مستوى وعي معلمي الدراسات الاجتماعية بسلطنة عمان بتطبيقات (جوجل) التعليمية في التدريس
The aim of this study was to investigate the level of awareness among social studies teachers in Oman when using Google’s education applications in teaching. The population of this quantitative study was 327 female and male social sciences teachers in Oman. In order to measure the level of awareness among the social studies teachers in Omani schools, the researcher developed a validated questionnaire to measure three main dimensions: cognitive, behavioral, attitudinal. The cognitive part was to measure teachers’ knowledge using (18) Yes-No questions and divided into three sub-sections: a) general information on Google’s educational applications, b) how to use these applications and c) how to employ this application in teaching social studies. Along with the cognitive component, the questionnaire was used to measure teachers’ attitudes by focusing on two sub-sections: 1) challenges facing teachers while using this application and 2) teachers. attitudes towards the importance of using these applications in their teaching. The last (behavioral) part of the questionnaire comprised of 10 items. In order to check the face validity of the tool (questionnaire), it was checked by a group of experts and their suggestions were incorporated into the final version of the questionnaire. For the reliability of the tool, the instrument for pilot testing was distributed to a sample of 25 teachers who shared the same characteristics of the main study population. However, they were not involved as part of the main study population. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was calculated to find the reliability of each section. The highest value found in the first (cognitive) part was (0.71), (0.84) was for the attitudinal section and (0.81) was for the behavioral section. One of the main findings of this study indicated that the level of awareness among the social studies teachers in this study was high where the overall mean was (77.21 %). Also, there were no statistically significant differences in relation to years of experience, especially in the cognitive aspect. Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended that more professional development and training opportunities should be provided in areas where teachers are still struggling with (e.g., YouTube, Google Earth, Google Map, Google Tables) as well as suggesting and finding ways to overcome the challenges facing teachers when employing these Google’s applications while teaching. (Author’s abstract)