Examination of Graduate Theses Prepared within the Scope of Digital Competence in the Social Studies Curriculum

Abstract

This research has been prepared in order to examine the postgraduate theses within the scope of Digital Competence, which is among the 8 key competencies determined by the Turkish Competences Framework in the secondary school Social Studies curriculum. The research is a basic qualitative study. In the research, the postgraduate theses prepared within the scope of digital competence were obtained through document analysis among the works in the National Thesis Center. The number of the postgraduate thesis studies examined, the university in which they were prepared, the method used in the department and the thesis studies were examined in a comparative way. It was determined that 16 of the postgraduate theses examined in accordance with the purpose of the research were prepared within the scope of digital competence. It has been determined that 12 of these theses were prepared as master thesis studies and 4 of them were prepared as doctoral thesis studies. It has been determined that 12 of the prepared postgraduate thesis studies were on education and training, 1 on geography, 1 on communication sciences, 1 on journalism and 1 on engineering sciences. In the postgraduate thesis studies examined, it was observed that 3 of them were prepared at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University and 2 of them were prepared at Marmara University. It was seen that other theses were prepared at Bahçeşehir University, Gazi University, Yeditepe University, Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University, Adıyaman University, Trabzon University Mersin University, Yıldız Technical University, Mardin Artuklu University, İstanbul Bilgi University, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University. It has been determined that it was prepared in the Department of Turkish and Social Sciences Education, Department of Journalism, Department of Mathematics and Science Education, Department of Communication, Department of Educational Sciences, Department of Basic Education, Department of Information Technologies, Department of Engineering Management and the Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technologies. It was determined that qualitative research methods were used in 9 of the postgraduate thesis studies, quantitative research methods were used in 5 of them, and multiple/mixed research methods were used in 1 of them. Among the postgraduate theses examined within the scope of the research, no data on the research method could be found in the content of 1 thesis. At the end of the research, it was seen that the postgraduate thesis studies were prepared between 2019 and 2022 within the scope of Digital competence in the Social Studies curriculum. Based on this result, it can be said that postgraduate thesis studies on digital competence can be considered as a current topic and can be examined in depth with studies to be done in the coming years.