A Final(?) Post

 For our last assignment of the semester, we were individually tasked with writing a goodbye post and answering the following questions:

 What are the strengths and/or weaknesses of the course? 

Right off the bat, although the name doesn't suggest it, I can say that this is a very technology oriented course.

Judging by the name "Current Issues in Teaching" I was expecting discussions about how to deal with misbehaving students or why the school system might be flawed in some way.

Instead, learning about how to teach better with the use of technology was better.

What did you find easy or difficult about the course?

 I enjoy graphic design and writing so preparing presentations and writing about them wasn't that hard for me.

Although the lesson plan and ASSURE parts were more challenging, I'm glad I learned how to prepare them because of how essential they will be for me in my future of teaching.

What was your most and least favourite task? Explain your choices.

 The "AI in ELT" assignment was the most enjoyable one for me since I got to do some designing.

The "Corpus Based Lesson Plan" required a lot more effort and research compared to the others so it was not my favorite.

What would you tell to the students who would take this course next year?

 I'd tell them to get Canva Premium since it made things a lot easier for me.

How would this course contribute to your professional development?

This course taught me how to create proper lesson plans while letting me practice my designing and writing skills.

This concludes my final post for this blog page, but you never know, since that's what I said last time and here we are. I can say I enjoyed writing here, and if I come back for round 3, you'll know.

Stay safe.

An AI Integrated English Lesson

 For this weeks assignment, I worked with Hüseyin Can Hacıoğlu to create an English lesson experience utilizing Artificial Intelligence.

The topic on hand was the 3rd unit in the MEB coursebook for prep-year students, called "Personal Life".

The Lesson starts with introducing students to the concept of AI by explaining what it is, what it is capable of and why we'll be using it in our lesson.

After the introduction, students will use Google's AI assistant Gemini to learn how to write prompts and generate images.

Using AI's generative functions can help students learn visual subjects easily. AI's text generation abilities also help improve students' writing and communication skills.

The links for the worksheet and ASSURE plan are down below:

https://www.canva.com/design/DAG85HSC22o/Cg4nXSWfGJs0UjvdvGSRig/edit?utm_content=DAG85HSC22o&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Rg8foh7k4D5zdXYDlLwCbs5Zvbrozd_E/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=108505418068038580301&rtpof=true&sd=true

A Virtual Reality English Lesson

 For this week's assignment, me and my classmates Hüseyin Can Hacıoğlu, Emir Erdinç and Eylül Emeksiz have designed a Virtual Reality implemented English lesson.

In this particular VR experience, students will be able to visit and experience London's most famous landmarks, The Big Ben, The Tower of London and The Brutish Museum, which is high up in my bucket list.

The experience begins with a 3D model of The Big Ben that allows students to see it with detail from various angles

Followed by a virtual tour of The London Tower that immerses students into the building, as if they are actually walking in it.

Next up is a 360 degree video of The British Museum where students can turn their heads to look around them.

After the museum, a regular video about England's 10 most popular dishes await.

After each activity students will answer questionnaires based on the content of the activity.

For the final activity, students will write an e-mail to an imaginary friend, Alex, to talk about their experience in England and what they liked or disliked about it.

I think this lesson overall will be enjoyable for students. It will teach them about British culture while utilizing modern technologies like virtual reality and immersive videos.

The links for the activities and the lesson plan are below:

Activities

Lesson Plan

A Flipped-Classroom Video

 For this week's assignment, I worked with my classmates; Hüseyin Can Hacıoğlu, Emir Erdinç and Eylül Emeksiz to create a visual and interactive lesson based on the 5th grade MEB English Coursebook, a flipped-classroom experience.

A flipped classroom experience is basically when students are given access to material before the class so they are familiarized with the content beforehand.

This method can be very beneficial in the right circumstances, students coming in the class prepared with background knowledge will make the class easier and more effective for both the students and teachers.

Although, without resources like devices and internet access in the students' homes, this method becomes harder to implement. This problem can be solved by utilizing the schools' computers, allowing students to perform post-class learning instead of pre-class learning.

We chose the 3rd unit, "Games and Hobbies", which we found suitable for 5th graders as they are young and energetic kids, who would find such activities engaging.

Our video explains each hobby briefly, followed by a worksheet and in-class speaking / feedback. Students will have access to all materials so they can revise and practice at school or home.

On top of the pre-class learning, students will again watch the video in class to reinforce their knowledge and clear any confusion. After that, they will complete a worksheet to assess their knowledge, and engage in speaking activities.

We used Canva to create a visually appealing template, which we later added our own voice-overs. We preferred Canva for this assignment because of its ease of use, user-friendly interface and its wide array of visuals.

I provided the material and a link for the
lesson plan below:

https://www.canva.com/design/DAG6SRQ6-E8/LNRxDQbzO6ntCmFfRs4caA/view?utm_content=DAG6SRQ6-E8&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=uniquelinks&utlId=hf5ae5a78dc

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gi_bQItuu6cq_cXQ9XRuasrb4tnvQ3Ju/edit 

 UPDATE: The 2nd version of the video below now includes subtitles for better comprehension.

 

 

A Corpus-Based Lesson Plan with the ASSURE Model

 Our first task of the year was to create a lesson plan using the ASSURE model, to teach grammar or vocabulary to high school students. The content was to be chosen from the National Ministry of Education (MEB)'s course book for preparatory-year students, and we had to implement AI into the lesson.

 I worked with Mert and Arda to create a lesson plan about "must" and "have to". I shall briefly walk you through the steps below:

 Students will first use OpenAI's ChatGPT and have it generate a pre-assessment test to determine how familiar they are with the subject. After the test, ChatGPT will provide the students with feedback.

Then, students will use CorpusMate to search for sentences including "must" and "have to" and pick 4 of each to note down and compare.

After that they will complete a "fill-in-the-blank" activity and they will again go to ChatGPT for feedback.

And after a writing activity and a short-story activity, the lesson will end with a Kahoot quiz, which every student loves.

We kept the design minimalistic yet eye catching so it's neither boring or an eye sore. The instructions are clear and straightforward, the content teaches them regular english grammar while using CORPUS and AI. All you need to implement this into your class is internet access and computers, if you can manage to monitor your students' computers, everything should go down smoothly.

 I provided a link for the improved version of the presentation and the first and second draft of the lesson plan below if you want to see it in detail.

https://www.canva.com/design/DAG412k8Go8/nhT4MgX7rROfqywxF4r_Fg/edit

 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uvoXhbG59vJsKUre86iQT7mZgi6uAzFAabzV5Ata1Yk/edit?tab=t.0

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N1omfzgR2EemDPwUSrhF1aRWMwVtGulpQAyNVknYHhE/edit?usp=sharing

 

Ready for Round 2

 I'm Ozan, and I'm back for round 2. It looks like I will be posting here again as part of my Current Issues in Education class, at my 3rd year in Marmara University. Similar to the Instructional Technologies and Material Design class from last year, the content will be mostly tech-related, this time with more emphasis on pedagogical and educational aspects. Hopefully all goes well.

Reflection on the Course

 For the final task of our Instructional Technologies and Material Design course, we are tasked with reflecting on the semester and the overall process. Our instructor provided us with some questions:

How did you view technology integration in English language teaching before you took this course? Have your thoughts changed? If yes, in what ways? If no, please explain why not.

In my experience of learning English, technology was always integrated in classrooms, we had smart boards, listening activities and so on. These technologies, in my opinion, make the process of learnin a language much easier since it is more interactive than regualr methods. The course gave me deeper insight into the integration of technology in classroom and showed me how even newer, modern technologies can be implemented too.

⁠Explain how this course has contributed to your learning about and understanding of technology integration in ELT. Refer to the tasks you have completed and the reflection processes you were engaged in.

As I've stated in the previos question, I gained deeper insight into the field of technology integration and understand it on a new level. I can say that the "Digital Story" task we did showed me a new way of using multimedia in a language classroom.

Considering the tasks you have completed, which one(s) you liked the most and which one(s) the least? Explain your choices.

I enjoyed the infographic task since infographics are an effective way to send a message and the process of creating one was enjoyable to me. The podcast task was the one I liked least because I think it has lesser potential compared to other activities as not all students are comfortable with recording their voices.

 Do you have any suggestions to improve the course?

In my opinion, tasks should have options where students can do individual work, other than that I have no suggestions.