Minister of National Education Ziya Selçuk participated online introductory meeting of the Ministry of National Education Augmented Reality (MEBAR) Application developed by the Technology Academy within the body of Istanbul Provincial Directorate of National Education Istanbul Teachers Academy. Making evaluations on the application, Minister Selçuk said, "It is a work that promises an enjoyable learning process for our students with the activities included in the content. There are 3D contents prepared for different disciplines in MEBAR. This is an application that will raise awareness of our children in the field of augmented reality and increase the productivity in all areas of their lives."  

 

The Augmented Reality (MEBAR) Application of the Ministry of National Education, developed by the Technology Academy under the Istanbul Provincial Directorate of National Education, Istanbul Teachers Academy was introduced. 

 

Minister of National Education Ziya Selçuk attended the online introductory meeting held at the Başakşehir Emin Saraç Cultural Center Conference Hall via Zoom.

 

He indicated that they are proud to put the MEBAR application, developed by the Istanbul Teacher Academies Technology Unit of the Istanbul Provincial Directorate of National Education, into the service for children.

 

Stating that he would be happy for children to exist as a strong human beings both in today's world and in the future, Selçuk emphasized that the Covid-19 pandemic requires much faster decision-making and serious transformations. He also said that the Ministry is working hard to slant this hard period in favor of the children.

 

Noting that they made permanent material and moral investments during this process, and MEBAR is a good example of this, Selçuk said, "What makes me even happier is the fact that these works are not done only in Istanbul." All of our friends in our R&D centers, managers in our provincial directorates, our district managers, support us. Therefore, we are not just proud of getting work from an organization or from outside but also proud of the work we do inside. Today, we see a good example of it."

 

Minister Selçuk continued his words by stressing that this application, is also an initiative which was prepared to support the "I'm in the Remedial Training Too" campaign, which is the first step of the National Support Program.

 

"It is a study that promises an enjoyable learning process for our students with the activities included in the content. There are 3D contents prepared for different disciplines in MEBAR. This is an application that will raise our children's awareness of augmented reality and increase productivity in all parts of their lives. Of course, we are aware that this is a work that needs to be expanded and continued for our colleagues from all over Turkey. Besides, it is not only our duty to raise the awareness of these children towards augmented reality, but also the duty of our teachers and parents."

 

Emphasizing the importance of the fact that all phases of the application were made by teachers, Selçuk said, "I think it can be presented as an example to the world. Because such works are usually done by very large companies as a result of long work. But we always say that we trust our friends and teachers.  Their openness towards innovations also gives hope for the future."

 

Minister Selçuk thanked to those who contributed to the development of the MEBAR application and wished the application to be beneficial to teachers and students.

 

Istanbul Provincial Director of National Education Levent Yazıcı emphasized that as educators, they focus on the elements that will make learning meaningful for the student, which is the primary element of learning."

 

Drawing attention to the significance of using different tools and materials in a way to encourage the learning of each student, Yazıcı explained that within this framework, they continue to work on sophisticated studies to focus on learning, which is the key element of the school.

 

Stating that the strategic approach put forward as part of our Ministry's 2023 Education Vision is defined by a vision document, Yazıcı said: "Within this framework, such materials and different argument to be used in the learning of our students were also encouraged and directed for development. Our Istanbul Provincial Directorate of National Education also carried out this work in cooperation with the General Directorate of Teacher Training and Development under the Ministry of National Education. With this regard, our main goal was to support guidance work of our teachers, which is the most fundamental element in our education system in terms of teaching. Accordingly we also aimed to increase the productivity in our schools by focusing on learning and teaching. We think that this application can draw a very different framework for the student. The application was developed with the efforts of our teachers in order to contribute to our students, teachers and parents. It was implemented as an institutional application."

 

Referring to the importance of the implementation of the application in this period, Yazıcı said, "We went through a period in which we faced difficulties together with our students amid the challenges of Covid-19 pandemic. It was a tough year that we developed different concerns on our students' learning and tried to support them in multiple ways. In this process, our remedial training started on July 5th. "During this period we also had an important opportunity to add a new dimension to our students' learning and show that we stand by them. Therefore, by introducing this application in remedial training period, we show that we stand by our students, teachers and parents."

 

In the program which the promotional video of the MEBAR Application is shown, Augmented Reality was experienced after the information session about the content was given by Technology Academy of Istanbul Teachers Academy.

 

İstanbul Deputy Governor Hasan Hüseyin Can, Mayor of Başakşehir Yasin Kartoğlu, school administrators and teachers attended the program.  General Manager of Ministry of National Education Teacher Development and Training, Adnan Boyacı also attended online.

 

The Augmented Reality Application MEBAR, which is aimed to be used free by teachers and students in every part of life, was developed as a mobile application that can be used during remedial training and activities.

 

With 3D content and prepared for different disciplines, MEBAR was designed to raise awareness of augmented reality and to increase productivity in educational environments in every aspects of life with the usage of required information by teachers and students.

 

Besides, MEBAR is Turkey's largest and first corporate augmented reality platform and application developed entirely by teachers and the Istanbul Provincial Directorate of National Education. The augmented reality box contents prepared for MEBAR was developed to be used via mobile phones as well.

 

The contents of MEBAR augmented reality box which consist of chemistry cubes, solar system, anatomy, tools, letters and many more  instructive and educational themes  that can be used in all areas of life, can be found at "istanbulakademi.meb.gov.tr/mebar".