Comics

Pixton is a place to make comics, storyboards and graphic novels. 

As far as I realized, Pixton is widely used in the education field.

I quite like the idea of every individual having their own avatar, here is my mine:



(I'm not sure if it looks like me though.)


I prepared a comics and I think something like this would be really appropriate to all the levels in writing and/or speaking sessions.

With the use of this comic, I can ask my students to create a fiction and write a short story.
Another alternative would be asking some questions and make the students speak about it.

Something like this can be created easily on Pixton to use in writing and speaking sessions or as ice-breaker in the beginning of the class. 

The last thing I want to mention is class photo! If you share your link with your students, after they created their own avatars, all of you can take a class photo with your avatars together!

I believe that these kind of stuff are so fun, motivating and attention getting for the students!

Literary Terms

Kahoot is a game-based learning platform. Its learning games, "Kahoots", are multiple-choice quizzes and these quizzes can be accessed via a web browser, phone, or the app itself.

I created a Kahoot which is about 'Literary Terms'. Please check it by clicking the picture below:

I experienced Kahoot in my class when I was in my second year of university and we all (me and my classmates) found it very fun and helpful!

You'll access the Kahoot website by clicking the logo below, join any Kahoot you want, and if you do, please let me know!

Bilingualism

Quizlet makes simple learning tools that let people study whenever and wherever they want.

I generally use flashcards while studying for certain terms and concepts so I prepared a set of flashcards with Quizlet! It is about the definitons of bilingualism and you can check it by clicking the picture below:

The logo below leads you to the quizlet website, if you prepare your own set of flashcards please let me know!

Canva

As teachers we need to motivate our learners. 

Using Canva, we can prepare materials and cards. 

I designed two cards using Canva for you as examples. 

What I like about Canva the most is it being a really comprehensive source.

You can design any kind of cards:  greeting card, celebration card, invitation card, etc..

Also, you will be able to prepare not only cards but also brochures, banners and many more materials!

I hope you'll find Canva helpful as much as I did.

Virtual Reality Experience

Hello!

Virtual reality (VR) can be divided into 2. First type of VR requires the use of computer where you act with an avatar. Second Life is an example for that. Second type of VR requires tools and is more realistic since you act with your own body and control things with your body movements, like turning your head to see other side in artificial world.

In our instructional technologies and material design class, we were able to experience VR with the use of several VR headsets, or basically goggles.

Using VR in language courses, in our case English teaching, gives us an opportunity to have 'authentic' material for sure.

It is obvious that the use of VR is really suitable for vocabulary teaching such as object names, animals, building names or parts of a house.

An appropriate example would be, lets say, apartment VR. With the use of apartment VR, it wouldn't be difficult to teach the parts of a house and the objects that belong to every room.

Also, it is clear that instead of looking at a standart map in a textbook and talking about it, using VR is much more authentic and fun!

Lastly, I have to mention negative aspects of using VR and VR goggles.

As we discussed in class, we realized some issues and tried to focus on how to overcome them.

I'll start with the economical issue. The goggles of some certain brands are expensive but there are various alternative and cheaper versions to use in the classrooms, so the economical issue is actually easy to manage.

Second problem is not having enough tools for each individual. The lack of tools shouldn't be considered as a problem because this situation leads to 'group works' which is really useful especially in language learning as the group work acitivities directly focus on 'communication'. 

Third problem was stated by my friend Gül. She had trouble with the VR goggles as she wears glasses and without her glasses she sees everthing blurry.

Last problem we talked about is 'the lack of interaction'. Everyone would agree with the idea that interaction is an essential for language learning. Even though interaction while using VR seems difficult VR chat would be a solution for it.

Below are my photos while I was experiencing VR:

To conclude everything, I want to say that integrating VR is a really good source for language classes and I really enjoyed my own trial.

A Short Story

Storybird is a website that lets you to create your own story. 

It provides hundreds of pictures for your stories and you can choose the ones that are suitable for your stories.

Please check my short story which is in the form of a picture book and a good choice for children!

AR Use in Education.

(Click the logo to access the website.)

Flipgrid is a website that gives teacher a chance to create an online-forum.

By creating a grid and several topics and sharing codes/links with your students, you let them to submit their homeworks or participate in the discussions with their answers that are recorded as a video.

Here is my flipgrid if you want to check and support the topic by adding your answers,