Academic Units

SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ACCREDITATION AND QUALITY COMMITTEE

Committee Members

1. 1. 1. Lecturer Zekeriya DURMAZ (Head)
      2. Lecturer Ahmet KONUKOĞLU (Member)
      3. Lecturer Yusuf ÇEVİK (Member)
      4. Aykut AYDOĞDU (Reporter)

Duties and Responsibilities of the Committee

1. To follow current national and international accreditation processes that are carried out by the School of Foreign Languages and to take decisions to make necessary arrangements.
2. To regularly review the quality policies set forth by the School of Foreign Languages and to make a decision about the necessary arrangements.
3. To contribute to the determination and carrying out the quality policies strategy and objectives of the organization by working in coordination with Continuing Professional Development Unit established within the School of Foreign Languages.
4. To establish a bridge between the Hasan Kalyoncu University Quality Coordinator and the School of Foreign Languages in quality management processes.
5. To fulfil the duties and responsibilities given by Hasan Kalyoncu University Quality Coordinator.

The SFL aspires after creating a supportive, collaborative and encouraging environment for its academic staff in order to provide them with chances to develop their teaching methodology skills, classroom management policy and theoretical information related to their interest areas. To be able serve these purposes, the SFL established Continuous Professional Development (CPD) unit which organizes seminars, workshops or other professional development activities as a result of analyzing the needs analysis of the staff.

Instructors are also encouraged to complete in-service training like ICELT, CELTA, and DELTA programs from other institutions. The SFL management and CPD work collaboratively to ensure continuous development of the staff.

At the beginning of each academic year, the teaching staff is asked to conduct a Professional Development Needs and Interest Analysis Survey  in order to fnd out the areas needed to be improved. The lecturers state the areas that they want to improve, the courses they want to teach and their preference in terms of delivery methods of seminars to be conducted. According to the results obtained, the SFL makes an action plan to satisfy the needs.

Another survey conducted by the lecturers is Learning Organization Questionnaire. The lecturers are asked some question related to the language education system provided, their comments on communication among teaching team, teamwork, teaching processes and the academic climate of the school. The result is evaluated by the SFL management and reported to the lecturers via email or a general meeting.

As a result of all these analysis, the SFL aims to identify the needs and expectations of the lecturers and then arrange seminars or workshops throughout the academic year to contribute to the professional and academic development of the teaching team. 

The objectives of Continuing Professional Development Unit are as follows:
1. Helping practitioners manage their own development on an ongoing basis by recording, reviewing and reflecting on what they have learnt.
2. Providing an opportunity to promote knowledge, skills, personal qualities, self-assessment and reflective practice.
3. Placing a high value on learning experiences which includes job development, formal training, experiential learning and qualifications.

The Duties and Responsibilities of Continuing Professional Development Unit are as follows:

1. Contributing to the growth of the SFL Professional Development Program.
2. Contributing to the development of new professional development projects and activities.
3. Contributing to the development of annual academic and strategic plans.
4. Organizing and promoting the annual professional development program, liaising with external providers, venue providers and internal colleagues as required in order to meet agreed objectives and aims.
5. Developing ideas for new training courses and workshops to expand the professional development program.
6. Implementing quality assurance measures to maintain standards of delivery.
7. Contributing to the planning, organization and evaluation of conferences, seminars and other professional development events.
8. Producing relevant reports and analyses for the SFL management, committees and others as required.
9. Ensuring that there is regular review and improvement of development provision based on member feedback.

The Quality Policy Cycle of CPD Unit:
1. Identifying Your needs

• Questionnaires
• Need Analysis Surveys
• Class Observations
• Individual Meetings with Academic Staff
• Interviews

2. Planning and Carrying out Development Activities
3. Reflecting on Your Learning
4. Applying Your Learning
5. Sharing Your Learning with Others

Owing to the fact that assessment plays an important role for the quality of language program provided, the SFL decided to establish Testing Office in 2011. Since then, Testing Ofce has been responsible for designing, conducting, supervising, improving and marking assessment activities for all the courses at all the levels in the SFL.

The Testing Unit shoulders the responsibility of preparing various types of assessment in relation to contents and methodology. Tests measure the knowledge, abilities and skills of the students as specifed in the curriculum. Continual testing of students determines whether students should proceed to the next level or not. For each level there exist course-specifc as well as level-specifc tests.

Since its establishment in 2011, Testing Office has been responsible for all the procedure from pre-administration of exams to the evaluation of outcomes. With a collaborative approach, testing office works with coordinators to develop the assessment policy of the SFL.

The main objectives of assessment procedure at the SFL are to:

» provide all the students with equal access of opportunities to the educational system
» determine the outcomes of all the assessment tools used clearly and objectively
» ensure the appropriate evaluation of students’ progress during the instructional process and provide both the instructors and students with a detailed analysis after each assessment activity in order to enhance the learning input
» make sure that students can go on doing their studies in the target language in their respective departments thanks to the language skills and knowledge they acquire