Review Of Distance Learning Applications In The Universities In The Covid-19 Period

Purpose of study is to examine the distance education activities of universities during the Covid 19 pandemic and their future plannings regarding distance education after the pandemic period. For this purpose, Covid-19 period activity reports of 189 universities, which were prepared according to the standards determined by the Higher Education Council (YÖK), were examined. In this study, document analysis was used as the data collection method and content analysis method was used as a reliable qualitative research method to examine the collected data. As a data collection tool, the “Review Form of Pandemic Period Activity of Universities”, which was created by researchers specifically for the study, was used. The data obtained were analyzed by content analysis method and appropriate codes, categories and themes were created. As for the findings of the study, it was revealed that distance education applications in universities started completely within three weeks during the pandemic period and there was a variety in applications. In this period, while some universities shared lecture notes and related resources, it is seen that some of them used synchronous applications at different densities besides asynchronous applications. It was also observed that universities used different tools during the pandemic period and many of these were created during this period. It is clearly seen that in this unprecedented and obligatory transiton period, universities are trying to reach students and lecturers by using all of their available resources and carrying out support services at different levels. Finally, it has been observed that universities with distance education infrastructure have made plans to strengthen the existing system, and universities that do not have much knowhow in this area have made new plans for institutionalization at the level of courses and programs in addition to larger infrastructure investments.