IKU Head of Vocational School Asst. Prof. Sinan Kesici: “We Have Accomplished Distance Education Succesfully”
Stating that they have adapted to the distance education process, which has been transitioned with the global epidemic, from the first day, Asst. Prof. Sinan Kültür, Head of Istanbul Kültür University (IKU) Vocational School, said that, “10 years of distance education and education with our CATS system that we have We have successfully completed the period. Our experience in this matter gave us momentum in distance education.”
After the decision of the Institution of Higher Education’s (YÖK) stating that the distance education’s continuation due to COVID-19 pandemic, as İstanbul Kültür University which has a 10-year experience and is continuing to reach its students with the CATS (Computer Aided Training & Educational Services) system, Asst. Prof. Sinan Kesici stated that, “We have accomplished the semester without any breaks by synchronized and asynchronized ways with 26 formal education and 3 evening education.”
In the first period of the distance education process published by YÖK ‘distance education practices in universities during the global epidemic process’ survey results referring to the Asst. Prof. Kesici, said that “Among the vocational schools of the foundation University in Turkey according to the number of programs ‘in terms of the number of courses processed as live classes’ we ranked first. At the beginning of the distance education process, we were accredited by the General Directorate of Civil Aviation and authorized to provide ‘Dispeçer’ (Flight Operations Specialist) Training, which was achieved by very few universities in Turkey.”
We have also provided socialization of our students in the distance education process
In this process, interactive methods for remote access and to offer practical courses with labs available to students expressing Asst. Prof. Sinan Kesici, also said that “At the same time we organized Webinars (E-seminars) with experts in the field together with our students in the integration of theory and industrial practice in vocational education we provided. In this context, during the spring semester distance education process, we organized 54 webinars with the participation of 55 speakers who are sector teachers, followed by 2,550 students. During national holidays and special occasions, we organized various social activities to increase the morale and motivation of our students.”
2 thousand people planning e-graduation ceremony
The graduation parties attended by the students who will graduate, adding that they organized Asst. Prof. Kesici, said that “in addition to the participation of all students and parents of our vocational school will be organized an e-graduation ceremony with a capacity of 2 thousand people are planned."
An average of 150 students per day attended classes simultaneously
Asst. Prof. Sinan Kesici said that 470 courses were created online and offline in a virtual environment during the spring semester distance education process, “9,6 resources were shared for these courses, 64 assignments were created for the students and 5,507 announcement messages were transmitted. At the same time, 350 exams, quizzes, tests and projects were carried out in virtual environment except final exams, 2,220 synchronous courses were processed and these courses were registered and the students were allowed to do it again. A total of 32 thousand 500 students attended these courses with a total capacity of 82 thousand students, with an average of 150 students per day. For the distance education final exams, 550 online exams were held in virtual environment where approximately 2,750 students would participate simultaneously. Our preparations for the summer school, which will start in July, were completed with 997 courses as distance education.”
"The covid-19 pandemic process has shown us that online applications will become widespread and become a part of our lives." Asst. Prof. Kesici said, “We will continue to be a pioneer with the educational tools we offer to our students thanks to our experienced expert academic staff and technological infrastructure both in distance education process and in formal education. In the new normal process, we will continue to provide our students with practical experience in vocational training with our strong sectoral cooperation. With our agreements and planning within the scope of university-industry cooperation, it will be one of our main goals to increase the skills of our students to do business in vocational education and to bring qualified employees to various sectors.”
We have been actively using the tools of distance education for 10 years
Ender Riza Ekici, secretary general of IKU, who provides information about the CATS (Computer Aided Training & Educational Services) training and cooperation management system which is used in distance education process, said: “We have been actively using the CATS system since 2011. CATS is a learning management system and contains many tools. These tools can be grouped under three main headings: content management, collaboration and measurement and evaluation. During the covid-19 pandemic, we quickly and effectively adapted the distance education period with both our students and our academic and administrative staff. In our distance education process, which we started on March 23, we performed well with our system which hosted 11 thousand 235 students in 945 courses and completed the spring semester.”