ICT Seagulls Project_ From Past to the Present…
The Turkish Center for Schools of Quality which was founded by Hayal Köksal and John Jay Bonstingl on 22nd January, 2000 in Istanbul, made a decision about participating as Turkish Delegation to the “2001 EXPO-Young Scientists’ Project Competition” organized by NYDT and EXPO-conveners in South Africa. It was an on-line competition and focal issue was “archeology”. With two member schools (Gaziantep South Fırat High School and Istanbul Eyuboglu High School), we participated in the 2002 EXPO and Turkish projects_Assoss and Zeugma- won 2 golden medals. As a result of this achievement, The Ministry of Tourism and Culture honored both our Center and project schools with the “Honorary Medal of Tourism”.
The following year, 6 projects registered for the 2003 EXPO, however, due to some problems in technology and assessment process Turkish teams could only get 1 silver medal. Upon this situation, we, as the Turkish Center for Schools of Quality, decided to start our own project at the national basis and we turned into our own values. We applied our own assessment system procedures to those 6 project teams and distributed awards in three categories: Gold, Silver, and Copper Seagulls Awards. Seagull; is the symbol of Istanbul and Bosporus along with the commitment of Jonathan Livingston. That step was the starting point of the ICT Seagulls Project. I always remember the great support of my dearest Dost, Prof.Dr. Ümit Serdaroglu (Father of Assos). He was our first advisor and permanent judge. He left us in 2005 due to a heart problem and passed away. After 2005, we have been giving a special award to one of the most successful ICT Seagull team.
In 2004, we restructured the ICT Seagulls Project. The İmece Circle system was improved, focused on we b page design and it was registered legally with that format. The project is collaboration based, not rivalry or competition-based. Continuous improvement, team spirit and positive feelings are the main ingredients. In that year, there were 5 project teams within the process. With the great support and collaboration of Microsoft Turkey, we provided a good platform to the participating teams. Mrs. Şeniz Ciritçi, the PİL Coordinator of Microsoft and Mr. Mehmet Nuri Çankaya were always with us. During the Award Ceremony in Istanbul Hyatt Regency, our international judges; Prof. John Jay Bonstingl from USA and Dr. (Mrs.) Vineeta Kamran from CMS, Lucknow, India, Mr. Mark East from MEA Microsoft, and Robert Green from Microsoft UK took part in and they contributed a lot to the “Professional Improvement” of the teachers concerning the technology use in school.
In 2005; 24 project teams registered but only 16 of them could complete the difficult journey. In 2006; nearly 50 projects registered but only 31 of them could design their web pages. Each year, project has been modified. This is a very important characteristic of this project. Nothing stays the same on earth! Then, why a project should stay the same for ever and ever? We all know that quality means continuous improvement. The project is based on PDCA Mindset (Plan, Do, Check, Act) as everything is on. Our project also has evolved. For instance; in 2006 we added Kindergartens, NGO circles and also international circles to the project. We added peer-assessment (20%) to the evaluation process and teams were asked to include Turkish and English Ppts to their web pages to inform the international partners.
There were some other changes in 2007. We tried a huge collaboration with the Educational Technologies Department of the Ministry of National Education and Microsoft Turkey. Through a signed protocol, we trained 171 teachers from different regions of Turkey as the Coordinators of ICT Seagulls Project. Those coordinators were supposed to train their peers in their cities and schools through a specially-designed Training CD of ICT Seagulls Program. With this program, teachers would train new generations who are skilful at problem solving, teaming, sharing and caring. 171 teachers could only lead 93 projects. The Award Ceremony was held by the Ministry in Ankara. It was a very nice sharing event. Nearly 1000 students and teachers contributed a lot to the ceremony. However, due to some financial and administrative problems, state school teachers and students witnessed some difficulties.
When we reached at the year 2008, we preferred leading the schools alone. In addition to Microsoft with the support of 22 organizations we handed in the awards of ICT Seagulls during the 11. International Convention on Students’ İmece Circles which was held with the support of CMS and WCTQEE at Yeditepe University, Istanbul. Out of 32, 4 of the projects belonged to private schools. Our NGO partner (TEGV) had prepared 17 projects from different cities of Turkey. 8 projects were from South Africa and one from India. For more info, please visit: http://www.hayalkoksal.com/konvan . You can see the names and photos of the teams on Assessment and Archive sections.
This year, we finished the sixth year of the project. The most exciting change was the registration of the disabled teams. We feel honor for empowering the challenged ones. We set 60% of the assessment result to the peer-assessment. Furthermore, web page design was not the only sharing tool for the teams. We also included in; blog design, drama, case study presentation and art. Another important change was in the topic. We included in the “Improvement within your own school”. Thus, students were seen, accepted and empowered as the change-agents. They could manage and measure the rate of change in their own schools. 25 projects registered and only 19 of them could finalize their projects. One of the outstanding projects belonged to our Sivas team. They dealt with the problems of Vocational School graduates in Turkey. A team from the eastern part of Turkey, had prepared a drama for their Atatürk Project which was very impressive and it was worth of Prof.Dr. Ümit Serdaroglu Award. The project for the disabled students conducted by Little Angels High School from India was also very admirable.
To sup it up; in 2003; 6, in 2004; 5, in 2005; 24, in 2006; 31, in 2007; 93, in 2008; 32 and in 2009; 19 project were conducted. They sup up 210 projects in 6 years’ time. In each team, there are 8 students and 2 teachers, in other ways 2100 people were influenced by the project. They learned how to apply the analytical skills while managing a project. If we assume that their parents and people around the project were also been influenced; it is clearly understood that how many people have been affected within the community. It is a huge number!
Hayal KÖKSAL (Ph.D)
