A Comparative Study on Perception of Teachers on the Use of Computers in Elementary Schools of Turkey and T.R.N.C

The purpose of this survey study was to investigate the perceptions of teachers on the usage of computers in elementary schools of two countries (Turkey and TRNC). The data for this study was collected through a survey from the teachers in Erzurum and Lefkoşa (Nicosia). A total of 250 elementary school teachers from the schools of two cities participated in the research. The survey results indicated that teachers in both countries had a positive attitude toward the use of computers in schools. They commonly thought that computers may develop student motivation, skills, interest and achievement if they were used effectively. They also think that the future will be based on the knowledge of information technology. Turkish Cypriot teachers use computers mostly for correspondences, preparing exam questions and course materials. On the other hand Turkish teachers mainly used computers for preparing course materials, exam questions, calculating student grades and lesson plans. As Turkish teachers used computers more, Turkish Cypriot teachers used computers longer than Turkish teachers. Both groups of teachers generally considered that inservice training use of computers were not effective.