Augmented Reality Research and Applications in Education

Augmented reality is defined as the technology in which virtual objects are blended with the real world and also interact with each other. Although augmented reality applications are used in many areas, the most important of these areas is the field of education. AR technology allows the combination of real objects and virtual information in order to increase students’ interaction with physical environments and facilitate their learning. Developing technology enables students to learn complex topics in a fun and easy way through virtual reality devices. Students interact with objects in the virtual environment and can learn more about it. For example; by organizing digital tours to a museum or zoo in a completely different country, lessons can be taught in the company of a teacher as if they were there at that moment. In the light of all these, this study is a compilation study. In this context, augmented reality technologies were introduced and attention was drawn to their use in different fields of education with their examples. As a suggestion at the end of the study, it was emphasized that the prepared sections should be carefully read by the educators and put into practice in their lessons. In addition it was also pointed out that it should be preferred in order to communicate effectively with students by interacting in real time, especially during the pandemic process

Social media attitudes among vocational school students

The rapid developments in communication technologies in recent years, especially the introduction of the internet into our daily lives, have brought many changes in social, economic and cultural life.One of these changes; social media communication tools that enter our lives rapidly.Social media has become an indispensable part of our lives with the increasing number of users.Researches show that young people especially university students frequently use social media communication tools. In this study, social media attitudes of Vocational High School students were investigated and in this context, 502 students studying at Sakarya University and Kafkas University Vocational High Schools were studied.Social Media Attitude Scale developed by Otrar and Argınwas used to determine the social media attitudes of Vocational School students.The scale consists of 23 items. Relational screening method was used in the research. Necessary analyzes were performed with SPSS 24 program and mean and standard deviation values of the scale items were calculated.Two groups t test, one-way Anova test and Post-Hoc Scheffe test were used to correlate social media attitudes with demographic data.In conclusion, there was no significant difference between students' social media attitudes and gender, department, class, internet usage time demographic data; however, there was a positive and significant relationship between social media attitudes and internet connection year and social media usage hours

Adaptation of Problematic Smartphone Use and Anterior Psychometric Characteristics Scale into Turkish

Günümüzde gelişen ve sürekli değişime uğrayan bilgi ve iletişim teknolojileri bazı bağımlılıkların hayatımıza girmesine zemin hazırlamıştır. Bu bağımlılıklardan biri de nomofobidir. Connecticut Üniversitesi’nde bir araştırmacı; David Greenfield bu bağımlılığı İngilizce de “nomobilephone” kelimelerinin birleşmesinden meydana gelen Nomophobia (Nomofobi) kelimesi ile tanımlamıştır. Nomofobi terim olarak, akıllı telefon kullanımı ile ilgili problemli kullanım, davranış ve/veya semptomların bir koleksiyonunu ortaya koymaktır. Ülkemizde akıllı telefonların kullanımı dikkate alındığında bireylerin problemli akıllı telefon kullanımına ilişkin göstermiş oldukları davranışsal reaksiyonların neler olduğunun belirlenmesi önem taşımaktadır. Özellikle bu kaygının, bireylerin günlük işlere odaklanmasını etkiler nitelikte olduğu açıktır. Bu çalışmada, bireylerin problemli akıllı telefon kullanımları ve ön psikometrik özelliklerinin belirlenmesi adına Merlo, Stone ve Bibbey (2013) tarafından geliştirilen ilgili ölçeğin Türkçe’ye uyarlama çalışması yapılmıştır. Ölçeğin geçerlik ve güvenirlik çalışmaları, kamu ve özel eğitim kurumlarında çalışan 290 öğretmenden elde edilen verilerle gerçekleştirilmiştir. Ölçeğin kapsam ve görünüş geçerliği için 1 dil uzmanına, 3 alan uzmanına, 1 psikolojik danışmana, 1 ölçme değerlendirme uzmanına başvurulmuştur. Alınan uzman görüşlerinden sonra gerekli görülen düzenlemeler yapılmış ve pilot uygulama için deneme formu oluşturulmuştur. Pilot uygulamada, asıl uygulamaya eş değer 15 kişilik bir grup ile çalışılmıştır. Pilot uygulama sonucunda öğrenciler tarafından anlaşılmayan maddeler değiştirilmiş ve tekrar uzman görüşü alındıktan sonra ölçeğin asıl formu oluşturulmuştur. Yapı geçerliğini test etmek için Açımlayıcı Faktör Analizi’nden (AFA) yararlanılmıştır. Çalışma sonunda toplam varyansın %54,76’sını açıklayan 20 maddeden oluşan 3 boyutlu bir ölçek elde edilmiştir. Ölçeğin Cronbach Alpha ile hesaplanan iç tutarlık katsayısı .91’ dir. Doğrulayıcı faktör analizine ilişkin 3 boyut bağlamında nihai uyum indekslerinin istenilen sınırlarda olduğu tespit edilmiştir.Nowadays, the information and communication technologies that are developing and constantly changing have prepared the ground for the entry of some dependencies into our lives. One of these dependencies is nomophobia. A researcher at the University of Connecticut; David Greenfield described this addiction with the word Nomophobia (Nomophobia), which consists of the combination of the words NO MOBILE PHONE in English. Nomophobia as a term refers to a collection of problematic use, behavior and / or symptoms associated with smartphone use. Considering the use of smart phones in our country, it is important to determine the behavioral responses of individuals towards problematic smart phones. In particular, it is clear that this concern affects individuals' focus on daily work. In this study, adaptation of the related scale developed by Merlo, Stone and Bibbey (2013) to Turkish in order to determine problematic smartphone usage and preliminary psychometric properties of individuals was conducted. Validity and reliability studies of the scale were carried out with data obtained from 290 teachers working in public and private educational institutions. The validity and reliability studies of the scale were carried out with the participation of 290 teachers working in public and private educational institutions. 1 language specialist, 3 field experts, 1 psychological counselor, 1 measuring and evaluation specialist were used for the scope and appearance validity of the scale. After the expert opinions, necessary arrangements were made and a trial form was created for pilot implementation. In pilot practice, a group of 15 people, equivalent to the actual practice, was studied. As a result of the pilot implementation, the items that were not understood by the students were changed and the original form of the scale was created after receiving the expert opinion again. Exploratory Factor Analysis (AFA) was used to serve construct validity. At the end of the study, a 3 dimensional scale consisting of 20 items explaining %54,76 of the total variance was obtained. The internal consistency coefficient of the scale calculated by Cronbach Alpha was .91.The final fit indexes were found to be within the desired limits in the context of 3-dimensional confirmatory factor analysis.Nowadays, the information and communication technologies that are developing and constantly changing have prepared the ground for the entry of some dependencies into our lives. One of these dependencies is nomophobia. A researcher at the University of Connecticut; David Greenfield described this addiction with the word Nomophobia (Nomophobia), which consists of the combination of the words NO MOBILE PHONE in English. Nomophobia as a term refers to a collection of problematic use, behavior and / or symptoms associated with smartphone use. Considering the use of smart phones in our country, it is important to determine the behavioral responses of individuals towards problematic smart phones. In particular, it is clear that this concern affects individuals' focus on daily work. In this study, adaptation of the related scale developed by Merlo, Stone and Bibbey (2013) to Turkish in order to determine problematic smartphone usage and preliminary psychometric properties of individuals was conducted. Validity and reliability studies of the scale were carried out with data obtained from 290 teachers working in public and private educational institutions. The validity and reliability studies of the scale were carried out with the participation of 290 teachers working in public and private educational institutions. 1 language specialist, 3 field experts, 1 psychological counselor, 1 measuring and evaluation specialist were used for the scope and appearance validity of the scale. After the expert opinions, necessary arrangements were made and a trial form was created for pilot implementation. In pilot practice, a group of 15 people, equivalent to the actual practice, was studied. As a result of the pilot implementation, the items that were not understood by the students were changed and the original form of the scale was created after receiving the expert opinion again. Exploratory Factor Analysis (AFA) was used to serve construct validity. At the end of the study, a 3 dimensional scale consisting of 20 items explaining %54,76 of the total variance was obtained. The internal consistency coefficient of the scale calculated by Cronbach Alpha was .91.The final fit indexes were found to be within the desired limits in the context of 3-dimensional confirmatory factor analysis

Teachers' Attitude Scale Towards Metaverse Use: A Scale Development Study

The metaverse, or virtual universe, is a hypothetical iteration of the internet that supports persistent online 3D virtual environments through traditional personal computers as well as virtual and augmented reality devices. The "metaverse", which has been on the agenda in recent days, had a great impact both in Turkey and in the world. In other words, a virtual world, represented by a metaverse avatar, where users can shop, socialize, participate in leisure activities and learn. The concept of metaverse, which came to the fore with billions of dollars of investment plans by companies such as Facebook, Microsoft, Roblox and Epic, is seen as the next stage in the development of the internet. It is possible to access this virtual reality universe using VR headsets, augmented reality (AR), smart watches and smart glasses. With the increasing popularity of online learning, educators, trainers, institutions are looking for ways to make distance learning more interesting and interactive. There are 4 important ways that the metadata store can help with this; creating an engaging and life-like online classroom, encourage communication, supporting immersive learning and enriching gamification. Due to the effect of the pandemic on digitalization, many different models have been developed in education methods and three-dimensional models have been focused on, where students' readiness levels and interaction with each other are higher. Metaverse is one of these methods. In this sense, it is important to get opinions from teachers and students, who are the most important stakeholders of education, in the use of metaverse technologies, which make a quick introduction to learning and teaching processes, in educational environments. It is important to determine the readiness levels of students and teachers, especially for the use of metaverse technologies in teaching environments. In the light of all these, this study was based on evaluating the teachers' attitudes towards metaverse technologies by considering the teacher dimension. It is aimed to present a valid and reliable scale that can be developed for the relevant subject. The validity and reliability studies of the scale were carried out on a total of 301 computers teachers working as permanent teachers in a city in Türkiye. The three-factor structure (perceived benefit, readiness and satisfaction) of the scale with an eigenvalue greater than 1 explains 78.42% of the total variance. A scale whose validity and reliability have been proven according to the results of EFA and CFA has been added to the literature. Moreover it is foreseen that the research will be important since it is the first scale developed in Türkiye on the metaverse

An Experimental Study in Determining Basic Robotic Coding Skills of Pre-School Students with Intellectual Disabilities

Today, it can be said that coding has become a key competence for students and people working in many different fields in the business world. It is assumed that those who seek and develop new ways to learn-teach coding will be one step ahead. The educational use of coding started with the use of the Logo programming language in the 60s.This concept has started to revive in recent years with visual programming languages such as “Alice, its code, code.org and Scratch”. These visual programming structures enable young learners to write applications without having to learn the complex code structures of traditional programming languages. In this study to develop an experimental study to determine the basic robotic coding skills of preschool students with intellectual disabilities. The sample of the study consists of a total of 20 students with studying in pre-school education institutions in a city in Türkiye. The ages of the students are between 5 years old. Semi-experimental design, one of the experimental research designs, was used in the research. In this context, 1 experimental and 1 control group was formed with the random assignment method. The materials used in both the experimental and control groups were determined as the pre-school robotic coding set U-bot starter package.5 weeks were determined as the teaching process and a total of 12 activities that served the purpose were applied to the students. During the applications, the data of the students were collected with the help of the observation form, coding skill test and after the application, they were collected through focus group interviews. As a result, at the end of the 5-week period, it was observed that there were positive significant changes in the two dependent variables (academic achievement andlearning rate) that were used as a basis for measuring the learning skills of both the experimental group and the control group students

An Experimental Study in Determining Basic Robotic Coding Skills of Pre-School Students with Intellectual Disabilities

Today, it can be said that coding has become a key competence for students and people working in many different fields in the business world. It is assumed that those who seek and develop new ways to learn-teach coding will be one step ahead. The educational use of coding started with the use of the Logo programming language in the 60s.This concept has started to revive in recent years with visual programming languages such as “Alice, its code, code.org and Scratch”. These visual programming structures enable young learners to write applications without having to learn the complex code structures of traditional programming languages. In this study to develop an experimental study to determine the basic robotic coding skills of preschool students with intellectual disabilities. The sample of the study consists of a total of 20 students with studying in pre-school education institutions in a city in Türkiye. The ages of the students are between 5 years old. Semi-experimental design, one of the experimental research designs, was used in the research. In this context, 1 experimental and 1 control group was formed with the random assignment method. The materials used in both the experimental and control groups were determined as the pre-school robotic coding set U-bot starter package.5 weeks were determined as the teaching process and a total of 12 activities that served the purpose were applied to the students. During the applications, the data of the students were collected with the help of the observation form, coding skill test and after the application, they were collected through focus group interviews. As a result, at the end of the 5-week period, it was observed that there were positive significant changes in the two dependent variables (academic achievement andlearning rate) that were used as a basis for measuring the learning skills of both the experimental group and the control group students

Student Opinion Scale Related to Moodle LMS in an Online Learning Environment: Validity and Reliability Study

The purpose of this study is to develop a Student Opinion Scale Related to Moodle LMS (Learning Management System) in an Educational Online Learning Environment. For this purpose, a scale form consisting of 34 items was created and then administered to a total of 280 first-year students from various departments of the Near East University Health Services Vocational High School. Rotated principal component analysis was used to obtain information on the validity of the scale. The data was processed using the SPSS 23.0 software package and the results are given as arithmetic average and standard deviation. In this context, it has been determined that the related items for the scale are collected in 6 dimensions, which have been categorized by the researchers as: Proficiency and Motivation"; "Content and Feedback"; "Usability"; "Effectiveness"; "Educational Features" and “Communication". Additionally, the reliability coefficient calculated by Cronbach's alpha for the developed scale is .94. Based on the overall results of the study, student opinion has been found to be positive related to Moodle LMS in an Educational Online Learning Environment

Teacher Training System in Finland and Comparisans Related to Turkey

PISA which is an examination of assessing student groups aged 15 in subject areas of Mathematics, Social Sciences and Reading Skills is arranged by Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development OECD every three years and was applied in the years of 2000, 2003, 2006, 2009 and 2012. The success of Finnish students has attracted the attention of many other countries and countries whose success rate is low like Turkey have started searching education system and teacher training system of Finland. For this reason, the primary reason of this study is to explain the most important factors such as education system and teacher training system behind the outstanding success of Finnish students and the secondary reason is to discuss what lessons could be taken by Turkey considering the differences in educational policies between Turkey and Finland. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.Wo

Social Contact, Academic Satisfaction, COVID-19 Knowledge, and Subjective Well-being Among Students at Turkish Universities: a Nine-University Sample

Adverse effects of COVID-19 are seen not only on the physical health of infected individuals but also on their subjective well-being. Sudden changes in social lives, lockdowns, and shifts towards online education have had a negative impact on many people, especially university students. As part of an international study, the current study focused on the well-being of students at Turkish universities in relation to social contact, academic satisfaction, and COVID-19 knowledge. A total of 7363 students from nine universities (86.6% from state universities, 71.04% female, and 73.52% at bachelor's level) participated in an online survey. Results revealed that females had lower levels of subjective well-being and academic satisfaction. According to a mediation model in the study, the relationship between social contact and well-being was mediated by academic satisfaction and COVID-19 knowledge. Our findings can guide future researchers, mental health professionals, universities, and policymakers to understand and improve subjective well-being of university students