Primary Teachers’ Views on Using Technology in Education, Flipped Classroom and Cooperative Learning

Abstract

Progress in technology leads to significant changes in the field of education as well as in all areas. Primary school students are able to use technological tools at a good level. This situation also affects the teaching and learning process. At the present time, students and teachers are benefiting more from technology, and the traditional methods in education change with the emergence of new teaching and learning methods based on technology. In this research, it is aimed to evaluate teachers' views on technology use in education, flipped classroom and cooperative learning. The research designed as a qualitative research. The opinions obtained from the 23 teachers who were selected from the primary teachers in the province of İzmir, Turkey. Semi-structured questionnaire form (7 questions) were used to gather data. As a result of the research, it was concluded that the views of the teachers support the use of
technology in education but that the use of technological tools should be monitored and supervised. Teachers have stated that technology can be used for a variety of purposes in many ways in the educational process. Moreover teachers have claimed the idea that state-funded technology-based projects are a positive policy, but stressed by teachers that especially in the early years these projects have not yet been implemented and there are a number of shortcomings in in-service training. It has been observed that the
majority of teachers have no knowledge of the flipped classroom. After the concept has been explained to them, teachers have expressed the opinion that the flipped classroom will be useful for students. As a result of their views on cooperative learning use, it appears that teachers have conceptual misconceptions about cooperative learning. In conclusion, it is suggested that in-service training should be given to increase teachers' proficiency levels of educational technology use, teaching methods based on technology (flipped classroom, mobile learning, blended learning etc.) should be included in curriculum. Various suggestions have been made to improve the infrastructure and to utilize the technology in the implementation of the cooperative learning method.