Examination of Department of CEIT Teacher Candidates’ Digital Literacy Levels and Cyberbullying Sensitivities

In this study, sensitivities of digital literacy and cyberbullying of teacher candidates trained in Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technologies (CEIT) was examined in terms of various variables. In addition, the relationship between candidates' digital literacy levels and their sensitivities to cyberbullying was investigated. The universe of the research is constituted by prospective teachers of the Department of CEIT. The working group of the research is students who are in training at 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade in spring semester 2017–2018 at Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technologies in Firat University Faculty of Education. The research was carried out using a mixed research method in which both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used. In order to obtain data in the research, Personal Information Form, Semi-structured Interview Form on Cyberbullying and Digital Literacy, Sensitivity Scale for Cyberbullying and Digital Literacy Scale were used. As a result of the research, it was determined that the digital literacy levels and sensitivity to cyberbullying of the teacher candidates are at a high level. A moderately positive correlation was found between the teacher candidates’ digital literacy levels and their sensitivities to cyberbullying. Accordingly, when the digital literacy levels of the participants increase, their sensitivity to cyberbullying is increasing. When the qualitative data were examined, it was observed that teacher candidates were conscious about digital literacy and cyberbullying sensitivity