A Case Study on the Role of Distance Education in Disaster and Crisis Management

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to examine the perceptions of educators in the disaster area regarding the positive and negative aspects of distance education and their views on how the process is experienced in the field of education, in the Kahramanmaras-centered earthquake that occurred in 11 provinces of Turkey in February 2023. After determining the basic research questions for the purpose of the research, a case study design was adopted with a qualitative approach in order to obtain the expert opinions and suggestions of educators providing distance education in the disaster area during the data collection phase. The educators were interviewed using Google Forms, and they were asked to answer the semi-structured open-ended questions directed to them. The answers given by the educators were subjected to content analysis. Some of the themes obtained in this direction can be listed as follows: dynamic and updated education process, raising awareness of the people living in the region, a potential to benefit from lifelong learning, and access to true and reliable information resources.