Evaluation of pre-service teachers' readiness level for online learning and computational thinking skills

The aim of this study is to determine pre-service teachers' readiness level for online learning and computational thinking skills in general scale and sub-dimensions; determine the difference independent variables like pre-service teachers' departments, class level, gender, internet use frequency per week and experience with synchronous/asynchronous learning create in readiness for online learning; determine the difference independent variables like pre-service teachers' departments, class level and gender create in computational thinking skills; and find out the relationship between pre-service teachers readiness for online learning and computational thinking skills. To this end, "Readiness for Online Learning Scale" developed by Hung et al (2010) and adapted to Turkish by Yurdugül and Alsancak Sırakaya (2013) and "Computational Thinking Skills Scale" developed by Korkmaz et al (2017) were administered to 837 pre-service teachers of all departments and class levels in Education Faculty at a University in Western Blacksea Region of our country. Non-parametric tests were used to analyze the data obtained from "Readiness for Online Learning Scale" since the data obtained from this scale did not have normality of distribution. Mann-Whitney U test was used to analyze the data obtained from Readiness for Online Learning Scale in terms of gender and experience with synchronous/asynchronous learning while Kruskal-Wallis test was used in terms of department, class level and internet use frequency per week. In order to find out the source of the significant difference, Dunnett's C test was used. T-test was used to analyze the data obtained from Computational Thinking Skills Scale in terms of gender while ANOVA test was used in department and class level since the data obtained from this scale was of normal distribution. Pearson Correlation Test was used to find out the relationship between preservice teachers' readiness for online learning and computational thinking skills. As a result of the analysis, it was found that pre-service teachers considered themselves sufficient in general online learning readiness and in sub-dimensions of online learning readiness like self-directed learning, online communication self-efficacy and motivation for learning; however, they considered themselves average in sub-dimensions like computer and internet self-efficacy and learner control. Significant difference was found in general online learning readiness and in sub-dimensions like computer and internet self-efficacy and learner control among departments, and it was Enlish Language Teaching students that showed the highest readiness level in these sub-dimensions and in the general scale. Significant difference was found in general online learning readiness and sub-dimensions like online communication self-efficacy, self-directed learning and computer and internet self-efficacy on class level, and it was found that while pre-service teachers had the lowest level of readiness for online learning in the 1st grade, they had the highest level of readiness for online learning in the 4th grade. Based on gender, a significant difference was found in self-directed learning sub-dimension favoring females and a significant difference was found in online communication self-efficacy sub-dimension favoring males; however, no significant difference was found in other sub-dimensions. Internet use frequency per week had no effect on readiness for online learning. Experience with synchronous/asynchronous learning increases the level of readiness for online learning. It was further found that pre-service teachers considered themselves sufficient above average in general computational thinking skills scale besides sub-dimensions like creativity, problem solving, cooperation and critical thinking; however, they considered themselves average in algorithmic thinking sub-dimension. Based on departments, a significant difference was found in general computational thinking skills and algorithmic thinking sub-dimension. Class level had effects on general computational thinking skills, creativity and algorithmic thinking sub-dimensions favoring the fourth graders. Based on gender, significant difference was found in algorithmic thinking and critical thinking sub-dimensions favoring males while significant difference was found in problem solving sub-dimension favoring females; however, no significant difference was found in general computational thinking skills. There is no significant relationship between pre-service teachers' readiness for online learning and computational thinking skills. It is proposed that curriculum designers of education faculties design programs that enable pre-service teachers to improve their sub-dimensions of computational thinking skills, computer and internet self-efficacy perception and learner control skills. Curriculum designers could also incorporate and implement an assessment method wherein pre-service teachers are asked to carry out reflective evaluations of the online courses that they take during their education process. Moreover, future studies could focus on the relationship between various demographical features of pre-service teachers and the sub-dimensions of readiness for online learning and computational thinking skills. Experimental studies could be conducted to find out the effects of readiness for online learning and computational thinking skills on students' and pre-service teachers' performance and achievement. Further studies could be conducted to find the relationship between readiness for online learning and computational thinking skills.