METU EDS 544

Why we need good teachers? Why "EDS-536 Research and Practice on Technology in Teacher Education" course is important? From the site: "Good teachers are essential and need respect: There is no substitute for good teachers. The impact of good teachers extends beyond positive educational outcomes and can be linked to positive societal factors, such as lower levels of teenage pregnancy and a greater tendency to save for retirement. Creating the best teachers is about more than paying a good salary. The best performing countries attract top talent, train teachers throughout their careers and allow them freedom too."

Dincer, thanks for making a connection to the course. A reform in teacher education is a must in our country. The research indicates the quality of preservice teacher education is one of the biggest predictors of the student success. This finding by itself seems to explain this urgent need for a reform!

Too bad I'll miss it. Hope they record it.

"if students can receive similar or better outcomes by taking courses online for free, why step foot into a classroom at all?"

Since the beginning of the trend, one of the most controversial issues is the question of whether free online courses by the Ivy league universities will cause the decline of "other" universities and how will this affect students' choice and higher education in the next years.

This for sure giving us some indications about where higher education is going and how should universities respond to this change. Perhaps, new accreditation systems, different degree forms. As a country with a very big number of young population, we better act on it fast, instead of being the observers of these trends around us.

We need to have something like this for Turkish Edu Scholars.

Hi my group, This is our group table, I tried to complete it and wrote something on it and we should complete until this Monday(31th december). See you

Hocam, I tried to complete the table as you know there can be some defficiencies. So I beg your pardon. Thanks for your effort during the semester for us.. For me, this course is the unique one during my grad life and the most enjoyfull. Thanks for everthing.

Thanks Hatice. The table looks good now.

Here is our comparison table.

:)) now it's definitely public,

Erdem, thanks. The table looks really good.

This piece of news may challenge our understanding and effort of using technology in teaching!

Hi everyone, Watch and enjoy it..:D

Integrating technology in the classroom and engaging students in higher order thinking creates the ultimate learning experience for students. Bloom's Taxonomy and digital tools creates an innovative learning environment where students are engaged in their assignments. The following is a list of digital tools as it relates to Bloom's Taxonomy.

Here is the course trailer I prepared for the new course that I will offer at METU in Spring. 

This was Evrim Hoca's advice for us in our last face-to-face course. Have fun! "The resulting 'theory-practice gap' means that-I would argue-educational theory has been largely ineffectual in improving educational practice. Major 'reform' movements are frequently grounded in ideology rather than in educational research, at least partly because research is not seen as influential on practice."

When I was skimming through a magazine, I ran across an article about discovery learning ability of children. Especially the example of toys that was hidden in lines were interesting to read.

Open Educational Resources - Free Learning Resources for the World:An example of learning community.

here is the mentioned Asch's video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYIh4MkcfJA I have seen it before in one my psychology students' presentation. At that time, I found this very surprising and it helped me become more suspicious of how students affect each other during interactive activities.

For those who are looking for some inspiration for their thesis

Mobiles and MOOC's are in my list along with "learning analytics"

I've already joined both EdX and Coursera for 2013 spring courses to see the implementation process and how the changes will take place in time. Hoping to use my findings in the future.

For those who are interested in integrating programming into their courses.