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I used Dyned in my classes for years or I shoud say I tried to use it:) It is really hard to use technology in public schools and also Dyned is a problematic program in terms of various aspects. However, it was really surprising that all the students were eager to login in the system and use Dyned. I really wonder whether it would make any difference in student achievement if Dyned was used in schools properly.

We have a similar program in my workplace, "Azarinteractive". However, students are extra demotivated to use it though they have chance to practice listening and so forth. I think you are lucky Pınar, to have eager students to use such a tool. :)))

thank you for the source, I liked the way it's organized also, one pro and then one con :)

It pushed me to think about both pro and cons of it. Thank you İbrahim.

Thanks for the source:-) As far as I understood, some benefits of these programs are based on some assumptions. For instance, these programs assume that learners are autonomous. That's why they are mostly useful with adults. Or the expertise of the online tutor. The assumption behind is that they are better than the ones in the classroom. Therefore, each benefit brings its risks...

I always like the cross cultural studies! Culture is shaped by society which has millions of 'brains' so it would not be so realistic and reasonable not to talk about culture in neuroscience and neuroplasticity.

me too:) I also believe in the same idea, culture should be an issue to take into account in the process.

I deeply believe the power of motivation to learn and classroom technology can be used to enhance students' motivation in learning of the specific content. Still, it is open to debate effective use of technology in classrooms, especially in our country. To deal with this inefficiency of classroom technology, we need to focus on teachers' technology literacy and try to develop this literacy.

Hi Özlem Hoca, BBC news you shared with us is very advisable to our friends. (1) I agree that computers may have the possibility to be distractors for learning and they may be abused by some students. Students may prefer to use computers for activities other than for school activities. When I was an intern teacher, I wanted to show how a literature search is performed to my 20, 9th grade "Project" (noncredit course) students in 2006, I ended up running from one student to another because as I leave him/her with his/her search, s/he began to sign in facebook and their emails. (2) I also agree that plagiarism may occur in homeworks due to internet resources. (3) Another interesting opinion in this news is that "We're training the students to use technology which hasn't yet been invented." We are training the students to the future that is not defined, not yet clear.

I think integrating technology in classrooms is inevitable as computers have been being used in lots of areas in the world and it is a little bit optimistic to assume that education will escape from this "invasion". Today's students live with technology and indeed, technology can enhance the representation of a topic, communication among learners, eliminate time and space limitations in reaching information, etc. The article says that "frequent" use of computers in schools is more likely to be associated with lower results. Instead of frequent use, one should know how one can healthily get benefit from computers, when to use it, how to use it, when not to use it, etc. Those questions are still major questions in modern educational science research. Findings from such research can enhance the positive impact of technology in classrooms.

Having read this week's reading assignment, a part of which focuses on this particular result, I felt the need to comment on your share Özlem hocam. It is mentioned in Chapter 1: Introduction that "in the 1980s, cognitive scientists like Roger Schank and Seymour Papert made claims that computers would transform the schools and learning. This was a rather radical claim and it helped form a strong consensus among parents, bussiness community, politicians that getting computers into schools was a must. During 1990s, installing computers and the Internet in schools was a major trend. By 2003, 95% of all the schools in the US had their computers and were connected to the Internet. However, the impact of this huge investment was highly disappointing. Studies had shown computer use was not correlated with improved student performance. When the reserachers began to study to find the reason, they found out that the computer use in schools was not based on learning sciences; instead, they were being used as an extension of instructional classroom. By this I mean, bringing technology to the classrooms was not enough without changing the structure of instruction. Educational software has been based on instructionist theories, with the computer performing roles that are traditionally performed by the teacher. Teachers and students were not aware of how to use those computers efficiently. Students read the texts on the computers instead of reading them on books.Learning scientists continue to emphasize the powerful role that computers can play in transforming all learning. But they reject instructionalism and behaviorism. Instead, they present a new vision of computers in schools. They suggest that computer should take on a more facilitating role, helping learners have the kind of experiences that lead to deep learning."

I also believe that the power of emotions in the learning. I think that if we can situmulate the emotions in lesson, we can make lessons more intesting, enjoable and the knowledge gathered through this lesson will be long lasting. Threfore, as it is stated in the article, teachers should create situations that situmalte students' emotions.

Thanks for sharing! It looks really beneficial and inspiring for not only kids but also for all the people who want to make a tangible product which they have created by just a simple drawing. And the best thing is that they don't need to know any programming language to design.

I say the similar things at the comment of Kutay's share. I think our sport habit can change in time with these device and application. There were some arguments related to integrate Google Glasses into some sport type at the time that was popular. Maybe, in a near future we can see these kinds of changes.