Social Studies and Geography Teacher Candidates' Views on Coronavirus (COVID 19) and Online Education Process

Abstract

The novel coronavirus, COVID-19 was declared as a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), and following the rapid increase in the number of cases diagnosed with COVID-19 in Turkey, all universities started to carry out formal theoretical courses using online education methods. It is important to take undergraduate students' thoughts about this process into consideration, together with how they perceive the process and their thoughts about online education. The purpose of taking such thoughts in to consideration is to improve online education processes from the perspective of the student stakeholder and to improve the quality of online education if this epidemic gets longer. The aim of this study is to determine the views of Social Studies and Geography teacher candidates about COVID-19 and online education processes. To do so, a qualitative research method was used. The research working group, in the school year 2019-2020, were those studying to be Social Studies and Geography teachers at a Faculty of Education in a Turkish university. A total of 37 teacher candidates participated in the study and a questionnaire consisting of open-ended questions developed by the researcher was used to obtain their views. A content analysis process was used to analyse the data. According to the findings from the study, teacher candidates stated they were more affected by this process because they were in their final year of study. They explained the reason for this situation as being related to their internship being incomplete and their dreams of graduation being negatively affected. Furthermore, the lack of adequate internet access and connection problems experienced amongst the teacher-candidates had a negative impact on their experience of online education procesess. Therefore, according to the views of teacher-candidates. the process of considering the services, systems and infrastructure offered by the university needs to occur for effective online education processes to be developed. For example, providing training to Faculty members and providing facilities such as computers to minimize technical problems and solve problems related to lack of access. It is recommended that universities should improve their infrastructure and plan to train lecturers and teachers for online education processes. To do so will benefit both the experience of, and minimize concerns about, online education processes.

Keywords

• social studies
• geography
• Coronavirus
• Teacher candidates' views
• Online education

References

1. Acar, Y. (2020). Yeni Koronavirüs (Covid-19) Salgını ve Turizm Faaliyetlerine Etkisi. Güncel Turizm Araştırmaları Dergisi. 4(1), 7-21.
2. Adıyaman, Z. (2002). Uzaktan Eğitim Yoluyla Yabancı Dil Öğretimi The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 1(1), 11-92.
3. Akdemir, Ö. (2011). Yükseköğretimimizde Uzaktan Eğitim. Yükseköğretim ve Bilim Dergisi, 1(2), 69-71.
4. Alpgo, H. ve Oduncu Alpago, D. (2020). Koronavirüs Salgınının Sosyoekonomik Sonuçları. IBAD Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi. 8, 99-114.
5. Altun Ekiz, M. (2020). Beden Eğitimi Ve Spor Yüksekokulu Öğrencilerinin Karantina Dönemindeki Uzaktan Eğitim İle İlgili Görüşleri (Nitel Bir Araştırma). Spor ve Rekreasyon Araştırmaları Dergisi, 2(ÖS1), 1-13.
6. Arıkan, R. (2018). Anket Yöntemi Üzerinde Bir Değerlendirme. Haliç Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 1, 97-159.
7. Bao, W. (2020). COVID-19 and online teaching in higher education: a case study of peking university. Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies, 2, 113-115.
8. Büyüköztürk, Ş., Kılıç Çakmak, E., Akgün, Ö.E., Karadeniz, Ş. & Demirel, F. (2011). Bilimsel Araştırma Yöntemleri. Ankara: Pegem Akademi.

9. Crawford, J., Butler-Henderson, K., Rudolph, J., Malkawi, B., Glowatz, M., Burton, R., et al. (2020). COVID-19: 20 countries’ higher education intra-period digital pedagogy responses. Journal of Applied Learning & Teaching, 3(1), 9-28. https://doi.org/10.37074/jalt.2020.3.1.7
10. Creswell, J. C. ( 2017). Nitel Araştırmalar İçin 30 Temel Beceri. Hasan Özcan (Çev). Ankara: Anı
11. Council of Higher Education (2020). Education Support Quota for Students. www.yok.gov.tr
12. Demir, M., Günaydın, Y., Demir, Ş.Ş. (2020). Coronavirüs (Covid-19)'ün Türkiye'de turizm üzerindeki öncüllerinin, etkilerinin ve sonuçlarının değerlendirilmesi. International Journal of Social Sciences and Education Research, 6(1), 80-107.
13. Dinçer, S. (2006). Bilgisayar destekli eğitim ve uzaktan eğitime genel bir bakış. Akademik Bilişim Konferansı, 9-11 Şubat 2006, Pamukkale Üniversitesi, Denizli. İşman, A. (2011). Uzaktan Eğitim. Ankara: Pegem Akademi.
14. Donitsa-Schmidt, S. & Ramot, R. (2020). Opportunities and challenges: teacher education in Israel in the Covid-19 pandemic. Journal of Education for Teaching. https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2020.1799708.
15. Duran, M.S. & Acar, M. (2020). What a virus could do the world: macroeconomic effects of Covid-19 pandemic. International Journal of Social and Economic Sciences, 10(1), 54-67.
16. European Commission Joint Research Centre (2020). The likely impact of COVID-19 on education: reflections based on the existing literature and recent international datasets. Retrieved from https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/
17. Görgülü-Arı, A. & Hayır-Kanat. M. (2020). Prospective teacher' views on Covid-19 (coronavirus). Van Yüzüncü Yıl University The Journal of Social Sciences Institute, Outbreak Diseases Special Issue, 459-492.
18. HundrED (2020). Spotlight: quality education for all during Covid-19 crisis. Retrieved from https://hundred.org/en
19. International Association of Universities (2020). The impact of Covid-19 on higher education around the World. Retrieved from https://iau-aiu.net/
20. International Labour Organization (2020). ILO Monitor: COVID-19 and The World of Work. Second edition. Updated Estimates and Analysis.
21. İşman, A. (2011). Distance education. Ankara: Pegem Academy.
22. Jianhua, G. (2020). Çin’in Yeni Koronavirüs Zatürresine Karşı Savaşı: Mücadeleler, Sonuçlar ve Yansımalar. (Çev: Mehmet Enes Başer-Doğukan Doğu). BRIQ, 1(2), 91-102.
23. Johnson, B. ve Christensen, L. (2014). Educational Research Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Approaches (4th Edition), (Çev. Ed. S. B. Demir). Ankara: Eğiten Kitap.
24. Kara, Y. (2020). Students’ Experiences in the pandemic duration: the case of Bakirköy district. Eurasian Journal of Researches in Social and Economics (EJRSE), 7(7), 165-176.
25. Karataş, S. (2003). The equivalency of learning experiences in distance and face to face education. Educational Sciences and Practice, 2(3), 91-104.
26. Karadağ, E., & Yücel, C. (2020a). Yeni tip Koronavirüs pandemisi döneminde üniversitelerde uzaktan eğitim: Lisans öğrencileri kapsamında bir değerlendirme çalışması. Yükseköğretim Dergisi, doi:10.2399/yod.20.730688
27. Karakuş, N., Ucuzsatar, N., Karacaoğlu, M. Ö., Esendemir, N. & Bayraktar, D. (2020). Turkish teacher candidates’ views on distance education. RumeliDE Journal of Language and Literature Studies, 19, 220-241. DOI: 10.29000/rumelide.752297.
28. Kırmızıgül, H.G. (2020). Covıd-19 Salgını Ve Beraberinde Getirdiği Eğitim Süreci. ASEAD,7(5), 283-289.
29. Koca, N. & Daşdemir, İ. (2016). Sosyal Bilgiler Öğretiminde Yeni Bir Teknoloji Coğrafi Bilgi Sistemleri. The Journal of Academic Social Science Studies, 50, 483-496.
30. Kürtüncü, M.& Kurt, A. (2020). Covıd-19 Pandemisi Döneminde Hemşirelik Öğrencilerinin Uzaktan Eğitim Konusunda Yaşadıkları Sorunlar. ASEAD, 7(5), 66-77.
31. Lovelace B. (2020). World Health Organization names the new coronavirus: COVID-19. https://www.cnbc.com/(E.T: 16.06.2020).
32. Moorhouse, B. L. (2020). Adaptations to a face-to-face initial teacher education course ‘forced’ online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Education for Teaching. https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2020.1755205
33. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2020). COVID-19: protecting people and societies. Retrieved from https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/covid-19-protecting-people-and-societies-e5c9de1a/
34. Özkoçak, V., Koç, F., Gültekin T. (2020). Pandemilere antropolojik bakış: koronavirüs (covid-19) örneği, Turkish Studies, 15(2), 1183-1195.
35. Quacquarelli Symonds (2020). The impact of the coronavirus on global higher education. Retrieved from https://www.qs.com/
36. Patton, M. Q. (2014). Qualitative research and evaluation methods. (M. Bütün & S. B. Demir, Trans. Ed.) Translation from 3rd Edition, Ankara: Pegem Academy.
37. Pınar, M. A. & Dönel Akgül, G. (2020). The opinions of secondary school students about giving science courses with distance education during the covid-19 pandemic. Journal of Current Researches on Social Sciences, 2020, 10(2), 461-486.
38. Trade Union Advisory Committee (2020). Impact and implications of the COVID 19-crisis on educational systems and households. Retrieved from https://tuac.org/news/page/3/
39. United Nations (2020). Policy brief: education during COVID-19 and beyond. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/en/coronavirus/future-education-here
40. United Nations Development Programme (2020). COVID-19 and human development: assessing the crisis, envisioning the recovery. Retrieved from http://hdr.undp.org/
41. United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization/ International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (2020). COVID-19 and higher education: today and tomorrow. impact analysis, policy responses and recommendations. Retrieved from https://www.iesalc.unesco.org/
42. Viner, R.M., Russell, S.J., Croker, H., Packer, J., Ward, J., Stansfield, C. , Mytton, O., Bonell, C. & Booy, R. (2020). School closure and management practices during coronavirus outbreaks including COVID-19: a rapid systematic review. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 4(5), 397-404.
43. Worldometers (2020). Retrieved from https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
44. World Bank Group Education (2020). The impact of The COVID-19 pandemic on education financing. coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) situation report–57. Retrieved from https://www.worldbank.org/en/data/interactive/2020/03/24/world-bank education-and-covid-19 WHO (2020).
45. Yıldırım, A. & Şimşek, H. (2011). Qualitative research methods in the social sciences. Ankara: Seçkin.
46. Yıldırım, K. (2010). Raising the quality in qualitative research. Elementary Education Online, 9(1), 79- 92.