Investigation of pre-service teachers’ digital data security awareness in terms of various variables
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14527/Keywords:
Digital data security, awareness, pre-service teachers, information securityAbstract
This study examined pre-service teachers’ digital data security awareness and investigated whether this awareness differed according to gender, grade level, and academic department. Employing a descriptive survey design, data were collected from pre-service teachers enrolled in various teacher education programs at a public university. Participants completed an online questionnaire based on a validated digital data security awareness scale. Descriptive statistical analyses were conducted to determine overall awareness levels, while inferential statistical analyses were used to examine differences across the selected variables. The findings revealed that pre-service teachers demonstrated an awareness level above the moderate range, indicating a generally adequate sensitivity to the protection of digital information in educational contexts. No statistically significant differences were found in awareness levels based on gender, suggesting comparable digital data security awareness among male and female participants. However, awareness levels differed significantly by grade level, with senior students exhibiting higher awareness than first-year students, pointing to a developmental progression throughout undergraduate education. In addition, significant differences were observed across academic departments, with candidates from technology-oriented programs showing higher awareness levels than those from other disciplines. These results suggest that increased exposure to digital learning environments, as well as curricular engagement with technology- and security-related content, contributes positively to the development of digital data security awareness. Accordingly, the study underscores the importance of integrating digital data security, privacy, and information ethics as systematic and compulsory components of teacher education curricula across all programs, in order to equip future teachers with the competencies necessary to protect student data and foster secure digital learning environments.
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The data supporting the results of this study are available from the authors upon reasonable request.
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