Examining secondary school students' safe computer and internet usage awareness: An example from Bartın province

Abstract

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have been rapidly prevailed among the children and youths. Personal technologies facilitating the students to gain some learning experiences both in and out of the schools also include many threats. It is important for students to have high awareness of safe internet and computer use to overcome with these threats. In this research, it was aimed to reveal internet security and computer usage awareness profiles of students studying in the secondary school.  The data were collected from 2029 students studying in the secondary schools in Bartın Province in Turkey by using a questionnaire developed by the researchers. The data obtained from the questionnaire were analyzed based on the pre-determined themes and the students' information security and computer usage awareness profiles were revealed. The findings indicate that the majority of the students are insufficient regarding information security and computer usage awareness and they could be under risk in online settings towards the threats. In the discussion section, some measures for the parents, schools and policy makers were mentioned to increase students' information security and computer usage awareness.