Yusuf Kalkavan Anatolian High School, commonly referred to Yusuf Kalkavan Anadolu Lisesi, abbreviated

Y.K.A.L, is a Turkish public high school in Mersin. IT is one of the most competitive public high schools in Mersin, sending more students to some of the nation's most prestigious universities than most other public or private schools in the city. The school admits their students based on the Nationwide High School Entrance score. The education languages are Turkish, English and German. YKAL was opened in 1992 in the region of Mezitli.

There are 950 students and 55 teachers in our school.There are 30 classrooms each has a smartboard of Fatih Project.Each student from 9th,10th and 11th grade students has a tablet . The tablets has internet connection at school .The students can reach EBA ( http://www.eba.gov.tr/ ) any time they want .They can reach lots of different kinds of information in the EBA platform.Today nearly all the teachers try to use the platform during the classes.

What we were (Review)

The school was opened in 1992 and since then there has been lots of changes in the digital status of the school. The World Bank supported Basic Education Project implemented between 1998 and 2004 aimed to improve basic education quality by providing computer labs and educational materials to schools.And the school had a computer lab as a result of this project.There were 22 computers in the Informatics classrooms and the students had two hours lessons during the week.

During those years the techers were trained about basic educational use of the computers.

However, insufficient computer software was provided to the schools; the actual courses taught by the ICT trainers were limited to laboratories and focused on basic computer skills. Additionally, subject teachers were not trained in how to integrate computers into their subject teaching.So the Informatics classrooms were gradually closed in all the schools in Turkey.

Internet	The school had broadband Internet access throughout the school, via a cable network in the building.
IT equipment maintenance	Technical support included both computer-related issues and electrical wiring in the building, however schoolhad some problems, e.g “electrical wiring in the building was not designed for many computers in the room. Therefore, these issues are inevitable.In addition, due to the inconsistencies in electrical current, operating systems in the labs crash and they couldn’t get technical support quickly . Moreover, they could not get them fixed since they did not have an adequate budget. Consequently, these computers were no longer functional.
ICT professional development	During those years the techers were trained about basic educational use of the computers.The school had a computer coordinator. Depending on the on-going changes in computer technologies, computer coordinators were seldom invited for in-service training for their professional development.
Teachers digital literacy	All teachers indicated that they were able to use personal computers to access the Internet and email, perform basic word processing and enter student results at the end of each term.
ICT usage in teaching process	Schools were provided with software and videocassettes, in addition to the hardware tools in IT classrooms. Most of the teachers used ICT classrooms one or twice a week.
ICT skills	The majority teachers had basic ICT skills, but, many of them lacked the confidence or the knowledge to use these skills to improve learning and teaching in their classrooms.
ICT awareness	Most of the staff recognized the benefits of using ICT in teaching and learning process. They attended all the in-service training courses for teachers.
School website	The school had a basic website in place, developed by the ICT coordinating teacher, which was updated on regular basis, but it did not contain specific teaching and learning materials.

Where we want to get to (Priorities)

Then in 2010 Turkey has embarked on one of the world’s largest educational technology projects: The Fatih project.Each student was given a tablet computer and interactive whiteboards were installed in every classroom. . It is found out that providing Tablet PCs to the teachers and students with a limited use of internet inside the school and a lack of internet connection outside the school diminishes the interest towards the use of these Tablet PCs but the students can reach EBA at school and outside the school anytime they need.It is web platform organised by MoNe and we want to enable teachers use the necessary software to be able to prepare appropriate content by themselves as compatible with the technologies provided.

How we planned to get there (Targets)

All the teachers at school attended in-service teacher training programs organized by MoNe.They were from different backgrounds (technological abilities, attitudes towards the integration of educational technology, age and subject areas) but nearly all of them have had the same training so far.

What we Did (Tasks)

Increase  the  amount  of  ICT  equipment  available,  specially  laptops  and  data  projectors  for  each classrooms.

We encouraged all the teachers and the students to use EBA platform actively.  http://www.eba.gov.tr/ Eba is web platform organised by MoNe.It is one of the outcomes of the Fatih Project.In Eba one can find lots of resources ,documentaries, videos,information ,e books, e magazines…Students can find e-course contents, testing for themselves.

What we achieve (2nd Review)

The school website editorial team is in place; the website is updated regularly and contains information and advice.

Students are showing a greater interest where e-Learning is part of the classroom practice.

Teachers’ confidence level in the integration of ICT have increased . Teachers are trained about how to use the technologies provided to them within the context of the FATİH Project in addition to receiving technical and any kind of supportive services. However, the key issue for implementing the process appropriately is that the teachers and students must believe in the potential benefits of using Tablet PCs and IBs .Therefore, there is a need for teachers and students who took part in the project to show what kinds of contribution the technologies provided for the sake of the project would make to them during the process of teaching and learning through the demonstration of exemplary studies and models.

It would be concluded that there is an obvious increase in the interests and attitudes of teachers and students towards the use and getting benefit of technology since the beginning of the project’s pilot. One of the positive outcomes of the project is the increase of communication and collaboration especially in technical issues between teachers and students. With the integration of IBs into education, not all but most of the classrooms experienced a more joyful and audio-visual lessons as one of the most important constructive consequences of the project. However, it is hard to say so regarding the use of Table PCs in the classroom as there are some concerns about the negative impact of Tablet PCs in some cases.

What next?

Plan  and  conduct  long-term  studies  about  the  effects  of  the  educational  technologies  on  student achievement.

Decrease the number of students in classrooms to have a more effective use of technologies provided.