I found this short movie quite interesting to share with you. It has a lot of elements related to challenges, motivation and being a community. Enjoy it!

This study is the latest one, to my knowledge, conducted in English language teaching field in Turkey in terms of TPACK. I do not think that this study is a powerful one because it fails to provide a vivid picture in terms of preservice EFL teachers' TPACK competencies. Nevertheless, it is a fresh one, it has been conducted in our country and it explores my target population's competencies: preservice EFL teachers. :) By the way, you can have an access to the full text through METUnique search. You're welcome. :)

At first glance, yes, you are the champions :), but this is only one study and it is conducted with a certain group of people. We don't know what kind of results we'll have with a different group. This means I expect you to show more evidences in favor of your "champion" title :).

In this wiki page, you can find a variety of different CSCL technologies. Since the page is a "wiki" one, you can also edit and add some technologies to the list.

This video is quite informative and illustrative for explaining brain's plasiticity and connectivity. It also establishes an analogy between Internet and Child's Brain, which worths to watch.

As far as I see, this link was shared in this group a long time ago, but I've wanted to make it visible again so that you don't miss it. This is the last post coming from me for this week :).

One of the living science legends, Ramachandran, who is well known for his studies in neuroscience, talks about the influence of 'mirror neurons' in our lives. This video has some implications for complex social learning and for interconnectedness among people happening as a result of our interacting brains.

http://williamlspencer.com/mirrorneurons.pdf Hocam, this is not exactly what you are looking for but it has some answers that may help you expand your knowledge in this issue.

As you've learned from the article by Goswami, there are some pervasive 'neuromyths' around. This TedEd video explains one of them besides providing some key points about brain. By the way, it is being a very 'brainy' week for me. :)

Through this link you can find some intriguing answers to the question "How can you employ Brain-Targeted Teaching methods in your classroom right now?"

Hi all, "Genes to Cognition (G2C) Online is about modern neuroscience. It focuses on cognitive disorders, cognitive processes, and research approaches." What makes this website interesting is its dynamic networks that teach a lot about brain and neuroscience. What is more interesting about the website is 3-D Brain at the top right corner of the site. You can explore every single part of brain via that interactive model. Moreover, you can download it as a free application to your mobile phone through Google Play or App Store. Have fun with it! :)

Adopting a design-based research methodology, this study used digital video technology to support reflective tasks for language learning in multimedia environments. The emphasis was on the improvement of oral communication skills. The reflective tasks used in this study were exposed to iterative design process and the whole research process was driven by two underlying learning theories. This iterative and theory driven design reflects the nature of DBR well.

Hocam, students' reflective practice happened in different formats each year. To be more specific, task-completion tools and task-completion formats were exposed to an iterative design. Each year a different tool and a format were implemented and the reflection by the students progressed in an iterative way though it was conducted with different classes. For example, in 2006, students of Class 1 reviewed their presentations in a multimedia player and reflected on it via a word-processing program. In 2008, YouTube was used for their presentations and they had a collaborative reflective task after being paired with each other. So, a different design was applied for each year but in an iterative fashion.

This article concentrates on collaborative methods in education to highlight their potentials in elevated learning outcomes. In the article, there is also some mention of learning by design and project-based pathways. I guess it is worth to check it out. By the way Edutopia is a great source for educational articles and videos.

Sammamish High School in the US decided to change from traditional teaching to an entirely problem-based curriculum. Since Kolodner et al. (2009) married Case-Based Reasoning to Problem-Based Learning, I thought it would be useful to see PBL in practice.

This theory is more about our future-oriented self. Based on our present conditions we form our future selves which could be both ideal or feared and then try to reduce the gaps in order to realize our ideal self. The theory tries to explain highly dynamic processes of goal formation and imagining ourselves in the future. These dynamics among future, present and self have contributed to motivation literature as well and I value its implications for motivational processes. In this video the theory is explained in a very simple terms by an undergraduate Social Psychology student.

Hi, Duolingo is a good example of a intelligent language tutoring system and it is worth to check it out.

This web page is provided by University of Wisconsin-Madison. In the page, there is an emphasis on the technological applications of situated learning theory since the page is allocated for 'transforming teaching and learning through technology'. I've found the page interesting to share because there are very good examples of situated learning through some tools like interactive case scenarios, augmented reality and situated documentary. The page is useful both for discovering those tools and finding some particular examples of situated learning.

We now know that practice is a key determiner on the way for being an "expert". In this video, Ellen learns how to dance with constant practice. Please check also how experts behave in the video because we know that being expert does not mean being able to teach. Again, enjoy it! :) Warning: There is a lot of exclaiming in the video and you are recommended to turn the volume down while watching it. I write this because I did not do so. :)

As the literature on expertise underscores, "thinking" or "metacognition" is a key factor in expertise. Dr. Cabrera, in this talk, discusses the weakness of 'encyclopedic' knowledge possessed by Ivy League students and harshly criticize them for they struggle to transfer those memorized knowledge. It could be said he addresses "a mile wide and an inch deep" approach taken by curriculum designers nowadays, which prevents deep understanding of issues that an expert is expected to have. According to him, "system is broken." As a result, he offers his own DSRP (Distinctions, Systems, Relationships, Perspectives) theory, which, in my opinion, summarizes what a "genuine expert" possesses in terms of knowledge transfer. Enjoy it!

Upon coming across this cartoon, I've felt an urge to share it with you because it touches on some relevant issues we've been discussing since the very beginning of the course. Please first click on the picture to enlarge it, and sorry for this inconvenience :)

You're welcome Seda :) It is even more depressing to know that this perception won't change as long as we live under today's economical perceptions. It is simply "be a part of the system or get ready to be called as marginal" :)

In this TED talk delivered by Nicholas Christakis, you can see how important the role of networks in our lives is. You will also be introduced to some visualization of network analyses which are gaining a crucial role in examining the connections among people or neurons.