An investigation of pre-service teacher's self-directed learning and attitudes towards e-learning in terms of certain variables

In this study, it is aimed to examine pre-service teachers' self-directed learning and their attitudes towards e-learning in terms of certain variables (gender, class, the department they study, grade point average, place of residence, place of residence of their families, education level of parents, duration of daily internet use, level of internet usage, preferred learning method, preferred type of study, device where they perform e-learning activities, internet/computer usage times). In the research, descriptive survey and relational survey model, which are quantitative research methods, were used. The study group of the research consists of 601 pre-service teachers studying at Adıyaman University Faculty of Education in the 2020-2021 academic year. In the study, data were collected via Google Form. In the first part of the form, demographic information that will reveal personal information, in the second part, "Self-Directed Learning Scale (SDLS)", which was developed by Lounsbury (2009) and adapted into Turkish by Demircioğlu et al. (2018) and in the third part "Attitude Scale Towards E-Learning" developed by Kisanga (2016) and adapted into Turkish by Biçer (2019) was used to determine their attitudes towards learning. In the analysis of the data, descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), simple linear correlation and simple linear regression analyzes were performed. As a result of the analysis, it was seen that the pre-service teachers' self-directed learning and their attitudes towards e-learning were at a high level. The self-directed learning of pre-service teachers differs in terms of the department they study and the learning method they prefer; It was found that there was no significant difference in terms of gender, grade level, academic achievement, place of residence, place of residence of their families, educational status of parents and types of work. In their attitudes towards e-learning, there was a significant difference in terms of gender, class level, place of residence, education level of parents, level of internet use, preferred learning method, device used in e-learning activities and duration of internet/computer use. In addition, it was concluded that there is a positive, significant and low level relationship between pre-service teachers' self-directed learning and their attitudes towards e-learning and that self-directed learning predicts attitudes towards e-learning. Keywords: Self-Directed Learning, Attitude Towards E-Learning, Pre-Service Teachers'