The Views of Social Studies Teachers on Distance Education

Abstract

The Face-to-face training activities were suspended in Turkey in mid-March 2020 due to the COVID-19 (Corona virus) global pandemic, which is rapidly increasing its impact in the world and Turkey. The aim of this study is to determine the opinions of social studies teachers working in Diyarbakır regarding distance education activities carried out by the Ministry of National Education. When the literature is examined, the fact that there are not many studies to determine the views of social studies teachers on distance education shows the need for this study. This study is in the phenomenology model and was conducted as a qualitative research. Semi-structured interview technique was used for data collection. The study group of the research consists of 20 social studies teachers working in secondary schools in Diyarbakır in the first semester of the 2020-2021 academic year. In order to conduct this study, necessary permissions were obtained from Fırat University Ethics Committee and Diyarbakır National Education Directorate. In this study, 11-item interview questions were used as data collection tools in the interviews with the participants. The semi-structured interview with the participants was carried out with the distance education module (Zoom), and the data were recorded by voice recording. The data collected within the scope of this study were analyzed according to the “descriptive analysis” method. According to the results of this study; In the distance education process, the necessary equipment and internet for students is inadequate. During the distance education process, students have a low level of participation in live lessons.