Examining e-Learners’ Preferences and Readiness Satisfaction: A Holistic Modelling Approach

Over the past several years, online learning has become an extremely popular research topic. Nevertheless, there continues to be a need for a holistic approach when examining online learning. To examine issues related to online learning as well as the effects caused to online learners; researchers in this study developed and tested a model that employed a holistic approach. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of participants’ learning preferences and readiness to participate in online learning had on their overall satisfaction. The researchers utilized structural equation modelling to determine the relationships that occurred between variables. It was revealed in the results that e-Learners preferences and readiness, which constituted the primary components of this research model, did predict their level of satisfaction with e-learning

Öğrenme Stilleri ve Teknoloji

The purpose of this study is to explore the implications of learning styles, one of the variables that predict individual differences, in technology-based environments, and offer suggestions to minimize these differences. In order to do so, other research studies on this topic were examined, and results were reported as suggestions.Bu çalışma, öğrencilerin bireysel farklılıklarından biri olarak ele alınan öğrenme stillerinin, teknoloji destekli ortamlarda yarattığı farklılıkları ortaya çıkarmak ve bu farklılıkları ortadan kaldırmaya yönelik önerilerde bulunmak amacıyla yapılmıştır. Bu amaca yönelik olarak konuya ilişkin yapılan araştırmalar incelenmiş, bulgular doğrultusunda önerilerde bulunulmuştur

Exploration of teaching preferences of instructors' use of social media

With the excessive use of social media in the 21st century, attempts to integrate social media within higher education have also increased. In this area, research has been particularly focused on the aspects of students, rather than the instructors. This study puts the emphasis on the instructors with the aim to explore their use of social media in educational settings. Their respective teaching preferences were explored, from a pedagogical perspective, with the help of a Social Media Toolkit. The toolkit was developed to guide instructors that want to integrate social media in their teaching. This study was designed as a descriptive study and quantitative data was collected from 583 instructors from 39 countries. The participants responded to four main questions in an online environment. Results revealed that instructors mostly prefer to teach their subject at the applying and understanding levels. They frequently use text-based materials and design their courses as problem-based or on a presentation model. They mostly prefer to assess students using alternative methods based on their performance, like portfolios, group works, etc. whilst classical methods were also preferred. Overall findings indicated that any instructor from any discipline or culture can transform courses onto a social media platform thanks to many different and varied features provided by social media tools

Eğitimde Sosyal Medya Kullanımına Yönelik Yükseköğretim Düzeyindeki Eğitmenlerin Algısı : Türkiye-Almanya Örneklemi

Bu çalismanin amaci, AB FP7 Era.Net Rusya isbirligi kapsaminda TÜBITAK destegi ile yürütülen Ülkeler Arasi Ögrenme için Katalizör olarak Sosyal Medya (SoMeCat)5 adli arastirma projesi kapsaminda, Türkiye ve Almanya’da yüksekögretim düzeyindeki egitmenlerin sosyal medyaya karsi algisini belirleyerek iki ülke arasindaki kültürel farkliliklari ortaya çikarmaktir. Bu nitel arastirma, durum çalismasi olarak tasarlanmistir. Katilimcilar amaçli örnekleme yöntemine göre seçilmistir. Türkiye’den Orta Dogu Teknik Üniversitesi (ODTÜ) ve Ankara Üniversitesi (AÜ), Almanya’dan Konstanz Gölü Üniversitesi (KGÜ) ve Berlin Teknik Üniversitesi (BTÜ) katilimci üniversitelerdir. Toplam 22 gönüllü egitmenle (Türkiye 12, Almanya 10) görüsme yapilmistir. Görüsmeler yüz yüze ya da Skype/Hangout kullanilarak çevrimiçi yapilmistir. Görüsme formunda arastirmacilar tarafindan gelistirilen 11 açik uçlu soru bulunmaktadir. Görüsmeler, 20-60 dakika arasinda degisiklik göstermistir. Toplanan veriler, katilimcilarin demografik bilgileri, göç, güncel teknolojiler, günlük hayatta ve egitsel ortamlarda sosyal medya kullanimi ve algilarin yani sira kültürel farkliliklar açisindan analiz edilmistir. Elde edilen verilere göre, egitmenler sosyal medyanin egitim odakli potansiyelinin farkindadir ancak yeterli seviyede bilinçli degildir. Iki ülkeye göre egitmenlerin kullandigi ortak araçlar olmasina ragmen, farklik gösteren araçlar da bulunmustur. Bazi egitmenler egitimle sosyal medya araçlarinin bütünlestirilmesinde sorun yasamaktadir. Türkler, bu sorunlarin genel olarak mevcut altyapinin yetersizligi ve egitsel rehberlik edici kilavuzlarin eksikliginden kaynaklandigini belirtmistir. Almanlarin çogu pozitif görüse sahiptir. Genel olarak iki ülkede de egitim kurumlarinin bir plan ve stratejiye sahip olmamasinin büyük bir sorun oldugu görülmüstür. Ayrica, egitimde sosyal medya araçlarinin kullanimina yönelik kurumlarin egitmenleri tesvik edici herhangi bir politikasi ya da stratejisi olmadigi sonucuna varilmistir. Social media is becoming more prevalent in educational environments. It is used for enhancing communication, making students more interested and active, enhancing students’ motivation, sharing course materials, etc. in educational settings. Therefore, to benefit social media more in educational settings, their existing potential for educational purposes should be explored in depth. In this context, the characteristic features of social media tools should be defined clearly. Moreover, the attitude of students and educators toward social media is another important issue. For this purpose, attitudes of instructors toward social media at higher education institutions was tried to be investigated finding out cultural differences among two countries in this study. This study included a part of a joint research project named Social Media as Catalyzer for Cross National Learning (SoMeCat) within the scope of EU FP7 Era.Net Russia and supported by Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK). The purpose of this study is to investigate the attitudes of educators toward social media at higher education institutions in Turkey and Germany and also compare and explore the potential cultural differences between two countries

İçerik Yönetim Sisteminde Kullanılabilirlik Yapılarının İncelenmesi

The internet provides a media-rich navigational environment where people interact with computer systems. This interactive relationship between humans and computers can be explored from a socio-technical philosophy. Thus, investigating individual behaviors toward new information technologies based on their experiences with the internet technology in general, and content management in particular emerged as an alternative stream of research. Since users' behaviors are heavily influenced by web sites usability, this study is aimed at exploring multidimensionalty in usability constructs of a content management system. The findings indicate that multidimensional model - at least- with two upper constructs exist in usability. This finding supports the socio-technical perspective in usability in that content presentation and architectural design were perceived as separate constructs by participants.İnternet, bireylerin bilgisayar sistemleri ile etkileşim sağladığı medya açısından zengin bir ortam sunmaktadır. Bilgisayarlar ve bireylar arasındaki bu etkileşimli ortam, sosyoteknik bir açıdan incelenebilir. Bu nedenle, bireylerin yeni teknolojiye yönelik davranışlarını, internet teknolojileri ile olan deneyimlerine ve içerik yönetimine dayalı olarak inceleme, araştırmalarda alternatif bir yaklaşım olarak ortaya çıkmıştır. Bireylerin davranışları, web sitelerinin kullanışlılığından çok fazla etkilenmektedir. Bu görüşten hareketle bu çalışmanın amacı, bir içerik yönetim sisteminin kullanışlılık yapılarını çok boyutluluk açısından araştırmaktır. Bulgular, kullanışlılık açısından en az iki olmak üzere model olarak çok boyutlu bir yapının varlığını göstermektedir. Bu bulgu, kullanışlılık açısından sosyoteknik bakış açısı ile içerik sunumunun ve mimari tasarımın farklı yapılar olarak ele alınması gerektiği görüşünü desteklemektedir

Enriching higher education with social media : development and evaluation of a social media toolkit

While ubiquitous in everyday use, in reality, social media usage within higher education teaching has expanded quite slowly. Analysis of social media usage of students and instructors for teaching, learning and research purposes across four countries (Russia, Turkey, Germany, and Switzerland) showed that many higher education instructors actively use social media for private purposes. However, although they understand that their students also use it for learning purposes, and instructors sense the potential of social media in teaching, they mostly refrain from doing so due to various barriers. In response, an openly accessible trilingual Social Media Toolkit was developed which analyses the teaching scenario with several questions, before suggesting, based on an algorithm, the best matching class of social media, complete with advice on how to use it for teaching purposes. This paper explains the rationale behind the toolkit, its development process, and examines instructors’ perceptions towards it

Exploring The Effect of Online Course Design on Preservice Teachers’ Knowledge Transfer and Retention Through Learning Analytics

There is a vast amount of data collected on e-learning platforms that can provide insight and guidance to both learners and educators. However, this data is rarely used for evaluation and understanding the learning process. Hence, to fill this gap in the literature this study explored the effect of online course design on students’ transfer and retention of knowledge through learning analytics. The aim was to reveal study behaviours of participants over a short time while exploring their academic performance. Using a mixed method approach, this research is conducted in two different countries in a limited time. The results showed that the more times students visited the learning module and the longer these visits, the higher the students’ transfer knowledge scores in this module. Most importantly, the only variable found to be a significant predictor of students’ transfer learning outcome was the number of sessions in the module website

The effects of the seeds of Galeopsis ladanum on fattening performance in quails and occurrence of rhabdomyolysis in rats

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of Galeopsis ladanum seeds on rhabdomyolysis occurrence in rats as an animal model and fattening performance of quails. Control group was fed with basal diet without G. ladanum seeds. Diets of treatment groups contained 2 or 4% of G. ladanum seeds, respectively. All animals, quails and rats were fed individually. At the end of the study, 2 and 4% of G. ladanum seeds in the diets did not have reverse effect on body weight, weight gain and feed intake in quails. Besides, treatment group one had a better feed conversion ratio at the end of the third week (p<0.05) and up to 28 days of age (p<0.05). At the end of the feeding period, quails were slaughtered and their drumsticks were fed to the rats either raw or grilled. After consumption of the meat, their serum and organs were subjected to biochemical and pathologic investigations. Although, no pathological finding was observed in the tissue samples, serum myoglobin and enzyme levels were found to be higher than that in the control group (p<0.01). Although, no pathological finding was observed in the tissue samples prepared from rats and quails for histopathological examination, the increase in serum myoglobin and enzyme levels may be due to subcellular changes in the target tissues of toxic substance.Keywords: Galeopsis ladanum, performance, rhabdomyolysis, quai