The distance education process in K–12 schools during the pandemic period: evaluation of implementations in Turkey from the student perspective

ABSTRACT

The present study is an evaluation of the distance education process along with related activities in primary, secondary and high schools in Turkey during the Covid-19 pandemic. The present qualitative study involved K–12 students who participated in the distance education process. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and content analysis was performed on the data. The research findings show that EBA TV supported students’ learning and provided psychological support. The EBA portal was deemed beneficial for providing easy access to the content and promotion of interest with varied presentations. But both EBA TV and the EBA portal were also reported to be deficient in preparing students for examinations. Synchronous lessons were viewed more positively for such advantages as social interaction, motivating atmosphere and opportunities to ask questions in real time. In conclusion, the evaluations provided in this study can help instructional designers maintain and upgrade distance education activities targeting K–12 students.

KEYWORDS:

• Covid-19 pandemic
• distance education
• K–12 education: student perspective
• government policies

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Semra Fiş Erümit

Semra Fiş Erümit is a lecturer in the Distance Education Application and Research Center, Karadeniz Technical University in Trabzon, Turkey. Her research interests are distance education, ICT education, gamification, game-based learning, instructional design and instructional technology.