Analysing attitudes of candidate teachers towards computer in terms of various factors

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1 Available online at Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 2 (2010) WCES-2010 Analysing attitudes of candidate teachers towards computer in terms of various factors A. Seda Saracalo lu a *, O uz Serin b, Nerguz Bulut Serin b, U ur Serin c a Faculty of Education, Adnan Menderes University, Ayd n,, Turkey b Faculty of Education, Cyprus International University, Nicosia,, TRNC c Primary School Teacher zmir, Turkey Received October 28, 2009; revised December 4, 2009; accepted January 14, 2010 Abstract The aim of this research is to analyze attitudes of candidate teachers towards computer in terms of various variables. Therefore the research was conducted on 419 candidate teachers, selected with random sampling method, from Buca Education Faculty. Data was collected through two data gathering instruments. These were Survey of Faculty Attitudes toward Information Technology developed by Gilmore (1998), adapted to Turkish by Bulut and peers (2005) and personal information form that consists of 3 questions. ANOVA, t-test and Scheffe tests were applied to data and correlation coefficients were calculated. Significance level was taken as 0,05. As a result, it is revealed that attitude of students toward computer is very positive Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Attitude; information technologies; candidate teachers. 1. Introduction Information technologies have been affecting education systems directly, and it requires training individuals who can adapt themselves to 21 st century. This situation requires continuous modernization and development of teaching programs and teaching materials as well as improving education programs according to new request and demands (Saracalo lu, 2000). In education; new information technologies such as interactive videos, artificial intelligence, teleconference, electronic communication are also used as well as computer assisted education (Akkoyunlu, 1995; Keser, 1991). However, using information technologies in teaching- learning processes is directly proportional with the proficiency of the teacher. Especially; entry behaviours, skills, and attitudes of teachers and students, who works the system, are the factors that affects the success of the system directly (Alkan, 1986; Saracalo lu, 2000). In this sense, teachers should be trained in using computers. When training of the teacher is ignored, experiences show that computer assisted learning process become more expensive than traditional methods (Thompson, 1991). As a matter of fact, it is put forward that most of the teachers do not use computer as it is needed and they do not benefit from it efficiently (Charsky et al., 2002; Ferguson-Pabst, Persichitte & Carfeela, 2003; Aral, et al, 2007). In addition to this, * A. Seda Saracalo lu. Tel.: / address: [email protected] Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi: /j.sbspro

2 A. Seda Saracaloğlu et al. / Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 2 (2010) few teachers can benefit from limited amount of computers in the classroom because of the lack of equipment (NCES, 2001) and they feel themselves incapable of using computer (Schrum, 1999). In this sense, putting effective computer training into the programs of the organizations that train teachers appears as a requirement. Besides, Computer is a compulsory course in institutions that train teachers such as Education Faculties in Turkey. Thus, it is seen very important to know, especially, attitudes of the candidate teachers toward computers in order to use computer assisted education effectively. But the course of computers is focused on computer literacy skills not on computer use instructions. Attitude is also defined as a characteristic that is an indicator of individual s understanding and emotions toward a subject and motivates him to show either positive or negative behavior (Ka tç ba, 1988). Attitudes affect success and failure of the education process directly. While positive attitudes provide success of the students during education period, negative attitudes make them unsuccessful (Gagne, Briggs & Wager, 1992). As a matter of the fact that various researches show that there is a meaningful relation between attitudes and success (Bloom, 1979; Berbero lu, 1990; Saracalo lu, Serin & Bozkurt, 2001; Serin, 2001). In addition, making conscious and suitable decisions in curriculum developing studies toward computer studies are possible with knowing attitudes of students (Reece & Gable, 1982). In other way, taking precautions by analyzing attitudes of students toward computer enables planning and applying computer in education in a more effective way. Otherwise, putting computer into the system without determining attitudes of students can reduce the expected chance of success in education and investments can be wasted. Therefore, it is seen necessary that determining attitudes that are pre-condition of success of students and teachers who use computer system. Kinds of researches that are conducted in order to determine attitudes of students and teachers toward computer can contribute to put computer into education system in more logical and functional way, and to form policies that are related with computer. In this context, necessity of analyzing attitudes of students and teachers toward computer appears. It is expected that this research that derived from this necessity will contribute organizations which train teachers, curriculum developers, computer programmers, students of Computer and Teaching Technologies Department, computer teachers, instructors and academicians who conduct researches on this subject. Research problem is explained as it is below. The aim of this research is to determine attitudes of the students of Buca Education Faculty of Dokuz Eylül University concerning with computer. With this aim, the responses of the questions below were examined: 1. Is there a significant difference between attitude scores of the candidate teachers toward computer and their gender? 2. Is there a significant difference between attitude scores of the candidate teachers toward computer and their state of using computer before? 1. Method 1.1. Universe and sample The method of the study is descriptive and the research is aimed for determining attitudes of the students toward computer. The sample consisted of total 419 candidate teachers who are selected in a random way from Computer & Instructional Technology Teacher Education, Primary Education, Turkish Education, Secondary Teaching Science and Mathematics Education, Secondary Teaching Social Areas Education, Fine Arts Education, Foreign Languages Education departments of Buca Education Faculty Data collection tools In the research Survey of Faculty Attitudes toward Information Technology developed by Gilmore (1998), adapted to Turkish by Bulut and peers (2005) was used as a data collecting tool. The Survey of Faculty Attitudes toward Information Technology has 52 multiple-choice items with item options ranging from 1 to 5. Cronbach Alpha coefficient of the Scale is found as 0, of the items have positive statement and 20 of them have negative statement. Positive statements are graded from 5 to 1 and negative statements are graded from 1 to 5. At least 52 and at most 260 points can be acquired from the scale. High scores express positive attitude toward computer. In

3 3496 A. Seda Saracaloğlu et al. / Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 2 (2010) addition to that participants personal informations are questioned by Personal Information Form including 2 questions about their gender, departments, state of using computers Analysis of data and interpretation ANOVA, t-test, Scheffe and LSD tests are used to analyze the data according to aims of the research. The findings of the study are coded to SPSS statistical package program and significance level was taken as 0, Results (Findings) When the attitudes of the students score means about attitudes toward computer are analysed with t-test analysis according to their gender, it is found that female students have more positive attitude scores but this change does not lead statistically meaningful difference among groups. Table 1: T-test results for attitude scores of candidate teachers towards computer according to their gender Gender n Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error t value p value Female ,015 27,263 1,697 0,193 0,847 Male ,627 34,058 2,684 Attendants attitudes toward computer are analyzed with t-test analysis according to their state of using computer before and these findings are given in Table 2. It is observed that there is a significant difference between candidate teacher s attitude scores and their state of using computers before (at the statistical level of 0.001). Table2: T- test results for attitude scores scores of candidate teachers towards computer according to their state of using computer before State of using computer n Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error t value p value Who do not use ,638 19,284 2,812 Who use ,970 30,703 1, Discussion 4,744 0,000* It is shown in various researches that male students have more positive attitude than female students (Deniz, 1994; Chu, 1991; Gattiker and Hlavka, 1992; Ya ar, 1992; Shaashani, 1994; Bannert & Arbinger, 1996; Makrakis & Sawada, 1996; Comber et al, 1997; Linn, 1999; Kadijevich, 2000); women have more positive attitude than men (Yin, 1990; Rugayah, Hashim & Wan, 2004). This study and findings of the studies above are in contradiction. Moreover in the research of Kay (1992) who examined 98 researches computer attitude is found that 48 of the researches are in favor of male, 14 are in favor of female and in 36 researches there is no difference found. This situation can derive from inevitability of computer usage of today. However findings of research in hand and researches in which attitudes toward computer are highly positive and do not change according to gender (Temple & Lips, 1988; Khasawneh, 1989; Munger & Loyd, 1989; Tart c o lu, 1990; McCoy & Baker, 1997; Woodrow, 1994; Deniz, 1994; 1995; Akkoyunlu, 1996; Shashaani, 1997; Clarke & Finnie, 1998; Lau & Ang, 1998; Levine & Donitsa-Schmidt, 1998; Ray, Sormunen & Haris, 1999; Harmandar & Samanc, 2002; Saracalo lu & Ka l, 2001; Saracalo lu, Serin & Serin, 2001; Serin, 2001; Shashaani & Khalili, 2000; Asan, 2000, Zayim et al., 2002; Çelik & Bindak, 2005; Popovich et al., 2007; Teo, 2007) are similar. In this sense, these researches support each other. As it is seen in Table 3, the situation is in favor of students who have used computer before. In other words; it can be said that students who have computer usage experience have more positive computer attitudes. In this context, study in hand and various researches (Çal ko lu, 1990; Lips and Temple, 1990; Yin, 1990; Hakkinen, 1994; Busch, 1995; Akkoyunlu, 1996; Reznich, 1996; Knezek, Christersen and Rice, 1997; Nash and Moroz, 1997; Volman, 1997; Lau and Ang, 1998; Levine and Donitsa-Schmidt, 1998; Brown-Chidsey, Boscardin and Sireci, 2001; Saracalo lu, Serin and Serin, 2001; Erkan, 2004; Çelik and Bindak, 2005) support each other.

4 4. Conclusion and recommendation A. Seda Saracaloğlu et al. / Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 2 (2010) In this research that aims to determine attitudes of candidate teachers toward computer according to various factors, it can be said that computer attitudes of attendants change according to departments and use computer in advance. Computer attitudes of students do not change according to gender. As a result; it is found that students attitudes toward computer are at highly positive level. In this situation, it can be said that since the students attitudes are positive, it can affect computer assisted activities in a positive way and it reflects on the students success positively. Suggestions that are developed under the light of the research are below: Since Physics, Classroom and Art teaching students in the USA have an average attitude toward computer, studies should be held in these fields in order to make them to develop positive attitude. For example, giving much more computer assisted education, giving some subjects that are in the physics with computer simulations; providing to use computer laboratories much more can be beneficial. When it is taken into consideration that computer experience affects attitudes, students should be given a chance of developing computer skills such as using computer laboratories out of the lesson, etc. Since the students attending computer course and having an experience of using computer have positive computer attitudes, it can be said that using and knowing how to use computer is very important. In this sense, computer assisted education can be suggested for all level of educational institutions. 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