The themes regarding the factors that motivate ICTAC as perceived by students included motivation,
awareness, literacy, curriculum, financial status. Regarding motivation, one of the prominent themes,
the students reported “Well, this is something that should the considered personally. Because this is
something that motivates not just me but the country I live in, the people around and everybody.
Since it is something based on human instinct. I think it is related to demonstrating your reaction and
putting forward and sharing a solution” [EÇ3], and “this is related to consciousness, well related to all
our consciousness; if we become more motivated, or if we do a thing just because we want to do it
rather than considering it as a task assigned to us, I think this is then the most motivating factor for
us” [ÖÇ3]. Another student stated “as there is no extrinsic reinforcement to increase my motivation,
there is no action taken. All the time, what you have done remains only in your external harddisc”
[OÖÇ1]. Depending on these views, it could be stated that the students emphasized the importance
of intrinsic motivation in ICTAC in addition to external reinforcements. In this regard, intrinsically
motivated people are expected to demonstrate actions easier once they have extrinsic
reinforcements.
Awareness claimed to be another motivator. One of the students (BÇ2) mentioned “Well, of course,
awareness is the most important one (of the motivators), being a conscious user... when you become
a conscious user comes first. You can then help others consciously”. Regarding this topic, another
student (EÇ2) reported “first of all, you should be aware of it. I feel something doesn’t go right. Then
comes the question of ‘what can I do?’… Thus, if you raise your awareness, then it is okay. There is
something wrong, but the next step is ‘what can I do?’, and then you have to follow your instinct.
Here, I have reacted, but that shouldn’t be all. Well, our reactions should stay permanent”.
Depending on these views, it could be stated that the students emphasized the sustainability of
actions and they believe they could take more effective actions once their awareness is raised.
The students also emphasized the concept of literacy. “Today, we live in a computer age. Computers
are everywhere, in all businesses, and even in governmental institutions. Many things are done with
the computer, and this encourages people to use the computer and benefit from information and
communication technologies…”[BÇ2]. Furthermore BÇ3 sateted: “well, for people to develop
themselves, for the society, we live in a computer era… because in our country, the Internet-use rate
is increasing, but there is lack of literacy. Well, thinking about the television or the Internet itself,
there are few publications in this field...”.
Another point mentioned by the students was the CEIT curriculum. Some of the students thought
that the CEIT curriculum contributed to becoming an ICT-action-competent individual, while others
believed that only some of the courses in the curriculum had contributions. Regarding this theme, the
students reported their views as follows:
“To tell the truth, technically, I didn’t learn much in CEIT. Only in theory. How can a
picture draw attention? Or how can one remember it easily? Well, regarding this topic
(design), let me tell you something; the course that I found most useful was
Instructional Design. That was the only course that guided me for four years” [OÇ1].
“Well, to me, our curriculum in CEIT was sufficient to do such things (conduct actions).
What is important is that we should make the most of it” [OÇ2].
The students stated that the financial state was among the factors motivating ICTAC. Regarding this
topic, one of the students emphasized the importance of the financial conditions saying “financial
state… this is an important point… it depends on the financial state if a person wants to deal with
others’ problems rather than with his or her own ones. The reason is that even the birth of
philosophy was a result of the wealth in Greece. They didn’t have any problems; that is, they
developed thought, or philosophy, as they didn’t have anything else to engage with. So, this is