Ozlem Cakir

AN APPLIED STUDY ON EDUCATIONAL USE OF FACEBOOK AS A WEB 2.0 TOOL: THE SAMPLE LESSON OF COMPUTER NETWORKS AND COMMUNICATION

The main aim of the research was to examine educational use of Facebook. The Computer Networks and Communication lesson was taken as the sample and the attitudes of the students included in the study group towards Facebook were measured in a semi-experimental setup. The students on Facebook platform were examined for about three months and they continued their education interactively in that virtual environment. After the-three-month-education period, observations for the students were reported and the attitudes of the students towards Facebook were measured by three different measurement tools. As a result, the attitudes of the students towards educational use of Facebook and their views were heterogeneous. When the average values of the group were examined, it was reported that the attitudes towards educational use of Facebook was above a moderate level. Therefore, it might be suggested that social networks in virtual environments provide continuity in life long learning.

A comparative analysis of the effects of computer and paper-based personalization on student achievement

The aim of this study is to investigate whether personalization of mathematical word problems affects student achievement; and if it does, to find out whether the outcomes vary depending on computer and class environment in the teaching of mathematics. The sample of the research, conducted in the 2006-2007 fall semester, consists of 90 seventh grade in four sub-groups. During the application in the classroom, paper-based personalized and paper-based non-personalized problems were given. As to the computer environment, web-based personalized and web-based non-personalized problems were presented. After the application, an achievement test was performed as an achievement post-test parallel to the pre-test. The results show no significant difference between the scores of the groups who used personalized materials and the groups who used non-personalized materials. The results also indicate that no significant difference exists between those who studied in the computer-based environment and those in the paper-based environment.

The Factors that Affect Online Learners' Satisfaction

Abstract In distance learning systems, students’ satisfaction is a significant issue in terms of student attendance and not feeling lonely. In this study, the relationship between online students’ satýsfaction and their demographic characteristics were examined. Screening model was used in the study. With this study, whether satisfaction levels of students who are continuing in the program in which various information and midterm examinations were given online significantly differ in terms of age, computer literacy levels, internet accessibility and computer experience intended to be examined. Besides, whether there is a relationship between student achievement levels and satisfaction scores was tested. Within the scope of this study, Online Students’ Satisfaction Scale developed by researcher was used. The scale includes 38 items, it has a three-factor structure (The Structure and the Process of the Program, Interaction with the Instructors, and Interaction with Other Students), and it is a valid and reliable scale that explains 67.95 % of total variance and whose coefficient of internal consistency calculated by Cronbach alpha coefficient was 0.97. As a result of the statistical analysis of student data, which was obtained from an online program, it was found out that while online students’ satisfaction levels did not significantly differ in terms of age, computer literacy levels and internet accessibility, it significantly differs in terms of internet experience.

Relationship between the Levels of Loneliness and Internet Addiction

Abstract The purpose of this study is to reveal the relationship between the levels of loneliness and internet addiction in teacher candidates. The research group of this study is formed with 347 teacher candidates who were attending Pedagogical Formation Program at Ankara University and Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. In the study, two different data collection tools were used. One of them was “UCLA Loneliness Scale” and the other one is “Internet Addiction Scale”. The opinions of the teacher candidates about loneliness and internet addiction did not differ according to the variables of gender, marital status, employment, accessibility to the internet at home and online time spent daily except for studying. However, there is a positive relationship in medium level between the loneliness and internet addiction levels of teacher candidates.