Views of Preservice Social Studies Teachers regarding the Use of Virtual Tours during the Pandemic

Abstract

This research aims to determine the views of preservice social studies teachers regarding the use of virtual tours during the pandemic period. The study was carried out with the phenomenology design, one of the qualitative research designs. 20 preservice Social Studies teachers studying at Kutahya Dumlupinar University participated in the study in the 2021-2022 academic year. The criterion sampling method, one of the purposeful sampling types, was used to determine the research group. The criteria were being a preservice social studies teacher and participating in virtual tour application training. The research data were collected with a semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers and analysed with the content analysis technique. As a result of the data analysis, it was seen that the views of the preservice teachers about the virtual tour application were primarily positive. The data obtained from the interviews were divided into six themes: informative, persistent and embodied, attractive and entertaining, practical and easy, economic and providing equal opportunity, and negative opinions. The informative theme is divided into two sub-themes as giving preliminary information and explanation.