Determining The Navigational Aids Use On The Internet: 
The Information Technologies Teacher Candidates’ Case

Year 2010, Volume: 11 Issue: 3, 146 - 161, 01.09.2010

Abdullah Kuzu Mehmet Fırat

Abstract

The Internet users who fail to cope with navigation may generally face various problems such as disorientation, distraction, low motivation and abondenment of information retrieval. Therefore, navigational aids are frequently used in today’s Web browsers and Web sites to help users navigate on the Internet. However, it is asserted that navigational aids are still not thoroughly understood and effectively used by Information Technologies Teacher candidates. The purpose of this research is, therefore, to determine the navigational aids use by Information Technologies Candidate Teachers during information retrieval process on the Internet. A three-section survey was developed for this purpose. In this survey research, Information Technologies Teacher Candidates’ use of navigational aids in Web sites and Web browsers, and the reasons for low use of navigational aids were investigated. The findings of the study revealed that the teacher candidates did not use bookmarks, Web maps, RSS and atom feeds sufficiently. Moreover, it was found out that the use of navigational aids by teacher candidates show variations according to the average Internet use.

Keywords

Internet Technologies, Navigational Aids, Information Technologies Teacher Candidate

References

• Akkoyunlu, B., & Kurbanoglu, S. (2002). Öğretmenlere bilgi okuryazarlığı becerilerinin kazandırılması üzerine bir çalışma. Türk Kütüphaneciliği, 16 (2), 123-138.
• Büyüköztürk, Ş. (2005). Anket geliştirme, Türk Eğitim Bilimleri Dergisi, 3 (2), 133
• Bachiochi, D. , Berstene, M. Chouinard, E., Conlan, N. , Danchak, M., Furey, T., Neligon, C., & Way D. (1997). Usability studies and designing navigational aids for the World Wide Web. Computer Netw orks and ISDN Systems, 29 (1997) 1489-1496.
• Farrell, I.H., & Moore, D.M. (2000). The effect of navigation tools on learners’ achievement and attitude in a hypermedia environment. Journal of Educational
• Technology Systems, 29 (2), 169-181. Green, S., Salkind, N., & Akey, T. (2000). Using SPPS for Window s, Analyzing and Understanding Data (2nd Ed.). Upper saadle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
• Head, M., Archer, N., & Yuan, Y. (2000). World Wide Web navigation aid.
• International Journal of Human Computer Studies, 53 (2), 301-330. Huck, S. W. (2000). Reading statistics and research. New York: Addison Wesley Longman.
• Jul, S., & Furnas, G. W. (1997). Navigation in electronic w orlds. Workshop Report.
• Retrieved September 21, 2008 from http://www-personal.umich.edu/~sjul/nav97.
• Karadeniz, Ş. (2006). Kaybolma açısından kullanışlı çoklu ortamların tasarlanması.
• Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi, Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 3 (2), 79-97. Karasar, N. (2006). Bilimsel araştırma yöntemi (16. Baskı), Ankara: Nobel Yayın Dağıtım.
• Kesim, E., & Ağaoğlu, E. (2007). A paradigm shift in distance education: Web 2.0 and social software. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 8 (3), Article: 4.
• Kok, A. (2009). Rethinking The Competencies Of Instructional Designers As
• Information Architects. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 10 (2), 191- Livingstone, S. (2008). Internet literacy: Young people’s negotiation of new online opportunities. Digital Youth, Innovation, and the Unexpected. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 101–122.
• McDonald, S. & Rosemary, J. S. (1998). Navigation in hyperspace: An evaluation of the effects of navigational tools and subject matter expertise on browsing and information retrieval in hypertext. Interacting w ith Computers, 10 (1998), 129-142
• Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook (2nd Ed.). California: Sage Publications.
• Miniwatts Marketing Group (MMG), (2009). World Internet usage and population statistics. Retrieved August 20, 2009 from http://www.internetworldstats.com/ stats.htm
• Mozilla, (2008). Add-ons extend Firefox. Retrieved September 22, 2008 from https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/search?q=&cat=all.
• Pallant, J. (2005). SPSS survival manual. Maidenhead, PA: Open University Press.
• Powers, S. (2005). What are syndication feeds. Cambridge: O’Reilly Media.
• Yalçınalp, S., & Aşkar, P. (2003). Öğrencilerin bilgi arama amacıyla İnternet’i kullanım biçimlerinin incelenmesi. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 2 (4), 100-107.
• Yıldırım, A., Simsek, H. (2005). Sosyal bilimlerde nitel araştırma yöntemleri, Ankara: Seçkin Yayıncılık.