The “Comfort Zoom”: Preservice Teachers’ (PTs’) Perceptions on Distance Learning During the Pandemic

The study aims to evaluate in real time the level of PTs’ satisfaction with distance learning in three main aspects: lecturers, college’s functioning and self-appraisal of learning practices with distance learning in a teacher training campus. It can be defined as an action research, to understand and improve the quality of the educative process in an agile way during the crisis. Through the lens of performance improvement theory, we sought to determine if Preservice Teachers satisfaction with learning remotely would change over time because of institutional preparedness and faculty support. The sample group consisted of n=183 PTs ’in the first semester (31% Return percentage), N=193 in the second semester (32% Return percentage) and N=284 (47% Return percentage in the third semester (out of 600 Preservice Teachers’). The findings indicate both challenges and successes. In the second and third semesters, PTs’ reported higher levels of motivation, desire to learn, concentration taking an active part in class, and interest in the studied material, focusing on the lesson and ignoring distracting factors compared to the first semester. Preservice Teachers’’ coping with distance learning during the third semester were significantly better than the previous two semesters. Their evaluation of the lecturers’ at third semester was significantly higher. Preservice Teachers has perceived the lecturers’ role as an anchor of stability in the sea of change. The findings indicate the speed at which PTs’s adopted the innovative changes during the crisis. However, their evaluation of the college at the second semester was better than at the first and third semesters. These findings are important, as they shine a spotlight on associations between PTs’ satisfactions during times of change. Keywords: comfort zoom, distance learning, Covid-19, teacher training, teacher satisfaction