An Investigation of Preservice Mathematics Teachers' Opinions About Online Education

Abstract

Due to the Covid-19 epidemic, online education has been an inevitable, new normal for K-12 schools and universities all around the World. Considering that online education is likely to continue as a method of education in the future as well, pre-service teachers should have proper training in this subject. Literature review showed that there are not enough studies on the pre-service mathematics teachers' opinions on online education. With this motivation, the aim of this study is to investigate pre-service mathematics teachers' opinions on online education. The multi-case study design of qualitative research methods was employed. The research group determined by purposeful sampling consists of eight volunteer pre-service teachers, who were attending elementary mathematics teacher education program at a state university in the 2019-2020 academic year. The data were obtained from semi-structured pre-interview forms and post-interview forms. Content analysis was used to analyse the data. Consequently, it was found that pre-service teachers' attitudes towards online education differ before and after their application experiences. According to the findings obtained from the pre-interview form applied at the beginning of the study, it can be said that pre-service teachers have an idea about online education, but generally have biases against it. The majority of teachers do not deny the positive aspects of online education, but they think that it cannot or should not replace formal education. However, it was clearly seen that the attitudes of the teachers changed after their online application experience and they were more positive and enthusiastic towards online education.

Keywords

• Online Education
• Mathematics Education
• Preservice Mathematics Teachers

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