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Here is an interesting example how learning is practiced in social media. If you want to find out more about the theoretical background, google "Professor Sreenivasan".

Some of social media samples can be used during some spesific classes such as History, English, Biology and likewise. But as a Maths teacher, I do not believe that I can use it as a tool to teach a subject. However, I definately aggree that it is obviously a great thing to exchange new ideas, to make brain storms, to create a discussion platform and broaden ideas according to several perspectives.

I liked the idea of integrating social media into instruction. But the teacher or instructor should be extra careful and strategic as it may be risky. Such devices or technology are mostly to capture the attention of the students or to keep students engaged in the lesson. I still think that the magic is in the hands of the teacher to keep the students attention and ensure effective learning. It may be too much technological to use facebook or tweeter in each lesson, which constitutes a balance issue. The students need to be close to the books, pencils and notebooks, papers etc. The dose of social media should be arranged carefully and strategically.

After I read this I become more worried about our students especially in secondary schools. There were SBS (exam for entering high schools) and they were taking 3 different exams at each grade, 6,7,8 but now with the new regulations they will have 36 exams. Apart from that in 10 years the system has changed for 5 times. what can be more devastating their chilhood than that?

I agree with you about the testing system in Turkey but it is only the top of the iceberg. For me, childhood ends for children who start the formal education in Turkey. Our system is so demanding and competitive that children cannot endure the difficulties they encounter. First of all, we have very overloaded curricula and students always need to be alert and hardworking to keep up with the required activities. While trying to make use of constructivist understanding curriculum developers missed some points: the opportunities and facilities the schools and students have, the difficulty level of activities, background of the learner and student and parent profile in Turkey, teacher characteristics in our schools and so on. The curricula cannot be implemeted in most of the schools so teachers invented their own methods and techniques which do not match to any of the instructional theories properly. Parents started to find out ways to protect their children and they made lots of mistakes. For example, some parents do projects of their children and smarter children started to sell ready-made projects at schools. Although teachers know the truth, he grade these projects because the system makes it nearly impossible to fail. In short, our system is working but not in the way writen in the curricula. The changes, negativities and difficulties in the system is damaging the childhood and future of the students. Somebody should change it, not the curricula:)

World is getting more populated, and each individual wants to have a better life. And a better life is significantly related to education. So, exams still appear to be a "must" in this racing system. Actually, I am a supporter of the exams if we want to have a more "fair race". I remember the terrible old days when successful people couldn't get what they deserved because of the bribery system in Turkey. On the other hand, I agree about the side effects of the overtesting. And as an individual who has been exposed to overtesting, the question I ask to myself is "How has the overtesting affected my mental health?" The truth is I have been stressed, depressed and sad because of the tests :(

gives some insights for etcher collaboration..

Thanks for sharing this Hatice. As Afranur, I am in need of such useful sources. These really help for the design of lessons.

Beyond textbooks:) Actually if teachers are left alone in finding out brilliant applications and applying it would be no use. Now, we can register online platforms and share. Here, what is unique is that teachers search, gather to discuss, practice and discuss again. This is collaboration in real terms!

Here are some ideas for integrating CSCL to language teaching. You can also find practical activities.

This is a useful source for language teachers including benefits, elements and sample activities of CSCL.

İbrahim thanks for sharing this source, I believe we should make use of CSCL while both teaching and learning a language. Especially the role of interaction is really important, as teachers our mission is to make this interaction possible I think and there are some good sources for activities.

An online platform that can be used for collaborative learning.

That may be a drawback for the teachers teaching different courses but time allocated for lessons are not enough to engage students in discussions and have every student voice their ideas. This is just an example. Teachers can use any other online platform to do this.

This can be used in the online classes. I taught several online and blended courses before. One missing element was the audio-visual cues in online discussions. I would be more inclined to use the tools that allow muli-modal interaction in an online platform.

"The purpose of the Discovery Retreat is to promote environmentalism through the practice of contextual teaching and learning among teachers and their sutdents. It is our practical and philosophic belief that teachers can play an important role in the preservatin of our environment." "The Discovery Retreat is a program within the Department of Workforce Education, Leadership, and Social Foundations, which ranked 4th in the nation by the U.S. News and World Report. The Department of Workforce Education, Leadership, and Social Foundations is also recognized nationally and internationally for its work in the development of contextual teaching and learning theories and practices in teacher education."

there is much more to learn when you are outside than when you are inside :)

Here is a research on the differences between novice and expert teachers' perceptions about students' prior knowledge and how they differ in making use of it. Linking this article to the topic of this week I believe novice teachers bring up novice learners. It is like a vicious circle, I think.

Here is a video showing how a tutor works

Ok, thank you :) I thought if a teacher is using this tool for example, s/he can enter some skills beforehand.

Thank you Halil, it's a very good example. And Canan mentioned a good point but I have a question: If we use these kind of systems, do we need empty tools for teachers which they can fill for their own instructional purposes or do we need a complete environment which teachers will just use?

While reading the article, I felt surprised because it was published in 1986 but he was sharing really innovative ideas about expertise. I hope you'll enjoy it....

Sermin, I followed similar nominating strategy to identify expert online teachers in my dissertation. Berliner's question is rather important here: How do we identify expert teachers? What should be the selection criteria as well as method?

In this video, a teacher shows that using technology (smartboard) and concrete materials/manipulatives help students learn geometrical concepts. Especially in early ages, children can learn abstract concepts better with the proper use of hands-on activities and concrete manipulatives. If we add visualizations to words in our lessons, we can enhance students' learning. Furthermore, using such instruments in class may prevent misconceptions that make difficult to learn new concepts.

I like this video because of two reasons. Firstly, it is good example of effective lesson and good example for using materials.Different types of materials are used in this video and lesson materials are support each other by this way lesson becomes enjoyable and interesting for students who has different learning styles. Secondly, in this video, manipulatives, paper pencil actvities and technogical tools are used together and a good example of how technology should be used in the lessons. Studies shows that in our classrooms, smart board used like projectors and teachers even do not know the function of document camera. Therefore, I think that this video should be used for teacher training in Fatih project.

This is a nice little newsletter that mentions some characteristics of situated learning. Some resources on situated learning and its usage in learning environments are offered !

Firstly, it was a nice source to read, thanks for sharing it. I agree with you time concerns, teacher and student charateristics are prominent to implement the principles of situated learning in practice. It is really difficult to create authentic learning environment in our classes under the stess of keeping up with the curriculum which is based on traditional theories of learning. Thus, it is the work of the curriculum specialists to revise the curricula to be more in line with the improvements in the field of learning sciences.

There is a case study which I really advise you to look at it. It is about a political course in which they took a government's problem about content and design of websites. He says "given all the considerations at work in municipal government, the students will decide how the power of the web can best be brought to bear on making government work better."

"Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn." ― Benjamin Franklin In the area of adult learning, Ben Franklin turns out to be quite prescient.

That's true. Education is a social-emotional act. As I said in my personal learning theory, teaching humans is not like inserting lines of codes to series of robots to make them behave in a specific way. We all have emotions and our emotions to a specific event may not be same all the time as our point of views to an event are affected by our personal experiences, culture, philosophy, etc. In that sense, for a teacher, it is important to monitor students' feelings to a specific topic and to arrange learning environments in which students have positive feelings about a topic.

"Introduce failure into your learning design." something we appreciate less in our educational system.

By this classroom, students work and learn naturally by communicating with each other and with the teacher actively in real time. Interactive tablets, computers and the board provide students work with groups using technology, while natural learning happens.

summerize where the technology will be in 10 years in schools. But what can we say about our schools? Even people are paying big amount of money for private schools, they still not have such a technology in their class. Technology getting cheaper and cheaper everyday but still I wonder how many years we need to wait to see these kind of technlogies in our school?

This is great example to CSCL but when I thought about Kutay's question according to our country; my answer get upset me :/ Because while we cannot use the smartboards at our clasroom, that kind of usage is just a dream :/

Although it is a kind of advertisement, I like this smart technology products and the idea of smart classroom. Small groups can be engaged very easily for collaborative activities and they can touch the multi touch screen at the same time. Also, teacher can connect it to smart table with a software.

I think it is basic but very effective application. Especially it is fun and when thinking the usage of it is for children, it is a great advantage.

a TPACK-in-Action model to guide the design of the CALL (Computer Aided Language Learning) Workshop in helping in-service English teachers develop their TPACK proficiency and integrate CALL in their classrooms.

It is a currently presented a paper based on a dissertation completed by Gokce Kurt currently at Marmara University, Dept. of English Language Teaching, Istanbul, Turkey. Paper was presented at the meeting of the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education, New Orleans, LA. It examines the TPACK development of Turkish PTs of English as they participated into a study explicitly focusing on the framework of TPACK and designed following Learning Technology by Design approach.

I really like the the part of implications for teachers. It make flow theory more clearer for me.

1. The purpose of this paper is to share reflections of the three authors on the process of instructional design and implementation of blended learning for teachers' professional development (PD) in rural western Kenya. 2. There are for different reserach questions but one of them is caught my attention as we have the same problem in our country I think; How appropriate is blended learning for teachers in a rural setting? 3. The design-based research methodology in the study comprised a number of research methods. The methods included ethnographic observations, qualitative interviews, narratives and documentation of design artifacts

Grant Wiggins explains what it is understanding by design. He clearly explains the goal of design saying "The goal is not to make students do what the teacher taught but to see what they can do when the teacher is gone".

Based on Reeves' design-based research model, this study did the research following 6 stages. In stage 1, a needs analysis was conducted with K-12 teachers in four 2-hour workshops in which teachers created WebQuests. Researchers came up with some design principles. In the second stage, based on needs analysis and literature review, a prototype Electronic Performance Support System (EPSS) was developed. In the following phase, the prototype EPSS was tested and evaluated as well as continuing needs analysis and refining design principles. In stage 4, the web-based EPSS prototype was developed through expert evaluation and some modifications were made. Stage 5 was characterized with continuous evaluation and testing with the practitioners in a similar workshop. Like in the first stage, data was collected through interviews, questionnaires, filed notes etc. Deriving from the findings gathered in stage 5, the design principles were developed and refined. As seen in the example, practitioners were involved in the process, both qualitative and quantitative data collection tools were utilized and EPSS was jointly developed by continuous evaluation and testing. I think the example is quite good to understand DBR.