Buket Akkoyunlu

Developing the information literacy self‐efficacy scale

Purpose – The main aim of this paper is to describe the development of a scale designed to measure self‐efficacy for information literacy.Design/methodology/approach – Cronbachs alpha, item analysis and item discrimination indices, principal component analysis, varimax rotation, and discriminant validity were used to measure reliability and validity of the scale. A 28‐item refined version of the scale was found highly reliable and of reasonable length.Findings – Further refinement based on principal component analysis indicated three major components, which allow approaching information literacy skills regarding to their complexity levels.Originality/value – The information literacy self‐efficacy scale is recommended to identify individuals with low self‐efficacy beliefs, which may be a significantly limiting factor for them to explore their information literacy skills.

Students' opinions on blended learning and its implementation in terms of their learning styles

The purpose of this article is to examine students’ views on the blended learning method and its use in relation to the students’ individual learning style. The study was conducted with 31 senior students. Web based media together with face to face classroom settings were used in the blended learning framework. A scale of Students’ Views on Blended Learning and its implementation, Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory, Pre-Information Form and open ended questions were used to gather data. The majority of the students’ fell into assimilators, accommodators and convergers learning styles. Results revealed that students’ views on blended learning method and its use are quite positive.

The use of computers in K-12 schools in turkey

ConclusionThrough the determined efforts of MONE, more than one third of the existing 5,851 schools have at least one computer lab. It is clear that the number of computers in schools in Turkey will continue to increase.

A New Approach to Equip Students with Visual Literacy Skills: Use of Infographics in Education

In today’s ever more visual world, visual literacy skills became more critical for learners. Therefore teaching visual literacy helps students interpret visual media and becoming a much broader and extensive body of learning and comprehension in education. In this paper, how to use infographics as a learning tool was discussed in order to equip students with visual literacy. Research was conducted with 64 teacher candidates. The aim of the study is to expose the usage of infographics as a learning tool. Teacher candidates designed infographics of instructional design model themed individually within the course. As a result of the rubric evaluation the scores of “visualization” and “components” dimensions was found lowest; scores of “colors”, “fonts” and “information organization” dimensions was found relatively higher.

Searching for Visual Literacy: Secondary School Students are Creating Infographics

Visual literacy is an essential group of competencies for interpreting and generating visual messages within the scope of 21st century skills. More than interpreting visuals, 21st century learners should be equipped with knowledge and ability to generate complex visual messages, which is a harder skill to teach and achieve. In this study, creating infographics is handled as a learning strategy to teach secondary school students how to generate effective visual messages. Research was carried out with the collaboration of science and technology, visual arts, and information technology teachers within a design model research method perspective. The effectiveness of the model is investigated by pre and posttests, retention, and transfer tests. Through the findings on effectiveness of first implementation loop of the infographic design model, a co-constructed design model is proposed. According to the design model proposal, “content” and “visual design” generation was determined central components related to Information Technology, Visual Arts fields for creating infographic.

A Study on How to Equip Students with Scientific Communication Skills

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of scientific communication (SC) curriculum on blog writing skills of sixth-grade students, and opinions of the students and teachers about the curriculum. Through the curriculum, it was aimed to teach students the ability to access and evaluate information, organize information and share it by writing a blog. Students were given three different writing assignments and were asked to share them in their blogs. The first assignment was given for adapting to the writing process. The second and third assignments were assessed to determine the effect of SC curriculum on blog writing skills. At the end of the process, teachers and students were asked about their opinions on SC curriculum and blog writing. Study results revealed that SC curriculum had positive effects on research and writing skills development of the students, and showed that the curriculum was supportive in reaching the course-specific goals.

Fostering and assessing infographic design for learning: the development of infographic design criteria

Abstract In this ever more digital and visual world, it has become more vital that students are encouraged to create content during the learning process through effective visualization of their knowledge. Infographics are an effective method for such visualization. The current study therefore proposes an infographic design rubric (IDR) as a criteria-based framework to be used in the learning process for the creation and evaluation of infographics. The IDR was developed based on the infographic design model (IDM), a process of how to design infographics for teachers and learners using the three main components of content generation, visual design generation and digital design. The development process was conducted in the five design cycles of criteria determination, validity and reliability studies involving colleagues, university students, pre-service teachers and teachers. IDR criteria were generated based on content generation and visual design generation dimensions of IDM. The content generation dimension focuses on the quality and organization of the information presented, while the visual design generation dimension investigates the visual features of the infographic. Results of the inter-rater reliability analysis represent significant intraclass correlations. The proposed IDR is considered to be an important step for visualization in the learning process.

BİLİŞİM TEKNOLOJİLERİ ÖĞRETMEN ADAYLARININ BAKIŞ AÇISINDAN 21. YÜZYIL ÖĞRENEN VE ÖĞRETMEN ÖZELLİKLERİ

Bu calismanin amaci Bilisim Teknolojileri ogretmen adaylarinin bakis acisindan 21. yuzyil ogrenenlerinin ve ogretmenlerinin ozelliklerini irdelemek ve farkindaliklarini belirlemektir. Bu amacla 63 ogretmen adayinin ogretmenlik uygulamasi dersi kapsaminda ag gunluklerine “21. yuzyil ogrencisinin ve ogretmeninin ozellikleri” basligi altinda yazdiklari yazilar dokuman analizi ile cozumlenmistir. Analiz sonucunda ogretmen adaylarinin 21. yuzyil ogrenen ve ogretmen ozellikleri olarak belirttikleri niteliklere iliskin ogrenen ozellikleri baglaminda 8 tema altinda 57 farkli koda, ogretmen ozellikleri baglaminda ise 7 tema altinda 38 farkli koda ulasilmistir. Buna gore 21. yuzyil ogrenen ozelliklerine ait temalar bilgi okuryazarligi, bilissel beceriler, sosyal ozellikler, kisisel ozellikler, dijital vatandas olma, ahlaki ozellikler, ogrenme tercihi ve medya okuryazari olma seklindedir. Ogretmen ozellikleri ise ogretim yaklasimi, ogretim tasarimi, bilgi ve iletisim teknolojileri okuryazarligi, bilgi okuryazarligi ile kisisel, mesleki ve sosyal ozellikler temalari altinda toplanmistir. Arastirma bulgularinin ilgili alan yazinla benzer oldugu, ogretmen adaylarinin 21. yuzyil ogrenen ve ogretmen yeterlikleri acisindan farkindaliga sahip olduklari gorulmustur.

Eğitimde Teknoloji Kullanım Sürdürülebilirliği Üzerine Yapılan Çalışmalardaki Genel Eğilimler: Bir Tematik İçerik Analizi Çalışması

The aim of this study is to determine general tendencies through bringing a cumulative perspective to research on sustainability of technology usage in terms of education. In this respect, certain articles were reviewed in SSCI and CPCI-SSH citation indexes located at the ISI Web of Knowledge database. A total of 87 full-text articles were filtered according to the purpose of the study and they were analyzed through meta-synthesis (thematic content analysis) according to the types of theories or models they based on, names of the journals they were published in, along with their years of publication, number of citations, research groups, examined technology and learning environment, data analysis technique, structures with significant or insignificant effects and dependent variables to be explained. Research findings display that the most frequently used model is the Information Systems Continuance Model. While a significant increase is observed in the number of publications in recent years, the three variables with the most frequently researched effects on dependent variables are found to be satisfaction, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. In research studies where continuance intention was focused for prediction, variety of independent variables due to rich theoretical basis has been of interest. In the light of the data obtained, certain suggestions have been developed. Conclusions of this research are believed to have theoretical contributions to the literature by displaying the current situation.