Do you see any potential applications for teacher education?

Dear discussion leaders, have you seen this, too? :)

The discussion leaders of next week may have already heard about this simulation tool, but, in any case, I wanted to post it here for everyone's attention. To be honest, I have not explored it yet, but it seems promising. :)

Great news! :) Then, I'll wait for our class meeting to learn more about it instead of doing all by myself. ;)

My gut feelings tell me that this list is somewhat incomplete despite its exhaustive coverage. Nevertheless, I found it good enough to share. :) You may follow the embedded links under each skill in order to explore each in-depth.

In case you may need them for your professional development workshops. :)

The author of this article tries to answer why so many teachers are resistant to mobile devices in their classrooms although their students tend to believe that smartphones and laptops can assist their learning. After reading the text, I realized how social attitude toward mobile learning can be a decisive factor in terms of its integration into education.

Since online networks and communities have opened new avenues for teacher professional development and connectedness, it is of paramount importance for us to explore the ways on how to make the best use of them. From my standpoint, it is not sufficient to introduce or sign up for them, we, at the same time, need to think how to maximize and optimize our experiences on such platforms. At the end of the day, we may find ourselves on the margins of such communities and networks only consuming or wandering aimlessly. :)

Just like many other people I have realized how Facebook has started to become obsolete among people recently. I have also doubts regarding its effectiveness for educational purposes, so I wanted to share this link that includes many alternative social networking platforms to Facebook. Through this link, you can also explore a number of interest-based social networks that are seen as the 'future of social networking'. After all, it depends on our own skills how to optimize those environments for our own academic or educational purposes. :)

Those who are planning to flip their classrooms may benefit from the tools that could be found through this link.

Since we usually complain about a lack of resources that include the voices of Turkish students, I found this page useful in terms of pondering on what Turkish students may potentially experience with flipped classrooms. You can read their reflections/comments/opinions on a flipped social studies classroom through this link. Feel free to explore the other contents on the website as well. :)

To be honest, their comments are surprising for me too, especially when I see that they have experienced no challenge or discomfort in terms of adapting to this new model. Plus, all those comments look like they are promoting a market product. :) Perhaps our educational system has accomplished to raise students who are highly motivated and capable of adapting to rapid changes. :)

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.

An interesting storyline from a Turkish context... :)

As recent educational research (including educational technology) has implied, context is extremely important to TPACK framework. By "context" it is usually meant classroom, teacher, student, and societal factors. Therefore, the complexities of TPACK do not develop in isolation but in a complex and dynamic relationship with all those contextual factors. However, this study shows that context is usually missing from research about TPACK. In this direction, Rosenberg and Koehler (2015) underscore the importance of including contextual factors in TPACK research and of showing the role of context on teachers' knowledge and practice in terms of technology integration. Personally speaking, I believe TPACK research should not only focus on survey findings but also should be accompanied by complex qualitative data focusing on micro and macro contextual factors.

"MOOC and online courses are changing the face of higher education. Here are some details on how some colleges are adapting." This infographic shows that MOOCs will not replace traditional, residential classes at least in the near future contrary to popular belief among some MOOC fans. The biggest reason behind MOOCs complementary role in education could be their unidirectional nature which makes it difficult for students to receive personalized/differentiated instruction, in-depth feedback, and other mediums for deep learning. Nevertheless, they offer great resources for those highly motivated, self-directed/regulated learners. Another interesting issue in the infographic is that the U.S. colleges, at least almost 60% of them, are willing to integrate online component into their regular college education; I really wonder what statistics our Turkish universities would provide. :)