Pedagogical Formation Program Students' Perceptions of Social Network Concept

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to reveal the perceptions of pedagogical formation program students of the concept of social networks through metaphors. The study was conducted with 70 students attending the pedagogical formation program at Anadolu University. Study data were collected with the data collection tool that included a demographic information survey and the following phrase: "A social network is like ..., because ..." The students' perceptions of the concept of social network were analyzed with the content analysis technique. The Cramer's V test was used to examine the relationship between gender and the department of graduation and the students' perceptions of the concept of social network. As a result of the study, a total of 44 valid metaphors produced by the pedagogical formation program students on the social network concept were classified as eight conceptual categories. In the study, it was observed that "communication tool", "world" and "infectious disease" were the most produced metaphors on the concept of social network, the produced metaphors did not differ based on gender and department, and the perception of the concept of social network generally concentrated on positive categories.