1. Ayhan DOGAN Istanbul Bilgi University ayhand@bilgi.edu.tr

2.  Having a tendency to incorporate technology into lear ◦ Teaching English to “digital natives” (Prensky, 2001) after a “microelectronic revolution” (Lindenau, 1984).  Looking for ways to motivate digital natives (Warschaver, 2002; Greenfield, 2003)  Discovering.com  Creating my own network, MY BILGI http://bilgiprep.ning.com http://bilgiprep.ning.com  Introducing MY BILGI to my summer school students

4.  I used MY BILGI to encourage my Ss ◦ to share ideas in the discussion board ◦ to interact with each other in English outside the classroom settings ◦ to learn from each other

5. ◦ to get use of some resources outside the classroom ◦ to be more autonomous learners

6. ◦ to learn what was assigned Teacher, I forgot what my assignment was.

7. ◦ to play interactive ESL/EFL games ◦ to practice while having fun

8. ◦ to watch ESL/EFL videos ◦ to add videos of their interest

9. ◦ to share photos and comment on them ◦ to establish a sense of community

10. ◦ to chat with classmates and the teacher when online

12. Why not using the “discussion board” as a medium to assign written tasks and give online feedbak?

13. Giving the First Task

14. Students got it! They received online feedback and corrected their errors.

15. How was the interaction between the teacher and students during the feedback process?

16. Student-Student Interaction

18. ACTION RESEARCH

19.  To see ◦ if online feedback affects Ss writing score on the level Achievement Test, ◦ if Ss benefit from doing the written tasks online, ◦ if receiving online feedback without error correction codes affects their learning ◦ if the student-student interaction while doing the online tasks affects their writing performance

20.  SUBJECT GROUP ◦ First year at university ◦ Age ranging from18 to 27 ◦ Prep students ◦ Level 1 (beginner) ◦ BILET writing score 25/25 ◦ 21 students ◦ Almost all have a PC at home or in the dorm.  CONTROL GROUP ◦ First year at university ◦ Age ranging from 18 to 23 ◦ Prep students ◦ Level 1 (beginner) ◦ BILET writing score 25/25 ◦ 23 students ◦ Not a member of MY BILGI

21.  SUBJECT GROUP ◦ Became a member of MY BILGI ◦ Given the same written tasks ◦ Given the same tests and quizzes ◦ Did the written tasks online. ◦ Received online feedback. ◦ Informal interview  CONTROL GROUP ◦ Not a member of MY BILGI ◦ Given the same written tasks ◦ Given the same tests and quizzes ◦ Did the written tasks on paper. ◦ Received paper based feedback.

22.  SUBJECT GROUP ◦ Data collected for two months ◦ BILET writing scores ◦ Writing quizzes results ◦ Achievement Test writing scores ◦ Survey results ◦ Informal interview  CONTROL GROUP ◦ Data collected for two months ◦ BILET writing scores ◦ Writing quizzes results ◦ Achievement Test writing scores ◦ Informal interview with the class teacher

23. SPSS to analyze data BILET Writing scores T-test Means and standard deviation differences between the groups SURVEY 15 questions on the use of MY BILGI

24. There is an approximately 8 points difference between the means of the both groups in the final exam.

25. As the p number of the final exam is 0,332 which is greater than 0,05, the difference between the means is not significant.

26. 75% of the Ss believe that MY BILGI helps them in their English learning process. 51% of the Ss find doing the written tasks online easier, however 44% of Ss partly agree with this.

27. When asked why they mostly go online, all the students agreed that they get online to learn their assignments, to do the written tasks, to read the teacher’s feedback and write the second draft.

28. 72% of the Ss read the assignments their classmates have posted. 75% of the Ss think that they benefit from reading each other’s assignments online.

29. 89% of the Ss believe that they benefit from receiving online feedback. 89% of the Ss state that they try not to do the same mistakes upon reading teacher’s feedback to a classmate’s task.

30. 61% of the Ss believe that when their classmates comment on their online posts, they learn better. 78% of the Ss feel that they learn something each time they get online on MY BILGI.

31. 68% of the Ss think that chatting with the teacher and classmates online affects their language learning positively. 58% of the Ss state that they get use of the resources on MY BILGI. 37% of Ss partly agree with that.

32.  Although the subject group has a higher writing average in the Achievement Test, the difference is not found significant.  However, the survey results show that students feel they benefit from MY BILGI in different ways.  Thus, we can conclude that it favorably affects student’s learning.

33. THANK YOU! Ayhan Doğan Istanbul Bilgi University May, 2010 ayhand@bilig.edu.tr