Abstract:

Bilkent University School of English Language (BUSEL) is a private college located in Ankara, Turkey. It is a big institution with 2800 students and 200 local and international staff. At the end of each academic year, evaluation of teaching and learning issues takes place depending on the feedback provided by teachers, students, and managers. We aim at improving ourselves and the institution, so we use every opportunity to enrich our learning environment. We can enlist the following reasons for this initiation. Having worked on the backbones of ELT including curriculum, methodology and testing, we decided to take actions in technology in education, which has recently gained importance and popularity. Our goal is to maximize the use and effectiveness of technology for learning. We want to help our instructors gain a better understanding of how they might make use of the tools and gain greater self-confidence in using technology. With the changing world, textbooks and boards have become outdated and students do not feel satisfied with these. To provide variety both for teachers and students, technology in the classroom is a must. Finally, it is our personal interest to work with technological resources and tools. We worked on this developmental plan with 11 instructors during 2014 summer period for six weeks. Some teachers had the chance to implement what we came up with. We started with task allocation which included doing literature review, searching for software, applications, online resources, and websites appropriate for ELT. Each team member chose an area of interest and participated in weekly discussions to share their opinions and experiences. All members attended a 2-hour workshop on MOODLE- an open-source learning platform used at BUSEL for some time. They were trained on how to use different functions like creating forums and wikis. We received feedback from students and teachers piloting the new programs and software. We delivered a presentation to the whole school and shared the outcomes and asked for their feedback and suggestions.

The following were outlined:
1. Teachers were provided with a booklet where the new tools and resources are explained and teaching tips are given to develop a whole-school approach.
2. Team members became pioneers who encouraged others to use technology for learning by offering workshops to disseminate the information.
3. Textbooks with online components are being used. They are integrated into the assessment system. Publishers gave training to teachers as to how they can make use of the new systems.
4. Some software programs are purchased for the computer lab and students are taken there regularly.

Although the process has been fruitful and successful, we encountered many challenges. There was great resistance on the part of some teachers who do not feel comfortable with technology and are strong opponents of traditional approaches. There are no projectors in some of the classrooms and some teachers lack a well-functioning laptop, which leads to the first challenge. Moreover, some of the software was not compatible with our computers; we had to return them. The size of the school was an obstacle for us as it was difficult to provide all the necessary equipment and training within a short time and with a limited budget. This was a baby step for a huge school and we definitely need more time, opportunity, and budget to further continue working on this area.

Keywords:

Educational software, e-learning, Apps, on-line resources, technology for education, virtual learning environment, teacher training for technology use.