The study of the attitudes of the students at vocational training high school towards the internet through certain variables

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1 Available olie at Procedia Social ad Behavioral Scieces 2 (2010) WCES-2010 The study of the attitudes of the studets at vocatioal traiig high school towards the iteret through certai variables emseddi Güdüz a, Agah Tu rul Korucu a * a Selçuk Uiversity, Beysehir VTHS, 42090, Koya, Turkey Received November 8, 2009; revised December 9, 2009; accepted Jauary 20, 2010 Abstract The goal with this survey is to idetify the attitudes of vocatioal traiig high school studets towards the iteret ad to establish the relatioships betwee the variables such as geder, academic success, ad whether they are pleased with the school eviromet. The survey was coducted o the studets at the Selcuk Uiversity Bey ehir Vocatioal Traiig High School durig the Sprig Term i The attitude-towards-the iteret scale, which was developed by Zhag was used i the survey. Durig the study, arithmetic mea, stadard diversio, t test ad variace aalysis were carried out, ad the sigificace level was accepted as.05. At the ed of the survey, it was foud that the male studets had a higher icliatio towards the iteret tha the female studets at the vocatioal traiig high school, ad that the studets that were pleased with the school eviromet had also a higher icliatio towards the iteret tha those that were t Elsevier Ltd. Ope access uder CC BY-NC-ND licese. Keywords: Attitude-towards-the iteret; Vocatioal traiig high school; Iteret Applicatio; Iteret; Use of iteret. 1. Itroductio The Iteret is the most widespread etwork that eables the idividuals who eed iformatio ad commuicatio to reach them. Studets ca improve their kowledge ad skills more rapidly ad more efficietly through the iteret, which has a vast accumulatio of iformatio. Peg, Tsai ad Wu (2006) oted that the usage of the iteret has spread rapidly i cotemporary practices of educatio. However, the kowledge that is imparted by istructors to the studets withi their ow fields may lose its importace or may become isufficiet i a short time. For this reaso, after the idividuals have graduated ad stepped ito their respective fields, they may feel the eed to upgrade their kowledge ad skills with ew oes while carryig out the requiremets of their fields. Lua, Fug, Nawawi ad others (2005) stressed that the attitude towards the iteret is a importat elemet i this tool becomig widespread. Tsai, Li ad Tsai (2001) oted that the attitude towards the iteret i our age determies the educatioal ad ecoomic developmets of societies. Coffi ad MacItyre (1999) declared that the attitude of the studets towards the iteret will raise their motivatio i iteret-based learig eviromets. Usig iteret-based Techologies i educatio ad traiig will, therefore, become oe of the elemets that will affect the attitudes of the studets towards these techologies ad idirectly their success (Erdo a, Bayram & Deiz, 2008). For this very reaso, idetifyig the studets attitudes towards the iteret will yield very importat * Agah Tu rul Korucu. Tel.: address: atkorucu@hotmail.com Published by Elsevier Ltd. Ope access uder CC BY-NC-ND licese. doi: /j.sbspro

2 Şemseddi Güdüz ad Agah Tuğrul Korucu / Procedia Social ad Behavioral Scieces 2 (2010) results. Besides, idetifyig the variables that will affect the attitudes of the studets towards the iteret will help with the modificatios to be carried out o these variables. The aim of this study is to idetify the attitude of the vocatioal traiig high school studets towards the iteret. Also with this study, it is aimed to reveal the relatioship, if ay, betwee their attitudes towards the iteret ad their geders, their ed-of-the year grades ad whether they are pleased with the uiversity atmosphere. 2. Method The study was desiged i accordace with the scaig model. The characteristics of the samplig group of the study, the tools of measuremet used i the study, the process followed ad the procedures i which to aalyze the data were clarified below Study Group The samplig of the study was aimed to costitute the studets attedig Selcuk Uiversity Bey ehir Ali Akkaat Vocatioal Traiig High School durig the sprig term betwee 2008 ad I the study, Iteret Attitude Scale, which was developed by Zhag (2007) ad Persoal Iformatio Questioaire, which was developed by researchers, were applied oe week before the term was over. All the studets that were i the classes durig the applicatio ad voluteered to do so participated i the survey. The total umber of the studets that filled i the questioaires without ay blaks umbered 202. The persoal characteristics of the studets that participated i the study were give i Table 1. Table 1. The Demographic Features of the Study Group Geder N % Male Female Total ,0 As see i Table1, of the studets participatig i the study, 88 (43.6 %9 were male ad 114 (56.4 %) were female Data Collectio Tool A persoal iformatio form was desiged to obtai the iformatio regardig the idepedet variables of the study. Questios as to the geder of the studet, average ed-of-the year grade, whether he/she was pleased with the uiversity atmosphere, his/her feeligs about the future career, his/her place of residece, whether they have the opportuity to access to the computer ad to the iteret while at home were placed i the persoal iformatio questioaire. No private iformatio that would aoy the studets was demaded from the studets o the questioaire. The aim of the study was explaied to the studets at the begiig of the applicatio. The applicatio took about 25 miutes. The measuremet tool used i the study was the tool cosistig of 40 items developed by Zhag (2007) ad upo which validity practice was carried out. The participats read the items i the questioaire ad ticked the optio about whether they agreed or ot. This measuremet tool which was of the Likert type was made up of the followig optios; I do t agree at all, I do t agree, I agree, I completely agree. I the process of typig the results ito the computer, 1 poit was assiged to I do t agree at all optio; 2 poits to I do t agree optio, 3 poits to I agree optio, 4 poits to I completely agree optio. The lowest poit that could be obtaied from the scale (40x1) is 40 poits. The height of the poit showed that the attitude of the studet or of the group ivolved was high Aalysis of the Data The persoal iformatio collected from the studets ad the poits that the studets obtaied from the questioaire regardig their attitudes towards the iteret were coded ad evaluated usig SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Scieces) 15.0 package program. I the decodig of the data, frequecy, percetage, arithmetic mea, stadard deviatio, t test ad variace aalysis were used as statistical techiques. A idepedet samplig t

3 4838 Şemseddi Güdüz ad Agah Tuğrul Korucu / Procedia Social ad Behavioral Scieces 2 (2010) test was coducted to determie whether there was a differece betwee their attitudes towards the iteret ad the geders of the studets, whether he/she was pleased with the uiversity atmosphere, his/her feeligs about the future career, his/her place of residece, ad whether they have the opportuity to access to the computer ad to the iteret while at home. A variace test was coducted to determie whether there was a differece i their attitudes towards the iteret ad their average grades withi the study. The sigificace level i all the aalyses coducted i the study was accepted as Fidigs ad their Iterpretatio The fidigs regardig the attitudes of the studets towards the iteret ad whether there was a correlatio betwee their attitudes ad their geder, the high school program they were i, the kid of curriculum at school, average grade, whether they were pleased with the uiversity atmosphere, their feeligs about the future career, their places of residece, ad whether they had the opportuity to access to the computer ad to the iteret while at home were icluded i this sectio alog with the iterpretatio of these fidigs. With the study, the aim was to determie the level of the attitude of the studets at vocatioal traiig high school (VTHS). With this i mid, the average of the poits obtaied from the scale, their stadard deviatio ad the maximum ad miimum poits were idetified. The fidigs regardig the distributio of the poits the studets obtaied from the scale were give i Table 2. Table 2. The Poit Averages Regardig the Attitudes of The VTHS Studets towards The Iteret, Their Stadard Deviatio, Miimum Ad Maximum Poits ss Miimum Maximum vocatioal traiig high school studets took part i the study. The lowest poit i the distributio of the poits obtaied by the studets who took part i the study was 69, whereas the highest poit was 160. The arithmetic mea of the attitude poits of those who took part i the study towards the iteret was foud to be , ad the stadard deviatio to be Whe the arithmetic poit is take ito cosideratio, it ca be said that the level of attitude of the studets towards the iteret is above the middle level. Like the fidig that the studets of vocatioal traiig high school studets had a positive attitude towards the iteret, the studies coducted o a par samplig yielded similar results. Peg, Tsai ad Wu (2006), i their studies o uiversity studets, ad Kose, Gecer ad Gezer (2007), i their studies o the studets of vocatioal traiig high school, reached the coclusio that the studets had a positive attitude towards the iteret The Fidigs Regardig The Attitude Of The Studets At Vocatioal Traiig High School I View Of Their Geders Ad The Discussio I the study, it was examied whether the attitude towards the iteret chaged with the geder. For this purpose, a t test was coducted betwee the attitude-towards-the iteret poits of the male ad female groups. The fidigs obtaied were show i Table 3. Table 3. The Averages of the Attitude-Towards-The Iteret Poits i Accordace With the Geders of the Studets, Their Stadard Deviatio ad the T Value Group ss t p Male Female As see i Table 3, while the average of the attitude-towards-the iteret poits of 88 male studets was foud to be , ad the stadard deviatio to be 15.61, the average of the attitude-towards-the iteret poits of 114 female studets was foud to be ad the stadard deviatio to be At the ed of the t test which was carried out to check whether this gap was sigificat, t value was foud statistically sigificat. Whe the statistical

4 Şemseddi Güdüz ad Agah Tuğrul Korucu / Procedia Social ad Behavioral Scieces 2 (2010) mea values of the groups were take ito cosideratio, the attitudes of the male studets towards the iteret ca be said to be higher tha those of the female studets. The fact that male studets had a higher positive attitude to the iteret compared with females matches the literature that already exists. I the study by Wu with Tsai (2006), Peg, Tsai with Wu (2006) ad Durdell with Haag (2002) amog uiversity studets, ad i the study by Köse, Gecer ad Gezer (2007), they reached the coclusio that male studets had a higher positive attitude towards the iteret tha female studets. There are also results that do t bear resemblace with these fidigs i the field literature. I their studies, Zhag (2007), ad Y ld r m ad Bahar (2008) oted that, whe the attitudes of the studets at the faculty of educatio ad at vocatioal traiig high school respectively were examied regardig the iteret, there was t a sigificat differece betwee the attitude of male ad that of female studets. Susma ad Tyso (2000) declared that the ature of commuicatio via the iteret differed with the geder. It is possible that this differece i the attitude towards the iteret results from cultural factors. The proportio of idividuals that have a computer with a iteret access is t at the desired level. Idividuals try to meet their requiremet for access to the iteret at iteret cafes. Yet i some small settlemets, for girls to go to iteret cafes is t welcomed. This situatio may have a effect o the attitude of girls towards the iteret. 3.2.The Fidigs Regardig Their Level Of Attitude Towards The Iteret I Compariso With The Academic Achievemets Of The Studets At Vocatioal Traiig High School Ad The Discussio I the study, whether the level of the attitude towards the iteret varied with the academic achievemets of the studets was also studied. The academic achievemets of the studets were separated ito 4 mai groups. Those with a academic average grade of lower tha 2 were placed i the group poorly successful. Those with a academic average grade of betwee 2.00 ad 2.50 were placed i the group successful. Those with a academic average grade of betwee 2.50 ad 3.00 were placed i the group highly successful. Those with a academic average grade of over 3.00 were placed i the group perfectly successful. The mea value of the academic poits of the studets towards the iteret ad the stadard deviatio values are give i Table4. Table 4. The mea value of the academic poits of the studets towards the iteret ad the stadard deviatio values Classes Poorly Successful Successful Highly Successful Perfectly Successful Total Accordig to the data i Table 4, the group with the highest level of mea value as regards the attitude towards the iteret was the poorly successful group with a poit of , while the group with the lowest level of mea value as regards the attitude towards the iteret was the perfectly successful group with a poit of The attitude of the other groups raged betwee these two groups. I order to test whether the arithmetic mea values were statistically sigificat, oe directioal variace aalysis was carried out. The results of this aalysis were show i Table 5. Table 5. The Results of the Oe Directioal Variace Aalysis of the Attitude-Towards-The-Iteret Poits i Compariso with the Academic Achievemets of the Studets Resource Betwee the Groups Withi the Group Total Sd KT KO F p ss As see i Table 5, the F value (F=.23, p>.05) which was calculated accordig to the variace aalysis regardig the sigificace check of the differeces betwee the academic achievemet ad the levels of the attitude towards the iteret is see to be isigificat. The attitude of the vocatioal traiig high school studets towards the iteret does t ay variatio.

5 4840 Şemseddi Güdüz ad Agah Tuğrul Korucu / Procedia Social ad Behavioral Scieces 2 (2010) The Fidigs Regardig The Levels Of Attitude Towards The Iteret Amog Vths Studets I Coectio With Whether They Are Pleased With The School Atmosphere Ad The Discussio The study also ivolved whether the levels of attitude towards the iteret varied with the satisfactio of the studets with the school atmosphere. For this purpose, a t test was coducted betwee the poits of those who were pleased with the school atmosphere ad the poits those that were t. The fidigs obtaied were show i Table 6. Tablo 6. The Average Poits of the Studets i Coectio with the Satisfactio of the Studets with the School Atmosphere, Their Stadard Deviatio, ad t Value Group Pleased Not pleased ss t p As see i Table 6, of the studets that participated i the study, 103 were pleased with the school eviromet, ad the average poit of the attitude towards the iteret obtaied by these studets was ; ad the stadard deviatio was studets, however, were ot pleased with the school eviromet, ad the average poit of the attitude towards the iteret obtaied by these studets was foud to be , ad the stadard deviatio At the ed of the t test i order to see if this differece was sigificat, t value was foud to be statistically sigificat. Whe the statistical mea values of the groups were examied, the attitude of the satisfied studets towards the iteret ca be said to have bee higher tha that of the studets who were ot satisfied with the school atmosphere. 4. Result ad Suggestios The geeral overview ad suggestios that were reached usig the data obtaied were icluded i this sectio. The levels of the attitude towards the iteret amog vocatioal traiig high school studets were foud to cocetrate above the middle. This may be the result of the fact that the area of the iteret use has become widespread ad that studets use the iteret quite frequetly. Besides, the fact that the iteret usage is imperative i some areas of everyday ad occupatioal lives sigifies that the iteret usage may soo become imperative i may areas. Whe the facilities that the iteret has brought to our lives are cosidered, measures must be take to raise the levels of attitude towards the iteret amog vocatioal traiig high school studets. Whe the studets levels of the attitude towards the iteret amog vocatioal traiig high school studets are evaluated i view of the persoal characteristics of the studets, the followig results have emerged: Whe the levels of the attitude towards the iteret amog the vocatioal traiig high school studets are examied i view of their geders, male studets were foud to have a higher level of attitude towards the iteret tha female studets did. Whe the levels of the attitude towards the iteret the amog vocatioal traiig high school studets are examied i view of their academic achievemets, the studets level of attitude towards the iteret did t show ay sigificat variatio i coectio with their academic average poits. Whe the levels of the attitude towards the iteret amog vocatioal traiig high school studets are examied i view of whether they were pleased with the school atmosphere, the levels of the attitude towards the iteret amog the studets who were pleased with the school atmosphere had a higher level of attitude towards the iteret tha those who were t. Based o these results, the followig suggestios ca be made: I order to realize the facilities that the iteret has brought with it, female studets, the studets who are t happy with the school eviromet should be ecouraged, ad their attitude towards the iteret should be raised. For the vocatioal traiig high school studets with a level of the attitude towards the iteret, educatioal activities that are based o iteret techologies ca be orgaized. There are fidigs to support the fact that such activities icrease achievemet. Activities ca be orgaized to make studets pleased with the school eviromet ad also to make them optimistic about their future careers, thus icreasig their attitude towards the iteret.

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