January 1996 — Features

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Use of Computers at High Schools in Turkey

Dr. Omer A. Yedekcioglu, Koc University, Istanbul, Turkey

  • Introduce incentives for competition among software developers (including teachers) to raise the quality of software.
  • As CAE d'es not require traditional classrooms, optimise the use of traditional labs and any other space available.
  • Develop alternative approaches for support services.

-Plan how to train administrators.

-Develop models for training and employing high-quality technicians for hardware maintenance and repair.

-Develop models for software support.

Devise a mechanism to support and monitor applications.

Study the effects of technology transfer on the national informatics industry.

Consider the financial dimension.

-From a goal of allocating 20% of the central government budget to education, determine the proportion given to CAE.

-Establish optimal hardware, software and training budgets' ratios.

-Estimate internal and external financial resource requirements.

Regarding software, the commission's report[4] stated that moving from Foundation Phase (1984-88) to Application Phase (1989-91) of the CAE Project was a major accomplishment. The biggest obstacle was developing appropriate courseware.

The report also noted that most pre-service and inservice was highly inadequate. And teacher education colleges did not have a course on CAE or computer-literacy in their curriculum.

A World Bank Country Study[5] assessed developments in the CAE field as follows:

"During 1985-90, 48 training programs were organised and 2,240 teachers trained in computer literacy and programming. The plans for 1991 were to train a further 5,300 teachers. However, the CAE Project appears to have run into certain implementation obstacles. First, the available software has not yet been integrated with curriculum developments. Second, there is a severe shortage of suitably trained teachers. As a result of these constraints, the hardware could not be used in the originally intended manner. Third, a number of the potential vendors dropped out complaining of excessive bureaucracy and inadequate terms of reference and project definition. Although program implementation is continuing, it is at reduced growth rate (less than 40% of target) and with significantly reduced expectations."

1993 &emdash; Next Step: The CES Project

In 1993 a new project named Computer Experimental Schools (CES) was initiated by the M'E with the financial support of the World Bank.