B&M+Student+Jourrnal+(GS)

23.02.2011 Wednesday (Day of Presentation)

At the end of the first semester, Mr. Sen announced that ‘the way this course is going will change’, actually, the way we are learning will change. So first of all, I would like to summarize the first semester. It was a teacher-centered course, where Mr. Sen taught us everything, and we listened, added comments, asked questions, and digested the new information. We made some presentations as well. Other than that, we were required to write some blog entries, which covered the notes we had taken, our own comments on what we had learned, and anything that is about business. Our exam system was quite fair as well; we only had one written exam, and the other two exam grades were based on written assignments (to be honest, I was frightened when I first heard about it). So overall, it was an efficient and effective first semester. So when Mr. Sen explained the new idea of treating this course as a business, and teaching for ourselves, I had some question marks, I wasn’t sure about the direction this course is taking. At the beginning of the second semester, Mr. Sen detailed the whole experiment, and the idea of ‘SOCIAL’. But these explanations didn’t totally enlighten all my question marks. The next day, we all sat and waited something to happen. We were talking with our desk mates, and expecting Mr. Sen to tell something. However, we finally understood that Mr. Sen wasn’t willing to start a discussion so we started to ask some questions about what we should be doing. Then, after checking the 1.7 module, we split in to groups, and every group took two topics from the list. We decided that we will present these in the order of the list, and we will be prepared according to that. So actually, we finally made a decision, to be able to reach our goal, which is learning these topics. I personally thought that it was a good idea, because we were all doing something. We were all concentrating on a topic, really learning it, and teaching it to our friends. It seemed like a very well organized process to me. If we were all well prepared and ready to teach, everything would work perfectly. Our group was the first to present; Oya, Bora, and I. Our topics were ‘four different ways of measuring growth, and different types of external and internal economies of scale’. Our main resources were our book, and the Internet. We didn’t prepare a PowerPoint presentation. We asked for a chalk, and explained everything on the black board. We noted some key points, and things that we thought our friends should note down. What I liked about our presentation was that I personally thought that I really learned everything we taught. I also realized that I wasn’t afraid of making mistakes, which was something essential in order to be successful in our ‘new system’. For instance, at the very beginning of our presentation I made a mistake in explaining ‘Market Share’. I gave a wrong example, and Mr. Sen corrected me. I taught that it was something very important for the flow of the presentation. So through out our presentation some of our friends asked some questions, Mr. Sen corrected or clarified some key points, and added his comments. It was definitely a very efficient presentation for the three of us. I truly believe that we learned what we taught, and that we digested the information. However I’m not sure about whether our friends understood, and followed everything. I really taught that at some parts of the presentation, we lost the attention of our friends. However I think that it is normal. Our presentation lasted 60 minutes or more, and certainly it is hard to keep all of the class concentrated for an hour. At the end of the lesson, when we asked them to tell what they had learned, they were all able to tell something, but some of the parts of the presentation were missing. So I think the idea of presenting topics can definitely be improved. Somehow, we have to make the ‘listeners’ more involved, and turn the whole presentation into a discussion, with questions, examples and different ideas. In my opinion, this is something very possible. We can turn this presentation, to something more interactive, where everyone talks, and adds comments. So what I learned from our own presentation was that this experiment helps the ones who are presenting a lot, because they are the ones who are actually ‘exploring’. On the other hand, we definitely have to increase the interest of the listeners, and make them participate more. However, this depends on the presenters. Maybe a case study, a questionnaire, some questions directly assisted to them can grab the attention of the students. As a class, I think we should be working on this. On increasing the ‘willingness’ of each other. Because otherwise, it wont be a win-win situation. We will all have some pieces of the big puzzle, but won’t be able to collect them all and complete the puzzle.

Rana İpeker 27.02.2011 (Day of Entry)

---

As my friend Rana has clearly explained, our Business and Management teacher Gautam Sen has completely changed the track of the classes. Now, students are teaching each other instead of being taught by a teacher. This experimental method has its own ups and downs as you can imagine.

The Advantages:
 * Interactive learning: The students may feel more comfortable asking questions since they are asking it to their friends. Consequently, the participation rate in class may possibly increase which will benefit our learning.
 * Working as a team: This new method improves our collobarition skills. Dividing the topics inside the group and presenting it with harmony to the class is a skill that we are able to develop with SOCIAL.
 * Discrete topics: Having separate topics to present is a great way of learning; however it is an advantage only for the topic that your group is going to present. In order to teach something to the class that you don't even know requires a wide research, which benefits the presenter group on that particular subject.

The Disadvantages:
 * Seriousness: Since the teacher is only there to listen and advise, the students may lose their concentration, and as a result, they may try to take advantage of this lack of authority and open facebook or football manager instead of listening to his/her mates.
 * Time Span: Not very experienced at leading the class, we as students may have difficulties in using our time efficiently. Assuming that we are all below average in teaching something to someone, we may lose a significant amount of time and fall behind while trying to explain something.
 * Discrete topics: Having separate topics to present may also be a disadvantage, considering that the groups will only learn the topics that they are going to teach well. Which is really bothering me because this means you are only in control of and feeling comfortable about 2 topics out of 10.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">So, is this new way of learning better than the old one? I think at the moment it is really hard to state one of them as ascendant to the other. However, I also do not think we are getting the best out of SOCIAL, if we can use it more efficiently, I am sure that it will be a better way of learning compared to the old one.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">Bora Yavuz <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">01.03.2011

---

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">Last semester our business and management class was mainly teacher centered and we had a few times to do presentations. Even though we enjoyed speaking in front of the class and teaching them what we have learned, none of us suggested this way of learning to Mr. Sen. But at the end of the first semester Mr. Sen told us about his new idea. He offered us the option to chose between him leading the class or we, as the students, managing the class by our selves. All of us eagerly accepted the option about controlling and managing our own lesson. However, I was a little confused. I thought of this system as a complicated one that we would not be able to handle. In the first few weeks we decided on the groups and gave every group a different topic. We started preparing our presentations in class and continued at home.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">Our group consist of 5 members and our topic was vertical and horizontal integrations. We split up the topic and every one got a part to present. I was responsible for explaining the examples of vertical integration. I think as a group we were successful in transferring our knowledge to our classmates. Of course we had some missing points and with Mr. Sen's direct questions we managed to wrap up our presentation.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">To analyze other groups presentations I can only talk about Tugce's group's presentation because I was not in class when the other group made their presentation. In my opinion they did a great job in transferring the information. I mostly understood every part of the presentation.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">Eslin Saporta <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">04.03.2011

---

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">As we enter into the month of march, we as business and management class are getting accustomed to leading the class on our own without any teacher assistance. For the first couple of weeks we lacked to program the current curriculum and spread it into weeks. Our friend Rana took the first step ,which takes a lot of courage to do, and divided the topics for module 1.7 between certain groups that were formed at the end of the first part of the school year. After the distribution of topics we emailed our presentation dates to Mr. Sen to pre-notice him and the class about the topics to be presented so we would have the adequate time to read over the subject before the presentation. So far there has been three groups who have presented their topics. In terms of presentation they were successful in terms of information but in terms of understanding I think the class understood partially. I think what we need besides the presentation are some sort of case studies that improve the understanding of the revised topics as we used to do in the first part of the year. We need case studies to apply our knowledge to real life simulations in order to understand the topic hundred per cent. In our upcoming presentation besides presenting the topic i will search for a case study that is related to the topic or case that would cover our current module 1.7. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">As we proceed i think our dependency to lead the subject will fade away and we will be using his wisdom and knowledge to improve our knowledge. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">I know that after all those years where we as students accustomed to be thought by teachers and doing homework at night to understand the topic, so this technique might seem unfamiliar and hard to get used to it, but the prospect of educating ourselves is a great opportunity for our future careers.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">Deniz Özmen

---

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">As my friends previously explained, this semester our bussines and management class changed. During the first semester it was our teacher Mr. Sen who taught us the topics and explained them; but now the way this lesson is taught is different. Each class, different groups prepare presentations and teach the class. In a way its beneficial too, but it also requires very serious work, since we are the teachers, anything wrong we tell will both affect our grades and our friends since they learn the topic primarily from us. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">At the last lesson of the first semester Mr.Sen told us how we are going to continue the lessons from now on; he added that we will start with Module 1.7 when we return from holdiay. We also had a discussion in the class about this new strategy, everyone told his/her thoughts. On the first monday of the second term, we formed our groups and chose our topics from the chapter. We started to do our research. After a week past we started to do our presentations. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">This monday we made our presentation, me, Eslin,Ecem,Cansu and Yasemin prepared a powerpoint for our topic integrations in business. We all shared the types of integrations-horizontal, vertical, backward and forward- we explained what they mean and gave several examples of the companies which uses integrations. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">In general I can say that I prefer this method more than Mr.Sen teaching us, because it allows us to explore, search and come up with conclusions on our own. In my opinion it also increases participation, since at the end of each presentation the group asks question to class. Among those positive aspects of this learning/teaching method the only negative thing is that sometimes the information we find might not be enough or correct, in a case like that we might encounter some difficulties. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">I believe that as we continue on applying this learning method, each presentation will keep improving.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">Çisil Su <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">05/03/2011

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">We were all bewildered when Mr.Sen suggested this new teaching way at first. But when we started doing something -even deciding to the topic we presented - everything worked and we found our way to teach our friends. The idea was scaring at first because to teach someone something is a difficult issue and you must take the responsibility of the things you teach. First we formed our groups and chose the topic we’re going to present which is business integrations. After that we –Ecem, Cisil, Yasemin, Eslin and I- shared the sub topics. We decided to do a PowerPoint presentation to do something visual and memorable. Our presentation was based on our PowerPoint and oral presentation. The resources we used were Business and Management text book and Internet to find information and examples. During the presentation we had some mistakes and our teacher Mr.Sen corrected us at those points as he did to the other groups like Rana’s. The ones who did the first trial was Oya, Rana and Bora and I learned from their presentation. Thing I liked about their presentation was the dominancy to their topic. I think this method of teaching us is better than the old way because we are all friends so we know each other’s interests and how to catch or how we can lose the attention. In addition Mr. Sen completes the parts that we miss so it’s a perfect combination in my opinion. Tugce and Ayca’s presentation was a PowerPoint too. I liked the pictures they used, they were attention grabbing. Also the questions each group ask to their classmates after the presentation, is a very beneficial thing for everyone. First, you should listen the whole presentation and take notes to say something different from everyone and while the questions you repeat what you have learned. With every presentation we add more information but we can forget them easily so we can do a 10 minutes revision about the previous presentation to make it more memorable.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">Cansu Yetisgin <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">06.03.2011

---

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">As Mr. Sen announced at the end of past semester and as my friends mentioned on their student journals, this semester our Business and Management class has changed and as students we become more active at the classes. 2 weeks ago, we divided into 4 groups and decided to make presentations on our topics, which were selected from Module 1.7. Rana, Bora and Oya started to present their topic by explaining it on the board.Their topic was mainly about Economies of Scale and even if they were the first to take action, they did a really good job and they were able to show examples from our daily lives.Cisil,Eslin,Ecem,Cansu and Yasemin took part in the 2nd presentation which was on last wednesday and they developed a Power Point presentation to explain their topic to the class. Their topic was horizontal, vertical, forward and backward integrations in economies. They used the Coca-Cola example to describe how these integrations work in real life. Afterwards, there were Tugce and Ayca's presentation where the presenters had a difficult time while presenting their topic since a group-member was missing. Although, they were only two people, the duo showed how hard they worked and made a pretty good presentation by using Power Point as the previous group did. Today, Muratcan and Merthan made their presentation which was on Ansoff Matrix. Due to the reason that, Mr. Sen was not able to attend to class, we did class with Mr. Kaya's class so Muratcan and Merthan had a tougher job comparing to what the previous ones did because they had more people to teach the topic. However, by giving examples and pictures which were in their Power Point Presentation, they did a brilliant job. They gave examples of Ferrari, Coca Cola and Ikea to strengthen their point. Also, Mr. Kaya gave an example of Rolex and improved the Ikea example to make sure that everyone understood what has explained. In my opinion, these presentations are really effective on improving our teaching skills and make us more interested in the topic since our friends our presenting it. As students, we are more active inside the classroom and with Mr. Sen's help by asking questions and giving different examples or improving a current example,the topic is being presented is understood clearly by the students. Besides, I'm in the group with Deniz, Kaan and Yagizhan. Our presentation will take place on the 9th of March which is 2 days from now.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">Yigitcan YILDIZ <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">07.03.2011

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">---

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">For the last couple of weeks i have been thinking about our performance in the class and comparing to our performance in the first part of the year while looking at facebook etc. when we as students are supposed to educate ourselves. It is obvious that our performance as class has dropped critically. At the end of the first part of the year i was very excited with the prospect of having the control and the final decision over how to to class, but as we leave the month of march behind us i think we have not made a single improvement on anything except our powerpoint skills. After thinking about this problem over and over again i came to the conclusion that the reason why our minds refuse such method of self education is because we are accustomed to receive and harvest knowledge until the next exam. We as students were never forced to actually use our knowledge outside the school and we were always forced to memorize over and over again without understanding the true meaning of the topic. This problem rises from our insufficient methods of education. Most schools and teachers see students as a empty field and try to plant various information and never take care of it or water what they have planted. It is up to the student to take care of himself/herself and takeover the field. We are so used to being told what to do and how to do in life that when we get the opportunity decide we just stay there and do nothing. The IB program on the other hand is a perfect chance to give our minds to mold it the way we want to, but again since we are so used to doing what the teacher says and thinking inside the box many students try to finish the IB with their method. Instead of understanding the topic they choose to memorize everything the night before the exam use it as much as they can on the exam and forget it the minute after the exam is over but it is not hundred percent our fault because we were never encouraged to educate ourselves that now we refuse to accept different methods of education. I believe that either as class should go back to the old fashion way or be at least a little bit more enthusiastic about the subject. In this passed couple of months i was actually a hypocrite because i was one of the people in class that supported this method but did nothing to improve. Now i am starting to slip away from a subject that i am very interested in learning about and even forgetting things that learned at the beginning of the year. I believe there is no absolute solution to our problem because not everyone comes to the class with excitement of learning something new. Most of the students are there because their parents forced them to go or picked it because they will probably pick this subject in college. I believe, i am one of the few people in class interested in actually learning something despite my recent performance in class. From now on to salvage the remainder of the year we should close the lids of our laptops and fire up the discussion environment in the class in order to fulfill the resolution we took at the end of the first semester.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">Deniz Özmen (21.03.2011)

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">1.9 Globalization Group Projects <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">7 indicators of globalization

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">As we discussed it in the class, we will use the 7 indicators of globalization to globalize our school. We will be splitting the class into 7 groups, which will include the students who are absent as well. The students who are absent could join the discussion here, on wikispaces.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">The groups are:

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">1) Kaan Ayca Yigitcan <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">2) Eslin Cansu <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">3) Rana Deniz <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">4) Yasemin Muratcan Bora <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">5) Ecem Irmak <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">6) Tugce Yagizhan Mr. Sen <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">7) Cisil Oya Merthan

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">The 7 indicators of globalization are: //

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">1) Higher value of world trade over time <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">2) Higher levels of foreign direct investment. E.g. Toyota manufacturing plants in the U.S. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">3) Multinational corporations (MNC) accounting for a higher share of world GDP <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">4) Greater cultural awareness and exchange, such as the export of cultural foods <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">5) Spreading of multiculturalism. E.g. Hollywood and Bollywood movies. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">6) Higher spending on international travel and tourism <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">7) Information and communication technology spreading throughout the world. E.g. the internet

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">Each group will be using these indicators on our school and will be explaining how it could be done.The first group will discuss about the first topic, the second group about the second topic and the rest will continue like that. Despite of discussing the 7th topic, we will help you if you encounter any difficulties based on your topic. If you have any questions concerning these indicators, please start a discussion here. If that clause can not be applied for any reason, that group should explain why not. It will be more like a discussion, the groups could interact with each other at any time,they should not wait for their turn to speak, if they hear something about their clause they should make comments regarding it and not wait passively. Everyone should feelcomfortable debating and producing new ideas. And also if you have any concerns, or if you don't like something about the idea of the project, please start a discussion so that we could fix it until wednesday.Thank you

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">Oya Goksahin

---

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">28.03.2011

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">So let me summarize the past three or four weeks from my perspective. We were required to finish 1.7, and we did. We are a very responsible class. All of us did our presentations at the date that was set for us. We followed the program perfectly. We ‘taught’ our friends our own subjects, we made them ‘learn’ and ‘understand’ the whole concept of our presentation. The presentations were lead ‘interactively’, and every single student enjoyed the topics, and was eager to learn more and more about ‘Growth and Evolution of Businesses’. So we switched our topics, and used our ‘skills’ about this module by analysing some case studies.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">I wish I could really write these. There are some true points about it, we all really did our presentations, and decided to switch topics and make sure that we learned our friends’ topics by analysing case studies. However, in my opinion, the atmosphere of the classroom was ‘1.7 done! We all did our presentations, we all did what we were required to do, and it is over. Yes! There are fewer topics left, and anyways summer is coming. Who cares?’ I really think that this approach is inevitable, it’s nearly impossible to drag every single student into the topic, but it is normal. In this education system, where the students are required to get certain grades, pick certain classes, listen to the teachers and memorize, take notes to make their jobs easier at the day before the exam, some students will be less eager to learn. However, what is interesting is, for the first time, we have the ‘control’ somehow. We can do whatever we want to do, and we still chose to spoil it. We don’t even try to do something to make things work. We do long presentations, which only states facts, and doesn’t push us to think. Today, when Mr. Sen asked to the class ‘Do you guys want to give up, and act as if this experiment failed, and return to our old system?’ I don’t know why, a feeling of ‘protecting’ this system, and trying to make it work awakened in me. I felt as if some of my other friends felt that way as well. There were always few students speaking, but this time people seem to talk more. We were thinking of different ideas such as acting as the board directors of a company, or the marketing department, or creating a discussion in the classroom. At our following presentations, we will try to adapt these ideas. For instance today, Oya came up with an idea for their presentation– seven indicators of globalization -, which I thought was very good. We will see whether it will work or not. Still there are some question marks though. We all know some of us will not participate at the end of the day, but I really think it is normal, now. I really hope as a class, we will be more protective, and innovative with this new system, because for years, we have been complaining about the system, and now, when we have the chance to alter it for at least 80 minutes, we still spoil it. This makes me think a lot.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">Rana İpeker

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">It has been a month since we have started with our new education system called SOCIAL. Mr.Sen's aim in starting this method of teaching was to show that at some point, students will no longer need teachers and will be enough for themselves; by taking a greater responsibility for their learning and developping their knowledge through interacting and collaborating with eachother. This seemed like a pretty good idea to all of us: we never had this kind of an opportunity before in our education careers and could all use a change in the system. First time in our lives, it was us; the students who would dominate the process of teaching, and learning in return. We had the "leashes" in our hands.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">So we started the new semester with a new system. The only thing we forgot to refresh was our minds. The first lesson, since Mr.Sen was no longer the teacher in control of the class, we all acted as if it was a free lesson and basically did nothing. We waited for our teacher to start talking, explaining and encouraging us to do something-like we were used to in the old days-. Then, it hit us that unless we, the new teacher/students did something, this was the way it was going to be. So, we took action and started interacting with eachother, splitted into groups and shared the unit 1.7's topics.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">The first "teachers" were Rana, Bora, Deniz and Oya with the topic ways of growing for businesses and Economies of Scale. I liked the way they presented the topic with chalks and blackboard, just like Mr.Sen did. It was obvious that they studied and learned about their topics and I actually learned the subject very well. At the end, we all said what we learned one by one, which contributed again to our understanding. With Mr.Sen's few corrections and important comments, it was an efficient course which gave hope to us about where SOCIAL was going. The second teachers were me, Eslin, Yasemin, Çisil and Cansu with the topic Business Integrations. I think we did a good job presenting the vertical, horizontal, backward and forward integration, however we could not be that successul without Mr.Sen's help. By noting important points or clearifying misunderstood points, Mr.Sen makes sure the topic is not mistaught to the class. Then came Tuğçe and Ayça's presentation about Strategic Alliances, and I agree with Yiğitcan that even though they were only two people to present, they did a great job and prooved their hard work and understanding of their subject. At the end, they asked us questions which raised our interest and helped us to be more engaged with the class.

The presentations went on like this and at the end, we had a class discussion, talking about where SOCIAL is going. I realized how the teaching methods of our teachers limited our creativity and restricted our thoughts. When given a subject to teach, all we can think of is chalks or power point presentations, which do not attract the listener's that much. So we thought of doing something more efficient which would improve our understanding and decided to find Case Studies related to our subjects, and making other groups present them. This would allow us to much better understand eachother's topics. We, Cisil, Eslin and I were the first group to present the Case Study that Rana, Oya, Bora and Deniz's group gave us: The Corus Way-Continuous Improvement. It was an easy-to-read case study which suited well to their subject. To make everyone engaged in the topic, we prepared 18 questions and distributed them to each student at the beginning of our presentation. Due to some technical problems, we only had time to finish our presentation, so we decided <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">to make a discussion about the questions in here. Finally, today in class, we evaluated our situation, what we did, how much we achieved the goals of SOCIAL so far, whether this system was working or not etc. We all had worries about whether we were doing this right, or whether this is making us develop ourselves or causing a decline in Business & Management learning. So far, we have not proceeded much. We are not interacting or collaborating enough, not all the class is eager to learn and make SOCIAL work, and we are not changing any teaching methods but only preparing power point presentations just like our teachers did.

I loved Deniz's metaphor, describing how we are like an empty field and how every teacher plants various informations but not water them or try enough to keep them alive. We only learn the last night before the exam to get a good grade, then forget the information. The plant dies, and all the time that is spent to harvest that plant is gone to waste. With the opportunity given to us by SOCIAL, we can actually make that plant grow into a big tree, since we have to fully understand the topics first in order to be able to teach them. Learning is the first step, teaching is the second, and keeping the class interested is the third. At this point, I totally agree with what Rana and Cansu stated in their journals: We should increase the willingness, and we know how to do it since we know eachother's interests and know how we lose or grab the attention.

What I recommend to all of my friends from here is to stop worrying, and start finding original teaching methods. We all have worries, but we are not alone, we have Mr.Sen who keeps things under control and he won't let us fail. We don't have an opportunity like this in any of our classes, that's why we shouldn't abandon the chance that is given to us. If we all become interested in learning, teaching, interacting and collaborating with eachother, all the problems we face will disappear, and we will succeed the SOCIAL experiment.

Ecem Şenyuva

28.03.2011

As my friends previously stated we as a class haven't full filled the requirements of the new education system in our class and therefore haven't been very successful. Yes we did learn the topics, covered the subjects and made presentations but they weren't as Mr.Sen expected. He wanted us to interact with each other, ask questions and listen attentively. This was the only way for us to succeed in SOCIAL. Rather than what we were expected to do, what we did was preparing power points and read it to the class. Actually powerpoint presentations could also work for SOCIAL but the way we did didn't. While a couple of our friends were presenting the rest of us were either on facebook or weren't listening and busy with other stuff. Playing the role of the teacher wasn't just doing presentations and sit it actually requires a lot effort to make the class listen you and grab their attention. Because of the lack of interest in our class, we as you can see encountered several problems. Mr.Sen was aware of the situation and spent a whole 2 period lesson with us last week to discuss the progress of the class and how to continue. He asked us whether or not we want to return to the old system where he gave lectures on the topics or we would like try to succeed in SOCIAL. Most of us didn't want the old system, it was boring and because we were given a chance to teach ourselves and try a totally different method of learning we preferred SOCIAL. We agreed as a class that we would be more interactive and interested in class. Since we all agreed that we will continue with SOCIAL we started to search different and interesting ways of presenting. The next presentation was 7 indicators of globalization and me, Oya and Merthan were supposed to present it. Instead of making a powerpoint again Oya offered to divide the class into 7 groups, give each of them an indicator and have a discussion on that the next lesson. We posted the indicators and the groups here so that everyone would know which group they were in and learn about their indicator. During the next business class everyone sat with their group mates including Mr.Sen. That day we had a pretty interactive lesson where everyone shared their ideas about the indicators they were given. I think that it was a very useful lesson and everyone enjoyed it because it was not like listening to a lecture for 80 mins. which is very boring and soporific. If we continue to find different and interesting ways of presenting our subjects I believe that we would definitely succeed in SOCIAL. It just requires a little bit more involvement in class.

Çisil Su 04.04.2011

Last couple of weeks from my perspective:

I think with the change we made in our way of presenting, we have made learning in class more efficient. Different groups or individuals tried to come up with creative ideas for their presentations. For example, the first group (cisil,oya,merthan) divided the class in to groups and gave every group a topic to research about. They asked us to be prepared for a discussion in class. And when they presented, the class was ready to share their ideas. Even though again Mr.Sen was the one to talk the most, in my opinion participation to class increased. At least people who never spoke, or often say a few words were encouraged to discuss and be a part of the presentation going on. I think with creative ideas we can make this experiment work.

And also tomorrow my group will be presenting. As for the part I will be presenting, I thought of an idea that may also be interesting to you. My topic is HSBC and my question for you will be: **What are the factors that make HSBC a multinational company? or why would HSBC prefer to be multinational company?**

__I created a presentation that will allow you to speak and interact with each other. I want you to act as the board of directors of HSBC and I ask you to try to figure out the reasons for HSBC becoming a multinational company.__

Eslin Saporta 05.04.2011

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">This new system of learning SOCIAL is continuing to progress as we discuss how we can improve it. As Mr. Sen puts in words "We always plan stuff instead of actually doing them". After a few discussions on SOCIAL website and talks during class, we decided on not giving up on this system since this is basically the only class we can arrange the way we learn and arrange things. Usually in our other classes, teacher teaches the topic and students listen, which is not really an interactive atmosphere. So we didn't want to reject this opportunity. Each group will continue to present their topic but instead of just preparing a powerpoint presentation, they will search for ways to include the class into the presentation by asking questions or such other ways.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">On Monday, it was Yasemin's turn to present and teach her topic, Globalization. She prepared a powerpoint presentation to talk about her topic. Her presentation was well-prepared and had a lot of examples that helped us through the process of understanding. As the presentation continued we discussed about topics such as factors affecting globalization, changes in the world influencing local companies, globalization in Turkey.. etc. She made it possible for us to be a part of her presentation by preparing some discussion questions.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">After my presentation with Tuğçe and Irmak on Adeptia, which did not went very well, I decided to focus more on this course and become an active member of the class. I believe that from now on it will be more fun and easier for learning for everyone since we have the control of the lesson and we planned how can develop this new system we are experimenting.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Ayça Katıtaş <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">05.04.2011

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">This past couple of weeks has been a rough time for all of us. We are all dealing with IB, exams and other important things like the SAT, but during this time we have not been able to apply social very efficiently. Actually for a couple of lessons we were back to the old system. Since we have started a new topic, we should consider new techniques in which we can use social better.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">During the last lesson we separated the class into two and started to discuss whether our school should have a new division only for foreign students. Mr. Sen asked us not only to speak from our own minds but also to use our previous knowledge about steeple and other things for the discussion. For the discussion not all people participated, and for those who participated they were not very organized. I know that it was a spontaneous discussion, but I also think that we could have been more organized. If I have to speak for myself, I was really tired that day and I couldn't jump into the conversation because I was too busy trying to understand everyone's ideas and then trying to apply it to steeple or swot or other things. That is why, for other people who weren't as enthusiastic as others, I think we should come more prepared for the next class, or we could simply have ten or fifteen minutes before class to apply steeple, swot, ansof and other previous knowledges.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">This discussion was actually a nice way to return to social, and I think we should consider doing more discussions like these, but previously arranged because I really benefited from social, even though it might not look like I did, and really would like to see it work. We all should be more self organized and more prepared for other lessons.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Good luck to you all for the exams, especially for the business exam ;)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Oya Goksahin <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">10.05.2011