My MVP is evolving :)

After I prepared the five-minute video of my innovation artifact, I shared it with my classmates and got their feedback. Based on their valuable feedback, I have added some other features to my scaffolding toolbar.

By the way, I gave a name to it :ReadJoy :)

I have also designed a MOOC for the content area teachers who have struggling readers in their classes. This MOOC is based on TPAC framework, so it has three main components: Pedagogy of Scaffolding, Technology Integration into Scaffolding, and Hands-on Activities for Content Area Teachers.

Here are links for my innovation artifact:
https://youtu.be/YuTEknjDLOY
https://youtu.be/Nz8ejnmo3nU
https://youtu.be/PFqwT5K2sWE
https://youtu.be/yt_kIIMTlMw


Also, here comes a website for it: 
http://duyguumutlu.wixsite.com/readjoy

Please check it! I hope you enjoy :)

Good News!

I have started to design my innovation artifact 'bird by bird'. In the first step, I recorded a 5-minute video for my design, and it explains the first cycle of my design: Scaffolding Toolbar. 

I created a prototype of scaffolding toolbar for struggling readers in content area courses at middle schools. I inserted some specific tools to my toolbar: concept mapping to activate prior knowledge, highlighting to focus on main ideas, outlining to get the gist, text-to-speech to support readers who have insufficient phonemic awareness, dictionary to offer word definitions to struggling readers, translation for second language struggling readers, and annotation for note-taking.

Furthermore, I have integrated my toolbar into a gamified environment. This idea actually came from one of my favorite online games: Wikigame. In wikigame, players need to find the target final word by clicking on related words through hyperlinked texts. Similar to wikigame, I designed a sample hyperlinked text for the topic of 'Body' at seventh grade. I assume that this gamified environment would make struggling readers to read more and more! Fingers crossed ;)

Here is the video of my innovation artifact:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYEGNjVJjfY

Hope you enjoy it!

First Day in the After-School Program

Last Thursday, I started helping a teacher for literacy instruction in a middle school after-school program in Athens. There were about 10 students in the session, and I was there for one hour. Finally, I met my end-users ;)

The most important thing I noticed in such a short time is that the school gives a laptop to every student, and a reading instruction software program is installed in laptops. However, I heard a few students saying: "This program is so boring! I don't want to complete activities".

So, bird by bird, I have started to form my "end-user profile"!

Bird by bird --- Evolution of my innovation idea!

I have been reading and searching about scaffolding struggling readers from various resources. I am planning to design a MOOC for in-service teachers so that they can help their struggling readers in class by using technology.

In this process of reading and seacrhing, I have noticed that there are many technological tools that teachers may use such as text-to-vocie, annotation, word definition, concept mapping tools; however, what is missing is that there is no comprehensive tool including all these "sub-tools". I mean learners need to use Google Docs for annotations, but e-books (epubs) for word definition. Therefore, I have decided to start bird by bird;)

I will design a tool including all useful scaffolding sub-tools by adapting one of my favorite games on the web. For now, I will not tell which game it is, keeping it as a suprise, but I am sure that learners would love it.

And, this tool will be one of the components of my MOOC (Here is the template). That is,  MOOC will try to teach in-service teachers how to use those scaffolding sub-tools which will be included in my comprehensive tool.

Observation would make a difference! Fingers crossed;)

In October, I will start volunteering in an after-school program in one of the middle schools in Athens. I will be attending literacy programs. I hope observing real classroom settings would bring me lots of different perspectives!

Maybe even I will be pilotting the prototype of my training platform/MOOC. Who knows?

Refinement of My Professional Development Platform

My research interests mainly focus on professional development and literacy education. After two meetings with my advisor, I decided to merge my interests!

That is, I will design a professional development platform or a MOOC for in-service teachers. This platform would help teachers to use some technologies effectively to scaffold struggling readers in their classes.

Struggling readers have tough time especially at middle and high schools because there is no literacy class in middle and high schools. Students don't learn to read, but read to learn there. That is why struggling readers have difficulties in their education because reading comprehension affects their academic achievement directly.

Taking these factors into account, I am planning to design a training module for in-service teachers to present some technologies that they can use while scaffolding struggling reaaders. 

First, the module may start with a diagnostic test. By answering questions, teachers may find what kind of specific problems such as lack of phonological awareness, decoding, etc. their students have. Afterwards, useful and practical technologies will be offered to them accordingly in the training module.

Through tutorials, teachers can learn how to use those tools on the training module. Then, they use them in real classroom settings and come back to the training module and reflect upon their use of technological tools.

These are (a little bit blurry) ideas in my mind for now!

My first LiveCode App :)

I designed a mobile app just for myself to help me to survive in the US!

The name of my app is "US Survival Kit". As I am from Turkey, we use different units for weight, height, distance, etc. I have been struggling in converting those units since I moved here. I was searching convertors on Google. Then, I asked myself "Why don't I develop an app for that?". And, the answer is below;)