Appendix 2.1

Self-evaluation

Piri Reis Univesity

A       General information about the faculty

Piri Reis University is a regional university founded in 1975.  Currently the campus enrolls 18,500 students in programs from the bachelors degree through the PhD.  The main campus was built at the edge of Anakente, which has now grown to surround the campus. A separate campus in downtown Anakente includes the medical school, which along with the law school and engineering are considered the University’s strengths.  

The Education Faculty at Piri Reis University offers teacher education programs in the following areas:  preschool, classroom teaching, Turkish, English, computer, and secondary mathematics, chemistry, and physics education.  Teachers are prepared in day programs in all areas and in an evening program in classroom teaching. Beginning in 1993, the faculty also offers a PhD degree in the areas of mathematics and computer education. There are 45 faculty staff, 18 lecturers, 12 research assistants, and 8 staff members.   A total of 715 students are enrolled in teacher education programs, and an additional 27 in the PhD programs.

Piri Reis faculty of education gives great importance to universal teaching and training principles.  Within this framework, its mission is to prepare teachers who are well equipped with knowledge and professional competencies, so as to form the teaching force required by a modern society.  Its aim is to produce, acquire and disseminate knowledge through effective teaching and training, using its resources efficiently.

The Education Faculty is currently located in two buildings about 500 metres apart.  One is an original campus building and houses most of the work of the faculty.  A separate building was constructed in 1991 as the campus and faculty grew.  It houses staff in the Turkish and English teacher education programs, along with the University’s staff in communications.

Of the 16,370 undergraduate students, approximately 5,000 live in university dormitories located on the west edge of campus.  The remainder are commuter students, mainly from Anakente.  University sport and social facilities are limited and have not been increased since the University was originally opened with 3,000 students.  The library is located in the center of campus and houses 75,000 volumes and lists 827 current journal subscriptions.   An addition to the library was completed in 1997, and the facility is now considered of adequate size for the student body.  It is open 80 hours per week.

B       Standards

1               Planning, implementation, and evaluation of the program    

Programs to be visited:  This accreditation visit will consider the following programs:

·      Classroom teaching

·      Turkish

·      English

1.1         Aims and objectives

The overriding aim of the teacher preparation program in all areas is for students to attain the competencies of beginning teachers in these areas.

1          Content knowledge suitable for the grade and teaching area

2          Knowledge of student development and learning

3          Skills in assessment, including knowledge of standardised testing and the ability       to develop and interpret classroom assessment and communicate the results of        assessment to the appropriate individuals

4          Skills in classroom management and student motivation

5          General teaching skills, including lesson planning skills, presentation skills,    student grouping skills, and skills to ensure active student learning in the content      areas.

6          Teaching skills particular to the subject(s) to be taught.

1.2     Curriculum and programs

The faculty follows the YÖK-required curriculum for all programs of study.  Copies of the curriculum outlines are presented in the documents.

One of the standing committees of the faculty is the Curriculum Committee.  This committee coordinates the work of the faculty staff in ensuring that the required YÖK curriculum is followed, and that the course assignments and assessments are appropriate for each course.

Staff worked during 1997-98 to develop displays or charts relating the above student learning outcomes to the required courses.  These displays are included in the documents for each of the programs to be reviewed.

1.3     Curriculum content and organisation

The aims and objectives adopted by the faculty are related to the curriculum required by YÖK.  This relationship is shown in the documents for each program.  For example, one of the faculty-required competencies is in assessment (number 3, above).  This faculty competency is based on the national teaching competencies, including:

2.1.6  To specify assessment appropriate to the objectives

2.2.7  To interact with students and give them appropriate feedback

3.1     To mark student work promptly, and provide feedback to students for their         improvement

3.2     To keep records of activities (examination, homework, observations) and             progress, to inform students about results regularly

3.3     To understand the importance of, and to apply, continuos assessment of student   learning

3.5     To evaluate student academic progress using national grading criteria.

Student teachers begin to learn these skills in the required course Öğretimde Planlama ve Değerlendirme in which the following topics are required: measurement and assessment, assessment approaches, test types, development of monitoring and achievement tests, techniques for writing exam questions, and grading.   This class includes 3 hours of class time and 2 hours of practical work per week. 

In the class work, students learn theory and technical material and principles of application.  The following activities are included in the practical work: 1) interviews with three faculty staff regarding their assessments and gradings, including a review of materials and tests used by staff; 2) the development of a short quiz in the student’s content area, given to at least 10 students, with feedback comments to the students;  3) analysing the academic progress of a hypothetical class of students, using national criteria.  Students continue to develop the skills needed for these competencies in their further coursework and work in schools.

1.4         Quality of teaching, learning, and student assessment

Teaching and assessment methods vary within the faculty according to the purposes of the course and the individual preferences of the faculty staff.  In each case, the faculty staff ensure that they are appropriate to the aims and methods of the curriculum overall and involve students actively in their learning.

Particular care is given to ensure that the teaching and assessment methods are appropriate to each class.  For example, in the required course Öğretimde Planlama ve Değerlendirme, staff explicitly show students their own course long term and daily plans for the class.  They also work to be transparent with students regarding the assessments and examinations in that class, taking care to ensure that students understand the development and rationale of the grading criteria, for example.  Student assessment methods in that class are varied and include objective and essay examinations, oral presentations, group work, and the grading of student products.   Feedback from cooperating mentor teachers is systematically incorporated into the overall assessment of students.

The documents show the information on how teaching, learning opportunities, and assessment methods are related for each class.

Each class uses methods of formative and summative assessment.   Marking criteria (see the documents) are established by committees for all commonly required courses, and by individual instructors for specialized classes.  These are given to students along with each assignment.  Copies are available in the documents.

Feedback to students varies with the assignments.  For larger classes where examinations are given, instructors give overall feedback to the class on points that were difficult to many students.  On individual written assignments, instructors are encouraged to give individual feedback.  The faculty are now offering at least three courses per semester in which part of the student work is submitted each week by e-mail and the students get individual feedback in their e-mail replies.

Teacher mentors are involved in student assessment for all cases in which students spend at least 10 hours in the class of any individual teacher.  In those cases, mentor teachers are given an observation form by the university faculty staff member and asked to provide feedback to the student and to the faculty staff member.  Many  mentors also provide additional feedback directly to the student, and this practice is encouraged.

1.5     Evaluation of Section 1

Overall, the required YÖK curriculum is being fully implemented.  The use of displays or charts to relate the curriculum to the faculty student learning outcomes is working well.  Some problems have arisen in getting lecturers and research assistants to be as consistent as the continuing staff with the chosen methods and assessments.

As work in schools increases, students have more opportunity to practise the skills required in the curriculum.  The staff believe there are problems with ensuring sufficient high quality placements in schools, particularly in the English program and for evening students in the classroom teaching program. A special committee has been established by the dean to address this problem.

2               Faculty staff and staff development

2.1     Staff numbers and qualifications

Following is information on the faculty staff in the reviewed programs.  All figures are for full-time faculty staff unless otherwise indicated.

Staff are generally qualified to teach the courses to which they are assigned. 

Staff are supported in their research in several ways.  First, new staff have lighter teaching assignments for two years to help them establish a research program.  From funds generated by the faculty, the dean helps support some materials and supplies for research.  Some staff have received research grants or study grants to help support their research.  Each year approximately half the staff receive some funds to travel to conferences in Turkey, and about 20% receive some support to travel to international conferences.

2.2     Staff development

Professional development of the staff is supported in a variety of ways, including the support of research as described above.  All faculty staff have computers in their offices.  Software is generally upgraded every three years.  Hardware is upgraded on an irregular basis depending on funding.  Special workshops on the use of instructional technology are offered each year to the staff. 

During 1997-98 the staff worked to implement the new YÖK curriculum and to ensure that appropriate methods of assessment were used.  Colleagues from other Turkish universities visited campus and presented seminars, and three members of the staff attended international conferences on assessment in teacher education.   One faculty member in the program to prepare English teachers had a study leave to spend a year at a university in the United Kingdom.

2. 3    Evaluation of section 2

In general, the staff are well qualified for the courses they teach.  There has been considerable turnover in the program to prepare English teachers and as a result some lecturers were appointed close to the start of the academic year.  There have been problems in this area, but there is now a full complement of faculty staff in this program.

While there are several opportunities for faculty development, they vary from year to year depending on the available funding.  Faculty staff would benefit from a more regular system of resources to support faculty development.

3               Students:  intake, progress, and achievement, support, and guidance

3.1     Student intake

Below are the national examination minimum and maximum grades and the rank of choice of the students in the past three years for each program.

In general, students at Piri Reis score within the mid-range compared to students at other Turkish universities in comparable programs.  The above data may indicate a slight upward trend in test scores as Piri Reis becomes more well known for its teacher education programs. The majority of students seem well motivated to enter teaching.

The total number of students per program, by gender, is as follows: