Academics' Perception and Practices of Online Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Case of Turkey

ABSTRACT

COVID-19 affected higher educational institutions around the world. This study focused on academics' perceptions and practices of online education based on their academic discipline and previous online education experience. The survey research design used and an e-survey was conducted in May 2020, during which the lockdown restrictions were rather tight in Turkey. The analyzes were carried out on the responses of 8,242 academics' using the omnibus chi-square test and t-tests. The results point out that academics' time allocation to preparation for courses, student counselling, and lectures are varying due to their academic disciplines. Generally, academics have a negative perception of online education though there is a difference between the experienced ones and others. In particular, academics with online education experience exhibited lower negative perceptions of online education than those lacking such experience. Maybe one of the most problematic parts of this transition process for academics is how to ensure the reliability of exams. Our results showed that even the academics with online education experience have a higher level of distrust towards educational measurement and evaluation methods.