{"id":888,"date":"2021-05-24T09:47:11","date_gmt":"2021-05-24T09:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/es.bilkent.edu.tr\/?page_id=888"},"modified":"2026-02-21T12:05:51","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T12:05:51","slug":"alumni","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/es.bilkent.edu.tr\/?page_id=888","title":{"rendered":"Alumni"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This page includes brief updates alumni from the department\u2019s PhD and MA CI programs. If you are a graduate of these programs and want to be included, please contact ci@bilkent.edu.tr<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bilkent University Graduate School of Education is where my learning to teach journey began. I am a graduate of\u00a0 the teacher education program which helped me to grow as a confident, progressive, and committed teacher.\u00a0 After I began my teaching career, I wanted to pursue my academic career with an aim to contribute to the advancement of the knowledge in teacher education. I received my PhD degree on Curriculum and Instruction with a research focus on learning to teach processes of pre-service mathematics teachers. As a full-time mathematics teacher at a demanding school, the process that led to this degree was quite long and challenging. However, I felt that It was a transformative experience as a person, a teacher, and a researcher. I always felt thankful for the supportive and caring environment of GSE, which kept me motivated along this journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. \u00d6zge Keskin
Mathematics Teacher
TED Ankara Koleji<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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E\u011fitim Programlar\u0131 ve \u00d6\u011fretim B\u00f6l\u00fcm\u00fc doktora program\u0131n\u0131n ilk \u00f6\u011frencilerinden biriyim. Profesyonel \u00e7al\u0131\u015fma hayat\u0131mla birlikte s\u00fcrd\u00fcrebilece\u011fim bir doktora program\u0131 olmas\u0131 karar vermemde \u00f6nemli bir nokta olmu\u015ftu. Ayr\u0131ca, Bilkent E\u011fitim Fak\u00fcltesi’nin disiplinleraras\u0131 yakla\u015f\u0131m\u0131n\u0131n okulda \u00e7al\u0131\u015fan bir psikolojik dan\u0131\u015fman olarak \u00e7ok katmanl\u0131 bir bak\u0131\u015f a\u00e7\u0131s\u0131n\u0131 deneyimlememe f\u0131rsat verece\u011fini d\u00fc\u015f\u00fcnd\u00fcm. Bu s\u00fcre\u00e7te ald\u0131\u011f\u0131m dersler ve i\u00e7erikleri olduk\u00e7a kapsaml\u0131yd\u0131. Tez a\u015famas\u0131nda ise meslek\u00ee alan\u0131mla ba\u011flant\u0131l\u0131 ihtiyaca d\u00f6n\u00fck bir program geli\u015ftirme, \u00f6\u011fretimini tasarlama ve de\u011ferlendirme s\u00fcre\u00e7lerini ele alabilmem motivasyonumu art\u0131rd\u0131. \u0130\u00e7ine girdi\u011fim bilgi d\u00fcnyas\u0131, gittik\u00e7e derinle\u015fen ve yeniden anlamland\u0131rmaya \u00e7al\u0131\u015ft\u0131\u011f\u0131m bir yolculuk gibiydi. Bu e\u011fitim yolculu\u011funda b\u00f6l\u00fcmdeki t\u00fcm hocalar\u0131m ve arkada\u015flar\u0131m, katk\u0131lar\u0131yla beni zenginle\u015ftirdiler. Bu uzun s\u00fcre\u00e7te tez dan\u0131\u015fman\u0131m Dr. Aikaterini Michou’nun yol g\u00f6stericili\u011fi, sabr\u0131 ve analizci yakla\u015f\u0131m\u0131 \u00e7ok k\u0131ymetliydi. Hem doktora s\u00fcrecimin tamam\u0131nda hem de mesleki ya\u015fam\u0131mda fikirlerine sayg\u0131 duydu\u011fum Dr. John O’Dwyer’\u0131n geni\u015f bak\u0131\u015f a\u00e7\u0131s\u0131 \u00e7ok de\u011ferliydi. Tez Komite \u00dcyesi Dr. Robin Ann Martin, doktora s\u00fcrecimi ba\u015f\u0131ndan sonuna kadar yak\u0131ndan takip edip \u00f6nerilerini ve dostlu\u011funu her zaman a\u00e7\u0131kl\u0131kla sundu. B\u00f6l\u00fcmdeki \u00f6\u011fretim \u00fcyeleri hocalar\u0131m, B\u00f6l\u00fcm Ba\u015fkan\u0131 Prof. Dr. Margaret Sands, Prof. Dr. Alipa\u015fa Ayas ve Dr. Necmi Ak\u015fit s\u00fcrecimin tamam\u0131nda \u00e7ok destekleyici oldular. Doktora e\u011fitimi gibi dayan\u0131kl\u0131l\u0131k g\u00f6sterme s\u00fcrecinde azimle yol alabilmek i\u00e7in yan\u0131mda hissetti\u011fim, bilgisine ve deneyimine g\u00fcvendi\u011fim t\u00fcm rehberlerimle birlikte y\u00fcr\u00fcmek benim i\u00e7in bir \u015fans oldu. \u015eimdi geriye d\u00f6n\u00fcp bakt\u0131\u011f\u0131mda “\u0130yi ki Bilkent E\u011fitim Programlar\u0131 ve \u00d6\u011fretim  Fak\u00fcltesi’nde doktora deneyiminden ge\u00e7me f\u0131rsat\u0131m olmu\u015f” diyebilmem mutlu hissetmeme neden oluyor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Jale Ata\u015falar
Head of Psychological Counseling and Guidance Dept.
Bilkent Primary School<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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My desire to improve and challenge my knowledge and contribute to my field of work inspired me to start and pursue my PhD journey. In this journey, the road towards the finishing line was full of strenuous yet rewarding climbs, more highs than lows. The highs were when I devoured into research, developed a research niche and immersed into it with a view to linking my data to the theories and research I was reading. With a great mentor who joined me in this intellectual journey, there were moments where I felt like a bona fide researcher, especially when my PhD research was refined into a publication. There were also obstacles on the way. As such, these lows were opportunities for reinvigoration to prove to myself my commitment, perseverance and resilience in this journey. I have been extraordinarily fortunate to be able to complete my PhD in Curriculum and Instruction at Bilkent University Graduate School of Education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Ay\u00e7a \u00dcner
Head of Teaching
Bilkent University School of English Language<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Undertaking the PhD program in Curriculum and Instruction at the Graduate School of Education has been a truly awe-inspiring and life-changing experience for me. I feel enlightened as an international practitioner in the field of education and action researcher at my workplace. All the core and elective courses in the PhD program prepared me to contribute to international education through my various roles as an IB workshop leader, examiner, school visit team member as well as CIS school visit team member, co-chair and chair. Besides, the Bilkent expectation with regard to getting published on the PhD research in an SSCI journal (before the oral defense) highly motivated me to pursue my academic research with further publications in numerous international journals. More importantly, I have been very lucky to have a committee of dedicated, supportive, and accomplished scholars who worked with me closely to provide continuous support and invaluable feedback at all stages of my academic journey. Without their guidance, it would not have been possible to get the IB Jeff Thompson Research Award for my PhD dissertation. Finally, I am deeply indebted that I have been given the lifetime opportunity to visit the Graduate School of Education at the University of Cambridge as a visiting scholar and work with an external mentor during the final stage of my PhD dissertation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Ak\u0131n Metli
High School Principal
Bilkent Erzurum Laboratory School<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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PhD in Curriculum and Instruction at Bilkent University has provided me the opportunity to expand my horizons in education through research and collaboration. During my PhD, I was able to focus on a research topic that I had always been interested in education, and teacher education more specifically. For my PhD research, I worked with experienced researchers from Turkey and the USA who specialized on teachers\u2019 habits of mind and I was supported through constant collaboration with my supervisor from the Graduate School of Education. By the time I completed my degree, I could get two research papers published in high-indexed international education journals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think one of the most significant outcomes of my PhD journey at Bilkent University has been to construct a researcher identity while being a practitioner at the same time. Nowadays, I am involved actively in research in education and I continue my practices as an educator at different levels of K12 as well as graduate level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Servet Altan
MYP Coordinator
Bilkent Middle School<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The MA in CITE programme opened my eyes to the fascinating secondary school teaching opportunities. I had a successful 10 years of career teaching IBDP and MYP courses at the most prestigious schools in Turkey. After serving as DP coordinator, head of biology department, now I have the privilige to serve as a member of IB Educator Network as an examiner, workshop leader and school visit team leader. Thanks to PhD degree I earned at Bilkent University, I\u2019ve been appointed as Assistant Professor and IB Educator Certificate Academic Coordinator at Yeditepe University in the Educational Sciences Department since 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. \u00d6yk\u00fc Dulun
Faculty of Education
Yeditepe University<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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This page includes brief updates alumni from the department\u2019s PhD and MA CI programs. If you are a graduate of these programs and want to be included, please contact ci@bilkent.edu.tr. Bilkent University Graduate School of Education is where my learning to teach journey began. I am a graduate of\u00a0 the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":770,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/es.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/888"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/es.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/es.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/es.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/es.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=888"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/es.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1926,"href":"https:\/\/es.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/888\/revisions\/1926"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/es.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/es.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}