It is an online community of practice (oCoP) for ICT teachers in Turkey. Although there are many oCoPs in Facebook, this forum is quite active and several messages are sent every day.
Gamification is a new concept for me, according to the infographic %43 of teachers (we dont know who) include gamification in their classrooms, and that increases the average test scores about %10.
It is good to see that open and digital textbooks are on the rise, but I really wonder how we will motivate our future generations to read, research, be self-directed, explore, and so on. As far as I can observe current young generation, their attention span is getting shorter, and they want to reach information as quickly as possible. Plus they want digital content to be enjoyable and interactive. Reading digital books? I am not so sure... :)
Yasin, my contention is that you cannot motivate anyone "to read, research, be self-directed, explore" id they do not wish to be motivated in the first place. It is virtually impossible. What we can do is to serve as a model to them by depicturing what they can achieve provided that they possess these skills. I totally agree with you that the amount of generation gap between us and those who are only five to ten years younger is paramount, but I am pretty sure they'll find their own way as they grow up. Or, most of them will have to if they are to lead a good life because the skills you mentioned are now regarded as survival skills.
Yasin and Hakan,
I agree with both of you. I also think that first we need to acknowledge our students are different. I may even call them humans 2.0 :) and yes their attention span is rather short and is getting shorter, and so is ours. I, as a teacher, suffer from it and have my own strategies. Maybe we can help students in that, too. Also, I really don't think they don't want to "read, research, be self-directed, explore". When something enters into their "radar", they can turn into autonomous and motivated researchers! I know that I am pointing out to the obvious, but we need te revise what we teach and how we teach. As also stated in the Horizon Report 2016: " In order to remain motivated, students need to be able to make clear connections between the curriculum and the real world, and how the new knowledge and skills will impact them."
I think for the elementary grade flipped classroom is hard to implement because holding students accountable and following their online preparation seem difficult. This short article offer some tips for flipping elementary classroom.
I have also found these websites for the same purpose of making videos more interactive: EDpuzzle and Vizia. I forgot to mention it: These both seem to be free. :)
Here you can find activity examples for that can be used in-class for the flipped classroom. You should see the group activity examples which are interesting.
In this short informative video clip, two experienced flippers offer a number of ways to overcome the challenges posed by the flipped classrooms. Here is the outline of the video:
- alternative ways on how to access content,
- how to watch educational videos,
- the optimum length of the videos,
- how to motivate students to watch the videos before coming to class,
- some techniques to improve the quality of the videos,
- the flexibility of flipped approaches,
- the importance of contextual factors on the effectiveness of flipped classrooms.
this video illuminated me about the minimum properties of an instructional video. I agree that while providing a video teacher should consider the grade of students. Language, clarity and length of video is important to gain student attention. And this is a good idea that starting with small pieces may be good to try the flipped classroom model and adjust students.
In the article, you may find some advantages of establishing a social networks for learning. Rather than being a passive user, experiencing professional learning community in social networks may be future trends so students should have capable of using social learning tools consciously and creatively .
This link gives information about simulated teaching. It includes subtitles like steps in simulated teaching, teacher training and simulation, advantages and disadvantages of simulated teaching method, definition and importance of simulated teaching method etc. Enjoy!
I do not know if a similar guide is available for Turkish teachers, but the General Teaching Council for Scotland has prepared a guidance document to help Scottish teachers with "identifying potential dangers, offering some guidance about how to avoid them and providing a context for responsible, professional use of electronic communication and social media." The guide concludes as follows:
Before posting materials online stop and ask yourself:
(1) Will the content reflect poorly on you, your school, employer or the teaching profession?
(2) Is your intention to post this material driven by personal reasons or professional reasons?
(3) Are you confident that the comment or other media in question, if accessed by others, (colleagues, parents etc) would be considered reasonable and appropriate?