Educational Blog

      -VR creates a simulated environment and provides you with its virtual environment through a headset and thus you feel like you exist in an environment which you are actually not in.It offers you its own reality by replacing the real environment and enables you to experience an entirely different reality.It has head-tracking technology, which means that you should turn your head to directon that you will look at.It can also be done through a controller.It takes its name from Jaron Lanier in 1987.The first VR called Sensorama was invented by Morton Heiling. -On the other side, AR doesn't put you into another reality, but carries another reality into yours and combines virtual and real environment.It enriches real scene with graphic, sound and visual through computer technology.It can be used through compatible smart devices such as mobile phone, tablet, laptop etc.For instance, do you want to go to Jurassic Park? Choose VR, but if you prefer to see a dinosaur in your house, the

  -Today, I am going to introduce something completely different from the web 2.0 tools which were introduced before in this blog.It's Second Life.I heard about it many years ago but didn't have an opportunity to look.Now, I realize that I missed a lot.Aside from the entertainment that I found there, it was also a process to discover for me.As soon as I created my own character, I tried to make interactions with other people all around the world.I felt like I was in a community that consists of people like me.It was a bit introductory to the real life and could have worked on me well if I had been still a kid but there are still a lot of kids to whom we can introduce Second Life, right?Activities on Second Life was another thing that I found impressive, because it was possible to take place in activities that I can't participate in real life.Now, I know that whenever I want to get away from the oppression of real life, I have another world to go.When I think that we can int

      -Flip is a tool based on making short videos.It can be used to make explanations over videos or make students deliver their homeworks through videos.Since students can share videos with each other and make comments on each other's videos, it lets them give each other feedback and increases the interaction among them.The tool can be highly useful in distance learning.It can be used through both computers and mobile devices.One of the most positive aspects of Flip is that students express and develop themselves in social aspect.It also lets users produce sound recording. -Teachers can create different virtual classes/groups for each class.It's going to be enough to share access code with students to take them into the classes.It's another alternative to create a group that is available to all users.Contents in a group can be duplicated to share the same content in another group.They can also be exported into the computer. -Students and teachers can add frame, filter, te

      -Voki is a web 2.0 tool which allows you to create your own avatar/character with different characteristic features from hair color to apparel and vocalize these.In other saying, you create yourself on virtual world.You can prefer to write a small text that Voki will vocalize or to add your own voice in a video.Voices are allowed to be up to 60 seconds in free version.If you are a paid subscriber, it allows you to share your video on other platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.If you are using the free version, you can use a link to share it.It can be used on internet and doesn't require to be downloaded.It doesn't require to create an account in order to produce a video, either.However, you can't save it without an account. -When it comes to education, Voki makes learning more engaging in terms of students.It can be used to present a course subject in which students may have difficulty in an entertaining way.In this way, it encourages students to learn.It can also b

     Soundcloud      -Soundcloud is a digital music platform on which people share diverse songs and create their own albums.It has a wide range of users from musicians to podcasters about diverse topics.It lets users to be interactive via sharings.After you create and personalize your own profile, you can start producing your own content or using what others share from popular music genres such as pop, rap to other types which have different themes like study, work-out, therapy.Along with sharing music, it's also a good platform for producing podcast. Podcast -Podcast, as a combination of the words "ipod" and "broadcast", are audio recordings that users produce according to different topics and interests.It is a means whose area of use is wide from entertainment to education and business.It lets people who have the same interests create their own communities and provide each other with flow of information.It is for not only obtaining information but also keepin

      -Animaker is a web 2.0 tool on which we can produce animated videos, which can be highly beneficial in education, because we can make what's going to be taught charming through animations.It helps us develop our designing skill and creativity.Learning can be made much more fun through these animations. Conveniences/Main Features -It allows us to make a video horizontal or vertical according to the platform that we will upload it on. -The biggest benefit is that it provides users with a lot of templates that can be used in animations without a necessity to design them from the very beginning.If you don't prefer to use a template, you can work on a blank page that you can customize. -Where animations are prepared is called "scene", which can take from 1 seconds to 10 seconds.You can add different characters and give each of them different expressions such as smiling or thoughtful. -You can add different shapes such as triangle or square on which you can write or a

      -Nearpod, a web 2.0 tool, is a platform that enables us to prepare interactive presentations.When we give a lesson through a presentation, we can add such questions as multiple-choice, open-ended or diverse activities like matching pairs.In this way, students will keep their perception at high level.You can register as a student, teacher or admin.Student profile doesn't require to create an account.It will be enough to use the code that will be given by teachers in order to attend to an activity or lesson.Moreover, teachers can share their contents with students on different platforms such as google classrom or social platforms.Nearpod itself will give them this choice. -There are three main activity fields on Nearpod.Teachers can organize class discussions for a brainstorming among students.Once students give an answer, teachers will be able to see them and give feedback about whether they are correct or not.It's also possible to hide students' name, which will make

     -Mindmeister is a web platform which enables you to prepare mind maps and helps you plan your projects.Since mind maps make it easier for the brain to process information by presenting it in a visualized form, I can say it's a handy tool that makes it easier for you to study or work on a business plan, which makes it advisable.It lets you share your mind maps with your friends who can also make contribution to these mind maps, which is an indicator of why it is appropriate for group works.  -It has a simple interface on which you can see your mind maps, your favorite or recent ones, mindmaps created by others and deleted ones that are stored in trash.You can also examine templates that are already available.Mindmeister allows you to import mind maps that you prepared on other platforms and make alterations on them, which is its another charming aspect.Finally, it provides a convenience by letting you move your mind maps to folders and classify them. -Whether mind maps look bea

     -Edpuzzle is a learning platform on which you can make your videos or ones found on Internet interactive by adding questions and audio or written notes.You can create virtual classes and share these interactive videos with your students.It also allows you to upload a video from your computer.If you haven't prepared your own video, you can search diverse contents that edpuzzle itself provides or others provided by different internet platforms like youtube, khan academy, national geographic, whose accesses are available on Edpuzzle. How to use? -There are some interactions that will be a guide to you.For example, on homepage, content lets you see all videos that you prepared or found. Home provides you with diverse popular and rich videos. Curriculum  enables you to classify your contents into different grade levels such as primary, middle and high school.And finally, my content is the point that you will start working on your contents. -After you choose a video that you will wo

     -Storybird is a platform on which we can create our digital books from poems, fables to story books and share them with other users.It's being used by approximately nine millions users.It improves children's creative reading and writing skills and lets them have entertaining experiences at the same time.Being different from traditional books, it gives us enjoyment and tries to increase users' interest in books with embellishments.I recommend people who like reading and want to generate their own mini books to take a look at storybird and make themselves familiar with it.You can register as either an educator or an individual/student.After registering, it gives you a trial period for seven days.On your homepage, you can see your challenge badges, progress in different fields such as basic or creative compositions, recent writings and readings.There are four main fields that you can interact with: read, write, activities, home.I will provide you with more detailed inform

-Pixton is a platform that teachers and students can prepare their own avatars and comics, which plays a remarkable role in making learning process enjoyable for students by letting them have fun.Teachers can utilize pixton while giving a lesson or making presentations in classrooms, because pixton lets them give a lesson by visualizing it and it's a known fact that the brain processes things that it sees faster and easily, which indicates importance of pixton in education.I think its use is more appropriate for primary and maybe middle school levels.Teachers can give their students assignments like preparing a story by making comics related to the lesson topic and then give them feedback on pixton.It offers different uses for teachers, students, parents or business on homepage.After registering, there are four chocices presented to you and I will write about them briefly below. 1-Comic Maker: If you haven't made a comic yet and so don't have an idea about what a comic is a