AERA 2007

Gender Differences in Children's Afterschool Autonomy in Taiwan and the United States

Temi Bidjerano, Joan Newman, Chin-Cheng Kao, Asil Ali Özdoğru, and Çağrı Özköse-Bıyık

The study examined boys’ and girls’ autonomy of choice of activities in the after-school hours from a cross-cultural perspective. Pre-adolescent children from Taiwan (n= 252) and US (n=195) completed a questionnaire on their usual after-school activities indicating who determines the choice of any particular activity. The children from the two countries differed significantly with respect to proportion of adult chosen time spent in media use, extra-academic activities, extracurricular activities, sports, and routines. In addition, boys tended to report that they engage in academic activities by virtue of their parents’ demands to a greater extent than girls. The paper offers tentative interpretations of the observed cross-cultural and gender differences.

Keywords: Autonomy, gender differences, cross-cultural psychology

Citation: Bidjerano, T., Newman, J., Kao, C.-C., Özdoğru, A. A., & Özköse-Bıyık, Ç. (2007, April). Gender differences in children’s afterschool autonomy in Taiwan and the United States. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL, USA.

SRCD 2007

Children's Autonomy: A Comparative Analysis of Fourth-Grade Children's Activities in Taiwan and USA

Joan Newman, Temi Bidjerano, Asil Ali Özdoğru , Chin-Cheng Kao, and Çağrı Özköse-Bıyık

The study examined boys’ and girls’ autonomy of choice of activities in the after-school hours from a cross-cultural perspective. Pre-adolescent children from Taiwan (n= 252) and US (n=195) completed a questionnaire on their usual after-school activities indicating who determines the choice of any particular activity. The children from the two countries differed significantly with respect to proportion of adult chosen time spent in media use, extra-academic activities, extracurricular activities, sports, and routines. In addition, boys tended to report that they engage in academic activities by virtue of their parents’ demands to a greater extent than girls. The paper offers tentative interpretations of the observed cross-cultural and gender differences.

Keywords: Autonomy, after-school activities, cross-cultural psychology

Citation: Newman, J., Bidjerano, T., Özdoğru, A. A., Kao, C.-C., & Özköse-Bıyık, Ç. (2007, March). Children’s autonomy: A comparative analysis of fourth grade children’s activities in Bulgaria, Taiwan and USA. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Boston, MA, USA.

TASSA 2007

Preferred and Actual Out-of-school Activities: A Comparative Case Study of Turkish Children

Asil Ali Özdoğru and Çağrı Özköse-Bıyık

Human learning and development can best be understood through their analyses in a variety of contexts. Studying children beyond school context provides a more complete picture of their development. Children’s leisure time activities have a considerable impact on their physical, cognitive, social, and affective development. In this study, we looked at children’s preferred and actual out-of-school activities by comparing our results to another study. In the spring of 2004, we surveyed elementary school students from two schools located in Istanbul regarding how they actually spend their after-school time. A nationwide study conducted by Turkish Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) in 2006 investigated children’s preferred leisure time activities. Our study asked 98 fourth graders what they usually do on Thursday and Friday after school, and all day Saturday. RTÜK study collected children’s activity data from 805 students between 7 and 10 years of age in 17 cities of Turkey. We found that children mostly spent their out-of-school time in play, watching TV, and reading, respectively. On the other hand, results from RTÜK study indicated that children’s most preferred activity was watching TV, followed by reading, and play. Our preliminary comparisons show that there is a noticeable difference between children’s actual and preferred activity patterns. Preference and actual engagement in activities are shown to be distinct constructs as put forward by King et al. (2006). Disparity between actual and preferred activities substantiates the importance of social norms and cultural values in child reading practices.

Keywords: After-school activities, Turkish children, preference

Citation: Özdoğru, A. A., & Özköse-Bıyık, Ç. (2007, March). Preferred and actual out-of-school activities: A comparative case study of Turkish children. Poster presented at the 3rd annual conference of the Turkish American Scientists and Scholars Association, New Haven, CT, USA.

Journal of Early Adolescence

What Do They Usually Do After School? A Comparative Analysis of Fourth Grade Children in Bulgaria, Taiwan and USA

Joan Newman, Temi Bidjerano, Asil Ali Özdoğru, Chin-Cheng Kao, Çağrı Özköse-Bıyık, and John J. Johnson

The activities and self-direction allowed after school provide children in different countries with distinct developmental opportunities that promote culturally valued orientations and outcomes. Fourth grade children in Bulgaria, Taiwan and USA (countries with contrasting social values and expectations) reported their usual activities during each after-school hour on two week days and one weekend day. The children also reported whether the activities were self chosen or chosen by an adult. There were considerable differences in the reported activity patterns, with particular contrast between the American and the Taiwanese children. Compared to American children, Taiwanese reported spending more time in academic and extracurricular pursuits, and less time in playing, reading for fun, in sports or in self chosen activities. There was substantial agreement in the gender based participation differences across countries. Girls reported less time spent in free play or computer games, and more time in reading, extracurricular activities, routines and adult chosen activities.

Keywords: After-school activities, early adolescence, cross-cultural psychology, autonomy, gender differences

Citation: Newman, J., Bidjerano, T., Özdoğru, A. A., Kao, C.-C., Özköse-Bıyık, & Johnson, J. J. (2007). What do they usually do after school? A comparative analysis of fourth grade children in Bulgaria, Taiwan and USA. Journal of Early Adolescence, 27, 431–456. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0272431607302937

FYI 2007

Knowledge of science is to know science,
Knowledge of science is self-knowledge;
If you fail to attain self knowledge,
What good is there in your studies?

Yunus Emre (1307) Risale [Treatise]


I am convinced that the best learning takes place when the learner takes charge.

Seymour Papert (1993) The Children's Machine

Mathematical surfaces © 2007 Palais & Benard

NERA 2006

Use of Cartoons to Enhance Memory of Instructional Material: Reliability of Rho-Bustness

Asil Ali Özdoğru and Robert F. McMorris

We previously studied the inclusion of humor in instructional material. Was the inclusion beneficial? Yes and no. How do you operationalize “beneficial”? We had selected passages from a psychology text by Baron’s introductory Psychology textbook. Students studied six passages, each on a different topic, three topics each with a cartoon and three without. Two forms of the instructional material allowed a true experiment. Students completed a sense-of-humor measure, a questionnaire, and a multiple-choice achievement test on the six passages. Based on the responses to the brief questionnaire, the students supported the use of cartoons. Based on the responses to the multiple-choice items, however, any impact of the humor was not obvious. There are many reasons why we would suspect that humor would be an assist in instruction. This will be presented.

Keywords: Humor, sense of humor, cartoons, methodology

Citation: Özdoğru, A. A., & McMorris, R. F. (2006, October). Use of cartoons to enhance memory of instructional material: Reliability of rho-bustness. Paper presented at the 37th annual conference of the Northeastern Educational Research Association, Kerhonkson, NY, USA.

Great Dane-files

UAlbany Students: Who we are. What we do.
Meet Graduate Student:
Asil

Who he is...Active. Social. Motivated.

Hometown, Country: Tire, Turkey
Graduate Program: Division of Educational Psychology and Methodology
Undergraduate University: Bogazici University, Turkey
Undergraduate Major: Double Major in Educational Sciences and Psychology
Activities: President and webmaster of Educational Psychology Graduate Student Organization, vice-president and webmaster of Future Educators' Club, captain of intramural soccer team of Inter-Karma, Intern at New York State Developmental Disabilities Planning Council.

What he does...

• Asil has completed his Master's of Science degree already and has passed one of the two doctoral qualification comprehensive exams. As he completes his coursework and prepares to enter the dissertation phase, Asil is glad he chose UAlbany." It's a great program."

• As an undergraduate, Asil studied educational sciences and psychology. His concentration in education was guidance and psychological counseling. He knew he wanted to pursue a graduate education that combined his knowledge and training from both fields. He is currently a third year doctoral student and instructor of an EPSY 200 course.
• Ten years from now, Asil hopes to be in a well known higher education institution teaching, advising and conducting research. "I want to have a faculty or researcher position in a respected institution. I also want to travel around the world!"

Published online at

http://www.albany.edu/greatdanefiles/students/5graduates/asil/asil.html

Journal of Online Learning and Teaching

Adoption of the Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT) Among Higher Education Faculty: Evidence from the State University of New York Learning Network

Peter Shea, Stacey McCall, and Asil Ali Özdoğru

This paper examines higher education faculty adoption of the Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT) through a case study of 710 online faculty teaching at thirty-three institutions in the State University of New York. This research is framed in the literature of technology adoption and diffusion of innovation theory. These conceptual approaches focus on the stages that individuals traverse in the process of adopting technologies and other innovations. Results presented here indicate high levels of awareness of MERLOT, but lower levels of use among the targeted population. Data analysis reveals heterogeneity in adopter profiles, indicating that the most committed online faculty were significantly more likely to adopt MERLOT. Results also suggest that the stage-approach common to technology adoption models is appropriate in understanding some aspects of the data (the design of professional development); however, a more powerful organizing principle may be contextual relevance of the innovation, which precedes and predetermine levels of concern and stages of adoption. Suggestions for faculty development and further research are included.

Keywords: Technology adoption, online teaching, online resources

Citation: Shea, P., McCall, S., & Özdoğru, A. A. (2006). Adoption of the Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT) among higher education faculty: Evidence from the State University of New York Learning Network. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 2, 136–157. Retrieved from http://jolt.merlot.org/vol2no3/shea.htm

Proposal for the Journal of Research Practice

The Vicious Cycle of Search for Research: Perspective of a Graduate Student

Asil Ali Özdoğru

Experiences of a graduate student can be a rich material not only for producing humor but also to learn about the research process. In addition to coursework in research methods and statistics, actual experiences of graduate students in doing research can be quite informative and inspiring for anyone interested in research (e.g., Probert, 2006).

As a senior graduate student in his program, I have been involved in research for many years now, starting in my early years of undergraduate education. Back in those days, I was one of the few students who enjoyed doing class projects –may be only those few went on to graduate school. It was, and still is, a joy of a discovery for me to locate publications in the library or Internet. Taking information from individual articles or books, synthesizing them, producing an intellectual product was much more fun to me than taking those dreary exams.

My first research papers were literature reviews and evaluations of existing literature. Those papers gave me an idea about the qualities of scholarly research papers like how they are similar to and different than other writings such as newspaper articles or literary pieces. Later on we started to do hands on research by collecting data from our classmates or random students we caught in the campus. Planning and implementing our own research questions, measurement scales, data collection methods, analytic and inferential strategies provided me a sense of self-determination and ownership in my work. Those class papers and projects were not something to get done but opportunities to learn more about the complexities and challenges of real world –as they were designed to be.

Years in graduate school were more research-intensive. Research ideas that I carried from my undergraduate years were merged with new areas of interest. Participating in my advisors’ ongoing projects helped me to figure out what kind of studies are needed and valued in the area of my study. We presented those initial studies in local and regional conferences, which are very valuable experiences in preparing for national conferences and learning about high quality research. Conferences and seminars were perfect places to develop my presentation skills and meet fellow researchers in my area. Forming collaborations with students and faculty from other departments and schools helped me widen my vision and skills in research.

Although I had several research projects that I was working on and I recommended other graduate students to involve in various research venues (Özdoğru, 2005), I was never definite about my major area of focus. I was always in the search of my ideal research topic that I would continue throughout my professional life, which was almost looking for a partner to marry. Whether it is my insatiable intellectual curiosity or my plain indecisiveness, I am still facing the million dollar question of what to study for my dissertation. However, it is, and will be, my relatively wide-ranging research experience that gives me self-confidence and sense of control in my search for research.

References

Özdoğru, A. A. (2005, April). Interested in educational research? How to decide what to study. The NERA Researcher, 43(2), 8.

Probert, A. (2006). Searching for an appropriate research design: A personal journey. Journal of Research Practice, 2(1), Article D3. Retrieved on April 2, 2006 from http://jrp.icaap.org/content/v2.1/probert.html

EPSY Poster Session Proceedings

History of Educational Psychology at the University at Albany: An interview with Founding Faculty Dr. Jack Rosenbach

Asil Ali Özdoğru

Establishment and development of educational psychology program is revisited through founding faculty Dr. Jack Rosenbach’s memories of early days of School of Education and the State University of New York at Albany. The interview touches upon the initial struggles of a newly-formed program and departmental evolution of a rapidly expanding college.

Keywords: Department history, educational psychology, interview

Citation: Özdoğru, A. A. (2006). History of educational psychology at the University at Albany: An interview with the founding faculty Dr. Jack Rosenbach. In A. A. Özdoğru, & J. Newman (Eds.), Proceedings of the fifth annual educational psychology and methodology student research poster session (pp. 13–20). Albany, NY: Educational Psychology Students. Retrieved from http://www.albany.edu/~edpsygso/events/2006.pdf