Üsküdar Üniversitesi Rector's Advisor and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Deniz Ülke Arıboğan participated in the online program organized by the teacher academies of the Istanbul Provincial Directorate of National Education. Arıboğan stated that they tried to reach students endlessly, even late at night and on weekends, and that the pandemic changed their interaction with students.
“We tried to reach students endlessly, even late at night and on weekends”
Arıboğan, speaking about the impact of the pandemic on education and students, said: “We needed to adapt to the digital world and new education systems in every way, but with the pandemic, we all found ourselves in this situation in a state of shock. Sometimes, it's said that teachers are sitting at home not working, but we all know that we had to work more than ever. We tried to reach students endlessly, even late at night and on weekends. At the same time, we tried to learn. It was a tremendous learning process for us too. According to findings, this system actually arrived 5.3 years earlier than it should have. We were already going to experience this digitalization five years later. It seems to have been brought forward.”
“The pandemic changed our interaction with students in a way”
Arıboğan, speaking about the effects of education on the networkable structure during the pandemic, stated: “New technologies have entered our lives extensively. The pandemic changed our interaction with students in a way. With the entry of digital into our lives, it became possible for a 24-hour interaction process to continue. For example, we meet with thesis students in the evenings because they may have classes or meetings during the day. Zooms allow us educators to come together for meetings. In addition, I've observed a very significant internationalization. That is, we can easily hold our international conferences online without traveling from one place to another. We can easily share publications with each other in the online environment.”
“As the opportunity to access information increases, so do capacities”
Arıboğan offered advice to students preparing for university exams during the pandemic: “Students need to know that this is a competition and that conditions are more or less equal. It's a problem for those in villages without internet, but for those living in cities, the situation is mostly equal. However much difficulty one experiences, their competitor experiences the same. Because this is a competitive race. One must get ahead of the other. Since they all live under the same conditions, it won't be a huge problem. As the opportunity to access information increases, so do capacities. The good thing is that the internet provides the opportunity to attend lessons even in the most remote corners. This is a good development. But we don't know how children live in their homes. For example, there are interruptions during exams. A child is about to take an exam, but at the same time, their sibling also has an exam. And there's only one computer at home. We made the situation as flexible as possible. We gave children exams multiple times. We told them to submit it however they could. It's really not an easy process.”