A digital learning – teaching platform experienced during the pandemic: an educational project based on ahi competence (aydep)

Abstract

In the spring of 2020, education was suspended in Turkey, due to the pandemic. In this global chaos, many educational institutions, including universities, continued their education in the form of distance education. Kırşehir Ahi Evran University also continued its education with a learning management system (LMS) called AYDEP.The aim of this study is to reveal and examine opinions of participants about AYDEP they have experienced during the pandemic. The participants are teacher candidates studying at Ahi Evran University. The study was designed as a qualitative research. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using content analysis. As a result of the analysis, opinions of the participants were examined under four main headings. These are as follows: 1) General thoughts and evaluations of participants about AYDEP system, 2) Participants' thoughts and evaluations about the education provided with AYDEP, 3) The situations perceived as advantages and disadvantages by the participants regarding the education provided with AYDEP, and 4) Participants' thoughts and evaluations on distance education carried out with AYDEP and face-to-face education. According to the findings, AYDEP is recommended to be developed in terms of elements such as technical features, pedagogical elements, cooperation and communication, technical infrastructure & access and content etc.