Problems Encountered by Distance Education Staff in the Emergency Distance Education Process

Abstract

Abstract With the effect of the COVID-19 virus, which emerged at the end of 2019 and caused a pandemic in the world, education has experienced a significant interruption and the world has embarked on a quest for alternatives for educational practices. Distance education, where the learner and the teacher can perform education by being in different places, has reached the forefront with its applicability to pandemic conditions and has increased its importance. As a result of these developments, the concept of emergency distance education, which is a temporary transfer of face-to-face education to technological environments, has emerged and has been put into practice. Educational institutions, which had to start distance education practices in a very short time, experienced various problems due to student density and limited time. It is considered important in order to reveal the experiences of distance education staff who are directly faced with these problems, to offer solutions to the problems and to be prepared for extraordinary situations that may occur later. The purpose of this study is to identify the problems experienced by the staff of the distance education center (DEC) in the distance education applications carried out during the pandemic and to make suggestions for the solution of these problems. In line with this purpose, focus group interviews were conducted with a total of eight personnel, three of whom were administrative, four of whom were academic and one of whom was technical, working in different positions at the distance education center of a university. The sample was determined in accordance with the convenience sampling. The data obtained in the study using phenomenology, which is one of the qualitative research designs, were analysed by content analysis method. As a result of the study, it was determined that the problems experienced by DEC staff in this process were grouped under four categories as student-centred, instructor-centred, system-centred, and other problems, and solution suggestions were presented within the framework of these problems.