Attitudes and Opinions of Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School Teachers on Distance Education: A Mixed Method Research

This study aimed to determine the attitude levels of Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School teachers towards distance education and these levels in terms of various variables (gender, education status, or profession). This study, it was aimed to determine whether there was a difference between the status of being a culture teacher and professional seniority. The research is carried out with the explanatory sequential design approach, one of the mixed-method research designs that consist of teachers working in Vocational and Technical Anatolian High Schools in Sakarya in the 2020-2021 academic year. Quantitative data of the study were collected from 244 teachers. They were determined by a purposive sampling method, and qualitative data were collected from 43 teachers and is determined by the convenient sampling method. A sufficient number of samples were selected from the existing sample due to the rapid and easy accessibility of the teachers from whom quantitative data were collected. Quantitative data were obtained with the "Personal Information Form" created by the researchers to determine the demographic characteristics of the teachers, and the Distance Education Attitude Scale, developed by Agir (2007) to determine distance education attitudes. In acquiring qualitative data, a semi-structured interview form consisting of open-ended questions prepared by the researchers was used. In the first part of the interview form, there are questions about the demographic information of the teachers participating in the research. In the second part, there are seven questions prepared by the researchers to determine the opinions of the teachers about distance education based on the results obtained from the quantitative data and the literature review on distance education. The researchers collected the data through Google Forms, created from the questions in the scale and interview forms. In the analysis of the quantitative data obtained, descriptive statistics, Shapiro-Wilk normality test, t-test, and one-way ANOVA test were used. Qualitative data were analyzed with descriptive analysis methods within the framework of the themes determined by evaluating the advantages and limitations of distance education sub-dimensions. It has been tried to reach the possible reasons underlying the quantitative results with the qualitative data obtained. As a result of the research, it has been determined that teachers disagree with the view that distance education has advantages. They believe that distance education has limitations, and their attitude levels towards distance education are below the medium level. In the study, the reasons for the teachers' attitude levels towards distance education below the medium level were evaluated by evaluating the advantages and limitations of distance education and the sub-dimensions of "student academic success," "efficiency of education," "positive and negative aspects compared to face-to-face education," "difficulties encountered," and "opportunity . "In this study, it has been tried to be revealed with the opinions of teachers within the framework of the themes of "whether it provides equality," "teacher and student motivation," and "recommendations for effective distance education. "