The impact of supervising teachers : are they really competent in providing assistance to teacher candidates' professional growth? : reflections from Turkey

This study investigates how teacher candidates assess their supervising teachers’ supervisory competence in Turkey. Through a questionnaire and an interview schedule specifically developed for this study, teacher candidates were asked to assess their supervising teachers’ competence in terms of preparation for supervision, instructional planning and reflection, and collegial supervision and effective mentoring. Data were gathered from 690 teacher candidates, who went through practice teaching in their last year in college. The results indicated that most teacher candidates rated their supervising teachers as ‘poor’ or ‘partially competent.’ Although no main difference was found between supervising teachers’ competence in ‘preparation for supervision,’ and in ‘collegial supervision and mentoring,’ supervising teachers were deemed to be less competent in ‘instructional planning and reflection.’ Results showed that supervising teachers need to understand their role and responsibilities to demonstrate better supervisory skills for an effective practicum.peer-reviewe

Instructional design taking roots from globalization toward institutionalization

Generally most of the instructional design (ID) models describe the process for the design and development of instruction as graphical representations of the teaching process. Even though there are many types of ID models, only a few distinctions exist among them. Most of the designers attempted to implement new models onto earlier versions, and, therefore, a vast number of ID models bear a resemblance to each other. Since new learning and emerging instructional theories, technologies, and better comprehension of the human mind are exposed, the improvement of ID models toward better ones becomes crucial. Hence, new instructional design models come into sight due to these constant changes. It is necessary to expand appropriate instructional design models to unravel the troubles of teaching, learning and/or training system

A Dilemma in Turkish Examination System: Open-Ended or Multiple-Choice?

Ministry of National Education (MoNE) in Turkey, expressed the transition to Kazakh Examination System (Haberturk; 2013; Sabah, 2013; TEDMEM, 2013; TRTNews, 2013; Vatan, 2013) in evaluating student success in Turkish schools

Design and Development of an Online Video Enhanced Case-Based Learning Environment for Teacher Education

People generally prefer to use stories in order to provide context when expressing a point. Spreading a message without context is unlikely to be meaningful. Like stories, cases have contextual meaning and allow learners to see a situation from multiple perspectives. The main purpose of the present study was to investigate how to design and develop an authentic, online case-based learning environment to provide preservice teachers with the opportunity to practice their skills in real-life situations.  The study employed an action research method, a form of qualitative approach.  32 pre-service teachers participated in an online, video-enhanced, case-based learning environment known as VOCABLE. Three action research cycles were conducted and at the end of each cycle, data were gathered through interviews and questionnaires. The qualitative data were analyzed using descriptive and content analysis techniques using Nvivo8 qualitative data analysis tool. The results indicated that six main factors contributed to the authenticity of the cases: commonness, providing different perspectives, filling emotion, holding experience, reflecting social facts and being multimedia. Almost all pre-service teachers (96%) agreed that getting experts’ solutions was very helpful. They also emphasized the value of peer evaluation and online discussion. Keywords: Online Learning, Action Research, Case-based Learning, Teacher Educatio

Professional Development Needs of Turkish Teachers in an Era of National Reforms

An emerging consensus in the teacher education literature confirms that supporting educational reforms and improving designs for national programs can be accomplished simply by maximizing the match between teachers’ expressed needs and the content by which those professional development needs are met. This paper presents an interpretation of findings on Turkish teachers’ in-service training needs during an era of massive reform. The findings indicate that teachers do not report a strong need for any professional development program content. Analyses are based on survey data from 1,730 Turkish teachers from 352 primary schools. The results raise the discussion of whether teachers simply do not want to participate or actually do not need to participate in any more training during this era of massive educational reforms. The paper concludes by outlining policy and practice implications arising from the research

Gelecek Üzerine Araştırma Yapma Yöntemlerinin Eğitim Araştırmalarında Kullanılması

Geleceğe dair bilgi sahibi olmak insanların her dönemde ilgisini fazlası ile cezbetmiştir. İnsanlar bunun için tarih boyunca farklı yöntemler kullanmışlar ve karar alırken bu yöntemleri dikkate almışlardır. Gelecek hakkında kestirimler yapmak oldukça zor ve risklidir. Bilinmeyene yönelik tahminler yapma ve yanılma korkusu toplumları belirsiz olan gelecekle uğraşmaktansa geriye bakmaya yöneltmiştir. Bu çalışma gelecek araştırmaları yöntemlerinin tanıtılması ve bu yöntemlerin eğitim araştırmalarında nasıl kullanılacağının açıklanması amacı ile yapılmıştır. Çalışma kapsamında; Ufuk Taraması (Horizon Scanning), Trend Analizi (Trend Analysis), Senaryo Yöntemi (Scenario Method) ve Delfi Yöntemi (Delphi Survey Method) gibi yöntemlerin eğitim araştırmalarında kullanımına yönelik uygulamaları tartışmaktadır

Ideologies, Attitudes, and Curriculum Change: Teachers’ Perception

This study investigates the effects of educational ideologies on teachers’ perceptions and their attitudes towards curriculum reform. For this purpose, in order to explore teachers’ beliefs related with the recent curriculum change, identifying educational beliefs became especially important since they are the principal implementers of the curriculum. Participants of this study were teachers from primary and secondary schools. Data were gathered from the participants via two inventories, Educational Ideologies Inventory and Teachers’ Receptivity to Change Inventory. The results of the study indicated some key contribution from teachers’ standpoint that their educational ideologies were considerably compatible with the approach of the new curriculum. Although most of the teachers confirmed tendency in the direction of liberal educational ideologies and in consequence there were no significant difference between teachers’ educational ideologies and their receptivity of curriculum change, it would be an important contribution to the literature to investigate the belief of teachers if they mainly had conservative educational ideologies toward curriculum change

Yükseköğretimde Karma bir Dersin Tasarımında İyi Uygulama İlkeleri

This study examines students’ perceptions of a blended course which uses the Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. A blended teacher education course was designed with teaching and learning activities to introduce the Seven Principles for Good Practice. The participants included 47 pre-service teachers in an undergraduate teacher education program in Turkey. Data were collected using both qualitative and quantitative methods, including a questionnaire, student interviews, and discussion forum transcripts. The results indicate that the students’ perceptions of the blended course were mostly positive; the students felt that the blended environment was very useful. The participants perceived six of the seven principles to be helpful, including student-faculty contact, cooperation, time on task, diversity of ways to learn, feedback, and active learning. However, the students also thought that the seventh “expectations” principle needed to be improved.Bu çalışmada, üniversite eğitiminde İyi Uygulama için Yedi İlke’den faydalanılarak tasarlanan “karma bir öğrenme ortamı”a yönelik öğrencilerin algılarına bakılmıştır. Lisans düzeyinde bir ders İyi Uygulama İlkeleri yardımıyla yeniden tasarlanmıştır. Çalışmanın örneklemini Türkiye’deki bir öğretmen eğitimi programında okuyan 47 lisans öğrencisi oluşturmaktadır. Nitel ve nicel veriler üç farklı anket, öğrencilerle yapılan görüşmeler ve tartışma listesi çıktıları yoluyla toplanmıştır. Nitel ve nicel sonuçlar, öğrencilerin iyi uygulama ilkelerinden faydalanılarak tasarlanan karma derse karşı algılarının büyük ölçüde olumlu olduğunu göstermiştir. Sonuçlar öğrencilerin yedi temel ilkeden altısını oluşturan “öğrenci-öğretim elemanları arası iletişim”, “işbirliği”, “zamanlama”, “çeşitlilik ve öğrenme yolları”, “anlık geribildirim” ve “aktif öğrenme”nin karma ortamda desteklendiğini düşündüklerini göstermektedir. Yalnızca “beklenti” unsuruna yönelik öğrenci algılarının diğerlerine göre daha az olumlu olduğu ve bu unsurun geliştirilmesi gerektiği görülmektedir

Mimarlık eğitimi ulusal yeterlikler çerçevesi için bir tasarım stratejisi - ön proje

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