Conference+I+attended+at+Maltepe+University

The conference I attended at Maltepe University was great. The presenter I learned most from was Gordon Lewis who founded Lewis Languages Children’ Programme in 1991 which became the Children’s Language school which was sold to Berlitz in 1999. He is currently an Executive Director of English Programs for Laureate Education and he is also on the committee of IATEFL Young Learners Special Interest Group where he works as co-coordinator for the events. The topic was ‘What is behind the hype?’ and ‘An Objective Look at social learning in education. He was an effective speaker. I did not get bored as he took my attention with his interesting ideas. The aim of the session is to inform teachers and students about the use of technology and communication in addition how a 21.cc teacher should be. He talked about social behaviours and whether they are transferable to the educational context. He touched upon the adaptation path to the technology but importance of face-to-face communication as well. He asked social design questions and he talked about the quality of communication. One of the things I have heard for the first time is hype cycle for education, which are technology trigger, peak of inflated expectations, trough of disillusionment, slope of enlightenment, plateu of productivity. I have also heard the learning community structure which is domain, community practice, learning, partnership. There are some roles in the community lile consumer, creator, connector, carrier, caretaker. I have also heard Brinkerhoff’s Success Case Methodology for the first time. Identifying goals, measuring data to identify succesful/ unsuccesful members, conducting interviews, collecting stories and sharing knowledge. The three main things that were highlightened in the session were focusing on conversations, importance of communication, 21.cc technology driven classes. I have learned that ‘change has changed.’. Face to face interaction will retain its unique role and must be seen fundamental according to him. I undertood that teachers must be very good, motivating, inspiring to attract students to the classroom environment,having goals and aims, clear objectives. ‘Internet is very important and will always be useful but you cannot smell the Internet ‘ he said. I liked this expression. I have also learned that most popular twenty websites were not designed for content or productivity. There is nothing contradictory to me I knew before. I find Brinkerhoff’s Success Case Methodoly surprising. I was surprised a lot when he said ‘ Forget about things like personal learning environments such as facebook’. Instead he wanted us to focuse on conversations in daily life. I liked his sentence ‘ Harvest these conversations to create a community memory’. I agree with all the points he touched upon. As 21.cc. teachers we will use the technology but students will get more of what they want and less of what someoneelse believes they need. So, we must provide them love learning. There is nothing I do not agree with him. I would like to know about technological sites he would suggest except from wikis, blogs, digital e-portfolios. However, there is no point I did not understand. I would like to ask him ‘ how can we improve different strategies to use in language classes’ and ‘ how can I specify the community’s expectations from myme and my students ?’. I can apply field trips, peer assistance, visits, practice fairs, boundary collaboration, role plays, systematic scans, joint response and quests in my classes. All the techniques he told us are applicable in English classes. As I do not like technology much but my students will be ‘ Generation Y’ who are computer kids, I was planning to make up my own techniques but Tony Gurr’s speech changed my mind. ’19.yüzyılın binalarında, 20. yüzyılın öğretmeniyle, 21. Yüzyılın çocuğunu eğitmeye çalışıyoruz.’ I do not want to be a 20. Cc teacher. I have decided to like technology  The presenter was very confident and attract the attention of the audience. I do not think there is anything to be improved. I find all the points useful. After the conference at Yüce, I was very hopeful for the conference. I find more than I expected. It was a very fruitful day for me and my high school friends. 

As far as I can understand from your writing, the conference you attended was very useful because we are in technological era and naturally this technological advancement has influenced educational life. As a future teacher, we have to keep up with this technological change because our students will be so interested in technology. Furthermore; maybe our students will stay one step ahead of us in terms of technology. Therefore; I exactly agree with the presenter about the statement “19.yüzyılın binalarında, 20. Yüzyılın öğretmeniyle, 21. Yüzyılın çocuğunu eğitmeye çalışıyoruz.” I can understand this from my own experience. For example; one of my previous teacher was not very good at using computer and this would hinder the lessons from running smoothly. On the other hand, I could not understand the topic “what is behind the hype?” exactly. As far as I can see, it means making lessons more attractive for students by using technology. Consequently, I wish I had attended to the conference because I concluded that it had been very useful and the topics mentioned in the conference had been necessary for the teachers who wanted to develop their teaching skills.
 * Sinem ATEŞ / 1734557**
 * Comment on the Conference**

**Comment by Zeynep Ceyhan** It is clear that you enjoyed and like the conference that you attended. As I understood the conference is very helpful for the teachers. The conference focuses on the importance of technology and social learning. I agree with that the virtuıual works and cooperation between the students are very important during teaching process. If the teachers want to provide a successful course, they should use technology such as projector, computers and presentations. The visual things are also very significant for teaching language and the teachers can give the visual things to the students easily. Also, face to face communication provides students practice in english and it encourages the students for speaking. It is necessary to say that we are in technology era and all the teacher keep up with these technological develeopments. I really wanted to attend that conference. But I also wanted to say that your reflection paper is also successful. I could understand the content of the conference with the help of your writing. Thanks for your sharings. I did not attend this conference. From the points that I read in the article, it was a good and informative conference. I agree with the point, which is //’19.yüzyılın binalarında, 20. yüzyılın öğretmeniyle, 21. Yüzyılın çocuğunu eğitmeye çalışıyoruz’ // It is a good point because we are living in 21th cc and should have contemporary needs in every field, especially in education and technology. I have not heard for the first time //the hype circle for education//. It is related to social learning and I think it is effective for effective learning. Learner should have great information about communication skills and technology, as well. seher selli
 * It is very good that you were not bored, so I started to read excitedly. The words you have written that you have not heard before are so weird for me and I never heard them before, too. It is important to integrate technology into education, but it is also important to continue face-to-face communication. I agree with him that face-to-face interaction is fundamental. As English teachers, we can use the Internet in our lessons as much as possible but how? I think students can chat with native speaker in an safe environment, I mean some sites designed by the schools or universities. However, they should not be abstracted from the world we live in. I did not go to that conference but I like the reflection paper since it gives very useful information about the conference. Thank for sharing the information you got from the conference :)**
 * Comment by HASAN ACAR**

**Comment by Gulnara Pirliyeva**
Having read your reflection on the conference you`ve attended at Maltepe University I was convinced you enjoyed it a lot and had a positive view on the topic of the conference. Even though I didn`t attend to that seminar I was able to get general knowledge about the content of the speech. It is very truly spoken that `change has changed`. It is, in fact, quite different century with its technology and communication development. Contrary to past, nowadays distance communication became daily routine of life. It is very important that as prospective teachers we should involve technology in our teaching since it would definitely ease the teaching and learning process and since it is a century where technology is basic need of people.