Technology in Teacher Education

Avator tools are like the comic tools I have covered in an earlier post before, they both involve the use of images but in a funny and joyful way. Of course these tools can be used for a variety of educational purposes with our students in the classroom.

"Delivering Performance Feedback to Teachers" is an interactive and conversation-based training simulation that lets principals practice giving feedback to virtual teacher (avatars). I think the game is beyond helpful due to the fact as school leaders, it's hard to give a neutral feedback to the teachers from time to time, which may deter the leaders from giving it at all.

Academic avatars are getting more and more popular as the academic faculty becomes younger, more Internet savvy and avatar-ish. I'll also get my avatar asap!

use of technology in learning

Avatars can be used by classroom teachers when designing digital stories or delivering content. Avatars can represent a tour guide explaining travels along the Silk Road, or represent real life characters like Mark Twain giving a lecture on his home or Einstein introducing the solar system.

Being a geek of Sims games, the Sim Schools appealed to my interests a lot. Here you can see a demo of school created by Sims 3.

You can find teachers or a lesson all around the world and involved in.

"Children learn best when the content is relevant to them and when they can connect new learning with old," says Marcia Baldanza, principal of Patrick Henry Elementary School in Alexandria, Virginia. Finding the Velcro to make those connections can be challenging, but with games, it's easy."

It is really a good video to explain this community as we watched in class. And the only video shared about communities I think. Thanks for your share..

This guide provides a practical approach to creating communities of practice (CoPs) based on experiences working with corporations, nonprofits, associations, government organizations, and educational institutions. While it is important to recognize that every organization and community is different, this guide provides a structure to help clarify the most important design elements that go into defining, designing, launching, and growing CoPs-both online and face-to-face.

These are very practical guidelines for everyone. Thanks for sharing it, Sibel!

Oh, how come I forgot to mention Mendeley! Apart from being reference manager, it is a useful networking platform as well.

The notion of community has been at the heart of the Internet since its inception, yet our understanding of the specific contours and details of what that community should look like have changed dramatically. Initially, we were driven by the desire to engage with people we didn't know and grow our community, as shared interests and passions drove our desire to connect.

Six essential elements

The world is online. In 2013, about 1.43 billion people worldwide are active in online communities and social networks compared to 46.6 million people in Germany. In particular, the mobile visits show a rapid growth: In Asia already 60% of the frequently visitors of online communities come from mobile devices, 46% in North-America and about 22% in Europe.

I find this infographic very useful because it shows the pattern of online community use in 2013 very clearly. I am not surprised to see that online communities are facilitated in the North America at most. Thanks Ahsen!

Founded in 1943, ASCD (formerly the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) is an educational leadership organization dedicated to advancing best practices and policies for the success of each learner. Our 175,000 members in 119 countries are professional educators from all levels and subject areas--superintendents, supervisors, principals, teachers, professors of education, and school board members.

EdTech Leaders Online (ETLO) is an program for K-12 school districts, state departments of education, regional service centers, teacher training institutions, and other educational organizations to enable them to provide effective online learning programs for teachers, administrators, and students.

Here you can find really good advices to stay safe in your social networking connections. The advice for being prepared to answer questions about your social networking page or other social account in job interviews is a good one that I didn't realize before.

Academia.edu is a social networking website for academics as some of us may be familiar with it.The platform can be used to share papers, monitor their impact, and follow the research in a particular field. I find it very useful to trace the research of my colleagues and get their opinions about my research. If you haven't tried it before, I strongly recommend it.