Views of Pre-Service Teachers on Internet Supported Learning.

Having knowledge of computer hardware is one of the skill sets of computer teachers that allows them to understand and predict hardware problems in advance. Therefore, computer hardware courses are often added as required courses in pre-service teacher curricula in Instructional Technology Departments. This study aimed to understand the effectiveness of one such course with the integration of internet technologies. 44 students enrolled in this course in a western public university in Turkey. Students used an online learning environment in addition to a traditional face to face classroom setting for 14 weeks during the 2015-2016 Fall Semester. Participants were divided into two groups. One of the groups, which was called Bloggers, wrote all their learning experiences and outcomes in their blog postings. The other group, which was called Webbers, designed a website to share their knowledge. Both groups also shared other new technologies which could help them to improve their professional skills. During the 14-week explanatory case study, data were collected from students` reflection papers, forum postings, researcher’s journal and learning outcomes. Data were analyzed by following content analysis strategies. The results show that for the majority of students, integrating internet technologies into traditional classroom settings motivated them to engage more during the course. However, some of students who created websites noted that the additional responsibilities were overwhelming. Creating a website and maintaining it were challenges for them. On the other hand, students who were blogging their learning experiences noted that they had fun during the course. They also highlighted that writing comments for each blog posting helped them to learn more by sharing their knowledge. Both groups thought that they enriched their content knowledge during the course. INTRODUCTION The emerging technologies have that have been integrated into education are often labelled as different pedagogical approaches, such as blended learning, hybrid classes, flipped learning, etc. Bates and Sangra (2011) mention that combining these technologies and approaches, such as occurs with blended learning, has ushered in a new era of strategies in higher education. Educators, especially in higher education, have more opportunities to apply emerging technologies into educational settings. Nowadays, students have become comfortable with using new and different technological tools and applications in universities. This is a natural outcome for them as digital natives. Also, students in the new era have become not only tech-savvy people in their lives, but also learners who would like to use technology in learning processes. Sandars & Morrison (2007) suggest teachers need to be aware of students’ needs and expectations in the use of technology in education. It can seem quite a challenge to know and decide how those needs can be met, but there are many educational tools that can help in educational settings. Blessinger and Wankel (2012) mention that wikis, blogs, and WebQuests allow teachers to increase students’ engagements in learning environments. Using other tools such as websites, social media, and Web2.0 tools assist to enhance learning processes (Ifinedo, 2017; Sarsar, Başbay and Başbay, 2015). Sarsar, Kaval, Klasser & Güneri (2016) highlight that digital materials might also increase students’ motivation. Goh and Kale (2016) define Web 2.0 as a read-and-write web which gives an opportunity for users to create and edit content on the web. The number of tools for those contributions has increased in recent years, as blogs, websites, social media tools, etc become more common. These all may be effective online teaching tools for student-oriented learning environments. Internet technologies may contribute to meaningful learning by supporting collaborative and interactive learning environments (Lee & Tsai, 2010). But unless teachers also take advantage of the affordances of these technologies by using appropriate pedagogies, their potential may be TOJET: The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology – April 2018, volume 17 issue 2