Hobbs and Tuzel share the results of a large sample of Turkish educators who have varying motivations for implementing digital and media literacy education. Educators have a variety of beliefs and attitudes about the best ways to support students’ critical thinking, creativity, communication and collaboration skills by connecting the classroom to contemporary society, mass media and popular culture. Teachers who advance digital and media literacy may have a complex set of attitudes and habits of mind that influence their motivations to use digital media for learning. We conducted survey research with a sample of 2,820 Turkish educators to examine teachers’ motivations for digital learning, using a 48- item Likert scale instrument that assesses teachers’ perception of the value and relevance of six conceptual themes including attitudes towards technology tools, genres and formats; message content and quality; community connectedness; texts and audiences; media systems; and learner-centered focus. Digital learning motivation profiles reveal distinctive identity positions of social science, language arts, and ICT teachers in Turkey. The most common profiles include the identity positions of “Techie,” “Demystifier” and “Tastemaker.” Statistically significant associations were found between teachers’ subject-area specialization and their digital learning motivation profiles. Professional development programs should assess teachers’ digital learning motivation profiles and build learning experiences that expand upon the strengths of teachers’ beliefs and the conceptual themes of most importance to them.

1. Teacher Motivations for
Digital and Media Literacy in Turkey
Renee Hobbs and Sait Tuzel
National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) Conference
Friday, June 26, 2015

2. PEER-TO-PEER FILE SHARING
What really motivates teachers to care about digital
and media literacy
Research on motivations of Turkish teachers
Implications for professional development and teacher
education
Goals for Today’s Session

3. LOVE HATE
PRINT VISUAL SOUND DIGITAL
Educators’ attitudes about media, technology and
popular culture shape their work with learners

4. ACCESS
ANALYZEE
CREATE ACT
REFLECT
ACCESS
Theoretical foundations of the QUIZ

5. open access
multitasking
transmediation
curation
play
data ownership
identity
representation
privacy
addiction
Theoretical foundations of the QUIZ

6. Empowerment
Theoretical foundations of the QUIZ

7. Protection
Theoretical foundations of the QUIZ

8. Motivations
for Using Media & Technology
in Education
12

9. Six Conceptual Themes of Quiz
Tools, Genres and Formats Message Content and Quality Community Connectedness
Texts and Audiences Media Systems Learner-Centered Focus

10. TECHIE
You’re the educator who loves tablets, apps, programs, plug-
ins, widgets, websites, and other types of educational
technology because you have a passionate curiosity about
new tools. You see much potential to engage students with
the technology tools they love and use in their everyday lives.
PROFESSIONAL
You have high standards for your students’ work, and you
may be seen as the go-to media professional in your school.
You know how to push your students to understand and
emulate the professional conventions that is important to
being taken seriously in the world of media creation. To help
students enter the real world of media creation, you bring
other authors, professionals, and media-makers into your
classroom to enrich the learning experience.
Ifyoulikenewtoolsandhavehigh
standardsforyourstudentswork...

11. DEMYSTIFIER
As a teacher, you “pull back the curtain” to help students see
how various forms of information and knowledge are
constructed. You emphasize the practice of critical thinking,
helping students ask good “how” and “why” questions.
WATCHDOG
You are a natural critical thinker, aware of how economic
systems and institutions influence our everyday lives,
particularly through the media we use. You want your
students and your peers to be more mindful of the ways that
things are bought and sold. Who owns and controls the
media content that we see, hear, read, and play with? You
feel responsible for giving your students a “wake-up call”
about the economic and institutional inner-workings of the
technology and the world that surrounds them.
Ifyouwanttoteachingaboutmedia
contentandsystem…

12. ACTIVIST
As an educator, you want to make society more just and
equitable by promoting democratic participation. You use
media in the classroom as a catalyst for students to
understand how they might have a voice in improving the
quality of life in their communities and in the world.
TEACHER 2.0
You understand that participation in digital media and
learning cultures requires flexibility to new formats, modes of
expression, and participation in and out of school. You use
online or interactive versions of classic literature to explore
meaning behind texts. Teacher 2.0 teachers always trying
new things in the classroom and finding new ways to
connect learning to children’s culture.
Ifyoucareaboutcivicengagement
andactiveparticipation…

13. MOTIVATOR
You are an inspiration, a catalyst for your students’ creative
energy. Students who have never felt comfortable speaking
up in class, participating in activities, or contributing to class
dialogue find it easier to speak their mind when you’re
leading the classroom. You see your role as helping students
be the best they can be.
SPIRIT GUIDE
You are a listener. You have a dedication to the social and
emotional well-being of your students, and want to make
sure that everything you do in the classroom connects to
their immediate needs to understand themselves and their
lives. Students likely find you trustworthy, and may even
confide in you in ways that they do not for other teachers.
You know media is just one facet of student life, and you
want to engage with it to help them through the highs and
lows of life in all of its challenges and opportunities.
Ifyoufocusonstudentcentered-
education…

14. TRENDSETTER
You’re tuned into pop culture and curious about kid culture.
Maybe your own most-loved popular culture isn’t too far
removed from that of your students. You are inquisitive about
the trends and hot topics that make up a crucial component
of the fabric of your students’ everyday lives. You want school
culture to meet kids where they live with the popular culture
they know and love.
ALT
You are an inventive, perhaps “DIY,” teacher. You’re always ready
to challenge students with alternative ways of finding, using,
thinking about, and making media in the classroom. Whether
you use open source programs on school computers, encourage
students to start alternative clubs or magazines, or introduce
students to media that’s “off the beaten path” of mainstream
and mass media, you are likely a key proponent of broadening
students’ understanding of the many different ways that people
can communicate in the world.
Ifyouinterestedinkidsculture
andopensourcematerial…

15. TASTEMAKER
You want to broaden your students’ horizons. You want them
to have exposure to the kinds of media experiences that put
them in touch with historical, aesthetic, and critical
appreciation. You know that a key component of students’
future interactions will require them to draw from a variety
of cultural sources both classical and popular.
PROFESSOR
You balance your interest in media and technology with a
clear connection to academic standards. You want to be sure
that media and technology are not used in the classroom for
their own sake, but to gain content knowledge. Multimedia
presentations, engaging websites, and educational
technology serve the purpose of helping you deliver the core
content and skills students need to master.
Ifyoulikethepopularcultureand
teachingwithmedia…

18. Context: Media Literacy in Turkey
• Turkey has embarked on
one of the world’s largest
educational technology
projects by putting
interactive whiteboards
and tablets in thousands
of classrooms but without
providing consistent
levels of teacher training.

19. Turkish Adaptation
• Translation Process
• Language Equivalence
Process

20. Learn your own motivation…
http://www.medyaegitimilab.org/

21. Purpose of the Study
The study investigates the digital
learning motivation profiles of a large
sample of Turkish teachers in
relationship to
• their subject-area specializations,
• access to media and digital tools,
• frequency of use of different types
of media and technology tools.

22. Sampling
January 2014- June 2014
Online
2820 Teachers

23. 1-5 1519 53.9
21-25 689 24.4
26-30 1052 37.3

24. 13.4
86.6
40.2
41.0
45.0
61.5

25. Model x2 = 72.46 p= .000x2 = 1501.90; df=33; p=.000
Source: Hobbs, R. & Tuzel, S. (Accepted) Teacher Motivations for Digital and Media Literacy: An
Examination of Turkish Educators. British Journal of Educational Technology.
205 39.3
78 15 219 30.2
182 25.1
80 11.5
328 47

26. Some Instructional Practices of Digital
and Media Literacy
Find, comprehend and
interpret content
Gain knowledge
and information
Examine the quality of
educational resources
Share ideas through
dialogue & discussion
Create, build or
make something
Reflect on expected and
unanticipated consequences
Develop and implement a
plan of action
Critically analyze how
messages are constructed

27. Consider the variety of teacher
motivations when designing
professional development in digital
and media literacy

28. Reflection on one’s own motivations
may increase metacognition about instructional practices

29. Sensitivity to teacher motivations may contribute to the
design of PD with greater impact

30. Renee Hobbs
Media Education Lab
Harrington School of
Communication and Media
University of Rhode Island USA
hobbs@uri.edu
Twitter: @reneehobbs
http://mediaeducationlab.com
Sait Tuzel
Associate Professor
Visiting Scholar
Media Education Lab
Harrington School of Communication
and Media
University of Rhode Island USA
saidtuzel@gmail.com
@saidtuzel