Teachers' opinions on (urgent) distance education activities during the pandemic period

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to understand teachers' experiences in-depth on distance education activities held urgently during the pandemic and holistically reveal them. For this purpose, the interlocking single event pattern from case study designs was used to have depth meanings from the teachers' views. In the study, a semi-structured questionnaire was created as a data collection tool and applied to sixty-six teachers with snowball sampling. Teachers participating in the study generally work at primary, secondary and high schools. At the end of the study, it was revealed that the interaction between students, student-teacher, and teacher-parent in urgent distance education processes was generally insufficient; there was no socialization. In addition, it was revealed that both teachers and students experienced various positive and negative emotions, the teaching content was insufficient, and there was a lack of technological equipment and knowledge. However, as an alternative, urgent education activities had some positive aspects for the teachers. As a result of the study, it is recommended to design distance education better, provide a better communication channel between teacher-student-parent, eliminate technological infrastructure problems, and provide technical and psychological support to teachers during urgent distance education practices.