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of new media and new experiences of media use. The interviews were deciphered and
recorded after being recorded with the audio recorder and the participants were given
opportunity to summarize.
Findings
The gifted students who are the subject of this study are the ones that deserve special
attention in terms of their perceptions, preferences and motivations about media tech-
nologies within the young generation of active media users due to their intelligence and
talent potentials as stated by Köroğlu (2015: 271). In this context, the findings yielded
through the semi-structured interviews are described under two headings in the main axis
of study: (1) The Objectives of New Media Use of Gifted Students, (2) The Impact of New
Media on Learning and Academic Achievement of Gifted Students.
The Objectives of New Media Use of Gifted Students
This study, which examines the use of new media by gifted students through semi-stru-
ctured interview technique, provides the opportunity for gifted students to reveal their
purposes in using new media through their own expressions as well as the findings of
Köroğlu’s research (2015) which uses a questionnaire and a scale in the axis of quantita-
tive research approach.
All of the İzmit BİLSEM students interviewed within the scope of the study can be clai-
med to be intensive users of new media platform and tools. It has been concluded that
interviewees have access to social networking and video sharing sites via computers,
tablets and smartphones, which are the most important tools in new media environments,
intensively uses Whatsapp and are interested in digital games.
It is observed that Whatsapp is important for the interviewees in terms of communicating
and sharing in class, especially their communication research and homework.
It is understood that Youtube lecture videos and the Google search engine become in-
dispensable learning tools for the gifted students and they use internet and new media
especially for projects, assignments and research purposes. Moreover, the world famous
Wikipedia encyclopedia is one of the main reference sources of interviewees.
The Impact of New Media on Learning and Achievement Level
İzmit BİLSEM students use common media platform and tools for their assignments and
research. Many of the interviewees, like their peers, are known to be the intensive users
of computer technology, such as the internet, social networks, video sharing sites, digital
games and so on. It is possible to claim that they tend to be learning-oriented, as they are
nested within the new media platforms.
