Opinions of Art Teachers on the Standards of the International Society for Technology in Education : The Case of Western Mediterranean Region , Turkey

The purpose of this study, which is based on qualitative data, is to reveal the opinions of art teachers on the teacher standards set by the International Society for Technology in Education. It has been observed that the majority of participants of a study group are not aware of these standards, use social networks but do not use mobile applications, use the Internet for information-research purposes, and follow a news from the Internet. The participants think that students should be directed to conscious Internet use and must be educated accordingly. The study group is of the opinion that technology and the teachers’ field knowledge should be included in education training to facilitate the learning of students and to stimulate their creativity. Group members also believe that classical education and original activity design should be utilized in the design and development of learning experiences and evaluation activities, and the use of technology and applications that focus on students in order to be an example on studying and learning in this information age is needed. According to the participants, art teachers should inform students about conscious use of the Internet, and teach them to integrate life-long learning with real-life situations by participating in professional development-leadership activities. One of the participants thinks that excessive use of technology during classes will make students become used to excessive comfort. Another participant is of the opinion that the use of technology in the learning environment will not be useful. As a result of the study, the following suggestions are offered.  Art teachers can be informed about teacher standards.  Art teachers can be given training about involving technology in teaching-learning processes, about learning experiences and the design of the evaluation activities, and life-long learning and professional development.  Studies that emphasize the importance of the use of technological resources in education can be conducted.  Art teachers can be informed about conscious Internet use.


Introduction
In line with the requirements of the Information Age, it is aimed for students, who are trapped between the trio of pencil, notebook and blackboard, to use the highest level available of technological resources to access information.In creating an Information Society, the rapid transformation of the age and the process of globalization cause changes in education and learning needs of individuals at all levels (Gürbüz, 2006: 373-375).For this reason, every new technological resource should be used in a functional manner in the educational environment.The amount of student knowledge can be increased in a multifaceted manner.Many studies have shown that the educational use of technology has an important role in the development of the student's analysis and implementation (Le Conseil Ontarien des Directeurs de L'Education (CODE), 2011:Avis No:3).From this point of view, there is a need for teachers to encourage students in the teaching environment, design and develop learning experiences and evaluation activities, become a model to students, and actively participate in their own professional development and leadership activities.Therefore, it is important for teachers to know and apply the standards of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).
A road map for transforming education, the ISTE standards help innovative educators to re-engineer and reimagine their classrooms and schools for digital-age learning.They are a guide for amplifying and empowering learning, no matter where you are on the journey to the effective and meaningful integration of ed tech (Free ISTE Standards for Educators Resource).
The degree to which art teachers consider themselves adequate within the framework of the Standards of the ISTE constitutes the problem case of this study.
The aim of the study set out in the framework of the problem case is to determine opinions of a study group of art teachers on the teacher standards regarding the education technologies determined by the ISTE.In the study, a semi-structured interview method was applied.

Research Model
This is a case study based on qualitative data and in this study a semi-structured interview technique was used.In this study, the opinions of art teachers about the teacher standards set by the ISTE were used.For this purpose, a semi-structured interview method was applied.Semi-structured interviews have been based because of their certain level of standard and flexibility, which are based on writing and completing tests and helping to remove limitations in the questionnaires and obtain in-depth information on a specific topic (Yıldırım ve Şimşek, 2008).The interview form was developed by the researcher.The data were collected from a total of 15 art teachers.

Study Group
The study group for this research consists of a total of 15 art teachers who graduated from the Department of Art Teaching of a university located in the Western Mediterranean region of Turkey.
The demographic characteristics of the study group are given in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4 below.
The gender characteristics of the study group are given in Table 1 below.When we look at the distribution of social networking site users, it is seen that six of the participants use Facebook; four of them use Twitter; one of them uses issuu.com;one of them uses Sinefesto; and one of them uses onedio.com.
The information on mobile applications that the study group uses is shown in Table 4 below.The opinions of the study group members' on facilitating students learning and encouraging their creativity seem to accumulate under the themes of field knowledge and education.
Under the theme of field knowledge, one participant thinks that self-evaluation of the art teacher is important for encouraging students' learning and creativity, and one thinks that overuse of technological resources will create an addiction of comfort for the student instead of motivating him/her.
Under the theme of education, 11 participants think that the means of technology should be seen as a supplementary resource during the lesson, one participant thinks that technology should be used when giving student assignments, one thinks that technology should be used in sharing things regarding lessons, and one thinks that computer games should be used as lesson materials.
Frequency distributions of study group members' opinions for designing and developing activities are presented in Table 8 below.The opinions of the study group members on designing and developing learning experiences and evaluation activities seem to concentrate under the themes of classical education and unique activity design.
Under the theme of classical education, one participant thinks that student feedback is important, two think that activities linked to the plans are important, and one thinks that survey studies are important in designing and developing learning experiences and evaluation activities.One participant thinks that the use of technology in the learning environment is not beneficial.
Under the theme of unique activity design, one participant thinks that the applications centered on digital technology will be beneficial, two think that teaching students how to use the Internet consciously will be beneficial, and four think that designing and using web sites intended for the course will be beneficial.One participant does not have an opinion on designing and developing learning experiences and assessment activities.
Frequency distributions of study group members' opinions on being a model are presented in Table 9   In the study group, one person thinks that the overuse of technological resources during a lesson will create an addiction of comfort for the students instead of motivating them.Likewise, one person believes that the use of technology in the learning environment will not be useful.
 The majority of the study group argues that it is important that students be guided toward conscious use of Internet and educated on this issue.
 The study group considers technology use and student-centered applications important in becoming a role model for studying and learning in the Information Age.
 The study group has the opinion that art teachers should inform their students about using the Internet consciously in order to promote a feeling of responsibility in them for using technology and to be a role model for them.
 The study group thinks that art teachers' involvement in professional development and leadership activities depends on their integration to the concept of life-long learning.
In this research, the results obtained are mostly gathered on learning-teaching staffs and learning resources.Şimşek also conducted similar research in 2005.The research was carried out by Şimşek ( 2005) and revealed differences in views of education technology as a discipline and the practices of education technologies in various countries.A total of 71 experts from 12 universities in six countries participated in this earlier survey by the survey method.The results support the idea that the functions of educational technology in various fields are mostly related to learning-teaching processes and learning resources.Professional views about the current state of discipline have shown that there is no significant difference in the problems encountered in different countries.

Suggestions
The following suggestions can be made within the framework of the above results obtained in the research.
 Art teachers can be informed about the teacher standards set by the International Society of Educational Technologies and the results can be observed.
 Research on methods of designing and developing activities for teachers through technology can be conducted.
 Teachers can be given seminars on how to teach conscious Internet use to their students.
 Guidance can be given to teachers to provide professional development and the results can be evaluated.

Table 1 .
The Gender Features of the study groupThe information on the grade-point average of the study group is given in Table2below.

Table 2 .
Grade Average of the study groupInformation on the social networking sites used by the study group is shown in Table3below.

Table 3 .
The study group's Use of Social Networking Sites Thirteen of the participants in the study group use social networking sites, while two of them do not use any of them.

Table 4 .
The study group's Mobile Application Use

Table 7 .
Frequency Distributions of Opinions on Encouraging Learning And Creativity

Table 8 .
Frequency Distributions of Opinions for Designing and Developing Activities below.