Turkey's Innovative 'Out-of-School Learning' Platform Rings an Extraordinary Bell, Challenging Educational Boundaries!

We all know that learning doesn't just happen within four walls. In fact, sometimes those four walls can limit our curiosity and desire to explore, couldn't they? It is precisely at this point that we present an exciting development, opening a brand new chapter in education!

The Ministry of National Education has launched the digital platform called "Out-of-School Learning", concretely supporting the holistic education approach of the Turkey Century Education Model. This platform, like a magic wand, opens the doors of schools wide to the outside world.

A Treasure Chest for Teachers

So, what does this mean? Now, our teachers will be able to access countless locations suitable for the subjects they teach in class, such as museums, libraries, science centers, or even a recycling facility, with just one click! Imagine taking your students on a virtual museum tour during a history lesson, or delving into the depths of a science center during a science class...

The platform doesn't stop at just providing access to locations; it also offers the opportunity to organize virtual tours and enrich lessons with visual materials. By sparking students' curiosity and interest in the subject even before the lesson, we prepare them for the activity. In this way, we prevent a rote learning approach and save students from being passive in the classroom. Learning becomes synonymous with experiencing and having fun.

Redefining the Student Experience

With this platform, our teachers can easily access locations via a map-based interface. They can perform location-based searches and even quickly identify the most suitable venues according to the lesson's theme and learning outcomes. Accessing detailed descriptions, contact information, visiting hours, and richly visual information cards for each location is now incredibly easy. Thus, the learning experience can be systematically planned down to the finest detail.

Do you need detailed information about a historical, cultural, religious, or artistic location during a lesson? Now you can access it instantly and share it with your students. This application supports different learning styles, ensuring students' active participation and greatly contributing to permanent and effective learning by linking acquired knowledge to daily life.

Rich Content, Comprehensive Support

In its initial phase, the platform offers rich content for preschool, primary, and secondary school teachers, students, and their families. From cultural, religious, and artistic venues to nature and outdoor areas, from science centers to libraries, and even industrial and production facilities, more than 5,000 out-of-school learning environments and over 200,000 learning outcomes are matched within the platform. Sounds incredible, doesn't it?

It also includes resources such as "Activity Videos", "Activity Plans", "Game-Based Activities", "Educational Videos", and a "Teacher's Guidebook". Furthermore, it simplifies our teachers' work with terminology cards specific to each venue type and comparative materials.

With this platform, which is planned to be accessible at okuldisiogrenme.eba.gov.tr after the introductory meeting, we are once again taking a significant step in the field of educational technologies. We are shaping the education of the future today!

EdTech Turkey Editor Note

This platform is a groundbreaking innovation in the educational technology sector, moving beyond rote learning to center on experience-oriented learning. With the conveniences it offers to our teachers and the active, permanent learning experiences it will provide to our students, it sheds light on the future of education and demonstrates how deeply digital transformation can penetrate the sector.