Evaluation of teacher candidates' perceptions of digital citizenship in terms of lifelong learning attitudes

As a result of the dominance of internet technologies all over the world, services, information and opportunities have diversified accordingly. There are differences between the older generations and the contemporary generations in terms of collecting and accessing information. Significant differences are noteworthy especially in terms of working life. The aim of this study is to evaluate prospective teachers' digital citizenship perceptions in terms of lifelong learning attitudes and readiness for e-learning. In the data collection phase of the study, three different scales were used: lifelong learning attitude scale, digital citizenship scale and university students' e-learning readiness scale and demographic information of the participants were collected through personal information form which is developed by the researcher. The scales were administered online to prospective teachers. The participants of the study consisted of 346 freshman students who took Computer I course from Bartın University Faculty of Education and accepted to voluntarily participate in the study. In this study, where descriptive scanning model was used, t-test, ANOVA and Pearson correlation analysis were used as parametric tests as the data shows a normal distribution. According to the findings of the study, it has been observed that more than half of the prospective teachers are women. When the distribution of lifelong learning scale total scores by gender is examined, there is a significant difference between lifelong learning attitudes of female teacher candidates and male teacher candidates. The attitude of female teacher candidates is higher than male teacher candidates. When the prospective teachers asked about their opportunities for regular internet access, it was observed that the majority of the participants answered yes. When the analysis of the pre-service teachers' preferred device for internet access were examined, it was determined that the majority of them preferred to use Internet on mobile devices. There was no significant difference in lifelong learning attitudes and perceptions of digital citizenship when the prospective teachers' ownership of a personal computer was examined. In other words, there is no difference between lifelong learning attitudes and digital citizenship perceptions of pre-service teachers with or without personal computers. There was a significant difference between the total scores of the prospective teachers' e-learning readiness scale according to their ownership of a personal computer. According to the results of the study examining the prospective teachers 'lifelong learning attitudes in terms of various variables, it is concluded that the prospective teachers' lifelong learning attitudes are highly developed. According to the results of the study, it can be stated that the pre-service teachers' level of readiness for e-learning is high, in other words, it is developed. It can be stated that there is a positive relationship at moderate level between prospective teachers' lifelong learning attitudes and their readiness for e-learning. It can be stated that there is a moderate-level positive relationship between prospective teachers' lifelong learning attitudes and their perception of digital citizenship. It is seen that there is a high positive relationship between pre-service teachers' perception of digital citizenship and their readiness for e-learning. The effect of pre-service teachers' digital citizenship perceptions on lifelong learning attitudes and e-learning readiness was tried to be measured simultaneously. Therefore, it is also important that the study will contribute to the literature and give ideas and suggestions to the researchers who will work on this subject in the future.