Pre-Service Teachers’ Perception of Distance Education

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to investigate the perception of pre-service teachers towards distance education based on variables such as gender, department, class level, personal computer ownership and possession of internet connection. The study was conducted with participants who continue their education in department of education in a state university and the study group consisted of 455 female and 237 male, in total 692 pre-service teachers. The participants included first, second, third and fourth year students from the departments of primary school education, social sciences education, science and technology education, painting and music education. A scale has been developed by the researcher in order to determine pre-service teachers’ perception of distance education and a data set was generated with the responses collected according to this scale. As per the results obtained, the perception regarding distance education did not show any differentiation based on gender, personal computer ownership and possession of internet connection, while a significant difference was observed in respect to department and class level.