Abstract
THE OPINION OF PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS TOWARDS PREPARATING AND USING OF MATERIALS
Instructional materials have greater effects which make learning easier and permanent on students regardless of the educational institution types. Therefore, Instructional Technologies and Material Design (ITMD) course is one of the core courses in the curriculum of teacher training which aim to enable the student teachers the necessary skills and knowledge concerning material using and developing. It is expected from the student teachers that they should be motivated to use materials in their classes when they become teachers. Evaluation of this application, which is executed in ITMD which enables students to concentrate on the subject, concretize the abstract concept, and receive knowledge in a formulated way, is most important to increase the efficiency of the course. In this respect, it is aimed in this research that the opinions of the student teachers toward material development and use in the frame of ITMD course will be surveyed. This research is a descriptive study which is based on qualitative outputs. The participants of the research are comprised of 85 student teachers who took ITMD course in the Education Faculty of Anadolu University in the academic year of 2013-2014 spring term. The data of the research were collected by structured interviews from 85 student teachers who attend various teacher training programs of the faculty. The data collected in the research were analyzed by the use of NVivo8.0. Program with the approach of content analysis. According to the findings of the research, it was concluded that instructional material design and use is important for the student teachers in terms of drawing attention, enabling permanent and easy learning and motivating the students. When the opinions of the student teachers about the criteria they utilized while developing and using materials are examined, it was realized that they stressed on attractiveness and simplicity-comprehensibleness mostly. When the opinions of student teachers about the difficulties they experienced in developing materials are examined, it is understood that they have experienced difficulties because of the substances or utensils, poor time management, the cost of material and the dimensions of the material. Examining the findings about whether the student teachers would use the materials they prepared when they become teachers, it is concluded that most of them will use their materials as those materials facilitate learning. Analyzing the findings about whether student teachers would develop and use materials in their profession, it became evident that most of them will develop and use materials as instructional materials facilitate learning, draw attention of the students, and promote the interest towards lessons.
Keywords
Teacher education, material design, instructional technologies and material design course
