WHAT ARE THE PERSPECTIVES OF TEACHER CANDIDATES ON SYNCHRONOUS DISTANCE EDUCATION? A SURVEY STUDY

Abstract

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, distance education replaced face-to-face education in the 2019-2020 academic year in Turkey. The study was conducted with secondary mathematics, science, and classroom teacher candidates studying at a public university providing synchronous distance education. It aimed to determine teacher candidates' perceptions of synchronous distance education. The research designed as a survey study was conducted with 173 teacher candidates selected by convenience sampling. As the data collection tool, an online survey was prepared by researchers by expert opinions, and descriptive statistics were used for analysis. The study revealed that most of the participants attended classes via smartphones and used fixed-line internet. It was understood that participants found oral presentations the most useful method in synchronous lessons, had negative attitudes towards these lessons, were reluctant to provide distance education in the future, found themselves inadequate, and did not believe that online lessons are the future of education