Towards 21st century citizenship through sustainable development goals in foreign language education

Since learning, literacy, and life skills have become essential for individuals in the information age, the focus on education has shifted to preparation of students for the knowledge society. This is valid for all levels and spheres of education including but not limited to foreign language teaching in higher education. With this in mind, a new English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Course aiming to equip freshman level university students with necessary learning skills has been launched. A particular emphasis has been given to developing the students’ English language skills so as to facilitate their communicative competence both in their academic and professional lives. The course adopts a challenge-based learning approach, which provides students with a meaningful framework for learning as it is based on solving real-world problems. In the course, the students work on real world challenges based on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (UN) while using the learning skills (the four C’s) of the 21st Century, namely critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication. During the course, the students work together on the issues highlighted as challenges in United Nation’s report on Turkey’s state regarding the 17 SDGs, and offer solutions in groups in the form of poster presentations, academic papers and oral presentations. The course has been implemented since fall 2021. In this concept paper, the researchers will share their experiences and research plans about the evaluation of the course based on Stufflebeam’s Context (C), Input (I), Process (P), Product (P) (CIPP) Evaluation Model

Defining A European Engineer Profile Within A European University Alliance

The world needs more engineers and Europe provides a rich and diverse environment to train them, including shared values of sustainability and interculturalism. In this paper we attempt to build a profile for a “European engineer” based on skills and competences acquired in a European University Alliance centred around engineering education (EELISA, European Engineering Learning Innovation Alliance). We carried out an on-line survey for students and staff of partner universities as well as nine indepth interviews (50 min) with relevante stakeholders. The questions included in the survey are described as well as general results from 75 respondents. The overall results from the in-depth interviews are also presented and discussed within the framework of the training concepts also promoted by international associations, including SEFI. Finally, we use our findings to suggest four conceptual fields for a European engineer profile: 1) Scientific and theoretical knowledge including digital skills, 2) Addressing sustainability, 3) Interculturalism: an engineer embracing the European project, and 4) Business and communication skills: practical and applied knowledge

EELISA Credential: The Recognition Of Commitment And Impact In The Addressing Of Societal Challenges In The EELISA Alliance

EELISA Credential is a unique recognition process provided to EELISA students, professional and alumni who are part of the mission-driven EELISA communities and reflects the commitment and impact level achieved in the addressing of a societal challenge. The EELISA Credential is an individual, progressive environment on which students collect badges. These badges are acquired after verifying the achievement of an educational outcome level after participating in community\u27s educational activities. A badge represents the unit of learning acquisition and impact that corresponds to an educational outcome. It is reflected in the EELISA Credential which itself refers to an impact level and a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). The impact level represents the badge measurement scale. In the EELISA Credential, there are 5 levels of impact (discovery, knowledge, engagement, action, transformation) that correspond to learning objectives relative to SDGs. The education activities proposed by EELISA Communities are defined around a societal challenge defined by a problem owner (faculty, students, local communities). Each activity is centered in 1 or 2 SDGs, and recognizes a maximum of 4 badges. Through the involvement in the activities of EELISA Communities, students enrich their EELISA Credential in areas addressing Sustainable Developments Goals (SDGs), progressively improving their capacity for understanding, action and transformation. In this practice paper, we will present the requirements for activities to be part of the EELISA Credential, representative and successful activities, the Quality Assurance system, the lessons learnt in the process of implementing the credential and how EELISA Credential will evolve in the future

Yabancı dil hazırlık programlarının akreditasyonunun akademik kaliteye etkisi üzerine uluslararası bir araştırma

Tüm dünyada yükseköğretime olan talep artışıyla birlikte yükseköğretim kurumlarında öğrencilere sunulan eğitimin kalitesine ilişkin endişeler de artmaya başlamıştır. Yükseköğretimde uzun yıllardır etkin ve güvenilir bir kalite temini ve kalite geliştirme yöntemi olarak akreditasyona başvurulmaktadır. Akreditasyonun kurum ve program kalitesini geliştirmeye sağladığı katkı yadsınamazken yükseköğretim kurumlarında bir kalite temini yöntemi olarak akreditasyon sistemi akademik çevre tarafından sorgulanmaya başlanmıştır. Bu çalışmanın amacı bir kalite temini yöntemi olan akreditasyonun akademik kaliteye etkisine ilişkin algıları belirlemektir. Bu amaca yönelik olarak ABD’deki bir akreditasyon kuruluşu tarafından tüm dünyada akredite edilmiş programların akreditasyon öz-değerlendirme süreci koordinatörleri ve akreditasyon deneyimi olan program yöneticilerinin algıları üzerine odaklanılmıştır. Araştırmanın alt amaçları kurumun bulunduğu ülke, kurum türü, programın yaşı, sınıflardaki ortalama öğrenci sayısı, programın akreditasyon durumu, öğretim elemanının cinsiyeti, öğretim elemanının ulusu, öğretim elemanının akreditasyon sürecinde akreditasyon öz- değerlendirme süreci koordinatörü olarak çalışıp çalışmadığı, öğretim görevi, öğretim deneyimi, idari görevi bulunup bulunmadığı, idari görevi ve yöneticilik deneyimi değişkenlerine göre akreditasyon öz-değerlendirme süreci koordinatörleri ve program yöneticilerinin akreditasyonun akademik kaliteye etkisine ilişkin algılarında anlamlı bir farklılık olup olmadığını saptamaktır. Böylelikle son dönemde Türkiye’de yükseköğretimdeki yeni yapılanma sürecinde yükseköğretim kurumlarında uygulanabilecek akreditasyon süreçlerinin işleyişine ve potansiyel sorunların öngörülmesine katkı sağlanması hedeflenmektedir. Araştırma verileri araştırmacı tarafından geliştirilen ölçek aracılığıyla toplanmıştır. Bunun için öncelikle kapsamlı bir literatür taraması yapılmış, madde havuzu oluşturulmuş ve uzman görüşü doğrultusunda pilot gruba uygulanabilir hale getirilmiştir. Pilot uygulama sonuçları doğrultusunda yapılan çeşitli değişiklikler sonrasında yine uzman görüşüne danışılarak ölçeğe son hali verilmiştir. Ölçek daha sonra internet üzerinden çeşitli ülkelerde bulunan 204 akreditasyon öz-değerlendirme süreci koordinatörü ve program yöneticisine ulaştırılmıştır. Veri toplama süreci sonunda toplam 96 geçerli anket formu geri dönmüştür; geri dönüş oranı % 47.05 olarak gerçekleşmiştir. Tek boyutlu olan ölçeğin güvenirlik katsayısı (Cronbach’s Alpha) .986 olarak belirlenmiş ve toplam varyansın %53,025’sini karşıladığı görülmüştür. Faktör analizi sonucunda 6 adet madde kapsam dışı bırakılmıştır. Verilerin karşılaştırmalı analizleri SPSS 21.0 paket programı aracılığıyla gerçekleştirilmiştir. Analizler kapsamında frekans ve yüzde hesaplamaları, Mann Whitney-U Testi, Kruskal Wallis-H Testi ve Bağımsız Gruplar T Testi yer almıştır. Elde edilen bulgulara göre akreditasyonun akademik kaliteye etkisine ilişkin kurumun bulunduğu ülke, kurum türü, sınıflardaki ortalama öğrenci sayısı, öğretim elemanının cinsiyeti, öğretim elemanının ulusu, öğretim elemanının akreditasyon sürecinde öz-değerlendirme süreci koordinatörü olarak çalışıp çalışmadığı, öğretim görevi, öğretim deneyimi, idari görevi bulunup bulunmadığı, idari görevi ve yöneticilik deneyimi değişkenlerine göre akreditasyon öz-değerlendirme süreci koordinatörleri ve program yöneticilerinin algılarında anlamlı bir farklılık bulunmamaktadır. Ancak, programın yaşı ve programın akreditasyon durumu değişkenlerine göre akreditasyon öz-değerlendirme süreci koordinatörleri ve program yöneticilerinin akreditasyonun akademik kaliteye etkisine ilişkin algılarında anlamlı farklılıklar bulunmuştur. Buna göre, 1-20 yıldır faaliyet gösteren programlarda görev yapan akreditasyon öz-değerlendirme süreci koordinatörleri ve program yöneticileri 41 yılı aşkın süredir faaliyet gösteren programlarda görev yapan akreditasyon öz-değerlendirme süreci koordinatörleri ve program yöneticilerine kıyasla akreditasyonun kurumlarında akademik kalite kapsamındaki süreç ve uygulamaların gelişimine daha fazla katkı sağladığını düşünmektedir. Benzer şekilde, ilk kez akredite edilen programlarda görev yapmakta olan akreditasyon öz-değerlendirme süreci koordinatörleri ve program yöneticileri birden çok kez akredite edilen programlarda görev yapmakta olan akreditasyon öz-değerlendirme süreci koordinatörleri ve program yöneticilerine kıyasla akreditasyonun akademik kaliteyi geliştirmeye daha fazla katkı sağladığını düşünmektedir. Ölçek bazında yapılan karşılaştırmalı analizlerin yanı sıra, ölçek maddelerine verilen cevaplar madde bazında da incelenmiştir. Akreditasyon öz-değerlendirme süreci koordinatörleri ve program yöneticilerinin cevaplarından elde edilen bulgulara göre, akreditasyonun kurumlarda gelişmesine en çok katkı sağladığı ve en az katkı sağladığı süreç ve uygulamalar sınıflandırılmıştır. Buna göre, akreditasyon bir kurumda sırasıyla en çok şu süreç ve uygulamaların gelişmesine katkı sağlamaktadır: öğrenme kazanımlarına verilen önem; kurumdaki sürekli kalite iyileştirme kültürü; öğrenme kazanımlarının program değerlendirme ile uyumlaştırılması; genel anlamda eğitim programının kalitesi ve kurumsal süreç ve uygulamaların sistematik olarak belgelendirilmesi. Diğer taraftan, akreditasyon öz-değerlendirme süreci koordinatörleri ve program yöneticilerine göre akreditasyon bir kurumda sırasıyla en az şu süreç ve uygulamaların gelişmesine katkı sağlamaktadır: programdan mezun olan öğrenci sayısı; öğrencilere yaşam boyu öğrenmeye yönelik bir tutum aşılanması; öğrenme sürecine katkı için düzenli ödevler verilmesi; öğrencilerin kendi öğrenmelerinin sorumluluğunu alması; öğrencilere düzenli çalışma becerileri geliştirmeye yönelik bir tutum aşılanması. le, akreditasyon bir kurumda en çok öğrenme kazanımlarına verilen önemin artmasına en az ise kurumdan mezun olan öğrenci sayısının artmasına katkı sağlamaktadır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Akreditasyon, kalite, akademik kalite. ABSTRACT Due to the increasing demand for higher education around the world, concerns regarding the quality of education provided to students in higher education institutions have increased. For many years, higher education institutions have employed accreditation as an efficient and reliable means of quality assurance and quality improvement. While the influence of accreditation on the improvement of institution and program quality cannot be denied, accreditation system as a means for quality assurance in higher education institutions started to be questioned by academia. The main aim of this study was to determine perceptions on the influence of accreditation on academic quality. So as to achieve this, perceptions of accreditation self-study coordinators and administrators with accreditation experience of programs which were accredited by a US accreditating agency were focused on. The secondary aim of the study was to determine if the perceptions of self-study coordinators and program administrators with accreditation experience differ based on the country of the institution, type of the institution, the approximate age of the program, the average number of students per class, the accreditation status of the program, instructor’s gender, instructor’s nationality, whether the instructor worked as a self-study coordinator during the accreditation process, instructor’s teaching duty, instructor’s teaching experience, whether the instructor has an administrative duty, the instructor’s administrative duty and administrative experience. Thus, it is targeted to contribute to the functioning of accreditation processes to be employed in higher education institutions and the projection of potential problems in the recent restructuring process of Turkish higher education system. The data was collected by means of a questionnaire developed by the researcher. So as to achieve this, a comprehensive literature review was conducted, a pool of items created, and the questionnaire was made applicable to the pilot group in accordance with expert opinion. A few changes were made based on the resuls of the pilot study and the questionnaire was finalised consulting expert opinion. The questionnaire was then posted to 204 accreditation self-study coordinators in various countries around the world. By the end of the data collection process, 96 valid questionnaires were submitted; the response rate was 47.05 %. The final version of the scale is composed of one factor with a reliability coefficient of .986 (Cronbach’s Alpha) and the total variance explained a percentage of 53,025 %. 6 factors were excluded from the scale as a result of factor analysis. The comparative analyses of data were conducted by means of SPSS 21.0. Within the scope of the analyses, frequency and percentage calculations, Mann Whitney-U Test, Kruskal Wallis-H Test and Independent Samples t Test were implemented. According to the findings, the perceptions of accreditation self-study coordinators and program administrators do not significantly differ in terms of the country of the institution, type of the institution, the average number of student per class, instructor’s gender, instructors’s nationality, whether the instructor worked as a self-study coordinator during the accreditation process, instructor’s teaching duty, instructor’s teaching experience, whether the instructor has an administrative duty, the instructor’s administrative duty and administrative experience. However, according to the findings, there is a meaningful difference between the perceptions of self-study coordinators and program administrators in terms of the approximate age of the program and the accreditation status of the program. Accordingly, accreditation self-study coordinators and program administrators working in programs which have existed for 1-20 years think that accreditation contributes more to the improvement of processes and practices within the scope of academic quality in their institutions compared to the self-study coordinators and program administrators working in programs which have existed for more than 41 years. Similarly, accreditation self-study coordinators and program administrators working in programs which have been accredited once think that accreditation contributes more to the improvement of academic quality in their institution compared to accreditation self-study coordinators and program administrators working in programs which have been accredited more than once. In addition to the comparative analysis of the questionnaire, the responses were analysed on the basis of particular items included in the questionnaire. The processes and practices that accreditation contributes most and contributes least to were classified based on the responses of accreditation self-study coordinators and program administrators. According to the findings, accreditation contributes most to the improvement of the following processes and practices: importance attached to learning outcomes; culture of continuous quality improvement in the institution; the alignment of learning outcomes with program review; the quality of educational program as a whole and systematic documentation of institutional processes and practices. On the other hand, accreditation contributes least to the improvement of following processes and practices in an institution according to accreditation self-study coordinators and program administrators: the number of students who graduate from the program; instilling students with a desire to continue to develop via lifelong learning; assignment of regular homework to students to contribute to students’ learning; students’ taking responsibility for their own learning and instilling students with the will to develop regular study habits. In brief, in an institution, accreditation contributes most to the improvement of importance attached to learning outcomes and contributes least to the number of students who graduate from a program. Key Words: Accreditation, quality, academic quality

Maintaining quality of higher education during difficult times: Accreditation compliance in foreign language education

AbstractThe world has witnessed substantial changes as a consequence of Covid-19 pandemic in many spheres of life including higher education. Assuring quality and maintaining compliance with accreditation criteria during the pandemic have been two critical considerations requiring change and adaptation in higher education institutions. The aim of this study was to investigate challenges in terms of assuring and sustaining quality and completing accreditation self-study process effectively under the circumstances of the pandemic. The study featured a case study design employing qualitative research methodology through interviews conducted mainly face-to-face and over Zoom. A semi-structured interview from created by the researcher was used to collect data from 10 instructors involved in the accreditation self-study process of a program during the most chaotic period of the pandemic. The themes that emerged from the study based on quality criteria and influence of the pandemic were: “Course Delivery”, “Format and Content of Assessment” and “Instructors’ Professional Development”. The perceptions of the instructors on the aforementioned themes were elaborated on and discussed in the study from different perspectives

“Issız Adam” Filminin Gerçeklik Terapisine Dayalı İncelenmesi / The Investigation of “Issız Adam” Movie in Terms of the Reality Therapy

Toplumu etkileyen ve toplumdan etkilenen sinema, sosyal yaşamın gerçekliğini farklı açılardan ele alırken farklı disiplinler içerisinde yeniden hayat bulmaktadır. Bu disiplinlerden biri olan psikoloji alanında sinema yapıtları terapötik bir öğe olarak kullanılabilmektedir. Nitekim, bu çalışmada toplumu etkileyip, aynı zamanda toplumdan etkilendiği düşünülen sinema yapıtlarından “Issız Adam” filminin, terapötik bir öğe olarak Gerçeklik terapisi kavramlarıyla ilişkilendirilerek farklı bir bakış açısı ile sunulması amaçlanmıştır. Bu amaçla, filmin esas kahramanlarından Alper ve Ada’nın temel ihtiyaçları olan sevgi ve ait olma, özgürlük, eğlence, güç ve hayatta kalma ihtiyaçlarını doyurma yollarında aldıkları sorumluluk dâhilindeki seçimleri ele alınmıştır. Ayrıca bu seçimlerin onların kalite dünyalarında nasıl anlam bulduğu ve onları pişmanlık yaratan ya da doyum sağlayan bir yaşama nasıl götürdüğü Gerçeklik terapisi açısından ortaya konulmuştur. Sonuç olarak, bu çalışmanın, Gerçeklik terapisi ile ilgili kuramsal bilgiyi destekleyip bu yaklaşımın kavramlarının öğretimine örnek oluşturarak, psikolojik danışman eğitiminde kullanılmak üzere akademisyenlere ve öğrencilere kaynak oluşturacağı düşünülmektedir. / Cinema both affects society and is affected by society. The cinema exploring reality of social life in different points of view appears in different discipline. Cinema is used as a therapeutic component in the discipline of psychology, too. The aim of this study is to introduce the ‘Issız Adam’ movie in terms of the Reality Therapy. Thus, the selections of Alper and Ada, who are the actor and actress of the film, were analyzed with reference to how they fulfill the need of love and belonging, survivor, power, freedom, fun. Similarly, it was shown that how Alper and Ada’s selections make sense in their quality world and whether they feel sorrow or satisfaction in the context of Reality Therapy. Consequently, this study supports the theoretical knowledge about the Reality therapy and can be a model in teaching the concepts of this approach; so it is considered that the study will become a resource for academicians and students in the training of psychological counselors

Magnetic Targeting of 5-Fluorouracil-Loaded Liposome-Nanogels for In Vivo Breast Cancer Therapy and the Cytotoxic Effects on Liver and Kidney

In our previous paper, we demonstrated the ex vivo studies of non-toxic liposome-nanogel systems by which the long-term drug release could be provided from hybrid systems for the 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) drug molecule. The aim of this study was the in vivo magnetic targeting of 5-FU-loaded Fe3O4&nbsp;nanoparticles including DPPC liposome-based PEGylated nanogels (5-FU loaded Fe3O4LPN) to breast cancer tissue and the investigation of the treatment and cytotoxic effects of that hybrid system to the liver and kidney in CD-1 mice using an external magnetic field. The effectiveness of the control, 5-FU group, Fe3O4LPN, and 5-FU-loaded Fe3O4LPN systems was evaluated using histopathology in terms of p53, ESR, PRG and C-erB-2, and qRT-PCR in terms of TYMS, ESR-1, RPG, and EGRF. Also, the cytotoxicity was analyzed by histopathological evaluation of kidney and liver tissues. Caspase-3 and caspase-9 evaluations were performed by qRT-PCR. The creatinine and ALT levels were also evaluated by comparing the blood samples of all groups. A total of 300-nm TEM-sized Fe3O4LNP hybrid system was successfully prepared. That system significantly decreased the TYMS and ESR1 levels after treatment process and increased the levels of p53 expression. The levels of caspase-3 mRNA did not change during the treatment, but the level of caspase-9 mRNA level was significantly decreased. The magnetically targeted liposome-based nanogel hybrid system is promising an effective therapy for the breast tumor with less liver and kidney damage. This Fe3O4LNP hybrid system could be useful for the similar small molecules.</p