skills which are reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Videos, audio sources, augmented and virtual reality, interactive games and more help students to comprehend the topics much easily and permanently. For example, in one of my private lesson, my 8 year-old student told me that she understands better with me because I use enjoyable educational videos to teach vocabularies, and it makes her motivated. So, I believe that if teacher is aware of the effectiveness and facilitativeness of digital tools and authentic materials, the learning process can be much easier and permanent for students.

    I had a chance to experience teaching in practicum process twice. I endeavored to prepare my lesson plan with the consideration of effectiveness. I believe that motivation is the key point of a successful learning process. As I am aware of the positive impact of the technological tools and educational platforms on today’s digital native students, I did not want to be stuck on the coursebook activities. So, to take the attention of the students and to engage them to the class actively, I tried to focus on having a student-centered environment. I utilized from many types of authentic materials, tools such as Worldwall, Kahoot, Quizlet, and prepared some activities which promoted students to have critical thinking, brainstorm, and interact with each other in learning and post-learning stages. For example, in one of my classes, they were supposed to practice some vocabularies about climate and environment. So, I wanted them to imagine themselves as an activist having an interview who fights for protecting the world and tries to inform people about how to save the world. Then, I asked them for advice about the climate, and they created several sentences with the related vocabularies. As another vocabulary teaching example, I represented a song about climate supported with an animation. Also, students were able to check the lyrics of the song at the same time. So, it was useful for them in terms of improving listening, pronunciation, and spelling. Even the most passive students raised their hands to answer the listening related activity. In addition to the advantages of digital tools in learning, such authentic materials and activities also helped me to observe the knowledge and abilities of the students. Because interactive and collaborative activities keep students active, teachers become able to observe the progress during the learning process as a formative assessment technique without any special test or evaluation tool.

    Moreover, all the strategies I have learned for an interactive, student-centered, and effective teaching/learning environment will help me in the future as far as I believe. The expectation of the today’s digital natives will be much higher in the future. So, developing my own proficiency skills and integrating the technology into my teaching process will help me to make my students active participants, motive, and engage them in their own learning process.

 

ESSENTIAL POINTS ABOUT OPEN and DISTANCE LEARNING and TEACHING

ESSENTIAL POINTS ABOUT

OPEN and DISTANCE LEARNING

 

 

    In ‘today’s’ world, teachers and students are experiencing and getting benefits from technology very closely. So, the awareness of the importance of online/distance education is increasing. To be able to join that virtual world, both students and teachers need to be aware of several factors such as how to be effective learner/teacher with the help of effective skills and abilities, how to describe and improve engagement, and also need to be aware of the effective use of flipped learning. With the help of such essential points about distance education, students and teachers have the opportunity to be effective in their teaching or learning process. In order to that, these essentials of distance education are mentioned in various different aspect in our weekly discussions.

    In week three, the chapter ‘’Distance Language Teaching with Technology’’ by Cynthia White was discussed. The topic was mainly about distance language, teaching and technology.

First of all, Ahsen and I mentioned how students can be their own course producers and how they can shape their own learnings with the consideration of their learning needs. Firstly, we established that students have to improve their self-regulation skills and have autonomy to manage their own learning process. Students have to know what they need and what kind of a way they have to follow to achieve their goal.

In addition, we discussed about the differences between online education and face-to-face education, and decided that teachers has an important role to provide an effective learning environment. It is more challenging to keep students motivated and engaged for a long time. So, teachers have to focus on how to create an interactive, communicative, and collaborative learning environment. In order to that, to reflect the needs and desires of students, teachers need to improve their self-awareness and proficiency skills. With the help of improved proficiency skills, teachers can be aware of how to engage and motivate the students with various types of technological tools and educational platforms in online education process. Moreover, we mentioned that self-awareness and proficiency skills improvement help teachers to observe and evaluate the lacknesses of their own teaching style and strategies and give them opportunity to create a more effective and enjoyable learning environment for students. In this way, the motivation of students increase, and they learn actively and successfully.

We also discussed about how to assess students in online educational process and deduced that online learning is based on technology, so teachers should get benefit from technological platforms to assess their students. For example, a porfolio or journal demanded at the end of the term can be changed with an online presentation or discussion session for the assessment. In the discussion, we also pointed that creating a friendly environment as a teacher is important to be able to understand the needs and demands of students to be a facilitator for students and to guide them to the right path in their learning process. Also, with the help of the guidance, providing the engagement of students and also managing the classroom environment become much easier for teachers during both face-to-face and online educational process.

 

    In week four, the chapter ‘’Creating a Sense of Presence in Online Teaching: How to "Be There" for Distance Learners’’ by Rosemary M. Lehman and Simone C. O. Conceicao was discussed. The topic was mainly about forms of presence in online environment. First of all, Ahsen and I made the definition of presence with a few key words such as cooperation, involvement, consciousness, awareness, interaction, reflection. We discussed on the sentence ‘’… presence is a result of the dynamic interplay of thought, emotion and behavior in the online environment.’’ Then, we handled what thought, emotion and behavior refer in the sentence. As we inferred, thought perspective is basically the feeling of being connected to the learning community of students, so in this way, students can find the purpose in their learning process. Secondly, we indicated that emotional perspective is related to intrinsic motivation which helps students to make a progress effectively in their own learning process. Lastly, we indicated that behavioral perspective can be seen as being able to know and manage the way of learning and to know what to do for gaining awareness. Getting feedback and trying to engage and being active during the class are some of the ways of providing effective learning process.

After those three perspectives, we emphasized the importance of creating social context, online communication opportunities and interactive lessons are the key factors in terms of social presence to provide a successful course design for learners. It means students should be in the center of their own learning process.

As another point, we talked about how teachers can recognize the presence in virtual space. We decided that online education is more challenging than face-to-face education because of the connection and interaction problems. For example, teachers can easily reflect on their students and make comments on their behaviors or learnings in face-to-face learning, but it is harder to provide such guidance environment for students in online education. It is not only hard for teachers but also hard for students to feel connected in online environment. If students have a problem in the class, it is easier to having a contact with teacher in person in face-to-face educational environment.

Moreover, as a highlighted issue in the chapter, we discussed about the meanings of being there and being together with others. We covered that being there refers to being in the classroom environment (physically or virtually as a location) and being together with others is about being active socially and mentally during the learning process.

Then, we highlighted the basic differences in terms of presence between online and face-to-face education. The differences are the connection between teacher-students and between students, also because every student has different location while connecting to the virtual classes, it can be hard for them to feeling fine mentally and physically (the crowd at home, too cold or too hot temperature, the internet problems etc.) As another difference, it is harder to recognize the situation of ‘being there and being together with others’ of students in virtual classes. To make it clear, students can join the class in time, but may not be there as a listener. In virtual classes, teacher may not know if students there even physically if they do not be willing to turn on their cameras or microphones. As the last point, we talked about our experiences in terms of students’ presence during the teacher practicum. Unfortunately, both of us stated that there was not enough awareness or reflection from both teachers and students about student presence because the focus was not the students but the teaching process for teachers.

 

    In week five, as the first chapter, ‘’What is student engagement in online learning … and how do I know when it is there?’’ was discussed by Ahsen and me. The topic was mainly about student engagement in online learning process. First of all, we handled the interaction issue in online learning. We stated that interaction is kind of challenging in online education because cameras and microphones are the only mediums for teachers to reach their students. If students are not willing to turn on the mediums, they cannot have enough interaction with each other. We also discussed about how to create interactive environment for students in online education; creating open-ended and discussion-based questions and topics can help teachers to engage students. We mentioned the types of interaction. We stated that student-instructor interaction is important because in this way, teacher have a chance to observe students closely and to know what the needs of their students. Also, students have a chance to get feedback and reflection for their learnings. Learner-learner interaction is also effective for pair learning. Sometimes, students know better the intentions of each other and knowledge about any topic they feel lack. Speaking the same ‘language’ encourage students to collaborate with each other in their learning process. We also mentioned that learner-learner interaction provide much more engagement and more effective for students in online education, but teachers struggle on and cannot be effective enough to create activities and discussion environment for learner-learner interaction. To increase learner-learner interaction, we said that with the help of authentic materials should be motivated and take the attention of them to communicate and collaborate.  Then, we talked about two engagements ‘behavioral engagement’ and ‘cognitive engagement’. We learned that behavioral engagement is about all the physical actions students do to participate to classes such as turning on computer, turning on camera and microphone, or opening the sources to join to classes while cognitive engagement is being in the learning process mentally and actively. To provide cognitive engagement, teachers should adopt a student-centered modal with peer-collaboration, group works, authentic materials etc. Also, teachers should have a facilitator role and be responsible with showing the ways to learn for students which is an opposite style from traditional education in online or face-to-face learning environment. To provide a student-centered environment, inquiry-based, simulation-based, or peer-based learning modals which increase discussion and critical thinking skills, collaboration and communication skills can be prefered by teacher. We stated that creating such a learning environment is not effective and enjoyable for only students but also for teachers. Lastly, we discussed about the ‘signs’ of engagement, and we stated that if students are active, have some ideas for discussions and answers for questions.

 

    In week five, ‘’Fake Engagement: Fake or Real Engagement – Looks can be Deceiving’’  was discussed by Ahsen and me as the second chapter. The topic was mainly online learner engagement; what engagement and fake engagement are, the reasons of fake engagement, and the reasons why some students abstain from fake engagement. Firstly, to start the discussion, we talked about the possible ways of taking the attention of students and keep them focused on the tasks. We stated that creating interactive classroom environment with the help of different technological platforms, materials, and sources and focusing on how to develop the inquiry and critical thinking skills of students are important to be able to provide engagement for teachers. Then, we discussed about the meaning of engagement and its relation with motivation. We said that engagement does not come out without motivation. Because motivation is the intention to learn, it is the first step of engagement. Motivation triggers the learning process of students. After having motivation, engagement as the action part can be observed in students with the help of their active participation to their own learning processes.

In addition to that, we touch on the meaning of authentic engagement. In our opinion, the contents teachers provide for students should be interesting for them, and make them willing to get the input. If students find something to experience, they become engaged authentically. After engagement, we mentioned the key point in the chapter which was ‘learning-by-doing’. We defined learning-by-doing as student activeness and engagement generally. If students try to experience, explore, and investigate for their learning process, they will be engaged and learn by doing in this way. Some technological platforms such as Voki and Storybird can help students to have fun while learning, and learning-by-doing can be provided in this way. Providing learning-by-doing process is easier in online environment in terms of accessing the platforms, sources, and tools while it is easier in face-to-face environment in terms of classroom management, assessing the learning process, and keeping the attention of students, we said.

When we started to talk about fake engagement, we discussed the ways of fake engagement like bodily display behaviors and work-related actions and also the most popular ways such as head nodding, saying ‘yes’ regularly to show that we are there and listening, drawing or writing on notebook something unrelated to the lessons we take. It is also mentioned that pretending as engaged in online educational environment is much easier because even students join the classes, if they do not turn on their cameras and microphones, it is nearly impossible to be recognized by teachers while having fake engagement. When the topic came to why and when students fake their engagement, we handled the reasons of fake engagement such as physical conditions like being in a gloomy, too hot or too cold classroom, teaching style of teachers like reading straightly from the books or presentations without any interaction with students which forces students to stay passive and mentally away from class. Also, we mentioned the other reasons such as content and other attentional priorities such as family issues, other assignments and exams to have. We think that to be able recognize fake engagement, teachers need to create a friendly environment and know their students well to be aware of the differences or fake behaviors on them. Last but not least, we highlighted the topic why some students abstain from fake engagement. The reasons were titled as social expectations/norms and to please the teacher. We talked that students specially when they have group works, they feel responsible among the others and try not to bother them. So, to be respectful and consider to the others, they avoid fake engagement. Also, some students consider the feelings of their teachers towards them. To seem as successful and respectful, they try to avoid fake engagement as well.

 

    In week six, the chapter ‘’A systematic review of research on flipped language classrooms: theoretical foundations, learning activities, tools, research topics and findings’’ was discussed by Ahsen and me. The topic was mainly about flipped learning classes. First of all, we mentioned that flipped classroom provides the ideal learning/teaching roles for teacher and students. With the help of flipped learning, teacher has the facilitator role and provide effective sources and materials for students, and students become able to manage their own learning process with increased self-regulation and autonomy. We also compared flipped learning with PPP format and stated that they are similar because of their stages. In present stage, teacher provides the material and source for students to get the input, in practice stage, students do some tasks to cover the topic, and in product stage, they handle the topic together collaboratively and interactively. We discussed some disadvantages of flipped learning. Firstly, the characteristics of students effect the process because some students may be irresponsible to complete the individual pre-learning and during-learning stages, so it effects the after-learning stage, or some students may be shy and hesitate to reflect their learnings to the others in after-learning stage. Secondly, because of the lack of proficiency skills of teachers, the activities, materials, and sources may fall into repetition, so it may be boring for students, and they may lose their attention and motivation towards the lessons. Thirdly, it is more time consuming for teachers to create such an effective process regularly. Last but not least, because flipped learning is related with technology, it may be hard to access to the devices or even to the internet for non-urban areas. On the other hand, as the advantages of flipped learning, we mentioned that it helps students to improve their autonomy because they learn how to learn individually and manage their own learning, they also learn how to manage the time and keep their own pace to learn. We stated that flipped learning is not only effective for young learner but also effective for the adults because it helps students to be engaged and motivated with the help of various game-based or interactive material and activity options, and collaborative studying environment. We also highlighted the benefit of flipped learning for language classrooms. Flipped learning provides the time for students to ‘learn by doing’. Language learning requires practice as much as possible, so because students complete the learning theoratical point individually, they have more time together to practice and share the knowledge they acquire in classroom environment collaboratively.

    As we mentioned during the discussions, there are several essentials factors to be able to provide an effective teaching/learning process. Teachers need to be aware of their own proficiency skills and improve themselves in order to manage the interactiove and collaborative learning process of students, to provide them authentic learning sources,materials,and ways, and also be aware of their activeness,motivation, and engagements. Also, students need to be aware of how to manage their own learnings.

REFERENCE:

 

White, C (2017, June 30) Distance Language Teaching with Technology in The Handbook of Technology and Second Language Teaching and Learning, Wiley Blackwell (p. 134-149) https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118914069

 

Lehman, R. M, Conceiçâo S. C. O, (2010) The Role of Presence in Online Environment in Creating a sense of Presence in Online Teaching: How to “Be There” for Distance Learners, Jossey-Bass (p. 1-12). Wiley

 

Mercer S., Talbot K.R, Wang I. K. (2020) Fake or Real Engagement- Looks can be Deceiving. Student Engagement in the Language Classroom (v.11, p. 122-136, 11) https://doi.org/10.21832/9781788923613

 

Kennedy, G. (2020). What is student engagement in online learning … and how do I know when it is there? The University of Melbourne https://melbournecshe.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/3362125/student-engagement-online-learning_final.pdf

 

Zou, D., Luo, S., Xie, H., & Hwang, G. J. (2020). A systematic review of research on flipped language classrooms: theoretical foundations, learning activities, tools, research topics and findings. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 1–27. Routledge https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2020.1839502

THE KEY SKILLS FOR AN EFFECTIVE CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

     There are several significant key skills to define an effective classroom manager. To provide the effectiveness in classroom management,awareness,relationship with students,instruction and communication styles are the important skills.
     First things first,teachers need to have self-awareness to deal with classroom effectively. Effective classroom managers  always question themselves as  teachers. They have to be clear and determined while having the class and students should know what they are doing and what the next step is. In this way,students can have clear minds and have an idea about how to participate and how to perform in the class without confusion.To provide this clearness and to have the right responding style,teachers should first know what the need is and what their students want from the lesson. Informing the class about the syllabus,classroom rules and the desired behaviors can be good examples for effective classroom management in terms of awareness.                
     The second matter is the relationship between student and teacher.To provide an effective classroom management,teachers need to know how to balance the closeness with students. Some teachers are too friendly or some of them are so strict while managing. An ideal manager should know whether students will be fine when he/she does not consider personal space or makes jokes  to create a sincere environment. To have the right decision,the teacher should observe the personalities of his/her students well. Then,the teacher can decide that it is fine being friendly to have a healthy communication with the students or staying strict works well for the class to keep the management. As an example,if a class has lots of difficult students,making jokes,behaving as a friendly teacher all the time can trigger the students to misbehave more and make the management harder.  Otherwise,being strict and rule implementer can  increase the hesitation to participate the lesson and create a teacher-centered environment in a silent classroom full of tractable students.
     Thirdly,being aware about some important details while instructing such as movement in classroom while instructing,volume,nonverbal communication use is another  point. An effective classroom manager should know how to deal with the situations and how to create a student-centered environment to provide a more effective lesson. Having a back up plan can save the lesson as well.  The most effective teacher  is the one who can instruct the same topic in different styles and situations. To clarify the point,an effective teacher should know whether a group work is better or individual is more suitable to keep the attention,or whether he/she should raise or low his/her voice while lecturing. Sometimes,even a nonverbal communication signal such as arching the eyebrows can be efficient to stop an undesired behavior.
To sum up,classroom management is an important issue to create an environment in which students can have healthy relationship with their teacher and teacher can convey the knowledge effectively to keep students motivated and to catch their attention for the class. So,several key skills are required to provide such an environment and to be an effective classroom manager. The skills are awareness for both self and students,the relationship with students in term of understanding and responding their needs and wants,as last,instruction and communication styles  which include nonverbal communication use,working style for the activities (e.g. group work,individual etc.),volume,movements,backups to deal with the situations and to create an effective classroom environment.     First things first,teachers need to have self-awareness to deal with classroom effectively. Effective classroom managers  always question themselves as  teachers. They have to be clear and determined while having the class and students should know what they are doing and what the next step is. In this way,students can have clear minds and have an idea about how to participate and how to perform in the class without confusion.To provide this clearness and to have the right responding style,teachers should first know what the need is and what their students want from the lesson. Informing the class about the syllabus,classroom rules and the desired behaviors can be good examples for effective classroom management in terms of awareness.                       The second matter is the relationship between student and teacher.To provide an effective classroom management,teachers need to know how to balance the closeness with students. Some teachers are too friendly or some of them are so strict while managing. An ideal manager should know whether students will be fine when he/she does not consider personal space or makes jokes  to create a sincere environment. To have the right decision,the teacher should observe the personalities of his/her students well. Then,the teacher can decide that it is fine being friendly to have a healthy communication with the students or staying strict works well for the class to keep the management. As an example,if a class has lots of difficult students,making jokes,behaving as a friendly teacher all the time can trigger the students to misbehave more and make the management harder.  Otherwise,being strict and rule implementer can  increase the hesitation to participate the lesson and create a teacher-centered environment in a silent classroom full of tractable students.     Thirdly,being aware about some important details while instructing such as movement in classroom while instructing,volume,nonverbal communication use is another  point. An effective classroom manager should know how to deal with the situations and how to create a student-centered environment to provide a more effective lesson. Having a back up plan can save the lesson as well.  The most effective teacher  is the one who can instruct the same topic in different styles and situations. To clarify the point,an effective teacher should know whether a group work is better or individual is more suitable to keep the attention,or whether he/she should raise or low his/her voice while lecturing. Sometimes,even a nonverbal communication signal such as arching the eyebrows can be efficient to stop an undesired behavior.To sum up,classroom management is an important issue to create an environment in which students can have healthy relationship with their teacher and teacher can convey the knowledge effectively to keep students motivated and to catch their attention for the class. So,several key skills are required to provide such an environment and to be an effective classroom manager. The skills are awareness for both self and students,the relationship with students in term of understanding and responding their needs and wants,as last,instruction and communication styles  which include nonverbal communication use,working style for the activities (e.g. group work,individual etc.),volume,movements,backups to deal with the situations and to create an effective classroom environment.

Examples of Current Issues in a Multicultural Classroom

   In the article ‘’ Examples of Current Issues in the Multicultural Classroom’’ which is written by Merfat Ayesh Alsubaie,it is mentioned that there is a significant relationship between culture and language.This relationship affects the learning process in multicultural classrooms.There are some problems for both teachers and students in multicultural education. It is hard to manage a multicultural classroom because of the unfamiliarity between the people,their cultures,and languages.The issues that teachers and students face in a multicultural classroom are low academic achievement, adjustment to a new cultural environment,and trust problems with self as well as the new culture.                             

   Firstly, teachers and students who are from different cultures and have different backgrounds can face with some problems in the teaching/learning process.Teachers role is important in this issue.They should have knowledge about approaches to help his students to make them feel comfortable in the classroom.In multicultural classrooms,if some of the students’ cultures are different from the culture of their new classroom,their academic achievement can be affected badly.For example,a Chinese student who has a Western education background can have difficulty in communication and interpersonal contacts of a Eastern education system.So,the student may prefer to abstain or does not want to express himself clearly,and this causes a low academic achievement.

   Secondly,adjustment to a new cultural environment is another issue in multicultural classrooms.Unfamiliar and new environments make students reluctant to join the activities,discussion parts. Besides,some activities which require interaction and communication may not be applicable for all students.Because every student has different cultural background in education,the activities such as  group study, individual learning,or cooperative learning can affect the learning process badly. Adjustment process is an important issue for students to become familiar with the system and the culture.

   Thirdly,for multicultural classrooms,trust problem is a significant issue.The confidence between teacher and students affect students directly. For example,if we contrast our teacher-centered and individual studying educational culture with the system of Finland which is student-centered and based on activities,group studying education,a Finn student will probably feel really nervous and hesitate to do the assignments or activities individually in a multicultural classroom in Turkey. To provide the confidence,teacher should modify the techniques and approaches he uses by taking into consideration the cultures and educational backgrounds of the students. So,the students can feel respected and safe with the other students and his teacher.

   To sum up,the author mentioned the problems in multicultural classroom. According to the aim of the author,the article is really brief and thoughts about multicultural classroom are clear. I think as the way he does; the problems we can face in multicultural classroom are come from the backgrounds of students and educational culture.To prevent the problems as low academic achievements,adjustment to a new cultural environment,and problems with self as well as the new culture,teacher has an important role for the adaptation period of the students with the help of modified approaches,techniques.

Culture in Language Learning: Background, Issues and Implications

   The study ‘’ Culture in Language Learning: Background, Issues and Implications’’ which is conducted by Omid Pourkalhor and Nastaran Esfandiari aims at demonstrating the significant relationship between culture and language learning.Having knowledge about the culture of the target language provides better performance and understanding the language more clearly in language learning process.As we know,every language is a reflection for its culture.Different understandings,cognitive constructs,and interactions are the parts of cultures.So,also the languages that we use are shaped by our cultures.In the learning process,it is really important to have an awareness of cultural appropriateness and behaviours of the target language because having a total comprehension about target language is not possible without cultural knowledge.                                                           

   Language learners can express themselves and have a meaningful communication only if they have a clear understanding about the culture of their target language. If I give an example,in African culture,there are many idioms and proverbs related to different kinds of animals.If we do not have any knowledge about their culture,probably the words they use in proverbs will seem meaningless for us.Language is learnt better if learners experience it in their lives.For that, learners should have an acculturation with the help of using the language and having real-life tasks.In my opinion,in the present,there are many chances to access to different cultures with various language applications which provide learners even video call,with some simulation designings,or with international courses.Ability of applying the language into real life,and making connection between native and foreign/second language shows the language learning acquisition. Language is a product of culture,cultural knowledge lackness of the learners should be filled in classrooms.Providing different and applicable activities can help to develop adequate and coherent understandings about target language. Teachers also have to know about the culture and language relation to provide a better understanding with appropriate examples,explanations to students.                                                                               

   To sum up,culture and language cannot be seperated from each other. Because language learning cannot be completed and a total comprehension cannot be provided if there is not clear cultural knowledge of target language. 

Certificate of Instructional Design for E-Learning

Hot Potatoes

Hot Potatoes is an application for you to use it in any purpose and project you want.
When you download it,you are able to create multiple-choice,short answer questions,filling-gap exercises,matchings,and even crosswords.Besides,you can give feedbacks to your students after they are done with the quiz. 
We can say that Hot Potatoes is the father of Quizlet.You can realize the similarities easily.

Padlet

Padlet is an application that you can create boards about anything you want.
You can add images,sounds,links to create a well-prepared board.
Using padlet is a good way to bring students visual learning and audial learning ability.



I've prepared a padlet board about the three learning theories which are behaviorism,cognitivism,and constructivism.

Check it out to listen it. :)

VR (Virtual Reality) Experience

Virtual reality allows people to view three-dimensional figures. 

In this world,a version of world is presented to you but actually which is not really there.

Virtual reality implements the ''reality'' with sensual ways. After the virtual world is presented to you,you become able to manipulate objects or perform a series of actions.

This technology is not only for entertainment industry. It is also helpful in education,sport,even architecture,and in many industry you can think about.

For example,an architect can present his designed house as a 3D and 360 degree angled version,or a teacher can prepare effective activities to integrate her students to the lesson.
Maybe in the future,we can even have online virtual reality technology to join the virtual life together with our friends

To me,a three-dimensional classroom environment is more enjoyable than a standard classroom.👌

As an English Language Teaching student,I see this technology as an advantage for my future students.In my country,the government has a project which is a syllabus system,and nowadays tablet computers are given to students.If this system works really well,and if technology is intagrated our lives as ''normal and simple'',we can be able to create new activities for students with the help of VR glasses. We know that visual learning and experiencing are the most effective ways in learning process. So, we can prepare the exams,and organize some competitions among students,or teach the name of animals with catchy virtual 3D animals to make a visual comprehension.  

Maybe in the future,we can even have online virtual reality technology to join the virtual life together with our friends. 

We can experience this world with this ''interesting'' glasses called as VR glasses.
The things you have to do are really easy;
choosing a VR video,putting your phone into the glasses,and enjoying with your VR life!

In addition,if you want to experience this technology only for fun,finding various videos designed for VR is possible on youtube.  

If you want to have a better comprehension,I have searched for a video about VR technology.

Check it out!:)

Also if you are an android user,you can find VR videos on

''VR movies 3D''

AR (Augmented Reality) Experience

In AR which is a form of VR (virtual reality) it is aimed to enhance or expand the real world through the use of virtual elements.

To make this new ''world'' clear,I've had some experiences in many AR applications such as
Augment 3D AR,BLIPPAR,HP REVEAL,and ZAPPAR.

The main point of all of these systems is creating a scanning code for the aimed figure,and when the code is scanned,you can easily access the augmented reality form of your figure.
I guess we all experienced Instagram filters.They are kind of simple forms of AR.

Moreover,In the future,many augmented reality examples for education,business,entertainment etc. can be possible to access easily.

So,in this way,maybe students who have disability to have an education,will be able to have a simulated teacher at home.
In my opinion,I would like to see my students while preparing and presenting their projects via AR without wasting time with PowerPoint projects.
If this technology become common,having online AR classes can be possible,and in this way students can have a chance to meet foreign students online.

Maybe in the future,we can create our own worlds with the help of a smartphone or smart glasses. :)

I want to show you some of my experiences in AR;
                                       

If you check this website,you will see a beautiful colored pattern,scan it with another device,and see the AR figures anywhere you want! :)

Voki

Voki is a tool to apply for education for your students.

You can use Voki for homeworks,classworks,and projects.

You can apply Voki via voice recording.Besides,changing the characteristics of your avatar as historical figures,cartoons,animals,and even yourself is possible.

If you want to see an example,here is my voki about the best ways to repeat the important points of your lesson as a teacher. Check it out please! :)

PIXTON

Pixton is a creation tool which provides to create comics.
You can apply many details into your comic such as mimics,objects,speech bubbles.
You can also upload your own photos.
Pixton is used in education as well. It provides an effective learning process for students.
Except individual account which is free,it is also possible to use Pixton for schools called Pixton for Schools which is not free. With the help of the private rooms,students will be able to study collaboratively,create,and share their comics.

If you want to see my comic about e-Learning courses,here it is!:)

STORYBIRD

Storybird is a tool which provides creating ''language'' activities.
It is able to create books,only one page stories with some illustrations,besides, it is very quickly and easy.
The age range option is also beneficial.You can choose the age range of the readers.
In storybird,you are also able to read,and save stories for after.
It can increase the reading&writing ability of your students or children.

Here is my shory story for children. Check it out please! :)

And click here if you want to know more about how to use storybird.

KAHOOT

Kahoot is a game based classroom response system played by the whole class in real time.

It gives options to create quizes,surveys,and discussions.

Questions on the screen can be answered by the students via their smartphones,tablets,or computers.

Here is a view from Kahoot,and a sample quiz about linguistics prepared by me.
My quiz link

Ruth Clark's Six Principles of Effective e-Learning

This video is prepared by myself to give you a clear opinion about how to create,design an effective e-Learning course.

Infographic Sharing with the Help of PINTEREST

Internet based social media using is called as social networking.

With the help of social networking,we can access many people around the word who have the same interests with us. Making connections with your family,friends,classmates,or the other people in your community is much more easier nowadays.

Facebook,Twitter,Instagram and also Pinterest are some social media examples which help you to have social networks.

The picture is a view of Pinterest,it is really easy to use.

Firstly,you sign up and edit your profile.

Then,the application wants you to choose some interests of yours such as fitness,technology,art etc.

In the end,shows many related pictures and gifts to you which are pinned by other people who have the same interest with you. 

You can also make comments,and save the pictures and gifts.

In this way you can make connection with people while searching for the things you like!

I also make this infographic with the help of piktochart.com. It is a simply presentation maker with many visuals. As you know in presentations,effectiveness is really important in order to take the attentions,and infographics really provides that. 

I have added an example from my infographic ''Advantages of e-Learning'' and added it as a pin to Pinterest. Besides,I added a view from piktochart while creating my infographic.

Maybe you want to try it,and share your ideas with me! 

Enjoy with your time! :) 

SOCRATIVE

Socrative is a formative assessment tool which visualize student understanding.
It allows instructors to create quick,simple quizes to engage the attention of students.
Students are able to take the quizes quickly on laptops or mobiles. 
In addition,it is as simple as Kahoot.

If you want to learn more about Socrative,please click here! :)

(This is a view of socrative and a sample quiz that I've prepared on my socrative account.)

MOODLE

Moodle (Modular Object Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) is designed as a supporter for face-to-face teaching process. It is a virtual learning environment.

With the help of Moodle;

Instructors share the lecture notes,structure of the lessons beforehand,and provide a handy way for students to look at the plans,topics and contents beforehand.Because students do not use books or do not have to take notes again,instuctors save time.
Sharing assignments in this digital platform is beneficial for collaborative learning.
Activities such as online feedbacks and discussions via the platform help students to be more active in learning process.
Besides,students have the advantage of not to being in a specific place,and not to arrange a time to join the lessons.Moodle brings students an advantage to access the platform whenever and wherever they are available.

Nonverbal Communication in Public Speech

   Do you know that body language and tone have 93% impact in public speech? We have only 60 seconds to take the audience attention.So,in this 60 second part ''The importance is not what is said,it is how it is said actually.'' Stella Ting Toomey says that nonverbal signals can be used to complement,emphasize,
substitute,and even contradict what you are saying through your verbal communication.Nonverbal signals can place the verbal messages in a context that provides a basis for how the message should be interpreted.There are some ways to connect with the audience without even saying a word such as with facial expressions,gestures,and supporting signals to make the speech more effective.

   To start with facial expressions in public speech,it is one of the most important factor to emphasize the words.Sometimes words are not enough alone,then facial expressions as something thought-provoking,activator,or concentration  helper can be necessary. Charles Darwin said ''Facial expressions evolved to quickly communicate emotional states important to social survival.'' An effective speaker knows how to transmit the sensation with the help of facial expressions while having a speech.For instance,a shocked facial expression with raised eyebrows can make a sensation among the audience,and it can create a wish to learn the reason for that shocked face,or catch the shocking information.

   Secondly,having gestures is not the only important point while communicating in social life.It is also important for publich speech.We all agree with its benefits to take attention.In addition,gestures help to have a fluent speaking and to be confident.Stopping using gestures means freezing the speech as well.''Gesturing can help people to form clearer thoughts,to speak in tighter sentences and use more declarative language.'' Kinsey Goman said.Tones and facial expressions sometimes cannot be enough to excite people or to show how an effective speaker we are.Then gestures prevent standing like a robot on the stage,and add some 'life' to speaker.

   Lastly,supporting signals can be detailed in many ways.All the 'helpers' that you use while having a speech are your supporting signals.To make it more clear,using the board while speaking is not only helpful for you to organize or remember your topic but also helpful for the audience to understand,and to have a preview about your speech.Using some statistics,3D models can be beneficial for the audience who has advanced visual skill.''Statistics show that three hours after a presentation 70 percent of people can remember content presented verbally.The impact of visual aids on the retention of content in a speech is even more impressive after three days.''So,we can say that supporting signals for the audience as important as facial expressions and gestures.

   To sum up,we should be aware of the technics of a good speech.It is not only getting on a stage,and telling about something directly without any gimmick.I mentioned how to have an effective speech in public,and how to take the attention to have a successful speech with the help of facial expressions,gestures,and supporting signals.

VIRTUAL REALITY - Second Life

   Do you have any idea about virtual reality? 

   Have you ever heard something about gamification?

   I think we are all deal with that course books and using pens are not the attractive ways in education anymore. Developing technology provides us many benefits in education. Virtual reality gives us endless opportunities to apply our project-based works.To improve the motivation of students,lessons are created in virtual platforms such as second life,simscity etc. This is also called gamification. As I said,this method improves students' motivation in learning and promotes them to solve problems as in real life. 

This picture is an example from Second Life. My character -actually me- is reading a book in a library. What else? You can create/build classes for your students,have a conference,meeting with colleagues etc. Is it weird? Not anymore. This is what the present period wants from us. This is actually moving with times and benefiting from its easiness. If you give a chance yourself to apply virtual reality in your teaching/learning method,you can explore how to have an effective teaching/learning.

Virtual reality is the first step in a grand adventure into the landscape of the imagination.

FRANK BIOCCA, TAEYONG KIM, & MARK R. LEVY, Communication in the Age of Virtual Reality