Examination of Digital Literacy Levels of Science Teachers in the Distance Education Process

Abstract

Digital literacy skills could make important contributions to teachers’ learning and teaching process and professional skills. The purpose of this article is to examine the level of science teachers’ digital literacy skills in terms of gender and the duration of professional experience. The sample of the study consisted of 88 science teachers working in various districts of Turkey. Digital literacy scale and distance education evaluation interview form were used as data collection tools. The results showed that, no statistically significant difference was found in the digital literacy levels of female and male science teachers. However, digital literacy of teachers with less professional experience is more positive than teachers with more professional experience. Also, science teachers mostly prefer lecturing during distance education. The results show that distance education should be strengthened in terms of infrastructure, implementation, quality in Turkey. Within the scope of the research, it was suggested to organize various trainings to improve the digital literacy levels of teachers, to enrich the content of EBA used in the distance education, and to increase the in-service trainings to improve the distance education skills of teachers.