EXAMINING PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES AND INTERESTS IN TECHNOLOGY IN TERMS OF VARIOUS VARIABLES

Abstract

It is important for pre-service teachers to develop attitude and interest in digital technology in terms of raising awareness of their attitudes towards digital technology, achieving the goals determined in the education programs, sharing information, increasing student success and educating teachers who can keep up with the digital era. In the study, we tried to determine the interests and attitudes of pre-service teachers to digital technology in school environment. Qualitative research method was used in the study to analyse the data obtained from 320 pre-service teachers at the departments of Computer and Instructional Technologies, Science Teaching, Classroom Teaching and Psychological Counselling and Guidance Teaching in the Faculty of Education, Erzincan University. To collect necessary data, Technology Attitude Scale (TAS) developed by Yavuz was used, which is of 5 factors and 19 items, and SPSS program was used to analyse the data. In the study it was determined that the attitude of the pre-service teachers to technology was high, in terms of gender and age, the interest in technology was higher in females and the young rather than male and older ones. The pre-service teachers in our study generally use internet for five to seven hours a day. They use smart phones much more than any other digital tools such as laptop, tablet, notebook and PC, which suggests that pre-service teachers use technology whenever and wherever they wish