Investigation of Special Education Teachers’ Online Teaching Experiences during Covid 19 Pandemic
Abstract
The Covid 19 pandemic, which initially emerged in China at the end of 2019 and was seen in other countries in a short period, adversely affected daily life. The epidemic has also caused various interruptions in terms of education and training activities. Incidental to the discontinuation of face-to-face education in schools, educational activities began to be carried out on online platforms. Many problems arose in this process during which various new experiences had to be coped with by teachers and students. This research aims to reveal the opinions and experiences of special education teachers regarding the online learning-teaching process, which is compulsory due to the pandemic. The research was carried out with 21 special education teachers working in a special education school in the spring term of the 2020-2021 academic year. Within the scope of the research, the data were obtained by using a semi-structured interview form prepared online by the researchers. According to this research study, for which the qualitative research method was preferred, thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. As a consequence of the research study, the opinions and experiences of the participants were gathered under five themes. The results obtained were discussed in comparison with other studies in the literature and suggestions were presented.
Keywords
References
- Agaton, C. B., & Cueto, L. J. (2021). Learning at home: Parents’ lived experiences on distance learning during COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines. International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education (IJERE), 10(3), 901. https://doi.org/10.11591/ijere.v10i3.21136.
- Akmeşe, P. P., & Kayhan, H. N. (2020). Özel eğitim öğretmenliği öğrencilerinin koronavirüs (covıd-19) salgın sürecinde uygulama derslerine ilişkin deneyimleri [Experiences of the special education teaching students in the applied courses during coronavirus disease (covid-19) pandemic process]. Turkish Studies (Elektronik), 15(8), 3669-3688.
- Azhari, B., & Fajri, I. (2021). Distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic: School closure in Indonesia. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/0020739x.2021.1875072.
- Börnert-Ringleb, M., Casale, G., & Hillenbrand, C. (2021). What predicts teachers’ use of digital learning in Germany? Examining the obstacles and conditions of digital learning in special education. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 36(1), 80–97.
- Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2012). Thematic analysis. In: Cooper H, editor. APA handbook of research methods in psychology. Vol. 2, research designs. Washington (DC): APA
- Cai, R., & Wang, Q. (2020). A six-step online teaching method based on protocol-guided learning during the covıd-19 epidemic: A case study of the first middle school teaching practice in Changyuan City, Henan Province, China. Best Evidence of Chinese Education, 4(2), 529–534. https://doi.org/10.15354/bece.20.rp010.
- Catalano, A. (2014). Improving distance education for students with special needs: a qualitative study of students’ experiences with an online library research course, Journal of Library & Information Services in Distance Learning, 8(1-2), 17-31.
- Doghonadze, N., Aliyev, A., Halawachy, H., Knodel, L., & Adedoyin, A. S. (2020). The degree of readiness to total distance learning in the face of covid-19 - teachers’ view (case of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iraq, Nigeria, UK and Ukraine). Journal of Education in Black Sea Region, 5(2), 2–41. https://doi.org/10.31578/jebs.v5i2.197.
- Dorsah, P. (2021). Pre-service teachers’ readiness for emergency remote learning in the wake of covid-19. European Journal of STEM Education, 6(1), 1-12.
- Eurybase (2009). Türk eğitim sisteminin örgütlenmesi [Organization of the Turkish education system]. Ankara: European Commission.
