Assignments in my Open and Distance Learning Course

  WEEK 1

Our homework in the first week of our open and distance learning lesson was to edit our website or blogs. In my blog called Edudemic, there are many websites and applications that will be useful for online education and make it easier for teachers. The most important editing I made on my blog was the theme. While the old theme was suffocating and boring, the current one is more colorful, suitable for the general theme of my blog and it looks fresh. In the first week, I made these editings and handed in my homework.

My Blog

WEEK 2

Our topic in class this week was a new one for me. We talked about Reflecting on CPD's, IATEFL Teachers Research, INGED, Reflective Practice, Resource Sharing. In our classroom activity, our teacher gave us a paper and it had the options "Ididn't know, Now I know!, I will make use of this information in my career, and I don't think I'll need this". We grouped the subjects we learned under these headings, whichever suits us, and handed over the photo of the paper as homework.

As homework for the second week, I attended a webinar and some facebook groups. The webinar was about the challenges, barriers that we may encounter in the classroom and how we can overcome them. There were 3 speakers. Topics also included the link between physical comfort and student engagement. Along with this, I joined facebook groups IATEFL, INGED, TEFL Teachers.

WEEK 3

In our third week, we searched and found digital materials online with our group. While researching, we used resources such as 5 minute English. We consulted with our teacher when necessary and he guided us. He also warned us not to make changes to our material in this week's lesson. We then presented these materials in the classroom. The material we found was a board activity. The activity is played by rolling dice. "How often...?" the question is asked. and students say how often they do the activity in the corresponding box. Thus, they reinforce the subject of adverbs of frequency. 

WEEK 4

In this week's lesson, we adapted the material we found the previous week. Some of the photos in the board activity were photos that we could not show the students during the lesson. (Alcohol, gambling, etc.) For this reason, we have replaced some of these photos with other photos. (volleyball, breakfast, etc.) At the same time, we deleted one tile completely because there was no suitable photo to replace it. Thus, our material can be used easily in the course. In addition, we adapted our material online thanks to the online dice program.

WEEK 5 

The topic of the week was learning to design K5P Projects using Lumi. Our teacher told us to take a look at Lumi before class. That's what I did and downloaded several types of projects. In the lesson, together with my group of friends, we chose the subject of directions. 

We noticed that students chose more difficulties in learning patterns such as turning right, turning left, going straight, etc. Because this subject is a subject from life and it is not learned by memorization only. For this reason, we wanted to design a real-life project for students as much as possible. We consulted our teacher and got an idea, and finally, we decided to use POV-style videos, which are videos of people walking on the streets of a country. 

As the person walking in the video progresses, a question will appear on the screen asking how to get to a place seen in the video. More than one option will be given in the question and the correct one will be selected from these options. Thus, students will be able to see the directional patterns they have learned and where to use them in real life, in a good way.

The POV Video 

Link to our interactive video

Link to the video of our project

WEEK 7

Our seventh week homework was to make a youtube video. We thought and decided on the subject of the video with my group friends. Also, we were split into two teachers and two students. Next, we created the content of the video. At the beginning of the video, we briefly talked about what we will talk about in this video and the definition of friendship. Then, we asked the students two warm-up questions, introduced the vocabulary to the students, and asked if there were any words on the list that they did not know. 

We reinforced these words with a wheel game. As the second activity, we did a flashcard activity that we prepared with Lumi. Students see the meaning of a word and a related image, and they try to write which word it is. This game ends with them finding a few words. 

Then we do the finale. And the video ends with the teacher asking the students for their opinions on the lesson.

Link to our Youtube video

Padlet

 Padlet;

It is a digital board where you can add images, videos, and articles you want or imagine. You can customize it as you wish and put your plan and program on the board. You can make your notes, videos, images, and many virtual materials you want to keep in a padlet.

You can also work in a common area with your students or people you teach private lessons. You can share the board you have created and create a working environment with the people you want.

For What Purpose You Can Use the Padlet:

To provide a common working area with your students,

Arguing or brainstorming,

To follow up on your private lessons,

Adding multimedia to the digital board you have created,

 

Which Platform Does It Work On?

The application works smoothly on web and iOS platforms.

Padlet is a digital board application where you can fill an empty wall with the contents you want.

Augmented Reality

 What is Augmented Reality?

Augmented Reality (AR) is an immersive perception of a real-world environment where objects that exist in the real world are augmented by computer-generated perceptual knowledge, often through several sensory types, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory, and olfactory. 

AR can be described as a device that fulfills three basic features: a mixture of real and virtual environments, real-time interaction, and precise 3D recording of virtual and real objects. Overlaid sensory input can be beneficial (i.e. additive to the natural environment) or harmful (i.e. masking of the natural environment).

The primary benefit of augmented reality is the way in which the elements of the artificial world merge into a person's understanding of the physical world, not as a mere display of details, but by the incorporation of immersive stimuli that are experienced as natural aspects of the environment. 

With the aid of new AR technology (e.g. the addition of machine vision, the introduction of AR sensors into smartphone apps, and object recognition) knowledge about the user's surrounding natural world becomes immersive and remotely manipulated. Knowledge about the universe and its objects is overlaid to the physical world.

Augmented reality in Education

Increased educational truth can serve a variety of purposes. It lets students understand, store, and recall knowledge quickly. In addition, AR makes studying more appealing and enjoyable. It is also not limited to a particular age group or level of education and can be used equally well at all stages of learning, from pre-school to college, or even at work.

AR Apps for kids

It's no wonder, kids are willing to embrace revolutionary innovations like AR. Many of the most ingenious virtual reality education applications were built for the youngest of people.

AR in the classroom

The most popular use for augmented reality in education is currently the use of AR software directly in the classroom. In this case, they will help the instructor illustrate the subject, provide a visual image of the content, and help students assess their knowledge in class. Notably, you can find an AR app for almost any topic, including science, geometry, zoology, grammar, and programming.

Virtual Reality

What is Virtual Reality?

Virtual Reality (VR) is a visual simulation that may be identical or entirely different from the physical world. Digital reality uses cover gaming (e.g. video games) and education (e.g. medical or military training). Other different kinds of VR-style technologies include increased realism and virtual reality also referred to as augmented reality or XR.

One can differentiate between two types of VR; VR immersive and VR text-based networking (also known as "Cyberspace"). The interactive VR switches the perspective as you turn your back. Although all VRs are ideal for schooling, cyberspace is favored for distance learning.

Digital reality apps are applications that allow the use of virtual reality (VR), an interactive sensory interface that simulates a virtual world on a digital basis. Applications have been produced in a number of areas, such as education, architecture and urban planning, digital marketing and advocacy, innovation and robotics, culture, fine arts, wellbeing, and clinical rehabilitation, history and archaeology, occupational safety, social sciences, education, and psychology.

Use of Virtual Reality in Education

VR is used to allow students to build skills without the real-world repercussions of failure, especially in areas with life-or-death implications. The basic interface used to have VR experience, whether by a cell phone or a desktop computer, does not seem to have an effect on any educational advantage.

In recent case studies, the VR training approach not only shows improved comprehension but also greater satisfaction among students. The number of errors can be minimized and the time required to perform complex tasks can be shortened. Growing numbers of businesses depend on virtual reality when it comes to the onboarding of workers.

Youtube Vr 

The Youtube Vr application allows you to watch easily with headphones and some types of equipment. 

Click here to watch a video about how to use Youtube Vr mode.

Youtube settings.

Sinespace

 The virtual world for unity developers!

Sinespace is an unlimited, massively multiplayer, 3D-based Unity platform developed and released by Sine Wave Entertainment. It allows users to build and sell 3D content and communicate as 3D avatars with someone. The use of Sinespace is similar to that of multiplayer virtual worlds. 

Players can create and customize their own 3D worlds and 3D content, like vehicles, mini-games, avatar clothing, and expressions, and sell them for real-world money. 

Players can also modify the form and look of their avatars and purchase avatars from third-party developers, such as DAZ 3D. Content is generated through a Unity 3D-compatible SDK, and in-game by construction software.

Sinespace also has proprietary, white-labeled grids for business use. Customers comprise the United States of America. Department of Protection, Pearson Education, Virgin Community, Smithsonian University, Edinburgh University, Michigan State University, among other groups.

Second Life

 Education in Second Life

Second Life is used as an educational forum by a variety of institutions, such as schools, hospitals, libraries, and government departments. There are over a hundred regions used for instructional purposes, including topics such as chemistry and English. Second Life teachers and scholars prefer it because it is more private than conventional distance learning. 

The research reported in 2007 indicated that growth, teaching, and/or learning practices using Second Life was present in more than 80 percent of UK universities. As of 2008, at least 300 universities around the world have been offering SL courses or doing research.

Avatars can communicate with each other and with things and environments within SL. SL provides enormous artistic ability in that users can create content in the virtual world, including houses, landscapes, and artifacts. Psychology teachers should use SL as a place to reach students and create laboratories, structures, and artifacts that can be used to study the material and techniques of psychology. The involvement of students with the material of the course and the sense of community with the class can be strengthened by SL experiences. Potential disadvantages include the time needed for learning and the technical challenges inherent in the implementation of the curriculum.

An avatar I created with Second Life.

Voicethread

 Transforming media into collaborative spaces with video, voice, and text commenting.

VoiceThread is an open communication and networking platform that allows students to create online presentations by inserting photos, articles, videos, and other media to which other users can add feedback for discussion. 

After registering for a new VoiceThread account, press the "Build" button located in the black menu bar on the homepage of VoiceThread. You will be led to the "Build" page where you will have various choices for making new slides for your VoiceThread. Click the "Upload" button and pick which form of message you want to leave-either a file from your computer, a media source, a URL, or even a picture or video from your webcam. Continue this method to see how many slides you like in your VoiceThread.

After uploading your file to your first slide, you will be able to add a title and description to your VoiceThread. Click the text that says (Add a title and description) to edit your title.

Click here to see my first presentation I created with Voicethread.

Pixton

 

Comic creator for teachers. 

Pixton is an online comic production website that you can use for a wide variety of scholarly and private projects. It helps you to create characters and to put them in a number of poses. You can incorporate a variety of different backgrounds and props, too. Finally, after you've set the tone, you can add text to your speech or your thinking bubbles.

Researchers have been able to see that comics tend to build a positive outlook and increase inspiration (Engler, Hoskin & Payne, 2008; Kilickaya & Krajka, 2012). 

Apple and Kikuchi (2007) have also demonstrated that computer-based materials that enable students to monitor content can contribute to benefits such as being student-centered, inspiring, growing self-reliance and autonomy, and facilitating real-world activities.

Pixton was launched in 2008 and redesigned as a Platform 2.0 domain in 2010. This encouraged users to build, connect, collaborate, and exchange content online through social media dialogues. Users are developers of user-generated content inside a shared community.

Animatron

  Create animations and explainer videos with Animatron.

Animatron Studio is an incredibly simple and versatile online animated video creator that helps you to create beautiful animations and quick drag-and-drop images. Studio empowers companies, organizations, and people with limitless imagination by providing innovative ways to personalize and tailor their visual stories.

For even improved user experience, Animatron Studio provides Lite mode, a streamlined version designed especially for those who have never had an animation experience before.

The company originated as a result of an animation experiment entrusted to the 10-year-old daughter of the creator. Today, a few years later, Animatron meets digital media needs and facilitates brand-driven storytelling with its products: Wave. video—a video marketing tool for producing, editing, and hosting content, and Animatron Studio—a versatile online animator.

Powtoon

 PowerPoint + Cartoon = Powtoon !

Powtoon Ltd. is a British company that offers cloud-based animation applications (SaaS) for animated displays and animated films. The term "Powtoon" is the portmanteau of "PowerPoint" and the phrase "Cartoon".

Powtoon is a web-based animation program that enables people to create animated presentations by controlling pre-created objects, imported images, music given, and user-created voice-overs. Powtoon uses the Apache Flex engine to create an XML file that can be viewed in an online Powtoon viewer, uploaded to YouTube, or downloaded as an MP4 file.

Powtoon is also accessible from the Google Chrome Store and has an app on Edmodo.com. Some of the other famous Powtoon integrations include HubSpot, Google Sites, Google Drive, Panopto, Youtube, Facebook, and SlideShare.

Related products like Animaker and Moovly, which have free plans, and Vyond.

Prezi

 Virtual Presentation Software.

Prezi is a web-based presentation development platform (called prezis for short). It's similar to other presenting applications like Microsoft PowerPoint, but it has some special aspects that make it a strong substitute. 

It has been popular in businesses and schools in recent years. If you're trying to create a presentation that's a little more eye-catching and entertaining, Prezi may be for you.

Many styles of presentation software use a slide-based technique, where you switch back and forth between individual slides, just like pages of books. Nevertheless, Prezi uses a canvas-based approach. Instead of just using slides, Prezi has a very big canvas that pushes the presentation around, zooming in and out to see multiple frames.

Canva

 Easily create beautiful designs.

Canva is a free graphic design application that helps you to conveniently create invites, business cards, posters, lesson plans, Zoom backgrounds, and more using professionally made models.

You can also import your own images and add them to the Canva models using a drag-and-drop interface. 

It's like using a free simple version of Photoshop that doesn't require advanced knowledge of photo editing. 

Here's what you need to know about using Canva.

Canva has over 50,000 designs to pick from.

Canva is home to thousands of downloadable, beautifully designed templates that can be personalized with just a few clicks thanks to their drag-and-drop gui. Easily import your images to Canva, drop them to the prototype of your choosing, and save the file to your computer.

Canva's comprehensive suite of features allows your pictures to pop.

From quick cropping and straightening to inserting textures and color correction, Canva's beginner-friendly features render editing images easy. You can add a textured backdrop to give your photo a larger dimension, insert text to make your own meme, create a photo grid, blur your photo, and more.

Voki

 Speaking characters for education.

Voki is an instructional aid for instructors and learners that can be used to improve learning, motivation, and interpretation of lessons. Voki can be used in the classroom (for student work), as an animated presentation tool, for student assignments, and as an interactive supervised discussion platform (Voki Hangouts).

Voki characters might look like historical figures, comics, animals, and more. Give your Voki a voice by recording your voice, or by using text-to-speech (over 30 languages supported, hundreds of voices to choose from).

Students have fun designing their own talking characters and letting them talk. Teachers can handle this task through tasks, lectures, and dialog groups.

Click here to see the speaking avatar I created.