JOURNALISM EDUCATION IN WEB 2.0: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON EDUCATORS IN TURKEY

Özet

The information age has massive implications for journalism and journalism education. Journalism in the 21st century has been radically changed through ubiquitous connectivity, and a cultural shift is required for journalism educators to enable engagement and critical reflection upon the use of Web 2.0 into new pedagogical strategies. Educators, namely academics and professionals in academia, have been debating what the future of journalism education will look like. Classrooms and class spaces in Web 2.0 have enabled learners anywhere to acquire information directly from experts. It is so-called fractional learning where a learner can sort an individualized and balanced result from a multitude of views that is inevitable in journalism. This study aims to determine the level of educators, academics and professionals in academia, in the usage of digital tools in their own works and teaching journalism. Another purpose of this study is to determine whether the level in the usage of digital tools changes according to demographic features or not. In this study, a survey was carried out with an online posted questionnaire as data collected at first hand. The questionnaire consisted of two parts. Firstly, educators were asked to provide demographic information about themselves. The second section included a questionnaire used to measure educators' usage of digital tools in Web 2.0 in their own daily lives, works and journalism education, and the academic unit they have been working for. The results of this survey were analyzed using SPSS22.00 (Statistical Package for The Social Sciences). Frequency distribution was administered to analyze the data gathered in this survey.