Reflections of the Use of Technology on Sports Education and Sports Products

Because of the rapid technological developments taking place today, it is inevitable that these developments will show themselves in every aspect of human life. These rapid transformations constitute many changes in the structure and living conditions of society. Technology, having started to show itself with all of its aspects especially in the present century, is important in terms of making people reach whatever there is in the field of technology and innovation as soon as possible through mass media. In this context, many countries create systems that produce sports technology by integrating technology into sports. These technologies, which are not limited only to sports products, have also shown their effect on the materials used by referees who are the head of decision mechanisms in sport. The aim of the study is to evaluate the effects of sports, sports education, technological uses, and their effects on sports education. The study is a descriptive one based on qualitative research methods. Document review has been implemented as a data collection method.

Material Use in Social Studies Education

This study aims to reveal the significance of cultural fairs as a material in the social studies course based on the importance of culture, cultural heritage, and cultural transmission. Culture is a crucial source of prosperity and identity of the nations. Nations maintain their presence through their cultural heritage and transfer these values to the next generations through cultural transmission. So, while the continuity of the culture is ensured, the cultural heritage is preserved. One of the ways to achieve this process is education. Within the education system, social studies course is an interdisciplinary course in which culture is handled with different dimensions. Cultural fairs conducted within the scope of this course are also a set of training in which various aspects of culture and cultural components are handled. In this context, the significance of the practice of cultural fairs as a material in the social studies course and its contributions to the field of education are examined in this study.

Technology and Teachers in the Preschool Period

The teachers' use of technology, as well as their behaviors and attitudes, become important as they are second only to the parents in shaping children's futures. Although the teachers' attitudes and behaviors are important in every stage of the children, they are crucial in the preschool period. It is even more important for the teachers who have this awareness to shape and construct their behaviors and attitudes accordingly in order to invest in a better future. With this in mind, the aim is to explain the technology in the preschool period, the levels of teachers' use of technology, their views on technology, and their responsibilities in the use of technology in the preschool period.

The Effectiveness of Weblogs on Writing Tendency

Writing, whether integrated technology or not, is an essential skill for today graduates. And motivating and improving students' life skills by Web 2.0 tools-integrated writing activities may be an effective way. Because of this, the aim of this chapter is to investigate the effect of weblog environment, which is used for writing, on writing tendency. A quantitative research design was used for this research. In this context, the “pretest-posttest control group design” was applied as an experimental research. Fourteen students who are at the fifth grade level in a public school participated in this research, seven in the experiment group and seven in the control group. While the experiment group worked on a weblog, the control group worked on a face-to-face environment. A writing tendency scale was applied as pre-test and post-test. The results are discussed in terms of findings.

Physical Education Teachers' Attitudes Towards the Use of Technological Tools

The aim of this study was to determine whether physical education teachers' (PETs) views and attitudes towards the use of technology in education differed by gender, educational stage, type of school, age, and number of students in classroom. Study sample consisted of 270 volunteer PETs. A parallel mixed design was used. General screening method was used in the quantitative study and content analysis was used in the qualitative study. Data were collected using the scale of attitudes towards the use of technology in education, and open-ended questions prepared by the researcher. It was determined that PETs who are women, work in high school, their classroom between 26-30 and 36-40 years old have more difficulty in using technology and classroom control in the course. Moreover, PETs working in private schools had more developed technical skills. The results indicate that PETs attitudes towards the use of technological materials should be improved.

Distance Education Students' Opinions on Distance Education

This research aimed to determine the opinions of undergraduate and graduate level distance education students about the education they received. Phenomenology design, one of the qualitative research designs, was used in this study. Semi-structured interview form was used as data collection method. In this research, focus group interviews were conducted in three sessions with a total of 27 distance education students (14 master and 13 undergraduate). Distance education students prefer distance education because they work in a job; they consider distance education as a great opportunity for those who cannot receive formal education. The students stated that the distance education infrastructure of the university is technically very good; they have almost no technical problems, but they have problems when connected via mobile applications. They stated that the course contents related to informatics are old because they have received education especially in the field of informatics and emphasized the importance of renewal.

Design Process of Three-Dimensional Multi-User Virtual Environments (3D MUVEs) for Teaching Tree Species

This study aims to realize the concept of biodiversity, which is one of the subjects covered by environmental education, with 3D virtual worlds platform and to realize the biological richness of users in their environment and to provide awareness of the species they see in their immediate surroundings. It is aimed to design 3D MUVE to teach tree species to pre-service teachers within framework of Instructional design process in 3D MUVEs based on problem-based learning approach. Four different design groups are third year undergraduate students (N=21) from the Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technology in the Faculty of Education at a large state university. For design process, participants with collaborative work designed 3D environments with a problem-based learning approach. The design process of 3D MUVEs was realized with the participation of researchers as trainers, guides, technical support personnel, and observers during the 16 weeks within the scope of the course. Also, participants were involved in the role of both learner and instructional designer.

Features of Effective Professional Development Practices for Teachers as ICT Users

In this chapter, the purpose is to present the existing problems and suggestions for the solution of these problems by examining the current situation related to the professional development practices for developing ICT competencies of teachers. According to the results of the research, professional development practices included various problems such as lack of training content in accordance with needs and expectations, lack of quality of materials used, the necessity of the participation process, etc. Expected qualifications related to professional development programs are working with activities that support the teaching process, cooperation with colleagues, supporting theoretical knowledge with practical activities, expert support in the process of professional development, compliance with personal interests and needs. Based on the findings, the professional development programs should be structured in accordance with related criteria such as content, active learning, duration, joint participation, compliance with individual needs, colleague collaboration, and expert support.

Evaluation of Studies on Technology in Religious Education Published in Turkey

The aim of this study was to examine the studies conducted in Turkey on the use of technology in religious education. The Turkish National Academic Network and Information Center and the Journal of Theology Religious Foundation of Turkey's Islamic Research Center databases and the literature on religious education were screened (in February 2019) using the keywords “technology in religious education,” “technology in formal religious education,” “technology in non-formal religious education,” and “technology in the religious culture and moral knowledge course.” Relevant articles were first classified into two as “formal religious education” and “non-formal religious education.” However, investigating the articles in both classes would be beyond the scope of one study; therefore, this study focused only on the 17 studies (published between 2000 and 2018) in the “formal religious education” class. The aim of this study was to determine the direction, trends, and problems of religious education studies in Turkey in terms of technology.

Development of Attitudes Towards Assessment and Evaluation Course

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Brain Breaks® videos on preservice teachers' attitudes towards an Assessment and Evaluation course. The experimental group consisted of 47 preservice teachers of the Department of Physical Education and Sports Teacher. The control group consisted of 55 preservice teachers of the Department of Preschool Education. Pre-test-posttest control group experimental method was used. Data were collected using the attitude scale towards Assessment and Evaluation Course in Education. The experimental group watched Brain Breaks® videos and performed physical activity in the Assessment and Evaluation course for 12 weeks. Brain Breaks® videos improved the experimental group participants' cognitive levels and attitudes towards the Assessment and Evaluation course. However, there was a slight negative shift in the control group participants' attitudes towards the Assessment and Evaluation course. Results indicate that Brain Breaks® videos improve students' attitudes towards academic courses.