The evaluation of educational websites developed for teaching Turkish to foreigners in terms of usability and educator views

In the field of teaching Turkish to foreigners, the number of "domestically generated" teaching materials that learners can use via technology inside and outside of the classroom is very limited. In this context, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the usability of educational websites 3 Dakikada Türkçe, Türkçe Öğreniyorum ve Türkçe Öğretim Portalı which provide students technological teaching materials in terms of educator views and to reveal the views of the educators in the field on educational websites by seeing the level of interactive material usage, and to raise awareness of the digital environment among educators. In the study, one of the mixed method research designs, " Fully mixed concurrent equal status design " was used. This mixed research model is the design model in which the qualitative and quantitative stages are of equal weight and they are mixed in one or more components of the research at the same time. (Leech ve Onwuegbuzie, 2009). While "screening method" was used in the analysis of quantitative data, "case study" method was used in the analysis of qualitative data. The sample of the study consists of 100 educators who teach Turkish as a foreign language and use selected (i.e. 3 Dakikada Türkçe, Türkçe Öğreniyorum and Türkçe Öğretim Portalı) educational websites for teaching and agree to participate in the study voluntarily. These educational websites have been compared in terms of usability and educators' views. After literature review, it was reached to 20 criteria (Appendix 1) as for choosing these thee educational websites and those criteria was supported by 100 educator opinions. While "Educational Web Site Evaluation Scale (EWSDÖ)" developed by Ateş (2010) was used to measure educators' perceptions about the usability of the three selected educational websites; "Educator Interview Form" composed by us was used to analyze educators' evaluations towards three educational websites and their field competencies. According to our findings, there is no significant differences in the educators' perception towards the usage of these educational websites based on their gender, whether they received training to use information and communication technologies in education or whether they consider themselves competent in using information and communication technologies for teaching purposes. According to EWSES, the highest score sub-dimension of the in 3 Dakikada Türkçe Educational Web Site (3DTEWS) was "technical features" (% 83.13), while the lowest score was "ease of guidance and use" (% 51.08). The prominent opinion of the educators for 3DTEWS was it had been seen as very successful, useful and helpful. The suggestion that stands out from the opinions of the educators was that other levels (A2, B1, B2, C1) such as A1 should be added to the site. According to EWSES, the highest score sub-dimension of the in Türkçe Öğreniyorum Educational Web Site (TÖEWS) was "content" (% 82.31), whereas the lowest score was "ease of orientation and use" (% 54.92). The prominent opinion of the educators for TÖEWS was it had been seen as very successful, useful and helpful. The suggestion that stands out from the opinions of the teachers was that the site should be enriched in various subjects in terms of content. According to the EWSES, the highest score sub-dimension of the in Türkçe Öğretim Portalı Educational Web Site (TÖPEWS) was "design and visual" (% 87.06), while the lowest score was "ease of orientation and use" (% 57.83). The prominent opinion of the educators for TÖPEWS, was it had been seen as very successful, useful and helpful. The suggestion that stands out from the opinions of the teachers was that technical defects should be corrected. Keywords: Teaching Turkish to Foreigners, Educational Website, Educator Opinions, Usability, Distance Learning, Web 2.0, Online Learning