Awareness of Turkish teacher candidates on digital story applications

The aim of this study is to investigate the knowledge and awareness of Turkish teachers about digital story applications, one of the Web 2.0 tools that emerged and continues to be used within the framework of the relationship of technology with education. The research will cover seven different regions of Turkey; The survey was conducted with students of Atatürk University, Uludağ University, Mustafa Kemal University, Gaziantep University, Pamukkale University, Sinop University and Gazi University. As the grade level, the students at the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th grades studying in the Turkish Language Teaching Department of the determined universities were accepted as the target audience, the people who would participate in the measurement were randomly determined, and the size to be reached was determined as 400 people based on the rattle sample calculation table. The questionnaire, which is a data collection tool, was applied via Google Forms. The data obtained in the research were analyzed using the SPSS program. Digital storytelling is the process of telling a story in a digital environment using the tools provided by technology. Digital storytelling is directly related to the "Turkish", "Elective Media Literacy", "Elective Writing and Writing Skills" and "Elective Reading Skills" courses given in secondary school. In the content of "Information Technologies", "Instructional Technologies", "Turkish Learning and Teaching Approaches" and "Media Literacy" courses in the Turkish Teaching Undergraduate Program, Turkish teacher candidates are expected to be aware of competent and current practices regarding the use of technology in language teaching. According to the results obtained in the research, 60.8% of Turkish teacher candidates do not use digital storytelling applications. Storybird, Powtoon and Pixton were identified as the top three applications most frequently used by Turkish teacher candidates who stated that they use digital storytelling applications. In the study, it was concluded that Turkish teacher candidates who use digital storytelling applications use these applications for out-of-school purposes such as sense of curiosity and self-expression. According to the participants, the access aspect of digital storytelling applications is seen as both an advantage and a disadvantage. It was concluded that 67.5% of Turkish teacher candidates were not given any information about digital storytelling practices in their undergraduate education at the university. It is seen that there is no unity in the course names stated by the candidates who stated that they received information. According to Turkish teacher candidates, both age and content limitations should be imposed on digital storytelling practices. According to the participants in the study, it was determined that digital storytelling practices contributed to the development of writing, reading, listening-watching, speaking and grammar skills, respectively. While the participants do not see the works created through digital storytelling as a literary work, they determined that the works should be examined in the field of Youth literature. The findings of the study are seen in the direction of Turkish teacher candidates to develop themselves in the skills required by the age in the relationship between technology and education, to make the Turkish Teaching Undergraduate Program suitable for the needs of the age, and to increase the knowledge about Web 2.0 and digital storytelling applications.