Pre-service Information Technology Teachers Research Articles

Pre-service Information Technology Teachers’ Self-Efficacy, Self-Esteem and Attitudes towards Teaching: A Four-Year Longitudinal Study

This study investigates the changes in self-efficacy perceptions, professional self-esteem, and attitudes towards the teaching profession of pre-service information technology teachers in accordance with their academic achievement and career choices. A longitudinal research was conducted over a four-year time period with participation of 40 pre-service teachers. The data were collected through three separate scales at five different data collection points (entrance, freshman, sophomore, junior and senior years) corresponding to their initial states and their states at the end of each academic year. Findings indicated an improvement in terms of attitude towards the teaching profession and teaching self-efficacy through the time period. However, change in professional self-esteem did not follow such a clear pattern. While grade point averages (GPA) did not show significant relationships with attitude, self-efficacy or self-esteem in earlier states, as the participants gained experience, significant relationships arose among GPA, attitude and self-efficacy. Career choices of pre-service teachers were examined under three categories: teaching, coding and design. Preference for teaching was relatively high at the initial state and continuously increased over time. As the participants progressed in the program, their preference for coding and design increased as well. The increase in career choices of pre-service teachers accords with the courses in the program.

Predictors of Cyberloafing among Preservice Information Technology Teachers

The current mixed-method study investigated the extent of involvement in cyberloafing within classroom settings among preservice information technology teachers. Thirteen state universities were picked randomly from hierarchical clusters, which were determined according to the national university rankings. Then, a recent five-factor cyberloafing scale was administered to 1856 participants in these universities to collect the quantitative data. An open-ended survey was also administered to two volunteers from each university (n: 26) to address their rationale for cyberloafing. Parametric analyses on cyberloafing scores were conducted through considering background variables including gender, university, grade level, grade point average, socioeconomic status, ownership of mobile devices and online social networking habits. The qualitative data were processed through descriptive content analysis, which was confirmed by an independent scholar. Findings revealed that males surpassed females in terms of three cyberloafing types (i.e., shopping, accessing online content, and gaming). Significant differences were observed in terms of university and grade level. The relationship between the grade point average and cyberloafing was negative and statistically significant. Socioeconomic status, ownership of mobile devices and social network use predicted cyberloafing behavior. Finally, qualitative data from open-ended questions revealed student- and instructor-related rationales for cyberloafing.

Could rapid application development tools be used as icebreakers in programming education?

Today, learning how to program or coding is an important issue even for children. So, pre-service Information Technology (IT) teachers are expected to have gained necessary skills for teaching programming. Considering that learning programming is not an easy process, we need icebreakers in order to change pre-service teachers’ perceptions of programming positively. This study focused on an implementation of a training of rapid application development (RAD). The aim of the study was to come up with an answer to the question; “can RAD be used as an icebreaker in order to change Turkish pre-service IT teachers’ perceptions towards programming positively?” The findings revealed that RAD tools can be used as icebreakers in the context of the study. In this respect, it is recommended that these tools be included in the higher education programs providing informatics education.

The effects of teaching programming with scratch on pre-service information technology teachers' motivation and achievement

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of programming instruction with Scratch on student motivation and their programming achievements. The study group consisted of 52 sophomore students attending the Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technologies of Mehmet Akif Ersoy University's Faculty of Education, Turkey. Participants were randomly divided into two groups in order to have 26 students in both the test group and the control group. During the first seven weeks of the study, it is aimed that the students will understand programming logic and learn basic programming structures. For this purpose, participants in the test group were instructed using Scratch, whilst in the control group, flowcharting and problem-solving activities were conducted as per the curriculum. During the second seven weeks of the study, C# programming language instruction was conducted using the same method for both the test and control groups. Achievement Test and Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire were utilized as data collection tools in the study, and a 3 × 2 (measurement time x groups) factorial design was employed. Study findings revealed that programming achievement scores for both the test and control groups increased at the end of the whole process; however, the increase was significantly different in favor of the test group at the end of the whole process. It was observed that motivation scores decreased in the control group, while the test group's scores increased.

An investigation of the effects of programming with Scratch on the preservice IT teachers’ self‐efficacy perceptions and attitudes towards computer programming

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of programming with Scratch on the views of preservice Information Technology (IT) teachers towards computer programming. The study sample consisted of 151 preservice IT teachers who took an elective course including a Scratch module in the 2013–14 academic year. Three online questionnaires (Personal Information Questionnaire, The Computer Programming Self‐Efficacy Scale and The Computer Programming Learning Attitude Scale) were used to gather the quantitative data and focus group interviews were conducted to collect the qualitative data regarding the preservice IT teachers’ views in more detail. According to the results, there were significant increases in the mean of the preservice IT teachers’ self‐efficacy perceptions regarding almost all complex programming tasks after their Scratch programming experience. The results also showed that the preservice IT teachers’ negative attitudes towards programming decreased significantly and programming in the Scratch platform had significantly positive effects on the preservice IT teachers’ attitudes regarding some items in the scale.

Bilişim Teknolojileri Öğretmeni Adaylarının Programlama Sürecini Etkileyen Faktörler

The aim of this study is to determine the problems effecting programming process of preservice information technology teachers and the reasons of these problems by monitoring programming process. In this study, programming processes of pre-service teachers were investigated with cognitive task analysis. Six Information Technologies teacher candidates, taking Internet Based Programming course in Fall Semester of 2011-2012 academic year at the Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technologies (CEIT) at Hacettepe University, participated in the study. Participants were divided to three groups, namely advanced, intermediate and beginner according to their prior programming knowledge and experiences, Tasks of writing program and reading program were assigned to the participants. After the tasks of reading program and thinking and writing program simultaneously, interviews were made with retrospective thinking aloud procedure. The data was analyzed by the NVivo 8 package program. It was found that while participants in advanced level were more successful in the task of writing program, participants in intermediate level were more successful in the task of reading program. The findings indicated that these two processes, writing program and reading program, may require different skills and cognitive processes.

Examination of Preservice Information Technology Teachers' Technorealism in Terms of Different Variables

Examination of Preservice Information Technology Teachers' Technorealism in Terms of Different Variables

Reflections of Preservice Information Technology Teachers Regarding Cyberbullying.

The current phenomenological study addressed the reflections of preservice information technology (IT) teachers regarding their cyberbullying or victimization experiences. Fifty five preservice IT teachers at a Turkish teacher training institution were offered a lecture with the purpose of awareness-raising on cyberbullying, which was followed by the assignment of take-home reflection papers. Document analysis on reflection papers led researchers to find out underlying themes regarding participants’ cyberbullying or victimization experiences. Findings revealed that females were more likely to be victims than males. Instant messaging programs, e-mail, cell phones and online social networks were used as means to cyberbully. Varying psychological consequences of victimization incidents were reported. Noted reactions to incidents were discontinuing interaction with bullies, and seeking family, peer and legal support. Findings further implied that awareness raising activities regarding cyberbullying were likely to reduce cyberbullying instances and increase preservice teachers’ action competence