Undergraduates' perspectives on online education

Öz

With the abrupt emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, all the parties involved in higher education were caught unprepared for online education. The current study focuses on undergraduate students' ideas about the problems that have emerged during the pandemic. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected with a mixed-method research paradigm to answer the related research question. In the quantitative dimension, an online survey was applied to 154 undergraduate students at a state university in Turkey, and the results were analyzed descriptively. To collect qualitative data, a focus group interview was carried out with eight students from the same group. The quantitative analysis results revealed similar results with the recent related literature. The results revealed that, while a general satisfaction with online education resides among the participants, infrastructure problems were the major impediment in online education, and the workloads of the participants seem to have increased since the beginning of the pandemic. In addition to this, qualitative data analyses revealed a significant amount of demotivation about learning among the participants since the beginning of the pandemic. The participants shared a common notion that online education could not replace face-to-face education in any way. The participants also felt that there were serious problems in the testing and assessment processes; they believed that during the pandemic minimal student work has been overprized. This finding, to an extent, contradicts with the quantitative findings of the current study.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• COVID-19
• higher education
• online education
• undergraduates’ perspectives

Üniversite öğrencilerinin çevrim içi eğitimle ilgili görüşleri

Öz

COVID-19 salgınının aniden ortaya çıkmasıyla birlikte, yükseköğretimle ilgili tüm paydaşlar uzaktan ve çevrim içi eğitime hazırlıksız yakalandı. Bu çalışma, lisans öğrencilerinin COVID-19 salgını sırasında ortaya çıkan sorunlar hakkındaki düşüncelerine odaklanmaktadır. Araştırma sorusunu cevaplamak için hem nicel hem de nitel veriler toplanmıştır. Nicel boyutta veri toplamak amacıyla Türkiye'de bir devlet üniversitesinde öğrenim gören 154 lisans öğrencisine çevrim içi anket uygulanmış ve sonuçlar betimsel olarak analiz edilmiştir. Nitel verileri toplamak içinse aynı gruptan sekiz öğrenci ile odak grup görüşmesi yapılmıştır. Nicel analiz sonuçları, ilgili yazında yakın zamanda yapılmış çalışmalarla benzer sonuçlar ortaya koymuştur. Sonuçlar, katılımcılar arasında uzaktan ve çevrim içi eğitimden genel bir memnuniyet olsa da altyapı sorunlarının bu çerçevede en büyük sorun olduğunu ve salgının başlangıcından bu yana katılımcıların iş yüklerinin arttığını ortaya koymuştur. Buna ek olarak, nitel veri analizleri, salgının başlangıcından bu yana katılımcılar arasında öğrenmeye ilişkin önemli miktarda motivasyon kaybı olduğunu ortaya çıkarmıştır. Katılımcıların çevrim içi eğitimin hiçbir şekilde yüz yüze eğitimin yerini alamayacağına dair ortak bir görüşü paylaştığı anlaşılmıştır. Katılımcılar ayrıca uzaktan ve çevrim içi eğitim boyunca ölçme ve değerlendirme süreçlerinde ciddi sorunlar olduğunu düşünmekte ve salgın sırasında en az düzeyde öğrenci çabasının en üst düzeyde değerlendirildiği ve ödüllendirildiği inancını paylaşmaktadırlar. Bu bulgu, nicel verilerin analizinden sonra ortaya çıkan sonuçlarla, kısmen de olsa, çelişmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• COVID-19
• yükseköğretim
• öğrenci görüşleri
• çevrim içi eğitim
• çevrim içi eğitim

Kaynakça

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