The Turkish geography teaching program (2005) and technology use in Geography courses: An overview of high school teachers' approach

Abstract

This study aims at assessing the importance and use of technology in geography courses, what the 2005 geography teaching program changed in terms of technology and some of the factors preventing the effective use of technology from teachers’ perspectives. The research outcomes suggested that, despite the fact that there is a common consensus among geography teachers that the use of technology is highly beneficial for teaching and learning processes and the use of technology must be maximized for ideal geography education, there are some gaps that must be addressed by all shareholders in geography education; about half of the respondents suffer from a lack of technological infrastructure in their schools and almost one-third of them disagree with or are noncommittal about the suggestion that they have enough knowledge to integrate the necessary competences in the use of technology. The results indicated however, that the 2005 program affected geography education in a positive way, by encouraging the use of technology in geography courses especially in the public schools. Additionally, increasing English level of the teachers also affects their beliefs about the importance of technology use in geography courses and their competence in using technology in an affirmative way. Key words: Geography teaching program, technology use, high school geography, geography teachers.