Abstract:

Abstract The primary research aim of this current study was to better understand the digital technology use of Turkish kindergarten teachers in their parental involvement practices. A questionnaire designed by the authors was administered to 100 kindergarten teachers in five cities located within Turkey. It was revealed in the study results that the kindergarten teachers owned a variety of electronic devices and used those devices for both personal and educational purposes within the early childhood education setting. Teachers used digital technologies for their parental involvement practices less than they did for their own personal use or for other activities within the educational setting. The parental involvement types where teachers most often used digital technologies were for parenting and communicating. While the least popular parental involvement types where kindergarten teachers used digital technologies were decision-making and collaborating with the community. Teachers mentioned the two most common reasons for insufficient technology use for parental involvement were the parents’ financial status and level of knowledge. A negative relationship between teachers’ personal technology use and experience in the field increased, they were less likely to encounter problems regarding digital technology use for parental involvement. Author Biographies Ahmet Sami Konca Assistant Prof. Dr. Department of Early Childhood Education  Erciyes University Turkey E-mail:[email protected] ORCID: 0000-0002-6423-6608

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