INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) TEACHER CANDIDATES’ ATTITUDES AND PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS ONLINE TESTING DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

This study aims to determine the attitudes and opinions of pre-service IT teacher candidates regarding online testing at the first period of the COVID-19 pandemic. This research is a descriptive study with explanatory sequential mixed method design. The study sample consisted of 69 teacher candidates enrolled in 3 different courses lectured by the researcher at the Computer Education and Instructional Technologies Department, in the spring semester of 2019-2020 academic year. The data were collected through the Online Exam Attitude Scale and interview form developed by researcher. In quantitative data analysis, frequency, percentage, and average, independent sample t-test, one-way ANOVA, and chi-square test were applied as well as descriptive statistics. The content analysis method was used to analyze the qualitative data obtained from the survey. The findings suggest that (1) teacher candidates’ attitude scores were above average; (2) their attitudes towards online testing differed significantly depending on gender, age, course, and computer self-efficacy levels; and (3) the participants who had taken online exams before had a more positive attitude towards the method, but this difference was not significant. Besides, according to teacher candidates’ opinions towards online testing, the most important advantage of the method was that they felt independent and comfortable due to taking the exams in the home environment and without a proctor. On the other hand, possible technical problems during the exam were other frequently mentioned issues in the student views regarding online testing.