Perceptions of teachers in Antalya about the applicability of e-democracy in educational instutions

The aim of the present study was to determine the perceptions of the teachers about the applicability of e-democracy in schools. The beliefs of teachers on the applicability of e-democracy were studied through the gender, school level (i.e. primary school), education level, status of facebook and twitter use, internet use frequency, internet and computer use skills, interest in teaching proffesion, computer and internet use, paticipatory democracy, and sharing online. The participants of the study were the teachers who work in the elementary, middle and high schools of Antalya city center (Muratpaşa, Kepez, Konyaaltı, Döşemealtı and Aksu) during the spring semester of 2013-2014 academic years. Nine hundred and thirty three teachers were included into the study. A 26-item questionnaire that was developed within the scope of the study was administered to gather data. According to the findings, most of the participants were with avarege internet use skills. Nearly half of the participants pointed out that e-democracy could be used as a tool for delivering opinions to the administers rather than participation in decesion-making process. Findings showed that participants with the perception of high level of participatory democracy in Turkey, high level computer use skills, using internet frequently, using facebook and twitter, and males were more likely in favor of the applicibility of e-democracy within the educational context Key Words: e-democracy, educational administration, democracy, teachers, participatorydemocracy, social studies, internet