Paper—Determining a Mobile Internet Acceptance Model of Special Education Teacher Candidates Determining a Mobile Internet Acceptance Model of Special Education Teacher Candidates https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v12i4.9198 Begum Pastırmacıoglu!!" University of Kyrenia, Cyprus begum.pastirmacioglu@kyrenia.edu.tr Semih Caliskan, Deniz Ozcan, Huseyin Uzunboylu Near East University, Cyprus Abstract—This is the general aim study is to determine the mobile Internet acceptance model of special education teacher candidates. A quantitative meth- od is employed in the study. The research is conducted during the spring semes- ter of 2016–2017. The study group consists of teacher candidates studying at the Department of Special Education at the Faculty of Education. Total of 107 teacher candidates participated in the study. ‘Mobile Internet use scale’ was administered to the special education teacher candidates. Data collected via online survey. The collected data was analyzed with SPSS program. To analyze the data collected through mobile Internet use scale, frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, minimum and maximum values, Kruskal–Wallis H- test and t-test were conducted. The results of the study reveal that the mobile In- ternet acceptance model of special education teacher candidates is positive. Keywords—Mobile Internet, teacher candidates, special education 1 Introduction It is obvious that mobile Internet use makes life more convenient with regards to its structure, convenience and advantages [1]. Through this way research, new trends in mobile teaching activities will be set up in the coming years and a new path for re- searchers will be shown [2]. Also the use of learning technologies offers a variety of possibilities that are not possible with other environments[3], especially for learning smartphone users [4]. Virtual banking, universities that offer distance learning, online shopping and distribution services also increase the use of mobile Internet [5]. It is also a subject of interest; to what extent the special education teacher candidates facil- itate the ever-growing use of mobile Internet. Mobile Internet and smart devices are of great significance for special education teacher candidates for a more effective learning environment [6]. Arslan and Unal’s study (2013) reveal the research findings conducted by the Turkish Statistical Institute that the use of smart phones and mobile Internet has reached up to 90.5% and that this percentage comprises of young popula- tion [6]. 32 http://www.i-jim.org Paper—Determining a Mobile Internet Acceptance Model of Special Education Teacher Candidates Certain features of mobile devices and mobile Internet such as convenience to car- ry, recording voice and sound, taking photographs and recording videos and conven- ience to store data form the grounds of its widespread use [7]. Teacher education is of great importance in terms of teaching profession [8]. The efficiency of its use is also emphasised with regards to their convenience of sharing information among individu- als in educational and instructional processes as well as their convenience for taking less space and low costs [9]. When all these points are taken into consideration, it is revealed that the tendency towards mobile Internet use is valid and it is in a positive progress [10]. In this study, mobile internet method was used in teaching method [2]. The use of mobile Internet is in progress and it is an alternative to traditional educa- tion, and its functionality increases rapidly [6]. The widespread use of mobile Internet every day has become a significant material for teacher candidates [11]. Likewise, the use of technology among teacher candidates and the fact that mobile Internet is one of the most widely preferred technologies of today put emphasis on the research intended for teacher candidates’ use of mobile Internet and their education [12]. The adaptation of modern technologies and virtual programs into education pro- vides various innovative educational and learning opportunities to educators and in- structors [13]. The number of users of mobile Internet with a wide range of practices increases every day due to its rapid growth and appeal to all segments of society. 1.1 Purpose of the study This study aims to determine the mobile Internet acceptance model of special edu- cation teacher candidates. In order to reach this aim, the answers to the following questions have been sought: 1. What is the knowledge of special education teacher candidates on mobile Internet use in general? 2. Is there a difference between the mobile Internet acceptance model of special edu- cation teacher candidates and their sexes? 3. Is there a difference between the mobile Internet acceptance model of special edu- cation teacher candidates and their age groups? 4. Is there a difference between the mobile Internet acceptance model of special edu- cation teacher candidates and their class levels? 2 Method This section presents the findings related to the purposes, results with regards to the findings and comments regarding the determination of mobile Internet acceptance model of special education teacher candidates. The study is conducted with a quantitative methodology and designed to determine the mobile Internet acceptance model of special education teacher candidates. iJIM ‒ Vol. 12, No. 4, 2018 33 Paper—Determining a Mobile Internet Acceptance Model of Special Education Teacher Candidates 2.1 Instruments 1. Personal information form (Demographic data): personal information form consists of questions to collect data for; sex, age, class group, the daily use of mobile Inter- net and mobile devices, daily use of Internet and social media. 2. Mobile Internet use scale: a 5-item Likert-type scale is used to collect data from the teacher candidates regarding their use of mobile Internet. The scale consists of 20 items about mobile Internet use. All of the 20 items of the scale are positive state- ments. Among the items, 1-point states ‘I Strongly Disagree’ while 5-points state ‘I Strongly Agree’. 2.2 Participants A total of 107 volunteer teacher candidates studying at the Special Education De- partment of a private university participated in the study. The study is conducted during the spring term of 2016–2017. Sex. The distribution of the sexes of teacher candidates participating in the study is presented in Table 1. As seen in Table 1, 63.6% (68 people) of the teacher candidates in the study group are male and 36.4% (39 people) are female. The findings in the sex group reflect the real distribution of sexes. Age. The distribution of age groups of the teacher candidates participating in the study is presented in Table 2. The distribution of age groups of the teacher candidates who took part in the study are presented in Table 2. According to this distribution, 86.9% (93 people) of the teacher candidates are between the age group 18–25, while 13.11% (14 people) of the teacher candidates are between 26–33 age group. Daily use of mobile Internet. Daily use of mobile Internet of the teacher candi- dates participating in the study is presented in Table 3. Table 3 reveals the information regarding the daily mobile Internet use of teacher candidates participating in the study. According to this distribution, 37.4% (40 peo- ple) use mobile Internet for 1–3 hours, 37.4 (40 people) use mobile Internet for 3–5 hours, 15.0% (16 people) use mobile Internet for 5–7 hours and 10.3% (11 people) use mobile Internet for seven hours or more daily. Daily use of mobile devices. Daily use of mobile devices of the teacher candidates participating in the study is presented in Table 4. Table 4 demonstrates the daily mobile device use of teacher candidates participat- ing in the study. According to this distribution; 33.6% (36 people) of the teacher can- didates use mobile devices for 1–3 hours, 33.6% (36 people) use mobile devices for 3–5 hours, 23.4% (25 people) use mobile devices for 5–7 hours and 9.3% (10 people) use mobile devices for 7 hours or more daily. Daily use of Internet. Daily Internet use of the teacher candidates participating in the study is presented in Table 5. Table 5 reveals the information regarding the daily Internet use of teacher candi- dates participating in the study. According to this distribution, 22.4% (24 people) use 34 http://www.i-jim.org Paper—Determining a Mobile Internet Acceptance Model of Special Education Teacher Candidates Internet for 1–3 hours, 26.2% (28 people) use Internet for 3–5 hours, 30.8% (33 peo- ple) use Internet for 5–7 hours and 20.6% (20 people) use Internet for 7 hours or more daily. Table 1. The distribution of sexes of teacher candidates participating in the study Sex ƒ % Male 68 63.6 Female 39 36.4 Total 107 100.0 Table 2. The distribution of age groups of teacher candidates participating in the study Age group ƒ % 18–25 93 86.9 26–33 14 13.1 Total 107 100.0 Table 3. The distribution of daily use of mobile Internet of teacher candidates participating in the study Daily use of mobile Internet ƒ % 1–3 hours 40 37.4 3–5 hours 40 37.4 5–7 hours 16 15.0 7– or more 11 10.3 Total 107 100.0 Table 4. The distribution of daily use of mobile devices of teacher candidates participating in the study Daily use of mobile devices ƒ % 1–3 hours 36 33.6 3–5 hours 36 33.6 5–7 hours 25 23.4 7– or more 10 9.3 Total 107 100.0 Table 5. The distribution of daily use of Internet of teacher candidates participating in the study Daily use of Internet ƒ % 1–3 hours 24 22.4 3–5 hours 28 26.2 5–7 hours 33 30.8 7– or more 22 20.6 Total 107 100.0 iJIM ‒ Vol. 12, No. 4, 2018 35 Paper—Determining a Mobile Internet Acceptance Model of Special Education Teacher Candidates Daily use of social media. Daily social media use of the teacher candidates partic- ipating in the study is presented in Table 6. Table 6. The distribution of daily use of social media of teacher candidates participating in the study Daily use of social media ƒ % 1–3 hours 26 24.3 3–5 hours 36 33.6 5–7 hours 26 24.3 7– or more 19 17.8 Total 107 100.0 Table 6 demonstrates the daily social media use of teacher candidates participating in the study. According to this distribution; 24.3% (26 people) of the teacher candi- dates use social media for 1–3 hours, 33.6% (36 people) use social media for 3–5 hours, 24.3% (26 people) use social media 5–7 hours and 17.8% (19 people) use so- cial media for 7 hours or more daily. 2.3 Data analysis The data collected through the survey is analysed with SPSS IBM 24.0 program. The results of the analysis are presented with percentages, frequency and descriptives, t-test (independent samples t-test) and Kruskal–Wallis H-test. 3 Results This section presents the comments and results with regards to the findings related with the purposes to determine the mobile Internet acceptance model of teacher can- didates studying at the Department of Special Education. 3.1 General results of the knowledge of special education teacher candidates on mobile Internet acceptance model use The descriptive statistics to determine the knowledge of special education teacher candidates on mobile Internet use are presented on Table 7. As can be seen in Table 7, when the mobile Internet use knowledge of teacher can- didates studying at the Department of Special Education is analysed, it is revealed that the views of teacher candidates on the knowledge of mobile Internet use is at a posi- tive level. Although there is a significant difference among many of the statements, the statement of ‘Use of mobile Internet makes my Internet actions more practical’ has a mean of X = 3.93, is among the most notable statements. Likewise one of the most notable statements of special education teacher candidates ‘It is important to 36 http://www.i-jim.org Paper—Determining a Mobile Internet Acceptance Model of Special Education Teacher Candidates Table 7. The descriptive statistics of the knowledge of special education teacher candidates on mobile Internet acceptance model use No. Items X SD 1 Mobile Internet allows me to operate more quickly on the Internet 3.85 1.299 2 Use of mobile Internet makes my Internet actions more practical 3.93 1.191 3 Use of mobile Internet is practical for the actions on the Internet 3.88 1.207 4 The use of mobile Internet is easy for me 3.85 1.277 5 It is easy to learn to use mobile Internet 3.82 1.211 6 I find myself competent at mobile Internet use 3.77 1.118 7 It is a good idea to use mobile Internet 3.83 1.177 8 I enjoy using mobile Internet 3.73 1.160 9 Mobile Internet use is desired 3.67 1.257 10 Using mobile Internet is a wise idea 3.78 1.213 11 I use mobile Internet when I need to use Internet 3.69 1.284 12 I presume that I will use mobile Internet when I have access 3.64 1.260 13 I will continue to use mobile Internet in the future 3.78 1.213 14 It is important to make audio and video calls through mobile Internet 3.88 1.276 15 It is possible to read e-magazine, e-books and e-newspapers through mobile Internet 3.86 1.229 16 It is possible to follow social media closely (Facebook, twitter, etc.) through mobile Internet 3.89 1.273 17 It is possible to check e-mails whenever and wherever desired through mobile Internet 3.78 1.296 18 People who use mobile Internet has more prestige than people who do not 3.53 1.253 19 People who use mobile Internet are high level people 3.14 1.369 20 Using mobile Internet is a status symbol 3.28 1.439 Total 3.73 0.886 make audio and video calls through mobile Internet’ also has a mean of X = 3.88. Another significant statement of teacher candidates of Special Education Department ‘It is possible to follow social media closely (Facebook, twitter, etc.) through mobile Internet’ has a mean of X = 3.89. Among other statements ‘The use of mobile In- ternet is easy for me’ has a mean of X = 3.85. Finally, the general total mean of mobile Internet use knowledge of teacher candidates of the Department of Special Education is X = 3.73. In light of the obtained results, it may be inferred that the mobile Internet acceptance model knowledge of special education teacher candidates are high. iJIM ‒ Vol. 12, No. 4, 2018 37 Paper—Determining a Mobile Internet Acceptance Model of Special Education Teacher Candidates 3.2 The comparison results of the knowledge of special education teacher candidates on mobile Internet acceptance model with regards to sex The data regarding the results of the independent samples t-test conducted to de- termine whether there is a significant difference with regards to sex of teacher candi- dates studying at the Department of Special Education is presented in Table 8. Table 8. The knowledge of teacher candidates on mobile internet acceptance model with regards to sex Mobile In- ternet use Group N X SD df t p Male 68 3.74 0.959 105 0.210 0.063 Female 39 3.71 0.751 As seen in Table 8 the arithmetic mean and standard deviation scores of male can- didates’ knowledge on mobile Internet use are calculated as ( X = 3.74, SD = 0.959), while the arithmetic mean and standard deviation scores of female teacher candidates’ knowledge on mobile Internet use are calculated as ( X = 3.71, SD = 0.751). The obtained result reveals that there is no significant difference between the sexes of the students studying at the Department of Special Education (t = 0.210, P > 0.005). 3.3 The comparison results of the knowledge of special education teacher candidates on mobile Internet acceptance model with regards to age group The data regarding the results of the independent samples t-test conducted to de- termine whether there is a significant difference between the knowledge on mobile Internet use of teacher candidates studying at the Department of Special Education and their age groups is presented in Table 9. Table 9. The knowledge of teacher candidates on mobile internet acceptance model with regards to age group Mobile Internet use Age N X SD df t p 18–25 42 3.75 0.865 105 0.476 0.846 26–33 59 3.62 1.043 As seen in Table 9, the arithmetic mean and standard deviation scores of candi- dates’ knowledge on mobile Internet use at the age group of 18–25 are calculated as ( X = 3.75, SD = 0.865), while the arithmetic mean and standard deviation scores of teacher candidates’ knowledge on mobile Internet use at the age group of 25–33 are calculated as ( X = 3.62, SD = 1.043). The obtained result reveals that there is no significant difference between the age groups of students studying at the Department of Special Education (t = 476, P > 0.005). 38 http://www.i-jim.org Paper—Determining a Mobile Internet Acceptance Model of Special Education Teacher Candidates 3.4 The comparison results of special education teacher candidates on mobile Internet acceptance model with regards to class levels The results of the Kruskal–Wallis H-test conducted to determine the mobile Inter- net acceptance model of teacher candidates studying at the Department of Special Education are presented in Table 10. Table 10. The comparison results of special education teacher candidates on mobile internet acceptance model with regards to class levels Mobile Internet acceptance model Class N Mean rank SD X2 P 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 71 29 7 60.32 40.72 44.86 2 8.87 0.012 As seen in Table 10, there is a significant difference for mobile Internet acceptance model of special education with regards to their class levels (!2 (2) = 8.87; P = 012; P < 0.05). When the mobile Internet acceptance model is compared with regards to the special education teacher candidates’ class levels, it is revealed that the mobile Inter- net use acceptance model of the students studying at the group of 1st grade are higher than that of the students studying at the 2nd and 3rd grades. 4 Conclusion and discussion The results of the study reveal that, 37.4% (40 people) use mobile Internet for 1–3 hours, 37.4 (40 people) use mobile Internet for 3–5 hours, 15.0% (16 people) use mobile Internet for 5–7 hours and 10.3% (11 people) use mobile Internet for seven hours or more daily. In their study titled ‘Internet Addiction Among University Stu- dents and Related Socio-Demographic Factors’ Aslan and Yazici (2016) evaluated the hours of weekly Internet use and revealed that the students with Internet addiction use the Internet for 40 or more hours weekly, the difference reaching a statistically significant difference[14]. In this context, the information on daily use of mobile Internet of teacher candidates studying at the Department of Special Education is revealed. The results of the study demonstrate the daily mobile device use of special educa- tion teacher candidates; 33.6% (36 people) of the teacher candidates use mobile de- vices for 1–3 hours, 33.6% (36 people) use mobile devices for 3–5 hours, 23.4% (25 people) use mobile devices for 5–7 hours and 9.3% (10 people) use mobile devices for 7 hours or more daily. The results reveal that special education teacher candidates use mobile devices daily mostly for ‘1–3’ and ‘3–5’ hours. In addition, it is also un- covered that 22.4% (24 people) of special education teacher candidates use Internet for 1–3 hours, 26.2% (28 people) use Internet for 3–5 hours, 30.8% (33 people) use Internet for 5–7 hours and 20.6% (20 people) use Internet for 7 hours or more daily. This result shows that special education teacher candidates use mobile Internet daily mostly for ‘5–7’ hours. Finally, the daily use of social media among special education teacher candidates is also demonstrated; 24.3% (26 people) of the teacher candidates iJIM ‒ Vol. 12, No. 4, 2018 39 Paper—Determining a Mobile Internet Acceptance Model of Special Education Teacher Candidates use social media for 1–3 hours, 33.6% (36 people) use social media for 3–5 hours, 24.3% (26 people) use social media for 5–7 hours and 17.8% (19 people) use social media for 7 hours or more daily. According to this result, it is demonstrated that spe- cial education teacher candidates use social media mostly for ‘3–5’ hours daily. In the light of these results, it is seen that the knowledge of teacher candidates studying at the Department of Special Education on mobile Internet acceptance model is at a positive level. In Cakir’s (2010) study titled ‘Developing and Evaluating a Software for Mobile Learning’, many of the participants who had a chance to utilise mobile educational tools and applications have showed an interest for the educational environment and stated that they would like to use if there is a chance[15]. In addi- tion, in Bolat et al.’s (2017) study titled ‘Investigation of Distance Learners’ Mobile Internet Usage for Instructional Activities Based on the Technology Acceptance Mod- el’, it is revealed that the attitudes of distance learners towards mobile Internet use are positive. In addition, in the study titled ‘Development and Validation of Mobile Ad- diction Scale: The Components Model Approach’ by Fidan (2016), it is uncovered that the mobile Internet access is quite widespread and that the uses of mobile tele- phones for Internet purposes are higher than that of the purposes of phone communi- cation [16]. The results of the study reveal that there is no significant difference between the sexes of the teacher candidates studying at the Department of Special Education. In the study conducted by Karaaslan and Budak (2012) titled ‘Research on the Use of Mobile Phone Features by University Students and Its Impact on Their Communica- tion Practices in Everyday Life’, uncover that female students use the mobile access feature of their mobile telephones more than the male students[17]. In addition, in their study titled ‘Internet Addiction and the Level of Subjective Well-Being in Ado- lescents’, Derin and Bilge (2016) reached the results that the Internet addiction mean score of females is f = 69.26, while the Internet addiction mean score for males is f = 78.33 [18]. Finally, it is uncovered that there is no significant difference between the age groups of special education teacher candidates, while the mobile Internet acceptance model of 1st grade teacher candidates shows difference in comparison to the other class groups. According to this result, it may be inferred that the 1st grade teacher candidates have higher scores compared to the other grades due to the retention of knowledge, as a result of the technology course given at the first grade term and their use of mobile Internet during the day. This study conducted on special education teacher candidates finally reveals that it should be useful for teacher candidates and individuals to include mobile Internet acceptance model in other research. 5 References [1] Bolat, Y. I., Aydemir, M. & Karaman, S. (2017). Uzaktan egitim ogrencilerinin mobil In- ternet kullanım tutumlarının teknoloji kabul modeline gore incelenmesi. 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Türk Psikolojik Danı!ma ve Rehberlik Dergisi, 6(46). iJIM ‒ Vol. 12, No. 4, 2018 41 Paper—Determining a Mobile Internet Acceptance Model of Special Education Teacher Candidates 6 Authors Begum Pastırmacıoglu is with University of Kyrenia, Cyprus. Semih Caliskan, Deniz Ozcan, and Huseyin Uzunboylu are with Near East Uni- versity, Cyprus. Article submitted 18 April 2018. Resubmitted 23 JMay 2018. Final acceptance 16 June 2018. Finall version published as ssubmitted by the authors. 42 http://www.i-jim.org iJIM – Vol. 12, No. 4, 2018 Determining a Mobile Internet Acceptance Model of Special Education Teacher Candidates