Farewell

taken from here

Hello. We have finally neared the end of the term. It means that the course that this blog was created for is coming to an end as well.

Throughout this course, we have done lots of tasks and research. One of our first tasks was to discuss technology integration in classes. I had written about why we should use technology in classrooms, giving several reasons as to why it is beneficial and necessary. My ideas haven't changed after attending this course. On the contrary, I have come to learn about lots of different tools to use in education and how to properly integrate them in your courses. I definitely wish to be able to use the things that I've learned in course later in my own teaching career. 

Instructional Technologies and Material Design was a course I felt really at ease to attend. I didn't feel stressed in any way. The tasks given by our instructor was very clear and she was definitely using all the things she was teaching us in her classes. I didn't know I could be a fan of doing homework, but this course showed me that people could actually enjoy course tasks. 

What I especially liked about this course was that there were several tasks to choose from. Everyone didn't have to do the same thing. Being given such a choice probably made all the students comfortable, I believe. 

When I try to remember something I didn't like about the course, I cannot particularly think about a certain thing. It could be that sometimes there were mandatory pair works, but my group of friends includes 5 people. Sometimes we struggled with that, but it's fine and there isn't anything else I can think of.

taken from here

I would like to thank our instructor Dr. Kurt for this fun journey. It has been a ride, but a very fun one. I believe we have made lots of good memories as we completed the tasks. I can picture myself coming back to this blog and seeing my old posts, all the tasks that we've done and remember these days saying "Wow, I did that?". (I'm especially thinking about my movie poster because it looks extra beautiful, not gonna lie. I'm kind of proud of myself.) I feel like I'm repeating myself but the tasks were really fun to do. Seeing the products of the tasks, the outcomes made me feel like I've accomplished something. I would like to take a course just like this in the future instead of the other classical boring ones if that is possible.

Dr. Kurt once again thank you so much for this course, for spending extra time to create tasks for us too. 

And this was my final post. Thank you for reading.

-Refika Özdemir

Time for Infographics

Hello everyone!

This post is about our recent task which is to create an infographic about Web 2.0 tools.

An infographic is the visual representation of information, according to Wikipedia. They can include charts, diagrams, etc.


Why Are Infographics Better Than Plain Text?

• The brain processes visuals better and faster than texts.
• Infographics are fun and unique.
• Infographics are eye-catching.
• Infographics make you look like a professional.

It is very easy to create infographics now that there are so many tools out there. But the one I chose is Visme. I've been using Visme for my classes a lot this year and I can confidently recommend it to you.

 So here is my beautiful infographic! Hope you like it.

sources that were helpful:

Benefits of Infographics

Infographic Benefits

 Web 2.0 Tools

101 Web 2.0 Teaching Tools

What is RSS?

Hello everyone! I'm back and I've brought my RSS Feed with me for today's post. I will briefly explain what RSS is, the service I'm using and so on down below.

It can be hard to keep track of all the content online since new stuff gets shared every day. There is an easy way though: RSS.

What is an RSS Feed?

RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication". It allows you to subscribe to websites and blogs and whenever they have something new published, you can see it on a single page instead of having to check every single site if there are new posts. It helps you save a lot of time and effort.

How To Use RSS Feed?

• The first thing you should do is installing a feedreader. 
• You can download the one I'm using here. If you don't want to install it on your computer, they have an online feedreader option as well (which you will see when you click on the link).

• Secondly, after you install it follow the steps in the picture below. 

• After that, paste your link on the page that appears and click"okay".

It is that simple! You will see your feed on the screen right away.

Here is how my own RSS feed looks like:

The blogs that I follow can be seen on the left and the posts that they have shared are on the right with the dates and titles. I can group them however I want but right now I'm using the "No grouping" option.

(My RSS Feed can also be seen my blog down on the right side of my page. Check them out if you want!)

And I want to show you one of my favorite ELT blogs. It is called ELT Planning. This blog belongs to Pete who is from Bangkok and he mainly shares his ideas about ELT and tips for the other teachers.

For example, he posts about the details of a game he played in class to give ideas to the others.

Pete's blog isn't as professional as the other ones in my feed but I certainly recommend you to follow these kinds of blogs as well. Pete's blog does have lots of fun ideas that everyone could make use of!

Thank you for reading my post!

Ever Heard of Digital Storytelling?

image taken from here

Hi, it's me again and I'm back with yet another task!

This time we were told to choose from one of the digital storytelling tasks and we chose the most fun one. But first, let me explain what it is.

Digital storytelling is basically using computer-based tools to tell stories. Meaning that digital graphics, videos, texts, music, etc. will accompany your storytelling.

There are lots of different types of digital storytelling. The one we did for this task is telling how to do something. In this case, my friend Asya and I are telling you how to wear contact lenses correctly!

Check out our video down below!

Check out Asya's post about it here too.

I Made a Movie Poster

Hello!

This week our task was to create a movie poster based on a book that we have read. I chose to go with the novel I most recently have read. It's originally in Chinese but it was translated into English with the title "Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation". While creating the poster, I chose to simply call the movie "Grandmaster" because... the simpler the better, right?

Here is my poster! Click on it see it in full size.

(The original picture belongs to Yukina Emi.)

In the future, I definitely would want to give this kind of task to my students. Personally, I found the process extremely fun. When something I love gets integrated into course tasks, it motivates me. 

See you in my next post!