Testing the web-based effectiveness of an online decisionmaking skills program supporting career development of middle school students

The aim of this study is to create a web-based, online, modular, gamified content and animations adjusted for grade level program in order to support the career development of secondary school students and to test its effectiveness. The career decision making program that supports career development consists of six different modules. The modules, which are adjusted according to the grade levels by considering all the levels of the secondary school, consist of 10 stages built on each other. The content of the stages consists of games and animations for the career development gains of secondary school students. It has been developed to run on both iOS and Android operating systems, as well as being accessible through the browsers of computers, phones and tablets. In the program, there are Profession Recognition-1 Module, Profession Recognition-2 Module, School Life, Personal Characteristics and Professional Relationship Module, Decision Making Module, Goal Setting and Planning Module and Evaluation Module. "Posttest Random Design with Control Group", one of the real experimental designs, was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the modules in the program. As a measurement tool in the study, acquisition tests were created according to each module and class levels. The study was carried out in three stages in randomly selected secondary schools in the central districts of Samsun. In the first stage, the test stage, students' opinions on the language, ease of use and suitability of the program were taken. In the second stage, the pilot stage, each module of the program was tested on the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grade students with 800 students in the experimental and control groups. In the third stage, the main study stage, the effectiveness of the program was tested with 1200 students in the experimental and control groups representing each module and class level. The arithmetic mean, frequency, standard deviation and normality values of the obtained data were examined. In the comparison of the posttest data of the experimental and control groups, independent samples t-Test was performed because of the normal distribution. As a result of the analysis, it was found that all modules differed statistically significantly within the scope of all grade levels. According to this finding, it was seen that the program was positively significant and effective at all grade levels.