Social Studies Teacher Candidates’ Perception of Digital Citizenship

Abstract

With the rapid pace of technological and digital change, the use of mass communication and digital communication tools, and internet usage have become very prevalent and thus digital citizenship education has become a necessity for individuals so that they can effectively use these technologies. In this respect, in-class and out-of-class activities play a crucial role in developing students’ digital citizenship competencies in social studies education. Teacher candidates’ perception of digital citizenship will influence students as well. The objective of the current study is to identify the perception of the social studies teacher candidates towards digital citizenship. A descriptive cross-sectional screening model was utilized in the study. The sample of the study is composed of senior teacher candidates attending the Social Studies Teaching Department, Faculty of Education of Ege University in the 2016-2017 academic year. Digital Citizenship Attitude Scale was employed to identify the perceptions of teacher candidates towards digital citizenship. The analysis of the results in the context of subdimensions indicates that no statistically significant difference was found by the gender variable, however significant differences was observed in digital citizenship levels of the teacher candidates according to the variables of owning a personal computer, age and years of experience in computer use.

Keywords

• Social studies,digital citizenship,technology

References

1. Alberta, E. (2012). Digital citizenship policy development guide. Edmonton, Canada: Alberta Education School Technology Branch.
2. Alkan, C. (1984). Educational technology: Concept, scope, process, environment, application. Ankara, Turkey: Stage.
3. Aslan, S. (2016). Ilkogretim sosyal bilgiler ogretmen adaylarinin dijital vatandaslik davranislarinin bazi degiskenler acisindan incelenmesi (Firat, Dicle, Siirt, Adiyaman Universiteleri ornegi) [Digital citizenship behaviour of social studies teachers of primary investigation of some variables (The sample of Firat, Dicle, Siirt , Adiyaman universities)] (Unpublished master's thesis). Firat University, Elazig, Turkey.
4. Bakir, E. (2016). Sinif ogretmeni adaylarinin dijital vatandaslik seviyelerinin dijital vatandaslik alt boyutlarina gore incelenmesi [Examining the digital citizenship levels of prospective classroom teachers according to the sub-dimensions of digital citizenship] (Unpublished master's thesis). Karadeniz Technical University , Trabzon, Turkey.
5. Barr, R., Barth, J. L. & Shermis, S. S. (1978). The nature of the social studies. Palm Spring, CA: ETC.
6. Barth, F. (1998). Ethnic groups and boundaries: The social organization of culture difference. Waveland Press.
7. Buyukozturk S. (2004). Sosyal bilimler icin veri analizi el kitabi [Data analysis handbook in social sciences]. Ankara, Turkey: Pegem Publishing.
8. Buyukozturk, S., Cakmak, E. K., Akgun, O. E., Karadeniz, S., & Demirel, F. (2017). Bilimsel arastirma yontemleri [Methods of scientific research]. Ankara, Turkey: Pegem Publishing.

9. Can, A. (2013). SPSS ile bilimsel arastirma suresince nicel veri analizi [Quantitative data analysis in the process of scientific research with SPSS]. Ankara, Turkey: Pegem Publishing.
10. Castells, M. (2000). Materials for an exploratory theory of the network society. British Journal of Sociology, 5–24.
11. Isin, E. F. & Turner, B. S. (2002). Citizenship studies: An introduction. London, England: Sage.
12. Karakaya, I. (2014). Bilimsel arastirma yontemleri [Scientific research methods]. In A. Tanriogen (Ed.), Bilimsel arastirma yontemleri [Scientific research methods] (pp. 57-86). Ankara, Turkey: Ani Publishing.
13. Kilinc, E. (2015). Elementary school and social studies teachers’ opinions about the concept of good citizenship. Route Educational and Social Science Journal, 194-206.
14. Kocadag, T. (2012). Ogretmen adaylarinin dijital vatandaslik duzeylerinin belirlenmesi [Determining the digital citizenship levels of prospective teachers] (Unpublished master’s thesis). Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon, Turkey.
15. Ministry of National Education (2018). Social studies curriculum. Retrieved from http://mufredat.meb.gov.tr /Dosyalar/201812103847686SOSYAL%20B%C4%B0LG%C4%B0LER%20%C3%96%C4%9ERET%C4% B0M%20PROGRAMI%20.pdf
16. Mossberger, K., Tolbert, C. J., & Mc. Neal, R. S. (2007). Digital citizenship: The internet, society and participation. London, England: The MIT Press.
17. Oyedemi, T. D. (2012). Digital inequalities and implications for social inequalities. Telematic and Informatic, 29(3), 302 -313. doi:10.1016/j.tele.2011.12.001.
18. Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1-6.
19. Ribble, M. (2011). Digital citizenship in schools. Washington DC, USA: The International Society for Technology in Education.
20. Ribble, M., & Bailey, G. (2007). Digital citizenship in schools. Washington, DC: ISTE.
21. Sakalli, H., & Ciftci, S. (2016). Sinif ogretmeni adaylarinin dijital vatandaslik duzeyleri ile siber zorbalik egilimleri arasindaki iliskinin incelenmesi [The investigation of the relationship between digital citizenship levels and cyber bullying tendencies of prospective primary school teachers]. Educational Technology Theory and Practice, 6(2), 100-119. https://doi.org/10.17943/etku.97311
22. Sonmez, T. (1994). Consistency, monotonicity, and the uniform rule. Economics Letters, 46(3), 229-235.
23. Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2001). Using multivariate statistics (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
24. Tezbasaran, A. A. (1997). Likert tipi olcek hazirlama kilavuzu [Likert type scale development guide]. Ankara, Turkey: Turkish Psychological Association Publications.
25. TUIK. (2011). Household information technology use survey results. Retrieved from http://www.tuik.gov.tr /PreHaberBultenleri.do?id=8572 20.02.2018.
26. TUIK. (2017). Household information technology use survey results. Retrieved from https://dijitalmaden.com/tuikten-2017-year-information-technologies-usage-research.
27. Vural, S. S., & Kurt, A. A. (2018). Universite ogrencilerinin bakis acisiyla dijital vatandaslik gostergelerinin incelenmesi [Investigation of digital citizenship indicators through university students’ perceptions]. Educational Technology Theory and Practice, 8(1), 60-80.
28. Yazicioglu, Y. & Erdogan, S. (2007). SPSS Uygulamali bilimsel arastirma yontemleri [Scientific research methods with SPSS applications]. Ankara, Turkey: Detay Publishing.
29. Yelken, T. Y. (2005). Ogretim teknolojileri ve materyal tasarimi [Instructional technologies and material development]. Ankara, Turkey: Ani Publishing.