The projects conducted by Lect. PhD. Zeynep ARDIÇ and Asst. Prof. Fatih YAMAN were completed on 1-2 June 2022 in the scope of “Parenting and Teaching in the Digital Age” cooperation protocol coordinated by Lect. PhD. Özlem AKARSU.
Within the scope of the cooperation protocol signed between Istanbul Medeniyet University, Güngören District Governorate, and Güngören District Directorate of National Education, two projects titled “Strengthening the Digital Parenting Roles of Parents” and “Strengthening the Digital Competencies of Teachers” were carried out. The final report of both projects was presented to Güngören District Directorate of National Education.
Within scope of the “Strengthening the Digital Competencies of Teachers” project conducted by Lect. PhD. Zeynep ARDIÇ from General Public Law department of IMU Law Faculty, it was aimed to develop a training program to increase teachers’ digital competencies and awareness, and to facilitate teachers’ educational access in the digital field, thus aiming to increase their digital competencies and awareness, thereby contributing to the indirect protection of children at risk and threat from child abuse and similar attacks in the digital environment.
Within the scope of the project activities, on 2 June 2022 between 13.00-16.40, 85 teachers working in schools affiliated to the District Directorate of National Education in the Güngören district of Istanbul were given 4 hours of face-to-face training under 11 headings. The trainings were given by the academics of Istanbul Medeniyet University Faculties of Health Sciences, Medicine, Law, and Education Sciences.
In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the training to increase their digital competencies, the Teacher’s Digital Competence scale and questionnaire were administered to with the teachers before and after the training. It was determined that the digital competence level of the teachers increased after the training program.
Given that education is a value that raises the level of awareness, it was recommended to organize continuous trainings for teachers in schools. It has been determined that increasing the awareness of teachers about the safe and efficient use of digital devices and applications, which have the risk of affecting children’s physical, psychological, mental and social development, will contribute to the protection of children from health risks.
Within the scope of “Strengthening the Digital Parenting Roles of Parents” project conducted by Asst. Prof. Fatih YAMAN from the Social Work Department of IMU Faculty of Health Sciences, a training program was developed to increase parents’ digital parenting competencies, to increase parents’ basic digital competencies; and thereby indirectly contribute to the protection of children who are at risk and under threat. Within the scope of the project activities, 82 parents whose children are studying in the primary and secondary schools in Güngören district of Istanbul were given face-to-face training for 4 hours under 11 headings. The trainings were delivered by the academics of Istanbul Medeniyet University Faculties of Health Sciences, Medicine, Law, and Education Sciences.
Educational subjects included the following:
- What is digital parenting and why is it necessary?
2.Intergenerational awareness from digital immigration to digital nativism
- Digitization and the family
- Digital parenting roles
- Risks of computer and internet technology
- Cyberchondria
- Cyberbullying
- Developing conscious awareness of the risks of computer and internet technology – safe internet use
- Protection of the child against attacks on the personality of the child on the Internet
- Evaluation of parents’ use of social media and sharing images of the child in terms of the right of custody
- Child labor on digital platforms
Parental Mediation Scale in Children’s Internet Use, Digital Parenting Self-Competence Scale and Questionnaire Form were administered to the parents before and after the training to evaluate the effectiveness of the training to enhance their digital parenting roles. After the digital parenting training program, it was determined that the digital parenting self-competence of the parents and the level of parental mediation in their children’s internet use increased compared to the pre-training program.
As a result, it was recommended to organize trainings in schools affiliated to the District Directorate of National Education, Public Education Centers, and centers where municipalities provide free education in order to increase parents’ awareness of their digital parenting roles, given that education is a value that increases the level of awareness. It has been determined that increasing the awareness of parents about safe and efficient use of digital devices and applications that have a risk of affecting the physical, psychological, mental, and social development of children will contribute to the protection and development of children’s health.
Project team members were Prof. Aygül Yanık, Prof. Ayşe Okanlı, Assoc. Prof. Ensar Yılmaz, Assoc. Prof. Halil Altındağ, Güngören district director of national education Ferhat Öztürk, Lect. PhD. Özlem Akarsu, Assist. Prof. Fatih Yaman, Lect. PhD. Zeynep Ardıç, Assist. Prof. Merve Ürem Çetinel, Assist. Prof. Alperen Bıkmazer, Assist. Prof. Cem Malakçıoğlu, Assist. Prof. Hande Arslan Çiftçi, Assist. Prof. Abdülkadir Yeler, Assist. Prof. Ekrem Solak, Res. Asst. PhD. Ömer Uğur, Res. Asst. PhD Aslı Devrim Lanpir, Res. Asst. PhD Zeynep Sadıkoğlu, Res. Asst. Murat Uçak, Res. Asst. Dilşa Azizoğlu, Teacher Neslihan Akar, Teacher Salih Aktürk.
