Pre-service teachers’ opinions on cloud supported social network

Abstract

Pre-service teachers are expected to use new technologies such as Google+ which facilitates contacting, sharing in certain environments and working collaboratively with the help of cloud support in their lessons effectively. This study aims to examine pre-service teachers’ opinions regarding the use of Google+ to support lesson activities. In this study the data was collected using semi-structured interview techniques carried out with pre-service teachers (n=15) chosen by purposeful sampling. The purposes of using Google+ were sharing, chatting and communication, whereas Google Docs was mostly used for its efficiency, interaction, the prudential purpose of use and to support teaching. When the views of the pre-service teachers regarding the use of Google+ were examined it was found that interface being thought to be more complex than other social networks affected the teachers’ first impressions negatively. As the negative first impression towards Google+ changed in time, it was stated to have provided a number of teaching opportunities. Some suggestions regarding the opportunities Google+ offers were also made.Keywords: Google+, social networks, pre-service teachers’ opinions, cloud computing.