COVID-19 and Distance Education: Evaluation in the Context of Twenty-first Century Skills

• Published in: The Asia-Pacific education researcher Vol. 32; no. 3; pp. 417 - 428
• Main Authors: Bozgun, Kayhan, Ozaskin-Arslan, Ayse Gul, Ulucinar-Sagir, Safak
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore Springer Nature Singapore 01.06.2023; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: 21st century; 21st Century Skills; Communication Skills; COVID-19; Distance Education; Distance learning; Education; Educational Environment; Educational evaluation; Educational Policy and Politics; Elementary School Teachers; Information Literacy; Initiatives; Instructional Effectiveness; International and Comparative Education; Learning and Instruction; Literacy; Media Literacy; Opinions; Pandemics; Preservice Teachers; Regular; Regular Article; Sociology of Education; Student Attitudes; Teacher attitudes; Technological Literacy; Twenty-first century skills; Distance education; Pandemic; Online education; Remote education
• ISSN: 0119-5646; 2243-7908
• DOI: 10.1007/s40299-022-00663-4

In this study, we aimed to investigate the prospective primary school teachers’ opinions about their experiences in distance education within the scope of twenty-first century skills during COVID-19 pandemic. The phenomenological research method was used for the purpose of enlightening this specific context. The study group involved 16 prospective primary school teachers. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The credibility of the data were provided by obtaining the consent of the participants and by comparing the consistency of codes and themes created by experts in accordance with the twenty-first century skills. The key findings were: (1) no opinion is expressed on information and media literacy; also, participants were not aware of the importance of technology literacy. (2) Emergency remote education cannot provide effective learning and teaching. Participants’ awareness of collaboration and communication skills was insufficient. (3) There were positive and negative aspects of emergency distance education towards face-to-face one. The educational environment, which has become digitalized with distance education, shows that there are changes in the views of the participants about the technology competence that they should have in their careers. As a result, remote education does not cause a significant difference in 21st century skills of participants. But the importance and need of twenty-first century skills in the distance education process become more apparent.