Teacher Candidates' Cyberloafing Behaviors in Terms of Different Variables

Abstract

This is a descriptive study in the survey model conducted to examine teacher candidates' cyberloafing behaviors in terms of different variables. The study population consists of teacher candidates attending different departments of a state university in the academic year 2017-2018. To create the sample, students from all grade levels in randomly chosen fields of study from different departments of Education Faculty. Research data were collected using the “Scale of Cyberloafing Activities” and the “Personal Information Form”. The data collection tools were delivered from a total of 918 teacher candidates who participated in the study voluntarily. Descriptive statistics, the Mann-Whitney U, and the Kruskal-Wallis tests were applied for data analysis. As a result of the study, it was detected that the teacher candidates' level of cyberloafing in the educational setting was "low," and that they usually accessed social networks and news sites. With regard to gender, it was observed that male teacher candidates, and with regard to departments that Science, Social and Turkish Education students, engaged more in cyberloafing. More than half of the participants defined their internet usage skills on an advanced and expert level, and it was detected that the level of cyberloafing increased as expertise increased. It was determined that the level of cyberloafing increased in conjunction with an increasing frequency of teacher candidates' usage of the internet on their mobile phones during the lesson and increasing grade levels.