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Manufacturing high-profit goods in the information and technology age requires solid foundations in basic sciences. However, despite their interests and high success, basic sciences often fail to attract university candidates due to the perceived job insecurity after graduation. To challenge this notion, the current study aimed to examine biology graduates’ profiles and career life. As a survey study, an online questionnaire was administered to 56 graduates of the biological sciences department. The findings showed that almost all graduates chose biology due to their interest in the first place. The majority thought that their undergraduate education prepared them effectively for their future career, and they acquired 21st-century skills adequately, except for entrepreneurship skills. They found a job related to their major in one to two years. They were primarily employed in universities and got academic positions. They were satisfied with their jobs. The study concluded that higher education attains its aim to match passionate people in line with their interests; however, it still needs to update curricula considering current knowledge, skills, and competencies. The implications may encourage university candidates to follow their passion in pursuing a career in basic sciences, particularly in Biology.

Inclusion and diversity have recently been among the significant concerns of the countries, and education of all children equally with their physical, mental, emotional, and social diversities in inclusive settings are topical issues in many countries. This article aims to display the efforts to foster inclusion in international and national contexts and discuss the implications of these efforts. As the examined literature and current efforts indicated, inclusive education has flourished and been supported in recent years, especially in European and American schools, due to the efforts put in for about a century. As a natural reflection of these efforts, teacher education in many countries has also been reframed, considering the notion of inclusiveness. In Turkey, the issue of inclusion has been documented through regulations for many decades; however, only in recent years has worthwhile attention been given by policymakers, educational researchers, and practitioners.

The current study investigated the views of both students and academic advisors regarding the academic advising in a state university in Ankara. The study utilized survey and correlational research design methods. The data were collected from 840 undergraduate students and 130 advisors through an online survey, and were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings indicated that the advisors and their students met once or twice during an academic semester, mostly to talk about issues related to course registration and approval. Moreover, the academic advisors had significantly more positive opinions towards academic advising than did the students. Lastly, the frequency of face-to-face appointments, the number of advising activities, and advisor characteristics were found to predict overall student satisfaction regarding academic advising., Bu çalışmanın amacı Ankara'da bir devlet üniversitesinde uygulanan akademik danışmanlık sürecine ilişkin öğrencilerin ve akademik danışmanlık yapan öğretim üyelerinin görüşlerini incelemektir. Çalışmada tarama ve ilişkisel araştırma desenleri kullanılmıştır ve veriler çevrim içi anket yoluyla 130 akademik danışmandan ve 840 lisans öğrencisinden elde edilmiştir. Verilerin analizinde betimleyici ve çıkarımsal istatistik yöntemleri kullanılmıştır. Bulgular, akademik danışmanların ve öğrencilerin bir akademik dönem içinde çoğunlukla bir ya da iki kez görüştüklerini ve bu görüşmelerin sıklıkla ders kaydı ve ders onayı hakkında olduğunu göstermiştir. Akademik danışmanlık sürecine ilişkin akademik danışmanların görüşleri, öğrencilerinkinden daha olumlu bulunmuştur. Öğrencilerin akademik danışmanlığa ilişkin memnuniyet düzeylerini yordayan faktörler arasında yüz yüze görüşmelerin sıklığı, akademik danışmanlık kapsamında yapılan etkinliklerin sayısı ve akademik danışmanın özellikleri yer almaktadır.

The purpose of the study was to examine the views and experiences of university students on academic honesty. To this end, a phenomenological design, as a type of qualitative research, was used. The sample was selected through the method of maximum variation qualitative sampling and included 18 undergraduate students from different faculties at a state university in Ankara. The researchers prepared a semi-structured interview form and conducted interviews with students. Before the data collection process, the approval of the ethics committee was obtained; cognitive interviews were held; and expert opinions were gathered through cognitive interviewing to check the validity and clarity of the interview form. The qualitative data obtained from the interviews were analyzed using descriptive analysis. The findings suggested that most of the students were not adequately and specifically informed about academic honesty and they did not have any specific training on it. However, they knew the general content of academic honesty. The students listed the academic dishonesty behaviors that they mostly observed as cheating, using others’ academic work without citing, resubmitting an academic work/ presentation they did earlier and copying from the Internet sources without citing. Moreover, the main reasons of academic dishonesty were reported as the desire to get higher grades and the inadequacy of the time given for studying for exams and for completing assignments. It was also revealed that the students were generally unresponsive to academic dishonesty behaviors. Lastly, the students indicated their need for more information and training on academic honesty to be provided by the faculty members and administrators.

Many higher education institutions in Turkey are putting noteworthy efforts to improve the quality of the education and the services they provide to students. As part of these efforts, some of the universities are making decisions and changes which affect the whole educational and instructional activities. Since it is an accepted reality that the effectiveness of education is one of the major influences on students’ success at university, faculty members are also expected to do their best to increase the quality of their instruction and courses. Using a course syllabus is regarded as one of these ways. Defined briefly as a contract between instructor and students about a course, course syllabus provides the students with written information with regards to certain components of a course -from its objectives to the resources to be used. A course syllabus, given at the very beginning of a semester, not only serves to communicate necessary information about courses to students but also plays an important role in stimulating their learning. Within this respect, this paper aims to inform readers about course syllabus (its purpose, importance and components) and to serve as a practical guide for preparing an effective course syllabus. The study comprises a review and analysis of the existing literature and the sources provided by the teaching and learning centers of higher education institutions. Additionally, a total of 28 course syllabi from different higher education institutions all around the world were also examined.

The study aimed to assess the adequacy of pre-service teacher education in Turkey as perceived by preservice teachers. Specifically, the researchers investigated preservice teachers’ perceptions of the adequateness of their education in terms of developing teaching skills and the major components of teacher education. The factors affecting their perceptions were also examined. In total, 1856 preservice teachers participated in the study. A questionnaire was prepared to collect data from the participants. According to the findings, teacher education should be enhanced in terms of preparing candidates for skills such as teaching in different contexts and cooperating with parents; and practicum hours needed to be improved for more effective preparation of preservice teachers. Moreover, it was also found that the preservice teachers’ subject, college, orientation towards teaching and the perceived adequacy of program components played significant roles in affecting their perceptions of teacher education.

Bu makalede özet bulunmamaktadır., No abstract available

Teachers have a significant role to provide the education that societies need. Therefore, the content and quality of teacher education is quite important for educating successful and competent teachers. Teacher candidates admitted to teacher education are expected to gain certain skills during their education. Moreover, the dimensions of teacher education should have an effectiveness to foster the development of these skills. This qualitative study aims to evaluate teacher education from the perspectives of teacher candidates in terms of student admission, gaining teaching skills and 21st century skills, and the dimensions of teacher education (faculty environment, program and courses, teaching practice, teaching staff). Interview schedule was used in the study and totally 43 teacher candidates selected from seven different faculties in Turkey were interviewed by the researcher. The qualitative data were analyzed using descriptive analysis. The results indicated the existence of agreed problems in relation to ineffectiveness of student admission to faculties through only an exam, not gaining certain teaching skills such as teaching under diverse conditions, ineffectiveness of teaching practices and not having enough practice. The necessary suggestions were made by the researcher based on the findings at the end of the study.

While plagiarism has been a growing problem in higher education for a long time, the use of the Internet has made this increasing problem more unmanageable. In many countries, this problem has become a matter of discussion, and higher education institutions feel obliged to review their policies on academic dishonesty. As part of these efforts, the study aims to examine the tendencies of teacher candidates to plagiarise using the Internet, factors affecting their tendencies and the reasons for plagiarism. In this context, a questionnaire was administered to a total of 386 first- and fourth-grade college students at a college of education. The data were analysed using frequencies, percentages, the Mann–Whitney U test and Kruskal–Wallis one-way analysis of variance. The findings revealed that the teacher candidates had, to some extent, a tendency to plagiarise using the Internet by copying material or using the same assignment in different courses. Gender, department and length of computer use were found to ...

The quality of teacher education, in general, is affected from a number of variables such as physical environment of the institutions, instructor quality, the curriculum implemented, administrative support, and others. As the input of the system, the perspectives of the students on those variables also influence the direction and the quality of the education taking place in the colleges of education. Regarding this, the purpose of the present study is to identify and compare the perspectives of fourth-year English Language Teaching students on the physical environment, human resources, and the program of three ELT departments at three different state universities. As part of the survey research design, the questionnaire was administered to totally 278 prospective English Teachers from the ELT departments at state universities in Ankara. The results of the study, unlike the past research on the issue, presented that the prospective English teachers had positive views on the instructors and program generally; however, they stated problems on the physical environment of their departments. Moreover, there were significant differences in students’ views on the physical environment, resources, and its sub-dimensions. The students from the institution, which was renovated before the study, had more positive views on their department than the others. The results suggested it might be useful to reevaluate and reconsider the current conditions of the English language teacher education in relation to the departments’ human resources, program and especially the physical environment.

Faculty mentoring programs are implemented in higher education institutions to support faculty development. Within this respect, the aim of this study was to explore the views and suggestions of mentors and mentees in relation to the effectiveness of the mentoring program in a large state university in Ankara. The study had a qualitative design and semi-structured interview schedule was used to collect data. The sample included 8 mentors and 9 mentees. The qualitative data obtained through interviews were analyzed using descriptive analysis. The results showed that peer mentoring program contributed to professional development of mentees. The mentors also highlighted the benefits of mentoring program for their career. Both mentors and mentees also provided noteworthy suggestions on how to increase effectiveness of the mentoring program.

Being a growing problem, plagiarism is generally defined as “literary theft” and “academic dishonesty” in the literature, and it is really crucial to be well-informed on this topic to prevent the problem and stick to the ethical norms. With this motive, the aim of this study is to investigate the prospective academicians’ views on plagiarism, the degree to which they are knowledgeable about plagiarism, and the factors leading them to plagiarize, if any. The results showed although the prospective academicians have negative attitude, they might plagiarize due to foreign language problems, time constraints, and lack of knowledge about plagiarism.

The present study aims to analyze the contents of the current research on the theories and approaches affecting student achievement in Turkish context. A total of 69 studies published in well-known Turkish journals in education were reviewed. The results of the study showed that the most frequently studied theories and approaches in Turkey in relation to student achievement/outcome were Multiple Intelligences theory, Technology-based theories and approaches, and Constructivism. The majority of reviewed studies used experimental design and found a significant mean difference in favor of experimental group. At the end of the study, the results were discussed and necessary implications and suggestions were made.

The present paper focuses on the teacher strategies towards nine specific cases. The findings stemming from the analyses of interviews show that the strategies used by the teachers are as following: individual talk about reason, displacing the student from group, inviting the students who ridicule to empathy, warning, monitoring, getting help from school director or psychological counselor, ignoring, coming closer and touching, questioning, giving responsibility, changing student seat, sending out, giving punishment, and advising. Furthermore, the results of the study indicate that although the same or similar managerial problems or disputes deserve similar solutions, teachers do not demonstrate coherent approach toward the same undesired behavior.