An Assessment on the Experiences of Distance Education of Students at Veterinary Faculty of Ankara University

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the perspectives of Ankara University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine students towards distance education. Data were collected from 591 students with a 24-question survey. According to the data, many students often encountered various technological problems and barriers due to lack of infrastructure during the courses. On the other hand, students with comfortable living environments had a more optimistic view of distance education. Having prior experience in distance education had a positive effect on the class participation rate. The frequency of participation in the courses was higher and the frequency of asking questions to the lecturers was lower in first graders. First graders mostly disagreed with the view that distance education provides effective learning or stated that they were undecided. Third and fourth year students did not consider distance education as disadvantageous. While it was seen that many students prefer face-to-face education, the presence of a group of students who want to continue distance education was also noteworthy. In conclusion, physical, technological and temporal flexibility can be seen as one of the strengths of the distance education. The difficulty of accessing the course due to the lack of technological infrastructure is seen as a major disadvantage of this method. Although it has seen that students generally preferred face-to-face education, the existence of a group of students who wanted to continue distance education and reported that the method has some advantages is also remarkable. It can be considered that living in favorable conditions is positively related to students' ability to benefit from distance education.