AUGMENTED REALITY

Augmented reality (AR) is a live view of a physical, real-world environment. It is a technology enriching the real world with digital information and media, such as 3D models and videos, overlaying in real-time the camera view of your smartphone, tablet, PC or connected glasses. Augmented reality apps can bring a static print ad to life, or allow you to watch a movie trailer by pointing your smartphone camera at a poster, or discover nearby establishments and landmarks with your mobile device. Below are some of the best augmented reality applications.

Aurasma (Android, iOS)
Star Walk (Android, iOS)
Quiver (Android, iOS)
Google Star Map (Android)
Augment (Android, iOS)
Layar (Android, iOS)

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E-SAFETY

Click Read More to see my New Hive presentation about e-safety.

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VIRTUAL FIELD TRIP

It could be costly and difficult to take your students to a field trip, but you can use sites that allow you to take virtual field trips in your class when needed. This way, the universe is literally at your fingertips. Below are some websites for virtual field trips.




Arounder
Airpano
Nineplanets
3dpanoramik
Smithsonian Museums
NASA
Polarhusky
World Wonders

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TAGUL

Click Read More to see my word cloud on Tagul.

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GAMES

The use of games is crucial in classrooms as games are both enjoyable and a good source of information. Below are some of the games that you can use in your classroom.





Kahoot

Kahoot is a game-based response system. You can create a quiz on the site, display the questions in the classroom and your students can answer them using their smartphones or tablets. At the end of the game, we also have a winner. It is a highly engaging game to use in the classroom. It's also simple to use.


Socrative

Socrative is also an online response system. Teachers create quizzes and polls, and get  response from your students. Another good point of Socrative is that students get instant feedback.


Plickers

Plickers allows you to get feedback from your students like Kahoot and Socrative. However, unlike them, your students don't have to have any devices for you to use Plickers. Each student is given a card with a unique visual code. Students hold the cards in a way that the letter they chose is at the top of the card. Then the teacher scans the classroom to get their answers.

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SOCIAL BOOKMARKING

  In today's world, we do almost everything on the Internet. However, it's not easy to remember or go back and find everything we found useful. But don't worry. Social bookmarking comes to the rescue in those situations.



Diigo is a website that allows you to bookmark, highlight and tag web pages. All you need to do is make an account on diigo, and then you can have access to your bookmarks on every technological tool. 

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QR CODE

   QR code is a type of barcode. They are mostly used as a way of advertisement. With QR codes, you can access websites more easily. They normally can be read by a machine, but today, you can download an application on your smartphones to read QR codes.

   You can also create your own QR codes on sites such as qrstuff. This way, you can redirect people to your website, e-mail or any kind of data.

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SOCIAL LEARNING

When we say social learning, social networks might come to mind in today’s world; however, social learning is not just limited to social network. Social learning is learning through interaction with people. Those people may be friends, classmates, colleagues, teachers, you name it. Social learning doesn’t mean just listening to someone giving a lecture. You should be engaged in it to learn socially.

   Here are some varieties of social learning: Feedback from other learners, dialog with an expert, collaboration on a project etc.

   Like all learning types, social learning also requires an effective design. But designing social learning is not about creating content. It is about making social processes happen.

  The designer should decide when to use social learning define target learners, clarify the objectives, decide what forms of social interactions are best to teach, monitor and guide social learning, design templates so that learners can create content.

  Social learning can make learning more enjoyable. When learners are not alone and work together with someone else, they might have more fun while learning. It is also advantageous because it requires less time and money compared to conventional e-learning. Teachers can also handle larger classes with social learning.

  In social learning, there are some requirements for the learners as well. They should read and write the language used in discussion forums. They should speak and listen effectively. They should be able to make themselves understandable through audio and other media. They should ask and answer questions because social learning occurs through questions as well. They should think deeply and efficiently. They should be open to new and different information and also share their information with others. There must be a spirit of cooperativeness in social learning. Competitiveness doesn’t have a place in social learning. They must act according to a common purpose. And of course, learners must be able to use social media tools. Each learner should offer something to the group.

  The patterns of social interaction are as follow  (I think their titles are quite self-explanatory.):
Tutoring interaction, presentation pattern, question-and-answer pattern, post-and-comment pattern, collaborative-document pattern, group-discussion pattern, small-group pattern, panel-discussion pattern, symposium pattern, ask-expert-community pattern, ask-peers pattern. When you combine these patterns in an activity, you can make a great comprehensive learning activity.

  You should facilitate social activities so that teams will be encouraged to take responsibility. Monitor them and interfere when needed. Make use of technology to provide the learners with discussions.

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GAMES AND SIMULATIONS

You can practice tasks, apply knowledge and infer principles and have fun while doing all these with games and simulations. They entertain you; however, their priority is teaching. Learning games are such as quiz shows, board games and video games. With simulations, you get to experience with work-related context and verify that you can do a certain task.

•   Games are an effective way of teaching. Here are some of the advantages of games:
•   They show consequences that are not normally visible.
•   They let learners make mistakes without suffering permanent consequences.
•   They provide a laboratory where learners can test different hypotheses.
•   They simplify complex situations.
•   They give opportunities for practice and feedback.

 

    We can use games when learning with real systems is not practical, tasks are complex, and many people need to be educated.

   The types of learning games are quiz show games, word games, jigsaw puzzles, branching scenarios, task simulations, personal response simulations, environmental simulations, and immerse role-playing games.

    We need to do our best to design games effectively. We should make clear what the game wants to accomplish from the beginning and design according to it. We should express the goal as a specific task in the game so that the learners will acquire what is necessary to be acquired. We should emphasize learning, because games in our case are not just for fun. Our aim is to learn. We should also provide multiple ways to learn in the game. The design of the game should engage the learners in the game. Providing feedback is also crucial in games. We must give feedback that educates, informs and motivates the learners.

   Making games easy to understand and play is important. You should explain the game clearly and give instructions to assist the learner. Manage complexity to keep the game simple to learn and play.

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