Who We are
Academy of Research, Design, and Training, ARD@T, was founded in 2022 with the goal of providing training and consulting services in research methodologies, educational design and technology, and student and teacher motivation to individuals across disciplines. Although ARD@T was founded in the state of Ohio, United States, it is an international institution aiming to provide services for
scholars in Turkey as well.
ARD@T aims to provide a wide range of educational and consultation services, including quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods, and action research methodologies as well as focuses on the skillful use of diverse methodologies, data collection and analysis techniques and tools by researchers.
In the field of instructional design and technologies, ARD@T aims to present successful designs and implementations of face-to-face, online, and hybrid learning environments encompassing
student-centered and active learning principles supporting academic achievement.
ARD@T also provides training and consultation in motivation and motivation-supportive teaching implementations that have been scientifically shown to be one of the most fundamental factors in
successful and effective teaching and learning experiences, working with students and teachers of
diverse grades and educational institutions across fields.
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Vision
Mission
Our Values
ARD@T endeavors to guide educational practices and academic research activities by adopting scientific, innovative, and novel approaches.
ARD@T strives to present accessible and applicable services needed in educational practices and scientific research activities for all stakeholders, primarily students, teachers, and academics.
As a team, ARD@T conducts all services and activities with a reliable, transparent, needs-based, inclusive, constructive, and solution-focused mindset.
Founders
Sinem Toraman Turk
Sinem Toraman Turk, PhD currently is a research faculty in the School of Public Health at Yale University. Before she joined Yale, she was a postdoctoral research fellow at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center where she co-led the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Disparities Working Group and managed and enhanced the group’s research portfolio. She received her BS and MS degrees in Science Education from Turkey, where she worked as a primary and secondary science teacher for more than five years. When she was a doctoral student in Curriculum and Instruction program at Yıldız Technical University in Istanbul, she was introduced to a mixed methods research book that led her to move to the United States to become a mixed methods research methodologist. She earned her MA and PhD degrees in research methodology from University of Cincinnati, specializing in mixed methods research that involves collecting, analyzing, and intentionally integrating qualitative and quantitative approaches to develop more comprehensive understanding of a phenomenon. Dr. Toraman Turk is a certified trainer for MAXQDA qualitative and mixed methods research data analysis software. Dr. Toraman Turk has an interdisciplinary research portfolio that focuses on addressing disparities in different contexts as well as advancing qualitative and mixed methods research methodologies and training in mixed methods research. She is also the editor of recently published Turkish book Sosyal Bilimlerde Nitel AraÅŸtırmalar ve Eylem AraÅŸtırmaları.
Murat Turk
Murat Turk holds a Ph.D. degree in Educational Psychology-Learning Sciences from the University of Oklahoma, and he has recently transitioned from academia to industry. His previous research portfolio involved online presences through the lens of the Community of Inquiry theoretical framework, online student motivation and motivational orientations including basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, and online student engagement, and Dr. Turk is still actively involved in different research projects. As a training specialist at Amazon, Dr. Turk applies his instructional designer expertise to real-world problems by designing, developing, and implementing engaging and inclusive trainings tailored for a wide range of learners in the industry. Dr. Turk is a professional trainer for MAXQDA qualitative and mixed methods research data analysis software.
Ceyhun Muftuoglu
Fulbright Ph.D. scholar in Instructional Psychology & Technology program at the University of Oklahoma. His specialization is in the intersection of learning, psychology, and technology. With his curiosity to understand the nature of technology in learning and learner psychology, he has been working on various topics especially in Extended Realities (XR) such as Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Digital Games. As another line of research, he worked in projects related to conceptual change, motivation and emotions and ill-structured problem solving. Experienced in Design Based Research which is a common approach in learning sciences to solve educational problems, in addition to his quantitative and qualitative research methodologies skillset.
Advisory Board
Sergi Fàbregues
Sergi Fàbregues is an Associate Professor of Research Methods at the Department of Psychology and Education at Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Barcelona, Spain), an Associate Member of the Mixed Methods Program of the University of Michigan, and an Associate Editor of the Journal of Mixed Methods Research. He was a visiting scholar at the Mixed Methods Program in 2019. His research interests in qualitative and mixed methods include quality appraisal, integration, analysis, and the process of conducting systematic methodological reviews. He has led numerous methodology workshops throughout the world. He has collaborated on a number of funded research projects in a variety of subjects, including nutrition, child sexual abuse, gender and ICTs, and ICTs in education.
Benjamin Heddy
Benjamin Heddy is an Associate Professor at the University of Oklahoma in the Instructional Psychology and Technology program. Benjamin received his Ph.D. in Urban Education from the University of Southern California. Currently, he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on the topics of motivation, cognition, learning theory, human development and research methods. His research program focuses on cognitive and motivational aspects of learning; including engagement, academic emotions, interest development, and further specializing in the investigation of learning activities that occur in everyday experience. As a second related line of research, he studies the mechanisms of conceptual, emotion, and attitude change. His research has been published in Science Education and Psychology Today.
Sedat Åžen
Sedat Şen is an Associate Professor of Educational Measurement and Evaluation in the Department of Educational Sciences at Harran University (Şanlıurfa, Turkey). Dr. Şen received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Georgia (Athens, Georgia, USA) in Research, Evaluation, Measurement and Statistics. He is currently working on meta-analysis, mixed-item response theory, and cognitive diagnostic models. He has books on structural equation modeling, meta-analysis and multilevel modelling. His research has been published in journals such as Educational and Psychological Measurement, Applied Psychological Measurement, International Journal of Testing and Frontiers in Psychology. He is the associate editor of the several journals including Education and Science, Turkish Journal of Education, Journal of Measurement and Evaluation in Education and Psychology and Frontiers in Education.
Kendra Varner
Dr. Varner’s professional career started out working a paramedic within the prehospital setting, and a critical care nurse in the emergency and intensive care departments. A passion for education and intercultural studies prompted her to engage in international medical mission work and health education projects in South America, Africa, and the Middle East. In the U.S., she has been a nursing professional development program leader, taught nursing courses in academia, and continues to provide patient education. Dr. Varner was a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) trainee at the University of Cincinnati, where she received her PhD. Her accomplishments include being named a Jonas Nurse Leader Scholar and receiving a dissertation grant from Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) Nursing Honor Society’s Beta Iota Chapter. She currently works as the Applied Sleep Scientist at Sleepme Inc. Her mixed methods research interests include sleep, worker health, and transition/change management theory.
Asli Cennet Yalim
Dr. Asli Cennet Yalim is an Assistant Professor at the University of Central Florida School of Social Work. Prior to entering academia, she worked as a psychologist with children and families across different educational and health settings in Istanbul, Turkey. She received her master’s degree in Social Work from Florida State University and her PhD in Social Welfare from University at Buffalo. Dr. Yalim’s areas of research are refugee and immigrant mental health, barriers to mental health services, forced migration in the Middle East, refugee women, and acceptance and mindfulness-based interventions with refugees. Her methodological approach includes mixed-methods, grounded theory, and community-based participatory approach. She has collaborated on funded projects including an interprofessional, evidence-based virtual program to prevent burnout, suicide, mental health conditions, and substance-use disorders among healthcare workers. She teaches courses on the topics of human behavior, research methods, micro-level interventions, social work in health settings, and social work with immigrants and refugees. Dr. Yalim is the president-elect of National of Latino Healthcare Executives Central Florida Chapter and a member of Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI).
Trainers
Associate Professor Hatice Gonca Usta completed her undergraduate education in Department of Primary Mathematics Teaching at BaÅŸkent University, and her master's and doctoral studies in the field of Measurement and Evaluation in Education at Ankara University. After working as a mathematics teacher in Topluca Village, she worked as a Measurement and Evaluation Specialist at TED Ankara College. She started her academic career as a lecturer at Cumhuriyet University in 2010. In 2018, she continued her studies at Southern Methodist University in the United States as a visiting researcher, and after receiving the title of Associate Professor in 2020, she moved to the United States to pursue her professional career as a Data Engineer at JLL Technologies. In addition, she provides 'Basic Statistics and SPSS Training' and 'Advanced Statistics and SPSS Training' trainings with ARD@T. She is interested in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning and has begun her studies and career in these fields.
Dr. Hakan Tarhan received B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in English Language Teaching from Middle East Technical University in 2011, 2015, and 2022 respectively. After completing his undergraduate studies, he worked as a teacher of English at Kempeelen kirkonkylan koulu (Kempele, Finland) for one year as part of an Erasmus+ project. Then, he started working as a lecturer at TOBB University of Economics and Technology, Department of Foreign Languages. During his 10-year tenure, Dr. Tarhan has held administrative positions in curriculum development, extracurricular activities, and teacher education and is currently working as the coordinator of the Professional Development Unit. In addition, he has been a professional MAXQDA trainer since 2018 and has worked with many researchers in qualitative research methods and data analysis. Dr. Tarhan continues to study teacher professional development, teacher mentoring, applied linguistics, and qualitative research methods. Dr. Tarhan teaches Qualitative Research MAXQDA Workshops at ARD@T.
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Müge OlÄŸun BaytaÅŸ serves as a National Education Specialist in the Turkish Ministry of National Education. After completing her undergraduate degree in Elementary Classroom Teaching at Dokuz Eylül University in 2007, she obtained her master's degree from the same university's Department of Curriculum and Instruction. With extensive experience as a teacher in International Baccalaureate schools, she earned her Ph.D. in the field of Language, Culture, and Society from Pennsylvania State University, receiving the Jeanette Rhedding-Jones RECE Best Dissertation Award. Dr. OlÄŸun BaytaÅŸ conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Missouri's Department of Learning, Teaching, and Curriculum, and later served as a doctoral faculty member in Early Childhood and Elementary Education at Pennsylvania State University, Abington campus. She taught courses focusing on developing social justice skills in children, covering subjects such as social studies teaching, enhancing literacy skills in children, integrating play into the curriculum, and educational theories. Her research spans a broad range, encompassing topics such as anti-racism, anti-bias education, citizenship education, critical literacy, multimodal literacy, and refugee education. Dr. OlÄŸun BaytaÅŸ also expresses interest in school and program evaluation, as well as the education of prospective and in-service teachers. Employing a critical perspective, she utilizes comparative, ethnographic, and qualitative research methods, emphasizing marginalized and immigrant voices.
Team Members
Fatih Ozkan
Assistant
Fatih Ozkan is a third-year doctorate student specializing in Quantitative Methods. He earned his M.A. in Educational Psychology from Baylor University (USA), concentrating on Gifted and Creative Education. He holds his first M.A. from Erciyes University (Türkiye) in Science and Math Education and a B.A. in Educational Sciences from Erciyes University. His research is primarily centered on advanced quantitative techniques such as Item Response Theory, Structural Equation Modeling, Multilevel Modeling, and Meta-Analysis, particularly emphasizing their applications in educational contexts. He is deeply invested in exploring the measurement and statistical challenges in educational research, especially in areas related to assessment accuracy, data interpretation, and methodological rigor.
Asiye Demir
Assistant
Asiye Demir is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of South Carolina, College of Education. She earned her MA from Indiana University, Bloomington, concentrating on Language, Literacy, and Culture Education. Her research focuses on intercultural interaction, intra-cultural competence, local and global influxes within educational environments. She received her BS and MS degrees from Turkey in Contemporary Turkish Literature. She also served as a teacher in public high schools in Turkey for about five years before moving to the USA. She is certified by the University of South Carolina on Intercultural Inclusion and Diversity and currently serves as an instructor and student advisor in the International Accelerator Program at the University of South Carolina.
Begum Erinc
Art Director/ Webmaster
Begum Erinc graduated from Sabanci University as a VACD (Visual Arts and Communication Design) major and Art Criticism and Theory as a minor. Begum is currently the Art Director of the internal communication designs of various companies in an advertising agency in Turkey. Begum also works with inclusive freelance works such as creating logos, corporate identity design, event posters, and social media visuals.
Begum Turk
Design Idea Creator
Begum Turk, the youngest member of ARD@T, studies at Private Enka Anatolian High School. Begum, who is interested in neurobiology, biotechnology and psychology, is the design idea creator of ARD@T.
