Academician Perspective on the Implementation of Distance Education in Universities during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to examine the perspectives of academicians on distance education activities during the pandemic from various aspects. The research study was carried out using a case study design, which is one of the qualitative research methods. The perspectives of 24 academicians working at a state university were explored, and the data collected through an online platform using a structured interview form were analyzed by utilizing the content analysis method. The findings were reported in the form of themes, sub-themes, and codes, supported by participant expressions. Results indicated that academicians faced infrastructure-related problems during the pandemic process, which arose from various aspects. They expressed that distance education applications would be appropriate to use, especially in social sciences, theoretical courses, and crowded classrooms in the post-pandemic period. However, using distance education in math, sciences, and engineering may be inconvenient and create an inequality of opportunity. Academicians also stated that they experienced technical issues during the distance education process, open-to-abuse exams, low participation in classes, and problems in accessing education for students. They emphasized that encountering cases of cheating and plagiarism regarding the measurement and evaluation processes is an important deficiency. Furthermore, academicians made suggestions regarding distance education applications such as maintaining the hybrid teaching model, examining the practices of leading universities, introducing a new model, integrating virtual classroom applications into the process, or introducing existing interactive systems into the system.