DERSDEM One to One
DERSDEM One to One During the Pandemic | Study Project
MEF Faculty of Education has a compulsory Introduction to Educational Sciences course in the first year. Each MEF Faculty of Education student taking this course is obliged to provide community service by having one (or several) primary, secondary or high school student/s who need/s academic support but are unable to reach this support due to socio-economic reasons by giving them twenty-five hours of lessons. The aim of the MEF University within School Club DERSDEM One to One Course Study Project is to support the academic and social development of K12 students by bringing MEF Faculty of Education students and K12 students who need support together, and to ensure that university students gain values such as contributing to the society and sharing information, all free of charge. In line with this purpose, MEF University within School Club tries to reach as many K12 students as possible by accepting volunteers not only from the MEF Faculty of Education, but also from other faculties and universities.
2014 was the year when the MEF University within School Club brought university students together with K12 students and began the first voluntary courses. So far, hundreds of university students have taught thousands of primary and secondary school students without expecting anything in return. For six years, university students and K12 students met at schools and conducted their lessons in classrooms.
Our energy has always been revived and growing with these lessons that bring together the excitement of teaching and K12 students' learning under the roof of the school. "If you listen well, we can play football between classes," they said to their student who loved football but could not focus enough while studying. Our volunteers encourage their students to be a better student with their words, design materials and games to increase the success of their students, and give books to their students. We had K12 students who wrote poetry to their voluntary tutor who worked with them and organized a surprise Teacher's Day celebration in the classroom.
With the COVID-19 starting to openly threaten our country, MoNE( Ministry of National Education) decided to close schools and start remote education. These decisions meant that our university and K12 students could no longer meet at schools for their classes, but the classes that were planned to last four months in total were only halfway through. Units and subjects were left unfinished, and what was to be taught and learned was not over yet. The lessons had to continue despite everything. As MEF University within the School Club, we took action to ensure that they did, and with the support of the MEF University Blackboard team, we took our place in the Blackboard learning management system.
Our university and K12 students started meeting and teaching online via Blackboard links. 2014 was the year when face-to-face lessons started, and 2020 was the year when our first online lessons took place.
As part of the online courses that have been ongoing since March 16 2020, 48 university students from three different faculties and two different universities gave 334 lessons. The lesson topics taught include Turkish, English, Mathematics and Social Studies. The number of university students who volunteered at our club increased from 43 to 48 during the quarantine period, and the number of our primary and secondary school students from 56 to 108. Thanks to the efforts of our university students and the enthusiasm of our K12 students, our energy has never stopped growing in this difficult time. The only thing that has changed is that the excitement of teaching and learning that we have gathered and nurtured under school roofs is brought to an online platform.