e-ISSN: 2618-6586 Open Access · Peer-Reviewed JETOL on DergiPark
JETOL — Journal of Educational Technology & Online Learning
Publisher
Gürhan Durak
Publication Model
Periodical (January – May – September)
Status
Open for Submissions

Pre-service teachers' perceptions of social media – A qualitative survey study in Turkey and Sweden

Research Article

Download PDF DOI: 10.31681/jetol.929304
Published in
Volume 4, Issue 2 (2021)
Pages
334–348
Publication Date
May 31, 2021
Submission Date
April 28, 2021
Acceptance Date
May 17, 2021
Subjects
Studies on Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate pre-service teachers' perceptions of social media. The phenomenology approach, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study. The participants of the study included 201 pre-service teachers studying at two state universities, one in Turkey and the other in Sweden, in the spring term of the 2018-2019 academic year. In the study, metaphors were used to reveal pre-service teachers' perceptions of social media. The pre-service teachers were asked to fill in the following query: 'Social Media is like ……… because ………'. The collected qualitative data were analyzed by using content analysis method. The findings indicated that the pre-service teachers from both countries perceived social media mostly as a tool for communication and access to information and that a very few of them associated social media with education. In addition, it was found that pre-service teachers from Turkey had more negative perceptions of social media compared to those from Sweden. The pre-service teachers from Turkey who had negative perceptions associated social media mostly with addiction.

Keywords

  • Social media
  • Social networks
  • Pre-service teachers
  • Metaphor
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