Research Information System
8. International Educational Technology Conference, Eskişehir, Turkey, 6 - 09 May 2008, pp.1-6
The advantages of computers in providing stimulative effects in making teaching and learning environments more effective increased their use in education. Day by day, use of computers in teaching and learning processes has become more common. Research indicates that various factors play important role in the successful implementation of computer-based teaching (CBT). For example, an effective implementation of CBT mostly depends on teachers’ positive attitudes towards computers and CBT. Thus, it was thought that determining student teachers’ views of and attitudes towards computers and CBT would provide important base for educating teachers having positive attitudes towards computers and CBT. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to determine current student teachers’ views of and attitudes towards CBT.
The study was carried out with 60 student teachers in the primary education and secondary sciences and mathematics education departments of Fatih Faculty of Education at Karadeniz Technical University in Trabzon during 2007-2008 fall semesters. In order to determine the student teachers’ views of and attitudes towards CBT with their own words and sentences, a questionnaire asking open-ended questions was used. The data were analysed qualitatively. The data were presented in a tabulated form showing the frequencies and quotations from the student teachers’ responses to the open-ended questions were used in the final report.
According to the findings, the majority of the student teachers stated that as computers could provide visuality to teaching, transform abstract concepts into concrete ones, increase students’ interest in the lessons, increase student learning and retention, make multiple intelligences theory implementation possible, and accelerate learning process, they wished computers would have been used in their courses in the faculty and they also wanted to use computers in their lessons themselves when they start to work as qualified teachers. As a result, the student teachers emphasised that supporting and educating teachers through pre-service and in-service educations on CBT and making schools’ infrastructure suitable for CBT were vital for effective implementation of CBT in schools.