ERASMUS+ KA2 Strategic Cooperation in Higher Education Project: EDUSIGN & SIGNEDU was awarded the second highest score among 122 projects evaluated by the ERASMUS+ Program of the European Union and thus is to be supported by the ERASMUS+ Program. The project is coordinated by Prof. Dr. Ali Işık, the Dean of Istinye University Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Asst. Prof. Ülkü Kölemen. Asst. Prof. Rahim Sarı, Asst. Prof. Leyla Savsar, and Research Assistant Gamze Gürleyen are also in the project team.
The project, “EDUSIGN & SIGNEDU: Joint Venture of Curriculum Studies and Artificial Intelligence in Sign Language”, has a budget of 263,159€ and will make strong contributions to solutions towards the elimination of the education and communication barriers experienced by people with a hearing impairment in higher education. The project is aimed to develop an artificial intelligence-based system against the educational and communication barriers experienced by people with a hearing impairment in higher education, and it also involves designing a preparatory class for sign language education, an undergraduate education program for sign language interpreting, and a certificate program curriculum for sign language interpreting.
The project stands out as it proposes for the first time a supreme board and coordination center (ESLCON) that will guide sign language education/teaching and sign language interpreting education in Europe. The project also attracts attention with its proposition for a preparatory class for the Sign Language Interpreting undergraduate program and with an application that converts sign language to spoken/written text, and spoken/written text to sign language by using artificial intelligence, enabling hearing impaired people to be included in the normal education process.
Among the partners of the EDUSIGN & SIGNEDU project, which will be carried out under the coordination of Istinye University, are Stockholm University from Sweden and HUMAK University of Applied Sciences from Finland, as well as The Association of Turkish Sign Language Interpreters, Turkish Confederation of the Deaf and Kabataş High School. The Deaf Federation from Albania also contributes to the project that is supported by Finland Jyvaskyla University, Finnish Deaf Clubs and Folk High School for the Deaf.
The 30-month EDUSIGN & SIGNEDU project brings together important researchers such as Prof. Dr. Johanna Mesch, the first hearing-impaired professor in the world, who is known in Europe and around the world for her important research in the field of deaf studies and sign language linguistics studies; Assoc. Prof. Paivi Rainò, who is known for her work in sign language interpreting practices in both Finland and the Balkans; Banu Türkuğur Şahin, President of the Association of Turkish Sign Language Interpreters and Speaker of Beştepe without Barriers, who is known for her successful work in the field of sign language interpreting in our country; Kadir Demir, who is known for his sign language artificial intelligence studies; and Orkun Utsukarcı, Hasan Dikyuva, Doğan Özdemir and Şirin Okyayuz from the Turkish Confederation of the Deaf, which is the NGO with the highest number of hearing-impaired members.
