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It says that children can learn with internet without any intervention from outside -like a teacher. When the topic is not defined, children can learn what they want. But for some specific topics, they at least need the very first idea -a question, sometimes even a pre-designed system of information and instruction. Are we too much interfering to students' learning process?

Such educational frameworks support the trend of shift from teacher-centeredness to student-centeredness. In the past, when we need to ask something, we asked to our elders- in school, to teachers. Now, we have an additional elder, the internet. It can answer almost anything. In that sense, the impact of the technology can not be ignored. The idea of providing internet access to places that is scarce in terms of teachers is reasonable - which also supports the idea of distance education. Besides, bringing technology is easier and cheaper than bringing a teacher with resources. However, we still need teachers as -cliche but vital term- "facilitators" and regulators in self-learning process. It is necessary for constructivism as well as child-driven education or for any other self-learning methods. Someone is needed for wrapping-up the knowledge gained, for assessing the results, for remedying circumstances that obstruct the learning process, for deciding goals or organizing goals to be attained, and for secure and heuristic browsing on the internet. In that sense, I support the idea of "self organized learning environments" as Mitra offers, but also I contend that there should be teachers around these environments for facilitating. In short, we should not quit important elements of education while trying to make it better.

I believe although computers and instructional softwares are amazing to enhance the effectiveness of instruction, they are not enough. They are always limited. It is impossible to load them all possible questions of students and their responses. Moreover, none of the computers or softwares would be able to fulfill students' emotional and motivational needs. There is also the uniqueness of the students; not all of the students would enjoy a computer-based education. Lastly, as a science educator when I think for my area; it is never the same to make an experiment on computer and in a laboratory. Students learn better when they are actively engaged in an experiment and seethe results with their eyes.

You are invited to the conference held in TEDU next Thursday (11.04.2013). I will be happy if you inform me before coming so that I can meet you at the very beginning. http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/ekonomi/22593138.asp

Sinem, I wasn't able to attend to this conference but I am curious to hear about your insights. Anything interesting?

I wanted to see all group members in this conference. It was a second episode of our visit for " Seven Schools in Finland" exhibition in Cermodern. There was a model school design with its learning hubs conducted by Canon design and Koç University. It is very unique in Turkey will be finished in 2014. All the learning environments were designed according to the students' learning. Most of the learning hubs, not classrooms, are not square or rectangle they are curvic. Outside of the school were built with the glasses in order to take advantage of the sunlight properly. School is in the area of 7000 m2 in Beykoz, İstanbul. Teachers who will be work in the school have been trained within the framework of nature of the model school, student-centered approach. As you remembered, in Cermodern I could not find the answer to the learning environment of Finland schools. This conference let me go one step further to imagine what constructivist learning environment is. The emphasis on importance of "Educational Architecture" is another issue I was enlightened. Maybe, we can attend the openning of the Model School. Thank you for your concern.

Recently I came across with this paper. According to authors Learning Science has at least 4 dimensions: Education, Neuroscience, Psychology and Machine Learning. By the way, just a fresh news: Next semester we may have a "Learning Science" course offered by Evrim Hoca ;)

Dincer, thanks a lot. I will definitely check this out.

"impact of technology" part made me think that using technology in education is not valuable without how to use it. The project FATİH is generally taken a big step of using technology in state schools. "What is the cost?" "Are they necessary?" "Will our teachers use it?" are most asked questions. However, "How to use it?" is rare. Here with the word "use" I don't refer to running the devices. I mean the way technology be used in accordance to the educational objectives. As Chomsky says, without knowing what to do, using educational technology effectively is difficult.

There were several points that got my attention in this video. The first one was Chomsky's sentence saying that education had a value in itself. The purpose of it was to create "better" human beings, not bigger human capital for money. At this point, he opposed to idea that all generations should be given enough knowledge about math and science in order to increase people with scientific knowledge that will lead to more money income. Rather, education should foster the ideas of being independent in thoughts, being creative, having the ability and willingness to pursue one's own interest, and learning to learn on one's own. The second one was the analogy that Chomsky used. He made an analogy between technology and a hammer. He said that with a hammer you can either construct a building or smash a school down. This is about how you use the hammer, and it is the same with technology. Thus, it is more important that for what purpose we will use the technology than simply how to use technology. The last one was about achievement tests. Chomsky said that tests do not have so much value. You can pass a test after studying hard for about 3 weeks. Nevertheless, it does not mean that you will remember even the names of the topics that was covered in the exam after 3 weeks of the exam. That's why exploration, self learning, project-based learning and formative assessment is much more important and promising compared to achievement tests.

A book on science of learning from the cognitive psychologist: Gary Marcus

Positive psychology should immediately take place in education. Without concentratig on anxiety, fear of a subject matter we as teachers should focus on enjoyment, fun related to the learning. A theory says that mind can not engage two of the issues at the same time; positive and negative issues. Negative issues are mostly make you prevent from going further with that subject matter, however positive issues do the opposite.

Sinem, I agree with you, I think that's why game-based learning, problem-based learning, anchored instruction that has elements of problem-based learning has started to gain importance in education. I did not understand the sentence "A theory says that mind can not engage two of the issues at the same time; positive and negative issues." Can you explain it please,

Hope to see a similar result for Fatih project.

Here I think the most important phrase is "when used properly". "Peggy Johnson, Qualcomm's president of global market development, believes that the improvement comes because students using smartphones have easier access to information at any time of day or night. They are also able to keep in contact with their classmates and even their teachers, which helps them stay on top of everything that goes on in school." When students have enough motivation to allocate more time to use these devices for such activities stated above, the finding that their learning is increased can be supported. Here again we reach the conclusion: How to use technology is important, since it is just a tool, and can well be used as a toy instead of educational material.

Is this a case of learning or transfering the existing information without assimilating or accommodating into the classroom environment via technology? I think the meaning of learning is also changing. In near future, there will be no learning like we do I guess.

According to Thorndike, learning occurs via the association between the sensations and the impulse (action). As for checking his theory, he created puzzle boxes for the animals that he used for his experiments. He put the animals into the boxes and measured the time they spent for learning to open the door. He discovered that animals do not have enough ability to figure out the results of their actions. They find the solution with trial and error process and mostly by chance. After finding the solution (that is the solution that leads to the correct impulse, namely escaping the door), the time for operating the correct response to a specific situation decreases. However, when the reinforcement is removed (in this experiment, escaping the door is prevented), then the corresponding sensation (attempt to pull down the lever) disappears (This event can remind us the term "extinction" used by Pavlov in his classical conditioning theory). After introducing the reinforcement again, sensation reoccurs but the animal needs time to make the escaping operation more quickly again as he learnt before removing the stimuli.

Erdem, thanks for sharing. I will use this in my ed psych course as well.

Thanks for that video. It has been a great experience for me to see what I learned before theoretically. Now, I feel that I understand the experiment better. Such videos are very effective in enhancing learning.

This is one of Dembo's book about motivation and learning strategies for college success. I wish I found the book earlier in the beginning of my undergraduate degree :). Nonetheless, I think it can be still useful for future academic career.

Thanks for your sharing. I will print this as soon as possible.

I wish we could add our contents in ocw@metu.edu.tr to their database. For education, the website has only 3 courses. I signed up for the course "Fundamentals of Online Education: Planning and Application" and "E-learning and Digital Cultures" which will be held on Jan 28th 2013 :). I will write here what I have learned from the courses. I think it will be an interesting experience to reach knowledge about "online education" via online education :)

Erdem, great to hear that you are signed up for MOOCs. I will be curious to hear from your learning experiences in these courses.

My best choice of educational metaphor among the slides: http://goo.gl/clcMR (Just click) Not just because of the "bike" :) But because of 1- Advice for instructor to control his/her power: Use your knowledge power in favor of the student not just for your ego! 2- Let him do it! By the way i like bikes also :D

I like the one which teachers cultivate the feeds of knowledge, they plant within their students. Teaching is the long process and requires more effort from both teacher and student. And also suitable land is te essential one in order to constitute knowledge.

The tenth slight is interesting for me. "Teaching is like crossing borders..." I think that we can associate the border with instruction or kinds of instructional methods or theories because on one side there is the individual who learns and on the other side there is the individual who teachs. Therefore the "border" can refer to the instruction as an instrument between the teaching and learning processes.

Here is an interesting video for the essence of humanistic approach with a small introduction of a book "First the Child, Then Curriculum" by Donna Allender, a humanist teacher.

I was gonna share the same video but I doubted reposting it. Here you are :) "Today, I don't wanna learn RED, I wanna learn YELLOW" maybe explains little bit about humanistic learning :)

A useful website including examples of learning and teaching materials about humanism.

Gamze, thanks for sharing. Especially I liked the "humanist perspectives" part since a teacher might not have difficulty in implementing a pre-planned curriculum, however, s/he might have hardship while creating a humanistic classroom. Because, in education, what is a humanistic element is and what is not is not so clear as traditional views. Remember what Ana said, "It seems some of you think that humanism means freeing yourselves or the educational environment. Humanism means enabling students to set a goal and work together to achieve that goal." Ana tries to say that we should not let learning occurs just by chance. That is not humanism. Humanistic teacher just should allow students what they want to do and teach them considering their way of learning and interests. That's why I found humanist perspectives part really useful. To illustrate, to touch on environmental issues in the classroom, you can read the related part for grasping the idea of how a humanistic teacher should behave while teaching this issue.

Hi everbody; Here, there is an important book for us. You can use this book during your academic life.

Hatce, thanks for sharing. I used Bransford's How People Learn in one of my grad classes before. Sections on transfer are important.

Here is my constructivist environment example. In the past, I installed the second life software considering that it was a game. I roamed and roamed in worlds that already were created, chatted with people in another countries with my avatar. Then I thought that it was boring. It was just like sitting on Sunshine and talking with friends. Why I had to do this via my computer? This video shows us how Second Life Worlds can be used to create constructivist learning environments. In the video, a Second Life World that was prepared by a group of people called TELLS TEAM is presented. In this world, you can attend lectures, have group meetings for discussion, work on simulations and role plays whereever you are. All participants including the teacher has an avatar and walking, sitting, chatting as if they were in the same room. In this project, learners are active participants. They roam, talk, immediately can fly to role playing sessions and etc. Teacher is only responsible to present initial knowledge. I could not find how they evaluate the learners. However, it is up to you. This environment is just a tool. You can arrange your role plays, your simulations, and also your assesment. Also they have some guides to use the environment effectively on this web site: https://sites.google.com/site/secondlifeuwnshss/Home

E-learning compelled to investigate definitions of time and places. For training of mass it saves a lot of money, energy and time. But what about one-to-one face to face learning. I wonder whether there is an effect of looking through a screen and looking through to the lively eyes?

Several applications of Advance Organizers in one video. I really needed that since I had not be able to understand what is the real purpose of AOs since teacher activities about them had seemed to me that they do not converge. However, after watching the video, I think that advance organizers includes key components that students should know for using it to deepen their knowledge about a specific topic. To illustrate, in one practice, students ranked several telecommunication devices in terms of their importance before designing their own device. They first learned/remembered the key components of available devices and their importance and their use, and using this initial knowledge, they started to design a new device. Without examining prior devices (without looking at how telecommunication devices look like or how they function or what are their similarities or differences), it would be harder to think of a new device.