This study analyzes prospective teachers’ digital citizenship behaviour norms. The sample consists of the seventeen prospective teachers who studied at the University Of Gaziantep Faculty Of Education in the academic year 2009-2010. Qualitative methods were utilized in the collection and the analysis of data. The results indicated the teachers adequately demonstrated behaviour norms regarding digital communication and digital literacy, yet only few showed behaviour norms concerning digital access, digital etiquette, digital commerce, digital rights and responsibilities, digital law, digital health and wellness, and digital security categories. Therefore, these results highlight the fact that the digital citizenship behaviour norms should be included in teacher training programs in Turkey.
Top1. Introduction
The impact of technology is one of the most critical issues in education. If we are citizens of Western nations, then technology pervades almost everything in our lives – online banking, shopping, text messaging, movies-on-demand, coordinated traffic flow, light rapid transit scheduling, mobile telephone networks, climate control systems, and medical information access, to name but a few examples. Even in some developing nations and in former Soviet Republic countries we have come to accept almost without question the proliferation of satellite television dishes and cellular telephones. Despite the ubiquitous appearance of technology in societies around the world, we continue to grapple with how we might best make use of information and communication technology (ICT) in schools (Weber, 2003).
It can be alleged that one of the best ways of being able to see the future and making massive change decisions on the right time is to be in reconciliation with information technologies. It can be thought that this reconciliation is possible by perceiving the change and then by changing some of our habits consistent with technology. The societies that perceive the change in a right way or the societies that cannot perceive the change and the societies that perceive the change mistakenly may affect their future in a negative or positive way according to their way of perceptions (Dönmez & Sincar, 2008). When it is thought that they are the spotlight corporations of the societies’ future, with the aim of foreseeing the future of the societies they take part in, taking right steps towards this and being one of the dynamics of change rather than conforming to change, the schools are key figures.
It is open to every kind of prediction that how the changing and increasing information technology will affect the schools’ climate and culture, but it can be said that schools will have a rather different atmosphere than today. The future will demand the teachers to be aware of new cultures that come with informatics technology and to behave in every activity by taking this into consideration. In this sense, it can be said that the teacher will have to behave as a digital citizen rather than teacher.
Communication has acquired a new dimension in the world today with the use of digital devices in communal living and is hence re-defining the concept of community. This concept has been defined as a network society (Castells, 2000) and the individuals who constitute this society have been defined as digital citizens (Berson & VanFossen, 2008; Crow & Longford, 2000; Mossberger et al., 2008, O’Brien, 2008). Digital citizenship has been defined as the ability to take part in on-line society (Carrizales, 2009; Mossberger et al., 2008).