Technology4Education

 The word ‘webinar’ is a blend of ‘web’ and ‘seminar’.  A webinar is a live event held online. It can be a video workshop, a lecture, a conference, a business product introduction or idea and the audience can participate with messages. Here is a simple explanation of what it is: The advantages of webinars are that they are cost-effective, students don't need to travel to get to the education. They are flexible and convenient. They also offer anonymous participation which could be encouraging for introverted participants. Technical Difficulties, limited interaction, lack of body language can be some disadvantages of webinars. Sometimes the presenters may not be able to answer every question if there are a lot of participants. References: https://www.g2.com/articles/what-is-a-webinar https://www.strideplus.com/post/2018/04/20/will-webinars-kill-live-events-and-what-they-are-all-you-need-to-know

What is YouTube? YouTube is a free video-sharing service. The service was started as an independent website in 2005 and was acquired by Google in 2006. It lets people upload, view and share videos. These videos can be music videos, instructional, advertising or just some personal experience videos. It is not only a fun platform but also a serious platform for businesses and organizations. Can you use it for education? Yes. You can easily update videos to introduce a topic, explain an online activity, motivate your learners. During this pandemic, it has been one of the most used tools for distance learning and teaching.  There has been some studies done on using Youtube for educational purposes. Ayşegül Nacak, Burak Demir and Başak Bağlama, from North Cyprus carried out one study. They did a survey on Teacher candidates and their attitude towards YouTube. Their findings show that young student educators found Youtube as an appropriate educational tool. It is believed to reinforce le...

 A blog is a type of website which is maintained by one person or a group of people. It is like a journal that bloggers write about their opinions, experiences and share pictures and videos. There are several blogging platforms to choose from. Some of them are free. Some of them are paid, especially suitable for businesses.  Teachers use blogging platforms to post resources, lessons, and homework assignments. By getting their students to use blogging, students can improve their writing skills. Teachers can create classroom blogging for classwork. They can involve parents, keep them up-to-date on class happenings. They can also reflect on their own teaching practices, work on their professional development programmes and share their ideas with other educators. There are some advantages and disadvantages to this social media tool. Here is some information from an academic article: So, if you are interested and want to use this tool in your lessons, here is a video to help you to...

Facebook is a social networking tool where people connect, share ideas, pictures, news and you can also create groups, join groups and events, follow pages of your interests. On its company website, it is stated that its mission is to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. Can we use Facebook for education? Haven't you already started using Facebook in the classroom yet? We can use this social media tool in many different ways. Educators can share and follow discipline pages, news and thoughts. there is even an official page for education on Facebook, https://education.fb.com/ . This is a professional learning community for educators where they come together to share, learn, collaborate and innovate. They help each other with any teaching and learning problems they experience. There have even been some studies done on using Facebook as an educational tool and one of is done by Carolyn M. Shaw from Wichita State University. You can click  here...

What is Twitter? Twitter is a social media service where people connect each other online. They can exchange messages, photos, links and text. They can follow pages, friends, family, co-workers and any experts in the field they are interested in. When they follow someone or a page, it means they can see what they post on their timelines. Here is a simple guide on how to use Twitter: How can we use Twitter for education? There are many useful strategies for the educational use of Twitter. We can: learn from others and share their knowledge on Twitter use the research tool on Twitter; search and follow relevant hashtags, keywords or topics Assign homework announce activities, trips and/or contests Do surveys Get feedback from students and parents Share links for extended learning subscribe to hashtags connect with other classrooms around the world create a class hashtag keep up with development in education get access to resources we need This microblogging social media tool is already b...

We live in a digital world and it is also affecting education. With the improvements in technology and social media the world has got smaller and information is very easy to access. Learning has changed from between the walls to collaborative activity between cities and countries with the help of social media applications. International communication and learning have become the most important skill in education. Using social media channels can contribute to learning if used effectively. So, what are these social media channels? The most popular ones used by both students and educators are Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, YouTube and Webinars. Each of these technologies have some features enables learners work on projects collaboratively, do researches, share their ideas, work with their peers, join discussions., etc.. The use of social media also increased the importance of blended learning where part of the learning occurs outside the classroom. The students now can easily collaborate with ...

 Copyright is a very complicated issue for educators. It is very confusing for teachers to decide how, how much to use materials for educational purposes. The question is what exactly is Fair Use?  Teachers tend to use a lot of resources in their lessons. They use images, videos, stories, songs and activity pages to support their lessons. However, most of educators aren't really aware of any copyright issues. To be honest, most educators think it is ok to use any resources for educational purposes. Since they don't make any profit from it, they don't earn any money or they don't claim the work as theirs. So what could be a problem? But, it isn't that simple. It is actually very complicated and unfortunately, teachers can not use any resources as they like. Below is a short presentation on how educators can use materials to support their lessons without breaking copyright laws.  Copyright and Fair Use for Educators