EdMedia 2016

Adoption and Integration of Online Learning Environments in Higher Education Institutions: Two Cases from Turkey

Asil Ali Özdoğru and Ozan Varlı

Adoption and integration of technology by individuals and organizations is influenced by a variety of internal and external factors. Causes, processes, and consequences of organizational adoption in individual organizations can offer rich contextual information for many fields. This study showcases the adoption and integration of online learning environments at two foundation universities in Turkey. The adoption and integration processes of these institutions show similarities and differences in their relevance to certain theories such as diffusion of innovation theory and technology-organization-environment framework. The lessons from these cases present valuable information for the understanding of local and global dynamics of technology adoption and integration by organizations as well as individuals.

Citation: Özdoğru, A. A., & Varlı, O. (2016). Adoption and integration of online learning environments in higher education institutions: Two cases from Turkey. In G. Veletsianos (Ed.), Proceedings of EdMedia: World Conference on Educational Media and Technology 2016 (pp. 1580–1587). Waynesville, NC: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education.

Zeytinburnu Seminer

Ebeveynler çocuklarının heykeltıraşları değildir!

Üsküdar Üniversitesi psikoloji bölümü öğretim üyesi Yrd. Doç.Dr. Asil Özdoğru, Zeytinburnu Belediyesi tarafından düzenlenen seminerde “iyimser ve duyarlı çocuk yetiştirmenin püf noktalarını anlattı.

Yrd. Doç. Dr. Asil Özdoğru, Türkiye’nin son yıllarda geçirdiği sosyal ve ekonomik değişimle birlikte ailelerin de yapısal ve sosyodemografik özelliklerinin değiştiğini belirterek “Bu durum da çocuğa verilen değeri daha pedagojik bir modele dönüştürmüştür. Ana babalık davranışları açısından sevgi kadar disiplin de çok gerekli bir unsurdur. Ebeveynlerin sergiledikleri davranışlar da kendi içinde tutarlı olmalıdır” dedi.

Çocuk gelişiminin gen-çevre etkileşiminin bir eseri olduğunu bu yüzden de ailelerin çocuklarının gelişiminde tek belirleyici olmadığını belirten Yrd. Doç. Dr. Özdoğru, “Ebeveynler çocuklarının heykeltıraşları değillerdir. İyimser ve duyarlı çocuk yetiştirmek için yemek tariflerindeki gibi püf noktaları yoktur ama genel olarak sabır, dikkat ve özveri gerekir. Anne babalar çocukları için iyi birer örnek teşkil eder. Bu yüzden kendi davranış ve özelliklerimizi daha iyi tanımamız ve iyileştirmemiz gerekir” dedi. Yrd. Doç. Dr. Özdoğru, anne babalıkla ilgili güvenilir kaynaklardan bazı tavsiyelerin yanı sıra popüler ve akademik eserlerin de bilgilerini de paylaştı.

ÜHA

Üsküdar Üniversitesi tarafından yayımlandı
http://www.uskudar.edu.tr/tr/icerik/1436/ebeveynler-cocuklarinin-heykeltiraslari-degildir

Pozitif Psikoloji Kongresi

Pozitif Çocuk ve Gençlik Gelişiminde Okul Öncesi ve Okul Dışı Bağlamların Rolü

Asil Ali Özdoğru

İnsan gelişimini büyük ölçüde etkileyen aile ve okul bağlamlarının dışında kalan eğitim olanakları gelişen bireyin olumlu gelişimsel kazanımlar elde edebilmesi açısından büyük önem teşkil etmektedir. Erken çocukluk döneminde sağlanan kaliteli ve erişilebilir bakım ve eğitim programlarının çocukların bireysel gelişimlerine ve uzun vadedeki etkileriyle topluma pozitif katkılar sağladığı bilinmektedir. Okul çağındaki çocuk ve gençlerin de okul dışı zamanlarını değerlendirebilecekleri yaygın ve etkili programlar gençliğin pozitif gelişimini destekleyebilecek olanaklar sunmaktadır. Bu bildiride Türkiye’nin eğitim sistemindeki mevcut durum ve sorunlar ışığında okul öncesi bakım ve eğitim programları ile okul dışı zaman etkinlikleri ve merkezlerinin çocuk ve gençlerin pozitif gelişimine olası katkıları değerlendirilecektir. Türkiye’deki çocuk ve gençlik araştırma ve uygulamalarının insan gelişimini farklı gelişim alan, dönem ve bağlamları açısından daha bütüncül ve sistemsel ele alması ve veriye dayalı gelişimsel olarak uygun programları hedeflemesi yararlı olacaktır.

Atıf: Özdoğru, A. A. (2016, Nisan). Pozitif çocuk ve gençlik gelişiminde okul öncesi ve okul dışı bağlamların rolü [The role of pre-school and out-of-school contexts in positive child and youth development]. 1. Avrasya Pozitif Psikoloji Kongresi'nde sunulmuş bildiri, İstanbul, Türkiye.

Head Start

Head Start

Asil Ali Özdoğru

Head Start is a federally funded, comprehensive early-intervention program in the United States that supports the development of young children from low-income families. The program enriches the physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development of children from birth to age 5 and enhances their school readiness. Early Head Start programs serve pregnant women, infants, and toddlers, while traditional Head Start programs enroll 3-and 4-year-old, preschool children. There are also special programs for Native American, Alaskan Native, migrant, and seasonal-farmworker families. Programs are housed in child care centers, family child care homes, and schools and delivered through public and private agencies—both nonprofit and for-profit. In partnership with other agencies, Head Start programs across the country offer wide-ranging services in early-childhood care and education, nutrition and health, ...

Citation: Özdogru, A. A. (2015). Head Start. In F. F. Wherry & J. B. Schor (Eds.), The SAGE encyclopedia of economics and society (Vol. 2, pp. 851–854). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781452206905.n338

FYI 2016

Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are part of nature and therefore part of the mystery that we are trying to solve.

Max Planck (1932) Where is Science Going?


The unconscious is not just evil by nature, it is also the source of the highest good: not only dark but also light, not only bestial, semihuman, and demonic but superhuman, spiritual, and, in the classical sense of the word, "divine."

Carl Jung (1953) The Practice of Psychotherapy

Aurora Borealis © 2016 Marco Ottobelli

Sosyal Politika Çalıştayı

Okul Öncesi ve Sonrası: Erken Çocukluk Dönemi ve Okul Çağında Pozitif Gelişimin Desteklenmesi

Asil Ali Özdoğru

İnsanın biyolojik ve psikolojik gelişiminde bebeklik ve çocukluk yıllarının uzun soluklu ve güçlü etkileri bulunmaktadır. Yaşamın erken dönemlerinde sağlanacak olumlu çevresel düzenlemeler, gelişen çocuğun yetişkinlik yıllarında bile etkisini gösteren pozitif gelişimsel çıktılarla ilişkilidir. Bu bağlamda okul öncesi dönemdeki bebek ve çocuklar ile okul çağındaki çocuk ve ergenlerin kaliteli bakım ve eğitim olanaklarından yararlanmaları büyük önem taşımaktadır. Erken çocukluk dönemi bakım ve eğitim hizmetleri ile okul saatleri sonrasındaki organize programların nicelik ve nitelik açısından iyileştirilmesi gerekmektedir. Türkiye’de okul öncesi okullaşma oranları son yıllarda artış göstermekle beraber dezavantajlı gruplardan gelen bebek ve çocukların bakım ve eğitim olanaklarının yaygın, erişilebilir, ekonomik ve kaliteli olması yönünde atılması gereken adımlar bulunmaktadır. Resmi ve özel kuruluşlara bağlı olarak işletilen çocuk kulüpleri, bilgi evleri, gençlik merkezleri gibi çok farklı bir dizi okul dışı zaman programları olmakla birlikte bunların yaygınlığı ve etkililiği hakkında yeterli bilgi bulunmamaktadır. Bu nedenlerle, hem okul öncesi hizmetlerde hem de okul dışı programlarda altyapı yatırımlarının yanı sıra kaliteli içerik ve değerlendirmeyi destekleyici eğitim, araştırma ve geliştirme konularında ulusal strateji ve politikalar hayata geçirilmelidir.

Atıf: Özdoğru, A. A. (2015, Aralık). Okul öncesi ve sonrası: Erken çocukluk dönemi ve okul çağında pozitif gelişimin desteklenmesi [Pre-school and after-school: Supporting positive development during early childhood and school-age period]. Sosyal Politikalar: Kurumlar ve Bireyler Çalıştayı'nda sunulmuş bildiri, İstanbul, Türkiye.

Sosyoloji Dergisi

Avrupa’da Erken Çocukluk Bakımı ve Eğitiminin Mukayeseli Analizi

Mehmet Fatih Aysan ve Asil Ali Özdoğru

Bu çalışmada erken çocukluk bakımı ve eğitimi, refah rejimi kavramsal çerçevesinde Avrupa Birliği (AB) verileri kullanılarak tartışılmaktadır. Bu çalışmaya göre, AB üyesi ülkeler birbiriyle benzer sosyal ve ekonomik yükümlülükleri yerine getirmek zorunda olsalar da, erken çocukluk bakımı ve eğitimi genellikle refah rejimlerinin kendi özelliklerine göre şekillenmektedir. İskandinav refah rejiminde daha gelişmiş ve yaygın bir formel erken çocukluk eğitim sistemi varken, Kıta Avrupası ve Güney Avrupa refah rejimlerinde özellikle 0-3 yaş grubunda yaygın bir formel bakım ve eğitim hizmetinden söz etmek mümkün değildir. Ayrıca bireylerin iş-aile dengesini yakalayabilmeleri açısından önemli bir sosyal politika aracı olan formel çocuk bakım ve eğitim hizmetleri, çocuk ve aile üzerindeki olumlu etkileri açısından da incelenmiştir. Buna göre bu bakım ve eğitim hizmetlerinin çocukların gelişimi, isitihdam, doğurganlık ve sosyal eşitlik üzerinde olumlu etkileri olduğu görülmüştür. Erken çocukluk bakımı ve eğitimi ile ilgili politika önerilerinde ise devlet destekli mahalle kreşlerinin artırılması ve bakımda enformalitenin önüne geçilip bakıcılara temel eğitimlerin verilmesi öne çıkmaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Erken Çocukluk Bakımı ve Eğitimi, Aile, Sosyal Politika, Refah Rejimi, Avrupa

Atıf: Aysan, M. F. ve Özdoğru, A. A. (2015). Avrupa’da erken çocukluk bakımı ve eğitiminin mukayeseli analizi. Sosyoloji Dergisi, 30, 167–194. http://dx.doi.org/10.16917/IU%2Ftjs.12775

Comparative Analysis of Early Childhood Care and Education in Europe

Mehmet Fatih Aysan and Asil Ali Özdoğru

In this study, early childhood care and education is discussed within the welfare regime conceptual framework by using data from the European Union. According to the current study, although all ten of the selected countries are members of the European Union and are obliged to fulfill similar social and economic requirements, early childhood care and education is generally shaped by the characteristics of their respective welfare regimes. While the formal early childhood education system is more developed and available in the Scandinavian welfare regimes, it is not possible to speak of a common formal care and educational services especially for the 0-3 age group in the Continental European and South European welfare regimes. It is claimed that even though the countries try to pursue the social and economic objectives of the European Union, they remain dependent on their own welfare regimes in early childhood care and education. Additionally, formal care and educational services, which are important social policy tools for individuals to achieve work-life balance, are discussed for their impacts on children and families. In this regard, childcare and education services have significant positive effects on children’s development, increase in labor force participation, fertility, and social equity. When policy recommendations for early childhood care and education services are considered, two important issues emerge: the number of state funded local childcare centers should be incerased and informality in childcare should be eliminated.

Keywords: Early Childhood Care and Education, Family, Social Policy, Welfare Regime, Europe

Citation: Aysan, M. F., & Özdoğru, A. A. (2015). Comparative analysis of early childhood care and education in Europe [Extended Abstract]. Turkish Journal of Sociology, 30, 167–194. http://dx.doi.org/10.16917/IU%2Ftjs.12775

Excelsior Newsletter

Impressions from 2015 European Congress of Psychology in Milan

Asil Ali Özdoğru

Hello, Ciao.

I was at the 14th European Congress of Psychology last month from July 7th to 10th in Milan, Italy. The congress was organized by the European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations and hosted by the University of Milano–Bicocca. The congress was embedded in the EXPO 2015, which is taking placed in Milan from May till October. The themes of the two events were also planned similarly on food and energy.

It was my first time at this congress, which was well attended by many psychologists from all around the world. Last time I attended this scale of a conference was the 2011 Convention of the American Psychological Association in Washington, DC. It is always refreshing to be with the community of your practice. There were plenty of opportunities to learn and grow my professional network. In addition to attending an in-person seminar by Dr. Phil Zimbardo, I got to meet many colleagues from Europe and other parts of the world. I also presented my study on humor and learning to a handful of audience.

Other than the academic part of the event, I traveled in and around the city of Milan. I had a chance to see and visit Duomo di Milano, Castello Sforzesco, EXPO area, and Lake Como to name the few. While I was strolling in downtown Milan, I came across a stylish clothing store named Excelsior Milano, which I could not pass by without photographing it. Although the weather was scorching hot, it was wonderful to see and experience many historical and natural landmarks.

Citation: Özdoğru, A. A. (2015, August). Impressions from 2015 European Congress of Psychology in Milan. i am psyched: Excelsior College Psychology Program Newsletter, 2015(2), 4.

ECP 2015

Individual Differences in Learning with Humor: Sense of Humor and Learning Styles

Asil Ali Özdoğru

The use of humor in classroom education is widely regarded as a helpful teaching strategy. Several studies with different age groups report positive influences of humor on student perceptions and behaviors. The use of verbal and visual humor in educational materials, instruction, and assessment is found to improve students’ attitudes, affect, and sometimes learning. There is a mixed set of findings on the effectiveness of humor in instruction and testing on students’ learning performance. Operational and methodological considerations were discussed as potential sources of variability in findings across studies. In order to better understand the role and mechanisms of humor in learning, we may need to consider individual difference variables in humor and learning. To explore the potential relations between adult learners’ sense of humor and learning styles, 191 Turkish university students were surveyed in this study. Participants responded to self-report questionnaires including sociodemographic items, Thorson and Powell’s (1993) Multidimensional Sense of Humor Scale, and Kolb’s (1985) Learning Styles Inventory. This paper will present preliminary findings from the study in order to provide a closer look at the role of individual differences in learning with humor.

Keywords: Sense of humor, learning styles, adult learners

Citation: Özdoğru, A. A. (2015, July). Individual differences in learning with humor: Sense of humor and learning styles. Paper presented at the 14th European Congress of Psychology, Milan, Italy.

ICEFIC 2015

Early Childhood Care and Education in Welfare Regimes of Europe

Mehmet Fatih Aysan and Asil Ali Özdoğru

In this study, early childhood care and education is discussed within the welfare regime conceptual framework by using data from the European Union. According to the current study, although all ten of the selected countries are members of the European Union and are obliged to fulfill the same social and economic requirements, early childhood care and education is generally shaped by the characteristics of their respective welfare regimes.

The Liberal welfare regime is distinguished through the domination of the market in the management of social risks, modest universal transfers and social insurance plans, and meanstested social assistance (Esping-Andersen 1990, 1999). Benefits are highly stratified based on means-tested and flat-rate assistance for the poor and private pension schemes based on contributions in working years. This stratification among social groups also leads to inequalities in this welfare regime.

In contrast to other welfare regimes, the Social Democratic welfare regime emphasizes the role of the state to provide for its citizens’ social well-being, rather than the market or the family. This group promotes a high standard of social equality where all people are incorporated under one universal system.

The Continental European welfare regime has a corporatist and conservative welfare tradition heavily influenced by the state. The main characteristics of this regime are the emphasis on the preservation of status differentials, and the institutionalization of rights attached to social class rather than citizenship (Esping-Andersen 1990). Given that early childhood services depend on one’s occupational earnings in such countries. Parallel to the Southern European welfare regime, gender inequality and high youth unemployment rates are two important problems of the Continental European welfare regime. However, this regime produces generous occupational rights and high pension benefits for its citizens.

In addition to Esping-Andersen’s three-fold typology, the Southern European cluster (Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, emerges as a distinct fourth group through its unique institutional and social characteristics (Leibfried 1992; Ferrera 1996; Trifiletti 1999; Gough 2000). This regime is based on strong familialism, a residual form of social assistance, a low degree of state intervention in welfare, patronage, universal health care, and clientelism. The pension structure is dualistic: on the one hand, pension programs of this group offer one of the most generous pension benefits for public employees and skilled workers; on the other hand, a great number of workers, who work in non-standard and temporary jobs (service jobs, agriculture, and small merchants) lack social security in case of unemployment and are severely disadvantaged in old age. This dualism also separates the Southern European welfare regime from the Continental European regime which has much smaller income variations between high and low income pensioners and much larger proportion of recipients of relatively higher pension incomes.

OECD (2013; 2014) and EUROSTAT (2009; 2014a; 2014b; 2014c) data were exploited to make the comparison. While the formal early childhood education system is more developed and available in the Social Democratic welfare regime, it is not possible to speak of a common formal care and educational services especially for the 0-3 age group in the Continental European and South European welfare regimes. It is claimed that even though the countries try to pursue the social and economic objectives of the European Union; they remain dependent on their own welfare regimes in early childhood care and education. Additionally, formal care and educational services, which are important social policy tools for individuals to achieve work-life balance, are discussed for their positive influences on the child and the family, and in the last part, policy recommendations for early childhood care and education are offered.

Keywords: Early Childhood Care and Education, Family, Social Policy, Welfare Regime, Europe

Citation: Aysan, M. F., & Özdoğru, A. A. (2015, May). Early childhood care and education in welfare regimes of Europe. Paper presented at the International Congress on Education for the Future, Ankara, Turkey.