Mustafa Öztürk Akcaoglu | Kastamonu University (original) (raw)

Papers by Mustafa Öztürk Akcaoglu

Journal of computer and education research, Oct 20, 2020

In this study, the relationship between the general competencies for teaching profession and teac... more In this study, the relationship between the general competencies for teaching profession and teacher training programs in Turkey were investigated. The data were collected from 304 undergraduate students studying at a faculty of education in a state university. In order to collect data a scale consisting of the statements in general competencies for teaching profession and a list of elective and mandatory courses in the renewed teacher training program were used. The results revealed that students' competency levels were high. However, the correlation between the competency levels and the GPA of the students was weak. It was also found that preschool teaching department students had significantly higher competency scores than the other students'. Lastly, it was found that the most required course was ‚Teaching Practice I-II‛ and the least required course was ‚The Philosophy of Education‛ from the participants' point of view.

Kuramsal eğitim bilim dergisi, Apr 22, 2022

In the field of education, researchers have been studying individuals' psychological constructs s... more In the field of education, researchers have been studying individuals' psychological constructs such as burnout, engagement and personality traits to better understand their commitment. To this end, we examined the relationship among school engagement and burnout, personality traits and academic achievement in a sample of university students (N=301). The data were collected through Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey, Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-Students Form and The Quick Big Five Personality Test. In order to test the hypotheses of the study, descriptive statistics, zero-order correlations and multiple regression analyses were performed with SPSS 22.0. In the regression analyses, the stepwise method was preferred to find out the best-fitted method. Results indicated that the relationships among the dimensions of burnout and school engagement were the strongest. On the other hand, only Conscientiousness had a positive medium level of correlation with school engagement among the assessed personality traits. We also found out that school engagement was predicted by Efficacy, Exhaustion, Cynicism, Conscientiousness and emotional stability scores. The findings offered valuable insights to enhance our understanding of the relationships between school engagement and personality traits and burnout.

Journal of Business Research - Turk

Humor could act as a therapeutic agent for the employees by creating an entertaining environment.... more Humor could act as a therapeutic agent for the employees by creating an entertaining environment. It is also considered as a valuable administrative tool to increase production and workers' productivity. Leadership, on the other hand, is an important component of all kinds of organizations. Humor and leadership have been studied extensively in a variety of contexts. Although the relationship between humor types and leadership styles has become a topic of interest for the researchers, the predictive power of humor types in explaining leadership styles has not been studied. The aim of this study is to find out whether the subordinates' views regarding the type of their leaders differ and the type of humor predict leadership style of the managers. Design/methodology/approach-The study employed survey research design. To this end, 225 subordinates working at different organizations in a city located in Black Sea Region, Turkey participated in the study. In order to collect data Leadership Style Scale and Humor Behavior Scale were used. Findings-The findings of the study revealed that the subordinates working for different institutions mostly think that their managers are transactional leaders. In addition, the results of hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that humor types predict leadership styles at different levels. Discussion-The results of this study revealed that leadership styles differ depending on the type of organization. It can be argued that most of the subordinates in the organizations where the managers are appointed believes that their managers have the qualities of a transactional leader. 1999:220). Managers, school principals or teachers, whose job description include some kind of management qualities, take advantage of humor to ease the interpersonal communication (Rizzo et al., 1999:362). To this end, the humor used by the administrators, in the workplace where the individuals spend most of their time, is associated with their leadership qualities (Bass & Stogdill, 1990:130; Shamir, 1995:28). According to Napier and Gershenfeld (1993:129) 98% of executive managers nominate candidates for a leadership position with a good sense of humor. Crawford (1994:57) stresses that humor is the most-promising and least understood communication strategy used by the leaders. Although ignored until recently, because of its administrative qualities, the relationship between sense of humor and leadership style has become a topic of interest for the researchers (

Bartın Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi

Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, several studies in medical fields have been conducte... more Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, several studies in medical fields have been conducted; however, the impact of the disease on individuals’ psychology has not been covered enough. The measures taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19 have brought various restrictions both in social life and in areas such as education, economy and health. Due to the pandemic and subsequent restrictions, students continuing to higher education are likely to experience some psychological problems such as anxiety and depression, like other individuals. Therefore, studies regarding the anxiety levels of students should be carried out. In line with this need, the aim of the study is to adapt the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS) into Turkish in the context of higher education. The sample consisted of 513 undergraduate and graduate students. The data collection tools were the CAS and the STAI, and data were collected through an online survey platform. The results of CFA supported the factor structu...

Thinking Skills and Creativity

Higher-order thinking skills have become one of the most current and essential issues in educatio... more Higher-order thinking skills have become one of the most current and essential issues in educational research and attracted researchers' attention. The present study aimed to investigate the mediating role of metacognitive awareness in the relationship between self-regulation and critical thinking. The sample consisted of 460 teacher candidates, and the data collection tools were the Self–regulation Inventory, the Critical Thinking Standards Scale and the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory. The data were collected through an online survey platform, and mediation analyses were conducted to test the mediating role of metacognitive awareness in the relationship between critical thinking and self-regulation behaviors. The results revealed that these constructs were significantly related to each other, and metacognitive awareness was found as a partial mediator variable between self-regulation and critical thinking. Based on these results, it can be concluded that these constructs have a complex structure that needs to be investigated in future studies. The results of the current study suggest that the constructs of self-regulation and metacognitive awareness should be taken into consideration to enhance individuals' critical thinking skills.

Educational Policy Analysis and Strategic Research

In order for societies to normalize in educational, economic, social and mental health areas, the... more In order for societies to normalize in educational, economic, social and mental health areas, the COVID-19 pandemic must be ended as soon as possible. Currently, the most critical factor in eliminating the pandemic seems to be the vaccine. Vaccination is one of the most successful public health interventions and is a cornerstone for communicable disease prevention. Both current teachers and teacher candidates should be competent in the field of health literacy as well as in the education and training process. In this study, we tried to reveal the views of teacher candidates regarding COVID-19 and its vaccines based on the studies reporting that anti-vaccination increased in individuals with more education. Six hundred thirty-eight teacher candidates participated in the study. The research data were collected through an 11-item questionnaire, and the data were analyzed using descriptive and cross-tabulation analyzes. Research findings mainly showed that vaccine acceptance was low, and most of the participants thought the virus is artificial. Another finding of the research revealed that most of the participants who complied with all the rules regarding COVID-19 did not get the virus;however, it was seen that nearly all of the participants who caught COVID-19 had an infected individual in their family. Given the importance of vaccination, measures should be taken for vaccination hesitation and rejection.

Değişen dünyada eğitim, 2018

Journal of History Culture and Art Research, 2019

Increasing diversity within European countries has led the policy makers and the public to questi... more Increasing diversity within European countries has led the policy makers and the public to question the place of immigrants in society. Classrooms are becoming multicultural growingly as the migrants increase and mobility among countries becomes easier. Moreover, the number of diversities and cultural differences brought by the refugee students have raised. To this end, in this study, we aim to reveal and compare the multicultural attitudes of university students studying in different countries. A total of 356 university students from Turkey, Austria and Hungary participated in the study. In order to collect data, The Munroe Multicultural Attitude Scale Questionnaire (MASQUE) was used. The results revealed that there is a significant difference among the countries in terms of multicultural attitude, gender and political views of the participants. According to the findings, while Austria has the highest score in terms of multicultural attitude, Hungary has the lowest score. In addition, Austrian university students have the highest total score of multicultural attitude and know sub-dimension while Turkish university students have the highest scores of care and act sub-dimensions. Furthermore, it can be said that living/studying in an EU member country does not necessarily mean that university students have a high level of multicultural attitude.

Thinking Skills and Creativity, 2023

E-International Journal of Educational Research, 2022

How the mental health of individuals is affected by the living conditions brought about the COVID... more How the mental health of individuals is affected by the living conditions brought about the COVID-19 pandemic has become an important research topic. Education has been one of the most affected areas in this period, and educational activities have started to be carried out using distance education tools. In the online learning environments, students' ability to manage their behavior and take responsibility for their behavior has come to the fore in terms of protecting their mental health due to the decrease in teacher control. This study aimed to examine the mediating role of self-control in the relationship between loneliness, anxiety and mental well-being. Four hundred twenty-five university students, 304 (71.5%) females and 121 (28.5%) males participated in the study. The mean age of the participants was 21.39, the standard deviation was 2.61, and the ages ranged from 18 to 39. Research data were collected by using the Turkish version of the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale, Brief Self-Control Scale, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 Scale, and UCLA Loneliness Scale. In the study, descriptive statistics, reliability coefficients and correlation coefficients were calculated to examine the relationships among the variables. Two-step structural equation modeling was used to investigate the mediating role of self-control between loneliness and anxiety and mental well-being. The results of the correlation analysis showed that all the variables in the study were significantly related to each other. It was found that the data validated the measurement model tested in the first step. As a result of the structural model analysis performed in the second step, it was found that loneliness and anxiety negatively predicted self-control and mental well-being. In addition, self-control was found to mediate the relationship between loneliness, anxiety and mental well-being. Within the framework of these findings, it can be stated that loneliness and anxiety lead to a decrease in mental well-being by reducing self-control.

International Reviewof Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 2022

School closures during the COVID-19 pandemic have shown the importance of distance education, and... more School closures during the COVID-19 pandemic have shown the importance of distance education, and teachers have been tasked with designing and delivering online courses in a short amount of time without much preparation or deliberation. As the future generation of teachers, preservice teachers need to be prepared to teach online, and their motivation to do so is a key factor in how successfully they do it. The community of inquiry framework provides researchers and practitioners with a framework for designing and delivering online courses, while self-efficacy and utility value are important motivational constructs predicting future engagement and success in tasks. In this cross-sectional survey study, we investigated preservice teachers' (n = 344) perceptions of their self-efficacy, utility value, the importance of the three components of the community of inquiry framework: teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence. Our results show that overall, preservice teachers had high motivation to teach online and high perceptions of the three presences. Our regression analyses indicated that while preservice teachers' selfefficacy was a significant predictor of teaching presence, utility value only significantly predicted social presence. We discuss the implications of these findings for teacher education programs, including a holistic approach to teaching online learning and instructional design.

Participatory Educational Research (PER), 2022

The sudden increase in diversity in the public schools has caught teacher preparation institution... more The sudden increase in diversity in the public schools has caught teacher
preparation institutions unprepared. The situation has led to a need to
develop instructional interventions to help pre-service teachers get ready
for a new context that they will be facing for the first time. Multicultural
education can be of great importance to address the issues related to
diversities. In order to create multicultural environments at schools, all
the actors of the educational area need skills to better communicate with
students from different cultures. One of the most important topics during
the teacher training process is equipping the pre-service teachers with the
necessary skills, attitudes, and information to teach in multicultural
environments. To this end, designing a teacher-training curriculum to
raise pre-service teachers' multicultural efficacy levels is essential. In this
quasi-experimental study, we investigated the effects of a 10-week
multicultural education intervention carried out through Bank’s content
integration process. Fifty-two pre-service teachers enrolled at the
department of social sciences in a state university in Turkey participated
in the study. Findings indicated a statistically significant difference
between the pre-test and post-test scores of the pre-service teachers in the
experimental group, who attended the 10-week course, in terms of their
multicultural attitude and efficacy. It was concluded that the multicultural
education intervention, carried out according to Bank's content
integration dimension, significantly affected pre-service teachers'
multicultural attitude and efficacy.

Çukurova Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 2021

The challenges of working with diverse students have made it critical to prepare teacher candidat... more The challenges of working with diverse students have made it critical to prepare teacher candidates who are culturally sensitive and can observe the classes through a multicultural lens and integrate these competencies with their self-efficacy. This study aimed to examine the mediation role of intercultural sensitivity on the relationship between teachers' multicultural attitude and sense of efficacy. Two hundred and nine (female: 76, male: 133) teacher candidates participated in the study from a mid-sized state university in Turkey. Data were collected via the Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES), the Teacher Multicultural Attitude Survey (TMAS) and the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale (ISS). The results showed that intercultural sensitivity fully mediated the relationship between teacher multicultural attitude and teachers' sense of efficacy. As a result, it can be said that teacher candidates feel themselves competent at the level that they can transform their positive tendencies about multicultural environments into behavioral skills.

The 8 th International Congress on Curriculum and Instruction, 2021

Although multiculturalism has affected almost all institutions in the social structure, education... more Although multiculturalism has affected almost all institutions in the social structure, education is one of the areas most affected by multiculturalism. This study was carried out to determine the relationship between the experiences, attitudes, efficacies and opinions of pre-service teachers studying at the faculty of theology and their social desirability levels. The study group of the research consisted of 289 religious culture and ethics teacher candidates studying at the faculty of theology of a state university selected by convenient sampling method. The Multicultural Efficacy Scale and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale were used to collect the data. As a result of the research, it was revealed that teacher candidates preferred the option only occasionally in the first item, and they chose rarely or never for the other items of the multicultural experiences sub-scale. The research findings revealed that the multicultural attitudes, efficacies and experiences of the participants were moderate. The item analysis results of the teacher candidates’ strongest beliefs about multicultural education revealed that the participants mostly chose the sentence representing the item indicating assimilation. Descriptive statistics on the social desirability levels of teacher candidates showed that the majority of the participants were at the moderate level. The results of the research also revealed that there is a weak and positive significant relationship between the multicultural experiences of the participants and their attitudes and efficacy levels; and, a weak and positive significant relationship between multicultural attitudes and efficacies.

The COVID-19 Pandemic: Teacher Candidates' Views regarding the Virus and Vaccination Process, 2021

In order for societies to normalize in educational, economic, social and mental health areas, the... more In order for societies to normalize in educational, economic, social and mental health areas, the COVID-19 pandemic must be ended as soon as possible. Currently, the most critical factor in eliminating the pandemic seems to be the vaccine. Vaccination is one of the most successful public health interventions and is a cornerstone for communicable disease prevention. Both current teachers and teacher candidates should be competent in the field of health literacy as well as in the education and training process. In this study, we tried to reveal the views of teacher candidates regarding COVID-19 and its vaccines based on the studies reporting that anti-vaccination increased in individuals with more education. Six hundred thirty-eight teacher candidates participated in the study. The research data were collected through an 11-item questionnaire, and the data were analyzed using descriptive and cross-tabulation analyzes. Research findings mainly showed that vaccine acceptance was low, and most of the participants thought the virus is artificial. Another finding of the research revealed that most of the participants who complied with all the rules regarding COVID-19 did not get the virus; however, it was seen that nearly all of the participants who caught COVID-19 had an infected individual in their family. Given the importance of vaccination, measures should be taken for vaccination hesitation and rejection.

The Effect of a Multicultural Education Course on Teachers' Attitudes towards Multicultural Education and Prejudices Research Article, 2021

The present study aimed to find out whether a course on multicultural education affect teachers' ... more The present study aimed to find out whether a course on multicultural education affect teachers' attitudes towards multicultural education, cultural differences, prejudices and democracy education. To this end, a one-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design was employed. The sample of the study consisted of 20 teachers enrolled in a graduate program at a mid-sized public university in the Western Black Sea Region of Turkey. The Democracy and Multicultural Education Attitude Scale (DMEAS) was administered both at the beginning and at the end of the 14-week multicultural education course. Wilcoxon signed-rank and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to compare the pre-test and post-test scores, to analyze the differences based on gender, place of residence and years of experience. The findings of the Wilcoxon signed-rank test revealed a statistically significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores regarding attitudes towards multicultural education, cultural differences, prejudices and democracy education. In addition, Kruskal-Wallis results indicated a significant difference for the gender and place of residence variables for the posttest. However, the results of Kruskal-Wallis showed that there was not significant difference in terms of years of experience. Based on the findings, it can be said that a multicultural education course added to the curricula could significantly improve the multicultural attitudes of the teachers and reduce their prejudices.

The Relationship Between Multicultural Efficacies and Social Desirability Levels of Religious Culture and Ethics Teacher Candidates, 2021

In this study, answers to the following questions about the Religious Culture and Ethics Teacher ... more In this study, answers to the following questions about the Religious Culture and Ethics Teacher Candidates
(RCE) were sought:
What is the level of multicultural experience, attitudes and efficacies of the RCE teacher candidates?
What are the strongest beliefs of the RCE teacher candidates about multiculturalism?
What is the level of social desirability of the RCE teacher candidates?
Is there a significant relationship between the multicultural experience, attitudes and competencies, social desirability levels of the RCE teacher candidates, and the gender and grade level?
Is there a significant relationship between the multicultural experience, attitude and competence levels of the RCE teacher candidates?
Is there a significant relationship between the multicultural experience, attitudes and competencies of the RCE teacher candidates and their social desirability levels?

Predictive Power of Humor Types in Explaining Leadership Styles in Different Organizations, 2020

AN ASSESSMENT OF ACADEMIC WRITING NEEDS OF GRADUATE STUDENTS

This study mainly aimed at investigating the academic writing needs and writing self-efficacy bel... more This study mainly aimed at investigating the academic writing needs and writing self-efficacy beliefs of graduate students studying at an English-medium university, Ankara. Furthermore, such areas that have a crucial role in determining writing needs as the frequency of writing tasks, usefulness of written sources, perceived importance of academic writing, and role of Turkish while writing were explored. In this study, quantitative data via “Academic Writing Needs Assessment Survey for Graduate Students” were collected from 213 graduate students enrolled at Graduate School of Social Sciences. Descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, and multiple regression analyses were employed to analyze the data. The results of descriptive statistics indicated that the graduate students need a wider vocabulary repertoire in order to cope with the challenges of academic writing and they are mostly assigned longer research papers. In addition, using journal articles published in the area of specialization during writing was the most common method and more than half of the graduate students stated that when stuck with finding the right word, they first look for a Turkish word first.
The exploratory factor analysis produced two factors and the regression analyses were carried out. The results yielded that the predictors accounted for 24% of the variance in productivity-related academic writing needs, and 22% of the variance in accuracy-related academic writing needs. For the productivity-related academic writing needs, writing self-efficacy and academic status made a significant contribution and for the accuracy-related academic writing needs, writing self- efficacy and English proficiency exam score were significant.

Big Five and Dark Triad personality traits as predictors of multicultural attitude and efficacy, 2021

background The advances in communication and transportation facilities have accelerated the forma... more background
The advances in communication and transportation facilities have accelerated the formation of multicultural societies worldwide. Personality traits may be one of the most important indicators of adapting to multicultural environments. Educational environments are multicultural in terms of the composition of students they serve. The present study investigated the predictive role of Big Five and Dark Triad personality traits on multicultural attitude and efficacy (MAE) among teacher candidates.

participants and procedure
The study population comprised of teacher candidates (N = 404) studying in Turkey. In order to collect data, Big Five personality and the Dark Triad, the Adjective Based Personality Scale and the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen Scale were used respectively. In addition, data regarding MAE were collected through the Multicultural Efficacy Scale.

results
The results showed that openness to new experience positively (β = .16, p < .01) and psychopathy negatively (β = –.16, p < .01) predicted multicultural attitude. On the other hand, multicultural efficacy was positively predict- ed only by openness to new experience (β = .32, p < .001). Therefore, openness and psychopathic traits can play an important role in explaining multicultural attitude and efficacy. Also, there is no significant difference with regard to teacher candidates’ multicultural efficacy and attitudes according to their grade level.

conclusions
Individuals with openness to new experiences personality trait have a positive attitude towards multiculturalism, and they view themselves as competent to get involved in multicultural environments. On the other hand, individuals with the psychopathy personality trait have negative attitudes towards multiculturalism.