TURKEY

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    ​​​​​​​Our ​​​​​​​school was founded as a state school  in 2014 in order to expand its teaching facilities with a main focus on ​​​​​​​social  sciences. Located in Nazili, a small town 45 km to Aydın in the west of Turkey, it has 400 students most of whom come from disadvantaged area  and  35 dedicated and well motivated teachers  aiming to represent the school in national and international projects.

    As reliable and hardworking team of teachers, we are open to suggestions or any innovative ideas. Our teachers and administration are committed to helping students  and try to provide a quality learning environment for them to achieve their potential. We value cultural diversity, the importance of respect for others. Our students are very enthusiastic to create effective and productive contacts with students of other cultures. They need an opportunity to feel what it means to be citizen of Europe. So it is our main purpose to make our students  develop a positive attitude for others. While supporting career development to their professional path,  we make sure they do it as socially integrated individuals.

     

    In an effort to encourage improvement in technology, interactive learning, and communication, classrooms are equipped with internet access and  smartboards. We have incorporated mobile devices into digital learning more than ever. Students and teachers are encouraged to use the ICT tools efficiently. It is clearly seen that e-education will be enhanced  by technology and will continue to grow. That is why, we want to keep up with the chances in the new era.

     

    We have a lot of interaction with other schools in the area and  actively participate in competitions, cultural and sporting activities. We have successfully carried out several erasmus+  projects  with different partners from Europe.

    As a state school where the expectation and parents demand is too high, we feel responsible for the mental, physical health and academic success of our students. In order to find ways to help students and cope with this pressure, we frequently make use of digital learning tools and blended education as an integral part of our teaching and learning strategy for several years.

     

    Due to unexpected pandemic outbreak, some necessary measures and precautions have been taken to minimize interaction, maintain social isolation and social distance in Turkey. Because of these decisions taken by the authorities, face to face learning  was suspended at first.

     

    Then, we tried  to find effective ways to ensure that students are not completely disconnected from educational processes. As an urgent solution, some forms of distance education such as television, online platforms, internet and mobile applications were chosen as the best possible option when  the students aren’t physically present in the lesson.

     

    Although it is generally agreed that digital learning positively impacts students and teachers, we have seen that the courses given in the form of distance learning by using technological tools in different platforms are not as effective as face-to-face education and it lacks meeting our expectations. According to the survey carried out in our school, the majority of our students- although they love to use technology and ready to develop themselves- express negative views on the effectiveness of the distance learning system.

     

    In order to minimize its negative aspects and shortcomings, we felt the need to update our knowledge participating international projects with partners who have technical knowledge and experience in the use of online applications.It is our aim to get most from the power of the internet which enables us to use a lot of efficient and free teaching material without weakening the social aspects of students.

     

    We find this project extremely useful in that it currently seems the best way to reach the minds of digital generation of children who have grown this way. Moreover, thanks to this project, teachers who have not received sufficient training and were caught unprepared for this process will be provided with preliminary training on information technologies. To enable higher engagement and motivation of students, we will learn to use different  pedagogical methods and strategies  making e-learning more fun and effective.