IT IS REALLY ABOUT TECHNOLOGY AND MATERIALS DESIGN!

Hello everyone.

In this post, I want to tell you all my thoughts and experiences about the Technology and Materials Design course which is I have been taking in university this year. As I mentioned before, this blog was opened as a requirement of the Technology and Materials Design course. But I never wrote on this blog as a necessity of this course.

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When I heard the name of this course at the very beginning of the semester, I thought that I will spend a period with papers, cartons, colored pencils and etc. However, I was quite surprised that the content of the lesson was totally different from what I had expected.

The course was theoretical actually in the first weeks. We have been informed about the content of the course, how it will be handled, what the blog is like, and so on.

You have known me for about 10 weeks, my friends, my family and my teachers also have known me and I've already mentioned it before; I am not good at technology and something related to technology. Maybe it's because I do not have any interest. But, I managed this course.

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Collaboration is the most important thing that helped me during this period of my life. When I collaborate with somebody, I feel more confident and more relaxed.

While setting my blog for the first time, I wanted my friend's to help me. Then, I learned a lot of things that helped me during this blogging process like embedding a link, adding visuals, setting the background etc.

I wrote more than ten posts whether they were obligatory or not. Because while I was writing, I was enjoying at the same time. Even it was hard, it was still enjoyable.

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The behaviors of my instructor also effected my view on this couse. Because I believe that I can listen to the teacher's lesson I love. So it was an important point for me on this issue.

Considering all this, I will continue blogging because in the future when I work as a teacher, I will easily find sources that help me that prepared by me. It is amazing!

If you want, you can follow my instructor's blog here.

I highly recommend you to look at it.

The picture above is taken from here.

Picture 1 is taken from here.

Picture 2 is taken from here.

Picture 3 is taken from here.

Thank you, Oğulcan Özdağ.

KAHOOT : TOOLS FOR EVERYONE!

Hello everyone.

I want to start by saying a lot of apologies to my words. I have not been able to write anything in almost three weeks. I could almost say that these three weeks were the busiest three weeks of my life. In addition to the Technology and Materials Design course, I also had an assignment to complete for Scientific Research Methods course. Anyway, I can finally write my posts.

First of all, I want to talk about a tool I made a presentation with my friend Hasan in the class I had experienced during this period. It was Kahoot. It is simply a web-based tool that allows you to prepare quizzes, discussions and surveys on it.

In details, a Kahoot can be created by teachers, students, business-people or social users and it can be played with an unlimited number of users.

The most common type that is created by using this tool is Quiz. In a Quiz, you can add as many questions as you want. Also you can use videos, pictures or something visual while adding the questions. In a question, you should mention at least two at most four options to answer. There should be one correct answer and you have to set a time-limit for each question.

The other type is the Discussion type. Discussions are designed to facilitate a conversation. When people attend the conversation, there is one quick question with no right or wrong answer. You can use visuals while adding the questions as well. You can also set a time-limit. In this type, everyone in the conversation is supposed to mention their thoughts on this issue. I think this one is more business-like, but if our aim is to create a business-like atmosphere, we can use it everywhere else.

The last type you can create by using this tool is Survey. You can add questions as many as you want related to your topic. By preparing the questions, you can add visuals. Also in this type you have to add at least two at most four options but none of is the right answer. Because, this is a survey, you can just collect data, you cannot examine people.

I will share my PowerPoint slides below which I used in the classroom while presenting this tool and I will also share a slide about 'The Milestones of Fashion History' because me and my friend Hasan created a Quiz type of Kahoot related to this topic.

This tool can be very useful for anyone who has to deal with people after giving courses or presenting a topic etc. with the help of Quizzes. Also in companies, schools or any place where society is with the help of Discussions and Surveys, dealing with the problems can be more easier.

You can access detailed information about Kahoot below:

KAHOOT by Oğulcan on Scribd

You can have a look before test yourself below.

The Milestones of Fashion History by Oğulcan on Scribd

You can test yourself on Kahoot with the code: '8776953'

The picture above is taken from here.

If you want, you can follow Hasan's blog here.

Thank you, Oğulcan Özdağ.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE BEST FRIENDS? : DIGITAL STORYTELLING

Hello everyone.

This is the second post in this week. I apologize for not posting last week. I am publishing this post this week to make up for it. 

As you know, I am writing this blog as a requirement of the Technology and Material Design course. One of our assignments this week was to create a digital storytelling. 

For this reason, my best friend Hasan and I decided to meet and make a story about friendship. What we really need to do is to simply introduce ourselves in the story, to tell us how we met and to say what friendship is for us. But it made us a little scared to try something we had never experienced before. Later on we figured out how simple it was. 

First of all we started by taking the necessary materials such as colorful papers, scissors, pens etc. from the stationery. Later we went to a place where we could work quietly and recorded our video. Actually, after this part, I can say that Hasan made the majority of the work. 

We edited the video first with the editing program called VEGAS Pro. With our voice recorder on my phone, we recorded our audio and inserted the video. After all the editing process we uploaded our video to Youtube. 

As I mentioned before, working with someone on such projects is really useful. We complement each other in matters we do not know, and this simplifies our work. 

Giving the students the task of creating digital stories in English classes can improve their English. Because in this process the student will think in English and record their voices while creating the story. Especially, as in our country, it may prevent English being learned only theoretically.,

You can watch our digital story below.

You can download the editing program by clicking here.

If you want, you can also follow  Hasan's blog here.

The picture above is taken from here.

Thank you, Oğulcan Özdağ.

BEST FRIEND APPROACH

Hello everyone.

Today, I would like to talk about an approach of my own which is originated from colloborative group works. I have been experiencing this approach for 6 months with youngers.

Those who follows me from social media and those who read my previous post 'How To Deal With Young Learners In 5 Steps?' certainly know that while I am studying at university, I also work part-time as an English teacher in two kindergartens. In general, we follow a TPR-based approach in education, but I have developed a system that will enable children to focus more on the lesson and feel more secure.

While using The Best Friend Approach, I basically try to create a more relaxed environment by pairing students with their best friends in team works. I detect the best friends with the technique which I will explain in the next paragraph.

First I tell the kids to close their eyes and start imagining. In an amusement park, I tell them they were together with their favorite friends walked hand in hand all day and ate ice cream with details.  After a five minute-imagination, I tell the kids to open their eyes. And I ask them the critical question; 

'Who was there in the amusement park with you?'

According to the responses I received, in conversations, hand-held dance activities, group works, etc., I am matching the children with their best friends.

Pros;
-With this approach, children are more comfortable while participating in lessons.
-Children can express themselves more easily to their close friends.

Cons;
-Children's communication with other students is broken for that activity.
-This approach is difficult and time-consuming to apply to students who are not preschoolers.

I hope I can help you.

This gif above is taken from here.

Thank you, Oğulcan Özdağ.

CINEWIKI: THE GREEN MILE

Hello everyone.

I have experienced Wiki for you this week. I will give you some information about the Wiki, and I will talk about the advantages and disadvantages of the Wiki.

A wiki is a website that provides collaborative modification of it's content and structure directly from the web browser.

While I was experiencing this website, I reviewed an Academy Award-winning film 'The Green Mile'. I worked with my friend Hasan in this project. First we started by creating a wiki on the website that our teacher prepared for us. We started reviewing the movie we chose. In addition to what we generally remember, we used the information about the movie on the Internet while we were creating our Wiki page. We added some pictures, gifs and the trailer of the movie.

In regards to advantages, we can say that Wiki is a site that could entertain the readers as well as teach them things. Besides, people in the world can work on the same document.

The disadvantages are anyone can be the editor if everyone is allowed to edit the wiki and you can not get immediate feedback from readers if your entry is not so popular.

To sum up, I had a lot of fun while I was creating the Wiki. I am very happy that we prepared this project with my friend, Hasan colloboratively. Creating Wiki pages is simple and fun. You can start by reviewing something at first.

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Picture 1, Picture 2 and Picture 3 are taken from our Wiki entry.

You can read our Wiki entry here.

If you want, you can also follow Hasan's blog here.

The picture above is taken from here.

Thank you, Oğulcan Özdağ.