Abstract
The distance education model has become the most common educational model used around the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic that emerged in China at the end of 2019. In North Cyprus (NC), traditional face-to-face education had been resumed through online channels. The rapid shift to online channels has not only caused distress among students who do not have experience with using in online education systems, but also caused many problems to surface in terms of access to education. This study aims to explore the attitudes and views of higher education students in NC regarding the distance education implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic in the 2020–2021 educational year. In this quantitative study, the survey method was used. A random sampling approach was used for determining the study group, which was formed of 470 volunteer higher education students. According to the analysis of the data collected from the students, it was determined that they received an average score of x̅=82.52±19.50 points from the overall Attitudes Regarding the Use of Distance Education Environments During the Pandemic (ASRUDEEDP) scale, x̅=23.03±7.21 from the competence and education sub-dimension, x̅=26.36±5.81 from the practicality sub-dimension, x̅=18.20±4.83 points from the efficiency sub-dimension, and x̅=14.93±4.12 from the satisfaction sub-dimension. It was identified that there were no differences in the scores according to the age group, grade, or Internet use durations (p>0.05) but the scores of male students were observed to be higher than those of female in the sub-dimensions of competence and motivation as well as practicality within the ASRUDEEDP.
Highlights
COVID-19 disease is caused by the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) that emerged in Wuhan, China, at the end of December 2019
Carrying high risks of infection, the virus has spread across the whole world, primarily to Europe [World Health Organization (WHO), 2020]
After the Health Ministry announced the first incidence of COVID-19 in the TRNC on March 11, 2020, the schools and educational institutions were temporarily closed on March 25 (TRNC Health Ministry, 2020)
Summary
COVID-19 disease is caused by the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) that emerged in Wuhan, China, at the end of December 2019. Carrying high risks of infection, the virus has spread across the whole world, primarily to Europe [World Health Organization (WHO), 2020] During this process, recommendations to close educational institutions to minimize the high risk of spread among the communities were taken into consideration (Kawano and Kakehashi, 2015; De Luca et al, 2018). As a result of this announcement, all levels of conventional education were halted; distance education began to be implemented along with cancelation of local and central examinations, which were later replaced by web-based examinations for the assessment of the level of student efficiency Within this context, the system that had been constructed based on conventional education had to be transformed into web-based distance education as a result of successful crisis management
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
