Higher Education Institutions In Turkey Research Articles

EFL Students’ Beliefs on Sociocultural-based TPACK Practices by Their Instructors

Several components of students' technical pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) have been extensively researched in English as a foreign language (EFL). However, there has been a dearth of TPACK research on EFL students' online development programs when viewed from a sociocultural perspective. During one semester, EFL students from various higher education institutions in Turkey were surveyed to assess their ideas on sociocultural-based TPACK in the current study. The data for the study was collected using an adopted questionnaire (Bostancıoğlu & Handley, 2018). The findings revealed that their instructors' technological skills are better suited to encourage more diverse cultural involvement, interaction, and adaptability in different teaching and learning activities, as well as assisting their students in overcoming cultural challenges through the use of digital technologies. Therefore, it can be asserted that their instructors are confident enough in terms of technological content knowledge.

Paperless Technologies in Universities: Examination in Terms of Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT)

This study aims to determine the factors affecting the use of paperless technologies by university office staff and academicians. The study sample comprised 726 academics and administrative staff from 10 public and 3 foundation higher education institutions in Turkey. Care was taken to ensure that the selected universities had switched to paperless processes or that work was largely conducted through digital tools. When the path analysis results were examined, it was determined that performance expectation, effort expectation, and social impact positively affected the intention to use paperless technologies. In addition, intent to use has a mediating role on the effect of social influence, effort expectation, and performance expectation on actual usage of paperless technologies. Our hypotheses were supported. According to the research results, social impact, effort to be spent, and the performance of paperless technologies effectively encourage academic and administrative staff at universities to use paperless technologies.

Satisfaction of higher education students with blackboard learning system during Covid-19

Purpose- With the advent of the novel COVID-19 disease, the world has become facing an extraordinary situation that has changed the course of normal human life upside down and pushed them towards compulsory, recent technology-based alternative solutions, education being not an exception. Higher education institutions in Turkey rushed from the first moments to avoid the disruption of education process, and transformed into the full-fledged online learning system. Current study addressed aims to investigate how satisfied higher education students are with the transformation to Blackboard Learning System in İstanbul, Turkey during COVID-19. The study compares undergraduate and postgraduate students’ perceptions via thirty items divided into six axes, which are included in a single model. Methodology- An online questionnaire survey sent through BLS itself and WhatsApp was filled out by a total of 294 student respondents, wherein afterwards an inferential and descriptive study with quantitative approach has been employed for analyzing their perceptions. Findings- The results are indicative that the Usefulness, Engagement, Communication and Ease of Use, Self-efficacy, and Challenges axes respectively have a statistically significant effect on students’ perceptions concerning satisfaction with the BLS. As the Usefulness and Engagement axes have the highest contribution to students’ satisfaction with the BLS, the Challenges axis has the least contribution. The findings state that satisfaction of postgraduate students, in terms of Self-efficacy, Communication and Ease of Use and Challenges axes, along with a clear supremacy over the Overall axes level is higher than undergraduate students. Moreover, all demographic dimensions except gender, place of living, the kind of device preferred and the willingness in using BLS in the future, influence students’ perceptions. Conclusion- It can be concluded that the transformation into BLS during COVID-19 has been satisfactory for higher education students, especially for postgraduate students. Some traits and drawbacks of BLS have been inferred along with recommendations which may contribute to successful implementation of BLS. Keywords: Blackboard Learning System, COVID-19, Satisfaction, Learning Management System, Higher Education JEL Codes: I10, I20, I23

Open and Distance Learning Vision of Higher Education Institutions in Turkey: Implications for Leadership

The current study investigated the open and distance learning vision of higher education institutions in Turkey and revealed several implications for leadership. Considering the potential overlap between vision and mission statements, both of the statements used by 82 units within higher education institutions were qualitatively investigated through content analysis. The findings first revealed that the vision statements of the units cover all system levels from technology to the broader socioeconomic context. Improving quality is the most underlined statement, followed by becoming a leading institution and enabling equity and access. On the other hand, it was observed that there is an overlap between their vision and mission statements, and many of the academic units use similar statements. Based on these findings, several implications were reported for effective leadership in open and distance learning. Although this study encompassed only the context of a specific country, it provided implications for leadership in various contexts.

Türkiye’de Yükseköğretimin Uluslararasılaşmasının Gerekçelerinin İncelenmesi

With this study, it is aimed to evaluate the reasons for the internationalization of higher education in Turkey. It seems that higher education in Turkey has assumed an active role in almost all capillaries of life in terms of academia, culture, politics, art and economics. In order to internationalize higher education institutions in Turkey, it has been determined that recognition, visibility and mobility are international, strategy planning and student-oriented activities are implemented. With this study, it has been revealed that universities include the internationalization activity and goal in missionary and visionary documents and strategy planning, that university institutions keep their internationalization activities dependent on general evaluations, and that internationalization efforts are owned by university bodies. Key Words: Higher Education, Internationalization, Internationalization of Higher Education

The Role of Content Strategy in Social Media on Brand Post’s Popularity: A Case of Higher Education Institutions in Turkey

Abstract The highly competitive higher education market has turned to branding as a solution for dealing with today’s global challenges. One important tool of a sustainable brand strategy involves forming brand fan pages and attracting followers on social networking web sites. Implementing effective content strategy on brands’ fan pages can help to form and foster relationships with the target group. Thus the aim of this study is to understand the role that content strategy in social networking web sites plays in determining the popularity of brand posts’ created by leading higher education institutions in Turkey. Results indicate that the top ten higher education institutions in Turkey most commonly made posts representing the Text + image + link content type. The majority of posts to community members were created by the institutions themselves, involved university news and were primarily made on weekdays between noon and 18:00. Additionally, MANOVA analyses were conducted to investigate the role of various elements of content strategy on brand posts’ popularity. Results indicate that content type, content agility, content context, posting type, and posting day significantly impact the number of likes, shares and comments, which are indicators of brand posts’ popularity.

COVID-19 safe campus evaluation for universities by a hybrid interval type-2 fuzzy decision-making model.

The fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected the whole world in recent years and has had devastating effects on all segments of society, has been one of the most important priorities. The Turkish Standards Institution has determined a checklist to contribute to developing safe and clean environments in higher education institutions in Turkey and to follow-up on infection control measures. However, this study is only a checklist that makes it necessary for decision-makers to make a subjective evaluation during the evaluation process, while the need to develop a more effective, systematic framework that takes into account the importance levels of multiple criteria has emerged. Therefore, this study applies the best-worst method under interval type-2 fuzzy set concept (IT2F-BWM) to determine the importance levels of criteria affecting the “COVID-19 safe campus” evaluation of universities in the context of global pandemic. A three-level hierarchy consisting of three main criteria, 11 sub-criteria, and 58 sub-criteria has been created for this aim. Considering the hierarchy, the most important sub-criterion was determined as periodic disinfection. The high contribution of the interval-valued type-2 fuzzy sets in expressing the uncertainty in the decision-makers’ evaluations and the fact that BWM provides criterion weights with a mathematical optimization model that produces less pairwise comparisons and higher consistency are the main factors in choosing this approach. Simple additive weighting (SAW) has also been injected into the IT2F-BWM to determine the safety level of any university campus regarding COVID-19. Thus, decision-makers will be better prepared for the devastating effects of the pandemic by first improving the factors that are relatively important in the fight against the pandemic. In addition, a threshold value will be determined by considering all criteria, and it will prepare the ground for a road map for campuses. A case study is employed to apply the proposed model, and a comparison study is also presented with the Bayesian BWM to validate the results of the criteria weights.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11356-022-22796-1.

Motivation Status of EFL Instructors At Higher Education Institutions

Motivation, which is important in teaching, has a positive or bad impact on the teacher's performance, which is reflected in student learning as a result of the fact that teacher qualifications are intimately linked to the quality of teaching. The aim of this study is to examine the motivational status of foreign language instructors working at higher education institutions in Turkey based on their reasons for choosing the profession of teaching, their contentment with it, their self-efficacy beliefs, and student characteristics. A qualitative case study research method was adopted for the research and the data was collected through interviews via Google forms used in a similar study in a different discipline (Tünkler, 2021). It was aimed to shed light on the motivation status of EFL instructors on foreign language teaching. The results show that foreign language instructors are found to be satisfied with their professions and have self-efficacy skills for foreign language teaching. Additionally, their motivation level showed positive correlation with their students’ motivation level and skills.

A Research on the Use of the Alexander Technique in Flute Education Given in the Music Department and Music Teaching Departments of Faculties of Fine Arts in Turkey

The Alexander Technique is a method that emerged as a result of Actor Frederick Matthias Alexander’s work on himself to solve the problems he had with his voice during his performance. This technique, which was effective for himself, rapidly became widespread because it was tried by different people over time and positive results were obtained. Today, it is effective not only for music but also for people from different disciplines to use their bodies more comfortably and thus have a natural posture. In this sense, in the study, ten different instructors working in various locations were selected as the study group to reach the findings related to the use of the Alexander Technique and the results of the technique in flute lessons given in the music departments of higher education institutions in Turkey. Framed by the researcher, interview questions with expert opinions were asked, and the data obtained were tabulated and presented with the content analysis method, one of the qualitative research methods.

Instructor Perceptions of the Use of Computers in English Language Teaching in Higher Education

Teachers' responsibility for the integration of computers constitutes a significant place in the foreign language teaching and learning processes; however, limited research found in the literature shows the need for more comprehensive studies. Therefore, this study investigates the instructors' perceptions of using computers, namely, teachers' computer knowledge, computer habits, computer attitudes, perceived self-confidence, school climate, and support in English teaching and learning at higher education institutions in Turkey. the quantitative data were collected from 210 instructors with a questionnaire consisting of a background section and a scale that has five subsections. It was concluded that while instructors had limited knowledge of specific software, their personal interests were also limited to communication and work-related tools. They mostly held positive attitudes towards computers and had self-confidence in integrating computers into the teaching process. Last, they believed their institutions had the necessary instructional and technical support and infrastructure.

When Higher Education is Infected by Covid-19: An Analysis of the Experiences of Students and Academics in Distance Learning Activities during the Pandemic

During the Covid-19 pandemic, many sectors, especially the education and health sector, have encountered new urgencies that they had never experienced before. One domain most affected by the pandemic has been higher education. This study aims to evaluate the distance education activities that have occurred at higher education institutions in Turkey during the pandemic. The distance education experiences of 46 academics and 115 students of 10 universities in Turkey during the pandemic were surveyed through a question form. A qualitative research method, phenomenology, was adopted and the data were analyzed using the content analysis technique. The findings show that the distance education model presents both practical difficulties and advantages. The system can be improved by considering the results obtained from the experiences and detecting the deficiencies of distance education.

Towards teaching undergraduate-level disciplinary writing in English majors: A genre-based approach

Teaching students disciplinary writing skills is important in supporting them to develop a disciplinary identity, to become a member of their scientific communities, and to be academically and professionally more successful. Disciplinary writing practices are often implemented at the graduate level where students are familiarized with the processes of creating knowledge and the forms of written products within their disciplines. However, at the undergraduate level, disciplinary writing instruction is not a common practice in most higher education institutions in Turkey. This study addresses disciplinary writing needs of junior-level students in English Language and Literature (ELL) and English Language Teaching (ELT) and seeks to contribute to our understanding of how we can assist students' disciplinary writing skills at an early stage in their undergraduate studies. It describes an undergraduate-level research-informed and genre-based disciplinary writing course for the ELL and ELT disciplines. The course aims to equip students with disciplinary knowledge and writing skills in line with the requirements of their departmental writing tasks. The course is described with a focus on learning objectives, teaching units, weekly structure, sample teaching materials and activities, and assessment of students' written work. The challenges associated with developing and teaching this course are addressed, and some considerations that teachers must think about when implementing and evaluating the course are given.

Academic familism and disciplinary cohesion in higher education: The case of the educational administration field in Turkey

AbstractIt has been known for some time that academic researchers are subject to diverse relations of production that influence the direction and ultimately the value of their scientific work. In this context, this study examines how the field of educational administration is practiced at higher education institutions in Turkey, how these practices have become socially integrated over the years and how a structurally cohesive core characterizes the discipline's research activity. The study reviews 609 doctoral dissertations concerning educational administration from a longitudinal perspective (1988 to 2020) using a two‐tier theoretical path: the role of academic familism and disciplinary cohesion in the field. The findings reveal that academic familism and disciplinary cohesion are interrelated and interdependent. Together they impact the formation of monolithic gendered, epistemic, and academic communities, consolidate gendered and monolithic academic networking, and limit cross‐disciplinary interaction in the educational administration field.

RESEARCHES ON HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF ORGANIZATIONAL JUSTICE IN TURKEY: LITERATURE REVIEW

In this study researches on organizational justice conducted for the students of higher education institutions in Turkey in last 17 years were analyzed by the literature review method. It is aimed to reveal the organizational justice perception of students from different aspects. Initially the concept of organizational justice and its components were explained. Subsequently, the information obtained by the literature review method was compiled. As a result of the study, it was seen that the organizational justice perception of the students of higher education institutions was medium level. It has been determined that the level of perception of distributive justice which is one of the organizational justice components is relatively high. Significant relations were found between organizational justice; organizational commitment, organizational silence, organizational citizenship behavior, organizational cynicism and job satisfaction. It has been revealed that organizational justice components show a significant distribution according to the demographic variables of students' faculty, department, class and gender. Higher education institution students’ positive perception of organizational justice can enable them to develop positive attitudes in general. These attitudes may increase organizational performance. For these reasons, students' positive perception of organizational justice can create beneficial organizational consequences for higher education institutions.

İNGİLİZCE ÖĞRETİM GÖREVLİLERİNİN PANDEMİ DÖNEMİ UZAKTAN EĞİTİM SÜRECİ: BİR VAKA ÇALIŞMASI

This paper reports on the emergency remote education period of the instructors at the School of Foreign Languages of a Turkish state university. The university the study was conducted in, along with all other higher education institutions in Turkey, switched to online education with the sudden spread of the COVID 19 pandemic. To evaluate how the instructors dealt with this sudden transition, 110 participants teaching at the School of Foreign Languages completed an online survey at the end of the emergency remote education academic semester. Thereafter 24 of them volunteered to be interviewed about their experiences in more detail. The findings reveal that most instructors had some apprehension and difficulty in making the transition to online teaching, yet still considered themselves competent in dealing with the unexpected and unprepared teaching medium. Many thought the experience had been valuable to their personal development and referred to aspects of online education that will be integral to their professional development. It was observed that the instructors also repeatedly expressed that they perceived the experience as one that interaction among colleagues benefitted them most both in developing their digital skills and in providing them with psychological support.

Multi-level analyses of distance education capacity, faculty members\u2019 adaptation, and indicators of student satisfaction in higher education during COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 pandemic triggered distance education in higher education. Decisions such as isolation, social distancing and quarantine made by countries unexpectedly and suddenly forced face-to-face education to change to distance education within days. All academics around the world had to move online overnight. All the educational and academic activities in higher education (courses, exams, meetings, etc.) had to be conducted online in a few days. Based on these changes, this study aimed to analyze the relationships among student, faculty (adaptations of faculty members to distance education) and institutional (distance learning capacities of the universities) variables that affected satisfaction of the students related to distance education in higher education institutions in Turkey during COVID-19 pandemic using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). The study group included 14,962 students and 3631 academics from 30 universities. The results showed that universities with higher distance education capacities got higher satisfaction scores. HLM analysis showed that 43% of the variation in satisfaction scores resulted from universities. The second HLM analysis showed that 44% of the overall satisfaction score variance of the students could be explained by the factors of university features (Level 2: distance education capacity and acceptance and use of distance education systems of faculty members). Thus, it was determined that 44% of the university factor calculated as 43% in Model 1 (which is calculated within students’ general satisfaction scores) resulted from the distance education capacity and the acceptance and use of distance education systems of faculty members. The findings of this study provide insights to improve distance education by stakeholders of higher education institutions.

Prediction of Fear of COVID-19: Meaning in Life and Psychological Resilience

The aim of this study is to examine the meaning in life and psychological resilience levels of university students as predictors of their fear of COVID-19. The research was carried out using the relational screening method, which is one of the quantitative research methods. The study consists of 475 university students, of which 353 women (74,3%), 122 men (25,7%), who are studying at different higher education institutions in Turkey and agree to participate voluntarily in the study. In the research; COVID-19 Fear Scale, Life Meaning Scale, and Brief Psychological Resilience Scale were used. In the study, while a negative non-significant relationship was found between university students' fear of COVID-19 and their meaning in life, in a negative way significant relationship was found with their psychological resilience levels. In addition, it has been showed that the life meaning and psychological resilience levels of university students explain 6% of their fear of COVID-19. The research results were discussed in the light of the literature and suggestions were made.

Eğitim Mobilyaları Standardının (TS EN 1729-1) Ergonomik Yaklaşımlara Uygunluğunun Değerlendirilmesi

Bu çalışmada, eğitim mobilyaları standardında (TS EN 1729-1) belirtilen sınır değerlerin, ergonomik yaklaşımlar ile uyumunun belirlenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Bu amaçla, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart Üniversitesi Ziraat Fakültesi öğrencileri üzerinde antropometrik ölçüm çalışmaları yürütülmüştür. Antropometrik veriler ve çeşitli araştırmacılar tarafından ortaya konulmuş olan ergonomik yaklaşımlar dikkate alınarak ergonomik eğitim mobilyaları boyutları belirlenmiş, standartta belirtilen değerler ile karşılaştırılmıştır. Öğrenciler için hesaplanan mobilya boyutlarının standartta belirtilen boyutlar ile tam olarak örtüşmediği ve söz konusu uygunsuzluğun %61.90 oranında olduğu belirlenmiştir. Çalışmada ayrıca fakültede bulunan eğitim mobilyalarının ilgili standarda uygunluğu ve ergonomisi değerlendirilmiştir. Eğitim mobilyaları için yapılan değerlendirmede derslik, amfi ve çizim salonu için; ergonomik açıdan uygunluk yüzdeleri sırasıyla %25.00 %12.50 ve %37.50, standarda uygunluk yüzdeleri ise sırasıyla %61.53, %46.15 ve %76.92 olarak hesaplanmıştır. Bu durumun, öğrencilerin derslere motivasyonlarının yanı sıra boyun, sırt, bel ağrısı gibi kas-iskelet sistemi rahatsızlıklarına neden olabileceği ve Avrupa ülkelerindeki tüm eğitim kurumları için geçerli olan TS EN 1729-1 standardının, Türkiye’de bir 0yükseköğretim kurumunda öğrencilere ait antropometrik özelliklere göre belirlenen ergonomik gereklerin tamamını karşılayamadığı görülmüştür. Sonuç olarak, eğitim kurumlarında mobilyaların standarda uygunluğunun yanı sıra antropometrik özellikler ve ergonomik yaklaşımlar dikkate alınarak tasarımlanması gerektiği sonucuna varılmıştır.

Examination of the Quality Teaching in Turkish Higher Education Based on the External Evaluation Reports from Multiple Perspectives

External evaluation has a critical function to promote quality. In this study, the Turkish Higher Education System's teaching quality was examined through multiple perspectives. For this purpose, the institutional external evaluation reports prepared for 115 higher education institutions in Turkey were analyzed according to the International Quality Assurance Standards, National Institutional External Criteria, and the literature's quality indicators. The content analyses, which were conducted independently by the researchers, were compared to derive the findings. findings revealed findings revealed a lack of conceptual components, accountability, and detailed submission reports in terms of reporting. The analysis concluded that the input dimension was prioritized, whereas the process and output dimensions were neglected in the external evaluation criteria. Three different quality indicators revealed that the level of quality teaching in Turkish higher education was low. The implications were developed to promote quality teaching.

Öğrenme Analitikleri ve Yükseköğretimdeki Uygulama Alanları

Öğrenme analitikleri, öğrenme ortamlarının ve süreçlerinin iyileştirilmesi adına öğrenenlerden toplanan ve analiz edilen verilerin yine öğrenenlere fayda sağlaması için kullanılmasına odaklanır. Bu fayda üniversitede aldığı bir dersi bırakmak üzere olan bir öğrenenin müdahalelerle derse devamlılığını sağlamak olabileceği gibi, performansı düşük bir öğretim üyesinin geri bildirimlerle daha verimli bir eğitim süreci sunması da olabilir. Bu çalışmada ilk olarak öğrenme analitiği kavramına ilişkin tanımlar ve kullanım alanlarından bahsedilmiştir. Sonrasında dünya genelinde ve Türkiye’de yükseköğretim kurumlarında uygulanan analitiklere ilişkin örnek çalışmalar sunulmuştur. Ayrıca Türkiye’de öğrenme analitikleri uygulamalarında eksiklik görülen noktalar vurgulanmıştır. Dünya genelinde yoğun araştırmaların yapıldığı ve Türkiye’de de uygulanmasının yükseköğretim kurumlarında verimlilik sağlayacağının öngörüldüğü çalışma alanları listelenmiştir.