Investigation of Experiences of University Students with Special Needs During the Global Pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: The novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), which is thought to have emerged in China in 2019, was declared as a global pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. In order to reduce the impact of this epidemic and slow its spread in our country, Turkey, as in the whole world, education was suspended, and then an emergency transition to distance education was made. In this context, the aim of the research is to examine the experiences of university students with special needs regarding emergency distance education in the pandemic and the problems they encounter in this process. Method: The study group of the research consists of 14 university students with special needs at a foundation higher education institution in Istanbul in the 2020-2021 academic year. In the research, phenomenological (phenomenological) design, one of the qualitative research method approaches, was used. The data were collected through the interview form developed by the researchers and analyzed with descriptive analysis. Results: Research findings show that students benefit from the emergency distance education process to a certain extent, they have both positive and negative experiences in this process, and they face various problems especially in the measurement and evaluation process. Discussion: The findings obtained in the research were discussed within the framework of the literature. According to the findings, it can be stated that there is a need to consider individual differences in synchronous and asynchronous courses and in measurement and evaluation applications.