Abstract:

Universities are important institutions for educating qualified individuals who can meet the requirements of the era and contribute to the advancement of the society. Depending upon the change in societies, universities are undergoing change as well. This need to change is caused by various factors such as integration of technology into individuals’ life which is one of the most compelling factors. Academicians are required to modify their teaching strategies to adapt to the new assumptions and change from a paper and pencil methodology to a student active learning environment. Accordingly, new education methods need to be developed on the basis of developing technologies and rapid communication facilities. One way to reach this aim is the integration of information and communication technologies into teaching. Although technology is not the only solution for all educational problems, it is a significant and effective instrument to be used in the educational process. Web 2.0, which is one of the intensively used technologies of the present day, making the Internet more creative, participatory and social, is an instrument with more dynamic features and can be 100% user-oriented. Literature review demonstrates that the use of Web 2.0 tools for educational purposes lead to progress in teaching and learning environment and contribute to raise individuals of the information society.
One of the Web 2.0 tools is the Wikis that enable two-way teacher-student and student-student interaction. This study investigates whether students’ opinions and behaviors about wiki differ in respect to learning approaches. Learning approaches are evaluated within the scope of individual differences, and incorporate both what students do (strategy) and why they do it (intention) while studying and can reveal either a `deep' (striving for meaning and understanding) or a `surface' (instrumental, reproductive and minimalist) orientation (Marton &S Säljö, 1976). Descriptive survey methodology was used for the study; and descriptive and t- test analysis were used to evaluate the data. Study Process Questionnaire (SPQ) was used to determine students’ learning approaches. 52 prospective teachers were subjected and the Cronbach alpha values were 0.75 for deep approach and 0.78 for surface approach. Also a second questionnaire was administered to collect data about students’ opinions and behaviors on Wiki. For the second questionnaire Cronbach alpha values were 0.91, 0.85, and 0.80, opinions for communication on Wiki, interaction on Wiki, and following Wiki regularly, respectively.

According to the data obtained, students’ opinions for communication and interaction on Wiki and following Wiki regularly behaviors are not show statistically significant differences between deep and surface learners. Based on the study results; it is recommended to use Wiki to support students who has both deep and surface learning approaches.

Keywords:

Web 2.0, Wikis, learning approaches, prospective teachers.