Alternative certification candidates' attitudes towards using technology in education and use of social networking services: A comparison of sports sciences and foreign language graduates

Oguzhan Atabek

doi:10.18844/wjet.v12i1.4433

Abstract

The purpose of the research was to investigate the relationships between alternative certification candidates' attitudes towards using technology in education and their use of social networking services (SNSs). Participants were 156 pre-service teachers enrolled in the alternative certification program at a public university in Turkey (N = 156). The research was designed as a correlational study. Data were collected by Attitude towards Using Technology in Education Scale in addition to demographics form including questions about SNS usage. Data were analysed by Mann "Whitney U test and Spearman's rank-order correlation coefficient. Alternative certification candidates had strong attitudes towards improving themselves in using technology in education. However, their attitudes towards using educational technology in instructional processes and classroom management were weaker. Alternative certification candidates were observed to be close to low-risk class of problematic social media use indicating negative emotional states. The results indicated that instructional programs that participants engaged in during their undergraduate studies seem to have an influence on developing familiarity with and competence in technology. Keywords: Alternative certification, attitude, social networking service, teacher training, technology integration.

Highlights

A considerable amount of the financial resources allocated for education is directed in educational technology (Adkins, 2018; Shulman, 2018)
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between PFECP alternative certification candidates’ attitudes towards using technology in education and their social networking services (SNS) usage, which were measured by the number of friends on favourite SNS, time spent on SNS in a day and number of SNS used
Attitude towards reflection of using technology in education on instructional processes was observed to be the weakest factor. These results indicate that while alternative certification candidates had significantly positive attitudes towards improving themselves in using educational technology, they were uncertain about using technology in the actual instructional processes

Summary

Introduction

A considerable amount of the financial resources allocated for education is directed in educational technology (Adkins, 2018; Shulman, 2018). First-order barriers are extrinsic to teachers such as inadequacies in resources, time, training or support, and second-order barriers are intrinsic to teachers such as attitudes towards using technology in education (Beri & Sharma, 2019; Ertmer et al, 2003; Johnson et al, 2016). Second-order barriers are considered to pose a greater challenge (Ertmer, Ottenbreit-Leftwich, Sadik, Sendurur & Sendurur, 2012). They create more difficulties than the first-order ones (Hew & Brush, 2007) and are more difficult to overcome (Johnson et al, 2016). There is a need for research to examine barriers to technology integration in greater detail (Hew & Brush, 2007)

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Discussion

Conclusion