The investigating of pre-service teachers' cyberloafing behaviors and reasons

This study is a descriptive study in a survey model conducted in order to investigate the cyberloafing behaviors of pre-service teachers in during the course and the reasons of these behaviors. The population of the study consists of the pre-service teachers who study at the Department of Primary Education, Mathematics and Science Education, Turkish and Social Sciences Education, Fine Arts Education and Educational Sciences in the Faculty of Education at a public university during 2017-2018 academic years. In order to form the sample, all grade levels were selected in the departments with single branch and one branch was determined by random in each grade level in departments with more than one branch. The research data were collected by using Cyberloafing Activities Scale (CAS), Reasons of Cyberloafing Scale (RCS) and Personal Information Form (PIF). Data collection tools were presented to all students in the classroom on the days of application and a total of 918 pre-service teachers participated in the study voluntarily. SPSS statistical program was used for data analysis. After descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean), Mann Whitney U-Test and Kruskal Wallis H tests were performed on the data. As a result of the research, it was found that pre-service teachers rarely perform of cyberloafing during the course and generally they are entering social networks and news sites. Male pre-service teachers were found to have higher levels of cyberloafing than females. As the frequency of entering the mobile phone and internet access increased in the educational environment, the level of cyberloafing of pre-service teachers increased. The level of cyberloafing of pre-service science, social sciences and Turkish education teachers was higher than the others, and the level of cyberloafing of pre-service teachers in higher grade levels also increased. Age and grade level did not make a significant difference in the reasons for the pre-service teachers' cyberloafing. However, teacher-related factors played a greater role in the male pre-service teachers' tendency towards cyberloafing. According to the results of the study, female pre-service teachers have more cyberloafing in vocational and elective courses and male pre-service teachers have more cyberloafing in courses related to subject matter knowledge. Key Words: Cyberloafing, reasons of cyberloafing, pre-service teachers, mobile phone, internet usage.