Mevlana Intenational Journal of Education (MIJE)

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2 Mevlana Intenational Journal of Education (MIJE) Volume 3, Issue 1 April 2013 MIJE is indexed in Turkish Educational Index, ASOS index, Index Copernicus, EBSCO Pub, Educational Research Abstracts (ERA), Aniji, DOAJ and Directory of Research Journals Indexing (DRJI).

3 OWNER ADAM, Bahattin (Rector of Mevlana University) EDITOR IN CHIEF ÇELİK, Vehbi (Dean of Education Faculty) EDITOR KORKMAZ, Özgen ASSOCIATE EDITORS HALAI, Nelofer KUMARAN, Duraikkannu LEMMER, Eleanor ASSISTANT EDITOR USTA, Ertuğrul PROOF READING FARRIS, Aundreta FARRIS, Michael THIRSK, Joanne ABADIANO, Helen R. (Central Connecticut State University, USA) AGAYEV, Ejder (Qafqaz University, Azerbaijan) AKBAŞ, Oktay (Kırıkkale University, Turkey) AKKOYUNLU, Buket (Hacettepe University, Turkey) AKMAN, Berrin Hacettepe University, Turkey AKPINAR, Burhan (Fırat University, Turkey) AKPINAR, Yavuz (Boğaziçi University, Turkey) AKTÜMEN, Muharrem (Ahi Evran University, Turkey) AKYOL, Hayati (Gazi University, Turkey) ALACACI, Cengiz (Florida International University, USA) AL-MABUK, Rathi (University of NorthernIowa, USA) Anastasiadou, Sofia D. (University of West Macedonia, Greece) ARICIOĞLU, Ahu (Pamukkale University, Turkey) BAEZZAT, Fereshteh (University of Mazandaran, Iran) BAYRAM, Servet (Marmara University, Turkey) BECK, Mitchell (Central Connecticut State University, USA) BİLGİN, İbrahim (Mustafa Kemal University, Turkey) BİRGİN, Osman (Uşak University, Turkey) BOOYSE, Johan (University of South Africa, South Africa) BOZDOĞAN, Aykut Emre (Giresun University, Turkey) BOZOĞLAN, Bahadır (Mevlana University, Turkey) BÜYÜKÖZTÜRK, Şener (Gazi University, Turkey) ÇAKIR, Abdulkadir (Mevlana University, Turkey) ÇAKIR, Recep (Amasya University, Turkey) ÇANKAYA, İbrahim (Uşak University, Turkey) ÇELİK, Vehbi (Mevlana University, Turkey) CHUANG, Hsueh-hua (National Sun Yat-sen University, Tayvan) ÇOŞKUN, Eyyup (Mustafa Kemal University, Turkey) DANIŞMAN, Yusuf (Mevlana University, Turkey) DEMİREAY, Uğur (Anadolu University, Turkey) DEMİREL, Şener (Fırat University, Turkey) DEMİRLİ, Cihat (İstanbul Ticaret University, Turkey) EDITORIAL BOARD DEREVENSKY, Jeffrey L. (McGill University, Canada) DIBOLL, Mike (University of Sussex, UK) DOĞRU, S. Sunay Yıldırım(Dokuz Eylül University, Turkey) ECIRLI, Ahmet (Universiteti Bedër, Albania ERBAY, Filiz (Mevlana University, Turkey) ERGÜN, Mustafa (Afyon Kocatepe University, Turkey) FALLAHI, Vida (Shiraz University, Iran ) GAO, Ping (University of Northern Iowa, USA) GÖMLEKSİZ, Mehmet Nuri (Fırat University, Turkey) GÜNDÜZ, Mustafa (Yıldız Teknik University, Turkey) GÜNEL, Murat (TED, Turkey) GÜROL, Mehmet (Yıldız Technical University, Turkey) GURSEL, Musa (Mevlana University, Turkey) GÜZELLER, Cem Oktay (Akdeniz University, Turkey) HALAT, Erdoğan (Afyon Kocatepe University, Turkey) HALAI, Nelofer(Aga Khan University, Pakistan) HAMMOND, John (University of Canberra, Australia) HARPUTLU, Leyla (Ahi Evran University, Turkey ) HERRING, Mary C. (University of Northern Iowa, USA) HOSSEINCHARI, Massound (Shiraz University, Iran ) HUANG, Chi-Jen (National Chiayi University, Taiwan) HUTSON, Bryant (The University of North Carolina a, USA) İŞÇİOĞLU, Ersin (Eastern Mediterranean University, TRNC) IŞIK, Erkan (Mevlana University, Turkey) İŞMAN, Aytekin (Sakarya University, Turkey) KARA, Ahmet (Adıyaman University, Turkey) KARADAĞ, Ruhan (Adıyaman University, Turkey) KARADENİZ, Şirin (Bahçeşehir University, Turkey) KARAMI, Morteza(University of Mazandaran, Iran) KARAKUŞ, Mehmet (Zirve University, Turkey) KARAMI, Morteza (University of Mazandaran, Iran) KARATAŞ, Serçin (Gazi University, Turkey)

4 KARIM, Rezaul (Leading University, Bangladesh) KAUR, Kirandeep (Punjabi university, India) KAYA, Osman Nafiz (Fırat University, Turkey) KESER, Hafize (Ankara University, Turkey) KOCABAŞ, İbrahim (Fırat University, Turkey) KOÇAK, Recep (Gazi Osman Paşa University, Turkey) KUMARAN, Duraikkannu (University of Madras, India) LAVICZA, Zsolt (Cambridge University, UK) LEBLANC, Raymond (University of Ottawa, Canada) LEMMER, Eleanor (University of South Africa, South Africa) LOUW, Gabriel (North-West University, South Africa) MCKEOWN, John A. G. (Mevlana University, Turkey) MEMMEDOV, Behmen (Qafqaz University, Azerbaijan) MICHAIL, Kalogiannakis (University of Crete, Greece) MITTAL, Shree Ram (University of Delhi, India) MOONSAMY, Sharon (University of the Witwatersrand, S.Africa) MSILA, Vuyisile (University of South Africa, South Africa) NAM, Jeonghee (Pusan National University, Korea) NEL, Norma (University of South Africa, South Africa) ODABAŞI, H. Ferhan (Anadolu University, Turkey) OKUYUCU, Cihan (Yıldız Technical University University, Turkey) ÖMEROĞLU, Esra (Gazi University, Turkey) OMRAN, Ebrahim Salehi (University of Mazandaran, Iran) ORAL, Behçet (Dicle University, Turkey) ÖZDEMİR, M. Soner (Kırıkkale University, Turkey) ÖZDEMİR, Selçuk (Gazi University, Turkey) ÖZER, Bayram (Mustafa Kemal University, Turkey) PANDAY, Shefali (University of Mumbai, India) PAPE, Stephen J.(University of Florida, USA) PEKER, Murat (Afyon Kocatepe, Turkey) GIJON PUERTA, José (Universidad de Granada, Spain) PHASHA, Tlakale Nareadi (University of South Africa, South Africa) PING-KWAN, Fok (The Chinese University of Hong Kong) POTGIETER, Calvyn (University of South Africa, South Africa) QUADIR, Tarik (Mevlana University, Turkey) RANA, Rizwan Akram (University of the Punjab, Pakistan) SADEGHI, Abbas (University of Guilan Iran) SAMUEL, Michael (University of Kwazulu-Nata, South Africa) ŞAHİN, İsmail (Selçuk University, Turkey) ŞAHİN, Sami (Gazi University, Turkey) SAMANI, Siamak (Islamic Azad University, Iran) SARI, Mustafa (Mevlana University, Turkey) SEMERCİ, Çetin (Fırat University, Turkey) ŞENAY, Hasan (Mevlana University, Turkey) SHAHIM, Sima (Shiraz University, Iran ) SHARRA, Steve(Michigan State University, USA) SHELLEY, Mack (Iowa State University, USA) SÜNBÜL, Ali Murat(Selçuk University, Turkey) TABAKU, Elida (Universiteti Bedër, Albania) TAŞPINAR, Mehmet (Gazi University, Turkey) THOMPSON, Ann D. (Iowa State University, USA) TÖREMEN, Fatih (Zirve University, Turkey) Trotman, Wayne (Izmir Katip Çelebi University) TÜYSÜZ, Cengiz (Mustafa Kemal University, Turkey) UZUNBOYLU, Hüseyin (Near East University, TRNC) UZOGLU, Mustafa (Giresun University, Turkey) URE, Omer (Mevlana University, Turkey) YALÇIN, Paşa (Erzincan University, Turkey) YALIN, H. İbrahim (Gazi University, Turkey) YAMAN, Süleyman (Zonguldak Karaelmas University, Turkey) YILMAZ, Ercan (Selçuk University, Turkey) YÖRÜK, Sinan (Afyon Kocatepe University, Turkey) REVIEWER OF THE ISSUE Abdulkadir CAKIR (Mevlana University) Aykut Emre BOZDOGAN (Giresun University) Ayşe Negis ISIK (Mevlana University) Bridget IMONIKEBE (Delta State University) Bülent AKBABA (Gazi University) Çetin SEMERCI(Fırat University) Etem YEŞİLYURT (Mevlana University) Feryal CUBUKCU (Dokuz Eylül University) Hakan UZUN (Ankara University) Hasret NUHOGLU (Maltepe University) İbrahim ÇANKAYA (Uşak University) Ibrahim KURT (Mevlana University) Johan WASSERMANN (University of Kwazulu-Natal) Kemal DOYMUS (Atatürk University) Kevin WINTER (University of Cape Town) Lorraine INNES (University of Western cape) M. Arif OZERBAS (Gazi University) Mehmet KARAKUS (Zirve University) Mehmet Nuri GÖMLEKSİZ (Fırat University) Muhammet TURHAN (Fırat University) Murat DEMIRBAS (Kırıkkale University) Nuri BALOGLU (Ahi Evran University) Oktay AKBAS (Kırıkkale University) Ozgen KORKMAZ (Mevlana University) Ozlem AFACAN (Ahi Evran University) Peter HOLMES (University of the Free State, South Africa) Sinan KAYA (Mevlana University) Ufuk KARAKUS(Gazi University )

5 TABLE OF CONTENTS TOJDE: Electronic Publishing and a Review of Ten Years Experience in Turkey Yasin Ozarslan, Jale Balaban-Sali, Ugur Demiray Students Opinions about Virtual Science and Technology Museum and Educational Interface Agent Alparslan Durmus, Ahmet Mahiroglu Effect of Computer Animation Technique on Students' Comprehension of the "Solar System and Beyond" Unit in the Science and Technology Course Gokhan AKSOY Approaches of elementary school students towards the lesson of Ataturk s principles and history of Turkish Revolution of the Turkish Republic (Sample of Kırşehir) Bengul Salman Bolat Teachers Mental/Metaphorical Perceptions to Education Inspector Durdagi Akan, Sinan Yalcin, Isa Yıldırım English language proficiency and employment: A case study of Bangladeshi graduates in Australian employment market Mohammod Moninoor Roshid, Raqib Chowdhury Factor-Based Student Rating in Academic Performance in Southern Province of Rwanda Ephrard Rulinda, Elizabeth Role, Lazarus Ndiku Makewa Academic Self-Efficacy Perceptions of Teacher Candidates Etem Yesilyurt Effects of Brain-Based Learning Approach on Students Motivation and Attitudes Levels in Science Class Erkan Akyurek, Ozlem AFACAN The Effectiveness Level of School Administrator s Coaching Characteristic on School s Being Learning Organization Eray Egmir, Sinan Yoruk Achievement Motivations of the Students Studying at Computer and Instructional Technologies Teaching Department Cetin Semerci, Burcu Duman Overview of the Visual Arts Curriculum, and Its Relationship with Evaluation and Instruction Imonikebe Manasseh Emamoke

6 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 3(1), pp. 1-25, 1 April, 2013 Available online at INVITED ARTICLE TOJDE: Electronic Publishing and a Review of Ten Years Experience in Turkey Yasin OZARSLAN Osmangazi University, Eskisehir, TURKEY Jale BALABAN-SALI Anadolu University, Eskisehir, TURKEY Article history Received: Received in revised form: Accepted: Key words: Distance education, electronic publishing, E-Journals, TOJDE, Anadolu University, Turkey Ugur DEMIRAY * Anadolu University, Eskisehir, TURKEY This review examines The Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education (TOJDE) over a ten years period from The study provides an opportunity to examine publishing activities such as number of published articles, authors, research topics and methods, and analyses of TOJDE s website such as time users stay on site and user profiles. After a content analysis, the articles are reviewed according to the selected criteria. These data were categorized according to emerging themes. Most parts of the data were analysed using descriptive statistics, and presented with tables and figures. The results can be used to review current distance education research trends and to explore potential research directions. Introduction Electronic publishing has been broadly defined as non-print material that is produced digitally. Electronic publishing is an encompassing term for a variety of digitally produced materials (Jones & Cook, 2000) such as bulletin boards, newsgroups, mailing lists, CD-ROM based media, and websites (Ludwick & Glazer, 2000). Material produced electronically can be classified into two major categories that are not mutually exclusive: communication and information management. CD-ROMs and websites are often categorized as information management, while others like newsgroups/forums and mailing lists can be grouped as a means of communication. Electronic publishing can be defined as distributing and archiving of full text professional articles via computer based storage technology such as magnetic or optical discs (Schauder, 1994). It should be emphasized that electronic publishing mainly can be grouped in two categories from point of view for management of communication and information. This classification mainly based on necessity of to archiving or not of the sending messages with the development of Internet the characteristics of communication have changed. Electronic publishing which is a non-print digitally distributed material across the network became more popular. As the use of the Internet becomes more and more embedded in scholarly communication in many forms, scholars will face more complex choices in managing communications through electronic media. In an electronic format the * Correspondence.: Anadolu University Yunusemre Campus Eskisehir TURKEY; Tel: ext or 2522; GSM: ; Fax: or URL: URL: (s): : [email protected] or [email protected]

7 TOJDE: Electronic Publishing and a Review of Ten Years Y. OZARSLAN, J. BALABAN-SALI & U. DEMIRAY resources can be served too many copies, hyperlinked and reachable every part of the World. Users can easily search by author, keyword, title, journal, year, and see the results on the screen. Classification of Electronic Publishing Forums and chat rooms are also a means of communication. They are web based and often developed and sustained organizations for their constituents. Forums are like newsgroups in that the messages are often "threaded" or organized by a theme. Forums are also like , mailing lists and newsgroups as they are asynchronous, exchanging information at different times. Chat rooms, which have exploded in the commercial sector, allow "real time" or synchronous text posting and have primarily been used for socializing or for commercial purposes such as book promotions (Ludwick & Glazer, 2000). Another classification of electronic publishing can be as follows: E-bulletin E-magazines Web pages News archives Discussing lists E-journals And also, E-journals can be grouped as (Tonta, 1997) originally are printed, in addition electronically published journals, originally are electronically published journals but printed in limited number and only published electronically journals. Advantages and Disadvantages of Electronic Publishing Vs Print Publishing. Electronic publishing mostly has these advantages which are placed below: Accessible to all users regardless of geographic location. More acceptance of E-publishing within the scientific community. Possibility to get print out, to store in file or download from Internet of the long texts like an article. Possibility incitant communication between editor/author. Possibility of to read whenever or how much you want. Possibility of cheaper publishing or cost effective publishing. Possibility of easier production and distribution of large volume study materials (Ludwick & Glazer, 2000; Tonta, 1997) Possibility of easier and quicker to reach huge masses. Sometime electronic publishing has these disadvantages too which are placed below: User Friendliness (Bishop, 1995). Cost dimension of Internet and to get computer. Time problem during using and waiting for pages. Some time, technical difficulties to reach electronic materials. Misconduct and security issues, piracy, and plagiarism. Copy the entire document, or change the actual article, image or data (Tenopir, 1995). Destroying copyright (Rosenberg, 1994). Lack of widespread acceptance within the scientific community. Decreasing of access speed for the reason of huge volume. Sounds and pictures (Ludwick & Glazer, 2000; Tonta, 1997). -2-

8 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 1-25, 1 April, 2013 Ethical Values of Electronic Publishing You are asked to submit a manuscript to an electronic journal, or perhaps as a reader of an electronic journal, you are moved to write a letter to the editor about a topic. As you contemplate writing either the article or the letter, you may experience some anxiety and uncertainty. How letters and manuscripts are reviewed and is the journal peer reviewed? Do I submit my work electronically and how will the editorial staff communicate with me? Who will read my work? Underlying these questions are ethical issues about quality, security, and access. Let s now examine how these ethical issues could manifest themselves. Quality is closely related to the ethical principle of "do no harm" and to the virtues of honesty and integrity. The ethical issue about the quality of electronic publishing that is raised most often is whether articles submitted to electronic journals are peer reviewed or not. Security is closely related to the ethical tenets of privacy and confidentiality. Electronic journal editors carry the responsibility to and to their authors to guarantee confidentiality and to be their readers sensitive to privacy issues in many of the same ways that print journal editors must. Access is related to the ethical principle of justice. For an electronic journal to be successful, it must not only have a loyal readership but also a readership that has the means by which to access the information. How is the publication disseminated? Is the journal a dual publication (i.e. print and journal)? Is the publication free? Is registration required if the journal is free? Is the journal subscription based? Is the journal benefits open only to members? (Cipriano & Ruth, 2000; Alptekin-Oğuzertem, 2000). Scholarly Electronic Publishing What is an electronic scholarly journal? We might simply define it as a digital periodical dedicated to publishing, on the Internet, articles, essays, and analyses that have been read and commented upon initially by a select group of editors and reviewers, to meet a certain arbitrary standard of excellence (as determined by the editors) for a given discipline addressed by the journal itself. The diversity of electronic journals in the past five years has led some to predict the extinction of traditional academic journals, that a new "paradigm" is sweeping scholarship. A closer examination of the ways in which digital and printed scholarly journals are developed clearly indicates that most electronic journals are not all that different in their fundamental editorial processes than print (Valauskas, 1997). An electronic publication has been defined as a document distributed primarily through electronic media or non-print material that is produced digitally. An article posted on a Web page (under a variety of restrictions or conditions), an article distributed via , or via an -based distribution list are all electronic publication (Kling & McKim, 1999). Material produced electronically can be classified into two major categories that are not mutually exclusive: Communication and information management. CD-ROMs and websites are often categorized as information management, while others like newsgroups/forums and mailing lists can be grouped as a means of communication (Demiray, 2003). With the development of Internet the characteristics of communication have changed. Electronic publishing which is a non-print digitally distributed material across the network became more popular. As the use of the Internet becomes more and more embedded in scholarly communication in many forms, scholars will face more complex choices in managing communications through electronic media. In an electronic format the resources can be served too many copies, hyperlinked and reachable every part of the World. Users can easily search by author, keyword, title, journal, year, and see the results on the screen. -3-

9 TOJDE: Electronic Publishing and a Review of Ten Years Y. OZARSLAN, J. BALABAN-SALI & U. DEMIRAY Journals on Distance Education AJDE (American Journal of Distance Education) AJDE is the internationally recognized journal of research and scholarship in the field of American distance education established with the mission of disseminating information about research and scholarship in the Americas. It was founded in 1987 by Michael Grahame Moore. From 1987 until 2001 AJDE was published at The Pennsylvania State University College of Education, following that was published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates until AJDE is now published by Taylor & Francis. The American Journal of Distance Education offers a solid foundation of valuable research-based knowledge about all aspects of the pedagogy of the field. Peer reviewed articles provide reports on the latest findings in such areas as: building and sustaining effective delivery systems, course design and application of instructional design theories, facilitating interaction between students and with instructors, factors influencing student achievement and satisfaction, the changing roles of faculty and changes in institutional culture and administrative and policy issues including costeffectiveness and copyright. AsianJDE (Asian Journal of Distance Education) The Asian Journal of Distance Education aims to disseminate scholarly works and information useful to researchers and practitioners in the growing field of distance education in Asia. It was established in AsianJDE publishes peer-reviewed articles and other information for researchers and others interested in open learning and distance education in Asia. This journal also aims to provide a forum for discussions within and directly relating to Asia, and so elicits Asian local theoretical and practical solutions to address local concerns. The AsianJDE has a specific focus on the Asian context and publishes double-peer reviewed scholarly Articles, plus other papers such as Focus Reports on a bounded region or an institution, and Work-in-Progress. Other items include a detailed Calendar of Conferences and Events in Asia, Comments (a moderated discussion forum on previously published articles), Asian Abstracts and others. ODLAA (Open and Distance Learning Association of Australia) Distance Education is the official journal of the Open and Distance Learning Association of Australia Inc. (ODLAA). It is published by Routledge Electronic. Copies of papers from Volume 23 are available through Informaworld for those who have purchased an individual or organizational subscription to the journal, outside of their ODLAA membership. Distance Education is a peerreviewed international journal. It publishes research and scholarly material in the fields of distance, open and flexible education. Distance Education was one of the first journals published to focus exclusively on this area of educational practice. ODLAA connects professionals in order to share experiences and disseminate information with respect to open and distance learning. Our members come from all educational sectors plus commercial training providers and training units in the corporate sector. They are involved in management, administration, design, development, research and teaching in multiple modes that may best be described as 'outside the traditional classroom'. ODLAA is a non-profit organization managed by an elected Executive Committee of members who donate their time to conduct the business of the association. -4-

10 EURODL (European Journal of Open and Distance Learning) Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 1-25, 1 April, 2013 EURODL, supported by EDEN-the European Distance and E-learning Network, presents scholarly work and solid information about open, distance and e-learning as well as new dimensions of technology-enhanced learning and contributes to the Open Content movement since It publishes the accounts of research, development and teaching for Europe in its most inclusive definition, exploring the potential of electronic publishing. Furthermore, EURODL presents scholarly work and solid information about open, distance and e-learning, education through telematics, multimedia, on-line learning and co-operation. The language of publication is English, with an abstract in the author's chosen language. Additionally, there is an option to publish the originally submitted paper's identical copy in another language; however, this latter contribution is not refereed. The journal allows all the languages of Europe to appear, as the abstract and/or the optional contribution will be in the chosen language of the authors and will therefore extend e.g. from Lithuanian to German. The journal has a section of refereed articles that can be found on the "Current Issue" page and in the EURODL archive. Full-papers in English meeting basic requirements that are comparable to publishing in printed journals are published in this section. There is also a "Brief items" section, which is not refereed and which acts as a more accessible and informative section of project reports, work in progress, non-english contributions and the like. This supports communication within the EDEN membership as well as the European area. GEJOFEDE (Global E-Journal of Open, Flexible & Distance Education) The Global E-Journal of Open, Flexible & Distance Education aims at providing a forum for exchange, between the developed and the developing worlds, of ideas, innovations, research outcomes, best practices, development in print and non-print resource materials, and information on national/regional/international seminars/workshops/conferences in areas of open, distance, flexible, lifelong and e-learning at all levels of education. GEJOFEDE has four sections: conceptual and research papers, cases and innovations, print and software review, conferences and events. It is guided by an international advisory board, and is edited by a group of professionals from the field. It is published in February, June and October every year by the Society for Advancement of Flexible & Distance Education & Development (SAFED) (a not-for-profit society), Bhopal-India. The focus is largely on, but not restricted to, planning and management, innovations and change, and research and development in these fields. This internationally referred, contributed and abstracted journal is available mainly in electronic form. However, it is also available in paperback print form. IRRODL (International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning) The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning (IRRODL) is a refereed, open access e-journal that disseminates original research, theory, and best practice in open and distance learning worldwide. It is published by Canadian Institute of Distance Education Research at Athabasca University. IRRODL is available free-of-charge to anyone with access to the Internet. The purpose of this (International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning) referred, interactive, online journal is to contribute and disseminate to practitioners and scholars worldwide scholarly knowledge in each of three areas: theory, research, and best practice in open and distance learning. Because the aim of IRRODL to become the premier international journal of open and distance learning, it seeks high quality submissions in each of these three areas. In harmony with the open learning philosophy that distance education should serve to remote barriers to those who, given their geographical location, previous level of schooling, or other life circumstances would otherwise not be able to access distance education opportunities, subscriptions are free to -5-

11 TOJDE: Electronic Publishing and a Review of Ten Years Y. OZARSLAN, J. BALABAN-SALI & U. DEMIRAY individuals. JDE (Journal of Distance Education/Revue de l'éducation à Distance) The Journal of Distance Education is an international publication of the Canadian Network for Innovation in Education (CNIE). Its aims are to promote and encourage Canadian scholarly work in distance education and provide a forum for the dissemination of international scholarship. The aim of the Journal of Distance Education is to promote and encourage Canadian scholarly work in distance education and provide a forum for the dissemination of international scholarship. It is published at least three times a year by The Canadian Network for Innovation in Education (CNIE). Original material in either English or French is invited in three broad categories: Scholarly articles and research papers that focus on issues related to distance education; Reports that highlight unique solutions to critical problems, short descriptions of work underlying new or innovative programs or contemporary events, and brief notes on research in progress; and Dialogues devoted to the discussion or debate of issues in distance education that may arouse controversy. Also included here will be papers written in reply to articles published in earlier issues of the Journal. MJDE (The Malaysian Journal of Distance Education) The Malaysian Journal of Distance Education (MJDE) is devoted to the dissemination of information on the research and practices of distance education. MJDE was launched in December 1999 with the inaugural issue of Volume 1, Number 1 with an initial contribution from the academic staff members of the School of Distance Education, Universiti Sains Malaysia. The Journal is published bi-annually (June and December) by the Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, the publishing house of the Universiti Sains Malaysia. TOJDE (The Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education) The Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education (TOJDE) is an electronic scholar journal which publishes by Anadolu University, Eskisehir, Turkey, since January First two year it was published biannually. Then in 2002 carry on as quarterly. It is peer-reviewed international electronic journal (Demiray, 2003). Its publishing language is English. TOJDE carry on its publication life via sponsorship of Anadolu University. Its ISSN is TOJDE focuses on the issues and challenges of providing theory, research, and information services to students. Methodology For this research study The Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education (TOJDE) was selected. TOJDE is a quarterly, peer-reviewed international electronic journal which can be accessed online from the address In this study, content analysis and website analytics were used in order to achieve the research purposes. Firstly, content analysis was used in this study to investigate documents. There are two basic types of content analysis: Conceptual (looking to quantify and categorize objects) and semantic (looking to find and predict meaning) in the set of objects (Murphy & Ciszewska-Carr, 2005). The main goal of this conceptual content analysis was to find answers to following question: What are the publishing activities (research topics, methods, instruments, statistical methods, author numbers and their institutional affiliation) of TOJDE? Data for this study were obtained from the articles published in Turkish Online Journal of Distance -6-

12 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 1-25, 1 April, 2013 Education of volumes (1-11) 2000 to The articles are reviewed according to the selected criteria, and then these data were categorized according to existing or emerging themes. Most parts of the data were analysed using descriptive statistics, and presented with tables and figures. This study was also examined on analysis the performance of TOJDE website by using website analytics. Website analytics is an operational website management necessitates a way to track and measure visitors traffic, visitors behaviour and even more importantly how this behaviour compares to the expected behaviour (Ferrini & Mohr, 2009). The second goal of this study was to determine The Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education (TOJDE) website. The measuring includes tracking the traffic (number of visitors), and visitors activity while visiting the site in this study. Findings An Analysis of TOJDE TOJDE s interested fields are Economic, Social and Cultural Dimension of DE, Pedagogical, Political, Philosophical, Legal, Ethical Reflections in DE Organization in DE, Needs Assessment, Staff Training in DE, Program and Material Development in DE, Professional Experiences on DE, Financial Planning of DE, Learning Resources in DE, Digital Libraries and Virtual Universities, Guidance and Counselling, Communication, Multi Media Software, Web Technology, Internet, Network Software, Feedback Mechanisms, Measurement, Quality Control and Evaluation in DE, Production of Quality in DE, Performance Evaluation, Interaction, DE in the Future, DE and Globalization, Dynamism and Dimensions of DE in 21' Century, Virtual Reality and electronic publishing in DE. Table 1: Number of Editorial Board Members per Country (TOJDE, 2010) Countries # of Editors Countries # of Editors Turkey 17 United Kingdom 6 Hong Kong 1 Australia 5 Israel 1 Canada 4 Moldova 1 USA 4 Netherlands 1 India 3 New Zealand 1 Greece 2 Pakistan 1 Ireland 2 Philippines 1 Malaysia 2 Romania 1 South Africa 2 Russia 1 China 1 South America 1 Czech Republic 1 The Netherlands 1 France 1 Ukraine 1 TOJDE s Editorial Board consists of 69 members, representing a team of worldwide experts in Open and Distance Education. It s established by Turkish and foreign academicians who are expert in their field. Table 1 shows the number of editorial board members per country in TOJDE The site of TOJDE ( contains several of research articles, a detailed description of the editorial board, and links to past issues. There is also a call for papers, information about conferences, a list serve subscription opportunity as well as an opportunity to provide feedback to the writers of the journal. TOJDE consists of articles, reviews, and news sections. It particularly strives to meet the continuing education needs of practitioners and educators by providing a forum for the discussion of extended learning strategies, policies and practices, and trends in information technology as they impact the delivery of any kind of the student support services for distance learners and faculties. Articles may be theoretical, philosophical and/or quantitative analyses of distance education/open -7-

13 TOJDE: Electronic Publishing and a Review of Ten Years Y. OZARSLAN, J. BALABAN-SALI & U. DEMIRAY learning and teaching issues, and may take the form of case studies, research studies, or general interest reports. Book reviews, conference reports, literature reviews, news items, editor s note, announcements of conferences and publications, and letters to the editor etc. are also be allowed. Mission statement of TOJDE and its publishing values Mission statement Mission statement of TOJDE is Never Too Late, Read TOJDE Now and Please Inform Your Colleagues. Along with the mission statement, it is important to list the values which the TOJDE holds as an important philosophy of Online Journal Publishing. Publishing values of TOJDE are below: Readers' Needs Readers needs are at the top of the importance list of the TOJDE and this should be known by the readers. We will not forget who we serve. Quality Articles The TOJDE will, always, try to provide not only quality articles to its readers, but also tries to meet the readers' expectations. Quality Journal Staff The TOJDE will always value and prize those editors, reviewers and staff who have shown a willingness to provide the Quality publishing through their various levels of expertise. Community Share Service The TOJDE must try to show the community its commitment by sharing to its overall betterment. By committing to the previous three values, meeting this fourth value becomes a matter of record. In bringing quality post-secondary to the community this value is strategically met. Abstracting and indexing of TOJDE TOJDE is abstracted, indexed and cited by the following databases from around the world: The AERA SIG Communication of Research Australian Education Index-AEI The Directory of Open Access Journals-DOAJ The Education Resources Information Center-ERIC Education Network Australia-EdNA Elsevier ScienceDirect The Government Education Portal Higher Education Research Data Collection-HERDC Index Copernicus Ulrich s Periodicals Directory Vocational Education and Training Research Database-VOCED Webometrics Ranking of TOJDE They intend to motivate both institutions and scholars to have a web presence that reflect accurately their activities. If the web performance of an institution is below the expected position -8-

14 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 1-25, 1 April, 2013 according to their academic excellence, university authorities should reconsider their web policy, promoting substantial increases of the volume and quality of their electronic publication. Table 2: Rank of Universities of Turkey (Top 10) Position World University Size Visibility Rich Files Scholar Rank 321 Middle East Technical University Bilkent University Boğaziçi University Istanbul Technical University 1, Hacettepe University 1, , Ankara University Anadolu University 1, ,023 1, Sabancı University 1, Gazi University 962 2, , Dokuz Eylül University 1,219 3, ,264 Since 2004, the Ranking Web is published twice a year (January and July), covering more than 20,000 Higher Education Institutions worldwide (Webometrics Ranking of World Universities, 2011). Rank of universities of Turkey is presented in Table: 2. Webometrics bases its ranking of institutional websites on four indicators as defined below: Visibility (V) The total number of unique external links received (inlinks) by a site can be only confidently obtained from Yahoo Search, Live Search and Exalead. Size (S) Number of pages recovered from four engines: Google, Yahoo, Live Search and Exalead. Rich Files (R) After evaluation of their relevance to academic and publication activities and considering the volume of the different file formats, the following were selected: Adobe Acrobat (.pdf), Adobe PostScript (.ps), Microsoft Word (.doc) and Microsoft Powerpoint (.ppt). These data were extracted using Google, Yahoo Search, Live Search and Exalead. Scholar (Sc) Google Scholar provides the number of papers and citations for each academic domain. These results from the Scholar database represent papers, reports and other academic items. Since, an online journal has many in links and has many references in Google Scholar, it helps promoting the ranking. For instance, number of inlinks to major websites of Anadolu University reveals such a -9-

15 TOJDE: Electronic Publishing and a Review of Ten Years Y. OZARSLAN, J. BALABAN-SALI & U. DEMIRAY situation as can be seen on the Table: 3. Almost, 11% of the inlinks come from TOJDE as of July Table 3: Impact of the Web Page TOJDE for Webometrics Ranking Measures of Anadolu University Web Pages (Host under anadolu.edu.tr) Inlinks (The total number of unique external links received) 18,781 anapod.anadolu.edu.tr 453 eogrenme.anadolu.edu.tr 1,214 yunusemre.anadolu.edu.tr 457 tojde.anadolu.edu.tr 2,516 bildiri.anadolu.edu.tr 53 Impact of publications reached from websites for webometrics ranking measures of Anadolu University are listed in Table: 4. TOJDE s own website is the biggest impact for reaching to the publications. Table 4: Impact of Publications Reached from Websites for Webometrics Ranking Measures of Anadolu University Web Pages Number of Publications (Host under anadolu.edu.tr) 54 tojde.anadolu.edu.tr 433 bildiri.anadolu.edu.tr 101 mm.anadolu.edu.tr 52 home.anadolu.edu.tr 190 ietc2008.anadolu.edu.tr 150 Other 231 Total 979 Table: 5 shows visibility rank of web pages host under Anadolu University. All web pages offer online services to users. TOJDE website that provides 0.4% visibility rank to reach for Anadolu University. Table 5: Visibility Rank of Web Pages Host under Anadolu University Index Copernicus Value of TOJDE Web Pages Visibility (Host under anadolu.edu.tr) iolp.anadolu.edu.tr 43.3% aofburo.anadolu.edu.tr 17.2% mail.anadolu.edu.tr 14.7% orgun.anadolu.edu.tr 8.6% eogrenme.anadolu.edu.tr 5.7% aofkayit.anadolu.edu.tr 2.4% aof.anadolu.edu.tr 2.0% e-gazete.anadolu.edu.tr 1.2% orgunx.anadolu.edu.tr 0.8% spk.anadolu.edu.tr 0.8% aof20.anadolu.edu.tr 0.4% aofmail.anadolu.edu.tr 0.4% esertifika.anadolu.edu.tr 0.4% oolp.anadolu.edu.tr 0.4% vakifbank.anadolu.edu.tr 0.4% tojde.anadolu.edu.tr 0.4% Index Copernicus (IC) is a journal indexing, ranking and abstracting site. This service accepts peer-review and tracks manuscripts online and builds up relations with authors, reviewers and readers as well as increasing the international awareness of a journal. For journals indexed in Current Contents Index Copernicus Value (ICV) calculations are based on the following formula. Base Points (BP) are converted into 10 points Total Basic Score (TBS), then:9+[(tbs) (IF)] -10-

16 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 1-25, 1 April, 2013 (where IF=impact factor value). This formula ensures that the journals indexed at Current Contents a have minimum ICV of=9 points. For the rest of journals which are not indexed in Current Contents TBS=ICV (Index Copernicus, 2011). Table: 6 shows Index Copernicus Value of TOJDE. Table 6: Index Copernicus Value of TOJDE Year TUR ISSN: Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education (TOJDE) 2428 TUR ISSN: Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education (TOJDE) 2119 TUR ISSN: Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education (TOJDE) 1286 TUR ISSN: Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education (TOJDE) 832 TUR ISSN: Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education (TOJDE) 778 TUR ISSN: Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education (TOJDE) Index Copernicus Value ICV: 5.57 ICV: 5.08 ICV: 5.76 ICV: 5.84 ICV: 5.68 ICV: 3.37 Publishing Activities of TOJDE ( ) Number of published articles types by year in Table 7, number of published articles by year, volume and number in Table 8, number of authors per article in Table 9, number of authors per articles types, year, volume and number in Table 10 and number of countries per year in Table 11 are presented below. Table 7: Number of Published Articles Types by Year ( ) Articles Types Articles Notes for Review Grand Total Years Editor Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Grand Total Total 422 articles, 56 notes for editors and 104 reviews published during the years As can be seen in Table 7 total article numbers appear to be increasing in recent years. In Tuncay, Keser and Uzunboylu s (2010) study also stated that publishing documents numbers increased over the years in TOJDE. Total number of published articles types over a ten years period from are summarized in Figure: 1. Figure 1: Total number of published articles types by year ( ) -11-

17 TOJDE: Electronic Publishing and a Review of Ten Years Y. OZARSLAN, J. BALABAN-SALI & U. DEMIRAY Figure 2: Number of published articles types per year ( ) Over a ten years period from , single authored articles have the biggest part 232 (55%) of published articles, as can be seen in Figure 3. Table 8 revealed author numbers per articles in TOJDE. Figure 3: Author numbers per article ( ) Figure 4: Author numbers per years ( ) Table 8: Author Numbers per Article ( ) Number of Author Grand Total Years Grand Total

18 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 1-25, 1 April, 2013 Author numbers per year in period of time shown in Figure: 4. Author number per articles types also can be seen in Figure 5. Figure 5: Author numbers per articles types ( ) Number of countries contributed to publications per year in period of time as shown in Table 9. Most of the article submission comes from Turkey, and USA, India, Nigeria, Malaysia, Pakistan, Australia, Canada, UK, Bangladesh, Greece, and Iran, respectively. USA is in second place in the table. The reason is Turkish graduate students continue to study in American universities and sent to TOJDE their articles on behalf of their own universities. Table 9: Number of Countries per Year ( ) Countries Grand Total Australia Austria 1 1 Bahrain 1 1 Bangladesh Belgium 1 1 Botswana 1 1 Brazil Canada China 1 1 Czech Republic 1 1 Egypt Eritrea Ethiopia 1 1 Finland 2 2 France 1 1 Germany Ghana Greece India Indonesia Iran Israel Italy Jordan Lesotho Lithuania 1 1 Malaysia Mexico 1 1 Nigeria Northern Cyprus Turkish Republic Norway

19 TOJDE: Electronic Publishing and a Review of Ten Years Y. OZARSLAN, J. BALABAN-SALI & U. DEMIRAY Pakistan Philippines Republic of Korea 1 1 RM Moldova 1 1 Romania Saudi Arabia South Africa Sri Lanka Swaziland 1 1 Switzerland 1 1 Thailand 1 1 Turkey Uganda 1 1 UK USA Grand Total Figure 6: Number of Articles from Countries ( ) Figure 6 shows the number of published articles from countries in period of time in TOJDE. Authors contributed to publications from wide geographic area. There is intense interest to TOJDE from throughout Asia except USA, Canada and Australia shown in Figure 7. Figure 7: Number of articles from Asia ( ). -14-

20 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 1-25, 1 April, 2013 Table 10 shows authors country/institutional affiliation which indicates that most studies published by TOJDE carried out universities whose research field is open and distance education. Table 10: Number of Authors Country/Affiliation ( ) Country /Affiliation # Of Authors Argentina 1 Ar-Tesol Esp 1 Australia 17 Central Queensland University 5 Charles Sturt University 2 Deakin University 1 Macquarie University 2 Monash University 1 Open Learning Consultant 2 Rmit University 1 University of South Australia 1 University of Southern Queensland 2 Austria 1 Graz University 1 Bahrain 1 Bahrain University 1 Bangladesh 12 Agricultural University 1 Bangladesh Open University 8 Bangladesh Agricultural University 1 Dhaka National Medical College 1 Presidency University 1 Belgium 1 Vrije Universiteit 1 Botswana 1 University of Botswana 1 Brazil 2 University of São Paulo And President Of 1 Brazilian Association For Distance Education Valley of The Green River University 1 Canada 15 Athabasca University 6 British Columbia Institute of Technology 1 Canadore College 1 Centre For Distance Education Athabasca University 1 Consultant Cgi 1 Memorial University of Newfoundland 1 Nipissing University 1 Umbc 1 University of Ottawa 1 West Valley College 1 China 1 Open University of Hong Kong 1 Czech Republic 1 Charles University Prague 1 Egypt 3 Mansoura University 1 South Valley University 1 University of Mansoura 1 Eritrea 1 Eritrea Institute of Technology 1 Ethiopia 1 Haramaya University 1 Finland 2 South Carelia Polytechnic 1 University of Oulu Utsjoki 1 France 1 The Centre For Advanced Learning Technologies 1 Insead Fontainebleau Noir Sur Blanc 2 Germany 2 Fern Universität 2-15-

21 TOJDE: Electronic Publishing and a Review of Ten Years Y. OZARSLAN, J. BALABAN-SALI & U. DEMIRAY Ghana 1 University of Ghana 1 University of Ghana 10 Greece 2 Democritus University of Thrace 2 Hellenic Open University 2 T.E.I. of Kavala 3 University of Macedonia 1 University of The Aegean Department Of Education Rhodes 29 India 1 Amity University 1 Anna University 1 Ciefl 13 Indira Gandhi National Open University 1 Jawaharlal Nehru University 2 Kota Open University 1 M.J.P. Rohilkhand University 1 Maharashtra Open University 1 Maharshi Dayanand University 2 Panjab University 1 Regional Centre 1 St. Xavier`s College 1 Strıde Ignou 1 University of Jammu 1 Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University 5 Indonesia 5 Universitas Terbuka 9 Iran 1 Azam Rastgoo Islamic Azad University 2 Great Persian Encyclopedia Foundation 1 Islamic Azad University 1 Jahrom University of Medical Sciences Jahrom 1 Tehran University 3 University of Tehran 2 Italy 1 University of Florence 1 University of Salento 2 Jordan 2 Philadelphia University 2 Lesotho 2 National University of Lesotho 1 Lithuania 1 Vytautas Magnus University 23 Malaysia 1 International Islamic University 1 Ipoh Teacher Training Institute 1 Multimedia University 1 National University of Malaysia 2 Open University Malaysia 5 Universiti Kebangsaan 4 Universiti Sains 1 Universiti Teknologi Mara 4 Universiti Utara 1 University Technology Mara (Uitm) 1 University Tun Abdul Razak 1 Wawasan Open University 1 Mexico 1 University of Guadalajara 24 Nigeria 9 Covenant University 7 National Open University of Nigeria 1 Obafemi Awolowo University 1 School Of Education 1 University of Ado-Ekiti 2 University of Ibadan 1 University of Ibadan 2 University of Ilorin 8 Northern Cyprus Turkish Republic 6 Eastern Mediterranean University 2 European University of Lefke 4-16-

22 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 1-25, 1 April, 2013 Norway 4 Lillehammer University College 20 Pakistan 8 Allama Iqbal Open University 1 National University of Modern Languages (Numl) 3 Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University 1 Preston University 6 The Islamia University of Bahawalpur 1 University of Arid Agriculture 2 Philippines 1 Mindanao Polytechnic State College 1 University of The Philippines Open University 1 Republic of Korea 1 Language Center 1 Rm Moldova 1 State University of Moldova 3 Romania 3 Al. I. Cuza University 4 Saudi Arabia 3 King Fahd University 1 King Saud University 2 South Africa 2 National University of Lesotho 2 Sri Lanka 1 Open University of Sri Lanka 1 The Open University of Sri Lanka 1 Swaziland 1 University of Swaziland 1 Switzerland 1 University of Italian 1 Thailand 1 Kasetsart University 137 Turkey 8 Abant İzzet Baysal University 5 Akdeniz University 58 Anadolu University 1 Ankara University 2 Atılım University 1 Balıkesir University 1 Boğaziçi University 1 Camp Rumi Technology Literacy Group 7 Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University 2 Dicle University 3 Eskişehir Osmangazi University 2 Gazi University 13 Hacettepe University 2 İstanbul University 2 Karadeniz Technical University 4 Kırıkkale University 7 Marmara University 1 Mersin University 4 Middle East Technical University 1 Pamukkale University 2 Sakarya University 4 Selçuk University 1 Uludağ University 1 University of Marmara 1 Yıldız Technical University 3 Zonguldak Karaelmas University 1 Uganda 1 Makerere University of Uganda 15 UK 2 City University 1 Havering College of Further And Higher Education 3 Open University 1 The Open University of Sri Lanka 1 Umbc 1 University of Central England 2 University of Leicester 1 University of Manchester 1-17-

23 TOJDE: Electronic Publishing and a Review of Ten Years Y. OZARSLAN, J. BALABAN-SALI & U. DEMIRAY University of Oxford 1 University of Plymouth 1 University of Sunderland 37 USA 1 Arizona State University 1 Brigham Young University 2 Cameron University 2 Clayton College & State University 1 Director Enterprise Applications Globeranger.Com Dallas-Texas 2 East Carolina University 1 Education Development Center 2 Fairleigh Dickinson University 2 Florida State University 1 Founder And Vice President For Technology & Coordination 1 Indiana University 1 Managing Consultant, Editor in-chief of E-learn Magazine 1 New Jersey Institute of Technology 1 Rowan University 1 Samford University 1 Slis Indiana University 2 Southern Illinois University 1 State University of New York 3 Texas State University 1 Texas Tech University 1 Umbc 1 University At Albany 2 University of Alaska Fairbanks 1 University of Illinois 1 University of Maryland University College 1 University of Phoenix 1 University of The Pacific 1 Walden University 1 Grand Total 413 Classification of Research Areas in Distance Education The published studies topics are listed in Table 11. This study used some parts of Zawacki- Richter s (2009) classification of research areas in DE. Inductive coding facilitated for trying to identify patterns in the data and establish categories. After close readings of studies and consideration of the multiple meanings that are inherent in the studies, topics of studies are added to the category where they are relevant. Learner and instructor experiences of online learning environment; information about the system and programme; economic, social and cultural dimension of DE, and pedagogical, political, philosophical, legal, ethical reflections in DE are top four research topics in TOJDE. Table 11: Number of Studies by Topic ( ) Year Research Topics Grand Total Information about the system/programme Economic, social and cultural dimension of DE Pedagogical, political, philosophical, legal, ethical reflections in DE Organization in DE Needs Assessment, staff training in DE

24 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 1-25, 1 April, 2013 Program and material development in DE Digital libraries and virtual universities Guidance and counselling/support Communication, multimedia software, web technology, Internet, network, software, feedback mechanisms Performance evaluation, measurement, quality control, evaluation, production of quality in DE Interaction, DE in the Future DE and globalisation, dynamism and dimensions of DE in 21' Century Virtual reality and electronic publishing in DE Technological factors in DE Learner and instructor experiences of online learning environment Instructional design in DE Problems and challenges in DE Grand Total The studies are reviewed for their research paradigm. Numbers of research paradigms used in studies are given in Table: 12. The analysis indicated that most of the studies are quantitative research paradigm in distance education studies (also in Figure: 8.). Figur 8: Total number of research paradigms used in studies published -19-

25 TOJDE: Electronic Publishing and a Review of Ten Years Y. OZARSLAN, J. BALABAN-SALI & U. DEMIRAY Table 12: Number of Research Paradigms used in Studies Published ( ) Grand Total Quantitative Qualitative Mixed Grand Total The studies are also reviewed for their research instruments. Numbers of instruments used in studies published are listed in Table 13. Some articles pointed out more than one data collection tools, so they were listed more than one times under different headings. Most of the studies collect data by document analysis. In addition, survey, scale and interview are preferred instruments in distance education studies. Table 13: Number of Instruments Used in Studies Published ( ) Gran d % Total Observation , Test ,68 Survey ,23 Scale ,68 Document ,09 Interview ,64 Case study ,91 Reflection paper 1 1 0,23 Focus group ,59 Evaluation form ,45 Grand Total Numbers of statistical methods used in studies published are listed in Table 14. Descriptive statistics are the most used statistical analysis in distance education studies. Content analysis (13,7%), variance analysis (9,8%), and t-test (6,8%) are also used in published studies. Table 14: Number of Statistical Methods used in Studies Published ( ) Gra nd Tota l Descriptive ,27 Variance ,83 analysis Covariance analysis 1 1 0,43 Correlation ,27 Regression ,85 Chi-Square ,99 Mann-Whitney U Test 1 1 0,43 Narrative analysis 1 1 0,43 Content analysis ,68 Factor analysis ,56 t-test ,84 Fisher LSD 1 1 0,43 Grand Total % -20-

26 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 1-25, 1 April, 2013 Analysis of TOJDE s Website TOJDE website contains several of research articles; a detailed description of the editorial board, links to past issues, a call for papers; information about conferences and a list serve subscription opportunity as well as an opportunity to provide feedback to the writers of the journal. It is well laid-out and organized into logical sections with easy navigation. As seen in Figure 9, 10 and 11 show that hits and visitors by day. 31,498 visitors around the world have visited TOJDE website with 823,129 hits August February Time Users Stay on Site This report answers on the question: how long users stay on site? It's calculated for all people visited more than one web page. TOJDE website received an average 4000 hits daily, as can be seen in Figure 9. It received between users per day (visitors by day, Figure 10) and has taken request over 800 daily. Figure 9: Hits by day (August February 2011) Figure 10: Visitors by day (August February 2011) Figure 11: Requests by day (August February 2011) -21-

27 TOJDE: Electronic Publishing and a Review of Ten Years Y. OZARSLAN, J. BALABAN-SALI & U. DEMIRAY Users preferred to visit TOJDE website in weekdays, with activity tending to peak at Thursdays. Despite visitors tend to decrease at weekends Figure 12 shows that daily demand did not less than Figure 12: Most busy days of week (August February 2011) User Profiles User profile here is defined as set of unique pages visited in one time. Most Common User Paths display most popular paths of users on TOJDE presented Table 15. Table 15: Most Requested Directories (August 2010-February 2011) Path Content Hits Percent / Tojde Homepage ,36% /editors/ Tojde's Editorial Board ,35% /tojde40/ Tojde Volume: 11 Number: ,68% /tojde2/ Tojde Volume: 1 Number: ,17% /tojde4/ Tojde Volume: 2 Number: ,45% /tojde1/ Tojde Volume: 1 Number: ,76% /tojde41/ Tojde Volume: 12 Number: ,66% /tojde39/ Tojde Volume: 11 Number: ,40% /tojde8/ Tojde Volume: 3 Number: ,75% /tojde3/ Tojde Volume: 2 Number: ,43% Country Visitors Come From Visitors to TOJDE website come from all over the world as stated in study of Reddy Y (2005). Table 16 presents over 31,498 people visit this website in August 2010-February 2011 time period. TOJDE publishes by Anadolu University, Turkey. Despite most of hits comes from Turkey, a large part of users visited from USA, China, India, France and UK. Table 16: Visitors Country (August 2010-February 2011) Country Hits Visitors Visitors (%) Turkey ,12% United States ,42% India ,02% China ,68% United Kingdom ,73% Malaysia ,70% Canada ,27% Philippines ,88% -22-

28 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 1-25, 1 April, 2013 Germany ,74% Russian Federation ,24% Netherlands ,53% Pakistan ,22% Iran, Islamic Republic of ,59% Nigeria ,71% Australia ,94% France ,37% Indonesia ,54% Greece ,60% Spain ,47% Egypt ,24% Senegal ,04% Bangladesh ,22% Poland ,73% Korea, Republic of ,40% Japan ,66% Saudi Arabia ,28% South Africa ,38% Taiwan, Province of China ,31% Thailand ,30% Others ,67% Conclusion This paper focuses the analyses in distance education research in TOJDE over a ten-year period from 2000 to 2010, and visitor s activity while visiting the TOJDE website. The authors reviewed 422 peer-reviewed articles by using content analysis. Their user s activity on the site measured via using web analytics. Analysis of the data indicated that themes such as learner and instructor experiences of online learning environment; information about the DE system; economic, social and cultural dimension of DE, and pedagogical, political, philosophical, legal, ethical reflections in DE are dominate in recent years in TOJDE. Research in the areas of virtual reality, electronic publishing, digital libraries, programme and material development, problems and challenges in DE appear to be less common. More than three-fourths of the articles preferred quantitative research paradigm as their methodology. Furthermore, half of the articles used document analysis, 20% of articles used survey as their data collection tools and half of the articles used descriptive statistics as their statistical methods. In review of research in distance education, 1990 to 1999, research methodology used in DE research for four journals (The American Journal of Distance Education (United States), Distance Education (Australia), the Journal of Distance Education (Canada), and Open Learning (United Kingdom), three-fourths of the articles used descriptive research (Berge & Mrozowski, 2001). Most of the article submission comes from Turkey, USA, India, Nigeria, Malaysia, Pakistan, Australia, Canada, UK, Bangladesh, Greece, and Iran. Although single authored articles are prevalent, collaborative studies tend to increase in recent years. Zawacki-Richter, Bäcker and Vogt (2009) revealed that there is a significant positive trend for multiple author articles. After website analysis, most popular paths of users on TOJDE are TOJDE homepage, TOJDE s editorial board and TOJDE volume 11, number 4. Visitors to TOJDE website come from all over the world. Despite most of hits comes from Turkey, a large part of users visited from USA, China, India, France and UK. This kind of reviews can be used to increase the quality of future research studies and the results -23-

29 TOJDE: Electronic Publishing and a Review of Ten Years Y. OZARSLAN, J. BALABAN-SALI & U. DEMIRAY may affect research areas in DE in the future. For instance; virtual reality, digital libraries and programme development, problems and challenges issues can be examined in the further studies. In addition, this analysis can be useful for seeing the full picture of TOJDE and prospective researchers can use the results to identify priority areas and to explore potential research directions. References Alptekin-Ogzertem, Y. (2000). Eğitim için Internet, Internet için eğitim: Elektronik iletişim ve etik [Internet for education and education for Internet: Electronic communication and ethics]. Berge, Z. L. & Mrozowski, S. (2001). Review of research in distance education, 1990 to The American Journal of Distance Education, 15(3), Bishop, A. P. (1995). Scholarly journals on the net: A reader's assessment. Library Trends, 43(4), Cipriano, M. S. & Ruth, L. (2000). Ethics of electronic publishing. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. hics/ethicsofelectronicpublishing.html Demiray, U. (2003). Electronic publishing and academic dialogue between academicians via online journals in the new millenium: A case of TOJDE. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology (TOJET), 2(2), Article: 3. Ferrini, A. & Mohr, J. J. (2009). Uses, limitations, and trends in web analytics. In B.J. Jansen, A.Spink, and I. Taksa. (Eds.). Handbook of research on web log alaysis (p ). London: IGI Global. Index Copernicus. (2011). Retrieved 1 May, 2011 from Jones, S. L. & Cook, C. B. (2000) Electronic journals: Are they a paradigm shift? The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 5(1). lecontents/volume52000/no1jan00/electronicjournalsaretheyaparadigmshift.aspx Kling, R. & McKim, G. (1999). Scholarly communication and the continuum of electronic publishing. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 50, Ludwick, R. & Glazer, G. (2000). Electronic publishing: The movement from print to digital publication, The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 5(1). Retrieved N/TableofContents/Volume52000/No1Jan00/ElectronicPublishing.html Murphy, E., & Ciszewska-Carr, J. (2005). Contrasting syntactic and semantic units in the analysis of online discussions. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 21(4), Reddy Y, L.N. (2005). An analysis of E-journals in open and distance education from Mega Open Universities. The European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning. Retrieved from Rosenberg, V. (1994). Will new information technology destroy copyright? The Electronic Library, 12(5) Schauder, D. (1994). Electronic publishing of professional articles: attitudes of academics and implications for the scholarly communication industry. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 45(1), TOJDE. (2010). TOJDE's editorial board and editors' addresses. Retrieved from Tenopir, C. (1995). Authors and readers: The keys to success or failure for electronic publishing. Library Trends, 43(4), Tonta, Y. (1997). Elektronik yayıncılık, bilimsel iletişim ve kütüphaneler [Electronic publishing, scientific communication and libraries]. Türk Kütüphaneciliği, 11(4),

30 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 1-25, 1 April, 2013 Tuncay, N., Keser, & Uzunboylu, H. (2010). If knowledge is power why keep it secret? Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2, Valauskas E. J. (1997). First monday and evaluation of electronic journals. The Journal of Electronic Publishing, 3(1). Retrieved from Webometrics Ranking of World Universities (2011). Rank of universities of Turkey. Retrieved from Zawacki-Richter, O. (2009). Research areas in distance education: A delphi study. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, (10)3, Zawacki-Richter, O. Bäcker, E. M. & Vogt, S. (2009). Review of distance education research (2000 to 2008): Analysis of research areas, methods, and authorship patterns. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning (10)6,

31 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 3(1), pp , 1 April, 2013 Available online at Students Opinions about Virtual Science and Technology Museum and Article history Received: Received in revised form: Accepted: Educational Interface Agent Alparslan DURMUŞ * Department of Primary Education, Mevlana University, Educational Faculty Ahmet MAHİROĞLU Department of Educational Sciences, Gazi University, Technical Education Faculty The objective of this study is to analyze the opinions of the sixth year primary school students about the Mineral Research and Exploration Institute Virtual Science and Technology Museum and Battery Friend Educational Interface Agent developed by the researcher. In this descriptive qualitative research the study group is composed of the 6th year students at education and teaching season at a Primary School located in Kırşehir city center. This study showed that the students those utilized The Energy Park Virtual Museum with or without the support of educational interface agent both they liked The Energy Park Virtual Museum, planned to utilize again and thought that utilizing these kinds of environments in learning process will affect their successes positively. Moreover it is found that most of the students those utilized educational interface agent supported environment expressed their positive opinions regarding utilization of educational interface agents in learning environments. Key words: Virtual science and technology museum, Educational Interface agent, Learning companion, Student opinion Introduction Museums are seen as a basic institution of the contemporary modern societies. International Council of Museum Icom (2007) describes the museums as institutions those are permanent and open to the public and those are on the community and its development s service without any profit making purpose and those are gathering, protecting, researching, transferring and exhibiting mankind s and its environment s moral and material heritage with educational, studying and entertainment purposes. Moreover, museums can be described also as the institutions in which the objects related with nature, history, art and scientific merits are keep, protected, analyzed and exhibited (Maccario, 2002). When the Museum Science examined in detail it will be seen that the purpose of the museums is not only maintaining, studying or doing science but the museums are also education institutions too. Museums instruct its visitor spontaneously when they are visiting museums (İlhan, 2009). As it can be seen from the descriptions of museum, one of the most important mission of museums is to keep mankind s moral and material heritage while education is another mission that is as important as this mission. In last two century museums education role have showed a significant evolution that must be underlined. At the beginning of 19 th century it was underlined that educating and instructing visitors were included to the establishment purposes of the museums (Greenhill, 1999). Researches show that different activities presented outside of the formal education resources in informal learning environments such as museums make learning more effective (Hannu, 1993). * Correspondence.: Mevlana University. Educational Faculty Department of Computer and Instructional, Yeni İstanbul Street Konya, Turkey, [email protected]

32 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 26-39, 1 April, 2013 Museums and Internet The most important technological improvement emerged in twentieth century is shown as the emergence of the internet technology. Internet is a powerful environment as well as it is a popular environment. With the emergence of this technology people s life styles and learning types have changed (Young, Huang & Jang, 2000). Increasingly more establishments showed increasing interest to be in the online environment and started to develop their web sites (Pastore, 2008). Digital technology presented various opportunities to the museums about presentation and protection of their collections. One of these presented opportunities is public s access to the collections of the museum in any time. If these collections can be digitalized they can access these collections via internet (Stephen, 2003). With spreading internet technology significant numbers of museums have started to establish their own web sites since Museums web sites can be used as a marketing device to attract potential visitors and as an education medium before or after museum visits (Pastore, 2008). Virtual Museums There is a new quest in twentieth century to define and for emphasized specifications of museums. Interactive media and virtual museums are introduced an alternative to maintain roles of the conventional museums (Kaplan, 2006). Virtual museums are real museums presentation in computer and internet environment with image transfer and access technologies. Virtual museums are virtual environment collections of pieces to be presented. Digitalized pieces to be presented in virtual museums can be pictures, drawings, photographs, animations, graphics, voice records, video fragments, newspaper articles, interviews and digital databases. In other words virtual museums can contain every material that can be stored digitally (Patterson, 1997; McKenzie, 1997). With 21 st century s fast developing technology museums get their shares from these change and developments and adopted themselves to virtual environment. Today any individual from his/her home and work or any student from his/her classroom can visit a museum at virtual environment actually that is at the other side of the world (Ermiş, 2010).With the sight of these definitions Horton (2006) defined the difference between the real and virtual museums as virtual and real museums are same in large extent. The only difference between them is that the place in which gathered objects exhibited is an online area can be viewed by web explorers instead of a building made of granite or marble. Together with electronic learning environments especially web based learning environments become widespread a seeking started to increase e-learning environments efficiency. One of the solutions presented to increase the e-learning environments efficiency is the integration of the e-learning environments with the educational interfaces. Definition of the Educational Interface Agents The need to educational interface agents had emerged with widespread e-learning environments (Moreno, Mayer, Spires and Lester, 2001). Researches in software technology go in the way to realize some of the interaction between the computer and human by means of interface agents (Maes, 1994). Interface agents are computer programs those help user to fulfill his/her duties to be made by computer. These agents, unlike the conventional computer programs, can act autonomously at the users place. In other words, without having to click enter or mouse button user s desired mission is done by the agent (Dehn & Van Mulken, 2000). Educational interface agents are defined as graphical characters help learning as a social model in asynchronous lectures. Agents can be human, animal and even can be nonliving creatures and they can be seen at the great part of the screen in e-learning environments and can be used for different purposes. Making explanations, giving tips, providing feedbacks or taking attentions of the students to the important constituent on the screen can be included in educational interface agents intended purposes (Clark&Lyons, 2010). Establishing inter human interactions and not missing out efficiency of this interaction is emphasized by social representation theory (Moreno at all, 2001). According to the social representation theory inter human social relationship must be established between the computer and student at e-learning environment. -27-

33 Students Opinions about Virtual Science and Technology A.DURMUŞ & A. MAHİROĞLU According to this theory it is emphasized that establishing a visual and verbal relationship with the learner will establish a relationship between computer and learner that resembles inter human social relationship (Atkinson, Mayer and Merrill, 2005). In e-learning environments to establish rich learning experiences with students human-like special characters were developed and incorporated into learning environments (Johnson, Rickel and Lester, 2000). Roles and Classifications of the Educational Interface Agents Educational interface agents are classified into different types according to their roles in the software. Chou, Chan and Lin (2003) states that the roles of the educational agents used in the software are establishing the social concept in the e-learning environment by being visually in the software or providing support within the software to develop the communication between users to advanced levels. Chan (1995) had stated the educational interface agents as educational software and underlined that their roles are to facilitate realization of social learning environments in computers. He emphasized that in order to narrate agent s characteristic reactions to the student texts, graphics, signs, voices, animations, multi environment or virtual reality can be used. He stated the purpose of creating a social environment by using agents in software as either transferring the information directly to the student or creating the required motivation for students to get the information. Educational interface agents can be classified into various types according to their roles and missions and can be designed according to a specific educational aim with the inclusion social learning activities. Classification of the educational interface agents is shown at Table 1. There are two basic applications of the educational interface agents. These are defined as Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) and Learning Companion System (LCS) (Chou, Chan and Lin, 2003). These applications can be summarized as: In ITS systems educational interface agent is the authorized teacher of the face to face education activity. In this case educational agent is a teacher simulant that acts as field specialist, private teacher, coach or adviser (Sleeman and Brown, 1982; Cited by Chou, Chan and Lin, 2003). On the other hand LCSs are as an alternative to one to one learning include learning activities based on cooperation and competition. In LCS systems Learning partner, companion student, student simulant and artificial student terms are used by different researchers to indicate an unauthorized pedagogical agent created by a computer. Moreover some LCSs can include both teacher simulant and learning partner together (Chou, Chan and Lin, 2003). Table 1: Classification of the Educational Agents (Quoted from Chou, Chan and Lin, 2003) Educational Agent Pedagogical Agent Authoritative Teacher Tutor, Coach, Guide Learning Companion or Co-learner or Simulated student Competitor Collaborator Tutee Peer tutor Troublemaker Critic Clone Individual Assistant Teacher s Assistant Student s Assistant Although in the literature there are there are plenty of various studies in various fields related with the usage of pedagogic interface agents in e-learning environments, there are limited numbers of studies related with the usage of pedagogic interface agents in virtual museums. -28-

34 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 26-39, 1 April, 2013 Purpose General aim of this study is by using General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration (MRE) Energy Park Virtual Science and Technology Museum and Battery Friend Pedagogical Interface Agent to analyze the opinions of the students about virtual museum and pedagogic interface agent who use learning environments including and don t including pedagogic interface agent. According to this aim the following study questions answers will be researched. 1. Students who utilize Educational Interface Agent aided and not-aided MRE Energy Park Virtual Science and Technology Museum: a. What are their satisfaction scores and general evaluations about Virtual Museum? b. What are their appreciated characteristics of the virtual museum? c. What are their disliked characteristics of the virtual museum? 2. Students who utilize Educational Interface Agent aided MRE Energy Park Virtual Science and Technology Museum: a. What are their satisfaction scores and general evaluations about Pedagogic interface agent? b. What are their appreciated characteristics of the Pedagogic interface agent? c. What are their disliked characteristics of the Pedagogic interface agent? Method In this part information about the method of the study, the study group, the learning environment of The educational Interface Agent aided and not aided MRE virtual science and technology museum used in the study, the data collection tools and the data analyses are provided. This study is a qualitative research done to define elementary schools 6 th year students opinions and evaluations about the virtual science and educational interface agent who constitute the study group. Study Group It was decided to execute the study with 25 students from 6A and 6B classes, 24 students from 6C class and 23 students from 6E class of Prof. Dr. Erol Güngör Elementary School located in Kırşehir city center in the year spring semester. Experiment and control groups formed with non-biased assignment. With non-biased assignment the students from 6A and 6E classes formed experiment group and the students from 6B and 6C classes formed control group. Of the 48 students formed experiment group 3 students did not attended the study and 4 student did not attended the last test then they excluded from the study and experiment group was considered to include 41 students. In the same way the control group which was constituted by 49 students, 9 students were excluded from the study because they did not attend the study and 14 students were excluded from the study because they did not attend the last test. Accordingly when the students who did not attend the study and who did not attend the last test were excluded from the study experiment group was composed of 41 students and control group was composed of 26 students. In the Table 2 students distribution according to the experiment-control groups and gender is shown. Table 2: Gender distribution of the students from the experiment and control groups. Group Experiment Group Control Group Total Gender Total f % f % Male 25 60,98 Female 16 39, Male 16 61,54 Female 10 38, Male 41 61,19 Female 26 38,

35 Students Opinions about Virtual Science and Technology A.DURMUŞ & A. MAHİROĞLU Learning Material Primarily content formed when MRE Energy Park Virtual Museum learning material was being developed. Virtual museum environment was designed after formation of the content and making required corrections according to opinions of natural science teachers. Physical structure of the MRE Energy Park Museum was transferred logically to the virtual environment in the design. MRE Energy Park Museum is composed of six physical galleries. Five galleries are in indoor area and in outdoor area there are reel devices used to produce energy in the past, running realistic miniatures and models those cannot be on display at indoor areas. In order for students to utilize the virtual museum more efficiently with the visions of pedagogical technologies field specialist and natural science teachers the virtual science and technology museum was composed of one main gallery and six sub-galleries as reflecting the structure of the reel museum. In the main gallery of the virtual museum formed to reflect the physical structure of The MRE Energy Park Museum students can move in line with the x-axis. Passages provided to the sub-galleries in which contents are displayed by the connections on the main gallery. The move line of the agent and places of the subgalleries in the museum is shown at Figure 1. Gallery 1 Energy Save Gallery 2 Fossil Fuels Gallery 3 Our Mines Gallery 4 Nuclear Energy Gallery 5 Renewable Energy Gallery 6 Outdoor Exhibition Area Moving Line of the Educational Interface Agent X-Axis Figure 1: General Form of the MRE Energy Park Virtual Science and Technology Museum In the design of the main gallery it was decided that movement on x-axis can be made by directional pad of the keyboard. Moreover, in the design of the main gallery it was given great importance to feel 3D by the students and be attractive for the students. The entrances of the sub-galleries are indicated by texts and striking graphics that presents content of the gallery. Figure 2: Main gallery of the MRE Energy Park Virtual Museum Students are given information, guidance and feedback by means of educational interface agent in the main gallery and sub-galleries of the pedagogic interface agent aided virtual museum learning environment. -30-

36 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 26-39, 1 April, 2013 Figure 3: Main gallery of The Educational Interface Agent aided Museum On the other hand in the virtual museum environment that does not have educational interface agent aid, informing, guidance and feedbacks are given by means of information boxes in the environment. Figure 4: Main Gallery of The Museum Without Aid of Educational Interface Agent Data Collection Tool The Feedback Form to define the opinions of the elementary school s 6 th year students about the Virtual Science and Technology Museum and Educational Interface Agent is developed by researcher with the opinions of specialists. The Feedback Form consists of three chapters including personal information, students opinions about virtual museum and educational interface agent. Data Analysis Descriptive analysis was used to analyze quantitative data. Descriptive analyses approach enables to organize data according to the themes revealed by study questions and enables to present them by considering the asked questions and dimensions (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2003). At this range frequency and percentage values are presented by making various coding with the data gathered by open ended questions. Moreover some student opinions are gives as sample. -31-

37 Students Opinions about Virtual Science and Technology A.DURMUŞ & A. MAHİROĞLU Results and Discussion 1.a.Experiment and Control Group Students Satisfactions and General Evaluations About Museum Environment The analyses about the opinions of the students that used the virtual museums those have and haven t pedagogic interface agent is shown at Table 3. Table 3: Satisfaction Facts of the Students about Their Study Environment Student Opinions (Frequency and percentage of the students those reported positive opinions) Did you enjoy your surf in the Energy Park Virtual Museum? Are you planning to use the Energy Park Virtual Museum again in the future? Do you want your other lectures be in an environment like Energy Park Virtual Museum? Do you think that studying lectures in an environment like Energy Park Virtual Museum will increase your success? Virtual Museum Environment that has P.I.A (N=41) Virtual Museum Environment that has not P.I.A (N=26) f % f % % of the students those utilized educational interface agent supported Energy Park Virtual Museum stated that they liked the environment. This situation showed that the virtual museum environment was accepted by the great majority of the students. Moreover percentage of the ones thinking to utilize this environment in the future is as high as 95.12% % of the students want similar environments to Energy Park Virtual Museum to be used in other lectures too % of the students think that similar environments to The Energy Park Virtual Museum will increase their success rates % of the students those utilized Energy Park Virtual Museum without the support of pedagogic interface agent liked the environment. Likely 92.30% of them are planning to use the environment in the future, desiring their other lectures to be studied in a similar environment like virtual museum and stating these kinds of environments will affect their success positively. In a study made by Gulz (2005) it virtual characters contributions to electronic learning environments and educational interface agents advantages of the social aspect provided to electronic learning environments was analyzed. Sample of the study was composed of 90 students between the ages of 12 and 15 and attending fine arts lectures in an elementary school in Sweden. Two different environments were developed for scenario based multi learning environment. In the first one the agent took the role of the teacher and in the second one agent took the role of the learning companion namely student simulant. 80 percent of the students who asked their opinions regarding the pedagogic interface agent content of the learning environment expressed a positive opinion. Remaining ones stated relatively negative opinions. 21 percent of the students stated that the educational interface agents make the learning environment more enjoyable and interesting. 11 percent of the students stated that usage of the educational interface agent brings advantage in learning the learning content namely with the usage of the agent they will learn more they stated. Seven students expressed their opinions as usage of the agent will prevent students from becoming alone. 1.b. Experiment and Control Group Students Favorite Museum Environment Characteristics In Table 4 the range of the opinions of the Educational Interface Agent Supported Virtual Science and Technology Museum used students regarding the satisfactory characteristics of the environment they used is shown. -32-

38 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 26-39, 1 April, 2013 Table 4: Students Favorite Characteristics about the Environment of Educational Interface Agent Supported Virtual Museum Characteristic f % Giving Lectures Doing tests Touring in Museum The sing at the dolmush Giving lectures with voice Generally museum Giving information in an enjoyable manner The topic about nuclear energy Working with computer The enjoyable environment Battery friend educational interface agent Learning the natural sciences and fuel types Battery friend s giving lectures Lecturing the content visually Asking questions after giving information Used visuals Some of the students in experiment group stated that they liked more than one characteristic of the environment; thus the sum of frequency exceeded 41. Students studied in educational interface agent supported environment stated that they liked most lectures (%31.91), test solving (%10.64), touring in the museum physically (%8.51), the sing used in the introducing animation (%6.38) and taking lectures by voice (%6.38). Some of the students opinions about the most liked characteristics of the museum are stated below. Giving lectures nicely. I liked the sing at the bus. There are information that I didn t know. I think it was fruitful. I liked its informing us because we are learning something and I think entering to energy park is very beneficial. It gives us information about energy. Its being educative and informative and being entertaining. I liked surfing in virtual museum very much. Everything explained visually. Hearing everything from a voice. It is very enjoyable and asks questions after he told information to us. I liked the sing very much. I liked expressions and visuals. I liked its being enjoyable for children and I liked to run it myself. In Table 5 the range of the opinions of the students those used Virtual Science and Technology Museum without The Educational Interface Agent support regarding the satisfactory characteristics of the environment they used is shown. Table 5: Students Favorite Characteristics about the Environment of Virtual Museum without The Support of Educational Interface Agent Characteristic f % Giving Lectures Touring in the museum Test solving Generally museum

39 Students Opinions about Virtual Science and Technology A.DURMUŞ & A. MAHİROĞLU Lecturing the content visually Working with computer It is Entertaining Preparing for exams It is colorful The students who used the environment without the support of the educational interface agent stated their most liked things in the museum as; giving lectures (%46.67), touring in the museum (%16.67), test solving (%13.33) and generally the museum (%6.67). Some of the students opinions about the most liked characteristics of the museum are stated below. Very nice, it helps me when I have difficulties to understand. I liked this site very much. I learned too many new things. There great amount of informations. It helps our lectures, learning and exams. All things about it are very nice, entertaining and didactic. I solved tests entertainingly because it is colorful. The explanations are very nice. Touring the museum. It is seen that the opinions of the students about the museum s favorite characteristics resemble each other for both the experiment and control groups. Conveying the content of the museum has a very high enjoyment rate for both environments. Moreover test questions in the practice sessions in environments are liked too much. At the same time it was another characteristic that was liked by the students is that students can tour in the museum physically with or without the support of educational interface agent in both environments. Moreover museum s being designed with a rich visual content increased the enjoyment of the students. 1.c. The Museum s Disliked Characteristics by The Students from the Experiment and Control Groups The range of the opinions of the students those used The Educational Interface Agent Supported Virtual Science and Technology Museum used regarding the disliked characteristics of the environment they used is shown In Table 6. Table 6: The students opinions about the disliked Characteristics of the Environment of the Virtual Museum with the Support of Educational Interface Agent that they use Characteristic f % None It is limited Battery Friend Questionnaire Exercises are composed of fixed questions (%75.61) of the students those studied in the educational interface agent supported environment stated that there is not any feature that they disliked. Besides, four students stated that they disliked the limited software and three students stated that they disliked the battery friend. The questionnaire that must be filled after the experimental activity and the test questions fixed feature those asked in application session of the museum were some of the disliked features of the museum. Some of the opinions stated by the students about the disliked features of the museum are stated below. There isn t any disliked characteristic but it will be better if it is more detailed and it involves more information. There is nothing that I dislike. I think all the information in the virtual museum is useful. We solved the same questions every time. It must be more comprehensive. All lectures must be as a site like this. Battery friend s slow walk. -34-

40 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 26-39, 1 April, 2013 The range of the opinions of the students those used The Virtual Science and Technology Museum without the Support of Educational Interface Agent regarding the disliked characteristics of the environment they used is shown In Table 7. Table 7: The students opinions about the disliked Characteristics of the Environment of the Virtual Museum without the Support of Educational Interface Agent that they use Characteristic f % None It is limited Entrance to museum is difficult The sing The last test was difficult (%76.92) of the students that studied in the environment without the educational interface agent stated that there wasn t anything that they disliked. Three students stated that they disliked the limited range of the museum and one each disliked Difficult entrance to the museum, The sing and Difficultness of the last test. Some of the opinions stated by the students about the disliked features of the museum are stated below. I liked everything. Nothing, everything is very nice. Fast ending of it. The test was difficult. The difficulty in entering the energy park museum % of the experiment group and 76.92% of the control group students stated that there was nothing that they disliked. The limited range of the environment was constituted a disliked feature of the museum by four experiment group students and three control group students. However the limited range of the museum is related with the effort to design the virtual environment to reflect the museum and to define the effect of the agent to add the experimental environment. Diversifying the applications to enrich the environment and presenting different applications for their every entering to the environment and using different presentation forms of the content such as videos or short animations can be helpful for later studies to eliminate the deficiencies stated by the students. 2.a. Experiment Group Students Opinions and Evaluations About Educational Interface Agent In order to obtain the opinions of the experiment group students about educational interface agent a feedback form prepared and applied to students via web. The range of the obtained opinions after the content analysis done on obtained quantitative data is presented as frequency (f) and percentage (%) below. The opinions of the experiment group students about the educational interface agent are shown in Table 8. Table 8: The opinions of the experiment group students about the educational interface agent Questions Evet Hayır f % f % Did you like battery friend? Did battery friend help you while you touring the museum? (85.37%) of the students that used educational interface agent supported environment stated that they liked the agent and 6 of them (14.63%) stated that they disliked the agent. At the same time 38 of the students (92.68%) stated that the battery friend helped in their touring in the museum and 3 of them (7.32%) stated that the agent did not help them. This situation shows that the educational interface agent was liked by the great majority of the students. Moreover students think that educational interface agent helps them. -35-

41 Students Opinions about Virtual Science and Technology A.DURMUŞ & A. MAHİROĞLU 2.b. Battery Man Educational Interface Agent s Features Those are Liked By The Experiment Group Students In Table 9 the range of the opinions of the students those worked with educational interface agent supported virtual science and technology museum about the features of the agent those they satisfied with. Table 9: The Opinions of the Experiment Group Students about the Features of the Educational Interface Agent Those They Liked Characteristic f % It moves - Walks It helps- It says students what to do It makes suggestions Talks nicely Its look It looks sympathetic It gives information It comes by dolmush It is an appropriate character to energy park It reads out information Some of the students from experiment group stated that they liked the educational interface agent but they did not give an explanation about which characteristic of the agent that they like. Thus sum of the frequency is less than % (n=9) of the students studied with educational interface agent stated that they liked its moving - walking, 25.81% of them (n=8) liked its helping to them saying them what to do making suggestions, 19.35% of them (n=6) liked its nice talk, 9.68% of them liked its sympathetic appearance and 6.45% of them (n=2) liked its giving information. Moreover one each student stated that they liked its coming to museum with dolmush, its being an appropriate character to the energy park and its reading out the information. The analysis showed that students liked to tour the character in the virtual museum. This situation may increase the admiration of the students towards the environment by making the museum more enjoyable. As it is seen on the table the students were very pleased by the agent s making explanations to them. 2.c. Battery Man Educational Interface Agent s Features Those are Disliked By The Experiment Group Students In Table 10 the range of the opinions of the students those worked with educational interface agent supported virtual science and technology museum about the features of the agent those they disliked with. Table 10: The Opinions of the Experiment Group Students about the Features of the Educational Interface Agent Those They Disliked Characteristic f % Walks Slowly Talks too much It must help more It doesn t look nice Its talks must be more explanatory Most of the students stated there isn t any feature of the agent that they disliked. Two each students (28.57%) its slow walk and talking a lot and one each students stated that they disliked (14.29%) it s not being more helpful, its unpleasant look and its speech not being more explanatory. Conclusion and Suggestions The Energy Park Virtual Museum that was developed under the concept of this study and can be reached via internet was designed Flash based for visual attractiveness to be high by utilizing the real -36-

42 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 26-39, 1 April, 2013 pictures of the museum in line with the content of The Energy Park Museum. The Battery Friend educational interface agent that is included by the working environment in which the experiment group students studied is designed as an asexual cartoon character. Battery friend educational interface agent provides information to students in learning environment about how can they utilize the learning environment, can vocalize the content optionally, gives reinforce and companions them while they are touring the museum. This study showed that the students those utilized The Energy Park Virtual Museum with or without the support of educational interface agent both they liked The Energy Park Virtual Museum, planned to utilize again and thought that utilizing these kinds of environments in learning process will affect their successes positively. Moreover it is found that most of the students those utilized educational interface agent supported environment expressed their positive opinions regarding utilization of educational interface agents in learning environments. The conclusions obtained according to the study evident are shown below: 1. It was seen that opinions of the students those utilized virtual museum environment with or without the support of educational interface agent regarding the learning environment were generally positive. The students those studied in either learning environments stated that they liked to tour in the virtual museum, they were planning to utilize the museum again, they asked the designation of the environments like this for other lectures too and they thought these kind of environments will affect their successes in a positive manner. In Kızılkaya s (2005) study done with the sixth year students, the students stated that they are happy with studying in educational interface agent supported learning environment and this environment is very enjoyable. However on the other hand the students those studied in the environment without educational interface agent underlined that the environment was boring and routinized. Lester et al. (1997) in an experimental study involving an environment in which a plant design will be done with an educational interface agent named Herman the Bug stated that the students studying with educational interface increased their motivations. However they also underlined that studying in interactive environments those did not contain educational interface agent have also positive effects on the motivation of the students too. In the same study it is stated that well designed educational interface agents have positive effects on affective behaviors. Maldona and Nass (2005) state that educational interface agents make learning environments more enjoyable and it has a positive effect on the performances of the students. Both of the learning environments those has and has not newly designed battery friend educational interface agent are interactive and include different characters providing social concept along with the educational interface agent. In a study on years old 90 primary school students by Gulz (2005) 80% of the students stated that it is a good idea for pedagogic programs to include educational interface agents. The results obtained from this study show consistency with the previous studies % of the students those utilized the e-learning environment that include Battery Friend educational interface agent stated that they liked touring in energy park virtual museum and they are planning to utilize the energy park virtual museum in the future and also 92.68% of them stated that they want their other lectures to be done in an environment like Energy Park Virtual Science and Technology Museum. Obtained results showed that students are satisfied with The Virtual Science and Technology Museum Including educational interface agent and their general evaluations are positive. The students utilized both environments stated that they are very satisfied with the environment. This situation may be resulted from the fact that in the environment that doesn t include the Battery Friend educational interface agent there are different characters resembling the one in the environment including agent. This situation may be resulted with the close resemblance of the satisfaction levels of the environment with and without the agent. It can be said that the satisfaction levels of the students those utilized e-learning environments those are pedagogically convenient, well designed and supported with the educational interface agent will be high. It can also be said that utilization of the multi and single educational interface agents may have a contribution on the satisfaction levels of the users and usage of the convenient interface agents in e-learning environments to be designed may increase the student satisfaction and consequently may have a positive effect on the success of the students. 2. Most of the students (75.61%) those studied in the educational interface agent supported virtual museum environment said that they are satisfied with the learning environment. This result coincides with the -37-

43 Students Opinions about Virtual Science and Technology A.DURMUŞ & A. MAHİROĞLU previous similar studies (Sanghoon, 2005; Gulz, 2005; Kim, 2007; Kim&Baylor, 2006). Some of the most liked features were its lecturing, test feature, touring in the museum virtually, the sing at the entrance and its teaching the lecture vocally. These defined features by the students coincide with the underlined features of the previous similar studies (Mısırlı, 2007; Kale, 2003). Students show its limited range as the feature that they disliked (9.76%). 3. The students those studied with the virtual museum environment without educational interface agent stated similar satisfaction levels with the experiment group students. This situation overlaps with the study of Mısırlı (2007) % of the control group students stated there isn t any feature that they aren t satisfied with. Lecturing and touring in the museum were the features those are liked most by the students of control group. Students of the control group stated the limited content of the virtual museum as the disliked feature similarly as the experiment group students did. It can be said that the features stated by the students coincided with the results obtained by Mısırlı (2007). 4. Most of the students those studied in the virtual science and the technology museum with the educational interface agent support stated that they liked the educational interface agent and it helped them in their tour in the museum. This result coincides with the previous studies done with the e-learning environments in which educational interface agents used (Gulz, 2005; Moreno et al., 2005; Moundridou&Virvou, 2002 and Moreno, 2001). Some of the most liked features of the educational interface agent were sated as its moving walking, helping saying what to do making suggestions, nice talking and looking beautiful. The features those were disliked by the students presented primarily as its slow walk and its too much talking. The results of the study showed that utilization of the educational interface agents in e-learning environments have positive effects on the satisfaction levels of the students. This fact coincides with the other studies done in the field. With this concept utilization of educational interface agents can be suggested for e-learning environments or virtual museums to be designed. Moreover more comprehensive content of the virtual museums to be designed will have positive effects on the satisfaction levels of the students. Regarding with the educational interface agent design, designation of the agents those have more human-like features, those look like as if they were alive and those move naturally will affect the satisfaction levels of the students about the agents. Acknowledgements This study is generated from the doctorate thesis of A. DURMUŞ titled as The Effects Of Educational Interface Agent Usage in Virtual Science and Technology Museum on the Interests and Successes of Students. References Atkinson R. K., Mayer R. E. and Merrill, M. M. (2005). Fostering Social Agency in Multimedia Learning: Examining The Impact Of An Animated Agent's Voice. Contemporary Educational Psychology. 30, Chan, T. W. (1995). A Tutorial on Social Learning Systems. In Emerging Technologies in Education, T. W. Chan, & J. Self (Eds.), AACE. Chou, C. Y., T. W. Chan, Lin, C. J. (2003). Redefining The Learning Companion: The Past, Present, and Future of Educational Agents. Computers & Education, 40(3), Clark, R. C. and Lyons, C. (2010). Graphics for Learning: Proven Guidelines for Planning, Designing, and Evaluating Visuals in Training Materials, Pfeiffer. Dehn, D. M. and Mulken, S. V (2000). The Impact of Animated Interface Agents: a Review of Empirical Research. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 52(1), Ermiş, B. (2010). İlköğretim 6.Sınıf Öğrencilerinin Görsel Sanatlar Dersinde Üç Boyutlu Sanal Müze Ziyareti Etkinliğine İlişkin Görüşleri. Yayınlanmamış Yüksek Lisans Tezi, Gazi Üniversitesi Eğitim Bilimleri Enstitüsü, Ankara Greenhill, E. H. (1999). Müze ve Galeri Eğitimi (Çev. M. Ö. Evren ve E.G. Kapçı), Ankara: Ankara Üniversitesi Çocuk Kültürü Araştırma ve Uygulama Merkezi Yayınları. -38-

44 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 26-39, 1 April, 2013 Hannu, S. (1993). Science Centre Education. Motivation and Learning in Informal Education. Research Report 119. Unpublished Ph.D Thesis. Helsinki University Department of Teacher Education. Finland. Horton, W. (2006). E-learning by design. San Francisco: Pfeiffer. Icom (2010). Museum Definition. Available at İlhan, A. Ç. (2009). Educational studies in Turkish museums. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 1(1), Kaplan, F., E., S. (2006) Making and remaking national identities. In S. Macdonald (Ed.), A companion to museum studies (pp ). Oxford: Blackwell. Kızılkaya, G. (2005). Eğitsel Arayüz Ajanı İle desteklenmiş eğitim yazılımının ve cinsiyetin başarı üzerindeki etkisi.yüksek Lisans Tezi, Hacettepe Üniversitesi, Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü, Ankara Maccario, N. K. (2002). Müzelerin Eğitim Ortamı Olarak Kullanımı. Uludağ Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi XV(1). Maes, P. (1994). Agents that reduce work and information overload. Communications of the ACM, 37(7), Mckenzie, J. (1997). Building A Virtual Museum Community. Available at Moreno, R., Mayer, R. E., Spires, H. A., & Lester, J. C. (2001). The Case For Social Agency in Computer- Based Teaching: Do Students Learn More Deeply When They İnteract With Animated Pedagogical Agents? Cognition and Instruction, 19(2), Moreno, R., Mayer, R. E., Spires, H. A., & Lester, J. C. (2001). The Case For Social Agency in Computer- Based Teaching: Do Students Learn More Deeply When They İnteract With Animated Pedagogical Agents? Cognition and Instruction, 19(2), Pastore, E. M. (2008). Access To The Archives? Art Museum Websites and Online Archives in Public Domain. Unpublished Master s Thesis, The faculty of the Graduate School of the State University of New York. Patterson, R. T. (1997). Assignment of World Wide Web virtual museum projects in undergraduate geoscience courses. Computers & Geosciences, 23(5), Stephen, A. (2003). Intrinsic Information in the Making of Public Space. Space and Culture, 6(3), 309. Yıldırım, A. ve Şimşek, H. (2003). Sosyal Bilimlerde Nitel Araştırma Yöntemleri (3.baskı). Ankara: Seçkin Yayıncılık. Young, S. S. C., Huang, Y. L., & Jang, J. S. R. (2000). Pioneering a web-based science museum in Taiwan: Design and implementation of Lifelong Distance Learning of Science Education. Educational Technology Research and Development, 48(1),

45 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 3(1), pp , 1 April, 2013 Available online at Effect of Computer Animation Technique on Students' Comprehension of the "Solar System and Beyond" Unit in the Science and Technology Course Article history Received: Received in revised form: Accepted: Key words: Solar System and Beyond, Computer Animation Technique, Simulation, Science and Technology Gokhan AKSOY * Department of Primary Education, Ataturk University, Erzurum The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of computer animation technique on academic achievement of students in the 'Solar System and Beyond' unit lectured as part of the Science and Technology course of the seventh grade in primary education. The sample of the study consists of 60 students attending to the 7th grade of primary school under two different classes during the academic year. While the lectures in the class designated as the experiment group were given with computer animation technique, in the class designated as the control group Powerpoint presentations and videos were utilized along with the traditional teaching methods. According to the findings, it was determined that computer animation technique is more effective than traditional teaching methods in terms of enhancing students' achievement. It was also determined in the study that, the Powerpoint presentations and related videos used together with the traditional teaching methods provided to the control group significantly help the students to increase their academic achievement. Introduction Learning and teaching activities in the education and training process have an important role in presenting permanent information to students. In order to enable students to learn better, their advanced mental process skills have to be developed. In other words, the skills needed in order to create solution for problems and learn by comprehension instead of memorizing have to be given to students. Therefore an effective science education has to be provided in school. Accordingly, in science education teaching the skills for reaching information is much more important to providing the available information to students (Black, 2005; Karaçöp, 2010, Kim, Yoon, Whang, Tversky & Morrison,2007; Wu & Shah, 2004). In this context, there are various methods used in science education in order to enable the topics to be better comprehended. In this study, technology-aided education (computer animations) and traditional education methods supported with Powerpoint presentations and related videos were utilized. In technology-aided education, visual materials such as animations, animated pictures and multimedia software have a great importance. Use of computer animations and simulations has a significant effect in teaching the abstract topics of science and technology courses. Use of computer animations together with teaching methods and techniques and having the students actively participate to the process ensure the provision of an effective and efficient education (Daşdemir & Doymuş, 2012; Karaçöp, 2010). The developments experienced in information technologies brought the use of computer technologies in the learning-teaching environments into prominence. Developments in computer technologies make it possible for the educators to teach by using graphics, videos, simulations and animations together with written texts. In multimedia learning environments, students are given verbal materials (such as texts, stories, etc.) in addition to pictorial materials (static materials including photographs and displays or dynamic materials such as animations and videos) (Aldağ & Sezgin, 2002). Although verbal forms are used commonly, there is evidence showing that students' comprehensions can be enhanced with the addition of visual forms (Mayer & Moreno, 2002; Serin, 2011). Animations are the most known kind of pictorial forms. Computer animation * Correspondence: Department of Primary Education, Ataturk University, Erzurum, [email protected]

46 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 40-46, 1 April, 2013 is the rapid display of a sequence of pictures on computer screen. Animations have three characteristics. These are the pictures, display of certain movements and simulation (Weiss, Knowlton & Morrison, 2002). Also salience and briskness have an important place in animations. Animations should correspond to the context of the topics, otherwise animations may become distracting and the intended objectives cannot be achieved with the use of animations. Briskness in animations reifies comprehension of abstract topics (Ploetzner, Lippitsch, Galmbacher, Heuer & Scherrer, 2009; Sweller, 2005; Tezcan & Yılmaz, 2003; Vermaat, Kramers-Pals & Schank, 2004). The Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of computer animation technique and the traditional teaching methods on the academic achievement of students receiving the solar system and beyond unit of the 7 th grade science and technology course. Also answers to the following sub problems were searched within the frame of the study.solar System and Beyond unit topics are a) space consist of what, b) planets and stars, c) The Sun, d) meteor and meteorites. Sub problems: Does lecturing the topics of the 'solar system and beyond unit' with the utilization of computer animation technique create a statistically significant difference in terms of the academic achievement levels of the students, in comparison with the traditional teaching methods? When implementing the traditional teaching methods, are Powerpoint presentations and videos effective in increasing students' academic achievement? Method In order to compare the effect of two different teaching techniques on the academic achievement levels of students within the scope of the "solar system and beyond" unit given in the 7th Grade science and technology course, pre-test and post-test control group pattern was utilized in this study (McMillan & Schumacher, 2006). Implementing quasi-experimental research involves several classes or schools that can be used to determine the effect of curricular materials or teaching methods. Participants The sample of the study is constituted by a total of 60 students in two different classes and attending to the 7th grade of primary school during the academic year. While one of the classes was designated as the Experiment Group (n=30; (17 female, 13 male students)) where computer animation techniques were to be implemented, the other was designated as the Control Group (n=30; (16 female, 14 male students)) where traditional teaching methods were to be implemented. The study was continued in all three groups for four weeks. The study continued for a period of four weeks for both of the groups. The works in both of the groups were carried out by the same researcher. Data Collection Tools Academic Achievement Test (AAT) was used as the data collection tool in order to determine students preknowledge and postknowledge concerning the "solar system and beyond" unit. Academic Achievement Test (AAT) The Academic Achievement Test (AAT) was designed with the purpose to measure student attainments intended by utilizing primary education science and technology curriculum and textbooks concerning the topics of the unit, "solar system and beyond". The test was examined by 2 expert lecturers and 2 science and technology teachers (attending to the 7th grades) in terms of distribution of the questions to the topics included and after the necessary corrections were made and inadequacies were rectified the AAT was arranged as 20 multiple choice questions. After making the corrections, the AAT was applied to 54 eight grade students, who were previously taught the unit, in two different classes in order to determine the reliability of test measurements. The reliability coefficient (with Cronbach alpha) of the AAT was -41-

47 Effect of Computer Animation Technique on Students' Comprehension G. AKSOY determined to be 0.63.After that, the AAT was applied to both experiment and control groups in two stages as pre-test and post-test for determining the change in academic achievement. The Study In this part, information concerning the lecturing process of the participating students is presented. Teaching with computer animation technique Solar System and Beyond unit topics are a) space consist of what, b)planets and stars, c) The Sun, d) meteor and meteorites. The animations and simulations concerning the Solar System and Beyond unit were obtained from several websites. Distributions of these animations and simulations according to student attainments in the Solar System and Beyond unit, and the related website addresses are presented in Table 1. In addition to the animations and simulations, programs such as 3D Solar System, Solar System 3D Simulator, Interactive 3D Solar System Simulation were downloaded from the internet and utilized in the education of the students. Suitability of the animations to the contexts of the topics were examined by a lecture engaged in the area of science education and the researcher. On the other hand, examination of the use and technical characteristics of the animations were examined by a teacher in the area of computer teaching. The researcher provided the students with the basic information concerning the topics of the Solar System and Beyond unit along with the prepared animations. The animations were presented by means of a computer and a projector. During the courses incomprehensibleanimations were played again and the courses were completed by making class discussions. Lecturing of the topics included in the Solar System and Beyond unit was completed in four weeks. Table 1: Student attainments in the Solar System and beyond unit and the animations used in these attainments Student Attainments Observes celestial bodies with naked eye and distinguishes their features. Realizes that there are many more celestial bodies than those that can be observed with naked eye. Gives examples of the known constellations. Gives examples of comets. Distinguishes stars from planets during observation. States that also the Sun is a star. States that the distance between stars is expressed with a measure called as "light year". Explains the difference between meteors and meteorites. Puts the planets in the solar system to order according to their position with regard to the Sun. States that the distances of the planets in the solar system to the sun are expressed with a distance measure called as "astronomical unit" (AU). Comprehends that the planets in the solar system orbit on certain planes. Compares the planets in the solar system in terms of different features (size, number of satellites, whether or not they have rings, etc.) Prepares and presents a model representing the solar system. Prepares and presents a model demonstrating that the moon is the satellite of the earth. Gives examples to galaxies and comprehends their characteristics. Defines the universe outside of the Earth as "space" and specifies the position of the Earth. Animations URL-1; URL-2 URL-2 URL-3; URL-1 URL-4 URL-5 URL-6; URL-3 URL-7 URL-8 URL-9 URL-10 URL-11 URL-12; URL-1 URL-5 URL-3 URL-7 URL-9 Teaching with the Traditional Teaching Methods In the class designated as the control group, lecturing of the topics included in the Solar System and Beyond unit was realized according to the traditional teaching methods. In this class the lecture was given with the Powerpoint presentations prepared by the researcher and the videos downloaded from the internet. While the researcher performed the presentation, students listened and took notes. In addition to these, while teaching some of the topics the students were divided into groups of five and asked to present the topics as a group. Students continued their studies out of the class through textbooks and other sources provided by the researcher. During the lectures, students were asked questions at certain times and feedbacks were made according to their answers. Students were also given homework for studying the topics out of the class. At -42-

48 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 40-46, 1 April, 2013 the end of each lesson, the students were asked to read about the topics of the next lesson and be prepared for it. In the control group, lecturing of the topics included in the Solar System and Beyond unit lasted for four weeks. Lectures in both experiment and control groups were given by the researcher. Findings In this part, the findings obtained from examining the effects of the computer animations technique and the traditional teaching methods on the academic achievement levels of the students in the "Solar System and Beyond" unit of the 7th grade science and technology course are presented. The Academic Achievement Test (AAT) was implemented to the students included in both the experiment and the control group individually once before the lectures as pre-test and once after the lectures as post-test. The data obtained from independent t test analysis of the AAT pre-test and AAT post-test score averages are presented in Table 2. Table 2: Independent t test analysis of the point averages scored from AAT pre-test and AAT post-tests and impact magnitude values Experiment Group Control Group Tests X SD X SD t p AAT pre-test AAT post-test Examining the p values in Table 2 according to a significance level of 0,05 shows that there is no difference between the experiment and control groups in terms of the AAT pre-test scores obtained (p>.05). According to these data it is possible to assert that the foreknowledge on the topics of the Solar System and Beyond unit of the students in both groups were in the same level. On the other hand, examining the p values in Table 2 according to a significance level of 0,05 indicates the presence of a statistically significant difference between the experiment and control groups in terms of the AAT post-test scores obtained (p<.05). Examining the scores obtained from the AAT post-test implemented to both groups following the completion of the courses pointed out that a statistically significant difference between the two groups was established in terms of the students' academic achievement levels on the topics of the "Solar System and Beyond" unit (Experiment Group = 80.53; Control Group = 71.50). With this, it was determined that the experiment group was superior to the control group in increasing their academic achievements. In order to determine the level with which the groups increased their academic achievement levels by examining the pre-test and post-test results of each group separately, the data obtained from the matched group t test analysis of the point averages obtained by both of the groups from the pre-test and post-test are presented in Table 3. Table 3:Paired samplet test analysis of the AAT pre-test and AAT post-test point averages of both groups. AAT pre-test AAT post-test GROUPS X SD X SD t p Experiment Group Control Group With the examination of the AAT pre-test and AAT post-test point average data presented in Table 3, it was determined that the computer animation technique applied to the experiment group resulted in a significant difference in terms of increasing students' academic achievements concerning the topics included in the "Solar System and Beyond" unit. It was also determined from considering the AAT pre-test and AAT posttest point averages presented in Table 3 that, also the traditional teaching methods applied to the control group caused a statistically significant difference in terms of increasing student's academic achievements in -43-

49 Effect of Computer Animation Technique on Students' Comprehension G. AKSOY the "Solar System and Beyond" unit. However, with the examination of the p values, it was determined that the experiment group increased its academic achievements in a much greater level than the control group. Conclusions In this part the findings of the study were interpreted and discussed, and also some suggestions that may set light to the future studies concerning the techniques and methods used in this study were made. The teaching techniques, methods and tests used in the 7th grade "Solar System and Beyond" unit are presented below. With the examination of the data obtained from applying the AAT pre-test to both experiment and control groups, it was determined that the achievement levels of both of the groups were above 57%, and that there was no significant difference in the foreknowledge of the students of the two groups concerning the topics of the "Solar System and Beyond" unit (Table 2). It is believed that the absence of a significant difference between the foreknowledge of the experiment and control group was due to the fact that the students of both groups received the same education curriculum in the past. Also, high levels of foreknowledge in science and technology courses facilitate teaching, comprehension of related activities and experiments, and creation of solutions to the problems that may be experienced. It is also observed from other studies that the foreknowledge of students that received the same education curriculum are on the same level (Akdaş, Bulut & Yüksel, 2011; Aksoy & Doymuş, 2011; Doymus, 2007; Karaçöp, 2010; Zoldosova & Prokop, 2006). According to the findings obtained from the statistical analysis of the AAT post-test scores of the two groups, it was determined that a statistically significant difference was created in terms of increasing the groups' academic achievements in the related topics, in consequence of the implementation of the computer animation technique and the traditional teaching methods in teaching the topics included in the "Solar System and Beyond" unit of the 7th grade science and technology course. The experiment group was found out to be more successful than the control group in terms of the AAT post-test points (Table 2). Provision of additional information and the computer simulation programs provided together with the animations can be interpreted among the reasons why the students, on whom the computer animation technique was implemented, attained higher academic achievement levels than the students of the control group. The consideration that utilization of animations in this way as part of education is effective in teaching scientific facts, phenomena, concepts and principles was also set forth in other studies (Schank & Kozma, 2002). The findings of this study indicating that "computer animation technique enables higher academic achievement in comparison to traditional teaching methods is in line with the results of the previously conducted studies (Aydoğdu, 2006; Frailich, Kesner & Hofstein, 2009; Karaçöp, 2010; Özmen, 2008; Özmen & Kolomuç, 2004; Özmen, Demircioğlu & Demircioğlu,2009; Öztürk-Ürek & Tarhan, 2005; Sanger, Brecheisen & Hynek, 2001; Talib, Matthews & Secombe, 2005; Yang, Andre & Greenbowe, 2003). The questions asked by the researcher in order to reveal students' foreknowledge on the topics, answering the questions concerning the topics and the contents of the animations, class discussions held after the presentation of the animations and repetition of the incomprehensible topics, in addition to the provision of the animations and simulations are among the other reasons of how the students of the experiment group were more successful than the students of the control group. The finding that the use animation technique brings along a considerable difference in students' achievements is in line with the results of the previously conducted studies (Karaçöp, 2010; Kelly & Jones, 2007; Rotbain, Marbach-Ad & Stavy, 2008). It was determined that, after completion of the teaching activities both of the groups increased their academic achievement levels on the topics included in the scope of the study in terms of their AAT pre-test and AAT post-test point averages (Table 3). The p values provided in the table for the 7th grade science and technology course, "Solar System and Beyond" unit, indicate that the educative process were useful at high levels for both of the groups. The Powerpoint presentations made and videos shown in relation with the topic during the implementation of the traditional teaching methods can be shown as the reason how both of the groups benefited from the process at such high levels. The researcher's utilization of Powerpoint during the course enabled a planned and successive presentation of the topic, drawing the students' attention to the topics, enhancing students' levels of perception, teaching the lesson more efficiently and presentation of different information (Hakverdi-Can & Dana, 2012; Para & Reis, 2009). The techniques and methods that facilitate teaching the difficult topics in science courses are frequently -44-

50 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 40-46, 1 April, 2013 utilized in education environments. In this study, computer animation technique and the traditional teaching methods supported by Powerpoint presentations were used in order to facilitate teaching and learning of the topics included in the "Solar System and Beyond" unit. In order to obtain more effective and efficient results from the studies that will be conducted in the future with the computer animation technique, particular attention should be paid for ensuring that the animations are not distracting, suitable to the levels of the students and easily accessible by the students. It is my belief that, in future studies formation of data digital learning objects repository from where animations and simulations can be readily applied to the topics to be taught by the researchers will affect education activities positively and that it will be useful to repeat the concept of this present study on the social sciences course at primary education level and on physics and geography courses at high school level. References Akdaş, M., Bulut, M., & Yüksel, T. (2011).The Effects of Using Computer Animations and Activities about Teaching Patterns in Primary Mathematics. The Turkish Online Journal of Technology. 10(3), Aksoy, G., & Doymuş, K. (2011).Fen ve Teknoloji Dersi Uygulamalarında İşbirlikli Öğrenmenin Okuma- Yazma-UygulamaTekniğinin Etkisi. Gazi Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 31(2), Aldağ, H. & Sezgin,M.E. (2002). Multimedya uygulamalarında ikili kodlama kuramı. M.Ü. Atatürk Eğitim Fakültesi Eğitim Bilimleri Dergisi, 15, Aydoğdu, C. (2006). Bilgisayar destekli kimyasal bağ öğretiminin öğrenci başarısına etkisi. Bayburt Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 1(1), Black, A.A. (2005). Spatial ability and earth science conceptual understanding.journal of Geoscience Education, 53(4), Daşdemir, İ., & Doymuş, K. (2012). 8. Sınıf Kuvvet ve Hareket Ünitesinde Animasyon KullanımınınÖğrencilerin Akademik Başarılarına, Öğrenilen Bilgilerin Kalıcılığına ve Bilimsel Süreç Becerilerine Etkisi. Eğitim ve Öğretim Araştırmaları Dergisi, 1 (1), Doymus, K. (2007). Effects of a cooperative learning strategy on teaching and learning phases of matter and one-component phase diagrams. Journal of Chemical Education, 84(11), Frailich, M.,Kesner, M., & Hofstein, A. (2009). Enhancing students understanding of the concept of chemical bonding by using activities provided on an interactive website. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 46(3), Hakverdi-Can, M., & Dana, T.M. (2012). Exemplary ScienceTeachers Use of Technology. The Turkish Online Journal of Technology. 11(1), Karaçöp, A. (2010). Öğrencilerin elektrokimya vekimyasal bağlar ünitelerindeki konuları anlamalarına animasyon ve jigsaw tekniklerinin etkileri.yayımlanmamış DoktoraTezi, Atatürk Üniversitesi Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü, Erzurum. Kelly, R. M. & Jones, L. L. (2007). Exploring how differentfeatures of animations of sodium chloride dissolution affect students explanations. Journal of ScienceEducation and Technology, 16, Kim, S., Yoon, M., Whang, S.M., Tversky, B., & Morrison, J.B. (2007). The effect of animation on comprehension and interest. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 23, Mayer, R. E. & Moreno, R. (2002). Aids to computer-based multimedia learning. Learning and Instruction, 12 (1), McMillan, J.H., & Schumacher, S. (2006). Research in Education: Evidence- Based Inquiry.Sixth Edition. Allyn and Bacon, 517 p, Boston, MA. Özmen, H. Demircioğlu, H. & Demircioğlu, G. (2009). The effects of conceptual change texts accompanied with animations on overcoming 11th grade students alternative conceptions of chemical bonding. Computers & Education, 52, Özmen, H. & Kolomuç, A. (2004). Bilgisayarlı öğretimin çözeltiler konusundaki öğrenci başarısına etkisi. Kastamonu Eğitim Dergisi, 12(1), Özmen, H. (2008). The influence of computer-assisted instruction on students conceptual understanding of chemical bonding and attitude towards chemistry: A case forturkey. Computers & Education, 51,

51 Effect of Computer Animation Technique on Students' Comprehension G. AKSOY Öztürk-Ürek, R. & Tarhan, L. (2005). Kovalent bağlar konusundaki kavram yanılgılarının giderilmesinde yapılandırmacılığa dayalı bir aktif öğrenme uygulaması. Hacettepe Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 28, Para, D. & Reis, Z.A. (2009). Eğitimde Bilişim Teknolojileri Kullanılması: Kimyada Su Döngüsü. XI. Akademik Bilişim Konferansı Bildirileri.Harran Üniversitesi Şanlıurfa. Ploetzner, R.,Lippitsch, S., Galmbacher, M., Heuer, D. & Scherrer, S. (2009).Students difficulties in learning from dynamic visualisations and how they may be overcome. Computers in Human Behavior, 25, Rotbain, Y.,Marbach-Ad, G. & Stavy, R. (2008). Using a computer animation to teach high school molecular biology. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 17, Sanger, M. J.,Brecheisen, D. M. & Hynek, B. M. (2001). Can computer animations affect college biology students conceptions about diffusion & osmosis? The American Biology Teacher, 63(2), Schank, P., & Kozma, R. (2002). Learning chemistry through the use of a representation-based knowledge building environment. Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching, 21(3), Serin, O. (2011). TheEffects of the computer-based instruction on theachievement and problem solving skills of the science and Technology students. TheTurkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 10 (1), Sweller, J. (2005). Implications of cognitive load theory for multimedia learning. In R. E. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning (pp ). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press. Talib, O.,Matthews, R., & Secombe, M. (2005). Computer-animated instructions and students conceptual chance in electrochemistry: Preliminary qualitativeanalysis. International Education Journal, 5(5), Tezcan, H. & Yılmaz, Ü. (2003). Kimya öğretiminde kavramsal bilgisayar animasyonları ile geleneksel öğretim yönteminin başarıya etkileri. Pamukkale Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi. 14(2), URL-1, ( ). URL-2, ( ). URL-3, ( ). URL-4, ( ). URL-5, ( ). URL-6, ( ). URL-7, ( ). URL-8, ( ). URL-9, 313.html ( ). URL-10, ( ). URL-11, ( ). URL-12, ( ). Vermaat, H.,Kramers-Pals, H. & Schank, P. (2004). Theuse of animations in chemicaleducation. In Proceedings of the International Convention of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (pp ). Anaheim, CA. Weiss, R.E.,Knowlton, D.S. & Morrison, G. R. (2002). Principles for using animation in computer based instruction: Theoretical heuristics for effective design. Computers in Human Behavior, 18, Wu, H.K., & Shah, P. (2004). Exploring visuospatial thinking in chemistry learning. Science Education, 88, Yang, E.,Andre, T. & Greenbowe, T. J. (2003). Spatialability and the impact of visualization/animation on learning electrochemistry. International Journal of Science Education, 25(3), Zoldosova, K., & Prokop, P. (2006). Education in the field influences children s ideas and interest towards science. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 15 (3),

52 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 3(1), pp , 1 April, 2013 Available online at Approaches of elementary school students towards the lesson of Ataturk s principles and history of Turkish Revolution of the Turkish Republic (Sample of Kırşehir) Article history Received: Received in revised form: Accepted: Key words: Nationalism, Future Generations, survey model, Kırşehir, Education of Revolution History, Atatürk s principles Bengül Salman Bolat * Ahi Evran University, Education Faculty, Kirsehir, Turkey It can be said that French Revolution, broke out in 1789, affected Europe deeply in freedom, equality, particularly with the ideas of nationalism. New values were introduced with the nationalism. With the new symbols, national states sought to give the community a new identity. Within this new formation, political powers in the adoption by the community and in its efforts to provide legitimacy, transfer tools to future generations are extremely important. In this context, the teaching of history is of great importance. In this study, a field survey was conducted on the lesson called Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution which have aims such as being able to teach the stages of foundation of the Republic of Turkey and to transfer the information to future generations. In that study, it was also aimed to find out information about the methodology of the lesson which has great importance on the development of the consciousness of Nationalism and citizenship and about founder of Turkish republic Ataturk. In this study a survey model was used. The students, who were studying in Kırşehir in the academic years, set the population of the survey. To collect data in the survey, a questioner is used with the aim of discovering the opinions of the students about the course of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution. In the analysis, the t-test is used and the method of single factor variance analysis (ANOVA) and percentage frequency is used. Introduction Nationalism movement, which rapidly spread in the world after the French Revolution, caused the dispersion of empires and establishment of nation states (Özbudun, 1995; Hobsbawm, 1989). While these states were trying to establish their new orders, they chose to focus on national elements by receding from values, which enabled their association under empire, national subject or other names in the past. While the new states were trying to bring a national identity in their communities on one hand, they were trying to provide the legitimacy of their newly-established political order on the other. Some symbols, institutions and educational elements were used efficiently in an attempt to create a new identity and make an effort for legitimacy. (Özbudun, 1995). Elements such as flags, marches, national days, ceremonies constituted the symbols and national history lessons that started to be provided at schools conducted studies aimed at raising awareness through education (Behar, 1992; Salman Bolat, 2007). These developments, which initially were observed in the West, started to influence the Ottoman Empire, as well. Even though some other factors were effective upon the dispersion process of the empire, especially the nationalism movement generated the strongest reason. While the Ottoman Empire was trying to escape from its present condition, it necessarily had to string along with the * Correspondence: Ahi Evran University, Education Faculty, Kirsehir, Turkey, [email protected]

53 Approaches of elementary school students towards the lesson of B. Salman Bolat new world order and keep the people together with the help of the Ottoman Nationalism. However, no precaution could prevent the dispersion and downfall of the state. The Ottoman Empire joined the I.World War, which broke out between , with a last hope, but it receded from the stage of history with some part of Anatolia that remained at the end of this war and the Turkish nation. The Allied powers dissolved the Turkish existence in Anatolia and their purposes of sharing the lands were suppressed with the National Struggle. A brand new process started in Turkey in The Turks established their own national state, the Turkish Republic, at the end of the Independence War. Following this phase, different efforts were made in an attempt to create a brand new order instead of the system that had continued for centuries. As well as the revolutionary movements for abolishing all available institutions and constituting the new ones, the efforts for accepting and adopting these are also considerable. In this context, the education of recent history lessons at schools has a great importance. The period of National Struggle, foundation of the Republic and revolutionary movements that were performed started to be included in school books as from with this logic in Turkey. The narration of these subjects continued for many years with history lessons taught at secondary and high schools. The lesson became independent under the name of History of the Turkish Republic and Kemalism, as from the Military Intervention of 12 September 1980 afterwards (MEB, Tebliğler Dergisi, 1981). The leader staff of the intervention changed the name of lesson as the Revolution History and Kemalism of the Turkish Republic in 1982, in an attempt to rise a youth committed to the Kemalist thought (Özüçetin, Nadar, 2010). The lesson was transferred to instruction programs in 1986 and subjects regarding Kemalism were added to all of the lessons, such as Turkish, foreign language, sociology, philosophy, mathematics, geography, music, physical education, religious education with the new regulations (MEB, Tebliğler Dergisi, 1986). When the primary education became compulsory for eight years during the School Year of , the lesson of Revolution History and Kemalism of the Turkish Republic was included in the senior class. Making additions to the objectives, target behaviours and subjects of the lesson, some new regulations were performed (MEB, Tebliğler Dergisi,1999). Objectives of the Lesson of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution In general, the lesson of Atatürk s principles and history of Turkish Revolution; The issues of the last periods of Ottoman Empire, the projects of sharing Anatolia and the realization of liberation through National Struggle, the declaration of Republic and movements of revolution are steps taken towards the way of National State in Turkey. Accordingly, issues like the embracement, handing down the next generation and ensuring the pursuance of the Republic are considered as extremely important (Yılmaz, 2006; Acun, 2006). This course generally includes the teaching of issues like the sophisticated international problems of the period before the foundation of The Turkish Republic, how those problems were solved, the efforts of being a modern society and achieving democracy. Again, it aims to embrace them and hand down the next generations and keep the best place in contemporary world by preserving its value through this way (Akgün, 2004). In this context, the lessons of Citizenship and History are very important to fulfil these objectives, in relation with the regime and structure of the country. -48-

54 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 47-57, 1 April, 2013 Problems Regarding the Lesson of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution The studies performed on this lesson, which is taught in all educational phases of the Turkish educational institutions, indicate that problems generally center on the same subjects (Safran, 2006). In many studies; the fact that the lesson could not achieve a goal, it is considered a regime lesson, school books are inadequate, educational method, materials and Atatürk s ideas cannot be transferred efficiently and problems caused by teachers are generally emphasized (Akbaba, 2008). Considering from the aspect of the lesson objectives, learning and adopting these subjects is perceived as a civic responsibility. This condition caused the problems regarding the teaching of the lesson to centres around Kemalism and it was perceived as a regime problem, instead of pedagogical assessment. This condition obstructed the solution of problems regarding education (Safran, 2006; Akbaba, 2008). Another important problem regarding the lesson is caused by school books. The fact that books are not renewed in terms of both content and visual designment, references are not updated and new studies are not reflected forms the basis of this problem. (Ata, 2005). A teacher-centered method is generally used during the education of the lesson. Even though the necessity of a student-centered structure is expressed, the counselling of effective, qualified teachers who have adequate field information and are aware of new researches and studies is very important for the lesson of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution to achieve its goals. Besides, avoiding a political frame regarding the subjects, in other words, an objective approach constitutes a very important point for the lesson to achieve goals (Hanioğlu, 1985; Akbaba, 2008). Another important problem regarding the lesson of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution is that Ataturk cannot be comprehended sufficiently. There is a problem with the accurate transfer of the information about both Atatürk s life and thought system. Kemalism is transferred as a dogmatic ideology. Yet, Ataturk left a legacy for future generations under the guidance of reason and science (Öztürk, 2005). Aside from the logic of teaching the lesson subjects with a chronological ordering, Kemalism is approached in a way of establishing rules (Kalaycıoğlu, 1985). Lack or limitation of the material usage in addition to the teacher-centered method is another problem regarding the lesson. It is required to use the images more frequently, especially in relation with technological developments. Besides, the use of materials such as photographs, pictures, telegrams, documents is required, as well (Akbaba, 2008). Objective The objective of this study is to discuss problems and introduce new findings by taking other studies performed in relation with the lesson of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution that is taught in 8 th grades at middle schools as example. In the study, the province of Kırşehir, which was not examined before, was taken as the target population. Method In this study, a survey model was used on a group taken from the part of a large population as the method, in an attempt to come to a general conclusion regarding the population. The survey study aims to collect data in order to determine the features of a certain group (Büyüköztürk et al., 2009). The Basis and Sample of Survey The students, who were studying in Kırşehir in the academic years, set the population of the survey. And the sample of the survey consists of 148 eighth grade students who are attending -49-

55 Approaches of elementary school students towards the lesson of B. Salman Bolat Cacabey Primary School, İnönü Primary School, Hüsnü Özyeğin primary School, Vali Mithat Saylam Primary School in Kırşehir. The information about these students is listed at Table 1. Table 1: Information About The Students In Extent of The Survey N % N % Gender Province Girls Kırşehir Boys Total Educational Background of Father Educational Background of Mother Primary School 50 33,8 Primary School 85 57,4 Secondary School 37 25,0 Secondary School 34 23,0 High School 50 33,8 High School 29 19,6 University 11 7,4 University - - Total Total School Cacabey 35 23,6 İnönü 19 12,8 Namık Kemal 18 12,2 Hüsnü Özyeğin 36 24,3 Vali Mithat Saylam 40 27,0 Total The Data Collecting Tool To collect data in the survey, a questionary is used with the aim of discovering the opinions of the students about the course of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution. Firstly, the scale is finalized by taking the opinions of two professionals who work in the field of Educational Sciences in The University of Ahi Evran. Secondly the pilot scheme of the questionary is conducted in Kırşehir with 75 students who are not included in the major pool and the reliability coefficient is determined as 0,758. Later we had 5 teachers, who teach the course of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution in the eighth grade, read them and made the regulations according to the responses that came from the teachers. The final questionary consists of three sections. In the first section, the personal information of the students (gender, school, educational background of mother-father etc.) are asked. In the second section, they are asked to write a short composition about the life of Ataturk. And in the last section, there are 15 questions in the form of five point s likert that aim to discover the opinions of the students about the course of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution. Answer codes vary between 1, 00 and 5, 00 for each item. The intervals taken as base during the assessment of the obtained findings are as follows; Strongly agree-5,00 Usually agree- 4,00 No idea-3,00 Strongly disagree- 2,00 Disagree- 1,00 The Analysis of the Data In the analysis of the data that is collected by the data collection tool, packaged software of SPSS 15, 0 (Statistical Package for Social Sciences), is made used of. In the analysis of lower aimed data, the t-test is used and the method of single factor variance analysis (ANOVA) is used in the analysis -50-

56 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 47-57, 1 April, 2013 of the other lover aimed data. To find out the responses given by the students to the questions, we calculated the percentage frequency. Findings and Interpretation Table 2: The Range of the Percentage Frequency of the Responses Given to the Questions of the Questionary Strongly agree Agree I Don t Know Disagree Strongly Disagree Ss f % f % f % f % f % 1-The course of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution is one of the courses that I like the most. 2-The method of teaching of the course of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution is adequate. 3-The lecturing of the course of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution contributes to my future life. 4-The lecturing of the course of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution by following the units of the course book is adequate. 5-It is necessary that the course of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution should be taught according to the course book , , ,2 4 2,7 7 4,7 1,020 3, , , ,9 8 5,4 5 3,4 1,039 4, , , ,5 4 2,7 1,7 0,848 4, , , , , ,3 1,361 2, , , , , ,5 1,408 3,39 6-It is necessary that the course of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution should be backed up with materials like map, CD, movie , ,2 10 6,8 1,7 5 3,4 0,914 4,55 7-The knowledge and teaching of the teacher who teaches the course of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution is adequate. 8-It is enough that the course of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution is limited just by the period of Atatürk. 9-It is necessary that the course of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution should be compared with the period after Atatürk to make the development and evolution visible. 10-I am eager to know what happened in Turkey in the period after Atatürk. 11-In my opinion, the definitions of the concepts like reform, revolution, civil insurrection are adequate. 12-Adequate information is being given about the atmosphere before Atatürk. 13-The reason why the course of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution is being taught is being explained adequately. 14-In my opinion, the course of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution is approppriate for the goals of raising good citizens, handing down the new generations, continuing the Republic , , ,5 10 6,8 9 6,1 1,227 4, , , , , ,2 1,421 3, , , ,3 6 4,1 3 2,0 1,003 4, , ,3 9 6,1 1,7 5 3,4 0,907 4, , , ,9 10 6,8 7 4,7 1,105 3, , , ,2 4 2,7 3 2,0 0,926 4, , , ,2 6 4,1 5 3,4 1,041 4, , , ,8 3 2,0 5 3,4 0,989 4,35-51-

57 Approaches of elementary school students towards the lesson of B. Salman Bolat 15-My family is sensitive about this course to be given adequately , , ,8 7 4,7 9 6,1 1,189 3,80 As seen Table 2, that the students are marking the course of Atatürk s Principles and the History of Revolution as one of the courses they like the most and that they are aware of the fact that it will contribute to the future of the country are found as extremely positive. This result revives the sense that the course will reach its goal on condition that the problems it has are resolved. In the questionary, it is realized that there is a variety among the responses given to the forth and the fifth questions. As a matter of fact, the resource averages are contradictory although the same question is being asked. This situation can be explained by facts like some of the students couldn t comprehend the questions or their having read the questions carelessly. Likewise, while among the responses given to the eighth question, the opinion that it is adequate that the course is limited just with the period of Atatürk is dominant, among the responses given to the ninth and the tenth questions, the idea of their being eager to have information about the periods before and after Atatürk is dominant. According to these results, it can be said again that it is because of the carelessness of the students. The results about the necessity of the courses of Atatürk s Principles and The History of Revolution in aspects of raising good citizens, raising the awareness of the next generations, which are the aspects of these courses that are particularly taken as the subject of this survey, are pleasing. The rates like %60,1 strongly agree, %23 agree are considerably high. Paralelly, it is possible to say that, according to the responses given to the question of I have difficulties in narrating the subjects of the course, the reason of the negative responses about the course is this matter. Thus, the responses of %30,4 strongly agree, %12,8 agree and %10,1 I don t know are rates far from being unimportant. Accordingly, this problem can be solved through the teaching of the course from a clearer, more objective, more realistic perspective and through the usage of some visuals. The results of the section in which some information about Atatürk s life is demanded is as followings; while 115 students have written the birth date and birthplace of Atatürk, 51 of them have also mentioned the year of his death, 20 of them gave only this information. (Especially the students on İnönü Primary School) while 1 student has included the detail of the time of Atatürk s death, 1 student has included his age of death and 2 students have mentioned the name of his disease. While 71 students have written the names of Atatürk s father and mother, 15 of them, have written the names of his father and mother in addition to their birth date and date of death. While 32 students have written about Makbule with whose dead siblings he grew up, 24 of them have mentioned this detail in addition to the information given above. Another remarkable point is that, especially the students of Namık Kemal Primary School expressed the information with the same sentences. In the schools the survey applied, while 11 students have mentioned Atatürk s personal characteristics like his patriotism, intelligence, farsightedness and sophistication in addition to the information above, the number of the students who have mentioned only the personal characteristics of Atatürk are 19. While 16 students have written his birth date and date of death and the names of his father and mother, 53 students have mentioned the schools he attended; while 23 of them have written the Şemsi Efendi Local School, 9 students have mentioned Harbiye School, 5 of them have mentioned the high school in Monastery and 10 of them did not mention a name of a school. The information to be expressed as dissimilar are as follows; 2 students have written that he moved -52-

58 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 47-57, 1 April, 2013 to his uncle s after the death of his father, 1 student has mentioned the job of his father, 3 students have mentioned the wars he crusaded, 1 student has mentioned his marriage, one student has written that he took the surname of Atatürk in 1934, 1 student has mentioned his western and revolutionary characteristics, 3 students have mentioned that he got inspired from the provinces of Selonica, Sophia, Monastery and İstanbul, 3 students have mentioned that his mother is originally from Konya and 2 students have mentioned that his father is originally from Söke. It is detected that just in 2 papers among all the papers, adequate information is given. Considering the information given about Atatürk, it is concluded that Atatürk is not being taught adequately and accurately. It is supposed that more importance is being given to the family life of Atatürk than his achievements and the information given are not more than conventional sentences. Hence, nobody, instead of those two students, has mentioned the subjects like especially the Republic, revolutions and his principals. Also, matters like his leadership of National Struggle, his Presidency, his ideas of National Sovereignty do not take place in the papers. According to the result regarding this subject in the survey; the approaches of families towards lesson subjects are generally positive, whether literate or illiterate. The rate of 67,4%, who state that their family is very concerned and concerned is high. According to this rate; it could be concluded that student families are sensitive about Kemalism and they expect the lesson to be taught accurately. However, the answer of No idea, which has a rate of 31,8%, shall be taken into consideration as well. As a matter of fact, this condition might be perceived as a deficiency on consciousness levels of families. In addition to this, lack of interest is also possible in the education of their children. This lack of interest might also be effective upon other lessons. However, leaving aside all possibilities and considering the importance of the lesson in terms of the country s future, families shall be informed about the subject, as well. Table 3: The Results of The t-test on The Course of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution According to The Gender Factor Gender n S df t P Girls 76 61,55 8,3080 Boys 72 63,33 7, ,434,164 The results of the survey made in the frame of the sense of Nation-State about the course of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution which aim to raise the next generations around the goals of the continuation of Turkish Republic, preserving its values, providing the unity and solidarity by increasing the sense of nationalism. According to the gender variable among the students, there is a no meaningful difference between the girls and the boys [t(146) = -4,434; p.05]. The opinion average of the girls about the course of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution is found out to be ( =61,55) and the opinion average of the boys is found out to be ( =63,33) (Table 2.) -53-

59 Approaches of elementary school students towards the lesson of B. Salman Bolat Table 4: The Results of The Anova Test about the Course of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution According to The Schools The Students are Attending Variable Category n X S School 1-X ,48 7, X ,57 10, X ,27 6, X ,36 5, X ,67 8,7541 The Situation of The Resource of The Variant Sum of The Squares df Mean Sqıare F P Meaningful Difference Between Groups 619, ,990 Within Groups 8254, ,721 2,685, Total 8874, As seen Table 4, the results of the analysis suggest that there is a meaningful difference among the opinions of the students about the course of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution according to the schools they are attending[f(4 143)= 2,685 P<0.05]. In the analysis made to discover among which groups the difference is present, it is found out that there are meaningful differences between (X4) and (X1) and among (X2), (X3) and (X5) Primary Schools. As a matter of fact, these two schools that have been mentioned are the schools that have the highest socioeconomic status. The other three schools are weaker from this aspect. Table 5: The Results of The Anova Test about the Course of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution According to The Educational Background of The Mothers of the Students Variable Category n S Educational Background of Mother Primary School 85 62,57 7,1453 Secondary School 34 61,50 9,6679 High School 29 63,03 7, The Situation of The Resource of The Variant Sum of The Squares df Mean Square F p Meaningful Difference Between Groups 41, ,904,343, Within Groups 8832, ,912 Total 8874, Table 6: The Anova Test about the Course of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution According to The Educational Background of The Fathers of the Students Variable Category n S Educational Background of Father The Situation of The Resource of The Variant Primary School 50 61,92 7,9586 Secondary School 37 61,78 7,6126 High School 50 62,64 8,1909 University 11 65,81 4,8952 Sum of The Squares df Mean Square F p Between Groups 156, ,307,864, Within Groups 8717, ,535 Total 8874, Meaningful Difference

60 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 47-57, 1 April, 2013 It is made out that there is a no meaningful difference between their opinions about the course of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution according to the educational background of the mothers and fathers of the students (Table 5 and table 6). It is discovered that there are no university graduates among the mothers and most of the fathers are primary school and high school graduates while there are also some university graduates. However, with the results of the analysis, it is remarkable that there is no meaningful difference among the responses given to the question about the sensibility of the family of course (Table 6). Conclusions 1. The lesson of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution is one of the lessons embraced by students. 2. Even though the students find the teaching format of the lesson sufficient, they do not find it sufficient to teach the lesson only based on the school book and they require it to be supported by materials such as maps, CDs and films. 3. Students found the subjects taught during the lesson sufficient in general. Subjects regarding the post-kemalist period were included in school books with the latest arrangements. However, as a result of the survey application; students displayed an attitude which implied that they did not understand this subject sufficiently and they wanted to have information about the incidents of the period after Majority of students believes that this lesson is essential. They aware of the objective of the lesson. 5. Students think that teaching the lesson of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution is important, in terms of the country s future. 6. Even though the students are interested in and responsive to the lesson, the rate of those who have difficulty in understanding is not limited. 7. Sensitivity levels of families are below the expected level. 8. According to the gender variable among the students, there is a no meaningful difference between the girls and the boys. 9. There is a meaningful difference among the opinions of the students about the course of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution according to the schools they are attending. 10. There is a no meaningful difference between their opinions about the course of Atatürk s Principles and History of Revolution according to the educational background of the mothers and fathers of the students If we try to make a general evaluation; according to the responses given to the questions of the questionary, the students show interest to their schools and the course and they have comprehended the aim of this course. However, the sources of the problems are well known, which can be summarized as; the inadequacy of teachers, the dullness of the course book, the methods of lecturing and lack of the usage of visual tools, socioeconomic and psychological problems, carelessness of the students and lastly the indifference of the family. Discussion and Suggestions The teaching of the courses about national history in a lasting and accurate manner is extremely important in the aspect of shaping the future of the country. The course taught in every level of education in Turkey under the name of Atatürk s Principles and The History of Revolution since 1930s, is taken as an important element to shape the future of the country. Although the importance of this course is being emphasized in the introductions of the books, in syllabuses, in the daily speeches, in lectures and in the academic environments; it is not possible to say that it achieves its goals. The results of all the surveys made about this issue are not different than this one and the problems repeat themselves in the same way. -55-

61 Approaches of elementary school students towards the lesson of B. Salman Bolat The mentioning of the problems like the course books, teachers, the teaching methods of the course, the sensitivity of families, the attention of students in all the surveys show that it is necessary to make urgent regulations about the matter. When we consider the problems of today in the world and in our country, it is necessary to realize the fact that the necessary importance is ought to be given to the courses of National history. It is necessary to remove the methods of memorization and giving bare information from the courses and teach the subjects with a realistic approach by correlating them with facts, concepts and their relationship with the past, the outer world and the features of the time period. For sure, the most important issue is that, the teachers should be able to adopt the objective style instead of reflecting their own political views and above all, they should be able to meet the accuracies, goals and the expectations of the course. Subjects should not be revealed as rules during the transfer of Kemalist Principles and thought system. If the sciences such as modern political science, economy, social psychology and sociology are examined and transferred through analysis tools, this will make a more long-lasting effect upon students (Kalaycıoğlu, 1985).The lesson shall be taught in such a way to increase the knowledge level of students and raise a generation that will be capable of solving the problems of the country in the future. Additionally, it shall be transferred with an accurate and realistic approach between incidents, in a way to increase the judgement skills of the youth. Acknowledgement This study was presented as an announcement under the title of The Effects of Recent History Subjects Taught at Elementary Schools on Students Following the Spirit of Next Generation Transport of Nation-Statism at Cyprus International Conference on Educational Research in North Cyprus on February References Acun, İ. (2006). T.C. İnkılâp Tarihi ve Atatürkçülük Dersi Öğretiminde Bilgi ve İletişim Teknolojilerinin Etkili Kullanımı,Türk Eğitim Sisteminde Atatürkçülük ve Cumhuriyet Tarihi Öğretimi (Ed. Yasemin Doğaner), Hacettepe Üniversitesi Yayınları, Ankara Akbaba, B. (2008).Atatürk İlkeleri ve İnkılap Tarihi Derslerinde Karşılaşılan Sorunlar, Gazi Akademik Bakış, C.1, S.2, Akgün, S. (2004). Atatürk İlkeleri ve İnkılâp Tarihinin Amaç ve Kapsamı, Atatürk İlkeleri ve İnkılâp Tarihinde Yöntem Arayışları, Ankara: Hacettepe Üniversitesi Yayınları Ata, B. (2006). İlköğretim 8. Sınıf Türkiye Cumhuriyeti İnkılâp Tarihi ve Atatürkçülük Dersinin Taslak Programının Geliştirilmesinde Karşılaşılan Sorunlar, Türk Eğitim Sisteminde Atatürkçülük ve Cumhuriyet Tarihi Öğretimi Kasım Doğaner Y, Ankara, H.Ü, Behar, E. B. (1992). Iktidar ve Tarih, İstanbul. Bolat. S. B, (2007). Milli Bayram Olgusu ve Türkiye de Yapılan Cumhuriye Bayramı Kutlamaları ( ), Doktora Tezi, Hacettepe Üniversitesi Atatürk İlkeleri ve İnkılap Tarihi Enstitüsü, Ankara. Büyüköztürk, Ş., Çakmak, K. E., Akgün, E. Ö., Karadeniz, Ş. and Demirel, F. (2009). Bilimsel Araştırma Yöntemleri, Ankara. Hanioğlu, Ş. (1985). Atatürk İlkeleri Anabilim Dalı: Kavramlar, Kaynaklar ve Metedoloji Sorunları, I. Atatürk İlkeleri ve İnkılap Tarihi Semineri, Samsun, Hobsbawm, E. (1989), Devrim Çağı, , (1989), Çev. Alaeddin Şenel- Jülide Ergüder, Ankara. -56-

62 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 47-57, 1 April, 2013 Kalaycıoğlu, E. (1985). Bir Siyasal Değer ve Tutum Aktarma Süreci olarak Atatürk İlkelerinin Öğretimi ve Üniversite, 1. Atatürk İlkeleri ve İnkılâp Tarihi Semineri, Samsun MEB, Tebliğler Dergisi. (1981) Sayı, MEB, Tebliğler Dergisi. (1999), Sayı MEB,Tebliğler Dergisi. (1986), Sayı Özbudun,S.(1995).Ayinden Törene Siyasal İktidarların kurulma ve Kurumsallaşma Sürecinde Törenlerin İşlevleri, Ankara. Öztürk, C. (2005). İlk ve Orta Öğretim Kurumlarında Türkiye Cumhuriyeti İnkılâp Tarihi ve Atatürkçülük Konularının Öğretimi, İlk ve Ortaöğretim Kurumlarında Türkiye Cumhuriyeti İnkılâp Tarihi ve Atatürkçülük Konularını Öğretimi, Mevcut Durum, Sorunlar ve Çözüm Önerileri, (Haz. Mehmet Saray- Hüseyin Tosun), Ankara Özüçetin Y. & Nadar S. (2010), Atatürk İlkeleri ve İnkılap Tarihi Dersinin Üniversiteler Düzeyinde Okutulmaya Başlanması ve Gelinen Süreç. The Journal of International Social Research, Volume 3 / 11 spring, Safran, M. (2006). İnkılâp Tarihi Öğretimine Yaklaşım Sorunları, Tarih Eğitimi Makale ve Bildiriler, Ankara Yılmaz, M. (2006). Türk Eğitim Sisteminde Atatürkçülük ve Cumhuriyet Tarihi Öğretimi Türk Eğitim Sisteminde Atatürkçülük ve Cumhuriyet Tarihi Öğretimi (Ed.Yasemin Doğaner), Ankara,

63 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 3(1), pp , 1 April, 2013 Available online at Article history Received: Teachers Mental/Metaphorical Perceptions to Education Inspector Received in revised form: Accepted: Durdağı Akan Ataturk University Kazım Karabekir Faculty of Education, Erzurum, Turkey Key words: Metaphor, Supervision, Education Supervisor, Teacher Sinan Yalçın * Ataturk University Institute of Educational Sciences, Erzurum, Turkey İsa Yıldırım Ataturk University Institute of Educational Sciences, Erzurum, Turkey In this work, teachers perceptions about the concept of education supervisor are desired to be determined through metaphors. The field of work of research is formed with 92 primary school teachers working in Erzincan. The inputs of research were obtained with semi-structured interview form on method of qualitative research. According to findings of work, teachers produced 29 metaphors about the concept of education supervisor.metaphors produced were classified as living-nonliving existences, negative positive and themes. Teachers produced metaphors within the contexts of assignment theme about the concept of education supervisor. According to metaphors produced by teachers, teachers explained the concept of education supervisor with respectively general, computer, soldier, pen. While teachers were producing 19 metaphors by using negative comparisons for mostly the concept of education supervisor, they produced 10 metaphors with positive comparisons. Hence,it is said that teachers have negative thoughts about the concept of supervision depending on education supervisor. Introduction Organizations can fulfill their objectives- in other ways be efficient and effectiveonly by being sensitive and adapting themselves to the happenings around. Inspectional practices play an important role in the process. In this respect, the inspection mechanism, an important actor in organizational change, is expected to be more sensitive to and more active in the happenings around. Inspection is the process of evaluating whether organizational activities comply with the rules and principles specified in accordance with agreed objectives. The purpose is to determine whether planning and activities have fulfilled the objectives and to correct any deficiencies or abnormalities. Considering that organizations have a very complicated structure, a continuous and efficient inspection is required to benefit from the activities as greatly as possible, to have the expected benefit and improvement, and to carry on the activities successfully (Aydın, 1993; MEB, 2004). Educational institutions are one of the places where organizational inspection is a requirement. Comprised of the stages assessment, evaluation and correction-improvement (Başar, 2006), inspection is not only an assessment as to whether educational activities are conducted in a proper way but also a process during which teachers, one of the most crucial actors in education, are provided with in-service training and helped about how to use the knowledge they have acquired in a way that will yield the best results for their organizations and the environment (Sergiovanni and * Correspondence: Sinan Yalçın, Ataturk University Institute of Educational Sciences, Erzurum, Turkey, [email protected]

64 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 58-67, 1 April, 2013 Starrat, 1979, as cited in Aydın, 1993). Inspection is of great importance for a school, as it contributes to efficient education, getting feedback about activities, presenting the current situation, making necessary changes and regulations for improvement and establishing favorable conditions (Özmen and Yasan, 2007). In the educational system, inspection functions as a mechanism for synthesizing expected results through certain theories. It helps to find the most suitable values and activities in accordance with the educational process (Bursalıoğlu, 1978). The purpose of inspection in education is to ensure efficient learning and teaching and to improve teachers as well as the educational process (Oğuz, Yılmaz and Taştan, 2007). Inspection enables an institution to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the educational process, to prevent and overcome mistakes (Astor, 2005; Alleman, 2006; Kovats, 2006), to provide development-oriented guidance and to improve teachers teaching behaviors (McCarty et al., 1986, as cited in Yalçınkaya, 1993). Similarly, it provides one with the opportunity to determine whether educational activities comply with pre-specified rules and principles, to identify the quality of teaching and to make decisions about the future (Özmen and Batmaz, 2006). Teachers need help for many reasons, such as dealing with educational problems and making educational activities more efficient. Employees may require help with organizing, conveying and communicating the information required for making decisions and changing their behaviors. Providing such help, inspectors play a pivotal role in establishing a learning culture and facilitating organizational learning processes (Ünal and Gürsel, 2007). The main task of inspectors in education is to help teachers with educational activities and to guide them so that they can be more efficient (Döş, 2005; İlğan, 2008). In educational institutions, as is the case in all organizations, it is inspectors who are responsible for ensuring and leading organizational connection between departments and providing assessment. Inspectors should provide efficient services in order that the inspection mechanism can carry out its role in enabling the educational system to fulfill its objectives (Öz, 1977). There is a significantly positive correlation between the quantity and quality of inspectors and the scope and quality of the services they provide (Bilgen, 1990). Therefore, education inspectors are expected to do much in order for teachers to be able to overcome educational problems (Özdemir, 1979). It is without doubt that great contributions will be made to improving the educational process if inspectors, who are burdened with significant roles in the inspection mechanism, provide efficient target-oriented services. The Turkish educational system is inspected by three different bodies, namely the Guidance and Supervision Department of the Ministry of National Education, the Higher Education Supervisory Board and the Provincial Education Inspectors Board. Provincial education inspectors have been carrying out inspection and evaluation activities for a long time. As a sub-unit of provincial directorates of national education, they have been inspecting institutions, courses and seminars. When inspecting an institution, they also inspect administrators, teachers and other staff there. During the process, they communicate innovations in the system to the staff, identify the strengths and weaknesses of the institution, inspect the educational and administrative processes in accordance with the legislation, and evaluate them according to the pre-specified criteria (MEB, 2001). On the other hand, it is a long-known fact that inspectional practices in Turkey cannot enable the objectives to be fulfilled effectively owing to certain problems and that practices are still based on the conventional approach to inspection (Karagözoğlu, 1985; Akan 1998; Kayıkçı, 2006). It is essential that these concerns should be dealt with through scientific studies and that reliable solutions should be found to these problems. In this respect, it is quite necessary to determine -59-

65 Teachers Mental/Metaphorical Perceptions D.Akan, S.Yalçın & İ.Yıldırım teachers metaphorical perceptions of inspectors, who play key roles in the inspection process. In this way, one can have important clues as to the overall operation of the existing inspection system. Metaphors can be defined as the labels, meanings or conceptual connotations of a concept to individuals (Eraslan, 2011), linguistic tools that draw a parallel between two objects or concepts (Palmquist, 2001), mental maps that facilitate understanding of complicated ideas (Heidorn, 2001), the process during which one, in his/her own perception, expresses a concept or phenomenon by referring to it as something different (Aydın, 2010), a tool that individuals use to explain how they perceive the life, environment, happenings and objects via different sayings (Cerit, 2000), a powerful mental mapping and modeling mechanism for understanding and constructing one s own world (Aslan and Bayrakçi, 2006), understanding and experiencing a phenomenon in reference to another (Lakoff and Johnson, 2003), and the way an idea, object or action is expressed with a word or phrase by comparing it to another situation (Palmer and Lundberg, 1995). Metaphor is a way of describing something in comparison to something else. In this way, one makes attempts to understand the overall meaning as he/she sees the points certain things have in common. The present study is an attempt to reveal teachers mental perceptions of education inspectors. It is hoped that it will make contributions to identifying how education inspectors carry out their inspectional roles and how competent they are in doing so as well as obtaining information about inspectional activities in education. Purpose The purpose of this study is to determine teachers perceptions of education inspectors through metaphors. The present study is also an attempt to identify how teachers regard education inspectors and what inspection means to them. Methodology The study was based on a qualitative method. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 92 teachers randomly chosen among the teachers who worked for the primary schools located in the city center of Erzincan. The reason for conducting semi-structured interviews was that these interviews provide flexibility in case of changing conditions, instant operation of the feedback mechanism, in-depth information, reduced misunderstanding and maintenance of individualism in answers (Yılmaz, 2011). The semi-structured interview form was developed by the researcher. Firstly, a pilot scheme was carried out with five teachers who were not included in the sample. The interview form was developed by the researcher in the light of the findings. The form was analyzed by specialists and teachers. Necessary modifications were made before the form was finalized. Each interview lasted five minutes on average. In this qualitative research, content analysis was carried out and phenomenological design was employed. In phenomenological design, the focus is on those phenomena which are recognizable but about which detailed and thorough insight is lacking. Besides, according to phenomenologists, phenomenology sees subjective consciousness as important and essential. In the research, students responses to open-ended questions which were asked to determine their opinions on school managers were evaluated. Study Group The study group of this research consisted of 92 teachers working in 9 elementary schools in the central district of Erzincan, which were selected randomly among a total of 32 elementary schools in the Academic Year. -60-

66 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 58-67, 1 April, 2013 Data Collection Instrument In order to reveal the teachers perceptions of education inspectors, each participant was provided with the following sentence: An education inspector is like. because.. Next, they were asked to finish the sentences with their own ideas. The present study was conducted on the participants from the city center of Erzincan. The metaphors created by them were collected and evaluated. Data Analysis The data for the study were analyzed qualitatively. Frequencies and percentages were taken into consideration during the analysis. The metaphors created by the participants were categorized firstly as living/non-living and then positive/negative. Then, they were divided into certain themes and grouped in accordance with the reasons for the metaphors. The themes were as follows: problem, information, task, balance and enlightening. Each theme was evaluated separately. The data collected were analyzed using the content analysis method. For this, the data were first reviewed and encoded. Then, these data were correlated and formatted, and models of the emerged categories were formed. While the initial categories in the study, which were determined through a literature review, served as a guide; actual categories were formed after adding new categories in later stages (Yıldırım ve Şimşek, 2006). Expert opinions were used in order to determine the validity and reliability of the study. It was discussed whether the metaphors obtained were in line with the categories or not. Results The data collected in the research were classified as positive and negative, and then they were themed and interpreted. Table 1: The metaphors created by the teachers for education inspectors No Metaphors Created Reasons for Metaphors F % 1 Computer The person with necessary information Commander Because they are simple memorizers, not open to criticism and sulky. 3 Pencil Because we focus on what they will write about us Soldier They want to control because they are controlled Parrot They repeat the same words but never produce new things Eraser Because they regulate activities Book Because they know the regulations Stress Because they always criticize us and make us stressful Archer Because they are focused on the target Typewriter They complain about anything Detective They always look for a criminal Paper Because they live with the regulations Bureaucracy They carry out their tasks in the best way possible Nervous System Because they report the problems in the system to the brain. 15 Mother-in-law Because they are fussy and claim to know anything Lighthouse Because they lead the way and provide light in the dark Traveler Because they are always in pursuit of something Nitpicker Because they observe one s deficiencies Guardian Because they claim that whatever they say is true Bailiff Because they inspect and appraise teachers Hard Disk Because they are just a legal legislation store Prosecutor Because they are interrogative Computer Program Because they distribute the program loaded in Ankara to each school

67 Teachers Mental/Metaphorical Perceptions D.Akan, S.Yalçın & İ.Yıldırım 24 Supervisor Because they enable tasks and responsibilities to be done in a more proper way. 25 Problem Because they look for defects Law Because they draw their strength from the regulations Zero Far be it from me! Politician Perfect on paper, weak in practice Painkiller Should be used when necessary not all the time Total The participants created a total of 29 metaphors for education inspectors. The metaphors represented by the highest number of teachers were computer (21 teachers) and commander (21 teachers). Teachers who see the school manager as the person who possesses required information produced the metaphor of computer ; whereas those who see the school manager as grim-faced and not open to criticism produced the metaphor of commander. The teachers likened education inspectors to computers apparently on the grounds that they have both theoretical and practical knowledge about the educational process whereas they drew a parallel between education inspectors and commanders mainly on the grounds that education inspectors are considered as individuals that are simply memorizers, not open to criticism and sulky. Furthermore, the participants that created the metaphors computer and commander had a positive and negative opinion of education inspectors respectively. Table 2: Classification of the metaphors created by the teachers for education inspectors as living or non-living things. Metaphors created out of living % Metaphors created out of non-living F % things F things 1 Commander Computer Soldier Pencil Parrot Eraser Archer Book Detective Stress Mother-in-law Typewriter Traveler Paper Nitpicker Bureaucracy Guardian Nervous System Bailiff Lighthouse Prosecutor Hard disk Supervisor Computer Program Politician Problem Law Zero Painkiller Total Total The participants created 16 metaphors out of non-living things and another 13 out of living things. The former group of metaphors could be listed in order of representation as follows: computer by 21 teachers, pencil by 17 teachers and each of the remaining metaphors (eraser, book, stress, typewriter, paper, bureaucracy, nervous system, lighthouse, hard disk, computer program, problem, law, zero and painkiller) by 1 teacher. On the other hand, the latter group of metaphors could be listed in order of representation as follows: commander by 21 teachers, soldier by seven teachers, parrot by two teachers and each of the remaining metaphors (archer, detective, mother-in-law, traveler, nitpicker, guardian, bailiff, prosecutor, supervisor and politician) by one teacher. The numbers of teachers who created metaphors out of living and non-living things were 40 and 52 respectively, which shows that teachers prefer to create more metaphors out of non-living things. -62-

68 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 58-67, 1 April, 2013 Table 3: Classification of the reasons for the metaphors by the teachers for education inspectors as positive and negative. Metaphors with a positive meaning % Metaphors with a negative F % F meaning 1 Computer Commander Pencil Soldier Eraser Parrot Book Stress Archer Typewriter Nervous System Detective Lighthouse Paper Traveler Bureaucracy Supervisor Mother-in-law Bureaucracy Nitpicker Guardian Bailiff Hard disk Prosecutor Problem Law Zero Politician Painkiller Total Total A look at the reasons for the metaphors suggests that the teachers created ten of them with a positive opinion in mind whereas the remaining 19 were created for negative reasons. Even so, the percentage of metaphors created for positive reasons was equal to the percentage of metaphors created for negative reasons. Therefore, the number of teachers who had a positive opinion of education inspectors was the same as the number of teachers who thought negatively about them. The analysis of the metaphors yielded five themes, namely problem, information, task, balance and enlightening. A total of nine metaphors fell into the theme problem. The theme represented by the highest number of teachers was information (42 teachers) while the theme task was represented by 35 teachers. Table 4: The metaphors in the theme Problem Problem F % 1 Parrot Stress Typewriter Detective Nitpicker Guardian Problem Zero Mother-in-law Total There were nine metaphors in the theme problem. They were represented by a total of 10 teachers. The metaphor represented by the highest number of teachers was parrot (two teachers). On the other hand, teachers who produced the metaphor of parrot stated that education supervisors are people who continuously repeat same things but never create new ones. The reasons for the metaphors in the theme were as follows: repeating the same words but never producing new things (parrot), always criticizing teachers and making them stressful (stress), complaining about everything (typewriter), always looking for a criminal (detective), observing -63-

69 Teachers Mental/Metaphorical Perceptions D.Akan, S.Yalçın & İ.Yıldırım one s deficiencies (nitpicker), claiming that whatever they say is true (guardian), creating a negative atmosphere all the time (problem), far it be from me (zero), and being fussy and claiming to know anything (mother-in-law). Table 5: The metaphors in the theme information Information F % 1 Computer Pencil Book Paper Hard disk Law Total There were six metaphors in the theme information. They were represented by a total of 42 teachers. They could be listed in order of representation as follows: computer by 21 teachers, pencil by 17 teachers and each of the remaining metaphors in the theme by one teacher. The reasons for the metaphors in the theme were as follows: the person with necessary information (computer), writing about teachers (pencil), knowing all the regulations (book), living with the regulations (paper), just being a legal legislation store (hard disk), and drawing their strength from the regulations (law). Table 6: The metaphors in the theme task Task F % 1 Commander Soldier Eraser Archer Bureaucracy Nervous System Bailiff Computer Program Supervisor Total There were nine metaphors in the theme task. They were represented by a total of 35 teachers. The one represented by the highest number of teachers was commander (21 teachers), which was followed by soldier (seven teachers). Each of the remaining metaphors (eraser, archer, bureaucracy, nervous system, bailiff, computer program and supervisor) was represented by one teacher. The reasons for the metaphors in the theme were as follows: being simple memorizers, not open to criticism and sulky (commander), giving orders because of receiving orders (soldier), regulating the activities (eraser), focusing on the target (archer), carrying out their tasks in the best way possible (bureaucracy), reporting the problems in the system to the brain (nervous system), inspecting and appraising teachers (bailiff), distributing the program loaded at the center to the schools (computer program), and enabling tasks and responsibilities to be carried out in a more proper way (supervisor). Table 7: The metaphors in the theme balance Balance F % 1 Politician Painkiller Total There were two metaphors in the theme balance. Each of the two metaphors in the theme was represented by one teacher. The reasons for these metaphors were because they are perfect on paper but weak in practice (politician) and they should be used when necessary not all the time -64-

70 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 58-67, 1 April, 2013 (painkiller). Table 8: The metaphors in the theme enlightening The theme enlightening F % 1 Lighthouse Traveler Prosecutor Total There were three metaphors in the theme enlightening. Each was represented by one teacher. The reasons for the metaphors in the theme were as follows: leading the way and providing light in the dark (lighthouse), always being in pursuit of something (traveler), and being interrogative (prosecutor). Discussion and Conclusion The participants created a total of 29 metaphors in the study, whose purpose was to reveal teachers mental perceptions of education inspectors. They were categorized as living and nonliving metaphors. According to the categorization, 13 of them had been created out of living things whereas the remaining 16 of them had been created out of non-living things. A total of 52 teachers based their metaphors on non-living things while another 40 based their metaphors on living things. In addition, the metaphors were more often of negative origin (Yıldırım, 2012; Tekin and Yılmaz, 2012). A look at the reasons for the metaphors suggests that the teachers created ten of them with a positive opinion in mind whereas the remaining 19 were created for negative reasons. The finding makes one think that teachers have a negative opinion of education inspectors, which is supported by Töremen and Döş s (2009) article entitled primary school teachers metaphorical perceptions of inspection. Similar findings were found by Sümbül and İnandı (2005). The metaphors created by the participants fell into certain themes. With nine metaphors for each one, the most popular themes were problem and task. The metaphors in the former were represented by 10 teachers while the ones in the latter were represented by 35 teachers. The finding suggests that teachers commonly focus on the concept task as for as education inspectors are concerned. Another popular theme was information, which contained six metaphors. These metaphors were represented by 42 teachers, which makes it the theme represented by the highest number of participants. The reasons for the metaphors in this theme suggest that teachers more often focus on education inspectors competence in laws and regulations. There were a total of five metaphors in the themes balance and enlightening - two in balance and the remaining three in enlightening. The metaphors in the former indicate that the teachers emphasized both positive and negative aspects of education inspectors. On the other hand, the ones in the latter suggest that the participants focused on the contributions by education inspectors to the educational process. The present study provides comprehensive information as to not only how inspectors are perceived but also their behaviors, roles and efficiency. The findings reveal how teachers regard education inspectors. The findings of the study are important in that they provide clues as to teachers expectations of education inspectors and the areas in which the former would like to get help from the latter. Furthermore, they suggest what kind of approaches education inspectors could adopt towards teachers and what their roles could be. Education inspectors could use the findings of the present study as a tool of professional self-evaluation. In this way, they can determine the extent to which they are competent in their profession and what they can do to carry out their profession in a more efficient and effective way. -65-

71 Teachers Mental/Metaphorical Perceptions D.Akan, S.Yalçın & İ.Yıldırım References Akan, D.(1998). Evaluation of primary school teacher inspections. Unpublished disertation, Gazi University Institute of Educational Sciences. Ankara Allemann, J. (2006). Links Between Teacher Evaluation /Supervision and Student Achievement: A Case Study of a Successful Urban Elementary School. Califonia: University of Southern California. Unpublished PhD Disertation. Arslan, M. and Bayrakçı, M. (2006). An examınatıon of metaphorıcal thınkıng and learnıng from educatıonal vıew. Journal of the national education, Vol: Astor, E. (2005). A case study of ınstructional supervision, ıncluding teacher evaluation and the ımpact on teacher practice. Unpublished PhD Disertation, Califonia: University of Southern California. Aydın, F. (2010). Secondary school students metaphors about the geography concept. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, Vol. 10(3), Aydın, M. (1986). Contemporary educational supervision. Ankara: İM Education and Research Publication Consulting. Aydın, M. (1993). Contemporary educational supervision. Pegem publishing, Ankara. Başar, H. (2006). Educational supervision in Turkey. M. Hesapçıoğlu and A. Durmuş (Ed.), Attempt to balance science education in Turkey (s ). Ankara: Nobel Release Distribution Bilgen, N. (1990). Organizational climate. TODAİ publishing. Ankara Cerit, Y. (2008). Students, teachers and admınıstrators vıews on metaphors wıth respect to the concept of teacher. Journal of Turkish Educational Sciences, Vol: 6 (4), Döş, İ. (2005). Perceptıons of supervısors, admınıstrators, and prımary school teachers concernıng the suffıcıency level of the teacher supervısıon form whıch ıs used at prımary educatıon. Master of Science Thesis, Gaziantep University, Institue of Social Sciences, Gaziantep. Eraslan, L.(2011). Socıologıcal metaphors, Journal of Academic View, Vol: 27, 1-22 Heidom, K. (2001). Expanding The mind The metaphor. Retrieved from, İlğan, A. (2008). Transıtıon from clınıcal supervısıon to developmental and reflectıve supervısıon. Ahmet Keleşoğlu Journal of Education Faculty, Vol: 25, Karagözoğlu, G. (1985). Reorganisation of ınspection in education. Journal of Contemporary Education, Vol: 104(3), Kayıkçı, K. (2005). The ministry of education examiners' perceptions of problems in structural control sub-system and job satisfaction levels. Ankara: TEM-Sen publishing. Kovats, S. (2006). The ımpact of the teacher evaluation process on teacher practice and student achievement in an urban school: a case study. California: University of Southern California. Unpublished PhD Dissertation. Lakoff, G. and Johnson, M. (2003). Metaphors we live by. The University Chicago Press Ltd. London MEB. (2001). Primary presidencies guidance to inspectors and inspection directive. Retrieved from 20/04/2012 MEB. (2004). chairman of board of the ministry of national education inspection, Retrieved from MEB. (2007). Educational supervision countries of the European Union. chairman of board of the ministry of national education inspection. Retrieved from Özmen, F. and Batmaz, C. (2006). Effectiveness of elementary school principals control for teacher. Gaziosmanpaşa University Journal of Research Social Sciences, Vol:1(2), Palmer, I. and Lundberg, C. (1995). Metaphors of hospitality organizations. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly. Vol: 36(3), Palmquist, R. (2001). Cognitive style and users metaphors for the exploratory study, Journal of Academic Librarianship, Vol : 27(1),

72 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 58-67, 1 April, 2013 Sünbül, Ö. and İnandı, Y. (2005). Elementary and high school teachers, primary school ınspectors of the ministry to explore the attitudes and scale development study. Mersin University Journal of Education Faculty, Vol:1(2), Tekin, A. and Yılmaz, S.(2012). The metaphorıc perceptıons about ınspectıon of prımary and secondary schools teachers. International Journal of New Trends in Arts, Sports & Science Education, 1(4). S Töremen, F.and Döş, İ. (2009). The metaphoric perceptions of primary teachers' concept of ınspection. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, Vol: 9 (4), Ünal, A.and Gürsel, M. (2007). Evaluation of Learning Organization Approach to Primary Education Supervisors. Selçuk University Journal of the Institute of Social Sciences, Vol: 18, Yalçınkaya, M. (1993). Clinical audit in a different model?. Ankara University Journal of the Faculty of Educational Sciences, Vol: 26(2), Balcı, A. (2005). Sosyal Bilimlerde Araştırma. 5. Baskı. Ankara: Pegem A yayıncılık. Yıldırım, A. ve Şimşek, H. (2006). Sosyal bilimlerde nitel araştırma yöntemleri. Ankara: Seçkin Yayınevi. Yıldırım, N.(2012). A Comparative Study of Education Supervisor and Ministry Supervisor Images. Educational Administration: Theory and Practice, Vol. 18, Issue 1, pp:

73 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 3(1), pp , 1 April, 2013 Available online at English language proficiency and employment: A case study of Bangladeshi graduates in Australian employment market Article history Received: Received in revised form: Accepted: Mohammod Moninoor Roshid * Monash University, Faculty of Education, Clayton, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA Raqib Chowdhury Monash University, Faculty of Education, Clayton, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA Key words: English language proficiency, Employment Recent literature has suggested that the relationship between globalisation and the English language implicates employability in the job market. Although the effects are uneven in different occupational groups and in different countries, such relationship is growing in significance to policy makers. This paper has explored the hitherto unstudied relationship between English language proficiency and employment and the success of Bangladeshi graduates in Australia to establish how English language skills influence the employment mechanism in the Australian job market for graduates from a non-english speaking South East Asian country. The study was carried out following an interpretive approach as its overall aim was to understand the role of English language skills of university graduates in determining their employment opportunities and career prospects in Australia. It was found that in various ways one s English language skills influence prospects of employment, especially in contributing to the possibility of secure and better jobs. The research findings may inform educational policy planners, teacher educators, employers and career advisers to optimise English language learning programs that support increased employability through English. Introduction A competitive employment market requires good communication skills in workplaces. Within that, increasingly under globalisation, English as communication skills plays a crucial role in employment (see Dustmann & Fabbr, 2003; Erling, Seargeant, Solly, Chowdhury, & Rahman, 2012; Kossoudji, 1988; Rivera-Batiz, 1990; Shields & Price, 2002; Tainer, 1988) all over the world. English is often a decisive factor in employment opportunities with higher earnings (Bleakley & Chin, 2004; Casale & Posel, 2011; Chiswick, 1991; Chiswick & Miller, 1995; Davila & Mora, 2000; Dustmann & Fabbr, 2003; Tainer, 1988) and in organisations aiming at higher productivity (Tainer, 1988). On the other hand, people who are incompetent in English face difficulty in finding jobs, especially well-paid jobs (Carliner, 2000; Leslie & Lindley, 2001). Lack of English fluency drives to earning losses (Dustmann & Fabbr, 2003; Leslie & Lindley, 2001). Proficiency in English therefore, is needed for employees to advance in both local and international companies and to improve their technical knowledge and skills. It provides a foundation for what has been called process skills - problem-solving and critical thinking skills that are needed to cope with the rapidly changing environment of the global workplace, one where English plays an increasingly important role. * Correspondence: Mohammod Moninoor Roshid, Room G 31, Faculty of Education, Building 6, Monash University, Clayton VIC 3800 Australia, [email protected], Phone: (+61 3) , (+61) (Mobile)

74 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 68-81, 1 April, 2013 Globalisation has an enormous impact on the labour market by generating the flow and mobility of skilled labour from one place to another, one country to another country, one part of the world to another part. The globalisation of human capital through international migration is widely crystallised from developing countries to developed countries (Khadria, 2001). Further, globalisation also has a deep relation with English language. Globalisation and English language are both said to work as pull factors for one another and both have insightful impact on employment (Debrah & Smith, 2002), and have been associated with profound changes in the labour market (Orbeta, 2002). Together, globalisation and English language have enabled local actors to become part of global networks (Sassen, 2004). For example, a non-english background migrant works in an English speaking context where his local English is used in a global context and his level of English plays an important role in his employment trajectory in a global society. This paper explores how proficiency in English relates to job opportunities for Bangladeshi migrants and international students in Australia. In other words, this paper investigates the role of the English language proficiency of Bangladeshi university graduates in the Australian job market against the backdrop of a globalised 21 st century. Special focus will be given to what extent competence in English can be accounted to be behind their employment successes and failures. This qualitative study involved seven Bangladeshi participants, of whom five were employed and two unemployed. This article begins with a review of empirical studies on English and employment market. Then it presents an overview of Australian job market followed by the role of English language proficiency in the Australian job market. The findings have been discussed under categories such as participants views on the Australian job market, the role of English within this setting and their perceived skill levels. Findings also discuss whether better English language skills could bring better opportunities for Bangladeshi employees in the job market in Australia. Finally, a brief comparison is made with job status of graduates from other countries and some problems as commonly experienced in the Australian job market. Empirical studies on English and employment Language skills are an essential tool in the labour market. What is the relation between English language proficiency and its impacts on labour market performance, advantages and failures, several studies, for instance, Casale and Posel (2011), Dustmann (1999), Dustmann and Fabbr (2003), Leslie and Lindley (2001), Lindley (2002), Schellekens (2001) have analysed this issue. Chiswick and Miller conducted a number of empirical studies (please see Chiswick, 1991; Chiswick & Miller, 1995, 1998, 2002) on the relationship between migrants language skills and their earnings in host countries. They argue that language proficiency has a positive result on earnings. Lindley (2002) explores earning gaps between fluent and non-fluent ethnic male and female minorities as well as the determinants of English language fluency in Britain. Findings show that the average earnings of both ethnic groups of minority in Britain are significantly affected by lack of fluency. There is an economic cost to English lnguage deficiecy in jobs and occupations. In a study on labour market opportunities of Hispanic and East Asian immigrant men, Kossoudji (1988) suggests that deficiency in English is costly both in earning and occupational mobility. She found that Hispanics have a higher cost for English language deficiency than Asians at every skill level. In another study conducted in England and Wales, Schellekens (2001) shows that lack of proficiency in English works as an obstacle to the employment market. If people are employed, they are employed at a level below than their qualifications and experience. Similarly, in a developing country context like South Africa, it was found that people who are very well in reading and writing along with tertiary education receive a great return (Casale & Posel, 2011). Considering language as a human capital, Tainer (1988) argues that English language proficiency works as determination of earnings and plays an effective role in earnings of foreign born ethnic groups. In addition, language deficiency impedes the opportunities for getting jobs that fully recognize one s -69-

75 English language proficiency and employment: A case study M.M.Roshid & R.Chowdhury qualifications. In a study on ethnic minority in the UK, Shields and Price (Shields & Price, 2002) argue that occupational advantages and success relatively depend on English language fluency. To summarize the previous studies, it can be said that proficiency in English has deep influence on job market, especially in a country where English is the main language of the host country. Studies have also established that across a wide range of settings, English language fluency is associated with higher salary. English language aptitude works as one of the important determining factors to get a job, to earn higher salary, and get other advantages in employment market. To that extent, English language fluency has been considered as human capital (Dustmann, 1999; Dustmann & Fabbr, 2003). While a number of recent studies have been conducted connecting English and employability in specific countries, still little attention has been given to English and employability of international students and immigrants together, it is still not clearly evident how English language skills play a role in the employment mechanism for country-specific non-english immigrants and international students in an English speaking country, such as Bangladeshi graduates in Australia, which has seen a steady rise of newly arrived Bangladeshi migrants in recent years. From to , a total of 6655 Bangladeshis were added as permanent residents in Australia while from June 2010 to June 2011, a total of 1727 Bangladeshis came to Australia with long-stay Temporary Business Visa (DIAC, 2011). In addition, a large number of students are coming to Australia every year. While visa requirements mean that most undergo some form of English proficiency test, their actual English skills widely vary, and such variety is often reflected in what kind of job they secure. The objective of this paper therefore, is to find out how Bangladeshi graduates in Australia perceive and interpret the importance of English language proficiency in terms of its articulation with individual trajectories in the Australian workplace. An overview of the Australian job market Karunaratne (1999) explains that as a consequence of the liberalisation of trade barrier, decontrol of monetary marketplace, development of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) and decrease in transportation charges, Australia can be said to have stepped into the globalised world in the 1980s. Ranked second in the United Nations 2010 Human Development Index, Australia now follows a laissez-faire free market economy which ranked third in the Index of Economic Freedom in 2010; Australia is highly dependent on raw materials and rural products. As a developed, industrialised country Australia simultaneously experiences post-industrialisation and globalisation with a prosperous multicultural society which is among the world s top rated in terms of cultural offerings and quality of life. It is a member country of the United Nations, Commonwealth, G20, OECD (Organisation for Economic Corporation and Development) and the World Trade Organization. Lansbury and Wailes (2004) argue that well-built economic development and a decline in real wages enlarge the labour market and also cut the rate of joblessness. Unemployment in the mid- 1990s persisted at levels of 8.11 per cent but fell in the second half of the 1990s and was 6.7 per cent in Despite the global financial crisis in 2009, this rate was strong at 5.6 per cent in December, 2009 and 5.2 per cent in December 2011 as reported in Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS, 2012). However, the structure of employment has changed radically in recent years with the decline of full-time permanent work and the expansion of various kinds of non-standard forms of employment. This has occurred as a result of increase in casual work, temporary jobs, outsourcing, and the use of agencies and other labour market intermediaries. It presents the Australian employment structure is disaggregated (Campbell, Whitehouse, & Baxter, 2009) as reflected in this study where participants were employed in different types of jobs such as full-time and part-time, standard and non-standard jobs. -70-

76 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 68-81, 1 April, 2013 As a result of a relatively steady and sound economy, and following the dominant trends of recent transnational migrations, Australia has become one of the most obvious choices for international students and migrants alike (Chowdhury, 2008). Every year the number of international students and immigrants are increasing in Australia. In addition to permanent settlement migration, there are eight major categories of temporary migrants such as Working Holiday Maker (WHM), Long-stay business, short-stay business and so forth including overseas students and their spouses to Australia who have legal right to work (please see Hugo, 2006). The impact of these temporary migrants is equivalent to more than 400,000 full-time jobs (Hugo, 2006). Such flow of workforce to Australia has become a public debate in recent times. It is said that immigrants are job robbers (Chang, 2003), taking the jobs of Australians, going straight to dole queues, preventing Australians from getting wage rise, and lowering Australians productivity (Brooks, 1996). However, it is also argued that skilled immigrants are progressively achieving positive outcomes in the Australian labour market (Ho & Alcorso, 2004), adding to Australia s skill base, stimulating economic activity (Brooks, 1996) and creating jobs (Chang, 2003). The Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia (LSIA) demonstrated that generally, skilled migrants have better labour market outcomes (Cobb-Clark, 2000) than family-based immigrants. A large number of studies established that despite the fears of some commentators, immigration overall does not increase unemployment rate, rather is likely to be viewed as an economic success (Brooks, 1996). However, the mobility of skilled labour into Australia may not have affected unemployment rate, since immigrants from non-english speaking backgrounds have higher unemployment rates than immigrants from English speaking backgrounds or those Australian born (Brooks, 1996). One of the important reasons for this scenario is the lack of adequate English language skills of non- English speaking background immigrants as reflected in the data collected for this study. The following section discusses the role of English language in the Australian job market. The nexus between English language skills and employability in Australia Labour market success depends on a variety of indicators. It is argued that in the Australian job market, employers first preference is graduates profession-specific skills followed by their well-roundedness which refers to personal characteristics and attributes, including English language proficiency (Arkoudis et al., 2009). Syed and Murray s (2009) study found English language proficiency to be prerequisite for most jobs in Australia. Other studies have shown that English language plays a critical role in getting employed and to succeed in the job market. It has also been observed that the better the English, the higher the participation rates (DIMIA, 2002, p. 8). The LSIA similarly demonstrated that migrants with high levels of qualifications and English language ability attain better outcome in terms of employment, earnings and occupational status than migrants with a lower level of such human capital attributes (Ho & Alcorso, 2004; Syed & Murray, 2009). Using LSIA data, Ho and Alcorso (2004) showed the employment outcome of English speaking and non-english speaking migrants in relation with their birthplace. They established that, in comparison between migrants from English speaking backgrounds and non- English speaking backgrounds, the first cohort is a better achiever in terms of employment outcomes (i.e. employment and unemployment rates, occupational status, and use of qualifications) than the second cohort. Research indentifies that a lower level of English language skills works as a barrier to immigrants labour market achievement and success (Brooks, 1996; Evans, 1987; Stevens, 2005), which can sometimes cause the job loss (Syed & Murray, 2009). Indeed, recognising such inextricable relation between English language skills and employability (Kim, Ehrich, & Ficorilli, 2011, in press), the Australian government has taken steps to run projects such as AMES (Adult Multicultural Education Service) to develop English language proficiency of immigrants (Kim et al., 2011, in press; Syed & Murray, 2009). -71-

77 English language proficiency and employment: A case study M.M.Roshid & R.Chowdhury Study Design As the purpose of the study was not to generalise, rather to achieve an in-depth understanding of the complexities of the English language proficiency of Bangladeshi graduates in the Australian labor market, a qualitative case study was considered appropriate. In this qualitative method of inquiry, the aim was to understand how non-native English speaking Bangladeshi sojourners English proficiency had an impact on their career trajectories in the Australian context. The case study was followed as a strategy of inquiry where in-depth explorations of multiple bounded systems (cases) (Creswell, 2007) were adopted through in-depth data collection. Data were collected using an interview schedule through in-depth, semi-structured, individual interviews conducted face to face and over the telephone. All interviews were digitally audio recorded. The duration of each interview was approximately minutes and the language of interview was both English and Bangla for the convenience of participants to ensure the participants could speak comfortably. All audio recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim while the interviews collected in Bangla were thematically translated into English. All interviews were coded thematically following interview questions. The questions for interview were open-ended (see Appendix) which were related to career profiles of the participants before and after coming to Australia, their aims in coming to Australia, their perceptions of the Australian labour market, the role of English language in this job market, the place of Bangladeshis in this market with their English language proficiency and challenges and issues faced in jobs related to English language proficiency. Interview questions were directed to a total of seven participants Bangladeshis living in Melbourne. Samples were selected purposively for maintaining a variety of participants. Another reason for choosing purposive sampling was to get access to participants to collect data. Before collecting data, the authors communicated with the participants and later took their interview at their convenient time and place. Among the participants, all Bangladeshi graduates, five were employed and two were unemployed and were looking for jobs at the time of the interviews. In addition, two participants had also obtained Australian degrees. All participants had work rights in the Australian job market with two participants holding student visas, two Australian resident visas while the rest (three) holding spouse visas. Participants worked in different categories of jobs such as teaching, technology support, customer service, kitchen hand and cleaning either full-time or part-time. Their work experience ranged from one to five years. The age range of the participants was 28 to 66 years. Before coming to Australia, all participants except one were employed in their home country. Most of the participants sat for the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) in Bangladesh before coming to Australia while others, who were on spouse visa did not. More details of the participants are presented in Table 1 below. In order to ensure the validity of data, one researcher coded interview data while the other cross checked. In addition, transcripts were sent back to participants to check if their comments were properly presented in the paper. Participants profiles: In the table below, the participants profiles are shown according to the length of stay in Australia. -72-

78 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 68-81, 1 April, 2013 Table 1: Profile of Participants No Name, age and gender Academic qualifications IELTS overall brand Job Experience in Bangladesh Length of job Experience in Bangladesh Duration in stay in Australia Present job 1. Hasabi, 40 (M) *Bachelor (Hons.), Master in Physics, Bangladesh * Diploma in Networking, Australia 7 Lecturer 2 years 9 years Technology Support Officer in a govt. office (Full-time) 2. Urboshi, 36, (F) *Bachelor (Hons.), Master in English Literature, Bangladesh * Master in TESOL, Australia 8 Lecturer 2 years 9 years Lecturer in English at a University (Full-time) Tonni, 30 (F) Rafiq, 28 (M) Bachelor (Hons.), Master in Geography & Environment, Bangladesh Bachelor (Hons.), Master in Management, Bangladesh Not appeared 6 No job experience Coder (parttime) in an NGO years 6 months 1.5 years Unemployed and seeking a job Cleaning (Part-time) 5. Sumi, 38 (F) Bachelor (Hons.), Master in Sociology, Bangladesh Not appeared Senior Research Officer, in an NGO 9 years 1 year Kitchen hand (Part-time) Azam, 66 (M) Mahmu d, 40 (M) Bachelor of Science and Master of Education, Bangladesh Bachelor (Hons.), Master in English Literature, Bangladesh Not appeared 7 College Teacher Govt. College Teacher 31 years 1.5 years 10 years 6 months Customer service (Part-time) Unemployed and seeking a job Findings and discussions The major findings of the study as well as a critical discussion are outlined in the following sections as aligned with the main inquiries. Perceptions about the Australian job market One of the main concerns of this study was the participants general perceptions of the Australian job market. While most of the participants thought that it was in a complicated state involving the various determinants of the national and global economy, others were quite satisfied with the present employment scenario. It was observed that among seven participants, four argued that the Australian job market had a crisis of jobs and was under pressure. However, one of them opined that this pressure was mainly on part-time jobs. She stated that for one post in a factory we about 70 candidates faced interview. Two participants attributed this crisis to the number of people outnumbering the jobs. They stated that every year many people were coming to Australia from other countries being students and immigrants and this created a job crisis. Unsurprisingly however, two participants contended that the job market was good, even though they also agreed that the global economic recession had also badly impacted the job crisis since such recession has also promoted people to come to this country to have a secured life. Tonni and Hasabi were optimistic however that this recession was gradually being overcome. For instance, he noted that on a popular job website, the number of advertised jobs was increasing every day. It -73-

79 English language proficiency and employment: A case study M.M.Roshid & R.Chowdhury appeared that Hasabi was quite well informed about the job market. Indeed, one participant (Urboshi) argued that the Australian job market was very competitive. She explained it is not very easy to get a job at the beginning. Job seekers need to prepare themselves and keep themselves up to date for jobs. In general, it can be said that participants had mixed perceptions about the Australian job market. Perceptions on the role of English language in the Australian job market As previously discussed, English language has generally been seen as one of the important determinants of employment in recent decades in the English-speaking West. It is argued that English language has a positive impact on employment and earnings. One of the aims of this study was to explore the importance of English in the Australian job market as perceived by Bangladeshis. It was argued by six of the participants that to get a job in Australian job market, proficiency in English played a very important and a vital role. Azam explained: It is number one criteria to get a job. Here English is 90%. Although I am working at customer services in a Bangla shop, here I speak 90% in English. Shields & Price (2002) argued that occupational success is associated with speaking fluency. However, Urboshi argued that to get a job, English is very important but it is not necessary to be like native speakers of English. Like Urboshi, Tonni also contended the significance of English in the Australian job market. Further, she placed more emphasis on listening and speaking skills rather than reading and writing, as far as employment was concerned. Sumi similarly reported: Every employee faces interview before getting a job. If s/he is not suitable for the respective job in terms of English language, s/he will not get the job. However, not all participants were in agreement as to the importance of communication skills in English. Mahmud argued: I think English language is not a much significant issue in the Australian job market. He observed that most of the students or migrants other than spouses he knew had a certain level of English fluency. He also argued: If we are in an English speaking country, our English is fine. It s not an advantage because almost 99% people speak well English. It is not a big issue. The big issue is how much skill the person has. If anyone wants to work in a restaurant or a saloon, s/he needs a certificate or qualification in respective jobs. It is very important here. Such finding is consistent with the findings of Arkoudis, et al., (2009) as discussed earlier that in Australia employers prime concern is job specific skills of the graduates. Their next concern is graduates personal characteristics and attributes, including English language skills. Like Mahmud, Hasabi and Tonni also emphasised on the relative importance of skills and job experience side by side with English language. In fact, Hasabi asserted that skills and job experience were more important than language and argued that here employers knew that language problem was only temporary which would be overcome gradually, but that there was no short-cut to experience. However, two participants talked about yet other two important inter-related factors they thought were important in getting a job in Australia: network and reference. Mahmud stated: sometimes reference is also a vital issue to get a job. He explained that no matter where one stands with English skills, if you know people around, it certainly helps in getting a job. As noted in previous studies, good networks increase chances of getting a better job (Lin, Cook, & Burt, 2001). The importance of such social capital of friends and relatives in getting a job was supported by studies by Wahba and Zenou (2005), Calvó-Armengol and Zenou (2005), Stoloff, Glanville, and Bienenstock (1999), and Topa (2001). Earlier although most of the participants undoubtedly testified the importance of English in getting jobs, four participants contended that English skills were not so important in sustaining or being promoted in jobs. Like Rafiq and Sumi, Urboshi observed: after getting a job, it is more important -74-

80 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 68-81, 1 April, 2013 to prove yourself in what you are doing rather than how good your English is. Likewise, Hasabi asserted that after getting a job, language becomes secondary and job becomes primary. However, Azam argued: English language is important not only in getting a job but also to sustain and being promoted in a job. It therefore appeared that there were contrary opinions with regard to the relative importance of English in securing and sustaining a job in Australia. This indicates that while English certainly played an important role in the participants employment, related professional experience nonetheless played a bigger role in certain cases in which communication skills were not primary. Nevertheless, communication skills play role as a key factor to employers and other representatives of the commercial world (Cameron, 2002) and proficiency in English is considered an invaluable communication skill (McLaren & Hills, 1987). This study found that this was no exception for Bangladeshi graduates in Australian job markets. Perceptions about the use of English language skills in the job market One of the queries of this study was to explore the performance of Bangladeshi graduates in building careers in Australia with their levels of English. Among the participants, three were optimistic whereas an equal number of participants had pessimistic views with regard to their success. Urboshi, Azam and Mahmud argued that Bangladeshi graduates who worked in Australia were well versed in English and generally did well. The most fluent participant Urboshi, who scored 8 in IELTS (International English Language Testing System), and was working as an English teacher, argued that Bangladeshi graduates are quite qualified and are doing well. At the beginning they struggle but at the end they do pretty well. Both Azam and Mahmud held similar opinions. They argued that due to IELTS score requirements, Bangladeshi graduates come here with an acceptable standard of English anyway and therefore rarely did a Bangladeshi graduate fail to get a job solely due to their English. He added that some Bangladeshis are even working in mainstream jobs in Australia which required a higher level of English. However, the other three participants expressed negative views. Hasabi, who obtained 7 as overall brand in IELTS, argued that this varied from person to person. Graduates who studied in the general stream of education in Bangladesh did not see their English improve in their daily communication. He commented on his own language proficiency: I have been living here for nine years, still now I cannot speak English fluently. We have lack of confidence in speaking English which is not positive for job market. I think only 10% Bangladeshis are doing good jobs. He also asserted that Bangladeshis were generally meritorious but language often worked as a barrier for them. If the person is a Bangladeshi graduate with some experience in good companies in Bangladesh, especially in a mobile or IT company, it is more likely for him or her to do better here in Australia. Tonni, who was unemployed and seeking for a job, commented on the level of English quality among Bangladeshi graduates: Some Bangladeshi graduates are good at reading and writing but weak in listening and speaking due to lack of practice. Here most of the jobs require excellent communication skills. The people who come to Australia for the first time face the problem of understanding words/accents of foreigners and Australian local language users. It is also a problem to talk to them due to lack of practice. Later it becomes easy gradually. Bangladeshi graduates, especially spouses are little bit lagged behind in communication skills as here competition is very high. -75-

81 English language proficiency and employment: A case study M.M.Roshid & R.Chowdhury Sumi, who worked as a kitchen hand, honestly made self-assessment about her English and positioned herself in the Australian job market: I myself feel it badly. I cannot understand language here properly. If I want to communicate with employers and customers, I have to understand them well. If I am not able to communicate with them properly, why will they give me job? I am lagged behind in comparison with my qualifications as my English is not good. As discussed earlier, English is the dominant language of communication in a knowledge-based economy where workers, irrespective of business, industry and government, are increasingly expected to develop proficiency in English as communication skills. Hasabi and Tonni both were unanimous in their opinions that if someone graduated in Bangladesh and then did not do any course coming here in Australia, it was quite difficult for him/her to get a good job here. Hasabi explained: I am a Bangladeshi graduate plus I have done courses here, then after a long time and long sufferings I have got a good job now. It took a long time indeed. As noted in Table1, there was a wide range of proficiency levels in English among the participants; some were expert users while others were not completely able to communicate with people fluently and confidently. However, due to English language requirements, both students and immigrants who come to Australia have to have a better level of English language proficiency which usually secures better jobs. Better English, better opportunities? The spread of English has posed a serious challenge to non-english-speaking countries (Tsui & Tollefson, 2007 ). To face this challenge people of non-native English countries like Bangladesh increasingly learn English for work purposes. As discussed, Dustmann and Fabbri (2003) and Tainer (1988) argue that proficiency in English plays an influential role in career opportunities with higher earnings. One of the aims of this article was to present the scenario of whether good English skills could bring better opportunities for Bangladeshi employees in the job market in Australia. Surprisingly, despite the varied levels of successes and levels of English proficiency, all participants believed better English yielded better employment. Hasabi stated that if he had better English and had greater job experience in a well-known company, he would have got a better job five years ago. He believed that lack of language fluency lagged him behind for five years. Similarly, two other participants contended that they would also have had more opportunities for better jobs. Rafiq explained: When I was in Sydney I applied to Kmart and Coles for customer services and faced interview. I believe that if I were fluent in English, I would get the job. Sumi similarly explained: if I had better English, I would have been desperate to get a better job. I could express myself more properly. I have educational qualifications but I don t have quality English. Although Mahmud, Urboshi and Azam believed in better English, better jobs, their perspectives were quite different. To explain his view Mahmud observed: This is applicable in a non-english speaking country. But in an English speaking country like Australia, it can t really help. Because while a person in Australia as a student or immigrant, has a certain level of English. Rather in an English speaking country a person knows languages other than English like Chinese, Mandarin, Korean, German even Hindi etc can really help him in job markets. For example, when I go to a Chinese restaurant to ask for a job, they ask me whether I know Chinese or not. The same scenario is applicable in Indian restaurants or shops. Only certain jobs like customer services or call centres require fluency in English but not all. Likewise, Azam also stated that despite his belief in better English helping get a better job, it was -76-

82 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 68-81, 1 April, 2013 not true for an old man like him, who was then 61 years of age, because age was an obstacle in getting a good job. Like Azam, Urboshi explained her position where she stated her own perspective for instance. She believed it may applicable for others but not for me. I think the job I m doing now is the best one for me. I am an English teacher at a university in an English speaking country - this is the best use of English! Comparison with graduates from other countries In an unsolicited but spontaneous comparison of Bangladeshi graduates with immigrants and students from other countries, two participants brought up a new issue. Urboshi, who is a permanent resident in Australia and taught English to international students from many countries, observed that Bangladeshi graduates were doing much better than graduates from other Asian countries because of proficiency in English. She argued that Bangladeshi graduates were much more competent, fluent and impressive in speaking in English than graduates from some other Asian countries, especially Vietnam and China. She believed that such better skills in English of Bangladeshi graduates would ideally give them better opportunities in the job market. However, this can often be otherwise. For example, Urboshi pointed out that she was aware that the Chinese managed good jobs even being rather poor in English, since the Chinese had a reputation of being really hard-working and had a large community network here in Australia. This meant they often faced less difficulty in getting jobs than people from other countries. Azam observed that: Indian graduates are better in English proficiency than that of Bangladeshi graduates. But it varies from area to area in India. Due to better English they are playing an influential role in this job market. Another participant, Tonni who was unemployed but was seeking a job, observed that as a consequence of unsatisfactory fluency in English, she lagged behind people from neighbouring countries of Bangladesh such as India and Sri Lanka. She thought that because she was from a remote area of Bangladesh where she was not serious in learning English, weak English made her face problems in getting jobs in the Australian market. Although it begs further comparative study of English language proficiency and job performance of different nations in Australia, based on the perception of the participants of this study, it can be said that people from some Asian countries fare better in the Australian job markets than others due to other socio-cultural reasons stated above. Bangladeshi graduates who were not doing better than people from certain other Asian countries often attributed this to the fact that they did not have a large community like the Chinese in Australia. Problems and discrimination in the Australian job market It is argued that in recent times the English language policy has become a weapon of discrimination. Thornton and Luker s (2010) study argued that neoliberal employment strategies, immigration policies, economic globalisation and the events of 9/11 have created new environments for racism in Australia (p. 1). English language difficulty is one of the important reasons for workplace discrimination (Ogbonna & Harris, 2006). This kind of discrimination exists particularly against Asian migrants (Syed & Murray, 2009). It is assumed that the present hard English language policy may intensify certain racial biases and discourage non-english background applicants for skilled visas (Berg, 2011). Participants talked about how they viewed issues of discrimination in the Australian job market. All the employed participants reported that currently they did not face any such problems owing to English, even though, as mentioned, initially they all, except for Urboshi, faced some problems in handling jobs. From another angle, six participants, irrespective of their nature of jobs and employment status, spontaneously disclosed that they did not think that Bangladeshi employees -77-

83 English language proficiency and employment: A case study M.M.Roshid & R.Chowdhury were facing any disadvantage or discrimination at work. Only one participant Hasabi, who had lived longer than most others in Australia and had a more varied job experience among the participants, gave a cautious hint of being discriminated against at work: It is quite tough to understand. Yet, I believe it happens. I think our accent to them is horrible. But they love accent of European non-native English users. Its reason is unknown to me. But one reason may be our color is black and their color is white. That is why non-native European English speakers get privileges. In addition, Rafiq, who was employed in a cleaning job, explained that he was compelled to do this sort of job (cleaning) in Australia but argued that in the Australian job market students did not get as much advantage as (permanent) residents usually get. His academic qualification was not considered in his present work because of the nature of the job. Some researchers have pointed out that employment criteria varied from job to job where educational qualifications may not have been the main benchmark for selection (Ho & Alcorso, 2004). As Rafiq s formal education was not counted, he felt that his qualifications were not being essentially accounted duly. Some studies have confirmed this and demonstrated that educational qualifications obtained by immigrants in their home country, especially in developing countries were not considered as equal to those achieved in Australia (Brooks, 1996; Syed & Murray, 2009). Rather than being discriminated, all employed participants expressed satisfaction with their present jobs, irrespective of the nature of their professions. In explaining the reasons for their job satisfaction, Hasabi and Urboshi, who were both permanent residents and had initially struggled with jobs in Australia, opined that they got jobs related to their study as expected. Two other participants, Rafiq and Sumi who were working as cleaning and kitchen hands respectively, stated that they were satisfied with their present jobs since they did not have alternative options. It can be generally said that Australia encourages and promotes racial harmony based on its policy of multiculturalism and being a cosmopolitan and culturally diverse country, it endeavours to maintain impartiality in general and in the job market in particular. Yet, it appears that it is quite difficult to ensure complete indiscrimination due to some of the socio-cultural reasons stated above. Conclusion Language indeed is an essential capital and English, as the language of globalisation, is the most important linguistic capital in today s world where sound skills in English work as a vehicle to sound opportunities and economic benefits in career track, not only in Australia but also over the world. On the contrary, because Australia is a multicultural country where different communities work and live, even if English were considered as the language of globalisation, other languages can play an equally important role in employment as we have seen in the discussion above. While proficiency in English is an important factor in carrier trajectory in an English speaking country like Australia, this study did not consider others factors such as age, educational qualifications, gender, training, individual attributes and visa categories in employment curve. This study was conducted only within Victoria rather than other states in Australia. In addition, this study only looked at a narrow range of job areas such as teaching, technology support, customer service, kitchen hand and cleaning, not others service sectors. Albeit the limited scope, in terms of demography, this paper has explored the hitherto unstudied relationship between English language proficiency and the employment and success of a group of Bangladeshi graduates in Australia. It was found that in various ways one s English language skills did influence their prospects of employment. As well as contributing to the possibility of secure and better jobs, English undoubtedly played a role in social interaction and in the building of social networks the latter also an active determinant in enhancing job prospects among migrant communities. It is hoped that the findings of this study will prompt further research among other -78-

84 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 68-81, 1 April, 2013 migrant nationalities in Australia and other countries and will inform educational policy planners, teacher educators, teachers, employers and career advisers to identify appropriate English language learning programs for migrants that support increased employability, and thus empowerment, through English. References ABS. (2012). January key figures. Available from Australian Bureau of Statistics, from Australian Bureau of Statistics Accessed on 23 February, 2012 Arkoudis, S., Hawthorne, L., Baik, C., Hawthorne, G., O Loughlin, K., Leach, D., & Bexley, E. (2009). The impact of English language proficiency and workplace readiness on the employment outcomes of tertiary international students. Melbourne: Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. Berg, L. (2011). 'Mate speak English, you're in Australia now': English language requirements in skilled migration. Alternative Law Journal,, 36(2), Bleakley, H., & Chin, A. (2004). Language skills and earnings: Evidence from childhood immigrants. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 86(2), Brooks, C. (1996). Understading immigrants and the labour market. Canberra: Bureau of Immigration, Multicultural and Population Research, Australian Government Publishing Service. Calvó-Armengol, A., & Zenou, Y. (2005). Job matching, social network and word-of-mouth communication. Journal of Urban Economics, 57, Cameron, D. (2002). Globalization and the teaching of 'communication skills'. In D. Block & D. Cameron (Eds.), Globalization and language teaching (pp ). London: Routledge. Campbell, I., Whitehouse, G., & Baxter, J. (2009). Australia: Casual employment, part-time employment and the resilience of the male-breadwinner model. In M. M. I. C. L. F. Vosko (Ed.), Gender and the contours of precarious employment (pp ). London & New York: Routledge. Carliner, G. (2000). The language ability of U.S. immigrants: Assimilation and cohort effects. International Migration Review, 34(1), Casale, D., & Posel, D. (2011). English language proficiency and earnings in a developing country: The case of South Africa. The Journal of Socio-Economics, 40, Chang, H.-c. (2003). Do immigrants rob jobs? A case study of Australia (T. U. o. M. Department of Economics, Trans.). Melbourne: Melbourne University Chiswick, B. R. (1991). Speaking, reading, and earnings among low-skilled immigrants. Journal of Labor Economics, 9(2), Chiswick, B. R., & Miller, P. W. (1995). The endogeneity between language and earnings: International analyses. Journal of Labor Economics, 13(2), Chiswick, B. R., & Miller, P. W. (1998). English language fluency among immigrants in the United States (forthcoming). Research in Labour Economics, 17. Chiswick, B. R., & Miller, P. W. (2002). Immigrant earnings: Language skills, linguistic concentrations and business cycles. Journal of Population Economics, 15, Chowdhury, M. R. (2008). Globalisation, international education and the marketing of TESOL: Student identity as a site of conflicting forces. (PhD qualitative thesis), Monash University, Melbourne. Cobb-Clark, D. A. (2000). Do selection criteria make a difference? Visa category and the labour market status of immigrants to Australia. The Economic Record, 76(232), Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry & research design (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Davila, A., & Mora, M. T. (2000). English skills, earnings, and the occupational sorting of Mexican Americans along the U.S.-Mexico border. International Migration Review, 34(1),

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86 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 68-81, 1 April, 2013 Syed, J., & Murray, P. (2009). Combating the English language deficit: the labour market experiences of migrant women in Australia. Human Resource Management Journal, 19(4), Tainer, E. (1988). English language proficiency and the determination of earnings among foreignborn men The Journal of Human Resources, 23 (1 ), Thornton, M., & Luker, T. (2010). The new racism in employment discrimination: Tales from the global economy. Sydney Law Review, 32(1), Topa, G. (2001). Social interactions, local spillovers and unemployment. Review of Economic Studies, 68, Tsui, A. B. M., & Tollefson, J. W. (2007 ). Language policy and the construction of national cultural identity. In A. B. M. Tsui & J. W. Tollefson (Eds.), Language policy, culture, and identity in Asian contexts. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc. Wahba, J., & Zenou, Y. (2005). Density, social networks and job search methods: Theory and application to Egypt. Journal of Development Economics, 78, Appendix Interview schedule 1. Could you please give your introduction including your education background? 2. What did you do before coming to Australia? 3. Are you doing any job in Australia? If yes, what is it? 4. Could you please talk about your job history in Australia? 5. What is your perception about Australian job market? 6. What do you think about the role of English language in Australian job market? 7. How are Bangladeshi graduates doing in Australian Job market with their English language skills? 8. If you had better English, would you have better job? 9. How are Bangladeshi graduates doing in Australian job market in comparison with graduates from other countries? 10. Do you face any problem and discrimination or disadvantage in present jobs due to English language? -81-

87 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 3(1), pp , 1 April, 2013 Available online at Factor-Based Student Rating in Academic Performance in Southern Province of Rwanda Ephrard Rulinda University of Eastern Africa, Baraton, Kenya Elizabeth Role University of Eastern Africa, Baraton, Kenya Article history Received: Received in revised form: Accepted: Key words: Factor-based, students, academic performance, school climate, family support, Rwanda. Lazarus Ndiku Makewa * University of Eastern Africa, Baraton, Kenya This study examined students perception on academic performance using five-factor ratings namely, principal s instructional leadership, school climate, school facilities, teachers effectiveness and family support. Data for this study were collected from selected Parent s Private Seventh - day Adventist Secondary Schools (PPSDASS) in Southern Province of Rwanda. Questionnaires were used to collect data from 240 students. The study was descriptive in nature. The findings indicate that the principals did not seem to involve students in the matters of decision making. However, students were satisfied with the kind of climate schools provided and the support they were getting from their families. Student involvement in decision making may be a new ground for intervention in future studies. 1. Introduction Education is the best legacy a nation can give to her youth. This would suggest that the development of any nation or community depends largely on the quality of education of such a nation (Garner, 2004; Garfield & Brimley, 2002; Akanle, 2007). It is generally believed that the basis for any true development must commence with the development of human resources. Formal education remains the vehicle for social-economic development and social mobilization in any society (Checchi, 2006; World Bank Group, 2009). Unfortunately, for years, this opportunity has not been distributed fairly due to lack of enough schools. In order to allow all children to benefit from that advantage, private initiatives were started across the world. This was in conformity with the declaration of the seventh conference of Ministers of education of Africa, held in South Africa, which stated that the member states were no longer in a position to finance all the education requirements of their populations (KITAEV, 1999). As a result, they decided to establish partnership with the communities and private sector in order to improve access to education. As the problem of lack of enough schools was being resolved, there was an outcry to improve academic performance. Private schools in Rwanda have been in existence since These were established by different churches and parent associations (Rugengande, 2008). Between , * Correspondence: Lazarus Ndiku Makewa, University of Eastern Africa, Baraton, P.O. Box 2500, Eldoret, Kenya, [email protected]

88 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 82-92, 1 April, 2013 some Adventist parents came together to form the Federation of Adventist Parents Associations for the Development of Education in Rwanda (FAPADER) and established 12 secondary schools with the aim of supporting the Government and the Adventist Church in promoting education and ensuring there was quality supervision in the Adventist Parents schools, including nursery, primary, and secondary schools However, these schools continued to perform poorly academically. The purpose of this study therefore, was to investigate how students rated factors leading to poor academic performance in Parent s Private Seventh - day Adventist Secondary Schools (PPSDASS) in Southern Province of Rwanda. Studies done by Khan and Malik (1999), and Gonzalez et al. (2002) reveal that a number of factors are responsible for scholastic failure of students, such as low socio-economic background, student s cognitive abilities, school related factors (climate and facilities), home environment, parental and community support. As observed by Eshiwani, (1993), the quality of education tends to be evaluated in terms of the number of students passing national examinations. 2. Literature Review 2.1 Principal s Instructional Leadership Demands for greater accountability appeals for the use of more outcome-based measures, require the principal to be instruction oriented. Are the students learning? If the students are not learning, what are we going to do about it? The focus on results; the focus on student achievement; the focus on students learning at high levels, can only happen if teaching and learning become the central focus of the school and the central focus of the principal (Blankstein, 2010; Bulach, Lunenburg, & Potter, 2008). How can principals help teachers to clarify instructional goals and work collaboratively to improve teaching and learning to meet those goals? Principals need to help teachers shift their focus from what they are teaching to what students are learning. We cannot continue to accept the premise that I taught it; they just didn t learn it. The role of instructional leader is to help the school to maintain the focus on why the school exists, and that is to help all students learn (Blase, Blase, & Phillips, 2010; Smylie, 2010). Shifting the focus of instruction from teaching to learning; forming collaborative structures and processes for teachers to work together to improve instruction; and ensuring that professional development is ongoing and focused toward school goals are among the key tasks that principals must perform to be effective instructional leaders in a professional learning community (Lunenburg & Irby, 2006). This will require wide leadership focused directly on learning. School principals can accomplish this by (1) focusing on learning, (2) encouraging collaboration, (3) using data to improve learning, (4) providing support, and (5) aligning curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Taken together, these five dimensions provide a compelling framework for accomplishing wide success for all children (Fullan, 2010; Lunenburg, 2003; Marzano & Waters, 2010). 2.2 Material Resources Several studies have related school facilities and academic performance. According to Jaiyeoba and Atanda (2005), school facilities facilitate effective teaching and learning in schools. Lyons (2002) adds that learning is a complex activity that puts students motivation and physical condition to the test while Cash (1993) found that when socio-economic factors were constant, facility condition had a significant correlation with student achievement. He also found that air conditioning, absence of graffiti, condition of science laboratories, locker accommodations, condition of classroom furniture, wall color and acoustic levels correlated with student achievement at a significant level when controlling for socio-economic status of students. Finally, Jaiyeoba and -83-

89 Factor-Based Student Rating in Academic Performance E.Rulinda, E.Role & L.N.Makewa Atanda (2005) also posited that educational facilities are those things which enable a skillful teacher to achieve a level of instructional effectiveness that far exceeds what is possible when they are not provided among the material resources. 2.3 School Climate Schools show a lot of differences in terms of the feel, atmosphere or ideology, student behavior, academic performance, social and civic values, moral character, and interpersonal skills. The cumulative effect of these differences creates the ethos or climate of the school. Many studies have been conducted linking a positive school climate to student performance (Bliss, Firestone, & Richards, 1991; Carter, 2000; Cruickshank, 1990; DuFour, 2000; Goddard, Tschannen Moran, & Hoy 2001; Hoy & Feldman, 1987; Hoy & Hannum, 1997; Klinger, 2000; Lezotte, 1991, 1992, 2002; Makewa, et al, 2011). The overall conclusion of these studies suggest that a positive school climate exists as an essential element in successful schools. Freiberg (1998) asserts, school climate can have a favorable influence on the health of the learning environment or a significant barrier to learning (p. 22). Although there is not one commonly accepted definition of school climate, the vast majority of researchers and scholars suggest that school climate, essentially, reflects subjective experiences in a school (Cohen, 2006). Pioneering works of early researchers did attempt to define school climate in a variety of ways. Perry (1908) was the first educational leader to explicitly write about how school climate affects students and the process of learning. Halpin and Croft (1963) define school climate as the social atmosphere of a setting or a learning environment in which students have different experiences depending upon the protocols set up by the teachers and administrators. Maine Guidelines (2004) define school climate as the synthesis of policies, procedures, activities, programs and facilities both formal and informal within a school infrastructure that affect the attitudes and behavior of all people in the school, staff, students, parents and visitors. The concept of school climate is multi dimensional and influences many individuals including students, parents, school personnel and the community. Haynes (1993) asserts that a positive school climate perception helps to supply high risk students with a supportive learning environment as well as preventing anti social behavior. Such a climate is associated with fewer behavioral and emotional problems for students. Although these definitions are as 95 varied as the schools themselves, they have one common element that school climate affects members of a school either positively or negatively. 3. Methodology 3.1 Research Design Leedy and Omrod (2001) state that a research design is a careful set of plans developed by a researcher that provides criteria and specifications for the study or research. This study was descriptive in nature. According to Gay et al (2006), a descriptive research determines and reports the way things are; it involves collecting numerical data to test hypothesis or answer questions about the current status of the subject of the study. This design fitted the present study, for it helped describe the way different factors such as teachers, families, schools and Instructional leadership affect academic performance. 3.2 Sampling Techniques In order to choose respondents, the researchers received a list of all concerned students from the school office. After that, students were selected by coding their names and choosing one by one from a chalk box until a required number was reached. Simple random sampling method was used to determine the number of respondents. -84-

90 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 82-92, 1 April, 2013 Gay and Airasian (2003) defined purposive sampling as one which is used to select a sample based on experiences or knowledge of the group to be sampled. Thus, it was used to select three PPSDASS among 4 schools, all located in southern province. In order to have target population, the following formula from (Zuluta, Nestor, & Costales, 2004) was used: N n = 1 + ne Where n= the size of the sample N=the size of the population e= the margin of error From the above formula, 240 students were selected. For making such selection, the researchers used random sampling method, and students were selected by coding their names and choosing one by one from a small basket until a needed number was reached. On the whole, the total population of sampled schools was 773 (students), and the above formula was used to draw a sample of 240 students. In regard to every school s representativeness, school C was represented by 179 respondents taken from 525; school A was represented by 28 respondents chosen from 98 while school B was represented by 33 respondents chosen from Questionnaire The questionnaire used in this study had 62 items divided into four parts based on four variables, which were: principal s instructional leadership, school related factors (school climate and school facilities), teacher effectiveness and family support. The questionnaire had statements that described each factor using a four-point scale: Agree (1), Tend to Agree (2), Tend to Disagree (3) and Disagree (4). To determine reliability, a pilot study was done. The reliability was calculated and obtained the following results: Student s questionnaire: reliability on principal s instructional leadership was.843; reliability on teachers satisfaction was.681 and reliability on School climate was.717. After analysis, the questionnaire was deemed reliable since all Cronbach s Alpha coefficients was higher than Data Gathering Procedures After this step, the researchers made an appointment with principals in order to be introduced and work on sampling. After getting a list of students and having sampled a number and names of students needed, the researchers requested to meet with selected students in separate groups. During this time, all items were read and explained, then, respondents were given time to answer. After, responding, the questionnaire was retrieved, and another group was called, and so forth. In addition, during the administration of the questionnaire, the researchers were present to respond to any query or uncertainties that could be addressed by the respondents. 4. Results and Discussion In this study, we intended to solicit for students perception on academic performance using five-factor ratings as follows: a. Principal s instructional leadership b. School climate c. School facilities d. Teachers effectiveness e. Family support -85-

91 Factor-Based Student Rating in Academic Performance E.Rulinda, E.Role & L.N.Makewa 4.1 Student s Ratings of Principal s Instructional Leadership The state of principal s instructional leadership in selected PPSDASS in Southern Province had an overall mean of 2.50, which was a good rating according to students. Table 1: Mean Ratings on Instructional Leadership Statement Mean Std. Deviation Develops a focused set of annual school-wide goals Communicates the school s mission effectively to all members of the school Organizes regular supervision, point out specific strengths and weaknesses in teacher instructional practices and sets good strategies for help Ensures that all staff is aware of the most current theories and practices Meets individually with students to discuss student academic progress Limits the intrusion of any extra- and co-curricular activities on instructional time Is knowledgeable and directly involved in the design and implementation of curriculum instruction and assessment practices. Establishes a set of standards operating procedures and routines Involves students in the design and implementation of important decisions and policies. Inspires and leads new and challenging innovations Is aware of the details and undercurrents in the running of the school and uses this information to address current and potential problems. Adapts his/her leadership skills to the needs of the current situation and is comfortable with dissent. Establishes strong lines of communication with and among teachers and students. Has quality contact and interactions with students Is an advocate and spokesperson of the school to all stakeholders Provides teachers with materials and professional development necessary for the successful execution of their jobs. Acknowledges, Reinforces, Compliments students for their performance Principal s Instructional Leadership Table 1 suggests that students tended to agree that in their respective schools, their principal exercised instructional leadership with an average mean of Therefore, based on the overall mean, there was no difference between poor performance and principal s instructional leadership, which unfortunately, is in contradiction with the research results from Konchar ( as cited in Lydiah L.M.,& Nasongo J.W. 2009) who stated that schools do not become great because of magnificent buildings, but because of magnificent principals. On the other hand, students tended to disagree that their principal involves them in the design and implementation of important decisions and policies, inspires and leads new and challenging innovations, has quality contact and interactions with students, establishes strong lines of communication with and among teachers and students, adapts his/her leadership skills to the needs of the current situation and is comfortable with dissent, provides teachers with materials and professional development necessary for the successful execution of their jobs, communicates the school s mission effectively to all members of the school, meets individually with students to discuss student academic progress, is aware of the details and undercurrents in the running of the school and uses this information to address current and potential problems. Bush (1995) states that involvement of students is one key for school success. He adds that when students are given full participation on issues pertaining to school, their morale to work hard will increase in terms of finishing assignment, attending classes appropriately and achieving their educational goals. These findings also reflect that there was minimal effective contact and interaction. These bad practices are opposed by Rutter et al. (1979) and Wekesa (as cited in Lydiah and Nasongo, 2009) who advise that to improve students performance, principals are first required to -86-

92 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 82-92, 1 April, 2013 improve the management of their schools. This can be done by setting a clear vision for the schools and communicating this vision to students, support its achievement by giving instructional leadership, provision of resources and being visible in every part of the institution. Based on these findings, it is indicative that students did not trust their principals as the ones who could lead them to reach their ultimate goal. 4.2 School Climate The state of school climate in selected PPSDASS in Southern Province had an average mean of 2.56 as shown in table 2. Table 2: Mean Ratings on School Climate Statement Mean Std. Deviation There is mutual respect, trust and obligation toward each other Rules are well known and respected by each one and sanctions are applied to everyone in case of breaking rules There is a mood of family and a professional collegiality between all levels Students are motivated to study in this school Students are well recruited based on the known standards Teachers and administration create an environment of high expectation in academic performance among student School climate It was gratifying to note that students tended to agree that in their schools there was mutual respect, trust and obligation toward each other, students were well recruited based on the known standards, teachers and administration created an environment of high expectation in academic performance among students, students were motivated to study in the school. This shows that the state of school climate was good according to the views of students. It also seemed to indicate that the school climate in schools mentioned above did not constitute a big threat to students performance. These results are in harmony with Freiberg (1998) and Makewa, et al. (2011) who agree that a positive school climate can yield positive educational and psychological outcomes for students and school personnel; similarly, a negative climate can prevent optimal learning and development. On the other hand, students tended to disagree with two items in relation to school climate. They stated that there was a mood of family and a professional collegiality between all levels and rules were well known and respected by each one and sanctions were applied to everyone in case of breaking rules. This indicates that even though the school climate was generally good, few weaknesses needed to be minimized. 4.3 School Facilities Table 3: Mean Ratings on School Facilities Statement Mean Std. Deviation External physical of the school is in good condition Internal physical is in good condition Security and safety are well insured Ambient environmental health contributing to learning process is in place Physical classroom are well insured and do not disrupt the learning process The library and laboratory exist and are well equipped for students benefit Utilities such as electricity and water are adequate and in case of interruption there is another alternative Cafeteria /kitchen is attractive with sufficient space of seating/dinning, delivery, storage and food preparation Administrative and academic personnel have adequate workspace Living Conditions in boarding are favorable Systems controlling heating, ventilation and air conditioning are operational

93 Factor-Based Student Rating in Academic Performance E.Rulinda, E.Role & L.N.Makewa There is enough facilities for adequate physical education instruction School facilities From table 3, students stated that security and safety are well insured, external physical of the school is in good condition, there are enough facilities for adequate physical education instruction and internal physical is in good condition. Apparently, that was good for students performance. However, considering the overall mean of 2.46, the state of school facilities in PPSDASS in Southern Province, was below average. Students described the state of heating, ventilation and conditioning system as poor, scoring a mean of This was a deep message indicating that the system was nonexistent or not operational in their schools. That becomes a serious issue, especially in summer, when students have to study under the hot sun. In relation to the state of Cafeteria /kitchen, food, storage and food preparation, students did not appreciate it by a fair mean of During the group discussion with students, they mentioned that space in cafeteria was limited, and sometimes they ate in turns. As a result, they spent more time in cafeteria instead of concentrating in their studies. They also indicated that food was not enough, in good quality and was not clean. A low mean of 2.14 was also given to the classrooms which were not well secured and disrupted the learning process. It was also noted that some schools were built near roads and others had construction going on while learning was taking place. Another low of 2.15 was given to ambient environmental health that contributes to the learning process. Some schools were built near water marshes and students were always subjected to mosquitoes. Another point to have received a fair mean was related to the state of library and laboratory. Students reacted by a below average mean of As far as the laboratory is concerned, it is usually a place where practical subjects like Biology, Chemistry, and Physics are taught. Unfortunately, it was deplorable to notice that those two important learning resources were not up to-date. Mwiria (1991) observes that the quality of inputs to an educational institution determines the quality of outcomes. Concerning adequacy of water and electricity, students gave a below average mean of Apparently, water and electricity seemed to be a big issue in those schools. They indicated that they had always faced water and electricity shortages. They relied only on one source, and once it was cut, students had to suffer or use unclean water from marshes. Children will achieve more when both their health and learning needs are met. Ensuring access to water at all times and promoting a regular water intake is a vital role for schools in promoting health and providing a healthy learning environment. Regarding the state of life in dormitory, students showed their dissatisfaction by giving a mean of Indeed, students indicated that they didn t have enough space in dormitories and ended up sharing beds. School facilities in selected PPSDASS in Southern Province were generally in critical state and may have surely a negative impact on student performance. 4.4 Teachers Effectiveness Table 4: Mean Ratings on Teacher s effectiveness Statement Mean Std. Deviation Masters well the subject Has good relationships with students Pays extra attention to weak students Is both academically and professionally qualified Covers all area of curriculum Ensures discipline and control during class Encourages and motivates students to learn Shares the objective with students in order to meet their expectation Respects time Adapts the content to the classroom Makes enough evaluations

94 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); 82-92, 1 April, 2013 Uses reinforcements Emphasizes the use of teaching and learning materials Responds adequately to student questions Teaches his/her subject with enthusiasm Welcomes questions or expressions of students opinions Is clear and understandable in his/her language and illustrations Is able to relate his/her subject matter to other fields Teachers effectiveness This factor had an overall mean of 2.73, which indicated that the state of teachers effectiveness was good according to students view. These findings suggest that students appreciated their teachers capacity of teaching. It was encouraging to notice that students tended to agree that their teachers emphasized the use of teaching and learning materials, were enthusiastic, were able to relate to subject matter to other fields, used reinforcement, mastered the subject they taught, welcomed questions from the students, shared lesson objective with students in order to meet their expectation, respected time management, adapted the content to the classroom, had good relationships with students, ensured discipline and control during class, encouraged and motivated students to learn. However, students ranked syllabus coverage low. This suggests that teachers were not able to cover content within the given time. This could affect the performance of students in their national examination. Regarding use of language and illustrations used by teachers, students expressed, with a mean of 2.15, their concern about those two points. Apparently, the language was not adapted to their levels, but also the illustrations were not exploited enough. This weakness got justification from nonmastery of teaching language; given that teachers have not been trained enough in English. They have been requested to move from Francophone system to Anglophone system after only three months of training in English. Therefore, students worry was justified. Even before getting books, teachers were asked to translate their notes into the language they had not mastered. Regarding the academic qualification, students gave a weak or below average rate to the teacher s qualification with a mean of In contrast, demographic information indicated that majority of teachers had at least a Bachelor s degree. Thus, in selected PPSDASS in Southern Province, the problem was not lack of qualified teachers, for 95.83% of teachers involved in this study had a Bachelor s degree and a low 4.27% was pursuing a Master s Degree. It would seem the problem was teachers lack of experience and professional qualifications rather than their qualifications. Students expressed dissatisfaction to the kind of evaluation they received from their teachers with a mean of Other times that were rated low by the students are, paying attention to weak students, the manner teachers answered student s questions. 4.5 Family support The state of family support in selected PPSDASS in Southern Province had an overall mean of 3.25 with students agreeing that their parents supported their education, by getting involved in school activities, and motivating them to perform better and maintaining discipline at home. Table 5: Mean Ratings on Family Support Mean Std. Deviation Values education and stimulates /reinforces the student during the studies Is not stable because there is parents constant disagreement Provides a sufficient students psychological, emotional, social and economic support Sets for student high expectations Expresses satisfaction or dissatisfaction with regard to the student performance Is involved in school activities (attending meetings...) Insures discipline at home Is characterized by a good parents-student relations Ensures the regular monitoring of the student academic activities

95 Factor-Based Student Rating in Academic Performance E.Rulinda, E.Role & L.N.Makewa Family support The positive results of parental involvement in their children's schooling include improved achievement, reduced absenteeism, improved behavior, and restored parental confidence in their children's schooling. Parent involvement in education at home and at school was positively related to young adolescents academic outcomes (Shumow & Miller, 2001). Moreover, the earlier this involvement begins, the more profound the results and the longer lasting the effects. When families are involved in their children's education in positive ways, children achieve higher grades and test scores, complete more homework assignments, demonstrate more positive attitudes and behavior, graduate at higher rates, and have greater enrollment in higher education. Parental involvement with older children extends these benefits beyond schooling into later life and career decisions. This means that families can improve their children's achievement in school by making sure their children attend school regularly, encouraging their children to read at home regularly, and turning off the TV (Barton & Coley, 1992). 5. Conclusions and Recommendations This study has shown that there were weaknesses in school leadership in selected Parent s Private Seventh - day Adventist Secondary Schools (PPSDASS) in Southern Province of Rwanda. For example, principals did not seem to involve students in the matters of decision making. One main cause may be due to some principals who were not qualified for their profession, because only one-third of principals had graduated from education school. Unfortunately, this problem may be extended even to all school staff, for there was lack of policy in terms of staff recruitment in general. Teacher s effectiveness was rated satisfactorily. However, some elements of teachers in those schools lacked qualities of an effective teacher. This study found out that students were satisfied with the kind of climate schools provided. This was motivating, for school climate is an integral and indispensable component of the teaching and learning process. Indeed, no meaningful teaching and learning can take place in an environment that is not conducive and safe to both learners and staff. It is, therefore, imperative that educational stakeholders foster safe and secure school environments to facilitate increased learner enrolment, retention and completion and hence attainment and quality education (UNESCO, 2006). Cash (1993) found that comfort factors appeared to have more effect on student achievement than did structural factors. High achievement was associated with schools that were air conditioned, enjoyed less noisy external environments, had less graffiti on walls and classroom furniture and students lockers were in good state of repair. Several researchers have delved into the aspect of the schools social climate and the overall conclusion of these studies has been that the schools social climate has the potential of yielding both positive educational and psychological outcomes and at the same time negative effects on both the students and the school personnel. Freiberg (1998) argues that aspects of school social climate including...trust, respect, mutual obligation and concern for others welfare can have powerful effects on educators and learners interpersonal relationships as well as academic achievement and overall school progress... (p. 44). Students viewed their families as doing their best to support them. Studies have shown that when families are involved in their children's education, children earn higher grades and receive higher scores on tests, attend school more regularly, complete more homework, demonstrate more positive attitudes and behaviors (Henderson and Berla, 1994). Student involvement in decision making may be a new ground for intervention in future studies. -90-

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97 Factor-Based Student Rating in Academic Performance E.Rulinda, E.Role & L.N.Makewa management of education in Nigeria. Jos: M. P. Ginac Concept Ltd Retrieved from Khan, R.M., Malik, K. (1999). Effectiveness of Parents involvement in reading, child s overt behavior at home, mothers educational level on children s reading comprehension. Journal of Elementary Education. Institution of Education and Research, Punjab University, Lahore. Retrieved from Kitaev, I., (1999). Private education in sub-saharan Africa. Paris: Unesco. HMI (1977) Ten Good Schools London: HMSO Klinger, D. (2000). Hierarchical linear modelling of students and school effects on academic achievement. Canadian Journal of Education, 25(2), Leedy, P. D., Ormrood. J. R. (2001). Practical research: Planning and design. 7 th ed. Prentice hall, upper saddle River, N.J.: Merill. Leithwood, K. et al. (2004). How leadership influences student learning (Learning From Leadership Project Executive Summary). New York: The Wallace Foundation. Retrieved from Lezotte, L. (1991). Correlates of effective schools: The first and second generation. Okemos, MI: Effective Schools Products. Lezotte, L. (1992). Principal insights from effective schools. Educational Digest, 58 (3), Lezotte, L. (2002). Revolutionary and evolutionary: The effective schools movement. Okemos, MI: Effective Schools Products, Ltd. Lunenburg, F. C., & Carr, C. S. (2003). Shaping the future: Policy, partnerships, and perspectives. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Lunenburg, F. C., & Irby, B. J. (2006). The principalship: Vision to action. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Lydiah, L.M., Nasongo, J.W. (2009). Role of the Headteacher in Academic Achievement. Retrieved from Maine Guidelines. (2004). Retrieved from Makewa, L. N., Role, E. Role, J., & Yegoh, E. (2011). School Climate and Academic Performance in High and Low Achieving Schools: Nandi Central District, Kenya. International Journal of Scientific Research in Education, 4(2), Marzano, R. J., & Waters, T. (2010). District leadership that works: Striking the right balance. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree. Mwiria, K. (1991).University Education in East Africa: The quality Crisis. Draft Nairobi: Bureau of Educational Research, Kenyatta University p. 1, 27 Perry, A. (1908). The management of a city school. New York : Mamillan. Rugengande, J. (2008). Développement et diversification de l Enseignement Privé au Rwanda. Belgique, UCL Johnson, W. L., & Johnson, M. (1993). Validity of the quality of school life scale: A primary and second-order factor analysis. Educational & Psychological Measurement, 53(1), Retrieved from Rutter, M., B., Maugham, P., Mortimer., A. Smith, Fifteen thousand hours in secondary schools and their effects on children. Cambridge Havard University U.S.A. Retrieved from Shumow, L., & Miller, J. D. (2001). Parents at-home and at-school academic involvement with young adolescents. Journal of Early Adolescence, 21(1), Smylie, M. A. (2010). Continuous school improvement. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. UNESCO (2006) Fact Book on Education For All (EFA)2006. Unesco, Nairobi. World Bank Group. (2009). Economics of education. Retrieved from Zuluta, F.M., Nestor, T. Costales, J.R (2004). Methods of research thesis-writing and applied statistics.philippines: National Bookstor. -92-

98 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 3(1), pp , 1 April, 2013 Available online at Academic Self-Efficacy Perceptions of Teacher Candidates Dr. Etem YEŞİLYURT * Mevlana (Rumi) University, Educational Faculty, Department of Educational Sciences, Konya / Turkey. Article history Received: Received in revised form: Accepted: Key words: Self-efficacy, academic selfefficacy, academic self-efficacy perception, teacher candidates. This study aims determining academic self-efficacy perception of teacher candidates. It is survey model. Population of the study consists of teacher candidates in academic years at Ahmet Keleşoğlu Education Faculty of Education Formation of Selçuk University. A simple random sample was selected as sampling method and the study was conducted on 312 teacher candidates. The data of this study was obtained by academic selfefficacy scale which was developed by Jerusalem and Schwazer (1981) and translated into Turkish by Yılmaz, Gürçay, and Ekici (2007) and its reliability value was determined as.79. However, Cronbach Alfa reliability value of this scale became.76 with the result of the data analysis of the study. SPSS package program was used to analyze the data; and the data analysis, frequency, percentage, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, independent samples t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post hoc tests (LSD) test were used. When the findings of the research were considered in general, the result showed that the academic self-efficacy perception level of the candidates was at desired level. However, teachers' views about the level of academic self-efficacy perception showed that most of them preferred a lower level option "suits me", instead of "totally suits me" option that was the highest degree of participation of four likert-type scale. This illustrated that their perception about this issue was not at a very high level. When independent variables were taken into account, among the academic perception levels of teacher candidates, a significant difference was detected in terms of working as a teacher or not and academic achievement variables but it revealed no significant difference in terms of gender and type of education program variables. Introduction Fundamental aim of the education is to raise quality individuals. And for them to be raised with quality, first of all, the ones who raise them need to be sufficient. At this point, things which first come to mind are tutorhood and the ones who carry out this profession. Also, teachers being sufficient is closely related to the education they receive during the education process before executing the profession. In order for this education to reach its purpose, teachers are expected to have a set of efficacies that partake in academic self-efficacy between each other during the candidacy. Efficacy is the degree of having necessary knowledge, ability and attitudes so that a role can be played (Balcı, 2005). According to another definition, efficacy is defined as carrying out the roles assigned by one s employers with quantity and quality and as having the required knowledge and ability so that an attitude will be exercised (Şişman, 2006). The notion efficacy taking place in an individual is self-efficacy. The notion self-efficacy is based on Bandura s Social Learning Theory. * Correspondence: Mevlana University, Educational Faculty, Department of Educational Sciences, Yeni Istanbul Street, Selçuklu / Konya, Turkey. [email protected], [email protected],

99 Academic Self-Efficacy Perceptions E.YEŞİLYURT According to Bandura, self-efficacy is a person s belief in his own exercise capacity after organizing the necessary activities, thus that person can put forward certain performances (Bandura, 1995). Self-efficacy is a person s trust on his capability of organizing his knowledge and abilities and putting these into action, so that a problem will be solved and a task will be carried out with success (Eccles & Wigfield, 2002; Cited by Fırat Durdukoca, 2010). Bandura, concerning this matter, emphasizes on there being four sources of self-efficacy beliefs. These are a) performance achievements, b) experiences, c) persuasion, and d) physical /emotional situation. In the literature, there are different types of efficacy as self-efficacy, professional efficacy, teacher efficacy. One of these concepts is academic self-efficacy. Academic self-efficacy is the belief of the student regarding whether he will be able to fulfill an academic job successfully (Linnenbrink & Pintrich, 2003). According to another definition, academic self-efficacy is the judgments concerning people s arrangement and realization skills of the required acts in order to achieve their education goals (Schunk, 1991). And Bandura (1997), in a similar way with these definitions, stated that academic self-efficacy is an individual s belief regarding that individual being successful in an academic subject field. Self-efficacy is seen in people with high or low levels. Individuals whose self-efficacy belief is high are more willing to partake in the activities in their lives, put more effort in these activities, develop more effective strategies against the challenges they face (Eggen & Kauchak, 1999). Linnenbrink and Pintrich (2003), in this context, have laid stress on the relationship of the contribution of academic self-efficacy perception regarding the learning process with its behavioral, cognitive, and motivational aspects. As accordance with this, while students self-efficacy perceptions determine their learning and achievements, the student s self-efficacy also increases equally as he learns more and achieves more. Hence Brannick, Miles and Kisamore (2005) emphasizes that as individuals accumulation of knowledge on some matter increases, then the academic self-efficacy perception on that matter increases directly. Linnenbrink and Pintrich (2003) have laid stress on the relationship of the contribution of academic self-efficacy perception regarding the learning process with its behavioral, cognitive, and motivational aspects. According to this, while students self-efficacy perceptions determine their learning and success through their participation to the school events, the student s self-efficacy also increases equally as he learns more and achieves more. As the accumulation of knowledge increases on a particular subject, then the academic self-efficacy perception on that particular subject scales up as well (Brannick, Miles & Kisamore, 2005). Thus, studies concerning the subject show that high academic self-efficacy has a huge effect on the students academic lives (Caprara et al, 2006; Chemers, Hu & Garcia, 2001; Goddard, Hoy & Woolfolk-Hoy, 2000; Pajares & Graham, 1999; Pajares, 1996; Schunk, 1991; Schunk, 1995; Shell, Murphy & Bruning, 1989; Vrugt, Langereis & Hoogstraten, 1998). There are numerous studies on self-efficacy in Turkey. These involve subjects such as, particularly, computer self-efficacy perception (Akkoyunlu & Kurbanoğlu, 2003; Aşkar & Umay, 2001), teachers and teacher candidates self-efficacy perception (Arslan, 2008; Baykara, 2011; Çalışkan, Selçuk & Özcan, 2010; Çubukçu & Girmen, 2007; Hevedanlı & Ekici, 2009; Kan & Akbaş, 2006; Özerkan, 2007; Üstüner et al, 2009, Yeşilyurt, 2011), scale development self-efficacy perception (Ekici, 2005; Hancı Yanar & Bümen, 2012; Yılmaz et al, 2004), and examining the self-efficacies in terms of various variables such as gender, branch, school type, education level etc. (Aykaç Duman, 2007; Bulut & Oral, 2012; Çoşkun, 2010; Odacı & Berber Çelik, 2011), and also the relationship of self-efficacy with academic success (Köseoğlu, 2010) and life satisfaction (Aydıner, 2011). Nevertheless, a limited number of researches were achieved in the subject of self-efficiency. These researches can be summed up in two sections. In the first section, scale adaptation studies regarding -94-

100 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); , 1 April, 2013 self-efficacy (Ekici, 2012; Öncü, 2012; Yılmaz, Gürçay & Ekici, 2007), and in the second section, studies conducted upon the academic self-efficacies of teacher candidates (Arslan, 2010; Fırat Durdukoca, 2010; Odacı & Berber Çelik, 2011; Ünlü & Kalemoğlu, 2011). Though a number of researches related to self-efficacy can be come up against in the literature, sufficient amount of researches on the academic self-efficacy perceptions of teacher candidates have not been reached. Thus, also examining the academic self-efficacy perceptions of teacher candidates alongside with this study is expected to contribute to the field. Purpose of the Study The main purpose of the study is to set forth the academic self-efficacy perception of teacher candidates. In accordance with this aim, answers were sought to the questions below. a. What is the self-efficacy perception level of teacher candidates? b. Does self-efficacy perception level of teacher candidates show significant difference according to the variables below? Gender, Working- not working as a teacher, Academic achievement and, Type of education program. Method Research Model The research presents a descriptive feature as well as being a screening model. The screening model aims to describe a situation existing in our day or in the past as it is (Karasar, 2012). Within the scope of the research, self-efficacy perceptions of teacher candidates are described. Population and Sample Demographic characteristics of the teacher candidates participating in the study are shown in Table 1. Table 1: The demographic characteristics of the teacher candidates participating in the study Demographic Characteristics f % Gender 1 Female ,0 2 Male 78 25,0 Whether or Not Working as a Teacher 1 Yes 79 25,3 2 No ,7 Academic Achievement , , ,4 Program Type 1 Mathematic Teaching 90 28,8 2 Physics Teaching 17 5,4 3 Chemistry Teaching 20 6,4 4 Biology Teaching 29 9,3 5 Turkish Language and Literature Teaching 61 19,6 6 Philosophy Group Teaching 58 18,6 7 Language (English, French, Deutsch ) Group Teaching 37 11,9 Total

101 Academic Self-Efficacy Perceptions E.YEŞİLYURT Population of the study consists of teacher candidates in academic years at Ahmet Keleşoğlu Education Faculty of Education Formation of Selçuk University. A simple random sample was selected as sampling method in the research. This method was selected because every unit in the population has a chance of being an equal and independent sample (Balcı, 2011), samples are selected without replacing the individuals who entered the sample with others (Aziz, 2008), and everyone in the population has an equal chance of getting selected (Karasar, 2012). The sample of the research composes of 312 teacher candidates and the demographic characteristics of the teacher candidates participating in the sample are shown in Table 1. It was determined that in terms of the gender variable of participants, females (75,0%), in terms of the academic achievement, (46,8%), in terms of the program type, Math (28,8%), and in terms of whether or not working as a teacher, ones who don t work (74,7) seem to prevail. Data Collection Instrument The data of this study was obtained by Academic Self-Efficacy Scale which was developed by Jerusalem ve Schwarzer (1981). The Cronbach's alpha reliability value of the original scale was determined to be.87. Scale was translated into Turkish by Yılmaz, Gürçay and Ekici (2007). The Cronbach's alpha reliability value of the scale composing of seven subjects and only one aspect is.79. And the Cronbach's alpha reliability value in the wake of the analysis conducted on the data acquired from this research appeared to be.76. Data Analysis SPSS package program was used to analyze the data. The demographic characteristics of participants have been determined through frequency and percentage. Arithmetic mean, standard deviations were used to establish the academic self-efficacy perceptions of the teacher candidates. As stated in Taşvancıl (2002), the data which is acquired from equally spaced scales can be analyzed by arithmetic mean, standard deviation and variance. So to figure out if there is a significant difference between the participant groups in terms of the gender and the whether or not working as a teacher variables or not, independent samples t-test was used. Büyüköztürk (2007), Ak (2006), Balcı (2011) and Demirgil (2006) emphasize that independent samples t-test can be used in determining if the difference between the means of two irrelevant samples is meaningful or not. In addition to these, One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was conducted to determine if there is a significant difference between the participant groups in the sense of the academic achievement and the type of education program variables or not. To determine between which groups the differences that were established in the wake of this analysis are, the post hoc tests (LSD) test, which determine view differences lower than,05 between the participant groups with a more radical point of view than tests such as Scheffe, Tukey etc., is used. Between two or more irrelevant sample means, it s emphasized that using one-way analysis of variance in putting forward if three or more average points regarding a factor differ from each other in a significant way or not is ideal (Antalyalı, 2006; Balcı, 2011; Büyüköztürk, 2006; Demirgil, 2006). Four likerttype subjects are graded as 1 Doesn t suit me at all ( ), 2 Suits me slightly ( ), 3 - Suits me ( ), 4 - Suits me totally ( ) and the significance level was accepted as.05. Results The results, which were obtained after analyzing the data acquired in accordance with the study s purpose, take place below taking account of the subgoals of the study and the sequence of these goals. -96-

102 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); , 1 April, 2013 Academic Self-efficacy Perception Level of Teacher Candidates Findings that were acquired regarding academic self-efficacy perceptions of teacher candidates are given in Table 2. Table 2: Arithmetic mean and standard deviation results of the data that was acquired regarding academic self-efficacy perceptions of teacher candidates Academic Self-efficacy Scale X SD 1 In my university education, I am always able to accomplish the work to be done 3,250,590 2 I always achieve high success when I am adequately prepared for the exam. 3,576,573 3 To get good grades, I know very well what I need to do. 3,381,599 4 Even if a written exam is very hard, I know I will succeed. 2,955,674 5 I cannot think of failing any exam 2,471,821 6 I am comfortable in the exam because I trust my intelligence. 2,888,734 7 When I prepare for an exam, I often do not know how to deal with the topics that I need to 3,448,779 learn (-) General Mean 3,138,416 The arithmetic mean of the opinions put forth by the teacher candidates regarding their self-efficacy perceptions is 3,138. This ratio shows that the views of the teacher candidates agree on the option suits me of the five likert-type scale. Obtained finding can be interpreted as being higher than the averages of the academic self-efficacy perception level of the teacher candidates, though not being on a desired level. Also the standard deviation result of the teacher candidate views regarding their self-efficacy perceptions is,416. This finding puts forth that parallelism, consistency, consensus between the views of the teacher candidates are of high level, and that the candidates state views similar to one another s. Academic Self-efficacy Perception Level of the Teacher Candidates in Terms of Independent Variables Findings that put forth the academic self-efficacy perception level as accordance with the gender, whether or not working as a teacher, academic achievement and the type of education program variables of the teacher candidates take place in Table 3. There was no significant difference between the views of the teacher candidates in terms of the gender variable regarding academic self-efficacy perception levels. This finding shows that male and female teacher candidates have similar academic self-efficacy perception to each other. According to the findings obtained from the study, no statistically significant difference between the self-efficacy perception levels of teachers concerning the whether or not working as a teacher variable was found. It was determined that teachers who re working as a teacher in an institute have a higher academic self-efficacy perception level than the ones who re not working. This finding can be described as working as a teacher having a positive effect on academic self-efficacies of the teacher candidates. In terms of academic achievement, no significant difference between academic self-efficacy perception levels of the teacher candidates was determined. Academic self-efficacy perception level of the teacher candidates whose academic achievements are somewhere between seems to be higher than those candidates who have other achievements. This revealed finding can be put into words as academic achievement affecting the academic self-efficacies of the teacher candidates in a positive way. In terms of the type of education program variable, no statistically significant difference between the academic self-efficacy perception levels of teachers was found. This finding, in terms of the type of education program variable, portrays that candidates have an academic self-efficacy perception similar and close to each other. -97-

103 Academic Self-Efficacy Perceptions E.YEŞİLYURT Table 3: Analysis results of the academic self-efficacy perception of the teacher candidates in terms of independent variables Gender Academic selfefficacy Whether or not working as a teacher Academic self-efficacy Academic achievement Academic selfefficacy Female (f=234; %75,0) X Male (f=78; %25,0) t & p values Levene's test SD SD t p F p 3,146,407 3,113,446,605,546,266,606 X Yes (f=79; %25,3) No (f=233; %74,7) t & p values Levene's test SD SD t p F p 3,224,395 3,109,420 2,134,034*,016, (f=43; %13,8) (f=;146; %46,8) (f=;123; %39,4)3 Test of Homogeneity Anova SD SD SD Levene p F p X X X X X 3,04,38 3,08,42 3,23,03,049,95 5,31,005* 3-1,2 GD Program type Mathematic (f=90; %28,8) 1 Physics (f=;17; %5,4) 2 Chemistry (f=;20; %6,4) 3 Biology (f=;29; %9,3) 4 Turkish Lang. (f=61; %19,6) 5 Philosophy Grp. (f=;58; %18,6) 6 Language Grp. (f=37; %11,9) 7 Test of Homogeneity Anova GD Academic selfefficacy SD SD SD SD SD SD X X X X X X X 3,044,437 3,134,455 3,192,402 3,123,336 3,194,409 3,170,413 3,208 SD,417 Lev. 1,030 p,406 F 1,246 p,283 - P<,05 GD: Groups which have Differences Discussion and Conclusion These results were recovered in the light of the findings obtained from the study. Academic self-efficacy perception level of the teacher candidates is above the average and at a sufficient level. That said, it was found that academic self-efficacy perception level regarding the candidates themselves in terms of always being able to accomplish the work to be done, always achieving high success, being comfortable in the exam, trusting oneself in succeeding and dealing with the topics that need to be learnt is high. In the literature there are researches supporting this result which was reached in the wake of this study. Hence, some of the researches regarding the topic put forth that the self-efficacies of the teacher candidates are above the average (Gürol, Altunbaş & Karaaslan, 2010; Oğuz & Topkaya, 2008; Ülper & Bağcı, 2012; Ünlü & Kalemoğlu, 2011; Yeşilyurt, 2011; Yılmaz, Yılmaz & Türk, 2010). On the other hand, there are also researches that which don t go with the research results, that which put forward that the self-efficacies of the teacher candidates are on an average level (Altunçekiç, Yaman & Koray, 2005; Çevik, 2011; Gelbal & Kelecioğlu, 2007; Seferoğlu, 2005). The main purpose of this study being academic self-efficacy and the main purpose of other studies being self-efficacy may have very well resulted in them studies putting forth different outcomes. When independent variables are taken into account, no significant difference between the candidates was found in terms of the gender variable regarding the academic self-efficacy perception levels. Some of the researches regarding the topic do support this obtained result. Thusly, in the literature, there are lots of studies saying that both two genders have a similar selfefficacy perception, in that there is no significant relationship between gender and self-efficacy -98-

104 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); , 1 April, 2013 (Akbaş & Çelikkaleli, 2006; Çapri & Kan, 2007; Jegede & Taplin, 2000; Özçelik & Kurt, 2007; Taşkın Can, Cantürk Günhan & Öngel Erdal, 2005; Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk-Hoy, 2001;Yılmaz & Çokluk Bökeoğlu, 2008). On the other side, some studies regarding the gender variable say that self-efficacy and academic self-efficacy of females are higher (Busch, 1995; Bong 1999) and some of them say that males are higher (Demirtaş, Cömert & Özer, 2011; Fırat Durdukoca, 2010; Morgil, Seçken & Yücel, 2004; Zeldin & Pajares, 2000). Henceforth, what can be derived from this is that results obtained from this study don t tally with the results of the studies in the literature. This situation may have stemmed from participants from the relevant researches having different socio-cultural structures. A statistically significant difference was determined between academic self-efficacy perception levels of the teacher candidates in terms of the whether or not working as a teacher and academic achievement variables. As accordance with this, it was established that academic self-efficacy perception level of teacher candidates who work as a teacher, and of teacher candidates whose academic achievement is high, is higher. This revealed result shows parallelism with the result of the research conducted by Yenilmez and Turgut (2012) with Ülper and Bağcı (2012) regarding this topic. Amongst the results of relevant researches, it is stated that teacher candidates whose academic achievement level is high have a higher self-efficacy perception. But, thanks to a study conducted by Şahin-Taşkın and Hacıömeroğlu (2010), it was found out that there was no significant difference between academic achievements and self-efficacy perceptions of candidates. Among the study results, it is stated that no significant difference was found between the views of the teacher candidates in the sense of the type of education program variable concerning the academic self-efficacy perception levels. Similar results were acquired from the studies relevant to this topic that were made by Demirtaş, Cömert and Özer (2011), and Özdemir (2008). This situation establishes that study results support each other and are consistent with one another. When the obtained findings are generally reviewed, the result is that teacher candidates are in general just slightly above the average of the academic self-efficacy perception level. This situation at the same time points out that academic self-efficacy perception levels of the candidates are not at high levels. The obtained result, in other words views regarding the academic self-efficacy perception level of the teacher candidates, joining in on the option suits me rather than on the option suits me totally, which is the highest participation level of the four likert-type scale, can be given as proof of this result. Recommendations These advices were presented in the light of the results obtained from the research. a. Instructors who guide the teacher candidates (consulting) can give scientific support in the fields of academic self-efficacy. b. In the fields of academic self-efficacy, activities such as informative seminars, panels etc. to candidates can be organized. c. For it was found out that working as a teacher contributes to the academic self-efficacy of the candidates, number of lessons in which the practice such as School Experience and Teaching Practice is focused, or course hours of these lessons can be increased. d. This study was conducted upon the teacher candidates being educated in the pedagogical formation program. Similar studies can be conducted upon teacher candidates who take up undergraduate programs of faculties that bring up different teachers. Acknowledgement This article, which was prepared by author and presented orally in "1st International Symposium of Teacher Training and Development" is the improved and reconstructed version of proceeding entitled "Academic Self-Efficacy Perceptions of Teacher Candidates" -99-

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109 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 3(1), pp , 1 April, 2013 Available online at Effects of Brain-Based Learning Approach on Students Motivation and Attitudes Levels in Science Class Erkan AKYÜREK İsahocalı Secondary School, Kirsehir/TURKEY Özlem AFACAN * Ahi Evran University, Faculty of Education, Department of Elementary Education Science Education, Kirsehir/TURKEY Article history Received: Received in revised form: Accepted: Key words: Brain-based learning, motivation, attitudes, cell division. 1. Introduction The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of brain-based learning approach on attitudes and motivation levels in 8th grade students science classes. The main reason for examining attitudes and motivation levels, the effect of the short-term motivation, attitude shows the long-term effect. The pre/post-test control group research model was used in this study. The research was conducted with one experimental group and two control groups in academic years. Totally 57 students, 19 in experimental group, 19 in each control groups participated in this research. The study took place during the teaching of cell division and heredity with of the science class. In the experimental group, students were taught according to the current science and technology curriculum. As a result, using brain-based learning approach the experimental group's success was found to be significant differences in favour of the experimental group. Brain-based learning approach used in the experimental group's achievement test scores of control groups' achievement was determined to be statistically significant difference in favour of the experimental group. Background of the Study The adult human brain weighs about three pounds ( grams) and is made up primarily of water (78 percent), fat (10 percent), and protein (8 percent) (Jensen, 1998). Although the brain is about 2 percent of an adult s weight, it consumes about 20 percent of the body s energy and its primary source of energy is blood which supplies nutrients like glucose, protein, trace elements, and oxygen to the brain (Sousa, 2001, p.15; Sprenger, 2002, p. 15). From the outside, the thick outer covering of the brain is called the cerebrum which consists of four paired lobes within two convoluted hemispheres. The cerebrum consists of two separate hemispheres (right and left) whose portions are connected internally by the corpus callosum, a bundle of nerve fibers that connect the left and right hemispheres. While the left hemisphere is responsible for analytical and verbal skills, such as reading, writing, and mathematics, the right hemisphere is the source of spatial and artistic kinds of intelligence. The outermost layer of each hemisphere is subdivided into four lobes, or sections, and each lobe carries out different functions. The frontal lobe (involving primary motor area, premotor area, frontal eye field area, and Broca s area) is the area around one s * Ahi Evran University, Faculty of Education, Department of Elementary Education Science Education, Kirsehir/TURKEY, [email protected]

110 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); , 1 April, 2013 forehead and primarily responsible for initiating voluntary motor control, providing responses relating to personality, mediating responses related to reasoning, judgment, planning, memory and emotions, and verbal communication The parietal lobe (involving general sensory area, somesthetic association area, and gustatory/taste area) is on the top back area. The temporal lobe (involving primary auditory area, auditory association area, vestibular area, and primary olfactory/smell area) is located below the parietal lobe and around the ear. The occipital lobe (involving primary visual area and visual association area) is in the middle back of the brain (Nunley, 2011). Gazzaniga, on the other hand, adds a new dimension to the discussion of the concept of consciousness by claiming that human beings have specialized systems that have evolved to enable human cognitive processes, and consciousness is the feelings humans have about their specialized capacities (Miller, 2003). According to the Brodnax (2004) the educational area of brain research began to gain more value after the 1980s. Leslie A. Hart, brain-based learning, or so-called brain-compatible teaching is known as the person who laid the foundations of the theory (Neve, Hart & Thomas, 1986). Brain dominance concept is used to express the dominance of one hemisphere of brain to the other in some specific function. Brain dominance tool was developed by Hermann (Özden, 2003, p ). The human brain is constantly evolving and adapting itself according to the new demands and challenges of the changing world. Moreover, real learning -being deeply personal- is almost always a deep struggle involving the adjustment of beliefs (Caine & Caine, 2000). Brain Based Learning is a Learning approach that is based on the structure and function of the human brain. Distinct from current curriculum methods, brain based learning emphasizes meaningful learning instead of memorization. The findings of neuroscience and psychology provide us with many opportunities of braincompatible implications for our classrooms. Key findings: 1. Mental Models enhance teacher practice 2. Emotions - impact on student learning 3. Learning Environment shaping student achievement 4. Memory can t forget it! 5. Assessment achievement and motivation 6. Biology of the Brain pathway to understanding 7. The body, mind, and brain - all for one and one for all 8. Time allotment and student achievement 9. Collaborative Learning creating synergy 10. Thematic Instruction enhances student learning Brain-based teaching involves the implementation of carefully-designed principles with due consideration of their impact before, during, and after each lesson. The never-ending search for better teaching practices in this area has led educators to the work of key authors such as Caine, Caine, McClintic, and Klimek (2005), Erlauer (2003), Jensen (2005), Slavkin (2004), Wagmeister and Shifrin (2000), and Wolfe (2001). Most of these authors would agree with those teachers who contend they already incorporate some aspects of brain-based learning into their classrooms. However, they would also suggest that the pathway to more effective implementation follows a process of continual research, or sustained inquiry, which involves collaboration, planning, action, evidence-gathering, and reflection on practice. In traditional educational settings in which the sole aim is the mere transmission of knowledge, teachers try to do the teaching without considering whether the learners are motivated, or whether attitudes towards lesson. However, today, through the findings of neuroscientists and psychologists, it is well documented that there is no separation of mind and emotions. Furthermore, emotions, thinking and learning are all linked (Bear, Connors & Paradiso, 2001, p. 23)

111 Effects of Brain-Based Learning Approach E. AKYÜREK & Ö. AFACAN Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study was to identify students differences attitudes towards and motivation between brain based learning application in science class and current curriculum methods in science. To fulfil this aim, the following to questions were searched for answer: Is there a statistically meaningful difference between the Science and Technology class of 8th grade students in primary school regarding Cell Division and Heredity unit who receive Brain Based Learning approached and current curriculum methods in Science and Technology class with regards to level of attitudes towards and motivation? In addition to, sub problems are the following; according to gender is there a statistically meaningful difference between points of pre-test and final test of the students in experiment group? Was there a change observed in the attitudes of students in experiment and control group towards science before and after the application of Brain Based Learning approach? Assumptions 1. Uncontrollable variables, the experimental and control groups affected to the same extent. 2. The students reply to the tests sincerely without any influence, working done at the school. 2. Method In this study was used pre/post-test control group research model from true experimental designs. The experimental pattern, motivations and attitudes of students is dependent variables. The independent variables on the dependent variables examined in this brain-based learning approach applied to students in force in the science and technology curriculum includes teaching methods. Dependent and independent variables examined in the study, during research, analyzed the data obtained from the experimental and control groups. Gender of which independent variable, fall within the scope of classification scale. 2.1 Universe-Sample This study was carried out in Kirsehir in the first half of educational years. The study consists of 8th grade students of A Primary School. 57 equivalent students who were separated three groups by equalization participated in the study. 8/A control group-i, 8/B control group-ii and 8/C experimental group were determined and each group made up from 19 students. The researcher was involved in experimental group and control group-i as the course designer and class instructor. The other science and technology lesson teacher was involved in control group-ii as lesson instructor. To ensure the validity and objectivity of the researcher s (who was the class instructor at the same time) were chosen two control groups. 2.2 Data Collection Instruments For the purpose of this study which aimed to investigate students both motivation and attitudes towards science and technology lessons, quantitative data were collected. The quantitative data were collected through an attitude questionnaire and motivation questionnaire. Attitudes and motivation questionnaires were administered to the students to answer the research question on students motivation and attitudes towards science and technology lessons. The most significant feature that separates from motivation to attitudes; motivation change short time the attitudes stems from the fact that change in the long time. Judgmental in the study, with the developed measuring -106-

112 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); , 1 April, 2013 instruments of applications converted into number and symbols, and with the appropriate statistical techniques were analyzed. 1. Attitude Scale Toward Science and Technology Lesson In the research, a likert-type Attitudes toward Science Learning scale developed by Nuhoğlu (2008) was used to collect data. The scale is consists of three factors including 20 items (10 positive, 10 negative). Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of SMTSL scale including 33 items was calculated In this study, Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of Motivation toward Science Learning scale was calculated This value is good for the scale to use. Data were analyzed by using a statistical package programme. Answer options of the scale items are; agree, no opinion, disagree. In the analysis, 3-point was given for agree option while 1-point was given for disagree option for positive items. On the other hand, 1-point was given for agree option while 3-point was given for disagree option for negative items. Scores obtained from Attitude toward Science Learning scale changes between 20 and 60 points. Attitude items features, sub scales and item points were showed Table 1. Table 1: Science and Technology Attitude Scale Scoring for Positive and Negative Items For Positive Items For Negative Items Agree 3 1 No opinion 2 2 Disagree Motivation Scale toward Science Learning In the research, a likert-type Students Motivation toward Science Learning scale developed by Tuan, Chin and Shieh (2005) was used to collect data. The original language of the scale is English and consists of six factors including 33 items. This scale was translated into Turkish by Yılmaz and Çavaş (2007) and validity and reliability of it was calculated. Yılmaz and Çavaş (2007), Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of Motivation toward Science Learning scale including 33 items was calculated In this study, Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of Motivation toward Science Learning scale was calculated The scale for experimental and control group students, before test procedure was applied and after the completion of the test procedure was applied too. In applications the researcher was present. The six factors used in the scale are; self-efficacy, active learning strategies, science learning value, performance goal, achievement goal and learning environment stimulation. The Self-efficacy factor comprises the beliefs that students hold about their individual competence in accomplishing tasks related to science. It is related to intrinsic motivation. The Active learning strategies factor is related to feel intrinsic motivation when taking an active role in using a variety of strategies to construct students new knowledge based on their previous understanding. The Science learning value factor is related to students acquiring problemsolving competency, experience the inquiry activity, stimulate their own thinking, and find the relevance of science with daily life. It is related to intrinsic motivation. The Performance goal factor expresses that the student s goals in science learning are devoted to competing with the other students and attracting the attention of teacher. It is related to extrinsic motivation. The Achievement goal factor is related to students specific goals which they should have for increasing their skills and success in science learning process. Also, it is related to extrinsic motivation. The Learning environment stimulation factor is related to the effect of learning environment components like curriculum, teachers teaching methods and student s interaction on motivation. Also, it is related to extrinsic motivation

113 Effects of Brain-Based Learning Approach E. AKYÜREK & Ö. AFACAN Data were analyzed by using a statistical package programme. Answer options of the scale items are; strongly agree, agree, undecided, disagree, and strongly disagree. The subjects answered the items in the questionnaire on a Likert scale of 1 to 5, where 5 stood for strongly agree, 4 stood for agree, 3 stood for undecided, 2 stood for disagree, and 1 stood for strongly disagree. In the analysis, 5-point was given for strongly agree option while 1-point was given for strongly disagree option for positive items. On the other hand, 1-point was given for strongly agree option while 5-point was given for strongly disagree option for negative items. Scores obtained from Motivation toward Science Learning scale changes between 33 and 165 points Motivation items features, sub scales and item points were showed Table 2. Table 2: Motivation Scale Scoring for Positive and Negative Items For Positive For Negative Items Items Strongly agree 5 1 Agree 4 2 Undecided 3 3 Disagree 2 4 Strongly Disagree Data Analysis In this study, after Attitude towards Science and Technology Questionnaire and Motivation Questionnaire were used as pre-test/post-test, analysis of data was made by a packet program called SPSS for Windows. 3. Findings In this chapter, collecting data of the study is given. Next findings data, the assessment of the study is presented as among groups within groups. Second, the results are reviewed. Finally, interpretations are given. Table 3: Distribution of the Students According to Department Name and Gender Gender Sum Department Group Female Male Name N % N % N 8/A Control 1 Group I /B Control 2 Group II /C Experimental Group Sum Control Group-I: Current curriculum methods in science were used (The researcher was involved in course instructor). 2 Control Group-II: Current curriculum methods in science were used (The other Science and Technology teacher was involved in course instructor). 3 Experimental Group: Brain based learning applications were used in science (The researcher was involved in course instructor). Experimental Group and Control Groups Students Findings and Interpretations Association with Pre-Test Levels on Motivation -108-

114 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); , 1 April, 2013 Table 4: Experimental and control group 8 Grade Students, According to Pre-Test Scores on Attitude Measures of Central Tendency and Spread Group N x S Experimental Group Control Group I Control Group II Total When the results are analysed in Table 4, it is observed that all of the 57 students homogeneous in terms of attitudes towards science and technology is seen exhibited an average score of are beginning to have an attitude. Table 5: In the Experimental Group 8 Grade Students Relationship between Attitude Level toward Science Learning and Gender Pre-Test Results of Mann Whitney U-Test on Attitude Level by Gender Group N S Mean Rank Sum of U p x Ranks Female Male As can be seen from the Table 5, gender has a significant effect on students attitudes towards science learning. When x scores are examined, it is observed that female students attitude level towards science learning ( x =49.70) is higher than male students ( x =46.56), one. But, there is not a significant difference between scores (U=28.5, p=0.176). According to the results in the initial determined that experiment group students attitude levels towards science learning does not change according to gender. In the control group-i, 8 grade students relationship between attitude level toward science learning and gender pre-test results were examined Table 6. Table 6: In the Control Group-I 8 Grade Students Relationship Between Attitude Level Toward Science Learning and Gender Pre-Test Results of Mann Whitney U-Test on Attitude Level by Gender Group N S Mean Rank Sum of U p x Ranks Female Male As can be seen from the Table 6, gender has a significant effect on students attitudes towards science learning. When x scores are examined, it is observed that male students attitude level towards science learning ( x =50.20) is higher than female students ( x =49.89), one. But, there is not a significant difference between scores (U=44, p=0.935). According to the results in the initial determined that control group-i students attitude levels towards science learning does not change according to gender. In the control group-ii 8 grade students relationship between attitude level toward science learning and gender pre-test results were examined Table

115 Effects of Brain-Based Learning Approach E. AKYÜREK & Ö. AFACAN Table 7: In The Control Group-II 8 Grade Students Relationship Between Motivation Level Toward Science Learning and Gender Pre-Test Results of Mann Whitney U-Test on Motivation Level by Gender Group N S Mean Rank Sum of U p x Ranks Female Male As can be seen from the Table 5, gender has a significant effect on students attitudes towards science learning. When x scores are examined, it is observed that female students attitude level towards science learning ( x =48.82) is higher than male students ( x =44), one. But, there is not a significant difference between scores (U=31.5, p=0.301). According to the results in the initial determined that experiment group students attitude levels towards science learning does not change according to gender. 8th grade experimental and control group students in classes according to their gender, there was no difference 'attitudes towards science and technology, initially to be close to each other is important for all the features. Experimental Group and Control Groups Students Findings and Interpretations Association with Pre-Test Levels on Motivation and Gender Brain Based Learning Approach applications were used in experimental group and current curriculum methods were used control groups. As can be seen from Table 8, 8th grade students motivation pre-test scores. Table 8: Experimental and control group 8 Grade Students, According to Pre-Test Scores on Motivation Measures of Central Tendency and Spread Group N x S Experimental Group Control Group I Control Group II Sum When the results are analysed in Table 8, it is observed that all of the 57 students homogeneous in terms of motivation towards science and technology is seen exhibited an average score of are beginning to have an attitude. Table 9: In the Experimental Group 8 Grade Students Relationship between Motivation Level Toward Science Learning and Gender Pre-Test Results of Mann Whitney U-Test on Motivation Level by Gender Group N S Mean Rank Sum of U p x Rank Female Male As can be seen from the Table 9, gender has a significant effect on students motivation towards science learning. When x scores are examined, it is observed that female students Motivation level towards science learning ( x =127.30) is higher than male students ( x =124.33), one. But, there is not a significant difference between scores (U=35, p=0.411). According to the results in the initial determined that experiment group students motivation levels towards science learning does not change according to gender

116 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); , 1 April, 2013 In the control group-i, 8 grade students relationship between motivation level toward science learning and gender pre-test results were examined Table 10. Table 10: In the Control Group-I 8 Grade Students Relationship Between Motivation Level Toward Science Learning and Gender Pre Test Results of Mann Whitney U-Test on Motivation Level by Gender Group N S Mean Rank Sum of U p x Ranks Female Male As can be seen from the Table 10, gender has a significant effect on students motivation towards science learning. When x scores are examined, it is observed that male students motivation level towards science learning ( x =125.10) is higher than female students ( x =120.44), one. But, there is not a significant difference between scores (U=35.5, p=0.437). According to the results in the initial determined that control group-i students motivation levels towards science learning does not change according to gender. In the control group-ii, 8 grade students relationship between motivation level toward science learning and gender pre-test results were examined Table 11. Table 11: In the Control Group-II 8 Grade Students Relationship Between Motivation Level Toward Science Learning and Gender Pre-Test Results of Mann Whitney U-Test on Motivation Level by Gender Group N S Mean Rank Sum of U p x Rank Female Male As can be seen from the Table 9, gender has a significant effect on students motivation towards science learning. When x scores are examined, it is observed that female students Motivation level towards science learning ( x =124.00) is smaller than male students ( x =128.12), one. But, there is not a significant difference between scores (U=34.5, p=0.43). According to the results in the initial determined that experiment group students motivation levels towards science learning does not change according to gender. 8th grade experimental and control group students in classes according to their gender, there was no difference attitudes towards science and technology, initially to be close to each other is important for all the features. As a result of the statistical 8 classes analysis conducted on the experimental and control groups, the dependent variable is that groups were similar in terms of the motivation score. In addition, the motivation scores for groups of independent variables were examined with respect to gender, these variables were found to be equivalent in terms of groups. According to the experimental and control groups of 8th grade science and technology courses attitudes toward arithmetical mean and standard deviation values for the post-test scores in Table 12 are also provided

117 Effects of Brain-Based Learning Approach E. AKYÜREK & Ö. AFACAN Table 12: Experimental and control group 8 Grade Students, According to Post-Test Scores on Attitude Measures of Central Tendency and Spread Group N x S Experimental Group Control Group I Control Group II Total When Table 12 is examined, the results presented that Brain based learning applications were used students (experimental group) attitude level towards science learning ( x =55.84) is higher than Current curriculum methods were used students ( x = 50.26, x = 46.63). As control group-ii was determined the lowest post-test level of attitudes towards science and technology lesson ( x = 46.63). Table 12.1: Post-Test Scoring of Attitude of Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test Among Groups Group Kolmogorov-Smirnov(a) Statistic Sd p As can be seen from the Table 12.1, since Kolmogorov-Smirnov p>.005 displayed data normally distributed. For this reason, parametric test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed. 8. grade students' attitudes towards science and technology for the post-test scores vary, for independent samples one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed, the results in Table 13 are given in. Attitudes towards science and technology, while the dependent variable, this variable is associated with a variable examined whether the experimental and control groups. Groups, experimental and control group-i and control group-ii is divided into three levels. Therefore, as a result of the one-way analysis of variance, the difference between the two groups will be, in order to determine which of the two groups, Scheffe test was used for multiple comparisons. According to the Scheffe Test significant difference between the experimental group and control group-ii, whereas there was no significant difference between the experimental group and the control-i. Table 13: In the Experimental and Control Groups 8th Grade Students' Attitudes toward Science and Technology Course, Post-Test Scores Related to One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) Source of Sum of Sd Mean Square F p Sig Variance Squares Between Groups * Within Groups * Total *1: Control Group-I, 2: Control Group-II, 3: Experimental Group As seen from the Table 13, experimental group and control groups level have a significant differentiate on students attitude toward science and technology course (F (2-54) = 8.692, p<.05). In other words, between the attitude scores of experimental group and control groups varies according to experimental and control groups. Meaningful difference between the groups in which the Scheffe test to determine that the students of the experimental group ( x =55.84) and the control group-i ( x =50.26) of students in the experimental group are in favour of the students in the experimental group students ( x =55.84) and the control group-ii in favour of the experimental group students. ( x =46.63), meaningful difference was found -112-

118 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); , 1 April, 2013 Table 13.1: Attitude Post-Test Result between Groups According to Scheffe Test Group* N p= P *:1: Control group-i 2: Control group-ii 3: Experimental group According to 8th grade experimental and control groups associated with motivation post-test scoring arithmetic mean and standard deviation values are given in Table 14. Table 14: Experimental and Control Group 8th Grade Students, According to Post-Test Scores on Motivation Measures of Central Tendency and Spread Group N x S Experimental Group Control Group I Control Group II Total When Table 14 is examined, the results presented that Brain Based Learning applications were used students (experimental group) motivation level towards science learning ( x =143.63) is higher than Current Curriculum methods were used students ( x = and x = ). As control group-i was determined the lowest post-test level of motivation toward science and technology lesson ( x = ). 8th grade students' motivation for post-test scores varies, for independent samples one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed, the results in Table 15 are given in. Motivation of the dependent variable, while the variable is examined whether it is associated with this variable, the experimental and control groups. Groups, experimental and control group-i and control group-ii is divided into three levels. As a result of the one-way analysis of variance, the difference between the two groups will be, in order to determine which of the two groups; Scheffe test was used for multiple comparisons (Büyüköztürk, 2009). Table 15: In the Experimental and Control Groups 8th Grade Students' Attitudes toward Science and Technology Course, Post-Test Scores Related to One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) Source of Variance Sum of Sd Mean Square F p Sig. Squares Between Groups * Within Groups Total *1: Control Group-I, 2: Control Group-II, 3: Experimental Group As seen from the Table 15, the results presented that Brain based learning applications were used students (experimental group) motivation level towards science learning ( x =143.63) is was found close to the value of the control group II students ( x =128.21) motivation, higher than control group-i current curriculum methods were used students ( x = ). As control group-ii was determined the lowest post-test level of attitudes towards science and technology lesson ( x = 46.63)

119 Effects of Brain-Based Learning Approach E. AKYÜREK & Ö. AFACAN Motivation post-test scores of the experimental group and control group-i in favour of the experimental group, between control group-i, control group-ii and the experimental group and control group II, no significant difference is observed (F (2-54) = , p<.05). Table 15. 1: Motivation Post-Test Scheffe Test Results between Groups Group N p= p As seen from the Table 16 in the experimental group 8th grade students relationship between motivation level toward science learning and gender were exhibited. Table 16: Post-Test Results of Mann Whitney U-Test on Motivation Level by Gender Group N x S Mean Rank Sum of Rank U p Female Male When Table 16 is examined, there is no difference between 8th grade experimental group student motivation post-test scores obtained from gender. (U = 33.00, p>.05). As seen from the Table 17 in the control group-i 8th grade students relationship between motivation level toward science learning and gender was exhibited. Table 17: Post-Test Results of Mann Whitney U-Test on Motivation Level by Gender Group N x S Mean Rank Sum of Rank U p Female Male When Table 17 is examined, there is not difference between 8th grade experimental group student motivation post-test scores obtained from gender (U = 43.50, p>.05) As seen from the Table 18 in the control group-ii 8th grade students relationship between motivation level toward science learning and gender were exhibited. Table 18: Post-Test Results of Mann Whitney U-Test on Motivation Level by Gender Group N x S Mean Rank Sum of Rank U p Female Male When Table 18 is examined, there is no difference between 8th grade experimental group student motivation post-test scores obtained from gender (U = 41.50, p>.05). According to the results in the students' motivation towards science and technology courses taken post-tests scores can be said that does not change according to gender

120 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); , 1 April, Result The Findings Related to the Scores of the Students in the Experimental and Control Groups in the Pretest on their Attitudes towards Science and Technology The following section is a presentation of the findings related to the scores of the eight grade students, who were divided into three groups (experimental group, control group-i and control group-ii), in the pre-test on their attitudes towards Science and Technology. 1. There were not any significant differences between the students in the experimental group and control groups in their scores in the pretest on their attitudes towards Science and Technology. In other words, the students in the experimental group and control groups had similar attitudes towards Science and Technology before the experiment. 2. The scores of the students in the experimental group, control group-i and control group-ii in the pre-test on their attitudes towards Science and Technology did not differ significantly depending on gender. In other words, the variable gender did not have a significant influence on the attitudes of the students towards Science and Technology before the experiment. The Findings Related to the Scores of the Students in the Experimental and Control Groups in the Pre-Test on their Motivation towards Science and Technology The following section is a presentation of the findings related to the scores of the eight grade students, who were divided into three groups (experimental group, control group-i and control group-ii), in the pretest on their motivation towards Science and Technology. 1. There were not any significant differences between the students in the experimental group and control groups in their scores in the pretest on their motivation towards Science and Technology. In other words, the students in the experimental group and control groups had similar levels of motivation towards Science and Technology before the experiment. 2. The scores of the students in the experimental group, who were taught via brain-based learning activities, and control group-i and control group-ii, who were taught with the activities based on the current methods included in the curriculum, in the pre-test on their motivation towards Science and Technology did not differ significantly depending on gender. In other words, the students in all the three groups had similar characteristics before the experiment regardless of their gender. The Findings Related to the Scores of the Students in the Experimental and Control Groups in the Pre-Test and Post-Test on their Attitudes towards Science and Technology The following section is a presentation of the findings related to the scores of the eight grade students, who were divided into three groups (experimental group, control group-i and control group-ii), in the pre-test and post-test on their attitudes towards Science and Technology. 1. The students in the experimental group, who were taught via brain-based learning activities, had higher scores in the posttest on their attitudes towards Science and Technology than control group-i and control group-ii, who were taught with the activities based on the current methods included in the curriculum. It was observed that the brain-based learning activities had a statistically significant effect on improving the students attitudes. Tüfekçi (2005), Avcı (2007), Çelebi (2008), Bayındır (2003), Baş (2010), İnci (2010), Baştuğ and Korkmaz (2010) and Yücel (2011) maintain that brain-based learning has a significant influence on improving students attitudes. On the other hand, Gets (2003), Aydın (2008), Samur (2009) and -115-

121 Effects of Brain-Based Learning Approach E. AKYÜREK & Ö. AFACAN Yıldırım (2010) hold that the approach neither has an influence on students attitudes towards courses nor leads to changes in their attitudes. 2. An analysis was made of the correlation between the scores of the students in the experimental group in the pretest and posttest on their attitudes towards learning science. The analysis reported that their posttest scores were higher. As for the control groups, there was not a significant difference between the scores of the students in the pretest and posttest on their attitudes towards learning science. It was observed that the students attitudes tended to get lowered in the course of time. 3. The scores of the students in the experimental group in the posttest on their attitudes towards learning science differed depending on gender. The female students had higher scores than the male students. However, the finding is contradicted by that of İnci (2010). Studies on students existing or potential attitudes in reference to gender have suggested different results. Therefore, it is essential that educational methods should be implemented regardless of gender. The Findings Related to the Scores of the Students in the Experimental and Control Groups in the Pre-Test and Post-Test on their Motivation towards Science and Technology The following section is a presentation of the findings related to the scores of the eight grade students, who were divided into three groups (experimental group, control group-i and control group-ii), in the pre-test and post-test on their motivation towards Science and Technology. 1. The students in the experimental group, who were taught via brain-based learning activities, had significantly higher scores in the posttest on their motivation towards Science and Technology than control group-i and control group-ii, who were taught with the activities based on the current methods included in the curriculum. It was observed that the brain-based learning activities were significantly effective in increasing the students motivation. Similarly, Salmiza (2011) reported that brain-based learning approach is an effective instrument for increasing students motivation. 2. An analysis was made of the correlation between the scores of the students in the experimental group in the pretest and posttest on their motivation. The analysis reported a significant difference. It was observed that the brain-based learning activities had a statistically significant influence on the students motivation. Therefore, it can be concluded that brain-based learning activities improve students motivation. Similarly, Materna (2010) and Yıldırım (2010) observed that the students in the experimental group, who were taught in accordance with brain-based teaching, were more motivated than the ones in the control group. 3. As for the control groups, there was not a significant difference between the scores of the students in the pre-test and post-test on their motivation. It was observed that the activities implemented were not effective in increasing the students motivation. In addition, the scores of the students in the experimental group were not significantly influenced by gender. 5. Discussion It is important to note consistency the between the Brain based learning approach for Science and effect of students attitude development. The measure of congruence on which this conclusion is based suggests that Brain Based Learning approach is both motivation and attitude. They were also found to be rigorous as indicated by the consistency between Brain Based Learning -116-

122 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); , 1 April, 2013 Approach and attitude, motivation scores from pre-test and post-test especially at eighth grade. Having substantiated their coherence, it is important to now move to the important task of implementing them. That task will be quite difficult, as the comparison of the attitude and motivation of the brain based learning approach to previous approaches shows-the range in consistency going from around 80% to 90%. Tüfekci(2005), Avcı (2007), Çelebi (2008), Bayındır (2003), Baş (2010), İnci (2010), Baştuğ ve Korkmaz (2010), Yücel (2011) are good examples. For some states, between brain based learning and attitude of inconsistencies was more prevalent Gets (2003), Aydın (2008), Samur (2009) and Yıldırım (2010). This exploratory analysis show that the Brain Based Learning Approach will actually improve the Science attitude and motivation of children once appropriately implemented is encouraging, if rather tentative. To interpret this as an indication of the likelihood that the Brain Based Learning Approach will be related to higher attitude and motivation requires adherence to a line of not unreasonable assumptions, but they are assumptions. The totality of the analyses we have done suggests a statistically significant positive relationship between attitude and the Brain Based Learning Approach, between motivation and Brain Based Learning Approach assessment, but is not only an indication of correlation but also of causality. On the other hand, combining these analyses with the strong of consistency that the Brain Based Learning Approach has with those of experimental group whose eighth-grade students attitude and motivation at the highest levels, makes the likelihood of such a relationship even greater. The relationship is even stronger when taking into account the prevalence of low-income students attending the state's public schools. Developed countries are now moving to implement Brain Based Learning Approach because of the closer relationship with attitude and motivation. The other intriguing question that remains unanswered is, what is the relationship in terms of gender between attitude and brain based learning approach, motivation and brain based learning approach? Brain Based Learning Approach has essentially the same relationship of gender as defined by the Brain Based Learning Approach and student attitudes, Brain based Learning Approach and motivation. Our hypothesis, and somewhat supported by the data Materna (2000), Yıldırım (2010), is that do irrespective of gender studies, it is important to practice teaching methods. It seems to us that it is time stop debating their quality and to move to assuring that they define current education methods at the classroom level-that is, what are actually being taught and all children. The evidence presented in this article seems, at least to the authors, to offer a vision of what can be. To not move in that direction and to continue to debate the issue is a mistake our children call ill afford. Implications for Further Research Further studies on the implementation of brain-based applications might look for the impact of such applications on student achievement. This is because although the current study did not have such an aim, during the process significant changes in student achievement and performance were observed; and thus, this aspect also needs to be investigated. Further studies might implement this model for teaching other science skills, or other content courses after some modifications in its features about lesson. Moreover, the number of studies conducted in the field of brain-based science learning is very limited in Turkey and in the world; therefore, there is a need for further research. 6. Acknowledgement This study is a division of Erkan AKYÜREK s master thesis which is supervised by Asistant Professor Özlem AFACAN

123 Effects of Brain-Based Learning Approach E. AKYÜREK & Ö. AFACAN 7. References Avcı, D. E. (2007). The effect of brain based learning approach to achievement, attitude and retention of knowledge in 7 th grade students science classes of elementary school. (Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation). Gazi University, Ankara. Aydın, S. (2008). Brain-Based learning theory-based ımpact on biology education academic achievement and attitude. (Unpublished master thesis). Gazi University, Ankara. Baş, G. (2010). Effects of brain-based learning on students achievement levels and attitudes towards English lesson. Elementary Education Online, 9(2), Baştuğ, M & Korkmaz, İ. (2010). Applying strategies of brain based learning on the teaching social studies at the fifth grade. Journal of Selçuk University Ahmet Keleşoğlu Education Faculty, 29, Bayındır, H. (2003). An investigation of students attitudes towards brain- based applications in English composition skills II course: A case study. (Unpublished master thesis). Middle East Technical University, Ankara. Bear, M. F., Connor, B.W. & Paradiso M.A. (2001). Neuroscience: Exploring the brain. Philadelphia, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Bransfod, J. D., Ann L. B., & Rodney R. C. (1999). How people learn-brain, mind, experience and school, Washington, National Academy Press. Brodnax, R. M. (2004). Brain compatible teaching for learning. (Unpublished PhD Thesis), Indiana University, Indiana. Büyüköztürk, Ş. (2009). Sosyal bilimler için veri analizi el kitabı: İstatistik, araştırma deseni, SPSS uygulamaları ve yorum [Handbook data analysis for the social sciences: statistics, research pattern, SPSS applications and review]. Ankara: Pegem A Publication. Caine, R. N. (2000). Building the bridge from research to classroom. Educational Leadership, 58 (3), Caine, G., Caine, R.N., McClintic, C. & Klimek, K. (2005). 12 Brain/Mind learning principles in action. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Çelebi, K. (2008). The effect of brain based learning on students achievement and attitude. (Unpublished master thesis). Selçuk University, Konya. Erlauer, L. (2003). The brain-compatible classroom: Using what we know about learning to improve teaching. VA: ASCD, Alexandria. Getz, C. M. (2003). Application of brain-based learning theory for community college developmental English students: A case study. (Unpublished PhD Thesis), Colorado State University, Colarado. İnci, N. (2010). Brain-Based learning of science and technology achievement, attitude, and the effect of remembrance. (Unpublished master thesis). Fırat University, Elazığ. Jensen, E. (1998). Teaching with the brain in mind. Virginia, ASCD Publication. Jensen, E. (2005).Teaching with the brain in mind. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Materna, L. (2010). Impact of concept-mapping upon meaningful learn and metacognition among foundation level associate degree nursing students. (Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation), Capella University, Chicago. Miller, A.L. (2003). A descriptive case study of the implementation of brain- based learning with technological support in a rural high school. (Unpublished PhD Thesis). Northern Illinois University. Neve, C.D., Hart, L.A. & Thomas, E.C. (1986). Huge learning jumps show potency of brain-based instruction. Phi Delta Kappan, October, Nuhoğlu, H. (2008) Primary science and technology course system dynamics approach attitude, success and ınvestigation of the effect of different skills. (Unpublished PhD Thesis), Gazi University, Ankara. Nunley, F. (Jully 14, 1998). Brain biology: It's basic gardening. Retrieved February 3, 8 (2011), from

124 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); , 1 April, 2013 Nydia, M. C., Raquel A. & Davidson A.L. (2005). What psychotherapists can begin to learn from neuroscience: Seven principles of a brain-based psychotherapy? Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 142 (3), Özden, Y. (2003). Öğrenme ve öğretme. [Teaching and learning].ankara, Pegem A Publication. Salmiza, S. (2011). The Effectiveness of the brain-based teaching approach in generating students learning motivation towards the subject of physics: A qualitative approach. US-China Education Review A, 1, Samur, Y. (2009). Brain-based learning (e-learning) 7th grade students of elementary school English courses effect on academic achievement and attitudes towards the course. (Unpublished master thesis), Muğla University, Muğla. Slavkin, M. (2004). Authentic learning: How learning about the brain can shape the development of students. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Education. Sousa, D. A. (2001). How the brain learns: A classroom teacher s guide. California, Corwin Press, Inc. Sprenger, M. (2002). Learning & memory: Brain in action. ASCD, Alexandra. Tüfekçi, S. (2005) Brain-Based learning access, retention, attitude and learning process effect. (Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation). Hacettepe University, Ankara. Tuan, H.L., Chin, C.C. & Shieh, S.H. (2005). The development of a questionnaire for assessing students motivation toward science learning. International Journal of Science Education, 27 (6), Wagmeister, J. & Shirin, B. (2000). Thinking differently, learning differently. Educational Leadership, 58(3), Wolfe, P. (2001). Brain matters: Translating research into classroom practice. VA: ASCD, Alexandria. Yıldırım, Ö. (2010) The effect of brain based learning achievement, attitude and motivation. (Unpublished master thesis). Zonguldak Karaelmas University, Zonguldak. Yılmaz, H. & Çavaş, P. H. (2007). Reliability and validity study of the students motivation toward science learning questionnaire. Elementary Education Online, 6(3), Yücel, C. (2011). According to brain-based learning approach to teaching science and technology ımpact on academic achievement and attitude. (Unpublished master thesis). Osmangazi University, Eskişehir

125 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 3(1), pp , 1 April, 2013 Available online at The Effectiveness Level of School Administrator s Coaching Characteristic on School s Being Learning Organization Eray EĞMİR Kütahya İl Milli Eğitim Müdürlüğü, Kütahya, Türkiye Sinan YÖRÜK * Afyon Kocatepe Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Eğitim Bilimleri Bölümü, Afyon Kocatepe Üniversitesi, Afyon, Türkiye Article history Received: Received in revised form: Accepted: Key words: Coaching, Learning Organization, School Administrators The aim of the study is to determine the effectiveness level of the coaching skills of school administrators on the school becoming a learning organization. The population of the study consists of teachers who are working at public and private secondary schools affiliated to Ministry of National Education, Kütahya Province National Education Directorate in the academic year of The method of convenience sampling was used in the study. In the research, as a means of data collection, Learning School Perception Scale taken from Subaş (2010) and Coaching and Management Skills Scale from Yeltan (2007) were used. As a result of the research, a significant difference was found between the coaching skills of the school administrators and the school s becoming a learning organization. Introduction One of the most important terms that this era has brought into our life is the change. Schools that have taken over the responsibility to transform the society are also affected by this change. Schools which were organized appropriate to meet industrial society s needs in the previous eras have been seen to lose their functions. From now on, they are expected to be organizations that are open for innovativeness, have managed to provide an active information transfer within and outer environment and are able to renew themselves as a result of detections related to the needs of changing society. Various studies are being held in our country on ruling educational institutions appropriate to modern management methods. One of the applications coming to the forefront in these studies is coaching. Coach-manager is the person that will reform the school in order to cope with social changes and needs and increase school s total quality by providing organizational effectiveness (Başaran, 2000, p ). In this study, due to the reasons mentioned above, it has been tried to find out the effectiveness level of the coaching skills of school administrators on the school becoming a learning organization. Theorical Framework * Asst.Prof., Afyon Kocatepe University, Faculty of Education. Departmant of Education, Afyon, Turkey, [email protected]

126 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); , 1 April, 2013 The word coach has gained a symbolic meaning as to move a person to a better position that s/he is (Berg & Karlsen, 2007, p. 4). The term coach that emerged with sports origin is now used widely including management, business administration, organization and education fields. The term coaching which is seen to be a multidimensional term when examined according to dictionary meaning is described by Oxford and Webster dictionaries and International Coaching Federation as to teach, train, counsel, inform, guide, direct, familiarize, and as a professional person that helps people in their life, careers, works or organizations to have magnificent results (Poussard, 2004, p. 14; Čiutienė et al., 2010, p. 446). Being one of the modern terms of management field, coaching is examined by all organizations that contain a management function within. In this point, the question that if educational institutions can apply coaching while making a revision in management processes arises. First, educational administration and education administrator terms should be reviewed in order to answer it. Educational administration is the process of effectively managing, developing and renewing the educational institute that is found to meet society s need of education in order to realize previously determined aims (Başaran, 2000, p. 29). Education administrator is a specialist that has had enough training to take a role in management processes of all kinds of educational organizations and (Karaman, 2008, p. 48). The person that will improve school s environment and manage and direct the interaction between the school and its environment is the school administrator (Başaran, 2000, p ). However, the position of the education administrator has changed due to post-modern understanding in management, the rapid change of the society and technological developments. Education administrator is no longer only a person that makes others do what s/he wants by using legal authority but an educational leader at the same time (Hoca, 2007, p. 10). We can explain education administrators new missions and responsibilities as (McEwan, 1998, p. 5); to evaluate staff s performance, to determine and carry on the vision mission and aims of the school, provide positive relations among individuals, create an organized and safe environment. One of the best applications that a school manager who wants to perform these missions can apply is coaching. A school manager who does coaching within the institution has following characteristics (Erdoğan, 2000, p ): sees the problems in a realistic way; has a special conscious and understanding appropriate to the school vision; has the power to affect school staff; determines the aims that will direct the school and creates the required atmosphere to realize them. A school manager that takes the coaching responsibility in the institution and has the above mentioned characteristics indeed starts a transform in his/her institution. This change in the management function will affect all functions in the system and will move the institution into a learning organization form. Learning Organization Learning organizations are organizations that people develop their capacities to reach their aims and continually learn to learn together and in which thinking ways that are new and push the limits are put forward (Senge, 2002, p. 11). Learning organization is the organization that renews itself by learning. These organizations change via learning and learn for change. They reach pre-determined aims easier and have the opportunity to realize what they want more quickly (İraz, 2004, p. 39). Learning organizations have some special characteristics. These -121-

127 The Effectiveness Level of School Administrator s E. EĞMİR & S. YÖRÜK characteristics are as follows (Doğan, 2002: 132; Marquardt, as cited in Yazıcı, 2001, p. 183); learning is the basic value in learning organizations; individuals learn on their own or from others; healthy communication and cooperation are in the foreground; all staff can reach to the information sources that play a crucial role in organization s success; unexpected surprises and mistakes are accepted as opportunities to learn; they are awake and flexible against the environment. These are basic disciplines of learning organization (Akgemci, 1999; Senge, 2002); Personal Mastery: Personal mastery is a spiritual keystone of learning organization. Learning organization supports personal mastery and trains people under umbrella of organization. Mental Models: Improving an organization s operating capability by mental models requires both being learned of new skills and being practiced of institutional innovation which provides with being on display of these new skills. Shared Vision: Vision is power of forethought. However; this word is not seeing by eyes; is seeing by mental capacity. In other words; it means foreseeing. In every organization, leaders should have vision, perspective. They should make this vision active, being shared in whole organization. Learning as a Team: After a certain point; individual learning is not important for organization learning. On the other hand; if teams learn, a suitable environment is formed for leaning of whole organization. Learning as a team can be converted into acting. Systems Thinking: Systems thinking evaluates an organization as a whole in which different parts affect perpetually each other. Thanks to its effect that strengthens all other disciplines, system thinking shows that whole is more than sum of parts. Today s schools should have disciplines of learning organization. Because; schools organized according to needs of industrial society do not perform functions of information society. Keeping company with 21st century schools is possible by updating themselves and continuous learning. Continuous learning can be come true if school is a learning organization (Şimşek & Yıldırım, 2004, p. 3). Gaining key cognitive skills such as analytical thinking, critical thinking, judging skill, digital logic, stabilizing adverse opinions are significant aims for learning schools (Töremen, 2001, p ). School head should achieve using intramural variances in accordance with organizational learning. He / she should enhance a comprehensible vision and mission for organizational learning. All staff member in school should see following picture of school in accordant with this vision. It is necessary appropriate cultural background for learning school (Çelik, 2003, p. 140). The Relationship between Coaching and Learning Organization As stated in literature, the features that an administrator should have to transform into his/her organization to a learning organization are similar with coaching abilities. Kış (2009) indicated in her study named The Learning Leadership Role of Principals in Building a Learning Organization that, administrators are guides instead of managers in learning organizations. There is supportive and participative leadership in learning school. School administrator is a key and catalyst for evolution. School administrator should encourage teachers to research and explore new ways to make the school a better environment. In addition he/she should ask questions to teachers about their aims, processes and outputs

128 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); , 1 April, 2013 Consequently administrator should do coaching in the school. Ash and Persall (2000) stated in their study named The Principal as Chief Learning Officer: Developing Teacher Leaders that, the schools of past and present are not adequate for future. New approaches and mentality are necessary. Researchers indicated that, school administrator is the leader of learning and he/she has a formative role in the organization. The other roles of the administrator in a learning school stated below; Advance the expectations for teacher and student performance Give chances for cooperation in school Promote progressive processes in school Create opportunities for learning in school Methodology Model of Survey This study was done on the purpose of specifying the roles of schools as a learning organizations and coaching skills of school administrators working in educational institution. In this study, survey method was employed. Secondary school teachers perceptions were evaluated by questionnaire. Study s findings were tried to be explained depending upon literature. Population and Sample The population of the study consists of teachers who are working at public and private secondary schools affiliated to Ministry of National Education, Kütahya Province National Education Directorate in the academic year of Sample of the study was convenience sampling method. Convenience sampling used in this study was chosen from nonrandom sampling by convenience sampling (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2006, p. 99). Sample of the study consists of 108 (%61,7) male, 67 (%38,3) female, in total 175 teachers. 51 (%29,1) teachers have 1-8 year, 60 (%34,3) teachers have 9-16 year, 47 (%26,9) teachers have year and 17 (%9,7) teachers have 25 and above year seniority. According to education level variable, 5 (%2,9) teachers have associate degree, 130 (%74,3) teachers have bachelor s degree and 40 (%22,9) teachers are postgraduate teachers. The 94 (%53,7) of teachers consists sample of the study are working in Science and Anatolian High School and the rest 81 (%46,3) teachers are working in Vocational High School. Data Collection Tool In the first part of questionnaire; there is a personal information form created in order to specify teachers gender, seniority and education background. In the second part of questionnaire; in order to confirm the perception level of learning school s indications by teachers; learning school perception scale that was tested in terms of reliability and validity is used. Scale items are developed by Subaş (2010) and it is used in master s thesis named the Perception of Learning Organization (School) by Classroom and Branch Teacher Works in Primary Schools. Scale having 5 sub-dimensions and 30 items is a data collection tool. Reliability co- efficient of scale is confirmed as 0,910 (Cronbach alpha 0,910, Guttman 0,690 ve Spearman brown 0,709). 1. Sub- dimension personal mastery consists of 6 items, 2. Sub- dimension Mental Model consists of 5 items, 3. Sub- dimension Shared Vision consists of 7 items, 4. Sub- dimension Learning as a Team consists of 8 items and the last one Systems Thinking consists of 4 items. As a result of factor analysis; values of KMO and Barlett were found meaningful as KMO value was.89 and the value of Bartlett test was

129 The Effectiveness Level of School Administrator s E. EĞMİR & S. YÖRÜK In the last part of questionnaire; in order to confirm the perception level of coaching properties of institution manager by teachers; Coaching and Management Skills Scale was used. Scale items were developed by Yeltan (2007) for using in master s thesis named Effect of Coaching on Job Satisfaction. There are 40 items in the thesis of Yeltan (2007). In this study; the part having the first 20 items being relevant coaching was used. After research conducted; Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient was confirmed.914. Circumstantially; Coaching and Management Skills Scale can be evaluated as a high scale. As a result of factor analysis; 3 sub dimensions (motivation and pride, positive communication media and creating learning environment and delegation) were specified, and value of KMO was.89 and the value of Bartlett test was.00 which means that both of them are meaningful. Data Collection 179 questionnaires were carried out by researcher, 4 questionnaires defined as failure were removed and as a result 175 questionnaires were used for this study. Data Analysis Frequency and percentage calculating were done in order to specify teacher s personal information, perception and interpretation. Independent sample t test was carried out in order to confirm whether there was a significant difference between gender, school type and subdimensions of scale. Whether there was a significant difference between educational background and seniority year in occupation was tested by one way ANOVA test. HSD Tukey test was applied to the items being meaningful in ANOVA in order to find out there is or isn t difference among which dimensions and items. In the last part; crosstab and chisquared test were used for specifying whether there was a significant difference between coaching skills of institution manager and institution s having properties of learning organization. In all statistical studies; significance level was accepted as 0,05. All results from questionnaire were interpreted on tables. Scale consists of 5 rating scale having options like Totally Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree and Totally Agree for each item. These options are given respectively 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Findings In this section/part of study whether perceptions of teachers in sample group vary/differ or not depending on their demographic characteristics were examined and the results were shown below. Table 1:. For Gender Variable Data Distribution Related to Learning School Dimension Dimension Gender N Df SE t p Personal Domination Mental Patterns/Models Male Female Male Female Shared Vision Male Female * -124-

130 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); , 1 April, 2013 Learning As a Team Male Female System Thought Male Female *p =.05, t > When the data in Table 1 were examined, there is no significant difference at any dimension except Shared Vision between gender variable and learning organization. A significant difference is found between male and female subject thoughts according to t-test in Shared Vision dimension (t=-2.007; p=.05). Because the t-value is above the critical value of 1.96 which indicate the meaningfulness for.05 level (Büyüköztürk, 2010). According to this difference, it can be stated that female teachers Shared Vision perception is higher than male teachers. Table 2:. For Gender Variable Data Distribution Related to Coaching Skills Dimension Dimension Gender N Df SE t p Motivation and Praise Positive Communication Environment Creating Learning Environment and Delegation *p <.05 Male Female Male Female Male Female * According to t-test no significant difference is found between male and female subject thoughts in Motivation and Praise (t=-1.835; p=.07) and in Positive Communication Environment (t=-1.404; p=.16) dimensions. A significant difference is found between male and female subject thoughts according to t-test in Creating Learning Environments and Delegation (t=-2.106; p=.04).it can be concluded that administrators perceive Creating Learning Environment Skills at higher level depending on the findings of female teachers are more open to development than male teachers. Table 3: For School Type Variable Data Distribution Related to Learning School Dimension Dimension Type of School N df SE t p Personal Domination Mental Patterns Science And Anatolian High School Vocational High School Science And Anatolian High School Vocational High School * * -125-

131 The Effectiveness Level of School Administrator s E. EĞMİR & S. YÖRÜK Shared Vision Learning As A Team System Thought *p <.05 Science And Anatolian High School Vocational High School Science And Anatolian High School Vocational High School Science And Anatolian High School Vocational High School * According to t-test in Personal Domination dimension a significant difference is found between the thoughts of teachers working in Science And Anatolian High School and the thoughts of teachers working in Vocational High School (t=2.655; p=.01). When the participation rate is considered, the teachers working in Science and Anatolian High School have higher rates of Personal Dominance than the teachers working in Vocational High Schools. With t-test in Mental Patterns dimension a significant difference is found between thoughts of Science and Anatolian High School Teachers and Vocational High School Teachers(t=2.150; p=.03). It can be stated that teachers consistently supervise themselves when the quality of students in Science and Anatolian High Schools are considered. With the t-test in Shared Vision dimension, a significant difference is found between male and female subject thoughts (t=3.290; p=.00). Starting with this difference, it can be stated that teachers in Science and Anatolian High Schools have higher levels of perception for having a shared vision in their schools than the teachers in Vocational High Schools. With t-test in Learning as a Team (t=1.772; p=.08) and System Thought (t=1.952; p=.05) dimensions, no significant difference is found according to school type dimension. Table 4: For School Type Variable Data Distribution Related to Coaching Skills Dimension Dimension School Type N Df SE t p Motivation and Praise Positive Communication Environment Creating Learning Environment and Delegation *p <.05 Science And Anatolian High School Vocational High School 81 Science And Anatolian High School Vocational High School 81 Science And Anatolian High School Vocational High School * * * According to t-test in Motivation and Praise dimension a significant difference is found between the thoughts of teachers working in Science and Anatolian High School and the -126-

132 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); , 1 April, 2013 thoughts of teachers working in Vocational High School(t=3.683; p=.00). Starting with this difference, it can be concluded that teachers working in Science and Anatolian High School have higher perceptions for administrators motivation and praise skills than teachers working in Vocational High Schools. Positive With t-test in Positive Communication dimension a significant difference is found between the thoughts of Science and Anatolian High School teachers and thoughts of Vocational High School teachers(t=4.177; p=.00). Science and Anatolian High School Administrators have higher skills of creating positive communication environment and this can be considered as a reason for this situation. With t-test in Creating Learning Environment and Delegation dimension a significant difference is found between the thoughts of Science and Anatolian High School teachers and thoughts of Vocational High School teachers. Depending on this case, it can be stated that Science and Anatolian High School teachers perception for administrators creating learning environment skills are higher than Vocational High School teachers. Table 5: For Seniority Variable Anova Findings of Learning Schools Dimension Sum of Mean Dimensions Dimensions Df F P Squares Square Personal Dominance Mental Patterns Shared Vision Learning as a Team System Thought Between Groups In Groups Total Between Groups In Groups Total Between Groups In Groups Total Between Groups In Groups Total Between Groups In Groups Total When data in Table 5 were examined seniority variable shows no difference at any dimension of learning organization. Table 6: For Seniority Variable Anova Findings of Coaching Skills Dimension Sum of Mean Dimensions Df F P Squares Square Motivation and Praise Positive Communication Environment Between Groups In Groups Total Between Groups In Groups Total Creating a learning Environment and Delegation Between Groups In Groups Total

133 The Effectiveness Level of School Administrator s E. EĞMİR & S. YÖRÜK According to data in Table 6 no significant difference is found between seniority variable and coaching skills. Table 7: For Education Level Variable Anova Findings Related to Learning School Dimension Sum of Mean Dimensions Df F p Dif. Squares Square Personal Dominance Mental Patterns Shared Vision Learning as a Team System Thought Between Groups In Groups Total Between Groups * In Groups Total Between Groups In Groups Total Between Groups In Groups Total Between Groups In Groups Total When data in Table 7 are examined, there is no significant difference between education level and Personal Dominance (F=.533 p=.588)., Shared Vision (F=.830 p=.438)., Learning as a Team (F=.254 p=.776) and System Thought (F=.375 p=.688) dimensions. When Mental Patterns dimension is considered a significant difference is found between the dimension and education level. There is a significant difference between groups of graduate (2) and postgraduate (3) (Df=2-3). Starting with this point perception of graduate teachers for mental patterns are more positive than post graduate teachers perceptions. Table 8: For Education Level Variable Anova Findings Related to Coaching Skills Dimension Sum of Mean Dimensions Df F p Sequares Square Motivation and Praise Positive Communication Environment Creating Learning Environment and Delegation Between Groups In Groups Total Between Groups In Groups Total Between Groups In Groups Total

134 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); , 1 April, 2013 According to data in Table 8 dimensions of coaching skills show no significant difference in terms of education level variance. Chi square test was used in order to define whether there was a significant difference between teachers perception of their administrators coaching skills and their schools indications of being a learning organization and the results were shown in Table9. For two variables, Chi square test tests if there is a significant difference between two categorical variables. The difference between two variables shows the responses of a variable level differs at the other variable s level. This test is actually used to define if there is a significant difference between numeric values observed in pores which occurs depending on levels of two classified variables(number of columns x number of rows) and expected numeric values. Accordingly, if the difference increases between these two numbers (values) the possibility of having a meaningful difference between the variables increases. In this study, analysis was carried out by transferring learning organization perception scale s questions to rows and by transferring coaching and administering scale s questions to the columns. Table 9:Chi Square Test Results Related to Learning School and Coaching Skills Value df p Pearson Ki-Kare a 3420 *.010 Likelihood Ratio Linear-by-Linear Association *p<.05 N 175 When the table is examined it can be seen that counted p value is p=0.01.since p=0.01<0.05, a significant difference between Learning Schools Perception Scale s questions and Coaching and Administering Skills Scale s questions is found. Starting with this analysis, it can be stated that there is a significant difference between learning organization paradigm and school administrators coaching skills. In other words participants think that there is a meaningful difference between administrators coaching skills and their schools that are becoming learning organizations. Results The results which was reached by the findings of the study, is indicated below. (1) In terms of gender, once the answers given for the learning school perception scale and coaching and administration skills scale analyzed, it came out that there is no significant difference between dimensions of scale and participant opinions (p<.05). (2) In terms of school type, once the answers given for the learning school perception scale analyzed, a significant difference is found in the dimensions Personal Control, Mental Models and Shared Vision, while a significant difference is not found in the dimensions Team Learning and Systems Thinking. In dimensions in which a significant difference determined, the difference is found in favor of teachers who work at Science and Anatolian High Schools. According to this result; it can be interpreted that teachers who work at Science and Anatolian High Schools are more eager to improve themselves and to form a common conscious in the organization. In Science and -129-

135 The Effectiveness Level of School Administrator s E. EĞMİR & S. YÖRÜK Anatolian High Schools, both students and teachers are chosen by an examination. As a result of this, stakeholders of this type of schools have more motivation to start for a common purpose than the other schools. In addition to this, in this type of schools, success criterion is made; since students level is suitable, school environment is enriched with various project and activities; since school has desire to reach the success goal, it tries to revise errors. As a result of this, both administrators and teachers aim to get better by forming organizational consciousness. In terms of school type variable; once the answers given for the coaching and administration skills scale analyzed, a significant difference is found between dimensions of scale and participants opinions (p<.05). When we look at the obtained data, according to school type variable, in the dimensions Motivation and Praise, Positive Communication Environment and Creating Learning Environment and Delegation a significant difference is determined in favor of teachers who work at Science and Anatolian High Schools. The reason for this may be administrators who work at Science and Anatolian High Schools have higher coaching skills. Besides; positive situation in the school gets easy administrators offering learning environments to the teachers instead of dealing with student and discipline problems, delegating, communicating teachers positively and motivating them. (3) In terms of seniority once the answers given for the learning school perception scale and coaching and administration skills scale analyzed, it is determined that there is no significant difference between dimensions of scale and participants opinions (p<.05). (4) In terms of state of education variable, once the answers given for the learning school perception scale analyzed, a significant difference is determined among the answers in the dimension of Mental Models. After the analysis of applied post-hoc test, it is determined that the difference is between the teachers who have bachelor s degree and postgraduate teachers. According to obtained data; the difference is in favor of the teacher who have bachelor s degree. We can associate this situation to teachers awareness level that have bachelor s degree. Because when we look at the means of the other four dimensions, it is seen that teachers perceptions that have bachelor s degree are higher than postgraduate teachers. As a conclusion; teachers with bachelor s degree who perceive signs of learning organization at a higher level, participate in the process of changing into learning organization more actively and this situation effect the perception in a positive way. In terms of state of education variable, the answers given for coaching and administration skills scale analyzed, a significant difference between dimensions of scale and participants opinions is not determined (p<.05). As a result of Chi-Square test which was applied with intent to determine whether there is a difference between learning school and school administrators coaching skills or not, a significant difference between these two concept is found (p<.05). From this point of view, it can be supported that school administrators coaching skills have effect on changing school into a learning organization. Discussion Öztürk (2007) determined that teachers gender and state of education do not have significant difference on their perceptions about administrators coaching skills. Öztürk (2007) found a significant difference between the variables teachers seniority and administrators coaching skills. However, in this study, seniority did not constitute a -130-

136 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); , 1 April, 2013 significant difference on teachers perceptions. This situation may result from different samples. Kalkan (2009) concluded that in terms of seniority and state of education, teachers who work in different school types, perceptions about administrators coaching skills did not show significant difference. This stated result is parallel with result of this study. Güleş (2007), in the study for which he did teachers -working in primary schools, perceptions about learning organization, in terms of gender, he determined a significant difference in favor of males in perceptions about shared vision discipline. Also in this study, in terms of gender, a significant difference was found about shared vision but this difference is in favor of females. Barnett, Henry and Vann (2008), in their study, stated that application of coaching affected the climate of school positively and helped the teachers undertake the vision of the school. At this point, they advocated that school administrators should be representatives of this approach. It was determined in also our study that there is the effect of coaching in changing into learning school. Hord and Hirsh (2009), in their study stated that for the school to be a learning organization administrators need the ability of motivating teachers and also they should constitute learning environments and effective communication system. And they also said that for educational administration there is a need for a new tendency and this tendency is administrator s formative leadership role. Also in this study, the administrators coaching skills were addressed and the relationship between learning organization and coaching was revealed. Suggestions In accordance with results, following suggestions are offered: (1) It is determined that female subjects learning organization disciplines and perceptions towards administrators coaching skills are higher than male subjects. School administrators should produce solution to enhance male teachers perceptions. (2) In Science and Anatolia High Schools, both signs of learning organization and administrators coaching skills are perceived higher by teachers of these schools than teachers who work in Vocational High Schools. Necessary environments should be prepared to make administrators and teachers in Vocational High Schools reach this level. (3) As the result of data, in terms of seniority, a fall is observed in teachers perceptions who have been working 25 years or more. At this point, school administrators should create opportunities to make them include in the process of organizational learning. (4) Teachers perceptions that have associate degree about administrators coaching skills are more negative than the other two groups. School administrators making teachers who have associate degree include in coaching applications may enhance this perception. (5) If we look at today s position of concept of administration, it is a necessary priority to have coaching skills. In this respect, education seminars about coaching should be organized for the school administrators who work at schools which are connected to National Education Ministry and their attending this kind of education should be provided. Reference Akgemci, T. (1999). Sanayi Ötesi Toplum ve Öğrenen Organizasyon. Selçuk Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Meslek Yüksekokulu Dergisi, (2). [Post-Industrial Society and -131-

137 The Effectiveness Level of School Administrator s E. EĞMİR & S. YÖRÜK Learning Organization. Journal of Selçuk University Social Sciences Vocational School, (2)]. Ash, R. C. ve Persall, J.M. (1999). The principal as chief learning officer. National Association of Secondary School Principals, 84 (616), Barnett, B., Henry, A., & Vann, B. (2008). Coaching for Teachers and Principals: Influence on Resiliency, Student Learning and School Improvement. Retrieved from PRINCIPALS---BG-BARNETT. Başaran, İ. E. (2000). Eğitim Yönetimi Nitelikli Okul (4. Baskı). Ankara: Feryal Matbaası. [Educational Management Qualified School (Fourth Edition). Ankara: Feryal Press]. Berg, M. E., & Karlsen, J. T. (2007). Mental Models in Project Management Coaching. Engineering Management Journal, 19(3), Büyüköztürk, Ş. (2010). Sosyal Bilimler İçin Veri Analizi El Kitabı (11. Baskı). Ankara: Pegem Yayıncılık. [Handbook of Data Analysis for Social Sciences (Eleventh Edition). Ankara: Pegem Publication]. Čiutienė, R., Neverauskas, B., & Meilienė, E. (2010). Coaching As A Tool To Develop Employees Career. Economics and Management, 15, Çelik, V. (2003). Eğitimsel Liderlik, Ankara: Pegem Yayıncılık. [Educational Leadership, Ankara: Pegem Publication]. Doğan, E. (2002). Eğitimde Toplam Kalite Yönetimi, Ankara: Academyplus Yayınevi. [Total Quality Management in Education, Ankara: Academyplus Press]. Erdoğan, İ. (2000). Okul Yönetimi ve Öğretim Liderliği (4. Baskı). Ankara: Pegem Yayıncılık. [School Management and Instructional Leadership (Fourth Edition). Ankara: Pegem Publication]. Fraenkel, J. R., & Wallen, N. E. (2006). How to Designe And Evaluate Researche in Education (Third Edition). New York. Güleş, H. (2007). İstanbul İli Bayrampaşa İlçesindeki Resmi İlköğretim Okulu Yönetici ve Öğretmenlerinin Öğrenen Organizasyona İlişkin Algıları. (Yayımlanmamış Yüksek Lisans Tezi). Yeditepe Üniversitesi, İstanbul. [Perceptions of Formal Primary Education School Administrators and Teachers, Who Work In Bayrampaşa, Istanbul District About Learning Organizations. (Unpublished master s thesis). Yeditepe University, Istanbul]. Hoca, E. (2007). Bir Vakıf Üniversitesinde Eğitim Yönetimi Alanındaki İdeal Lider Tipi Özelliklerinin Araştırılması. (Yayımlanmamış Yüksek Lisans Tezi). Yeditepe Üniversitesi, İstanbul. [Research on the Ideal Leadership Style Traits at the Education Management Field in a Foundation University. (Unpublished master s thesis). Yeditepe University, Istanbul]. Hord, S., & Hirsh, S. A. (2009). The Principal's Role in Supporting Learning Communities. Educational Leadership, 66(5), İraz, R. (2004, Ekim). Öğrenen Organizasyonlarda Bilgi Yönetim Uygulamaları, S.Ü. IV. Ulusal Üretim Araştırmaları Sempozyumu, Konya. [(2004, October). Information Management Practices in Learning Organizations, S.Ü. 4 th National Production Surveys Symposium, Konya]. Kalkan, F. S. (2009). Farklı Okul Türündeki Yöneticilerin Algılanan Koçluk Becerilerinin Karşılaştırılması. (Yayımlanmamış Yüksek Lisans Tezi). Yeditepe Üniversitesi, İstanbul. [Comparison Between the Perceived Coaching Abilities of the Directors Working at Different Types of Schools. (Unpublished master s thesis). Yeditepe University, Istanbul]. Karaman, F. (2008). Ortaöğretim Okullarında Görev Yapan Okul Müdürlerinin Göstermiş Olduğu Liderlik ve Etkili Yöneticilik Davranışları. (Yayımlanmamış Yüksek Lisans -132-

138 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); , 1 April, 2013 Tezi). Beykent Üniversitesi, İstanbul. [Leadership and Effective Management Behaviors of School Managers In Secondary Education. (Unpublished master s thesis). Beykent University, Istanbul]. Kış, A. (2009). Öğrenen Örgüt Oluşturmada Okul Müdürlerinin Öğrenen Liderlik Rolü. (Yayımlanmamış Bilim Uzmanlığı Tezi). İnönü Üniversitesi, Malatya. [The Learning Leadership Role of Principals in Building a Learning Organization. (Unpublished master s thesis). Inonu University, Malatya]. McEwan, E. K. (1998). Seven Steps to Effective Instructional Leadership, California: Corwin Press. Öztürk, S. (2007). Ortaöğretim Özel ve Resmi Okul Yöneticilerinin Koçluk Becerilerinin Karşılaştırılması. (Yayımlanmamış Yüksek Lisans Tezi). Marmara Üniversitesi, İstanbul. [Comparison Between the Coaching Abilities of Private and Public School Instructors at the Secondary Education. (Unpublished master s thesis). Marmara University, Istanbul]. Poussard, J. M. (2004). Yönetimde Yeni Bir Stil Coaching, İstanbul: Yaylacık Matbaası. [A New Style in Management Coaching, Istanbul: Yaylacık Press]. Senge, P. M. (2002). Beşinci Disiplin (9. Baskı). İstanbul: Yapı Kredi Yayınları. [The Fifth Discipline (Ninth Edition). Istanbul: Publications of Yapı Kredi]. Subaş, A. (2010). İlköğretim Okullarında Çalışan Sınıf ve Branş Öğretmenlerinin Öğrenen Örgütü (Okulu) Algılamaları. (Yayımlanmamış Yüksek Lisans Tezi). Marmara Üniversitesi, İstanbul. [Perception of Class and Branch Teachers Working In The Primary Schools About Learning School. (Unpublished master s thesis). Marmara University, Istanbul]. Şimşek, Y., & Yıldırım, M. C. (2004, Temmuz). Öğrenen Okulların Kültürel Yapıları, XIII. Ulusal Eğitim Bilimleri Kurultayı, Malatya. [(2004, July). Cultural Structure of Learning Schools, 13 th National Educational Sciences Congress, Malatya]. Töremen, F. (2001). Öğrenen Okul, Ankara: Nobel Yayın Dağıtım. [Learning School, Ankara: Nobel Press and Delivery]. Yazıcı, S. (2001). Öğrenen Organizasyonlar, İstanbul: Alfa Basım Yayım Dağıtım. [Learning Organizations, Istanbul: Alfa Print Press and Delivery]. Yeltan, A. (2007). Effect of Coaching On Job Satisfacton. (Yayımlanmamış Yüksek Lisans Tezi). Marmara Üniversitesi, İstanbul. [Effect of Coaching On Job Satisfaction. (Unpublished master s thesis). Marmara University, Istanbul]

139 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 3(1), pp , 1 April, 2013 Available online at Achievement Motivations of the Students Studying at Computer and Instructional Technologies Teaching Department Article history Received: Received in revised form: Accepted: Key words: Achievement, Motivation, Achievement Motivation. Çetin SEMERCİ Bartın University, Education Faculty, Bartın, Turkey Burcu DUMAN * District National Education Directorate of Baskil, Elazığ, Turkey The aim of this research is to determine achievement motivations of the students studying at Computer and Instructional Technologies Teaching (CITT) Department. In this research, survey method is used. In the frame of this method, the existing situation about the achievement motivations of CITT students in Yüzüncü Yıl and Fırat Universities in Turkey is described. The population of the research includes 4th grade students of CITT departments at Yüzüncü Yıl and Fırat Universities. The sample of this research consists of 142 students in total-74 of them from CITT department at Fırat University (52.11% of population) and 68 of them from CITT department at Yüzüncü Yıl University (47.89% of population). Data were collected in the spring term of Achievement focused motivation (AFM) scale was used in this study. The levels of achievement of CITT students at Fırat and Yüzüncü Yıl universities in Turkey are between 3.41 and The approximation of this level to 5 is required. Introduction Today, the rapid development of computer-based techniques, has led educators to new ways of theory and practice. As a result, Computer and Instructional Technologies Teaching (CITT), has emerged under the division of science, and in recent years it started to gain significance and identity with the development of multi-media and web technologies. CITT as a division of faculties of education in Turkey was opened in 1998 by The Council of Higher Education (Arıcı, 2007; Akça-Üstündağ, 2009). The aim of CITT is to give actual information, gain basic information and skills about the profession and introduce the instructional environments to the computer teacher candidates who will teach at the primary and secondary schools in 2000s through making use of new Technologies. The aim of the course is to improve deficient material usage of information technologies, which is developing rapidly in schools and thus make the instruction more effective, as well as leading students towards technology such as; computer, internet, multimedia, TV, video and projectors, in instruction. Therefore, the computer teachers of 2000s will be educated with the knowledge of technology and thus will be able to make use of it effectively. Other aims of the CITT department are to develop methods, prepare instructional software for the effective and abundant usage of the educational technologies that are used in education foundations, and educate the staff to develop the educational properties of this software (METU, 2010). CITT * Asst.Prof., District National Education Directorate of Baskil, Elazığ, Turkey, [email protected]; O

140 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); , 1 April, 2013 enables the instructional specialists to educate individuals and to serve as: Teachers, instructional technologists, educational specialists, instructional designers, trainers and experts in educational computing (Boğaziçi University, 2010). Considering all of the students including the ones in CITT department, they are all affected by the concept of motivation. Ryan and Deci (2000, 54) emphasized that "to be motivated means to be moved to do something. Also motivation is described as a goal-oriented behavior (Dilts, 1998), and in order to provide a behavioral tendency (Kast&Rozenzweig, 1985) there are pointed to be some questions that motivation is thought to be responsible for. These questions include; "why do people decide to do something, how long are they willing to sustain the activities and how much are they going to pursue it" (Dörnyei, 2001, 8). As stated by Brown (1994), motivation is a term used to define the success or the failure of any challenging task. Motivation can be defined as "some kind of internal drive which pushes someone to do things in order to achieve something" (Harmer, 2001, 51). Achievement motivation is one s effort to be successful in a matter (Weinberg & Gould, 1995). The basic empirical facts about effects of individual differences in achievement motivation on behavioris focused on the new theory of motivation (Atkinson & Birch, 1974) and well-known empirical generalizations about the subsequent motivational effects of reward and punishment has also been covered. Seltzer (1973) initiated a computer program for the theory and it is continually being extended and refined (Seltzer &Sawusch, 1974; Bongort, 1974). Moreover, Atkinson et al. (1977) stated some information about a computer program that is a theory of motivation.... We can turn that theory around on the method of measurement used in the empirical research over the years to provide the main source of most of the inferences that guided construction of the theory. It comes as no great surprise to us that a coherent theory of motivation evolved in the course of using thematic apperception to study and explain behavioral expressions of individual differences in motivation should also finally explain the stream of imaginative behavior that constitutes the standard and controversial measuring instrument. We already have that model in physics. The theory of heat explains the behavior of mercury in a thermometer (Atkinson et al. 1977, 3). Considering this information,steers and Porter (1991, 6) think about three questions while discussing motivation: 1.what activates human behavior, 2. what directs or leads such behavior and 3. how this behavior is achieved or sustained. A great many of researchers have come to a conclusion that educators can and should actively motivate students to take parts in the learning process (Christophel, 1990; Ames, 1990; Jones & Jones, 1990). The teacher should give specific feedback concerning student progress is of vital importance in the learning process (Brophy, 1987; Jacobson, 1981; Bavetta, 1993). According to McMillan and Forsyth (1991) effective feedback should be specific and immediate. Intrinsic motivation is significantly increased by positive verbal feedback (Hodson, 1991; Wickwire, 1992), whereas it is undermined by negative feedback (Peck, 1971; Richards, 1991). Stamer (1995) put forward the fact that individual feedback given by the teacher would be more motivating than the ones given in a choral setting. Fraker (1993) believed that teachers can have a great impact on student motivation through their actions. Nevertheless, motivating students to learn is regarded as an important teacher property, although the tools to accomplish this task are not assigned enough importance. Some variables of motivation are identified as; interest, success, etc. in order to influence the learning process used by teachers (Hunter, 1967). Stamer (1995) has also identified these variables of motivation which have been discussed in several research studies. Examinations -135-

141 Achievement Motivations of the Students Studying Ç. SEMERCİ & B, DUMAN have shown that student motivation was higher when the teacher was to be willing, caring, and concerned with student progress (Stamer, 1995; Ray, 1992; Mergendoller & Packer, 1985; Frazier, 1985). Furthermore, a good disposition, tone of voice, use of encouraging language, and personal interest in each student are given to be the other important teacher characteristics and actions (Bartholomew, 1993; Baker, 1993; Matthews, 1991; Grossnickle&Thiel, 1988; Anderson &Greathouse, 1978). Moving on to the topic of need for achievement, it is definedas a tendency to strive for success in situations involving an evaluation of one s performance in relation to some standard of excellence (Atkinson, 1974, 207).Anderson and Evans (1976), for instance, made a measurement of Mexican American students self-efficacy of using social and academic states in order to see their motivational process within their educational life. As a result, they found out that the efficacy levels of Latin students were low, which was the reason of their low academic success. On the other hand, Rumberger and Larsen (1998) made use of the measurements of teachers which are about Latin students work habits and social contact to put forward the students motivation, and they found out that the students who were busier with their school became more successful. As a person-centered factor, achievement motivation which can be scored high or low is generally known as a unidimensional structure (McClelland, 1988) and it is measured in an indirect way by means of grades and test results (Eaton &Dembo, 1997; Rumberger& Larson, 1998) that are not used completely in motivational process. Achievement motivation is, in fact, defined as multidimensional, including individual differences and orientation about learning (Wilkins&Kuperminc, 2010). Both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations are factors affecting achievement. It is traditionally known that intrinsic motivation is a wish coming from inside to result in a behavior for enjoyment, satisfaction and interest. On the other hand, extrinsic motivation is about the behavior which is the consequence of external factors like money or praise (Berlyne, 1960; Hunt, 1965; White, 1959). It is a general belief that while intrinsic motivation increases learning, extrinsic motivation hinders deeper learning, and it is a concept explained by experimental studies. In order to be successful and have achievement in all areas we want, achievement motivation is needed; because, achievement goals have big effects on a person s behaviors (Rabideau, 2006).These physiological motivational incentives are effective on our behaviors in different situations (Kürüm, 2007). Achievement motivation is the tendency to access an objective that requires effort successfully (Gürşimşek, 2002). The aim of this research is to determine achievement motivations of the students studying at Computer and Instructional Technologies Teaching (CITT) Department. Considering this aim, sub-aims are as follows: (1) Is there a difference among the achievement motivations of the students of the CITT department in terms of gender? (2) Is there a difference among the achievement motivations of the students of the CITT department in terms of Yüzüncü Yıl and Fırat Universities? Method In this research, survey method is used. Within this method the existing situation about the achievement motivations of CITT students in Yüzüncü Yıl and Fırat Universities in -136-

142 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); , 1 April, 2013 Turkey have been described. The population of the research includes senior class students of the CITT departments at Yüzüncü Yıl and Fırat Universities. The sample of this research consists of 142 students in total-74 of whom are from CITT department at Fırat University (52.11 percent of population) and 68 of whom are from CITT department at Yüzüncü Yıl University (47.89 percent of population). Data were collected in the spring term of 2010, and achievement focused motivation (AFM) scale was used within the study. The scale was developed by Semerci (2010), it was applied to 827 students. The scale was applied on the students of Atatürk University (Erzurum), Cumhuriyet University (Sivas), Fırat University (Elazığ), Muş Alparslan University (Muş) and Yüzüncü Yıl University (Van) 4- factored structure (External effects, internal effects, growth of aim and self-conscious) was revealed in the scale. As a result, KMO value of AFM scale is found to be and the value of Barlett test is found to be (Sd=595, P<.05). It is seen that after factor analysis, the scale provided % of the total variance. In the analysis results of AFM scale, item-total correlations changed between 0.36 and Furthermore, in the study, 49 data-paired were applied and it was found out that test-retest correlation was (p<0.01). Moreover, correlation coefficient between two halves points was 0.895(p<0.01) and Cronbach Alpha Coefficient of AFM scale was (35 items) (Semerci, 2010). Findings 84 of the students involved in the research were males while 58 of them were females. Moreover, 68 students from the CITT department of Yüzüncü Yıl University and 74 students from the CITT department of Fırat University participated in this research. The distribution of achievement motivation in terms of gender is given below in Table 1. Table 1. The distribution of achievement motivation in terms of gender Levene Test Gender N for Equality of Mean St. Dev. t p Variances External effects Male (p=.56) * 0.01 Female Internal effects 0.02(p=.88) Male Female Growth of aim 0.19(p=.67) Male Female Self-conscious 3.50(p=.06) Male Female AFM(General) Male (p=.07) Female *P<0.05 Df=140 When the distribution of achievement motivation is examined in terms of gender, no difference is generally found. Except from exterior effects in sub-dimensions of achievementbased motivation, in other dimensions (interior effects, enhancing attainment and selfconscious) no difference is found in terms of gender variable (Table 1)

143 Achievement Motivations of the Students Studying Ç. SEMERCİ & B, DUMAN Table 2.The distribution of achievement motivation according to Fırat and Yüzüncü Yıl Universities. Levene s Test University N for Equality of Mean St. Dev. t p Variances External effects Yüzüncü Yıl (p=.06) * 0.02 Firat Internaleffects 0.02(p=.88) Yüzüncü Yıl Firat Growth of aim 0.19(p=.67) Yüzüncü Yıl Firat Self-conscious Yüzüncü Yıl (p=.06) Firat AFM(General) Yüzüncü Yıl (p=.07) 3,66 0, Firat 74 3,81 0,48 *P<0.05 df=140 No difference was found between achievement motivations of the students at Yüzüncü Yıl and Fırat Universities. In addition, except from exterior effects in sub-dimensions of achievement-based motivation, in other dimensions (interior effects, enhancing attainment and self-conscious), no difference is found in terms of university variable (Table 2). Lastly, it is an important point for the research that in achievement-based motivation, only in exterior effects there is statistically significant difference in terms of both gender and university variables. Most of CITT students have chosen the totally agree option between 3.41 and 4.20 average scores about their achievement motivation, therefore, this result reveals that achievement motivation levels of students are quite high. Conclusion The aim of this research was to determine achievement motivations of the students studying at the CITT department. Students are found to be motivated to learn when they thought the learning task was meaningful and interesting and when they were successful at completing learning tasks (Blumfield, 1992; McMillan &Forsyth, 1991; Gordon, 1989; Nicholls, 1989). Moreover, interesting tasks turned out to enhance their intrinsic motivation to learn (Lepper&Hodell, 1989). Brophy (1987) and Malone &Lepper (1987) encouraged teachers to change tasks to students interests to arouse and develop motivation. Besides, educational competence, school belonging and participation of parents all found to be effective in the achievement motivation in a positive way (Ibanez, 2004). In modern societies, the teaching profession is expected to be fulfilledin great enthusiasm (Ozankaya, 2002). In addition teaching is described as a profession that requires a big heart and love (Okçabol, 1998). When CITT students expectations of the profession were examined, the highest is observed in the first grade while the other grades are getting lower (Arıcı, 2007). In addition, the expectation levels of the profession of those who preferred the department willingly are found to be high. Students with high level of expectations are expected to have high achievement motivation, too. In this study, CITT students achievement motivation hasn t been found at the highest level. Furthermore, No differences were found between genders in terms of satisfaction towards the -138-

144 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); , 1 April, 2013 department (Haliloğlu-Tatlı&Ursavaş, 2009). Considering that there is a positive relationship between satisfaction and the achievement motivation or has been accepted, a similar result can also be said to be found in this study. In this study, there has been no difference except for a small exception among the achievement motivation of CITT students by sex. This exception is related to the size of achievement motivation. There is a statistically significant difference between male (Mean: 4.11, St.dev.: 0.58) and female (Mean: 3.87, St.dev.: 0.59) students in the sub-size of external effects. The reason of this situation may be attributed to the socioeconomic differences in Turkey. When motivation increases, job satisfaction also increases (Ipek, 2006). Moreover, having motivated teachers attend professional training more than they benefit from professional services as they will be more successful in their profession (Sener, 2009).From this respect it can be concluded that as the achievement motivation increases, so will the CITT students love to learn more. The levels of achievement of CITT students in Fırat and Yüzüncü Yıl universities in Turkey are between 3.41 and The approximation of this level to 5 is required. Therefore, employment conditions of the graduates of the department in order to become formatter of information technology teachers (Karal&Timuçin, 2010) should be improved and so achievement motivations can be increased. References Akça-Üstündağ, D. (2009). Evaluation of the theses in the master of science program of computer education and instructional technologies in Turkey in terms of contents and methods,unpublished Master st hesis, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey. Ames, C. (1990). Motivation: What teachers need to know. In S. Tozer, T. H. Anderson, & B. B. Armbruster (Eds.), Foundational studies in teacher education: A reexamination (pp ). New York: Teachers College Press. Anderson, J. G., & Evans, F. B. (1976). Family socialization and educational achievement in two cultures: Mexican American and Anglo-American. Sociometry, 39, Anderson, M., &Greathouse, L. (1978). New approaches to an old subject: Motivation. Improving College and University Teaching, 26(2), Arıcı, B. (2007). Students expectations from their job studying at the department of computer education and instructional teaching and the perception of computer teachers about their job working in the field, Unpublished Master st hesis, Dokuz Eylül University, Izmir, Turkey. Atkinson, J. W. (1974). The main springs of achievement-orientedactivity. In J. W. Atkinson& J. O. Raynor (Eds.), Motivation and achievement(pp ). Washington, DC: Winston &Sons. Atkinson, J. W., & Birch, D. (1974).The dynamics of achievement-oriented activity. Ch. 15 in J. W. Atkinson & J. O. Raynor (Eds.), Motivation and achievement. Pp Washington, D.C.: V. H. Winston & Sons (Halsted Press/Wiley). Atkinson, J. W.;Bongort, K., &Price, L.H. (1977). Explorationsusingcomputersimulationtocomprehendthematicapperceptivemeasuremen t of motivation, Motivation and Emotion, 1(1), Baker, J. S. (1993). The effects of two motivational factors on accuracy and persistence for second graders (motivation, feedback, praise) (Doctoral dissertation, Western Michigan University, 1993).Dissertation Abstracts International, 54, 1230A. Bartholomew, D. (1993). Effective strategies for praising students. Music Educators Journal, 80(3),

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146 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); , 1 April, 2013 Jacobson, B. L. (1981). The effects of paradoxical intention and feedback on cognitive and affective mediators of anagram solving (Doctoral dissertation, Northern Illinois University, 1980).Dissertation Abstracts International, 41, 4669A. Jones, V. F., & Jones, L. S. (1990). Classroom management.boston: Allyn& Bacon. Karal, H.,& Timuçin, E. (2010). Problems of CEIT graduatesandimplicationsforsolution. Educational Administration: TheoryandPractice, 62, Kast, F. E., &Rosenzweig, J. E. (1985). Organisation and Management, New York McGraw Hill. Kürüm, E.Y. (2007). The Effect of Motivational Factors on the Foreign Language Achievement of Students in University Education.Unpublished Mastersthesis, Hacettepe University, Ankara. Lepper, M. R., &Hodell, M. (1989).Intrinsic motivation in the classroom. In C. Ames & R. Ames (Eds.), Research of motivationin education (Vol. 3, pp ). San Diego, CA: Academic Press. Malone, T. W., & Lepper, M. R. (1987). Making learning fun: A taxonomy of intrinsic motivation for learning. In R. E. Snow & M. J. Farr (Eds.), Aptitude, learning, and instruction (Vol. 3, pp ). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Matthews, D. B. (1991).The effects of school environment on intrinsic motivation of middleschool children. Journal of Humanistic Education and Development, 30(1), McClelland, D. (1988). Human motivation. Boston: Cambridge University Press. McClelland, D. C. (1990). Human motivation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. McMillan, J. H., & Forsyth, D. R. (1991). Seventh graders conceptions of teachers: An interpretive analysis. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 45, Mergendoller, J., & Packer, M. (1985). Seventh graders conceptions of teachers: An interpretive analysis. Elementary School Journal,85, METU. (2010). Computer education and Instructional Technology Department, Retrived Oct 30,2010, Nicholls, J. (1989). The competitive ethos and democratic education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Okçabol, R. (1998). The research of teacher profile and the new explorations in the teacher training. VII. The Congress of National Education Sciences. Sept. 9-11, 1998, Selçuk University, Konya, Turkey, Ozankaya, Ö. (2002). The position and location of teacher in the comtemporary societies, Inönü University Edu. Fac. Journal. 3(3), Peck, D. (1971). A theory of intrinsic classroom motivation (Doctoral dissertation, Arizona State University, 1971).Dissertation Abstracts International, 32, 2919A. Rabideau, S. T. (2006). Effects of Achievement Motivation on Behavior. Retrieved December 16, 2006 from Ray, N. L. (1992). Motivation in education. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED349298) Richards, T. A. (1991). Effects of constructive feedback on perceived competence and intrinsic motivation (Doctoral dissertation, Arizona State University, 1990).Dissertation Abstracts International, 51, 2685A. Rumberger, R. W., & Larson, K. A. (1998).Toward explaining differences in educational achievement among Mexican American language-minority students. Sociology of Education, 71, Ryan, Richard M.,& Edward L. Deci. (2000). Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations: Classic Definitions and New Directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, Seltzer, R. A. (1973).Simulation of the dynamics of action.psychological Reports, 32,

147 Achievement Motivations of the Students Studying Ç. SEMERCİ & B, DUMAN Seltzer, R. A.., &Sawusch, J. R. (1974). A program for computer simulation of the dynamics of action.in J. W. Atkinson & J. O. Raynor (Eds.), Motivation and achievement. Washington, D.C.: V. H. Winston & Sons (Halsted Press/Wiley), Semerci, Ç. (2010). The development of achievement focused motivation scale, e-journal of New Wold Sciences Academy Education Sciences, 5(4), Sener, M. M. (2009). The effect to classroom teachers' Professional motivation of in-service teacher education programs.unpublished Masters thesis,marmara University, Istanbul. Stamer, R. A. (1995). Choral student perceptions of effective motivation strategies based on Madeline Hunter s motivation variables (Doctoral dissertation, University of Northern Colorado, 1995). Dissertation Abstracts International, 56/08, 3046A. Steers, R. M.,&Porter, L.W. (1991). Motivationand Work Behavior in New York. McGraw- Hill.Inc. Lincoln. Weinberg, R. S.,&Gould, D. (1995). Foundation of Sportand ExercisePhysiology. Fourthedition, ISBN-13: , White, R. W. (1959). Motivation reconsidered: the concept of competence. Psychological Review, 66, Wickwire, A. J. (1992). The relationship between teacher verbal feedback, aptitude, and academic intrinsic motivation (Doctoral dissertation, College of William and Mary, 1992).Dissertation Abstracts International, 53, 1459A. Wilkins, N.C.,&Kuperminc, G.P. (2010).Why Try? Achievement Motivation and Perceived Academic Climate Among Latino Youth. Journal of Early Adolescence 30(2),

148 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 3(1), pp , 1 April, 2013 Available online at Overview of the Visual Arts Curriculum, and Its Relationship with Evaluation and Instruction. Article history Received: Received in revised form: Accepted: Key words: The Curriculum; the Visual Arts Curriculum; Evaluation; Instruction; Relationship Between Curriculum, Instruction and Evaluation IMONIKEBE Manasseh Emamoke * University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria. Evaluation and Instruction play very important roles in curriculum implementation. As a result, the two concepts are often enshrined in the curriculum document. This article therefore examined the Visual Arts curriculum and its relationship with evaluation and instruction. Furthermore, the roles of Evaluation and Instruction in curriculum planning and implementation were investigated. The article was approached as follows: Overview of curriculum; Overview of Art Education and the Visual Arts curriculum; Evaluation; Instruction; and Relationship between curriculum, instruction and evaluation. It was revealed that curriculum, evaluation and instruction are inextricably linked. That, while the Visual Arts curriculum is planned by the curricularist, instruction is what the Visual Arts teacher plans to realize the curriculum; that, evaluation is an enterprise carried out by the teacher at the implementation level. The findings were discussed as they apply to the Art Education Programme. Introduction Evaluation and instruction are two critical factors often included in the curriculum document. The two factors have been found to play a key role in curriculum implementation. The purpose of this article therefore is to examine the Visual Arts curriculum and its relationship with evaluation and instruction. This attempt is further intended to clarify the roles of evaluation and instruction in relation to the Visual Arts curriculum. It is expected that this effort will challenge the Art Educator to take the afore-mentioned two concepts seriously in his process of implementing the curriculum. The article has been approached in the following order: (1) Overview of curriculum generally. (2) Overview of Art Education and the Visual Arts curriculum. (3) Evaluation (4) Instruction (5) Relationship between curriculum, instruction and evaluation Overview of Curriculum The general assumptions about curriculum are exciting. The term is used in different ways by school teachers, parents, educators among others. Some people see it as the academic package for the learner while some others perceive it as teacher s direction versus students activities. The dictionary has this definition subjects included in a course of study or taught at a particular school, college etc (Oxford Advanced Learner s Dictionary). Some refer to it *Senior Lecturer, Fine/Applied Arts Department, University of Benin Benin City, Nigeria., ; [email protected], Mobile;

149 Overview of the visual arts curriculum, and its relationship I. Manasseh Emamoke as learning contents and other activities that take place in the school. Doll, R.C. (1996;15) stated that the curriculum of a school is the formal and informal content and process by which learners gain knowledge and understanding, develop skills and alter attitudes, appreciations and values under the auspices of that school In its simplistic form, Aigbomian and Iyamu (2001) stated that curriculum is an organized set of learning materials which includes their methods of presentation and procedure for evaluating their learning. Curriculum and Conceptualization An overview of curriculum will certainly refresh our minds as it recalls where we are coming from. Etymologically, curriculum derives from the Latin word currere meaning to run and was conceived as a course of study. Curriculum being a relatively new discipline has been defined severally by scholars. Its analytic, eclectic and normative nature has possibly made it rather difficult to lend itself to a single definition. Incidentally, little was known about this discipline until the 1970s. The chronology of the curriculum process of development can best be summarized in Urevbu (1984) on the state of the field. He noted that the first two decades of the 20 th Century as stated by Kliebard (1968 and 1970) was the dominance of what he referred to as the traditional curriculum scholars. The traditionalists referred to according to Urevbu were as follows; Taba 1962, Saylor and Alexander 1974; Smith and Stanley and Shores 1950 and a host of others. These scholars he asserted fell under the considerable shadow of Ralph Tyler It was clear that the activities of these traditionalists which had continued to raise questions have not for several decades left us with little attempt to develop alternative modes of thinking to the dominant models put in place by the traditionalist (Urevbu, 1983;70). Urevbu however summed up the various approaches as mere guidance for neophyte because the writings do not advance our understanding of the curriculum beyond a fairly general level (Urevbu, 1983;70). He went on to add that the traditionalists concepts have however been criticized for being vague, subjective and specifically these definitions clearly, ignore the school s social role in the distribution of different forms of knowledge and hence power, to different group of people (Urevbu, 1983;68). Before preceding further to state specifically some definitions of curriculum, it is needful to remark that the perennial exercise of conceptualization of curriculum has been observed to be a problem that is glued to mere semantics or phraseology as writers revisit what others have expressed in their own style. Aigbomian and Iyamu (2001) however noted that the process of conceptualization has guided and provided direction to the schooling process. That is to say, no definition is actually useless as they went on to stress that the effort helps to clarify and proffer solutions to basic issues and questions that affect the schooling process. An example of these definitions among others that have the aforementioned criticism is that of Seweje in Aigbomian and Iyamu (2001). Seweje defined curriculum as the operational medium through which the school as unit co-ordinates the patterns and process of transmission of desirable learning experiences from one generation to the other Aigbomian and Iyamu (2001;19). Be that as it may, the authors noted that while the definition is seen to portray the learning process as extending beyond the school (planned or unplanned), there is the inculcation of worthwhile or desirable aspects of the culture in the learner. The above definition also sees what goes on in the school as learning experiences. Urevbu (1984) identified the use of the word experiences in Bobbit s definition. He added that similar definitions include those of Norton and Norton (1936), Vernon (1969), Smith, Stanley, and shores 1957 and that of Kearney and Cook 1960). All these definitions attracted the earlier -144-

150 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); , 1 April, 2013 criticisms of the traditionalists perspective. It is necessary to point out at this point that the fluid nature of the curriculum is also responsible for the multi-dimensional conception. As a borrowing discipline from psychology, History and Sociology among others, curriculum would certainly yield a relative definition. Aigbomian and Iyamu went on to point out some dimensions of curriculum: the curriculum syllabus dualism; curriculum instruction dualism; and curriculum education dualism. Urevbu, A.O. (2008) further identified other terms used to define curriculum. They are official curriculum; operational curriculum; hidden curriculum; the null curriculum and the extra curriculum. He however cautioned that the above curricular conceptions have significant contributions to the schooling process. He expressed hope that there has been a shift since 1970 from the traditional conception to a study of how school systems are created, organized and made to function. This in fact is the position Urevbu has maintained as indicated in his inaugural lecture titled Creating the Schools We Deserve: Reflections on Education; Curriculum and Pedagogy; University of Benin. (Urevbu, 1997) Overview of Art Education and the Visual Arts Curriculum The emergence of Art Education dates back to about 200 years ago. Art Education began in response to the industrial revolution, a discipline concerned with art teaching as a practice and the field of inquiry which studies teaching and learning art. The object of this discipline therefore is that of enabling individuals acquire skills of artistic expression, designing, knowledge of art, its history and critical apprehension. Methods used in Art Education are similar to those used in social and psychological sciences. The field also involves typical studies that investigate children s artistic development, their creativity, relationship between drawing and socialization, aesthetic preferences and their impact on learning. It is important to add that as earlier mentioned, this discipline began in response to the industrial revolution, a social event which altered its rationale and character at a time when the progressive education movement was active: and was deeply affected by the art styles of expression and abstraction in the first half of the twentieth century (Efland, 1991;16). The following areas have been identified as foundations of Art Education: a) Aesthetics with its varied conceptions of art and its value in human experience, b) Art History, studio and criticism as content sources, c) Curriculum study to conceptualize goals, content, methods and their interrelation, d) History of Art Education which studies developments in relation to social changes and culture policy; e) Empirical research which describes and explains individual and group behaviours associated with art learning and aesthetic response (Efland, 1991) The overview of Art Education provided clearly defined the Art Education programme. However, it is instructive to mention that, the Visual Arts curriculum would depend also on the approach. Cunliffe (1998) explicated on two main approaches, the Creative Self- Expression and the Disciplined-Based Art Education (DBAE). In the Discipline-based art education, creativity according to Cunliffe is seen as unconventional behaviour that can occur as conventional art understanding are attained; untutored childhood expression is not regarded as necessarily creative (Cunliffe,1998;49). The concept of the learner in the creative self-expression is that learners are innately creative and expressive; need nurture rather than instruction; exposure to art images inhibits learners natural creative development -145-

151 Overview of the visual arts curriculum, and its relationship I. Manasseh Emamoke (Cunliffe,1998;49). In the discipline-based, the learners are actually art students who need instruction for the development of their understanding of art. The learners creative development is enhanced by exposing them to adult images. Three major goals of art education in the Discipline Based approach according to Chapman in Clark, G.A. (2008) are the development of personal expression of students and their awareness of artistic heritage and awareness of the role of art in society. Clark s position is suggestive of the need to teach the learner in order to achieve the stipulated goals of art education. He outlined characteristics of the Disciplined-Based Art Education curriculum content to include-aesthetics, Art Criticism, Art History and Art productions. The DBAE has been widely accepted and adopted for use in all parts of the world even in the United States of America (USA), where there is the feeling that the DBAE is Eurocentric. By this statement, it is implied that the Visual Arts curriculum is in harmony with the tenets of curriculum planning extensively discussed at the beginning of this article. Overview of Evaluation Trochim, (2006) viewed evaluation as an activity that is concerned with using monitoring and information collected for making judgments about a project and in addition the use of such information for making changes and improvements. He went further to add that the activity is aimed at answering agreed questions and to make a judgment against specific criteria. A good evaluation data must be collected and analysed systematically and its interpretation considered carefully, assessing value, or worth of something taking a decision and using results of an evaluation are part of the process. Bhola, (1990) also defined evaluation as a means of assigning values or judgment, amount, degree, condition, worth, quality or effectiveness on something such as a programme. The broadest practicable definition whoever is Stufflebeam s in Badmus, and Omoifo, (1998;21), evaluation is the process of delineating obtaining and providing useful information for judging decision alternatives. This definition they explained, views evaluation as an ongoing process secondly as directed toward specific goal that requires using accurate and appropriate technique to collect information needed for decision making. Goals of Evaluation The provision of useful feedback is the generic goal of most evaluations. Trochim stated that, the feedback (empirically driven feedback) is provided to diverse audiences such as sponsors, administrators, donors, staff, client groups and others. This feedback he added is said to be useful where it aids decision making or policy formulation. Badmus, G.A. and Omoifo, C.N. (1998;26), however stated that we talk of goals of evaluation at methodological level and we talk of roles of evaluation in a sociological level or pedagogical context the sociological or pedagogical context is the realm of the formative and summative evaluation. The formative role is used to improve instruction or an ongoing instruction course, curriculum or a programme. Such role does not preclude evaluation of the final process. The summative evaluation they stated may be used to decide if an experimental or special instructional programme worth the money and time spent on it (Badmus and Omoifo, 1998;26). Trochim also noted that formative evaluation strengthens or improves what is being evaluated and helps form it, through technology or examination of the programme delivery, quality of its implementation. This also, according to him include the -146-

152 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); , 1 April, 2013 assessment of the organizational context, personnel and procedure inputs among others. In the case of summative evaluations it examines the effects or outcomes of some objects on what happens subsequent to delivery of the programme or technology assessing whether the object can be said to have caused the outcome; determining the overall impact of the causal factor beyond only the immediate target outcomes; and estimating the relative costs associated with the objects (Trochim, 2006). Trochim argued that Formative evaluation includes several evaluation types: needs assessment; evaluability assessment; structured conceptualization implementation evaluation; and process evaluation. Summative evaluation could be divided into-outcome evaluation; impact evaluation; cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analysis; secondary analysis and metaanalysis. Trochim went on to identify two main purposes of evaluation as for learning and development and the other evaluation for accountability (Trochim, 2006). It is important to add the opinion of Cookson in Crawford (2007) when he stated that true evaluation consists of an establishment of criteria collection of evidence to compare with the set criteria (baseline) and the arrival of a value judgment. Crawford went on to outline some purposes of evaluation as presented by Case (1988). They are as follows: To confirm learners needs; to mobilize learner s participation; to document learning outcomes; to identify needed programme changes and to communicate accountability to funders, administrators and others. Crawford however suggested six models/frame-works that are used in evaluation: objectives- Oriented, Management-Oriented; Consumer-oriented; Expertise-Oriented; Adversary- Oriented and Naturalistic and Participant Oriented. Overview of Instruction Generally speaking, instruction is the means or vehicle through which the school achieves learning. Effective instruction has been defined by Badmus, and Omoifo, (1998;28) as the process of bringing about desirable modifications/changes in the abilities and perception of the learner. This definition not only clarifies the concept of instruction but reveals that quality of instruction is dependent on some factors. This shows that instruction could be poor, or sound or effective. They went on to state that the function of instruction of the school as involving activities that increase the child s knowledge the information base, and cognitive and physical skills of the learner (Badmus, and Omoifo, 1998;28). Instruction therefore is teaching the curriculum content. They added that the task of guiding the learner in his learning and realizing his prospective career is a very important aspect of instruction Relationship between Curriculum and Instruction Westbury (2007) viewed curriculum as an amorphous concept that has a wider connotation than most scholars have suggested, it observed that what appears dominant are stipulations about not what curriculum is but what it should be. He has therefore viewed curriculum as also referring to the established programme of a school. However as mentioned earlier in the overview of curriculum, the term is used in various ways by stakeholders in education. The issue of curriculum conceptualization has been properly addressed in the overview of curriculum. The main thrust of this segment is having done also an overview of instruction is, the relationship between curriculum and instruction. The relationship between the two concepts has been described as intimate since instruction involves the creation and implementation of purposefully developed plans for the teaching of curriculum content. This process could also be referred to as planning and teaching (Yates, 2000). The fact that most -147-

153 Overview of the visual arts curriculum, and its relationship I. Manasseh Emamoke curriculum departments are referred to as curriculum and instruction is not unconnected with the intimacy that exists between the two concepts. With curriculum being the content of what is taught along with an overall process of how that content is to be taught, and the instruction being the more detailed plans and the way those plans are implemented in order to teach the curriculum content, it becomes easy to understand that the two must be compatible in order to maximize student learning (Yates, 2000). Alkin (1973) noted that educators have often used curriculum and instruction interchangeably. He however expressed worry at the lack of focal specification as an evaluator could define his work as curriculum evaluation and go ahead to evaluate outputs of instructional programmes. In the same vein, according to him, another evaluator attempting to evaluate outputs of an instructional programme could define his focus as instructional evaluation. However, consonant with the earlier position stated, Alkin viewed curriculum as consisting intended learning outcomes; the results or ends of an instructional activity while instruction on the other hand has to do with planning and teaching (Alkin, 1973). A document of partnership for 21 st century skills (2007) observed that curriculum and instruction determine what is taught and how it noted that the relationship between the two concepts is a very close one. It stated that, curriculum is essentially a design, or roadmap for learning and as such focuses on knowledge and skills that are judged important to learn. Instruction is the means by which that learning will be achieved. Instruction can be achieved through diverse approaches. For example, the teacher can effect instruction through problembased learning (PBL) Cooperative Learning, (Marzano, Pickering, Pollock (2001), using real world contexts. These are part of the 21 st century approaches identified by the partnership for 21 st century skills (A document of Partnership for 21 st Century Skills, 2007). Laska (1984) argued that the instruction goes beyond the definition as equivalent to training or training and the concept of education. He also cited Macdonald (1965) and Bellack Kliebard (1977) as consenting to the idea that the terms instruction and curriculum respectively involved confusion of terms and notorious ambiguity. Relationship between Evaluation and Instruction From the overview of Evaluation and Instruction earlier given, Evaluation is a process that concerns itself with using monitoring, and other information collected to make judgment and using such information to effect changes and improvements. As a document of partnership for 21 st century skills (2007) puts it, Instruction is the means by which that learning is achieved (A document of Partnership for 21 st Century Skills, 2007)), This definition makes more sense when you have at the back of your mind that curriculum is a design, or road map for learning which focuses on knowledge and skills. The relationship therefore that exists between evaluation and instruction is such that cannot be divorced from each other. Instruction like other programmes depends on evaluation to for both formative and summative purposes. On the other hand, evaluation cannot exist in isolation of programmes that require evaluation. Evaluation focuses on criteria to judge, worth or value of something or project. It focuses on something or project (Bhola, 1990). Evaluation thus is an inextricable companion of instruction whose effectiveness is best appreciated when applied to a project. As could be deduced from the definition of formative evaluation provide information to improve a product or process (A design of evaluation, -148-

154 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); , 1 April, 2013 Nova; and Iowa state evaluation could be said to be a hand maid of instruction. Evaluation relies on instruction to exhibit its relevance. In other words if there are no projects, products or process, there will be no premise for evaluating. Conversely, instruction cannot thrive without evaluation. Finally, evaluation is instrumental to progress reviews which lead to improvement in programmes and projects. For instance instruction as defined by Wikipedia encyclopaedia is education and teaching. It is however clear that from time to time through evaluation of instruction; new approaches are evolved to improve teaching and learning. For instance, Hall, T. (2002) dwelt elaborately on differentiated instruction an improved instruction culminating in a process to address students teaching and learning involving differing abilities in the same class. Several other approaches have been canvassed and popularized over time being outcomes of evaluation of instruction. Relationship between Curriculum and Evaluation Aigbomian, D.O and Iyamu, E.O.S. (2001) viewed evaluation as an integral part of curriculum. As earlier discussed taking curriculum according to the document of partnership for 21 st century skills as a example, curriculum is essentially a design, or roadmap for learning and as such focuses on knowledge and skills that are judged important to learn (A document of Partnership for 21 st Century Skills, 2007)). Evaluation is required for effective learning and its development to take place. Evaluation is required also for its accountability. Goldstein (1969) also considers evaluation or feedback phase as an integral component of the social learning curriculum. Evaluation according to him is based on the understanding that the educational process depends upon interaction of the contents, the teachers and the students which in combination significantly affect implementation of the curriculum. Yates, R. (2000) discussed the multiage and single grade classroom. It was noted that, the case of multiage classrooms explains better the close relationship that exists between instruction and curriculum. The flexibility of the curriculum to various structures meant to make instruction more efficient further explains the tie between curriculum and instruction. Teachers instructional methods therefore, necessitate compatible manner that curriculum should be organized. Urevbu, A.O. (2001) identified some functions of evaluation in curriculum development. This included; informing decision-makers. He went on to state three ideal types of evaluation- Bureaucratic, Autocratic and democratic evaluations. Self-evaluation and evaluation of outcomes are other functions of evaluation in curriculum development. Curriculum and evaluation are thus two inseparable concepts. For example, Suydam, M.N. (1990) also displayed this unity when she noted that set of standard provided for evaluating mathematics curricula and the quality of the curriculum as well as students achievements. The relationship therefore that exists between curriculum and evaluation is inextricable. Evaluation is required in curriculum both at the formative and summative levels. Curriculum requires evaluation for improvement of teaching and learning in schools. Conclusion The article revealed that the Art Education curriculum is planned in accordance with the basic principles of curriculum planning globally. The content areas of the Art Education programme and the Disciplined Based Art Education approach which is in use all over the world were discussed. The article further revealed that curriculum and evaluation are -149-

155 Overview of the visual arts curriculum, and its relationship I. Manasseh Emamoke inextricably related as a result of their complementary roles. It was also discovered that instruction cannot also be divorced from curriculum, just as evaluation and instruction are interwoven Suffice it to state that the Art Education curriculum is planned by curricularists, but instruction is the Visual Arts teacher s plan to carry out the content. Instruction is thus his vehicle to translate the curriculum into reality. Similarly after the content has been presented to the learner, evaluation is needed to find out the effectiveness of the programme. In the same vein, it was revealed that evaluation cannot be isolated from product, programme or project. Thus evaluation relies on instruction to be effective and relevant. Therefore it is clear that the three components are interwoven and inextricably related. References Aigbomian, D.O. and Iyamu, E.O.S.(2001). Foundations in Curriculum Studies Lagos; Metro Pub. Ltd. A document of Partnership for 21 st Century Skills (2007). Alkin, M.C.(1973). Evaluating Curriculum and Instruction University of California, Los Angeles. scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/etd/pdf Arieh, L.(1991;16). Art Educational Program by A. Efland: The International Encyclopedia of Curriculum New York: Pergamon Press Badmus, G.A and Omoifo, C.N.(1998). Essentials of measurement and Evaluation in Education, Benin City: Osasu Publishers. Bhola, H.S.(1990). Evaluating Literacy for Developing Product Programme and Campaign. Germany UNESCO, Institute of Educ and International Dev. (DSE). Clark, G.A.(2008). Highlights of Examining Discipline-Based Art Education as a Curriculum Construct. Cookson, P.S.(1996). Programme Planning for Lifelong Education (Draft). State College, Pennsy/Vania State University. Crawford, D.C.(2007). Evaluation Exploration. ag.ohio- state.edu/- brick/evalexpl.htm. Cunliffe, L.(1998). Art and Art Education As A Cognitive Process and The National Curriculum: Thinking Through the Curriculum. Edited by Robert, B and Marion, W. London, New York (Routledge) Doll, R.C.(1996). Curriculum Improvement: Decision Making & Process, (9 th edit. Boston; Allyn & Bacon. Federal Ministry of Education(1985). National Curriculum for Senior Secondary Schools, Vol. 12, Creative Arts. Goldstein, H.(1969). Curriculum Development; Curriculum Evaluation; Data Collection Special Education. Hall, T.(2002). Differentiated Instruction: Effective Classroom Practice Reports. (NCAC).U.S Office of Special Education Programme. Laska, J.A.(1984). The Relationship Between Instruction and Curriculum. A Conceptual Clarification. Instructional Science. 13, Amsterdam Elsevier Science Pub. BV. Marzano, R, Pickering, D. & Pollock, J.(2001). Fundamentals of Curriculum; Marzano s Classroom Instruction that Works

156 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(1); , 1 April, 2013 Suydam, M.N.(1990). Eric Clearing House for Science Mathematics and Environmental Education, Columbus O.H. Trochim, W. M.K.(2006). Research Methods Knowledge Base. Urevbu, A.O.(2001). Curriculum Studies 2 nd Edition. Juland Publishers. London. Urevbu, A.O.(1984). Some Thoughts on the Nature of Curriculum Theory. Ilorin Journal of Education. Vol. 3, Feb. p Uzoagba, I.N.(2000). Understanding Art in General Education. Art Education Series 3 rd Edition. Africana-Feb Pub. Ltd. Lagos. Urevbu, A.O.(2008). Curriculum Studies. Unpublished Ph.D Lecture Series. University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria. Urevbu, A..O.(1997). Creating the Schools We Deserve: Reflections on Education, Pedagogy and Curriculum. Inaugural Lecture Series, 49. Benin (Uniben Press). Westbury, I.(2007). Curriculum; Review of Educational Research. Vol 2. No 2. Yates, R.(2000). Curriculum in Multiage Learning Environments