Erityisopettajaopiskelija verkkopalvelujen käyttäjänä

Taman tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittaa erityisopettajiksi opiskelevien verkkopalvelujen kayttoa opiskelujen ja tyon tukena seka heidan nakemyksiaan ThinkMath-verkkopalvelusta ja sen kehittamistarpeista. Tutkimus on osa Matematiikan maailmaan –matematiikan opettajankoulutuksen kehittamishanketta. Kehittamistutkimuksen tassa osassa selvitettiin opiskelijoiden kokemuksia verkkomateriaalien kaytosta, erityisesti ThinkMath-verkkopalvelusta. Tutkimuksen osallistujat olivat Matemaattiset oppimisvaikeudet -kurssin opiskelijoita (N = 66). Opiskelijat tutustuivat yhdella kurssin harjoituskerralla ThinkMath-harjoitusmateriaaleihin. Tietoa kerattiin kyselylomakkeilla kurssin alkaessa ja paattyessa. Tuloksissa kaytetaan kuvailevia tunnuslukuja seka ristiintaulukointia. Tulosten perusteella erityisopettajaopiskelijat suhtautuvat verkkomateriaalien kayttoon varsin positiivisesti eika eroja ollut eri ika- tai tyokokemusryhmien valilla. ThinkMath –verkkopalvelu tunnettiin ennalta varsin heikosti. Kurssin paattyessa opiskelijat kokivat sivuston antavan varsin hyvin tietoa matemaattisten taitojen kehityksesta. Heikoimmin sivuston koettiin antavan tietoa matemaattisten oppimisvaikeuksien arvioinnista ja taustatekijoista. Verkkopalvelun kaytettavyydessa kehitettavaa ilmeni erityisesti tiedon loytamisen helpottamisessa. Tutkimus antaa tietoa paitsi taman verkkopalvelun kehittamiseen myos yleensa opettajille suunnatun verkkomateriaalin suunnitteluun.   Special education teacher students as users of online materials. Survey to develop ThinkMath web services Abstract The aim of this study was to find out how special educational needs teacher students use online materials in their studies. In addition, we asked how much they have used online materials in their teacher work before their studies. We were also interested in their specific expectations for the development of ThinkMath -web services. The research is part of the Teacher Training Project 'Matematiikan maailmaan' ('Math World'), which is funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture.  In our project, we follow educational design research (EDR) principles with several data collection and development cycles. In this paper, we report the results from the first EDR cycle, in which we explored students' experiences with the use of online materials, especially the ThinkMath web service. The participants of the study were students in the Mathematical Learning Difficulty course (N = 66). Students were introduced to ThinkMath online materials as a part of this course. The data was collected by questionnaires at the beginning and at the end of the course. The results use descriptive indicators and cross-tabulation.  On the basis of the results, special educational needs teacher students are quite positive about the use of online materials. There were no differences between age or work experience groups. The ThinkMath web service was known poorly in advance. At the end of the course, the students felt that the ThinkMath web service provided quite good information on the development of mathematical skills. Students suggested adding more information about background factors of mathematical learning difficulties, and ways of evaluating mathematical learning. Students also felt that search-functions in the ThinkMath web service needed to be better.  Our study showed the benefit of involving users to the developmental work of online materials, for example, ThinkMath web services. Keywords: online materials, special educational needs teacher students, educational design research, ThinkMath, web services