No abstract

In conjunction with the development and advancement of internet technologies, social networking sites have created a socialization environment. Instructors point out that these tools must be used as an active and different form of communication with students. Also, participation of the students through social networking sites should be encouraged. However, the risk of internet addiction has also become widespread on the increase use of social networks. The aim of this research is to “determine the opinions of teacher candidates on the use of social networking sites in education and Internet addiction risk levels”. General survey model was used in this research in order to determine the opinions regarding social networks of teacher candidates from the education faculties in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and figure out their internet addiction risk levels. “Use of Social Networks in Education Scale” developed by Ozturk and Akgun and “Internet Addiction Test” developed by Young were used in this research. According to the results of the study, it has been figured out that almost all of the teacher candidates think that sharing information through social networking sites is either partially safe or not safe. Besides, most of the teacher candidates feel anxious about keeping information as confidential. Another important result is that teacher candidates are internet users at an average level. It also shows that they might spend too much time on the internet however they use internet in a controlled manner.

The development of new communication media and the increasing interest in information communication technologies from all segments increase the power of social media. In the simplest way, public relations practices, which can be defined as the use of communication to establish relations with the target audience or groups, have not been indifferent to the developments in information and communication technologies. Therefore, the use of this power in public relations has become inevitable. In recent years, the use of social media for public relations has become increasingly widespread. As a practice-based profession and as an academic discipline that promotes social change and development which is offered to ensure social cohesion, freedom and empowerment of people, social services provided by the public sector, civil society and the private sector to ensure the well-being of people has had a character in its nature which always renews and re-explains itself to the society. Due to the widespread use of social media and its visible impact on users, the recent increased recognition and awareness of social services in Turkey has ensured that social work benefits from this area in terms of public relations. In this paper, the role of social media in the recognition and promotion of social work and social services (public relations) as well as related ethical violations will be displayed and discussed.

This article investigates the effects of teacher education, conducted through transformative learning theory, on prospective teachers' professional beliefs. This study is also aimed at identifying the transformations in their perspectives regarding the teaching profession. The participant prospective teachers took part in various projects using transformative pedagogy supported by Edublogs. The courses were implemented in both faceto-face activities in classroom settings and the Edublogs environment as a form of blended learning. A blended method was preferred, in which 38 prospective teachers participated. The findings obtained after the 12-week application indicated that transformative activities had a positive effect on the prospective teachers' professional beliefs. Consequently, a positive transformation in their professional perspectives was observed.